in brief

POLICE SEARCH FOR DRIVER

Woman, boy struck by vehicle in crosswalk

Police are looking for a motorist who fled the scene after striking an 18-year-old woman and a 7-year-old boy in a crosswalk on Saturday.

Las Vegas police said a late 1970s to mid-80s white sedan, possibly a Buick Riviera or an Oldsmobile, was heading north on Nellis Boulevard when it struck the two at New World Avenue, north of Sahara Avenue.

The victims were crossing Nellis from west to east in a crosswalk. Northbound traffic stopped in the left and right lanes, but the car in the middle lane did not, police said.

KellyAnn Thompson, 18, of Las Vegas, was taken to University Medical Center with critical injuries. The boy, whose name was not released, was taken to UMC with serious injuries.

Police said the white sedan should have moderate damage to the front passenger's side and windshield.

Anyone with information on the driver or the car is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 385-5555 or Detective Dennis Magill at 828-3317.

SHAKY SATURDAY MORNING

Small quake strikes after larger temblor

A small earthquake struck the Mojave Desert on Saturday morning, but a quake analyst said it's probably not an aftershock from the 5.1-magnitude temblor that was felt in three states.

The U.S. Geological Survey said a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.0 struck at 8:07 a.m. Saturday in Inyo County, about 145 miles north of Los Angeles. There were no reports of damage or injuries in the sparsely populated area.

The quake was centered more than 100 miles from Ludlow, just east of Barstow, where 12 hours earlier the larger shaker rattled an area from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and even parts of Arizona.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Workers got buyouts, then new jobs in system

More than half a dozen employees at the University of California each received thousands of dollars in severance payouts even though they landed new jobs within the system.

The Sacramento Bee reported in its Saturday editions that 16 employees at the UC President's Office collected a total of $682,431 in buyouts. They then returned after landing positions at various campuses.

Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, said taking a severance package and getting rehired is abuse of the system.

UC President Mark Yudof said 16 of 155 employees who accepted buyouts landed new UC jobs.