IN BRIEF
SLIDING-GLASS DOOR OPEN
1-year-old girl drowns in backyard pool
A 1-year-old girl drowned in a backyard pool Monday.
Her mother found the girl unconscious in the pool just before 10 a.m. at 262 Winona Terrace, near Warm Springs Road and Pueblo Place.
When Henderson police arrived at the home, the child's mother was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her. Officers took over the CPR until paramedics arrived. The child was taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital, De Lima Campus, where she was pronounced dead.
Police said the drowning is being investigated, but it appears accidental.
The mother was getting ready for work and didn't realize that a sliding-glass door leading to the pool was open, police said. The pool did not have a security fence around it, they said.
Police did not release the child's name.
THREE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Four homes destroyed by fire in Henderson
A blaze late Sunday ripped through four homes, three of which were under construction, according to a Henderson fire official.
Firefighters were called just after 11 p.m. to the fire at Eastgate and Sunset roads. They arrived to find the four homes engulfed in flames.
Firefighters brought the fire under control in about 25 minutes, Battalion Chief Doug Koopman said.
No one was injured. The cause of the fire was under investigation. Damage was estimated at more than $700,000, Koopman said.
ARGUMENT WITNESSED
Coroner identifies man gunned down at bar
A North Las Vegas man gunned down at the Seven Seas Restaurant & Lounge late Friday has been identified by the Clark County coroner's office as 26-year-old Alphonso J. Green.
Las Vegas police were called to the lounge, at 808 W. Lake Mead Blvd., near Martin Luther King Boulevard, just before midnight and found Green suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses told investigators that Green was arguing with some patrons and was shot as he tried to leave the establishment.
Police released little information about the shooter.
Anyone with information about the shooting should call the homicide section at 828-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.
ONE DEAD, ONE INJURED
Big rig stalls making turn, pickup hits it
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said Monday that they were investigating a fatal traffic accident that occurred Sunday night on state Route 95, nine miles north of Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
Officials said the accident occurred when a tractor-trailer stalled during an attempted turn across the highway about 7:30 p.m. A northbound Ford pickup slammed into the big rig as it was stopped across the road.
Dead at the scene of the accident was the driver of the pickup, John G. Burrows, 79, of Bullhead City. His passenger Anne Leigh Miller, 63, of Bullhead City was flown to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas for treatment of her injuries.
The driver of the big rig, Scott Henry Lee, 48, of Pine Grove, Calif., was not injured.
NATIONAL COMPETITION
Reno fifth-grader on way to geography bee
A Reno fifth-grader has qualified for the National Geographic Society's Geography Bee next month in Washington D.C.
Alexander Wade, 10, advanced to the national championship by defeating 85 other Nevada students on Friday in the state competition in Henderson.
He knew that Venezuela was the correct answer to the question: "Trinidad is an island country north of which South American country?"
The all-day competition tested students' knowledge of not just each nation's capital city but also the locations of various ports, peaks and ruins; world religions, languages and currencies; and former country names.
A student at Sarah Winnemucca Elementary School, Alexander won $100 in addition to the invitation to the national finals.
SPANNED COLORADO RIVER
Boy starts brush fire that destroys bridge
A 92-year-old wooden suspension bridge across the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, was destroyed by a fire that began with a boy playing with matches.
Dewey Bridge, about 30 miles northeast of Moab, was in the path of a fire that crawled up the riverbank Sunday from a campground about a quarter-mile away, Grand County Sheriff Jim Nyland said.
A 7-year-old boy camping with his parents had gone down to the river and started a brush fire with matches, the sheriff said.
A strong breeze spread the flames over 10 acres, igniting the old bridge, searing the underside of a concrete bridge and blackening more than a half-mile of riverbed. Campers were evacuated, but no one was injured.
Built in 1916, Dewey Bridge had not been used by cars for years. But it was a well-known foot bridge and part of the Kokopelli Trail bike route from Moab to Loma, Colo.
GRAND CANYON EROSION
Scientists still hopeful about man-made flood
Scientists said Monday that a man-made flood in the Grand Canyon created vital sandbars in some areas and eroded them in others.
But, they said, it's still too early to tell whether the overall result of the flood was beneficial to the canyon's ecosystem.
The three-day flood conducted in early March was designed to rebuild the canyon's sandbars, which were nearly entirely eroded away after the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam upstream in 1963.
The sandbars create habitat for plants and animals, provide beaches for campers, and supply sand to protect archaeological resources from erosion and weathering.
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted similar floods in 1996 and in 2004, which resulted in a net reduction in overall sandbar size because they were conducted when the Colorado River was relatively sand-depleted.
Officials hope this year's flood will be different because sand levels upstream are at a 10-year high and are three times greater than in 2004.
