IN BRIEF

INTO JUNK TERRITORY

Bond rating lowered for Las Vegas Monorail

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded the underlying rating on $445.8 million in bonds being serviced by the Las Vegas Monorail Co. further into junk territory, saying it expects a payment default in 2010 as cash reserves run out.

Moody's cut the underlying rating on the monorail's first-tier debt by two notches from B3 to Caa2, only three levels above the agency's worst rating, C. The bonds themselves are rated Aaa because they are insured by Ambac Financial Group Inc.

The ratings agency said "dramatic revenue growth is needed" for the company operating the $650 million, 3.9-mile rail line along the Strip to avoid a default in 2010.

In 2007, the company reported 7.9 million riders, or about 21,640 a day, up about 900,000 from the previous year. When it began service in 2004, the monorail projected more than 54,000 riders a day.

The company said it would forge ahead with efforts to boost ticket sales and expand the monorail to McCarran International Airport, a plan the company has said is linked to refinancing its debt.

TREATED AND RELEASED

Trooper injured in Washoe Valley crash

A Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper who was injured when her patrol car was struck by another vehicle in white out conditions was treated at a hospital.

Trooper Chava Rothschild was in her patrol car parked in the median of U.S. 395 in Washoe Valley when a sport utility vehicle pulling a 28-foot trailer went out of control and rammed into her Tuesday.

Rothschild, a 16-year NHP veteran, was treated for chest injuries at Carson Tahoe Hospital and released.

Gusting winds caused icy roads and poor visibility, and authorities closed the highway between Reno and Carson City for much of the day.

SACRAMENTO RIVER BASIN

Salmon population declines sharply

California's largest salmon run is suffering an "unprecedented collapse," part of a broader decline throughout the West that has scientists vexed and probably will trigger severe fishing restrictions, according to federal fishery regulators.

Chinook salmon returning in the fall from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the Sacramento River and its tributaries dropped 67 percent from a year earlier, according to an internal memo to members of the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The Central Valley salmon population has fallen by more than 88 percent from its all-time high five years ago, and scientists are struggling to understand why.