IN BRIEF
BUDGET BRIEFING
Governor to outline plans on shortfall
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons meets with top lawmakers and holds a media briefing today to outline his preliminary plans for dealing with a state revenue budget shortfall now expected to exceed $800 million by mid-2009.
The Republican governor, who already has imposed 4.5 percent budget cuts to cope with the shortfall problems, didn't release his latest projection in advance of today's events. But Senate and Assembly leaders who compared Gibbons' projections with higher estimates from their own analysts said the governor's figure would easily top $800 million.
The shortfall projections, which have increased fourfold since last September, were updated following last week's grim economic news of a continuing slump in sales by Nevada merchants. Also, the state is dealing with higher-than-average unemployment.
WELL-TRAVELED HEIRLOOM
Antique trunk donated to state museum
A well-traveled heirloom of a longtime Nevada family has found a permanent home.
Luetta Dressler Bergevin, 86, great-great granddaughter of pioneer Carson Valley rancher Augustus Frederick Dressler, has donated a trunk believed to date back the early 1800s to the Nevada State Museum in Carson City.
In 1866, the trunk sailed from Germany to California and then was taken by wagon to the Carson Valley. Augusta Wilhelmina Dietz stowed her possessions in the trunk as she traveled to the Carson Valley to marry Dressler.
"We had a skilled carpenter and an antique specialist look at it and they were impressed both by the craftsmanship and the condition," said Sue Ann Monteleone, the museum's registrar.
RICHMOND, Calif.
Drive-by shooting strikes food program
One man was killed and four others injured in a shooting outside a church that was hosting a food service program for the homeless.
Richmond, Calif., Police spokesman Lt. Mark Gagan says a drive-by shooting occurred Sunday morning outside Church of the Living God as a group of volunteers were bringing people off of the street to feed them.
The slain man, who was homeless, has not been identified. Gagan said three others are seriously injured and one is in critical condition.
