Nine people are looking for another place to live after a two-alarm fire damaged eight apartments Thursday morning in Las Vegas.

No injuries are reported in the 6:15 a.m. fire at the Rancho Verde Apartments on Martin Luther King Boulevard near U.S. 95.

Firefighters think an electrical malfunction in wiring sparked the fire in a wall separating two apartments.

Investigators ruled the fire accidental and estimated damage at $200,000.

Fire officials say building management and the American Red Cross are helping the people displaced by the fire.
   
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

An accident involving a truck and a car resulted in a fire at Las Vegas Blvd. and Owens sending a large plume of black smoke into the sky. No one was injured in the accident and crews are cleaning up the scene. Drivers are advised to avoid the area.

After many delays and a lot of controversy, the Las Vegas Academy finally has its name on the high school campus it has occupied for nearly 15 years. It was no easy task.

The school had to win the approval of historical preservationists. The monument marquee represents an important compromise between old and new Las Vegas. It's art deco style compliments the original architecture of the original Las Vegas high school campus.

It's digital flashing message represents the energy of new generations now making their own mark in these old classrooms. While most high school kids try their hardest to blend into the crowd, here at the Las Vegas Academy, standing out is what it's all about.

Principal Stephen Clark said, “It's a school where kids thrive and are free to express themselves.”

Which is why it was important for the school – Las Vegas' only performing arts magnet high school — to have its own identity.

“For 15 years now, this school has never had anything to identify it as Las Vegas Academy. The building says Las Vegas High School,” said Clark.

That's because the old Las Vegas high school built back in 1930 was placed on the national register of historic places in 1994, even before it became home to LVA. Preservationists frowned on the idea of placing any kind of flashing digital sign anywhere on the site.

But LVA students, parents, and staff, persevered for three years, and finally came up with an approved design that compliments the original architecture of the historic building, where some of Las Vegas' most famous residents once attended school.

Former Nevada governor and U.S. Senator Richard Bryan graduated from Las Vegas high school. “When I went to Las Vegas High School, it was the only high school in town.”

He remembers well the time he accidentally torched the homecoming float in 1955. Today, alumni and current students gave the new marquee a big thumbs up.

Alex Ludwig said, “It was a long time coming, I think it's great. This way we can reach out to our community and let them know about all the wonderful events we have got going on here at LVA.”

The new marquee costs $25,000 — none of which came from the school district coffers. All of the money was raised by the schools fund raising committee, friends of Las Vegas Academy.

Email your comments to Reporter Alyson McCarthy.

Hundreds of parents, teachers and other concerned community members are gathering in Las Vegas this afternoon to send a message to our governor. And that message is: don't bury education with budget cuts.

Bonanza High School is just one of four locations in both Southern and Northern Nevada where simultaneous candlelight vigils were held Wednesday afternoon.

Nevadans For Quality Education organized the events to protest looming budget cuts to public education.

Governor Jim Gibbons announced this week that given Nevada's economic downturn, grades K through 12 will not be spared from the chopping block as was originally planned.

“This is devastating because the district is already in a cut mode. So what programs are going to be cut? What do you eliminate now that you're in the middle,” asked principal Cathy Conger.

Clark County School District superintendent Walt Rulffes estimates nearly $100 million in cuts would be made under the governor's current plan to slash the budget by 4.4-percent. And Rulffes says that's a blow our fast-growing school district cannot afford to take — especially given our on-going teacher shortage and already large class sizes.

“If these cuts are actually implemented, I'll have to go into the programs and that's going to harm education. I think the entire community should be up in arms about this. Our community and our students deserve better than this kind of reduction in service to its students,” said Rulffes.

He added, “Some of the initial suggestions are to hold off on funding more empowerment schools and full-day kindergarten, because those programs are not yet implemented, so these would be less painful.”

Rulffes is in Carson City – meeting with Nevada's 16 other school superintendents to map out a strategy for how to best deal with the proposed cuts.

Wednesday's protests at Bonanza High, Greenspun Middle School and in Northern Nevada will call on parents, teachers and other concerned community members to contact the governor's office and their state lawmakers to tell them how you feel about the proposed cuts to education.

Email your comments to Reporter Alyson McCarthy.

A 9-year-old girl is safe after someone tried to abduct her on her way to school. Police are patrolling the area, looking for the suspect.

Normally, the little girl's parents walk her to Crestwood Elementary School, but in her attempt to be more independent, they let her walk alone Thursday. She was walking near a blue ice cream truck when a stranger drove up.

Police say the stranger drove up in a silver SUV with the windows rolled down and told the fourth grader to “get in.” The little girl refused and ran away. Her mother says she never thought this would happen to her daughter in a million years.

“She ran up here to the front office, and she told them,” said Patricia Hale, the girl's mom. “She is a little scared shaken up but she will be okay. She is 9, Hispanic, Native American and she tries to be independent.”

“She is pretty shaken up. No harm came to her, she did the right thing,” said Sgt. Kathy Cosmides. ”The parents are consoling her now and the counselor is talking to her and it might be a good idea for her to stay in school and enjoy her friends because she did the right thing.”

The girl's mother says that for now, they will be driving her to school again or making sure someone is with her. Police say they will patrol the neighborhood slowly before and after school, looking for vehicles that match the description of a silver SUV. The child's recollection of the suspect is simply too vague, according to police, to issue an accurate description.

There is a surveillance system on the school, but its visibility doesn't reach beyond the school property.

Police are telling parents to tell their children I they are approached by someone who tells them to get in the car, tell your children to wave their arms, yell a lot and say you don't know this person. Tell them to draw as much attention as possible. That's the last thing a kidnapper wants.

As the city of Las Vegas works to tighten its financial belt, a unique program could get the budget ax. The City Marshal's office has suspended half of its force of police dogs — and that portion of the program could be cut for good.

The question here is — is the Marshal's office getting its money's worth out of its canine unit? The unit is split in two. Half of the dogs work inside the detention center searching for drugs. The other half work out on the streets — in parks and city buildings — looking for drugs and explosives. But now — the Visible Street Patrol Program could be cut for good.

For the past 10 years, dogs like Walker have been on patrol with the Las Vegas City Marshal's Office. Some are trained to detect explosives. Walker was trained for narcotics.

“We have dogs that have hit on anything from a simple seed of marijuana to huge amounts of narcotics substances — pounds and pounds,” said Deputy Marshal Brent Carlin.

Walker has since retired. But now — three existing patrol dogs have been taken off the streets — and are staying put at the homes of their handlers. It's all a matter of money.

Chief Karen Coyne of Detention and Enforcement said, “So we have to step back and take a look at how much money are we spending for this program versus what are we getting out of it — what is the citizen getting out of it?”

In the past year — the three patrol dogs were used on just 67 calls — just over one a week. The cost? The city says the dogs alone cost about $141,000 each year in travel, supplies and training. In addition — the three handlers are paid an extra $49,000 a year to care for the dogs.

Total cost to taxpayers: $190,000 a year.

“And the bottom line – is this: we are a patrol oriented function and the public sees us whether we are a uniformed officer with an animal or a uniformed officer. And I would submit to you that one is neither more nor less of a deterrent than the other,” said Chief Coyne.

“So if we have an opportunity — and we do — to provide the same level of service — that patrol service — at a more effective and efficient cost then we are doing exactly what the public expects us to do and we are being responsible with our money,” she said.

The dogs were suspended from duty in October but are still officially part of the force. The chief will make a final decision after hearing feedback from within the department.

“It's going to be a subjective measure, obviously, rather than an objective measure, and it's going to be reliant upon that group of supervisors and managers who say 'you know, we haven't seen much' or 'we have really experienced a gap in service,' ” she said.

Chief Coyne says she will make a decision in January about whether to end the street patrol program for good and retire the dogs. If the dogs are retired, their current handlers will likely be given first chance at adoption.

The dogs that work inside the detention center are still on duty, but the chief says that program will also be reviewed sometime soon.

The owners of the Plaza Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas are claiming a small legal victory over the fight to use the Plaza trademark.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the trademark case will stay in Clark County District Court, instead of being heard in federal court.

Tamares Las Vegas Properties LLC says that better protects its rights to use the Plaza name for its more than 30-year-old casino in downtown Las Vegas.

Tamares sued Elad IDB Las Vegas in August over its plans to build a multibillion-dollar casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip using The Plaza brand.

Tamares' attorney Harry Braunstein says his company's case is based on state trademark registration rights and the common law that it has built up goodwill in Nevada over three decades.

Elad IDB spokeswoman Michelle Tsang said the venue did not affect the case and she said the claim was without merit.
   
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)