Newborns in intensive care at a local hospital are getting some special attention from their siblings — as part of a program that tries to alleviate the fear-factor.

Seeing a newborn brother or sister in intensive care can be startling for a child. But a new program at Sunrise Children's Hospital helps them know in advance what they can expect to find.

Julia Stengel, 9, from Reno has come to Sunrise Children's Hospital to be with her newborn brother, Joshua — who's been placed in intensive care. To soften the impact of what she'll see in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, Julia, along with other family members went through a new program that helps them understand what's going on.

“We learned about the stuff we might see in there,” said Julia.

“It's a very scary thing to be at the hospital as the patient or as a sibling. So we try to alleviate some of that fear. We try to make them feel more comfortable about being here,” said Riann Garbett — a child-life-specialist at Sunrise. She says the NICU Sibling Program is for children as young as 5.

In a group setting, she uses visual aids to describe what they'll see.

Joshua's mother, Shelley Stengel says it helps relieve anxiety for everyone in the family, knowing what all the equipment is for.

“They can understand what all the tubes are for, and why he's hooked up to everything. I think it's wonderful that they can do that. And it's been really good for our older daughter and our little one – she got a lot of information,” said Shelley.

“They just want to see baby brother, baby sister – hold them if possible. And know more about why they're here and when they're going to get to go home. We really want the whole family to be a part of this child's life as early as possible,” said Garbett.

Newborns can be in the NICU anywhere from a few days to several months. Siblings are allowed to return for visitation as often as they like.

A similar program is also available for children visiting adult intensive care units.

Some children are still frightened when they see their newborn brother or sister for the first time, because there's still a lot of anxiety. But nurses are there and can reassure the children, and help explain what's going on.

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The Mint 400, known as ”The Great American Desert Race,” began in 1968, ran for 20 years and was sponsored by Mint Hotel — but it disappeared when the Mint was sold. Now, this weekend, after a 20-year absence, this race returns to Southern Nevada.

The race was the brainchild of the Mint Hotel's public relations director, Norm Johnson. He created the first “Del Webb Mint 400 Desert Rally” that grew over the next 20 years to become one of the top off-road races in the world.

SLIDESHOW: Mint 400 Race Returns After 20 Years

Registration and tech inspection will be held March 27 and 28, with registration being done at 9:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the El Cortez, and tech inspections from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Fremont Street East.

Upload YOUR Mint 400 Photos Here

There will be a Mint 400 Fan fest street party, complete with music, autograph sessions, food bars and vintage vehicle displays from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Thursday on Fremont Street East.

The race will be held outside Jean on March 29, on a 100-mile course that must be traveled four times over 16 hours. It begins at 7 a.m.

The awards ceremony on March 30 has been scheduled at Whiskey Pete's in Primm at 10 a.m.

The group, SNORE — Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts has brought this great race back. SNORE is a non-profit, completely volunteer only run organization.

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Rancho High School students were allowed back into their school late in the school day after it was discovered that a suspicious device found in the school was not dangerous. The students were evavacuated to the football field while authorities investigated. 

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The new owners of the Las Vegas 51's are in town. The owners are meeting with the media for the first time and seem to have some plans for improvement.

Those plans include renaming the franchise after the 2008 season. The baseball team will no longer be called the Las Vegas 51's and fans in the community will be part of that renaming campaign.

The new owners have a new scoreboard, but they say they need a new stadium. Don't expect the Steven Baseball Group to fully fund that, which needs to happen eventually.

Vegas enters its eighth year as the top affiliate with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have said they want a new stadium or else.

The new owners say if the Dodgers don't want to be here, there are plenty of teams who'd love to have an affiliate in Las Vegas.

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A shocking new report shows what kind of damage a large earthquake would do to Las Vegas. It also shows that “the big one” could hit here in the next 50 years.

Right at Tropicana and Decatur is the closest active fault to the Las Vegas Strip. It runs north and south along Decatur. The new damage data may be shocking, but it can better prepare the buildings in our area.

This year in Nevada we saw the damage from a magnitude 6 earthquake in Wells, Nevada. Just looking at what's going up on the Las Vegas Strip, you can imagine the damage here would be much worse.

Now we know just how bad.

UNLV and UNR scientists estimate a magnitude 6.6 quake would cause $18 billion in damage to buildings. It would kill 900 people. About 300,000 buildings in Las Vegas would suffer major damage and up to 11,000 people would need public shelter.

Clark County director of development services, Ron Lynn, says this is valuable information especially because of the mega casinos and hi-rises.

“What we are looking at in earthquakes is the survivability of the people inside. The buildings are going to be damaged,” said Lynn.

Lynn will take the data and use it to change building codes to prove researchers wrong if an earthquake happens. Those building codes will mean the difference between loss of buildings or loss of life.

“A portion of the building will be damaged, but it will not fall down. You may have to do major repairs, even demolition and repairs to get the building back up to code, but the people survive and that is the key,” said Lynn.

There are many active faults in the Las Vegas valley. Still, the new report found there is only a 10 to 20-percent chance of a magnitude 6 or greater earthquake here in the next 50 years. Lynn says we must take the report seriously and not gamble with the future.

“After all we are a gaming community. We know that the odds reestablish themselves each and every roll of the dice, if you will. They establish themselves each and every year. So it could be next year. It could be the year after. It could be 50 or 100 years,” said Lynn.

He says we must and will be prepared for the worst thanks to this latest wake up call. The new report even says a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in the Spring Mountains would cause $9 billion in building damage and 300 fatalities.

Ron Lynn and earthquake scientists say Las Vegas is an under-researched area. You can read more about the report  by clicking here.

Email your comments to Reporter Edward Lawrence.

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Las Vegas homeowners planning any kind of renovations should first attend one of three meetings hosted by the city.

The first meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Mirabelli Community Center near the 95 and Jones.

There will be similar meetings held Tuesday and Wednesday in other locations.

During the meetings, city workers will explain the process for adding on or remodeling homes.

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Police say a chase of a robbery suspect ended with a vehicle flipping over and crashing east of downtown Las Vegas on Monday.

The injured driver was taken to a hospital with unspecified injuries following in the 10:45 a.m. crash at Washington and Eastern avenues. The wreck is snarling traffic as police divert motorists around the area.

Authorities say a witness followed the getaway vehicle after a robber left a credit union with an undisclosed amount of money. Police put down spike strips on the roadway to stop the vehicle, which officials say was traveling at a high rate of speed when it crashed.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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The price for gas hit another record high Friday – $3.28 a gallon. And that has drivers fuming at the pumps.

This is the time of year when more people take to the road. That high demand for gas means consumers wont get any relief from the skyrocketing prices until the end of summer. And while you may think the gas stations are cashing in big on your gas pains — think again.

Almost just as fast as the numbers roll over down on a gas pump, they are changing up on the gas station sign as well.

“Now it's $3.21; in the morning it's going to be $3.25,” said Bruce Stevenson, a driver. He is feeling the squeeze at the pump. And it's pinching every penny from his checkbook.

“It only costs $30 to fill it up; now it costs like $45 to almost $50,” he said.

As more Americans take summer road trips, the price at the pump will keep rolling up as well. But how high is the question drivers are asking.

“Will we get to August before we get to $4 is the real question,” said Michael Geeser, AAA Nevada.

Costly crude isn't only hurting the consumer, it's hurting gas station owners too. One gas station — running on empty. They couldn't afford to pay to put the fuel in the ground. The retailers don't make much profit.

In fact, on average they only make seven to 10 cents on every gallon sold according to AAA.

“Who's pocketing the other money?” asked Stevenson.

The answer to why you pay so much comes down to math.

Nevada pays the seventh highest gas tax in the country. The federal government take 18 cents right off the top. Another 18 cents goes to the state. Then add in the county's 15-cent share and you are paying $53 cents in gas tax alone.

Then add in the cost of refining and transporting the gas to the stations.

“You are talking about a lot of money before anything else happens,” said Geeser.

“The oil company – they are making the profits,” said Stevenson.

Drivers like Stevenson are calling on oil companies to ease the squeeze he feels at the pump.

“Help the American people out,” said Stevenson. 

We can't control the price of gas but there are simple things you can do save on gas. Maintenance of our cars, taking it to the shop to make sure all of your belts, fluids and hoses are ready to go and tires property inflated are just some things that will help increase gas mileage.

Email your comments to Reporter Trevell Eiland.

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Local law enforcement arrested 10 people and say they've busted two auto theft rings.

The Viper Auto Theft Task Force involves officers from Metro, North Las Vegas, Henderson and the Nevada Highway Patrol.

The suspects were taken into custody as police acted on tips and set up sting operations.

Police are still trying to track down two more suspects in connection with the theft rings — they are looking for Jesus Viera and Cesar Vasquez.

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Many of us are still trying to catch up on that hour of sleep we all lost over the weekend. The goal of Daylight Saving Time is to save energy. One local neighborhood is trying to do that every day on their streets.

The street in one Las Vegas gated community is well-lit. How it's lit is a problem.

“It makes us feel less safe,” said Dan Brasen of the San Marino Circle HOA. He feels less safe because they are gas lamps. Sometimes the flame blows out, sending toxic gas into the air for weeks. Burning or not, they are a big polluter.

“Environmentally in the valley, they spew over 17,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” he said.

Two and a half of the perpetual flames use as much gas in a year as a three bedroom house does. Getting rid of them isn't easy.

“That is an understatement,” laughs Brasen. “It's been a struggle because we had to deal with Southwest Gas.”

Back when gas was cheap, the gas company gave the lights to home builders to install for free. Now, 10,000 home buyers are stuck with the skyrocketing bills.

“We were watching our budget and these gas lamps were taking 40-percent of our budget,” said Brasen.

To shut them off, Southwest Gas wanted more than $200 in fees for each one. After four years of battling to extinguish the flames, involving Senator Reid and the Public Utilities Commission. A new day is dawning.

“The suns energy charges the light,” said William Ramsdell, of American Solar Electric. He engineered a solar-powered street light. This year, for the first time homeowners associations are installing them, feeling good about going green.

“I like it. It doesn't inconvenience me in any way. It is recharged with a solar battery, and it is almost maintenance free as far as I am concerned,” said Brasen.

They are twice as brilliant as the gas lamps he says. While it's a bright future — the present seems… well, medieval.

Ramsdell adds, ”Well, it is kind of embarrassing actually. We are the most powerful country in the world and we have all these assets but yet…”

But yet he says, in this battle between forces of light, some Las Vegans aren't aware of his lamp that uses the power from the giant ball of burning gas in the sky — and instead opting for the weak fire here on the ground.

“We do a lot of things in America that are inefficient because we don't think about it. I don't know how it kept going but these lights [gas lamps] are still being installed today. Nobody talks about it,” said Ramsdell.

There are currently more than 10,000 gas-burning street lights running 24 hours a day in Las Vegas.

The Public Utilities Commission hasn't finalized criteria for how homeowners can get them removed, but Southwest Gas is considering waiving the fees for shutting off the gas lamps.

Email your comments to Reporter Ky Plaskon.

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