July marks the start of the flash flood season for Southern Nevada and flood control officials say residents should be prepared.

The Clark County Regional Flood Control District met Monday morning to talk about the 2008 flood season which starts July 1 and ends in September.

Las Vegas averages four inches of rain a year. During the monsoon we can get all of that in just an hour or two. The ground here can’t soak up all that water like soil does. It’s like pouring water on a table top.

So flood channels were built to keep the water away from our neighborhoods. But the flood control district says they still have 30 years left before it’s all completed.

The county has spent $50 million to build protection in the form of washes, channels and retention basins around the valley.

Floods have killed 31 people in Clark County history which is more than any other natural disaster that has hit Southern Nevada. The last significant flash flood was in 2003 and it caused millions of dollars in damages. Experts say any area of the valley is at risk.

“It’s weather conditions that are unpredictable that create sudden and intense thunderstorms and can drop a large amount of rain in a short amount of time. Last year, we had two storms that dropped three inches in rain in 90 minutes with no rain recorded at the airport,” said Gale Fraser, Clark County Regional Flood Control District.

In the past year, the flood control district has finished 11 projects, including retention basins, which direct flood water into Lake Mead. In addition, there are 24 more projects, at a cost of $150 million in the works.

If there’s heavy rain, you are advised to stay inside. If you are driving and the water around you rises, you should stay in the car to avoid being swept away.

Be sure to check out LasVegasNOW.com’s special section on Flash Flooding.

Kids are getting the chance to learn from the best when it comes to arts and entertainment. A local arts and music camp is bringing talent from the Strip to kids in the valley.

The arts and entertainment classes are becoming more and more limited for students. Funding has been cut back for programs across the valley. But this camp is for those who have a passion for the arts — to do and learn what's needed, when they hear,”lights, camera, action.”

Learning music from Las Vegas show entertainers is paving the way for some valley kids.

“How to sing and project and get on stage and do what you want to do,” said 9-year-old Tyler Urbano. He hopes to take center stage one day as a singer.

“It's really good to have these kind of people come in because you got to learn something new,” said Tyler.

Dancing is also part of the mix. A dancer from Follies Bergere showed them the Samba, even if it meant boys pairing up with the girls.

It's all part of the game, says aspiring actor Austin Ferguson. “Everyone else is like icky, but you're learning how to do it, and if you want to become that you have to learn.”

He admits he likes sports and video games, but arts and music is what has him here. “The fundamentals of dancing, how to sing. Not pretend but put your heart into it.”

Camp founder Nicholas Brooks, who also plays Sammy Davis Jr in the show, “The Rat Pack is Back,” wants this camp to keep growing.

“What this camp does is bridge the gap between the Las Vegas entertainment community, and the youth of Las Vegas,” said Brooks.

Youths like Tyler and Austin, some day may be gracing a stage on the Strip or somewhere else.

“This is about having fun and being who you want to be,” said Tyler.

“I just really want to act – if it's movies, plays,or anything,” said Austin.

The camp is a week long, with different entertainers from various shows in Las Vegas as guest presenters.

Metro police have arrested two men accused in a deadly stabbing overnight. Authorities say the victim and his friend were kidnapped late Monday night near Oakey and Commerce.

Police say the men responsible are 24-year-old Sergio Ramirez and 26-year-old Paul Morgan.

Investigators say the suspects attacked and repeatedly stabbed the male victim. Once they got away, the victim's friend called 911 and asked for directions to the nearest hospital.

The victim died at the hospital.

The suspects are being held without bail for murder, kidnapping and robbery charges.

Police are investigating two shootings in just two months at the same apartment complex. Residents hope to put an end to the violence with the help of religious leaders and police.

Police say they have the suspected shooter in the latest murder. 25-year-old Frederick Schinder is accused of shooting Antonio Mooney to death. But residents who live in the apartment complex near Martin Luther King and Balzar, where the two shootings happened, say it needs to be about more than punishing violence — it has to be about stopping it.

They hold hands in prayer and are thankful. This time, police officers were invited guests, instead of responding to another murder. Over the weekend, Mooney was killed after he found his girlfriend's apartment ransacked and an argument with neighbors got heated.

“Looked over and we saw the crowd and suddenly the voices escalated and I turned to go back into my apartment. Within five minutes the gentleman was shot,” said neighbor Melva Washington.

Police say Mooney was killed as he headed back upstairs — shot from across a sidewalk where children were playing.

“This four-year-old little girl that the bullet flew right over her head, it is just heart breaking and she was still traumatized,” said Pastor Troy Martinez with Safe Village.

Residents say they've seen too many lives taken right in front of them.

“The shooting that happened just a few weeks ago, before then the guy was shot, as he went past my bedroom window I looked out and literally saw him being shot,” said Washington.

Now they're saying enough is enough, and with the support of each other and police, they are taking back their neighborhood.

“Somebody has to say, ‘I am going to stick in and I am going to do my best part. I am going to try and make things better and I know it is not just me,'” said Washington.

Melva has lived here for three years and says she is about to sign another lease. She believes things can and will change, especially if parents start teaching kids what is truly right and wrong.

“I believe that our kids are born a blank slate, and we have the power to make them geniuses or we have the power to make them hoodlums,” she said.

Email your comments to Reporter Amanda Hernandez

The sale of the Hooters Casino Hotel just east of the Las Vegas Strip has stalled. An official with the buyer says Santa Monica, California-based Hedwigs Las Vegas Top Tier still hopes to complete the $225 million purchase and a $130 million hotel remodel. But officials say Hedwigs failed to make a payment on Friday.

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

One teenager is dead and another is in critical condition after an early morning shooting Sunday. It happened just after 3 a.m. at Bob Baskin Park on West Oakey near Rancho.

The victims had just come from a graduation party when the suspect pulled into the parking lot and began shooting.

The good news is that former Clark football player, Chris Luscombe, is stabilizing with every passing moment that friends and family trickle in to visit.

“Wow, what happened, you always think, it doesn't happen to you,” said Bob Luscombe. He has been praying for his son Chris for 33 hours.

“I love him. We want him back the way he was, that's what I would say,” he said.

He's not alone. Sunday night, friends and family gathered outside the hospital.

“All the parents that came out here that really touched us, a really well loved boy,” said Bob. “So many of the people who was here last night told me when they had a problem, they talked to him.”

Chris was shot early Sunday morning following a graduation party.

“I have been getting bits and pieces. They were at one party and went to another party, and some trouble started and they went to this park, that's when the trouble started,” said Bob.

Bob told Eyewitness News he thinks someone followed his son to Bob Baskin Park. Two people were shot. David Alven Miramontes was killed. Bob's son Chris was shot in the torso.

“They really ripped him up inside,” he said. “He is taking baby steps, you know.”

Miramontes was actually disabled because of a car accident.

Police believe the early morning violence may have stemmed from arguments and fights at the graduation party the victims were attending. The two victims didn't know each other.

Right now, authorities are looking for a two-door Toyota Scion with custom wheels, a loud exhaust and a dark colored custom paint job that appears to change colors.

Anyone with information on the shooting are urged to call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

Another brutal dog attack in the streets leaves a man in the hospital and four dogs in quarantine. Three of them were Pitbulls. The attack happened near D Street and Freeman and as it turns out the owner of the dogs is now behind bars.

The owner, 52-year-old Larry James Washington, is a sex offender who failed to register his address with law enforcement.

Eyewitnesses to the dog attack said the pack of dogs terrorized the neighborhood.  They describe how the four dogs came tearing around the corner, fighting and biting each other before locking on to a door-to-door salesman.

“I just saw all this commotion and people were jumping out of they cars to help. They had bars and stuff in their hands and they were just swinging it,” said eyewitness Brinda Anderson.

Neighbors looked on in horror as the man was attacked by all four dogs. Three of them were Pitbulls and the other was a Sharpe mix. Witnesses say three of the dogs were scared off, but one latched on like a vice. Luckily, people driving by stopped to help.

Erma Wilson watched the whole attack from start to finish.

“They must have chewed on him for about three to five minutes and he was like, ‘Oh Lord.' I just started hollering, ‘Jesus, Jesus, somebody help him.' And three cars pull in and they start trying to get the dogs off, throwing rocks or whatever they could do,” she said.

Las Vegas Animal Control took all four dogs into quarantine and Washington will face a citation. However, he will be in more trouble for not registering as a sex offender living at that address.

There are also few details as to the condition of the victim, but he was bitten heavily in the leg.

Email your comments to Reporter Jonathan Humbert

Employees of a local business are exchanging calls and meetings for tools and buckets to better our community. Friday, hundreds of local employee's volunteered to clean parks and schools.

The Deloitte Company calls it Impact Day. Every year for the last nine years, they've traded their laptops and cell phones for brooms and paint brushes, hoping to have a positive impact in the community.

The company does this all over the world. They are promoting volunteerism and leading by example.

Jeff Otwein and his co-workers are usually behind a desk. But Friday they got up from their chairs and got down on their knees — lifting, pushing, painting and scrubbing — trying to get Hyde Park Middle School clean.

“This is giving us a huge bonus for the summer to allow our custodial staff to work on other projects they don't get time to work on,” said Karen Benner, Dean of Students.

Larry Krause and his Deloitte employees are helping carry the load. Every year, this international investment firm gives back to their communities with lots of rags and sweat — some 40,000 employees worldwide.

They call it Impact Day — and they're hoping the volunteer service will impact and motivate others. Krause says they really put their backs into it as well as their hearts.

“It makes all of our people feel great knowing the contribution that they are making,” said Krause. “Tangible evidence of the firm's commitment to give back to the community.”

Jeff says he is giving back to a community that's given so much to him. He grew up in the valley and even went to this school. And he is willing to get down and dirty to lift community pride.

“It's great; this a great school, a great community and I think everyone needs to learn that we have to give back 604 to make this a better place to live,” he said.

This help comes right in time for Hyde Park Middle School. They will be celebrating their 50th anniversary as a school this year, and the extra hands helped get ready for that celebration.

Deloitte employees also helped clean up and paint at Mt. Charleston Park as well Friday.

Email your comments to Reporter Travell Eiland.

Firefighters are trying to put out the flames that's burning several units at an apartment building near Pennwood and Arville.

Investigators say the fire started inside an attic at the building.

It has spread to four units, and firefighters are having a hard time putting out the flames because of where it's located.

A fire broke out at this same building three months ago.