Cimarron-Memorial High School's robotics team is headed to the world championship after taking home the top prize in the Las Vegas Regional Robotics Competition.

Forty two teams from around the country spent the last six weeks designing and building robots with identical parts and software. Over the weekend, the teams went head to head with each other trying to see who could lift up a large ball and placing it on a platform.

“Basically we try to keep a level head no matter when we win or when we lose, it's really about building the robot and trying to do your best as opposed to always winning. There's a lot of other aspects to robotics than just winning,” said Ryan Wamble, drive and mechanic for Cimarron High School Robotics team.

Cimarron also took home the Chairman's Award. That's the highest honor given to a team. The world championship takes place next month in Atlanta.

One of the top science students in the country lives here in Las Vegas. She's now on her way to Washington D.C., hoping her research will win her a $50,000 scholarship.

Her name is Brianna Lien and she's a senior at Centennial High School. She researched teen eating habits and that project earned her a spot in the semi-finals of the Young Epidemiology Scholars Competition sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Now she's going for the top prize.

She studied 400 high school students like herself, spending months researching their eating habits and wrote a 25 page report.

“I found through my research, the eating wasn't the cause of immediate health problems,” she said.

Although the research didn't prove what she thought, her project was strong enough to get her a spot in the semifinals.

“I love what I did and proud I got there, but I have no idea of how I did it,” she said.

Brianna did it with the help of her science teacher a Centennial High. He encouraged his students to take part in this highly competitive competition and thinks Brianna's triumph can be motivation for others.

“I think it shows that you don't have to go to magnet schools to have excellent students,” said Brianna's teacher Dr. Matthew Aten.

Brianna always wanted to be in the medical field and her trip to Washington D.C. puts her one step closer to making her dream a reality.

“I was like, ‘If I can do this, I can keep on going,'” she said.

Brianna heads for D.C. next week. She'll have to make three days of presentations to an elite group of scientists. They will judge her and she'll find out if she won next month.

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A real estate agent is recovering at the hospital after being attacked in a vacant home. One source tells Eyewitness News, the man beat the woman so badly she needed brain surgery. Adrienne Augustus has details about this disturbing crime that has realtors here on alert.

It happened in a home near Anasazi and Summerlin Parkway. This isn't the first brutal crime against a real estate agent inside a vacant home here in the valley. Although the suspect in this crime is in custody, it doesn't mean local realtors have let down their guard.

Realtor Magdalena Chonis is on guard even before she walks through the door of a home she is trying to sell. “I check the windows, I check the doors, make sure everything is intact before walking in.”

Once she goes inside, she takes safety a step further. ”I walk with my client and do a visual. Make sure there [are] no sleeping bags, make sure there is nothing in the house that could indicate that there is someone in the house.”

The attack on a fellow realtor earlier this month is a clear reason Chonis must be so careful.

Metro tells us a man broke into a Summerlin home. When the sales agent arrived to have the window fixed, the man attacked her and took off in her car.

“It's just devastating, it's absolutely devastating,” said Chonis. “And I think everybody should take precautions, and everybody should have something with them.”

So when she is alone, she is always ready to defend herself. “And I do have my mace. And I do open it up. And I'm ready, just in case – you never know.”

With mace and a whistle at her fingertips, the Century 21 real estate agent only eyeballs the first few rooms of a home and never goes upstairs or into closets when she is alone.

“You just have to try to be safe as best you can,” she said.

But at the end of the day, Chonis knows every job has its dangers and bad things can happen anywhere.

Metro tells us police in California caught the suspect after a high speed chase near Los Angeles several hours after the attack.

They have not yet released his name or mugshot, but police told Eyewitness News they have positively identified the suspect as the same person who was caught trespassing at Nellis Air Force Base just a few days before the attack.

Right now, they have no idea what the suspect was doing inside this home.

With the lovely weather we're having, we're also starting to see something that can seem alarming, swarms of bees. It can be very unnerving for any of us to see swarms of bees this time of year.

Within the past few days, authorities have gotten several calls from concerned citizens reporting swarms of bees in their neighborhood.

This is typical behavior for bees in March and April because these are the months that bees travel. What's important to know is that when bees swarm they are not demonstrating aggressive behavior. They are actually being passive, protecting their queen.

“Swarms of bees are passive bees. They don't chase animals or sting them, they are usually — you'll see them stop around 11:00 a.m. till about 5 p.m. They will perch along a sidewalk, building, or in a tree, they will look like a basketball or football. That's just the pack of bees staying together, protecting the queen until it gets cooler when they fly again,” said Tim Szymanski with Las Vegas Fire Department.

Unless they are threatened or provoked, a swarm of bees will generally keep to themselves and move on within a day or two.

If you have an actual beehive on your property, do not try to exterminate the bees yourself. This could lead to an attack that could be deadly. It is always advised to call a professional exterminator.

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.

Clark County school officials are hosting a series of meetings beginning at 5 p.m. today  at Del Sol High School to collect public comment about efforts to improve student achievement and community participation.

Click here for meeting schedule

Similar meetings are set tomorrow at the Northwest Careet and Technical Academy, Wednesday at Durango High School and Saturday at Sedway Middle School.

Residents a northwest Las Vegas neighborhood say they're worried about neighborhood safety after a panther attacked a pet dog in the back yard of a home near Ann Road and Durango Drive.

A resident says she called police after she saw the black cat wearing a blue harness walking along her back wall. Police tried to shoot the big cat, but it got away. A neighbor keeps a couple of pet panthers, but it's not clear if the animal came from there.

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

A trial date was set Wednesday morning for the two people charged in the Palo Verde High School shooting. Gerald Davison and Ezekiel Williams both waived their rights to preliminary hearings. Their trial was scheduled for April 23.

Both are charged with murder and attempted murder in the Feb. 15 shooting death of Palo Verde High School student Chris Privett.

Prosecutors added gang and deadly weapon enhancements to the charges.

They're not new charges, but would add weight to the sentencing in the event of a guilty verdict.

Prosecutors say both Williams and Davison are associated with the Squad Up gang and that someone walking with Privett at the time of his death may have been affiliated with another gang.

A 17-year-old is facing several robbery cases, and they may all be combined into a grand jury case. Eyewitness News caught up with the suspect in court at one of three robbery cases still pending. One case was thrown out because there were no witnesses to call.

Burton was also in court to be arraigned in the shooting death of Ashley Furniture Store manager Robert Bills. He was killed last November in what officials called a botched robbery.

A big reward was posted for information leading to an arrest in this case. Several months later, an unnamed witness came forward saying Burton confessed. Burton is being tried as an adult in all cases.

The anonymous witness said Burton planned the robbery based on inside information. Following up on the leads from that witness, police found a sweatshirt with blood on it in Burton's closet and Burton's fingerprints on Bills' car.

“I am not sure whether or not we've made the decision yet as to whether to take it to the grand jury. The grand jury is one method where we can put all the cases together, and we present the jury with the complete picture of this individual's criminal activity,” said David Roger, Clark County D.A.

While the murder case moves through the court system and friends and family of Robert Bills wait for justice, a memorial has been set up at the Ashley Furniture Store on Rainbow and Cheyenne where Bills was shot and killed.

A preliminary hearing for Thayer Burton has been set for March 31st. But District Attorney David Roger says his office will decide shortly whether to proceed with that or hand the case over to a grand jury.

As for whether or not prosecutors will pursue the death penalty, David Roger said that prosecutors are going to wait until after the preliminary hearing or grand jury hearing to see what the evidence shows before they decide whether or not to seek capital punishment.

Metro is holding a news conference this afternoon to talk about recent developments in the murder of an Ashley Furniture manager last year.

Fifty-three-year-old Robert Bills was leaving the store at 3130 Rainbow Road on the night of Nov. 23, 2007 when he was shot in police said was an attempted robbery.

The owner of the furniture store was offering a $100,000 reward to information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for killing Bills.

The news conference will take place at 3 p.m.