A high school teacher is under arrest, accused of sexually assaulting a student.

Thirty-nine-year-old Angel Benjamin Menes is a Driver's Education teacher at Durango High School. He was arrested last night after a parent accused the teacher of engaging in sexual activities with a student.

Menes is facing sexual assault and sexual misconduct charges. Investigators believe there may be other students who were victimized by Menes. If you have any information call Crimestoppers at 385-5555.

Another attempted child abduction has been reported and police say that makes 18 in the last four weeks. Someone tried to lure a child into a car near Eileen Conners Elementary School in the northwest.

Metro police officers are increasing patrols around the schools, and students at Eileen Conners are being sent home with letters Friday about this latest abduction attempt that happened there Thursday.

School district officials say more letters will be sent to all parents in the district.

The victim was a 13-year-old girl. She says she was walking down the street to pick up her brother from school when a man in a green car pulled up next to her and asked her to get in.

“As I was walking, he kinda stared at me and I saw him drive past me a couple more times, came to a stop and he asked me if I wanted a ride. You hear a lot of things that happen to kids that actually listen and get in the car with those people and they don't ever return home,” she said.

This makes the 18th time within the last month that Metro officers have received reports of strangers approaching kids at playgrounds, school bus stops and even at a library.

Metro Crimes Against Youth and Family says in many cases, children have been asked to get into a car with a stranger and when the door is opened, the suspect was nude.

As summer gets closer and kids are outside more, police say they expect the number of incidents to increase. So once again they are asking parents to talk to their kids about stranger danger and form an emergency plan.

Metro officers said they have several different suspect descriptions and believe there are several different suspects. To see a list of all of the suspect descriptions, click here. 

Police recommend parents go onto Metro's website for other tips on how to protect your child from stranger danger. They also say it's a good idea to get on the Offender Watch database and see all the registered sex offenders in your area.

Clark County school police say they arrested a 17-year-old student on a felony arson charge after a two-alarm fire in a gym locker room at Palo Verde High School.

School police Capt. James Ketsaa says the teen is being held in juvenile detention pending a court appearance. His name isn't being released.

The fire was reported a little after 9 a.m. Thursday at the school in the Summerlin section of the city.

About 3,400 students were safely evacuated, and fire officials say sprinklers kept the flames in check in a locked and chained area of the boy's locker room until firefighters arrived. No injuries are reported.

A fire spokesman says a bank of lockers was destroyed, and damage was mostly confined to the locker room.

Ketsaa says the teen's motive and method for allegedly setting the fire remains under investigation.

He says clean-up and repairs, including fixing a hole that firefighters had to cut in the roof, could be expensive.

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

There was a two alarm fire at Palo Verde High School Thursday morning. It was in the locker room. Students were evacuated to the football field.

There weren't any injuries. Seven lockers were burned in the fire, which caused $5,000 in damage. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Students are back in class.

Police are looking for a road rage suspect who shot at a couple, leaving the woman in critical condition. It happened on Sunday on US-95 south of Lake Mead in the southbound lanes.

Police say two cars pulled over and the drivers started arguing when the suspect went to the back of his vehicle, pulled out a gun and fired it before taking off. A female inside the car was shot and transported to UMC with life threatening injuries.

They are looking for a 1990's faded burgundy Jeep Cherokee with possible bullet holes in the passenger side tailgate, fender or window. The Jeep had dark tinted windows and paper plates.

The suspect in the Jeep is described as a white or Hispanic male in his mid 20's, 6'1″, 220 pounds with short spiked brown hair.

Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 385-5555.

An angry mother is demanding answers after she says her special needs son was taken from home without her knowledge or permission. Felicia Philips says an assistant principal showed up at her home and took her son, who was home sick, to school without contacting her.

Sixteen-year-old Devon Pollard is a junior at Spring Valley High School. Last Wednesday was testing day for the district, an important day for students but Devon was home sick. He's a special needs student and says he got scared when he saw one of his assistant principals at his door threatening to suspend him if he didn't get into her car.

The report filled out by Clark County School District police refers to the incident as suspicious circumstances/kidnapping.

Philips said she had Devon stay home from school because he didn't feel good. She left for work and says about one hour later an assistant principal showed up at the house.

 ”It was a lady that worked at school. I recognized her, and she said 'Devon are you going to school to take the test?' I said 'I don't know I am not feeling well.' She said 'if you don't I'm going to RPC you,'” said Pollard.

RPC stands for request parent conference and can sometimes lead to suspension. Pollard who is a special needs student and works at a second grade level, says he felt he had no other choice.

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“She said 'I'll be outside waiting, I'll give you give you five minutes,'” Devon said. He did get into the car and was taken to school. His mother is furious and says she was never contacted.

“To me this is like kidnapping a minor especially without a guardian's authority. For somebody taking my son off my property. I don't care if they want to take him to school. They can't do that without a parent's authority,” said Philips.

She says the principal at Spring Valley would not return her calls so she finally went to the school on Monday.

“They did apologize and told me it was wrong and asked me what I wanted for compensation. I said I did not know. Bottom line is this can not to happen again,” she said.

Philips says none of the emergency contacts on Devon's personal chart were contacted, letting them know he was going to be picked up by an administrator. Eyewitness News did contact the high school principal but the phone calls were not returned. The school district says they cannot comment . Devon's mom is now hoping to start a parent committee to help keep this from happening to other students.

Click here to email reporter Chris Saldaña.

An angry mother is demanding answers after she says her special needs son was taken from home without her knowledge or permission. Felicia Philips says an assistant principal showed up at her home and took her son, who was home sick, to school without contacting her.

Sixteen-year-old Devon Pollard is a junior at Spring Valley High School. Last Wednesday was testing day for the district, an important day for students but Devon was home sick. He’s a special needs student and says he got scared when he saw one of his assistant principals at his door threatening to suspend him if he didn’t get into her car. (more…)

Concerns are mounting that the $900 million state budget crisis could get worse. Thursday Governor Jim Gibbons was in town and he outlined how he intends to decide what to cut.

So far the conventional wisdom has been correct, it's going to get worse before it gets better. The governor said some departments will be spared from further cuts, while everyone had better get used to the same old, same old everywhere else.

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K-12, public safety, corrections and juvenile justice. Should it stay or should it go? These are the decisions haunting Governor Gibbons. $900 million is looming and more programs want more money than ever before.

In the end, Nevada will be left with old buildings instead of new construction.

“We're not eliminating them, we're deferring those capital improvement projects into the future,” said Gibbons.

That means more of the same for prisons like the one in Jean — it was supposed to be torn down. Instead, it becomes a pricey fixer-upper.

“We're going to stop that and hopefully be able revitalize it,” he said.

Gibbons says new lanes for I-15 will go forward. The contracts are already underway so drivers will see some relief. But that might be the end for years and the shortfalls may actually get worse.

“Well, let me say that that decision is very troubling,” he said.

To make things worse, Gibbons isn't pleased with a recent court ruling. It says comped casino meals aren't taxable. Bottom line is the state has to pay millions back to resorts all over the state. That's money the state doesn't have.

“Nobody said being governor would be easy,” said Gibbons.

While healthcare, early education and some public services are safe, the future of Nevada will look a lot like today: no new buildings, no new equipment, no new jobs and until the economy improves, the same old problems.

Gibbons is going to meet with lawmakers on Monday to put together the latest list of cuts. It appears higher education may also see cuts. They are not being exempted for right now.

Email your comments to Reporter Jonathan Humbert

One man was shot in the lower leg by a Metro officer after the man allegedly threatened another man with a bat.

The shooting happened Wednesday afternoon at an apartment complex on west Sahara near Fort Apache.

Metro police say the incident started with a family disturbance call. ”The first arriving officer observed a suspect, who had armed himself, that was attacking a bystander the officer fired. The suspect was taken into custody by several officers and transported to an area hospital his condition unknown,” said Metro officer Bill Cassell.

The suspect was taken to UMC.

The recent rash of gang violence near Clark County schools has caused Metro's Gang Unit to begin a series of meetings at local schools.

The unit will begin a series of “First Wednesday” training sessions at various schools starting Wednesday, April 2, 2008. The first meeting will be at Arbor View High School, 7500 Whispering Sands Dr. starting at 6 p.m.

The meeting is open to all CCSD staff and parents but closed to students and children.