Las Vegas is still one of the most likely places to have your car stolen. Las Vegas ranks number two in the nation for auto theft per capita.

That is down slightly from the past two years when Las Vegas was in the top spot. That designation now goes to Modesto, California. The report is compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Top 10 metro areas by per capita auto theft rate for 2007

1. Modesto, Calif.

2. Las Vegas/Paradise, Nev.

3. San Diego/Carlsbad/San Marcos, Calif.

4. Stockton, Calif.

5. San Francisco/Oakland/Fremont, Calif.

6. Laredo, Texas

7. Albuquerque, N.M.

8. Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale, Ariz.

9. Yakima, Wash.

10. Tucson, Ariz.

Ridership on the Las Vegas Monorail is off to a better start this year, with first quarter seeing an increase 19 percent over the first three months of 2007. The numbers are also better than 2006, but still below the 2.3 million rider level in the first quarter of 2005.

Total revenue for the first quarter was $7,346,743.

Read the complete press release here | Search the LasVegasNOW.com archives for Monorail articles

Lead by short sales and foreclosures, home sales rose 35 percent last month, extending the upward swing to three months according to the March real estate report released today by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. On a yearly basis, sales are off nearly 8 percent from March of 2007. The median price of homes continued to decline, and now stands at $243,000, down 1.4 percent from February and down 20.3 percent from March of 2007.

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Nevada scores poorly when it comes to the well being of its children, especially in the areas of uninsured children and children incarcerated.

Those findings are part of a new report by Every Child Matters, which is a non-profit group that bases its rankings on 10 standards.

The group uses child well-being standards to ranks the states from best to worst. Nevada ranked 43rd in the nation our of all 50 states. It’s worst rankings included; uninsured children, child welfare expenses, child vulnerability and juvenile incarceration.  (more…)