Heller named to Natural Resources Committee

Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., has been named to the Natural Resources Committee.

He said he was pleased because that was his first choice of assignments.

"With well over 80 percent of the land within Nevada controlled by the federal government, it is vital that Nevada has a voice on the resources committee," he said in a release Wednesday.

Heller was also named to the Small Business Committee, which, he said, fits well with his experience in both banking and as Nevada's Secretary of State, which registers and monitors the businesses and corporations operating in Nevada.

Hawthorne woman sentenced in embezzlement case

Carla Trujillo, 28, of Hawthorne, was sentenced to 12 to 48 months in prison for embezzling money from the Financial Horizons Credit Union in Hawthorne.

Trujillo had earlier pleaded guilty in Mineral County District Court. She was formerly employed at the business as president of finance and operations.

Deputy Attorney General Erik Levin contended during the sentencing that Trujillo used her position to illegally transfer more than $106,000 to her personal accounts and other accounts for her personal use. The transfers took place over a period of 30 months.

The Nevada Attorney General's Office agreed to take on the Trujillo case because of a potential conflict of interest in the Mineral County District Attorney's Office.

Former Democratic candidate gets Carson City position

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Tessa Hafen, who lost a bid as a Democrat to unseat incumbent Rep. Jon Porter, R-Las Vegas, has taken a job as a lobbyist with the University of Nevada Health Sciences Center in Carson City.

Hafen, 30, will be paid $100,000 as manager of government relations with the center through June 30, Health Sciences Center Chief Operating Officer Marcia Turner said.

Hafen was an aide to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., for eight years before running for Congress.

She will oversee day-to-day actions at the Health Science Center in Carson City as it lobbies the Legislature for funding, and will deal with the various private stakeholders, Turner said.

Invasive zebra mussels found in Lake Mead

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A live zebra mussels, pesky mollusks that can wreck havoc on pipes and motors, were discovered in Lake Mead last weekend, the first time the invasive species have appeared in the lake, officials said Wednesday.

The mussels were found Jan. 6 on a cable anchoring the breakwater near the Las Vegas Boat Harbor marina on the western side of the lake, and have since turned up in other locations.

Officials said they are still trying to determine the extent of the infestation.

"We are very concerned about this discovery, and its potential impacts on Lake Mead," said Bill Dickinson, Lake Mead National Recreation Area superintendent, in a statement. "We are taking immediate action, in cooperation and consultation with other resource agencies, to assess the extent of the problem, and to develop a management plan."

Zebra mussels reproduce quickly and can clog pipes in water systems. They were inadvertently introduced into waters near the Great Lakes in the mid-1980s.