Nevada briefly

Krolicki prosecutor still needed

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Nevada attorney general's office says it's vetting special prosecutors in private practice to handle the charges against Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and his chief of staff.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Christine Guerci-Nyhus told a judge Wednesday that several public prosecutors had refused to take up the case.

Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish ruled last month that the attorney general's office had a conflict of interest and couldn't prosecute Krolicki and Kathryn Besser on charges they misappropriated funds.

The attorney general is appealing that ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Both officials have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Guerci-Nyhus says the office hopes to have identified a special prosecutor by mid-July.

New federal BLM chief nominated

(AP) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says President Obama has nominated Bob Abbey, a former top Interior Department official in Nevada, to head the federal Bureau of Land Management.

"I can't think of a more qualified person to head the BLM than Bob Abbey," said Reid, who recommended Abbey to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"With his extensive experience in Nevada, a state where nearly 90 percent of the land is federally managed, our state will have a friend at the BLM who understands the challenges we face in managing and preserving Nevada's great outdoors and its immense renewable energy resources."

Abbey served eight years as the BLM's director in Nevada, retiring in 2005. He also helped former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt complete a Utah wilderness inventory 10 years ago. More recently, he has been in private practice as a Nevada-based consultant.

4 new swine flu cases reported in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Health and school officials in southern Nevada say they have confirmed four new cases of swine flu stemming from an elementary school in Las Vegas.

The Clark County School District said Wednesday that four students from Marion Earl Elementary School had a mild form of the illness.

The Southern Nevada Health District says the positive tests came from six samples analyzed by the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory.

Nevada State Health Division spokeswoman Martha Framsted says the new cases brought the Clark County confirmed total to 38 and the statewide total to 146 cases.

Southern Nevada health officials say they are not recommending that the school be closed, but they do recommend parents keep children home if they are ill.