News briefs from across Nevada

Gas station explodes in North Las Vegas

NORTH LAS VEGAS - Firefighters say an explosion has rocked a gas station in North Las Vegas, tearing the roof off the station and propelling the front door 100 feet.

Nobody was injured or killed, and firefighters say the gas station had been closed recently.

Bystanders reported the explosion and a fireball at the East Craig Road gas station early Sunday. Freighters say the gas pumps were not the source of the explosion, and an investigation would try to determine the cause.

Forty firefighters from North Las Vegas, Clark County and Las Vegas fire departments were able to contain the fire to the gas station, a single-story building of about 1,000 square feet.

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More than half of Reno-area mortgages underwater

RENO - A new report says the number of upside-down homes in the Reno-Sparks area has declined, but industry experts say that could be because of an increase in foreclosures.

A report by CoreLogic shows more than half of the mortgaged homes in the area are valued at less than what is owed on the loan.

The report estimates nearly 53,000 residential properties, or 55 percent, of homes with an active mortgage have negative equity.

An analyst with the University of Nevada, Reno's Center for Regional Studies says once a loan is in default, it's no longer counted in the underwater category.

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Holdup backfires at Las Vegas-area liquor store

LAS VEGAS - A juvenile was shot and wounded during an attempted robbery at a Las Vegas-area liquor store.

Metro police told the Las Vegas Sun that the store's clerk shot the juvenile twice.

Police say he was taken to a hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries.

The shooting happened around 10 p.m. Saturday at JB Liquor store on East Tropicana Avenue in the east-central valley.

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Man shot, killed outside of Las Vegas bar

LAS VEGAS - Police say a man was shot and killed outside a tavern off the Las Vegas Strip.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that the 29-year-old victim died of multiple gunshot wounds in the parking lot of the Red Label Bar.

Police received the call around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. They found bullet cartridges and two vehicles that had been shot up.

University Medical Center told authorities that a man suffering from gunshot wounds had been brought by friends to the trauma unit, where he was pronounced dead.

The Clark County Coroner's Office was withholding the man's identify pending family notification.

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Nevada dodges wildfire bullet

RENO - Nevada is closing 2010 with less land scorched by wildfire than any other year except for one in the past decade.

Only 15 fires larger than 100 acres have been recorded over the year across the Silver State. They charred 21,688 acres, according to the Western Great Basin Coordination Center.

This is the third year in a row in which Nevada ducked the wildfire bullet.

The last big fire year was in 2007, when 888 fires burned 890,171 acres.

One of those fires destroyed 254 houses on the California side of Lake Tahoe.

Only in 2003, when 17,546 acres burned, did Nevada see fewer wildfires.

Experts credited the lack of prolonged hot spells and absence of lightning with the prevailing southwesterly flows of this summer.

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Tahoe resorts gear up for hiring

RENO (AP) - Ski areas in the Lake Tahoe region are looking to hire thousands of workers this winter.

Hiring time is just around the corner, and the resorts are gearing up for annual job fairs.

Overall, resorts said they'll hire at least as many employees as last year, and in some cases more.

New developments at several of the resorts are the reason for an increase in hiring.

Heavenly Mountain Resort says it plans to hire about 1,100 workers. Alpine Meadows and Sugar Bowl are looking to fill about 800 jobs each.

Most of the workers are from Reno and Truckee. Unlike Utah resorts, the Tahoe resorts recruit few seasonal workers from oversees.

Utah resorts recruit young people from Australia and New Zealand who bring a distinctive accent to jobs like lift attendant.