CCSD must make choices to balance budget deficit

The Clark County School Board will need to cut $22.5 million to balance its deficit Thursday, but it will be presented with about $27 million in options.

Central services make up 73 percent of the proposed cuts to close the budget hole, with direct services to schools making up the other 27 percent.

The proposed reductions would affect up to 771 current positions, eliminating up to 170 bus drivers and reassigning 167 special education instructional facilitators. Eliminating 40 part-time custodial positions in middle and high schools is another option.

Yet the fourth round of cuts also must make room for two other expenses — $100,000 for a search firm to help find the district’s next superintendent, and $1.5 million for a second audit of district finances that has been increasingly demanded by the public. Coalition’s public awareness campaign aimed at reducing vehicle collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

As part of the donation, Olympia Cos. will allow the nonprofit group to use a billboard facing southbound Interstate 15, just north of the St. Rose Parkway exit, said Gina Traficant, a spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition.

The sign is expected to reach roughly 2 million motorists over the next month, alerting people about a state law that requires drivers to leave at least 3 feet of space on the road when passing a bicyclist. killed last week.

Shortly after 5:50 p.m. on Monday, Las Vegas police said, a 70-year-old man was crossing Desert Inn Road outside a marked crosswalk just east of Eastern Avenue when a 2002 Dodge Neon struck his wheelchair. Police said the man, who was thrown from the chair, later died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

The Dodge’s driver remained on scene, and police said he showed no signs of impairment.

Albert Marquez was struck and killed near the same intersection Nov.

21. Police said the 49-year-old man, who was in a wheelchair, was crossing Desert Inn Road when he was hit by an impaired driver.

The Clark County coroner’s office will identify the man killed Monday once his family has been notified.

The fire was reported about 1:20 a.m. at 1616 G St., near H Street and Owens Avenue, according to Las Vegas Fire Department Spokesman Tim Szymanski.

Firefighters arriving at the scene found the house engulfed in flames, Szymanski said, and it took about 20 minutes for crews to get the blaze under control.

A man at the scene told firefighters the house was empty and that he was looking after it for a relative, Szymanski said.

No one was injured or displaced in the fire and the cause is still under investigation. The fire caused an estimated $150,000 in damage.