Boy struck, killed by truck named

Police say driver not currently facing charges

The Clark County coroner’s office identified the 4-year-old boy killed Monday evening after he and his family were struck by a truck while walking in a central valley crosswalk.

Just before 6:30 p.m., Abdulwahab Noori, his mother and two sisters, ages 2 and 3, were crossing Katie Avenue east of Maryland Parkway when they were struck by a 1995 Dodge Ram pickup driven by 74-year-old Manuel Frias, Las Vegas police said.

Frias did not slow the pickup before striking Abdulwahab and his family as they crossed Katie in a marked crosswalk, which does not

FAMILY

Though dealing with endangered species issues can be “frustrating,” Brown said, the county has a good working relationship with federal agencies and the environmental community.

“There has to be a balance,” he said. “Where do we draw the line on the use of taxpayers’ money and the true protection of the environment?”

Cornelisse said the rare native bees are easy enough to spot if you know what to look for. They are smaller than common honeybees, and the males tend to stake out individual flowers and aggressively defend them from other males. If you see two bees covered in pollen wrestling around in a Las Vegas bear-poppy blossom, you’re probably looking at Mojave poppy bees.

“It’s really easy to see why they’re such good pollinators,” she said.

One bee listed

By law, the Fish and Wildlife Service has 90 days to review the center’s petition and decide if enough evidence exists for a full status review. That review, which must be finished within a year, would determine whether the species should be listed.

According to its website, the Center for Biological Diversity has filed hundreds of petitions to expand the nation’s list of endangered species and won federal listing for more

than 350 rare plants and animals. The group has also sued the Fish and Wildlife Service numerous times for failing to review its petitions in a timely manner.

The center has drawn criticism for its tactics, while others blame the Endangered Species Act itself.

Though recent polls show strong public support for the landmark law, critics note that just 1 percent of the roughly 2,000 species protected under the act have seen their conditions improve enough to be delisted, despite the tens of millions of dollars spent on recovery efforts.

Supporters of the act cite high-profile success stories such as the bald eagle, the gray wolf and the grizzly bear. They also argue that protecting individual species can lead to the preservation of entire ecosystems — and the recreation economies that depend on them.

Currently the Upper Midwest’s rusty patched bumblebee is the only bee in the continental United States protected as an endangered species.

Cornelisse and company said the disappearance of the Mojave poppy bee is part of a wider decline across many of the 4,000-plus species of wild, native bees in the U.S.

The group blames the loss of wild pollinators on disease, habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change and the spread of invasive species.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @Refriedbrean on Twitter.