Nevada
Traffic, flight delays due to Vegas flooding
LAS VEGAS - Intense thunderstorms drenched parts of the Southwest on Tuesday, delaying flights and stranding motorists in the Las Vegas area and flooding two mobile home parks in Southern California.
East of downtown Las Vegas, TV news video showed yellow school buses inching slowly along swamped roads in some neighborhoods and muddy brown water up to the lower windowsills of stucco homes in others.
The National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm and flash-flood warnings before and after almost an inch of rain was reported at McCarran International Airport about 2 p.m.
In Southern California, a thunderstorm that dropped more than the average annual rainfall on parts of the Coachella Valley in one night alone caused flooding at two mobile home parks and forced road closures, officials said Tuesday.
New York
Statue of Liberty interior to reopen
NEW YORK - Visitors to the Statue of Liberty will once again be able to go inside the monument, starting next month.
David Luchsinger, superintendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, made the announcement Tuesday. He said the interior of the statue would be open to the public again starting Oct. 28. That's the Statue of Liberty's 126th birthday.
The interior had been closed to visitors since October 2011 as part of a renovation project.
California
Jury awards $20M more to casino mogul
LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday awarded casino mogul Steve Wynn $20 million in punitive damages in his slander suit against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis.
That brings the total damages awarded to Wynn in the case to $40 million.
The jury found Francis knowingly made false statements when he told reporters and others that Wynn had threatened to kill him and bury his body in the desert amid a spat over a gambling debt. Because the jury found that Francis acted with malice, Wynn was able to seek additional punitive damages. With the original $2 million gambling bill and a $7.5 million defamation judgment awarded by a Nevada judge this year, Francis owes Wynn close to $50 million.
8 infants exposed to TB at hospital
SAN FRANCISCO - Eight infants were exposed to tuberculosis at the neonatal intensive care unit of a Sacramento hospital, but health officials said Tuesday it's unlikely the babies will contract the disease.
The babies were doing well and weren't exhibiting any symptoms of tuberculosis but will receive antibiotic treatment as a precaution, Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said.
In addition, doctors will conduct follow-up tests in six months to see if the children are infected.
New Jersey
Woman denies causing penis-injection death
NEWARK - A New Jersey woman pleaded not guilty Tuesday to causing a man's death with an injection of silicone he hoped would enlarge his penis - a procedure experts cautioned doesn't work.
Kasia Rivera, 35, could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of reckless manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Justin Street.
Street, a father of two, had gone to Rivera on May 5 seeking a penile enlargement procedure, which prosecutors say Rivera advertised in fliers posted at local businesses.
Rivera, who performed the procedures in her apartment, allegedly with no medical license or training, administered a silicone shot to Street's penis, according to prosecutors. Street died the next day.
Wire reports
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