700 workers go on strike at the Las Vegas casino. arrested in 2001; Murder of an Oklahoma student unfit for execution. Bodies of snowslide victims found in Utah

700 workers go on strike at the Las Vegas casino

LAS VEGAS – About 700 workers walked off their jobs at a hotel-casino near the Las Vegas Strip Friday morning. Union organizers said it was a 48-hour strike after months of trying to reach agreement on a new five-year contract with Virgin Hotels.

The Culinary Union Local 226 authorized a citywide strike late last year, but reached agreements before year's end with all major hotel-casinos on the Strip, covering about 40,000 workers, and with most downtown and off-Strip hotels The beginning of February includes another 10,000 employees.

Virgin Hotels filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday ahead of the expected strike, accusing the union of failing to bargain in good faith “despite our sincere efforts to meet and negotiate.”

Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union, told reporters at a news conference Thursday that the complaint to the labor department was without merit.

“It is unfortunate and sad that they waited until the eve of the strike to even have such a discussion,” Pappageorge said.

Arrested in 2001 for murdering a student

ATHENS, Ga. — More than two decades after a University of Georgia law student was found dead in her burning home, authorities have arrested a man and charged him with her murder.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Athens-Clarke County Police announced Thursday the arrest of 48-year-old Edrick Faust in connection with the January 2001 murder of Tara Baker. Firefighters found the body of the 23-year-old law student during a fire in Baker's apartment in Athens.

Investigators concluded that Baker had been killed and the fire had been deliberately set, and police have been trying to find Baker's killer ever since. The office's cold case unit teamed up with Athens-Clarke County police in September to conduct an “in-depth review and analysis” of the investigation, the GBI said in a news release.

The release did not say what led investigators to Faust, nor did it explain where or whether he and Baker knew each other. He was booked into the county jail late Thursday on charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated sodomy and arson.

It was not immediately clear whether Faust had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.

Oklahoma inmate not fit for execution

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma judge has ruled that a death row inmate is incompetent to execute after the prisoner received mental evaluations from psychologists for defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Pittsburg County District Judge Tim Mills wrote Thursday that both psychologists found Wade Lay, 63, lacked a “rational understanding” of why he should be executed.

“Given Mr. Lay’s current incompetence, the court concludes that Mr. Lay may not be executed at this time,” Mills wrote in an order signed by defense attorneys and local prosecutors and prosecutors.

Under Oklahoma law, inmates are mentally incompetent to be executed if they are unable to rationally understand the reason for their execution.

Mills ordered that Lay undergo mental health treatment to restore his sanity, which defense attorney Callie Heller said was unlikely.

Lay was sentenced to death for the May 2004 shooting of a security guard as he and his then-19-year-old son attempted to rob a Tulsa bank.

The Oklahoma Court of Appeals is expected to issue a formal stay of execution within days, according to Phil Bacharach, spokesman for Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

“The inmate will receive the necessary treatment so that he can eventually be reassessed and hopefully be deemed capable of paying for his crime,” Bacharach said.

Bodies of snowslide victims found in Utah

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Search crews on Friday recovered the bodies of two backcountry skiers who were swept away and buried by an avalanche in the mountains outside Salt Lake City a day earlier, officials said.

The men – 23-year-old Andrew Cameron of Utah and 32-year-old Austin Mallet of Montana – died in the snow avalanche in the Lone Peak area of ​​the Wasatch Range on Thursday morning. Officials declined to release their hometowns.

Search parties discovered the men's bodies Friday morning, Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said. The bodies were removed from the mountain by helicopter and taken to the medical examiner's office, Salt Lake City police Sgt. Aymee Race said.

Three men were climbing a ridge on a slope called Big Willow Aprons and were near the summit when the slide was accidentally triggered, the U.S. Forest Service's Utah Avalanche Center said in its preliminary report.

The first climber was carried downhill on the right side of the ridge and partially buried. He was able to dig himself out, call for help and was rescued on Thursday afternoon. Race said they would not release his name.

Cameron and Mallet were washed away and buried on the left side of the ridge, the center said. Weather and snow conditions prevented recovery on Thursday.