Nation in brief: Committee votes down brothel tax

A proposal to levy a $5 tax on sex acts in Nevada brothels has died in a state Senate committee.

The 4-3 vote against the proposal Thursday in the Nevada Senate Taxation Committee was one shy of the four needed to keep the proposal afloat.

Committee Chairman Bob Coffin, the Las Vegas Democrat who sponsored the bill, says the state is desperate for revenue and has not collected taxes from prostitution since it was legalized in some rural counties more than 30 years ago. Coffin has estimated the tax would’ve raised at least $2 million a year.

Sen. Mike McGinness, a Republican from Fallon who voted against the tax, says he wouldn’t support a new tax on services.

Indianapolis

Sword fight leads to woman’s death

A 77-year-old woman who tried to break up a heated sword fight between her grandson and brother-in-law died, and both men were hospitalized with stab wounds, police said Thursday.

Franziska Stegbauer was stabbed during the fight and investigators were trying to determine whether she died from those wounds or a heart attack.

Police placed her grandson, 39-year-old Chris Rondeau, under arrest on a preliminary charge of attempted murder. Stegbauer’s brother-in-law, 69-year-old Adolf Stegbauer, suffered several serious stab wounds, police said.

“We’re unsure yet who started this fight, how the swordplay got involved,” police Sgt. Matthew Mount said. “We’re not sure who it was who stabbed the woman. We’ll have to do some testing on the swords and figure out who had which sword, whose blood is on which sword.”

Adolf Stegbauer was listed in critical condition at Wishard Hospital, a spokesman said. Rondeau’s condition was not immediately known.

Midwest City, Okla.

Wildfires spread amid high winds

Fire crews in Oklahoma and Texas raced Thursday to control wind-whipped wildfires that destroyed dozens of homes, forced evacuations and shut down parts of a major highway.

Howling wind that had gusted to more than 50 mph grounded firefighting efforts by air in Oklahoma and drove blazes that scorched neighborhoods like “a war zone,” Midwest City police Chief Brandon Clabes said.

“The wind is the biggest issue, because we can’t get ahead of the fires,” Midwest City Fire Marshal Jerry Lojka said. By nightfall, wind gusts dropped to about 30 mph in many areas.

Oklahoma County Sheriff John Wetsel said an estimated 100 homes or other structures were damaged or destroyed in northeast Oklahoma County, which includes Midwest City.

Interstate 35, the state’s main north-south highway, was closed in Carter and Payne counties.

From wire reports