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egislative auditor of nevada which raises concerns.reading: "there is an increased risk to the he...  More »

egislative auditor of nevada which raises concerns.reading: "there is an increased risk to the health and safety of children at child care facilities."out of 50 case studies, the auditors found state inspectors were late at conducting checks 14 percent of the time - with some site visits running 8 months behind the legal requirements.they also discovered that the state government did not always follow up with facilities out of complience with health and SAFETY LAWS. These are not that seriousNEWS 4 TOOK THE audit to wendy simons the chief of the state bureu of healthcare quality and compliance which overseas most inspections after an order by the state legislature.to be fair... when this audit was done, the checks were conducted under the division of family and child care SERVICES INSTEAD.I was not concerned when I read the audit findings, what ran thought my head is that every agency has accountable measures they need to attend to.- So being late on inspections and not finding things isn't serious?Being late on inspections, timeliness of inspections is expected. It will always be 05:01 pm affected by workforce availability.SIMONS SAYS during the time of the audit, the state had just taken over inspecting hundreds of new facilities because clark county cut the budget for it's local program... and dumped it ON THE STATE. I would assume part of the delay in inspections timeliness was due to that overload and the surge of license responsibility.- so you think that was just a temporarily problem?- Absolutely, I know we are 100 percent on time right now.THE state says it's getting better... but possibly the scariest... you may not know áwho is taking care of your children.state law mandates people hired at facilties get background checks making sure they don't have a history of child abuse or neglict... those checks do not have to be performed until áafter they are hired... but... they must be done with-in three days of hiring.however that's not even happening:auditors did a random check of 20-employees at facilites around the state...they discovered of those 20 .. 19-were ánot given timely background checks.the average person was working for 05:02 pm more than three weeks... taking care of children.. before any background check was performed.in this admittly small sample... it was a 95-percent failure rate. simmons says the background checks not being done on time is more the fault of the child care facilities than her agency.she suggests parents be PROACTIVE.An agency can't catch everything, but a parent placing a child in care can say, I'd like to see your records of notification and the fact that your employees have been checked.- bottom line, are kids safe in these facilities?Do I think they are safe? Would I place my child or my grand child in a childcare facility, yes.AND simons says they're getting even safer now the problems in this audit are being corrected. 3 >it's also important to note to that washoe county handles all of their own inspections. the state agency covers rest of nevada.simons also tells me she is going to ask lawmarkers to create tougher pentalities for facilities failing to report new employees on time. 05:03 pm and she believes that will cut down on a lot of this problem. if you'd like to read the whole audit for yourself, it's up on my news 4 dot com.live in the studio, ben briscoe, news 4. 3 >> federal auditors say a nonprofit nevada fire safety group mismanaged 2-point-7 million in federal grants. the office of inspector general is condemning lax oversight and internal controls by the nevada fire safecouncil. council officials say they are addressing the issues. the investigation is ongoing. coming up on news four at six, we'll tell you what sparked the investigation. 3 >> now we'll turn things over to brandon wholey for a first check on the forecast...things are looking pretty good right now, but are they going to change, brandon? 3 05:04 pm >>more human 3remains have been found in the area near the former property of convicted killer wesley shermantine .kcra in sacramento is reporting a partial skull and bones were found near the former shermantine property in rural calaveras county.it is unclear if the remains were found in the same spot where a human skull was found thursday. the department of justice is working to identify the remains.shermantine was the 05:05 pm criminal partner of loren herzog. 3 >> the previously stricken adam walsh act will be upheld. the ninth circuit court of appeals is granting nevada's request to overturn an injunction against enforcement of the law.the law establishes a comprehensive national system to register sex offenders... expanding individuals required to register and the time period during which sex offenders are required to register. 3 >>senator harry reid and congresswoman shelley berkley are giving campaign contributions from power broker harvey whittemore to chariy.this... after agents with the fbi served subpoenas to whittemore's former and current employees and associates in an investigation into his campaign contribution activities. 3 >> more than 24 hours after the white house announced a 25- billion dollar mortgage settlement.... nevada's attorney general has finally spoken publically about it. today catherine cortez masto held a news conference in las vegas saying she got nevada a better deal than what was first presented to her in the nationwide deal.nevada will 05:06 pm get one-point-5 billion dollars from the settlement... and another 30-million in funds for consumer protection programs.bank of america will have to take special actions involving just nevada. 3 ((9:21"this conduct and this settlement is important for another reason...it give these state AG's oversight of the banks for the first time. )) 3 >>the reforms include the elimination of robo- signing...which is signing off on thousands of mortage documents without verifying them. 3 >>a lot of talk this week about what the state's role should or shouldn't be in spurring the economy. here's a look at what anjeanette damon is working on for this week's to the point. 3 (( ))governor brian sandoval this week released an ambitious new economic development plan that identifies seven key industry sectors in which he hopes to promote job growth... his goal is to add 50,000 new jobs to the economy by the endof 2014... but while his economic development efforts have won support from lawmakers on both 05:07 pm sides of the aisle, not everyone agrees the governor should be using tax dollars to promote job growth... conservatives at the nevada policy research institute believe governor sandoval's plan could fall victim to political cronyism... here's npri's geoffrey lawrence... sot (25)...come out of thisyou can catch my full interview with mr. lawrence as well as a recap of what went right and what went wrong with the nevada caucuses tomorrow evening 3 at 6:30 on to the point... back to you. 3 >> burning man organizers are saying.. "we're sorry" tonight. organizers wrote on the event's blog this week... they're sorry moving to a lottery ticket system has 05:08 pm caused headaches for thousands of burners.the lottery system left many who create art installations... themed camps... and other important pieces of the "counter culture" event.... out in the cold.it also cut our local retailers out of the ticket sales loop. 3 (( out: way things should go))3 3 on the blog... burng man organizers say... the resullts of the ticket drawing will stand.... and they are working to preserve the fabric of their culture. 3 >> one of reno's home breweriess has reportedly made and poured its last beer. buckbean brewery in reno is closing it's doors.after four years of brewing craft canned beers, the brewery will be closing its doors february 29th.owner, doug booth, tells news 4 the sluggish economy and higher-than-projected cost eventually forced the reno business to close.buckbean 05:09 pm opened in april 2008, and several unique, specialty beers have been served in northern nevada bars, restaurants and grocery stores. 3 (( It's just en really special to gain a lot of friends and I want to thank all of our customers.. .......keep 3 our relationship in the future)) 3 >> booth hopes his loyal fans will come in for a last beer. buckbean brewing company is located on 1155 south rock blvd #490 in reno. 3 >> a fernley judge might have struck a deal...to get out of charges that he was abusing his power...up next, the d-a will explain his decision... 3 >>but first--- here's a look at today's numbers from wall street. stay with us -- news four at five will be right back.  « Less