News in brief

Jonathan Rest

EMPLOYEES at the Nevada insurance department are enjoying an unexpected few days off after some unlikely intruders forced the closure of their office in Carson City. The problem stemmed from an effort earlier this month to rid the building of pigeons. The building owner hired a contractor to get rid of the pigeons, which were nesting in the building’s heating and air-conditioning system. The substance sprayed into the system by the contractor aggravates the mucous glands of pigeons – but it also affected the workers. “Immediately after that, certain people reacted to that. Some reacted sooner than others,” Robin Reedy, chief of staff for state governor, Jim Gibbons, said. No-one was hospitalised. The entire heating and air-conditioning system has had to be replaced. About 75 employees work in the office. Some will be transferred to other locations in the state to work until a new building is ready in the next two to three weeks.