Top News

Roughly 128,000 Nevadans found themselves out of work last month, according to figures released by state officials.

Unemployment hit 9.1 percent in December, the highest rate Nevada has seen in a generation.

And the jobless rate is expected to get worse before it gets better.

An analysis released Wednesday warns the rate could reach 11.4 percent by early next year, forcing the state to seek a federal loan to pay laid-off workers.

Joblessness in Clark County also hit 9.1 percent in December, up from 7.9 percent in November, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

The national jobless rate was 7.2 percent last month.

MONDAY

MEDICAID CUT DECRIED

Doctors warned lawmakers that a proposed 5 percent cut in what providers receive for treating Medicaid patients could further reduce treatment options for the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the blind.

The Medicaid cut, proposed as part of the governor's two-year budget, comes on top of a 5 percent reduction approved by the Legislature in December.

Doctors have been complaining for years that Medicaid does not cover their treatment costs.

Two physicians testified that another cut would prompt even more physicians to stop treating Medicaid patients.

TUESDAY

ELECTION FILING BEGINS

The battle over whether Las Vegas should build a new City Hall drew a candidate into the race for City Council, as filing began for the upcoming municipal elections.

Real estate agent Scott Anderson, who says it's "too much of a stretch" for Las Vegas to pursue building a new City Hall right now, filed a challenge to Ward 6 incumbent Steve Ross.

Elsewhere, candidates began to trickle in for mayor of Henderson and mayor of North Las Vegas, two posts now up for grabs because of term limits.

WEDNESDAY

STRIP TO GO DARK

Local officials announced plans for a rare tribute: Signs and message boards along the Strip will power down for an hour on March 28 as part of a global event intended to raise awareness of climate change.

Las Vegas is a flagship city for Earth Hour 2009, a World Wildlife Fund movement encouraging individuals, governments and businesses to dim or turn out lights.

Nearly two dozen properties off the boulevard also will take part. Even the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign will go dark.

THURSDAY

HOW MUCH FOR TUITION?

Education leaders said Nevada's colleges and universities would have to raise tuition by 225 percent to cover Gov. Jim Gibbons' $473 million in cuts to the system.

Under that purely theoretical scheme, tuition at UNLV would approach $9,500 a year, about $500 more than what California residents pay to attend the University of California, Berkeley.

That won't happen but higher education officials agree that some, far smaller tuition increase is likely to come next year.

FRIDAY

TOUR BUS CRASHES

Seven people were killed and nine others suffered serious or critical injuries when a bus carrying Chinese tourists overturned 27 miles south of the Hoover Dam.

The bus was returning from a trip to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon when it crashed about 3 p.m., ejecting most of the passengers.

Authorities said it would be a few days before the cause of the accident was known.