WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news

A man once recognized as an outstanding foster parent by a nonprofit group now stands accused of abusing at least two foster children in his care, police said.

Marvie Hill, 37, was arraigned Thursday on 20 counts of open and gross lewdness, five of lewdness with a minor under 14, one of sexual assault of a minor under 14, and one of child abuse.

The felony charges involve two victims.

Police said a third possible victim also has come forward.

Hill's foster-care license has been revoked, and all foster children have been removed from his home.

From 2005 to 2007, Hill ran a controversial halfway home for people convicted of sex crimes.

Monday

Schools start thin

The new year began with larger classes and fewer electives for Clark County's 357 schools and more than 300,000 students.

After an arbitration victory by the teachers union that forced the district to pay $30 million in raises, Superintendent Dwight Jones cut 1,000 teaching positions this summer.

As a result, class sizes were expected to increase by an average of three students to 35 students per class.

Tuesday

Augustine found dead

Dallas Augustine, the 32-year-old daughter of murdered Nevada politician Kathy Augustine, was found dead in her Arizona home in what police are calling an apparent murder-suicide.

Phoenix police said it appeared that Augustine killed her partner, Jessie McCaskill, 50, before taking her own life.

Her mother, Kathy Augustine, died July 8, 2006, in the Reno home she shared with husband Chaz Higgs, who claimed she had a heart attack.

He was convicted in 2007 of murdering her with an injection of a nearly untraceable drug and is now serving a life sentence.

Wednesday

Jet's arrival uncertain

Plans to deliver the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets to Nellis Air Force Base early next year hinge on uncertain defense budget cuts and potential layoffs at the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

Three dozen of the stealthy warplanes are supposed to be based in Southern Nevada.

Automatic defense budget cuts of $492 billion will take effect in January if Congress can't agree on another deficit-reduction plan or act to delay the current plan, as Republican senators suggested after a recent trip to Nellis during a cross-country tour of military bases.

Thursday

GOP: No web gaming

A plank in the Republican platform, approved at the party's national convention in Tampa, Fla., calls for a "prohibition" on Internet gaming.

The language - listed under the heading "Making the Internet Family-Friendly" - goes against the position taken by most of the gaming industry and of the state's Republican elected leaders.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, who addressed the convention on Tuesday, said he doesn't support the platform language.

Friday

Abducted in Henderson

Police were searching for a Henderson teenager they said was abducted from her home and was being held for ransom.

Family members and Henderson police said the kidnapping happened about 7:30 a.m. on Esquina Drive, near Warm Springs Road and Valle Verde Drive.

Two men knocked on the front door of a home. When 17-year-old Melissa Duran answered the door, the men snatched her and sped away in a red Saturn. The girl's mother got a call later from someone demanding money.

SWAT officers rescued the girl early Saturday morning and arrested two men at a Las Vegas apartment complex.