Top News

An estimated 1,600 Nevadans will lose their jobless benefits by today after Republican lawmakers killed a Democrat-backed jobs bill that included an extension of weekly benefits for the unemployed.

Every Republican and one Democrat in the U.S. Senate voted against the bill, complaining that the measure would drive up the deficit because the spending was not offset by cuts elsewhere.

Nevada's 14 percent unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. It includes Las Vegas resident Gordon Jones, who was laid off from his job as a car salesman in October 2008.

Jones said he received his last $375 unemployment check on June 2 and doesn't know what he is going to do now.

"You can't even get a job at 7-Eleven or McDonald's here," Jones said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., blasted Republicans for blocking the bill, accusing the GOP of being more interested in bringing down President Barack Obama than helping the American people.

"They figure as bad as they can make the economy, the better off they will be," Reid said.

"As we learned from the health care debate, (Republicans) want everything that Obama wants to be his Waterloo."

Monday

Nye D.A. Off the case

Noting what he called a "clear-cut conflict of interest," a judge in Pahrump disqualified Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett from pursuing charges against the sheriff's detective who arrested him last month.

Senior Judge Robert Estes said he would appoint an outside prosecutor to handle the charges against Detective David Boruchowitz, whom Beckett has accused of abusing his authority and targeting political candidates for harassment.

The same special prosecutor also will decide whether to charge Beckett with embezzlement and the other crimes for which he was booked on May 5.

Tuesday

The end of dace?

State water regulators decided to proceed with a test to pump massive amounts of groundwater out of wells at the Coyote Springs development, even though an independent study suggests the pumping could wipe out a federally protected species of fish.

Martin Mifflin, the hydrologist whose firm prepared the study, warned state officials during a meeting not to proceed with the pumping until they determined why 60 percent of the endangered Moapa dace died in 2007 and 2008.

He said the population drop coincided with increased pumping to water the golf course at the stalled Coyote Springs residential development.

Wednesday

Plotting in prison

In a plot straight out of the crime thriller "The Usual Suspects," four men who met in prison have been indicted for a violent crime spree that prosecutors say they hatched while behind bars.

Leonard Hunt, 33, David Hayes, 35, Jovan Carter, 23, and Abdul Shakir, 40, are facing dozens of felony charges in connection with at least 15 home invasion robberies since the beginning of the year.

Prosecutors said the men were in prison on other felony convictions when they began planning their crimes and the methods they would use to evade capture.

Thursday

Lady's luck changing?

Plans for expanding and renovating the Lady Luck casino are moving forward, and construction could start by early next year, a developer said.

The downtown casino closed in 2006 for renovations and has been shuttered ever since.

The Las Vegas Planning Commission approved plans to renovate rooms, add pool and meeting space and upgrade the casino.

The Las Vegas City Council is scheduled to consider the proposals July 21.

Friday

Awand Sentenced

Former medical consultant Howard Awand was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to report the criminal activity of his co-defendants in what began as a fraud case involving doctors and lawyers.

Senior U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush also ordered Awand, 65, to pay $700,000 in restitution to the victim in the case.

The judge ruled that Awand may serve his prison sentence while serving the four-year term he received in a separate case for willfully failing to pay $2.5 million in income taxes.