TOP NEWS
A state panel on Friday offered the most pessimistic tax revenue projection to date, prompting Gov. Jim Gibbons to delay a special legislative session to allow more time to grapple with a quarter billion dollars in new budget cuts.
The Economic Forum took a conservative approach to forecasting how state gaming, sales and other tax revenues will grow beginning July 1.
As a result, the new shortfall figure lawmakers must deal with when they convene on Friday is $250 million. That is on top of $913 million in cuts already made to the current 2007-2009 two-year budget, bringing the total to nearly $1.2 billion.
MONDAY
A 49-year-old carpenter fell about 15 feet and suffered fatal injuries after landing on his head at Boyd Gaming's Echelon project on the Strip.
The incident was the 12th construction-related death to have occurred at Strip building sites in the past 18 months. The carpenter was identified as Lyndall Bates of Tempe, Ariz.
TUESDAY
A federal judge followed through on his threat to dismiss charges against personal injury attorney Noel Gage if the government refused to offer immunity to a doctor whom defense attorneys described as a key witness.
Prosecutors claim Gage, who was charged with mail and wire fraud, belonged to a network of local doctors and lawyers who schemed to cheat clients out of honest services.
WEDNESDAY
The number of existing homes sold locally in May surged to its best showing in 14 months even as sales of new homes lagged, according to two new reports.
Statistics from Home Builders Research and SalesTraq revealed a 5.2 percent jump in resales in May, with buyers snapping up 2,606 units.
THURSDAY
The share of Nevadans who were late in making credit card payments dropped by 10.8 percent during the first quarter, but residents are still among the most indebted and delinquent card users in the nation, a credit reporting company revealed.
A larger percentage of consumers in Nevada are delinquent on credit card payments than in any other state, TransUnion of Chicago said this week.
FRIDAY
Increasing third-grade class sizes, making teens walk three miles to high school, and eliminating hundreds of school librarians, computer support personnel and tutors are a few of the changes that the Clark County School District is considering to cut $130 million from the 2009-2010 budget.
Other proposals include eliminating sports and all after school activities, officials said.
Week In ReviewMore Information
Blogs HEAVY PEDAL: Racing's "silly season" expands. VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: All NASA has ever given us -- other than some bodies and scrap metal strewn over the landscape -- is "Tang!" and a toilet plunger. VEGAS VOICE: Carol Cling on what the American Film Institute missed on its latest "best of" list. VEGAS LAND: If CineVegas stays about Vegas, star will rise. SHERM FREDERICK: 'Old Media' -- don't write that obit yet. ONLINE GUY: RTC's updated site -- check it before heading to the bus stop or gas pump. BOOK NOOK: Reviews of "Fearless Fourteen," "The Femdom Experience," "The Sister," "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" and other books. QUOTES "You would have to be a moron to suggest that, because if you have lived in this state for the last year, watched the budget and the shortfalls to our state government rise as they have, you would know this is a critical time for the state of Nevada." GOV. JIM GIBBONS LASHING OUT AT CRITICS WHO ACCUSED HIM OF CALLING A SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION AS A POLITICAL PLOY TO DISTRACT ATTENTION FROM HIS DIVORCE. "Who would've thought there'd be difficulty financing an adult business club in Las Vegas?" JEFFREY SILVER, ATTORNEY FOR THE WOULD-BE BUYERS OF THE CRAZY HORSE TOO EXPLAINING THE TROUBLES ENCOUNTERED SECURING A LOAN TO PURCHASE THE TOPLESS CLUB. THE LAS VEGAS CITY COUNCIL DENIED HIS CLIENTS' REQUEST FOR A TEMPORARY LIQUOR LICENSE FOR THE CLUB. "This is probably one of the cockiest things I've ever said, and I've said some pretty cocky things, but this will be bigger than the NFL and bigger than soccer in the next eight years." DANA WHITE, PRESIDENT OF ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP PARENT COMPANY ZUFFA PREDICTING THE SPORT'S POPULARITY WORLDWIDE WILL CONTINUE TO GROW. NUMBERS $250 MILLION estimate of the state budget shortfall the Legislature will address in a special session 50 JOBS THE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY SERVICES WOULD CUT UNDER PROPOSED STATE SPENDING REDUCTIONS 211 fugitives snared statewide by a U.S. Marshals operation from June 9 to June 13 5 PERCENT GROWTH RATE FOR THE NATION'S INDIAN CASINOS, OUTPACING NEVADA CASINOS' GROWTH RATE OF 1.8 PERCENT $1 BILLION ESTIMATED VALUE OF ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP, OWNED BY STATION CASINOS' FERTITTA BROTHERS $2 MILLION AMOUNT THE FERTITTAS REPORTEDLY PAID FOR UFC IN 2001
