Top News

34648373-1-4

Ending their weeklong special session in the wee hours of Monday, lawmakers sent Gov. Jim Gibbons a stopgap balanced-budget plan to fill an $887 million hole in the $6.9 billion general fund budget.

The bill, which Gibbons negotiated and agreed to sign, covers the budget through June 2011.

At 12:37 a.m., the Assembly voted 34-8 for the bill.

On the state Senate side, bleary-eyed senators struggled to keep awake before passing the bill by a 20-1 vote at 1:45 a.m.

The special session cut most state agency budgets by 10 percent and imposed a four-day, 10-hour-a-day workweek on government employees, which will close most state offices on Fridays. State support for K-12 and higher education was cut by 6.9 percent.

The session also imposed a range of fees to raise more than $50 million in new revenue, including on the mining and banking industries and on applicants for water rights and gaming licensees.

But the plan doesn’t solve Nevada’s long-term fiscal problems, caused in part by the state’s reliance on industry-specific mining and gaming taxes to support more than half of the general fund budget. Lawmakers have vowed to retool the state’s tax system to make it more broad-based.

MONDAY

Cop, wife charged

A Las Vegas police officer and his wife were charged with child endangerment after their 2-year-old son shot himself.

The boy found his father’s service weapon in a nightstand drawer while the couple played cards with friends and shot himself in the abdomen. He has been upgraded to stable condition.

TUESDAY

More red for rebels

UNLV President Neal Smatresk told more than 500 people at a town hall meeting that more cuts were coming to satisfy state-imposed budget reductions.

The university will offer more buyouts, cut departments and jobs, and further slice support services for students to trim about $9 million more from its budget.

WEDNESDAY

captain under fire

A Clark County fire captain surrendered to federal authorities to face charges of trying to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex.

Martin Vohwinkel, 55, already faced state charges stemming from his arrest during a Henderson police sting in which a detective posing as the girl answered a Craigslist online ad seeking a casual encounter with a “very young girl.”

Police arrested Vohwinkel when he showed up to an arranged meeting spot.

THURSDAY

child nabber gets jail

Elaine Clermont was sentenced to 120 days in jail for her role in plucking a 6-year-old boy off the street near an elementary school in hopes of exposing lax campus security.

She remained defiant during sentencing and refused to admit wrongdoing.

A jury convicted her in October of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and false imprisonment. Her partner in the incident, Laurinda Drake, was acquitted of all charges last year.

FRIDAY

Prayer draws police

An Islamic advocacy group announced a complaint against the Henderson Police Department on behalf of seven Muslim men detained while praying in a gas station parking lot in December.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the Southern California residents had stopped during a road trip to conduct their evening prayer. A witness reported the men to police, who questioned the men for about 40 minutes and searched their vehicle.