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President Barack Obama came under fire from politicians and Las Vegas boosters after taking a shot at corporate excess and Sin City.

"You can't take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime," the president said Monday.

That statement came after banking giant Wells Fargo canceled a 12-day junket at Wynn Las Vegas amid cries of wasteful spending after receiving a $25 billion government bailout. Goldman Sachs and State Farm also backed out of scheduled trips to Las Vegas, which reaped $8.5 billion for the local economy by hosting 22,000 such business meetings last year.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday the president would visit Las Vegas in coming months. Reid also said Obama's criticism was aimed at taxpayer money being used for junkets, not Las Vegas as a destination.

MONDAY

HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley introduced a bill aimed at reducing foreclosures in Nevada by more than 12,000.

Under Assembly Bill 149, the bank or lender would be required to make a "good faith" effort in mediation to rework loan terms to avoid foreclosure.

TUESDAY

SNAKE OWNERS BOOKED

Las Vegas police arrested the parents of a 3-year-old boy who was bitten and squeezed to the point of unconsciousness by an 18-foot python last month. Melissa Melendrez, 25, and Anthony Melendrez, 26, were charged with felony child abuse and felony child neglect.

The couple's son was attacked by a tiger reticulated python that escaped from its cage, which authorities said was held together with duct tape and had insufficient latches.

WEDNESDAY

WAL-MART STABBING

A man fatally stabbed another man in a Wal-Mart parking lot during a fight over a shopping cart hitting a vehicle.

Jose Torres, 57, was charged with murder in the death of Oscar Hernandez, 24.

Police said the fight started when Torres confronted Hernandez about a shopping cart that scratched his mother's friend's sport-utility vehicle.

THURSDAY

NO DEAL FOR LOUX

The state Ethics Commission on a 3-2 vote rejected a proposal to drop an ethics complaint against former state Agency for Nuclear Projects head Bob Loux once he repaid more than $29,000 in unauthorized salary.

Acting Commissioner Robert Weise said the proposal lacked any punishment for Loux, who resigned after admitting he took the salary of a retired employee and split it among himself and his staff.

The commission will hold a hearing next month and could fine Loux, who for 23 years led the state's fight against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

FRIDAY

STIMULUS STIFFS STATE?

U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., criticized the amount of education money Nevada would get under the federal stimulus package.

The state's nearly $543 million haul, as estimated by the Congressional Research Service, ranks last in the country on a per-capita basis. The final figure could change but was expected to be close to the estimate.