Top Stories
September 20, 2009 - 9:00 pm
Medical assistants will be able to administer vaccinations and other critical prescription shots legally, under temporary regulations approved Friday in an emergency meeting of state regulators.
Medical assistants will be prevented from injecting patients with Botox and other cosmetic drugs under the rules, however.
The Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners called the emergency session after officials learned that medical assistants had been illegally administering shots.
A 30-year-old law cited as prohibiting medical assistants from giving Botox injections also turned out to apply to the administration of any shots.
The board now has 120 days to come up with permanent regulations.
MONDAY
PLANET HARRAHWOOD?
Harrah's Entertainment is buying up the Planet Hollywood Resort's debt in what an analyst said could be a bid to take over the financially troubled Strip property.
Sources confirmed that Harrah's has bought a portion of the $860 million debt load that is leveraged against the property.
The practice has been used successfully in Las Vegas in the past, most recently when the Tropicana was acquired in bankruptcy court.
TUESDAY
BOGDEN IN FOR BROWER
Nevada's former U.S. attorney was returned to his old post, 21/2 years after being fired in a political housecleaning during the Bush administration.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Daniel Bogden by voice vote.
Also Tuesday, current U.S. Attorney Greg Brower announced his resignation, effective Oct. 10.
Brower, a Republican, took over the post in January 2008, 11 months after Bogden was abruptly fired.
WEDNESDAY
CLINIC DEAL ADVANCES
A pact giving the Cleveland Clinic time to plan a possible new medical center or research facility in downtown Las Vegas received unanimous approval from the Las Vegas City Council.
It hasn't been determined what kind of center the Ohio-based nonprofit organization might build.
The deal has the city donating two to four parcels of land totaling 12 acres as an incentive to the clinic.
THURSDAY
LETTER LEADS TO BODIES
A letter sent to Las Vegas police led investigators to the bizarre and grisly scene of what they suspect was a murder-suicide.
Inside a west Las Vegas Valley home, police found the letter's apparent author, dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
They also found the body of the man's wife packed away inside a freezer. Police believe the woman may have been dead for about two years.
FRIDAY
TAX CHARGES DROPPED
A federal judge granted a request from prosecutors to dismiss the tax charges filed last year against the son and daughter-in-law of former Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates.
Brian Atkinson-Turner and his wife, Kathryn O'Gara, had been indicted in March 2008 on charges of filing a false tax return and failing to file corporate tax returns.
According to the indictment, the couple used money from their company to cover personal car and home mortgage payments, and were paid roughly $169,000 from Atkinson Gates' 2004 campaign fund.
Week In ReviewMore Information
NUMBERS
135,100
Number of Las Vegas Valley residents who were out of work in August, according to the state’s latest unemployment numbers.
12,000
Number of jobs MGM Mirage officially will begin offering on Monday at CityCenter.
15
Members of Congress on the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s most corrupt list. Nevada’s entry? U.S. Sen. John Ensign.
$42 million
How much the Southern Nevada Water Authority hopes to bring in by tripling its commodity charge to 30 cents per 1,000 gallons over the next two years.
2,000
Fewer public school students this year in Clark County, according to initial counts. If that holds up, it would mark the first enrollment decline since 1983.
QUOTES
“People seem to believe that we can produce a Mercedes on a Yugo budget.”
Neal Smatresk
UNLV President, explaining why the university cannot produce more specialty graduates such as nurses at the same time the budget is being cut.
“Sometimes being Heidi Fleiss can be a pain in the ass.”
Heidi Fleiss
Commenting about two civil lawsuits against her and the three years she was sentenced To spend on probation for felony drug charges in Pahrump. Fleiss’ words proved prophetic Thursday, When one of those lawsuits forced her new Dog grooming business to close.
“If anybody has a crystal ball that works, we would like to have it.”
Jeff Weiler
Chief Financial Officer for the Clark County School District, on the difficulty of trying to anticipate enrollment amid the economic uncertainty and high unemployment.
MULTIMEDIA
PHANTOM FAN WEEK MASQUERADE BALL
OBAMA HEALTH CARE BUS TOUR
MOVIE MINUTE
UNLV FOOTBALL VS. HAWAII
MAYWEATHER VS. MARQUEZ