Week in Review: Top News

The Rebel football team could one day take the field inside a 40,000-seat domed stadium right on UNLV's campus, if discussions bear fruit between university officials and developers.

University President Neal Smatresk announced Wednesday that he is in talks about "a public-private partnership" with the president of the Silverton Casino and the owner of a Los Angeles-based commercial builder who helped develop L.A.'s Staples Center.

The discussions also involve upgrades to the Thomas & Mack Center and the construction of an entertainment complex.

Monday

Grand old Vegas party

Las Vegas might find itself crawling with Republican presidential candidates in the fall, thanks to the recently announced Western States Republican Leadership Conference.

The GOP meeting was last here in 1995, when it drew five White House hopefuls and more than 1,000 activists from 13 states.

The state party also hopes to have an early straw poll and arrange a presidential debate around this year's meeting.

Tuesday

Reid: No help here

Gov. Brian Sandoval will have to solve Nevada's budget crisis without the help of the federal government.

At a Las Vegas news conference about his legislative agenda for Nevada, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid said the federal government won't come to the rescue, and he urged Sandoval to reconsider his campaign pledge not to raise taxes in the face of a budget gap of at least $1 billion.

Wednesday

county wins fight

Clark County won a long labor dispute with its firefighters union when an arbitrator chose the county's contract offer, a decision that will save about $7.4 million.

The 741 firefighters covered in the contract will get a 2 percent pay cut, no wage increases, a reduction in long-term disability benefits and a tougher sick leave policy.

The firefighters' offer would have saved $6.1 million.

Thursday

kink in third straw

The Southern Nevada Water Authority's $700 million effort to build a new straw into Lake Mead has suffered another setback that could add months to a project that is already almost one year behind schedule.

After two previous floods in the project's starter tunnel, the cavern 600 feet underground once again filled with water and muck on Dec. 31.

The contractor on the project now plans to abandon the tunnel and excavate a new one in a different direction in hopes of skirting a fault line that has caused the trouble so far.

Friday

Joblessness jumps

Improving economic conditions couldn't rescue Nevada's job market in December, as unemployment rose significantly statewide and in Las Vegas.

Local joblessness jumped to a record 14.9 percent in the month, up from 14.3 percent in November, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported. Unemployment across the Silver State ticked up to 14.5 percent in December, compared with 14.3 percent a month earlier.

The rise in unemployment follows jobless-rate declines in the fall.