WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news
The 50-year-old woman accused of killing a 10-year-old girl and slashing a fellow Bellagio blackjack dealer has a history of rage and razor-blade attacks, according to court records and accounts from people who knew her in Mississippi.
Brenda Stokes' defense attorney has said his client has no criminal convictions and isn't a violent person. But her former acquaintances in Moss Point, Miss., tell a different story, one in which Stokes attacked a former lover and nearly cut off his penis.
Then there is the case from 2001, when Stokes was charged with misdemeanor battery after she hit her supervisor at America West airlines in the head with a hot coffee pot at McCarran International Airport, court records show.
Stokes' bail was revoked Wednesday after prosecutors detailed evidence linking her to the pair of attacks in Las Vegas last month.
She is accused of using razor blades in a Dec. 21 attack on blackjack dealer Joyce Rhone, 44. And 10-year-old Jade Morris, who was the daughter of Stokes' fiancé and last seen with the woman a few hours before the Bellagio attack, was stabbed 40 times.
Monday
Ringing in 2013
Several hundred thousand revelers crowded onto the Strip and into downtown to close out 2012 Las Vegas style.
It was one of the coldest nights of the year in the valley, but that didn't seem to blunt anyone's enthusiasm or wardrobe - from the usual showgirls and women in tiny cocktail dresses to the 315-pound North Carolina man dressed as Baby New Year in diaper and top hat.
Police said the celebration was a mostly peaceful one.
Tuesday
Fiscal cliff deal passes
Nevada's congressional delegation split on the measure, but the House overwhelmingly approved a budget bill to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff," stave off tax hikes on most Americans and extend unemployment benefits and mortgage relief.
Republican Rep. Mark Amodei voted no. Republican Rep. Joe Heck and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley voted yes. It was the final vote of Berkley's 14-year congressional career.
Wednesday
Girl hit safety fence
A girl who died Tuesday on Mount Charleston crashed into a solid metal fence installed to make sledding safer by keeping people out of an off-limits area .
Vanesa Lara, 11, died of heart injuries after she struck the fence, which county officials erected in October along with signs warning against sledding up-slope from the barrier.
Thursday
Horsford makes four
Nevada's voice to the federal government grew a bit louder when Steven Horsford was sworn into office as its fourth member of the House of Representatives.
With his three children beside him, the Democrat took part in the opening day of the new Congress.
Besides being the state's newest lawmaker, Horsford became the first African-American from Nevada elected to federal office.
Friday
Saudi Airman arrested
A member of the Saudi Arabian military, in the U.S. for a training mission, has been charged with raping a boy in a Strip hotel on New Year's Eve.
Mazen Alotaibi, a 23-year-old sergeant in the Saudi Arabian air force, was arrested Dec. 31 and accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a Circus Circus hotel room bathroom.
According to a Las Vegas police report, Alotaibi pulled the 13-year-old boy into his room on the sixth floor of the hotel. The man later told police he offered the boy money for sex and, when he refused, raped him, the report said.
NUMBERS
71.2
The average temperature in Las Vegas in 2012, making it the warmest year on record, according to the National Weather Service.
10,957
How many days Sen. Harry Reid had served as of Wednesday, when he officially became Nevada's longest-serving member of Congress.
200,000
The annual number of visitors to Echo Bay Marina on Lake Mead, which will close Feb. 1 because the National Park Service can't find anyone interested in operating it.
300,000
Estimated number of revelers who rang in the New Year in Las Vegas last week. Tourism officials will release the actual total in February.
QUOTES
"Go f--- yourself."
John Boehner, what House Speaker, R-Ohio, said - twice - to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in the White House lobby when the two crossed paths during recent fiscal cliff negotiations, according to an account in Politico.
"My fondest memory is of him going to elementary school in a suit. Little did we know."
Pamela Horsford, mother of Steven Horsford, after her son was sworn in as Nevada's fourth congressional representative and the first African-American from the state elected to federal office.
"If you have to run somewhere, why not come to Las Vegas?"
Clint Nichols, a Las Vegas police lieutenant - not a tourism official - talking about how the city seems to attract fugitives from across the country.
"Wow. It tastes like Christmas, doesn't it?"
Todd Roe, a professional taster, during a recent gathering of beer and spirits specialists called on to select a special blend of custom bourbon to be stocked at Aria.
"We're doing this for science, because we're scientists."
Michael Beck, who teamed up with Erin Coates to hand out free gulps of champagne from a large plastic container in front of Harrah's Las Vegas on New Year's Eve. They managed to convince a few fellow revelers to, um, peer-review their work.
MULTIMEDIA
lvrj.com/multimedia
VIDEO: Miss America contestants introduce themselves at Planet Hollywood
SLIDE SHOW, VIDEO: New Year's Eve 2012 in Las Vegas
VIDEO: Murder suspect takes his own life in Las Vegas
VIDEO: 2012: The year in photos
