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WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news

It was 5 a.m. and Mary and Charles Livingston were at Home Depot, with a plan to save $700.

The husband and wife were in need of a new washer and dryer, for which they were about to pay $1,500. Along the way, they picked up a pot of decorative poinsettias, but overall they stuck to their plan.

This weekend, the average U.S. adult planned to spend $218, up from $159 in 2011, according to the Consumer Electronics Association's 19th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns Study.

Overall, 37 percent of U.S. adults planned to shop Black Friday, with one-third going to a retail store and 20 percent shopping online.

MONDAY

REFORMING USE OF FORCE

The Metropolitan Police Department's largest union won't stand in the way of implementing nearly all of the use of force reforms recommended by the U.S. Justice Department.

But Chris Collins, head of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, warned budget cuts could make the reforms difficult and said there are a couple of areas where they strongly disagree with a recent report, which included 75 findings and recommendations for how Las Vegas police can reduce shootings by its officers.

"The PPA really agrees with probably 90 or 95 percent of what is contained in the report," said Collins, whose union represents roughly 2,500 cops. "It appears that the issue, really, in the report is accountability, some policy changes and training for our officers, and we certainly support any training for our officers that will enable them to do their job better and safer."

TUESDAY

SUN SHINES ON TRIBE

Council members for the city of Los Angeles approved a $1.6 billion, 25-year pact to purchase solar power from a company on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. K Road Moapa Solar will build nearly 1 million photovoltaic panels on tribal land.

"I just can't believe that we're actually going to have something like this on the reservation," Moapa Band of Paiutes Chairman William Anderson said.

WEDNESDAY

CLEARING STRIP BRIDGES

Street performers and vendors should be banned from pedestrian bridges, and county officials should work with resorts to address pedestrian chokes in more than a dozen different places on the Strip, said a study commissioned by Clark County officials looking to clean up the state's biggest tourist attraction.

The report, which studied the movements of more than 4.8 million pedestrians over two weekends, recommends a series of enhancements that would make it easier for tourists to navigate the four-mile stretch between Russell Road and Sahara Avenue.

THURSDAY

CALIFORNIA RAISIN' TAXES

Voter approval of ballot measures increasing taxes on the wealthy in California as well as state taxes are prompting the Las Vegas Regional Economic Development Council to market Southern Nevada to disgruntled companies in the Golden State.

California voters on Nov. 6 approved Proposition 30, which is expected to raise $6 billion a year. They also approved Proposition 39, which closed a number of loopholes, including how multistate corporations calculate their California taxes.

FRIDAY

WHAT WOULD MARX SAY?

At a time when right-wing politicians are crying about the rise of socialism in America, the Nevada Legislature is moving in the opposite direction: They are about to prohibit job discrimination against communists.

The Legislative Commission announced it will introduce a bill for consideration at the 2013 session that will repeal the law allowing job discrimination against communists.

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