WEEK IN REVIEW: Top News
The sky filled with professional pyrotechnics and illicit amateur shows, but firefighters reported the calmest July 4 in years, in part because of the first rain in weeks.
But the valley's fireworks-related luck did not extend beyond the nation's birthday.
On Tuesday, a southwest valley home sustained $150,000 in damage from a fire caused by a teenager playing with fireworks indoors.
Then on Thursday, a blaze possibly sparked by fireworks swept through a central valley apartment complex, injuring four people and leaving almost 50 homeless.
Monday
Fire houses closed
Two of the eight fire stations in North Las Vegas were closed for the day because there weren't enough firefighters on duty to staff them.
City Manager Tim Hacker said the closures happened because more firefighters than usual called in sick but stopped short of calling it a "sickout."
Jeff Hurley, president of the city's firefighters union, blamed a city budget-cutting policy for the short staffing that led to the closures.
Tuesday
Deal angers victims
Two victims of a former police officer accused of groping women say they're not satisfied with his plea agreement and will ask for the maximum punishment during his October sentencing.
Rebecca Portillo, 29, and Victoria Murnane, 27, said Tuesday that they want John Norman to serve jail time and be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Murnane called him "a predator with a badge."
Wednesday
Rough sailing ahead
High winds and waves swept through Lake Mead National Recreation Area, nearly drowning one swimmer, injuring a boater and dampening the holiday for others who hit the lake.
Park rangers at Lake Mead rescued 40 people involved in boating accidents and malfunctions and other medical emergencies over the holiday.
Thursday
Nye jumps on board
Less than a month after some disgruntled constituents tried to arrest them at a public meeting, Pahrump Town Board members find themselves under a different kind of threat: demotion.
Voters in the Nye County town 60 miles west of Las Vegas will go to the polls in November to decide whether to get rid of the elected panel and replace it with an appointed advisory board with almost no authority.
The Nye County Commission approved the ballot measure in a surprise, unanimous vote. When a similar motion came up last year, all but one of the commissioners voted against it.
Friday
Bad beat for Trickett
Sam Trickett, the British poker player who won $10.1 million as runner-up in the World Series of Poker's Big One for One Drop event, was reportedly assaulted outside a Las Vegas club hours after the game ended.
Trickett, 26, and a friend were out celebrating his second-place finish in the $1 million buy-in event when six men assaulted them outside an unnamed Las Vegas club.
Police said no complaint had been lodged about the incident, but Trickett posted a photo of his face on his Twitter account, showing cuts, bruises and a bloody gash across his nose.
NUMBERS
40
Number of people who had to be rescued by park rangers at Lake Mead on July 4, when sudden wind gusts capsized or sank six boats.
$18,346,673
The jackpot won Tuesday by Antonio Esfandiari in the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop Texas Hold'em event, the richest top prize in poker history.
2,800
The daily calories boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is passing up by refusing the meals served at the county jail. He's also passing up a dish called Mexican stroganoff.
0
U.S. cities the U.S. Olympic Organizing Committee plans to recommend for the 2022 Winter Games, leaving the Reno-Tahoe area out in the cold.
QUOTES
"I think it's exciting to go and I'm excited to get there and be around all the top guys in the country, of course, top guys in baseball."
Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals rookie outfielder and Las Vegas baseball phenom, after learning Saturday that, at 19, he would become the youngest position player to make the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the third youngest All-Star ever.
"Unless evidence beyond mere displeasure is forthcoming, this matter will be considered closed."
Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada attorney general, after determining that there was no wrongdoing by fight officials in the controversial June 9 split decision that awarded Timothy Bradley an upset win over Manny Pacquiao.
"Actually it's about the same: hot uniforms and heavy weapons."
Shaun Shuey, jokingly comparing his army service in Iraq to his current hobby of dressing up as a "Star Wars" stormtrooper for parades and other public appearances.
"If you look at this guy, he has the ability to grow a mustache almost overnight."
Ron Fox, a Las Vegas police lieutenant, who sounds like he's describing a super-villian but is actually talking about a robbery suspect nicknamed the Mustached Bandit. Police arrested the man they say is the bandit last week.
www.lvrj.com/multimedia
■ SLIDE SHOW: Firefighters battle blaze at Sonoma Shadows apartment complex
■ VIDEO & SLIDE SHOW: Valleywide fireworks and Fourth of July celebrations
■ VIDEO: Time-lapse of Las Vegas fireworks
■ SLIDE SHOW: Las Vegas Desert Rats
■ VIDEO: Nuremberg guard recalls his service
■ VIDEO: Local Olympians are honored by Clark County Commission
