WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news
In a collapse that is sure to fuel political attacks in the run-up to November elections, the Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas closed its 214,000-square-foot facility about a year after it opened with the help of more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants.
A former manager at Amonix said the plant has been idle since May 1. At its peak, it had about 700 employees working three shifts a day to produce solar panels for a utility in Colorado, he said.
A designer and manufacturer of concentrated photovoltaic solar power systems, Amonix received $6 million in federal tax credits for the North Las Vegas plant and a $15.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2007 for research and development.
Nevada Democrats U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval were among the political leaders who lauded the company when it announced it would start making solar panels in Southern Nevada.
Monday
Suicide leads to body
North Las Vegas police confirmed that a day after a man committed suicide at the Hoover Dam bypass bridge, officers found his wife's body in a house the couple owned.
No obvious signs of foul play were evident when Leah Foreman was found dead by officers doing a welfare check following the death of Jacob Gerard Foreman at the bypass bridge.
The 40-year-old woman's cause of death, along with an estimate of how long she had been dead, was not known.
Tuesday
Sweet sewer news
Some sewer customers could get some money back from the Clark County Water Reclamation District, which is flush with cash and apparently doesn't need the extra revenue from a rate increase imposed at the beginning of the month.
Barring something unexpected, the district probably will return some or all of that money to customers starting in July 2013. But district officials don't yet know by how much rates will be reduced for their customers in unincorporated Clark County.
Wednesday
Dead baby left in trash
A body of a baby was found in a trash bin at a central valley apartment complex, prompting shocked reactions and a candlelight vigil at the complex.
Police said they traced the body to a teen mother who kept her pregnancy a secret from family and friends, gave birth to a baby girl at home and kept the infant's body hidden for about a month before disposing of it in the trash bin.
It is not yet known how the baby died. One possibility is the baby was stillborn. Another is that she died shortly after her birth.
Thursday
Tower can come down
A Clark County district judge ruled that the owners of CityCenter's half-finished Harmon Hotel could proceed with plans to implode the troubled building. The demolition is a business decision permitted under state law, the judge ruled.
The cost of imploding the 26-story tower is estimated at $30 million.
Friday
Killer nearly escapes
One of Nevada's most notorious killers tried to escape from a women's prison in North Las Vegas.
Brookey Lee West, who in 1998 killed her mother and stuffed her corpse in a garbage can in Las Vegas, disguised her clothing and appearance and tried to walk out of the Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center while inmates were on their way to breakfast, according to a Nevada Department of Corrections spokesman.
At 6:30 a.m., staff recognized West standing at a security gate near the visiting room, just steps away from the main entrance to the facility.
NUMBERS
10th
Where Gaelle Baumann finished in the World Series of Poker's Main Event. She just missed making the final table but posted the best finish by a woman in 12 years.
22:52:55
The winning time in hours, minutes and seconds in last week's Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile run across Death Valley. Mike Morton of Florida was the winner.
110
Years ago last week that air conditioning was invented in Brooklyn, N.Y. Without Willis Carrier's innovation, modern Las Vegas almost certainly would not exist.
43.9 million
Chips held by Jesse Sylvia, leader in the World Series of Poker's Main Event. He and eight other players meet at the final table in October to decide the champion.
QUOTES
"There's no legitimate reason for someone to have a wild dangerous animal. Do we need to wait until a child is killed or seriously injured before we do something?"
Michael Roberson, the Republican state senator from Las Vegas who announced, on the heels of a July 12 chimp escape, his plans to introduce a bill in the 2013 legislative session to prohibit Nevadans from keeping exotic animals as pets.
"Water rates will continue to go up as long as people continue living in a climate like this with a diminishing resource. It's best to tell people it will always be expensive."
Bob Coffin, Las Vegas City Councilman and Southern Nevada Water Authority Board member, responding Thursday to complaints from business leaders that a new water surcharge will hurt efforts to lure companies to the valley.
"It wasn't about giving us our civil rights; it was about shutting us up."
Farrell Cafferata, talking about Nevada's domestic partnership law. She and her partner, Caren Jenkins, are part of a federal court challenge that seeks to strike down the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
MULTIMEDIA
lvrj.com/multimedia
SLIDE SHOW: Americans for Prosperity's Anti-Shelley Berkley bus tour rolls through Las Vegas
VIDEO: Letters from an eyewitness to the 1946 Bikini Atoll nuclear bomb tests
SLIDE SHOW: Main Event of the 43rd Annual World Series of Poker: Final Nine
