WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news
After five years of construction, Terminal 3 at McCarran International Airport went into service Wednesday with official speeches and a platoon of showgirls, celebrity impersonators and performers.
Four airlines took up residence on Day 1, and 11 more international carriers moved in Thursday.
The $2.4 billion T3 replaces the cramped, four-gate international facility at Terminal 2 built more than two decades ago for charter flights.
The terminal's first departing passenger, Hazel Griffin of Oxford, England, rendered a distinctly British verdict on the difference between the old building and the new one.
"They are poles apart," Griffin said. "It's chalk and cheese."
Monday
DEAL FOR FORMER COP
A former Las Vegas police officer accused of stopping female drivers while on duty and coercing them into exposing their breasts pleaded guilty to misdemeanor lewdness and oppression under the color of office.
As part of a deal, prosecutors dropped six other counts against John Norman.
Also, if Norman successfully completes the sentence due to be handed down Oct. 30, the lewdness charge would be dismissed and replaced with another count of oppression under the color of office, allowing his sex offender registration to be expunged.
Several critics called the plea agreement overly lenient.
Tuesday
IMPASSE IN CLASS
The Clark County School District declared an impasse in negotiations with the teachers union.
A district spokeswoman said the Clark County Education Association had not responded to requests for additional contract talks before July 1 to negotiate terms for 2012-13.
Teachers union president Ruben Murillo responded by calling the district's declaration "premature." A negotiation meeting was scheduled for July 11.
Wednesday
Landmark legislation
The fertile fossil beds and rare plants dotting swaths of federal land on the northern outskirts of the Las Vegas Valley would be granted long-sought protections under a bill introduced by Nevada lawmakers in Congress.
The set-aside of 22,650 acres into what would be known as the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument is the centerpiece of a sweeping public lands bill that includes a handful of other Clark County land initiatives - some new and some that have otherwise languished in Congress.
Thursday
RULING REACTION
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding President Barack Obama's health care overhaul drew strong but mixed reaction in Nevada.
But behind the politicking and punditry that followed the decision on the Affordable Care Act, officials and health care providers were left to calculate the impact on the state's budget and the delivery of health care.
In an early morning statement, Gov. Brian Sandoval said the impact of the court's ruling on Nevada's Medicaid program was not immediately clear, though he was leaning toward not opting into the expanded program.
Friday
MORE TROUBLE UP NORTH
If the public safety unions win their battle against the city of North Las Vegas, there will be layoffs, the city manager told the Review-Journal's editorial board.
City Manager Tim Hacker said that on top of the 85 who are losing their jobs when the city closes its jail, another 80 employees would be laid off if the unions win.
They would come from within the police and fire departments, he said.
NUMBERS
1.9 million
The number of square feet in Terminal 3, a $2.4 billion addition to McCarran International Airport that began flight operations on Wednesday.
15
The number of days work was shut down on the Southern Nevada Water Authority's third intake project at Lake Mead following a deadly accident there June 11.
3
Bishop Gorman grads (Johnny Field, Joey Rickard and Stephen Manthei) on the University of Arizona baseball team, which won the College World Series on Monday.
$1 billion
How much computer giant Apple might invest in Northern Nevada, where it plans new facilities in Reno and Sparks with the help of $89 million in tax incentives.
QUOTES
"I understand medical bills need to be paid. But we're not rich out here. If nobody has jobs, then nobody has money. It's like a dog chasing its tail."
Nichole Faulkner, who works at a casino and bar on Fremont Street, reacting to thursday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act and its individual insurance mandate.
"They came and they went and good riddance. I hope they never come back."
Thomas Finn, Boulder City Police Chief, after members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club held their annual national meeting in his town last weekend.
"I think it was made for a man's wrist in mind."
Allyn Jaffery-Shulman, after she had to have a few links taken out of the championship bracelet she won at a World Series of Poker Event at the Rio. She was the first woman in four years to win a mixed-gender poker series event.
"We called it a super quarry. It was like mammoth heaven."
Kathleen Springer, a geologist and paleontologist, talking about a spot in the upper Las Vegas Wash where hundreds of ice age fossils were recently collected. The site is in an area now proposed as a national monument.
MULTIMEDIA
www.lvrj.com/multimedia
SLIDE SHOW: Michael Mizrachi wins WSOP Poker Players Championship
VIDEO: Tourists and locals react to U.S. Supreme Court's decision on health care law
SLIDE SHOW: Male Striptease: The Men of Sapphire in Las Vegas
VIDEO: McCarran International Airport Terminal 3 welcomes first international flight
SLIDE SHOW: Golden Rainbow's 2012 Ribbon of Life Spectacular
