WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news

A 17-year-old senior at Desert Pines High School was shot and killed outside a house party in northwest Las Vegas early Sunday.

Betty "Jay" Pinkney was one of dozens of teens at the party when a fight broke out and spilled outside. Moments later, bullets were fired at the home, and Pinkney was struck by a round that went through a wall, Las Vegas police said. Another round struck Karen Sinatra, 32, who remained hospitalized in serious condition Friday.

Pinkney, who ran track and played on the basketball team, died in her best friend's arms.

Neither victim is believed to have been an intended target, according to police, who had not arrested anyone in connection with the case by Friday.

MONDAY

ZAPPOS HACKED

The Henderson-based online shoe retailer announced its servers in Kentucky had been hacked, compromising the accounts of 24 million customers.

Zappos turned off its phones and assigned all its employees to answer customers' emails about the security breach.

The breach prompted a class action lawsuit and scrutiny from federal investigators.

TUESDAY

CHURCH SEEKS DAMAGES

First their baptismal pond dried up; then their desert camp was flooded with water and mud. Church leaders blamed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

With the help of the Nevada Policy Research Institute's constitutional law center, Victor and Annette Fuentes of Ministerio Roca Solida are seeking more than $85,000 in damages.

Fish and Wildlife officials denied responsibility for the flood.

WEDNESDAY

POLICE SETTLE

Las Vegas police are set to pay a $1.7 million settlement to the family of Trevon Cole, who was shot and killed by an officer during a botched 2010 drug raid.

The largest settlement in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department could be approved Monday by the department's Fiscal Affairs Committee.

"Quite frankly, had it gone to trial, it's very possible it could have been significantly more than that," Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said.

THURSDAY

CHARGES LEVELED

A local nonprofit is in turmoil amid accusations that its founder and chief operating officer, former Henderson City Councilwoman Kathleen Vermillion, misappropriated funds.

The interim executive director of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth asked the state attorney general's office to investigate, alleging Vermillion transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay her salary and donated city funds to the nonprofit to supplement her salary.

Vermillion welcomed an investigation. She also filed a lawsuit against County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, her ex-boyfriend. Sisolak said it was an attempt to deflect attention away from the allegations against her.

FRIDAY

WILDFIRES RETURN

Fire officials in Reno said a man admitted accidentally starting a fire that destroyed 29 homes and forced as many as 10,000 people to evacuate.

An elderly man told authorities that he improperly discarded ashes from his fireplace in the Washoe Valley and sparked the wind-whipped fire that burned more than 3,000 acres.

One woman died in the fire, and the case is being forwarded to the Washoe County District Attorney's office for consideration of criminal charges.

Another wildfire driven by high winds destroyed more than 30 homes in southwest Reno in November.