WEEK IN REVIEW: Top News
Lawyers for three people infected in Southern Nevada's hepatitis C outbreak asked a jury Friday to levy $739 million in punitive damages against the drug companies it held liable for the infections.
Robert Eglet and Will Kemp equated the amount to two weeks' worth of the companies' net revenue last year.
The amount would be a record in Nevada and exceed the $500 million a jury levied last year after the first outbreak-related civil trial.
After hearing seven weeks of testimony, the jury on Thursday awarded $20.1 million in compensatory damages to the patients and their spouses after finding Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc., Baxter Healthcare Corp. and McKesson Corp. responsible for the infections based on product liability claims.
Monday
Phone ban fallout
The new ban on cellphone use while driving is already creating an entirely new hazard on Nevada's roadways: To avoid violating the law that took effect Oct. 1, some drivers are parking in the breakdown lanes of busy highways so they can talk or text.
The unforeseen behavior is prompting exasperated highway patrol officials to remind motorists that the emergency lanes are for bona fide emergencies only.
Authorities also report that some drivers are unaware that the new law bans cellphone use at stoplights as well.
Tuesday
From 'Here' to fame
The Las Vegas tourism slogan that launched a million bad jokes and pale imitations will be added to Madison Avenue's Advertising Walk of Fame in New York City.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's "What happens here, stays here" campaign, created by R&R Partners, will be added to the walk of fame between 42nd and 50th streets, the advertising industry's equivalent of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
Wednesday
First in the West
Nevada Republicans set Jan. 14 for the GOP presidential caucuses here, clearing the way for New Hampshire and Iowa to schedule their traditional first-in-the nation voting dates.
The new Nevada date, which falls on a Saturday, ensures the Silver State will hold the first 2012 vote in the West, after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and before the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary.
The political calendar moved up after Florida announced it would hold its primary Jan. 31 to gain more attention.
Nevada caucuses had been set for Feb. 18.
Thursday
Wall Street on Strip
More than 1,000 people marched on the Strip to the chant of "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out," as the weeks-old Occupy Wall Street protest went nationwide.
Protesters marched in a loop between Tropicana Avenue and Flamingo Road from 4 to just after 7 p.m. as word of the event spread largely through Facebook and other social media.
Reaction from tourists was a mix of support, bewilderment and anger.
Friday
'Elaborate' brutality
A Clark County grand jury indicted Javier Righetti in the sexual assault and slaying of 15-year-old Alyssa Otremba over the Labor Day weekend.
Righetti, 19, also was charged in the March kidnapping and sexual assault of another 15-year-old girl who survived the attack.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli said in court that Righetti gave an "elaborate" confession in which he admitted stabbing Otremba more than 80 times and carving the initials "LV" on her body.
NUMBERS
10
How many days early that road work will be finished on Interstate 15 between the Spaghetti Bowl and Tropicana Avenue, much to the delight of motorists.
$457,000
The amount raised by last year's auction of five acres of federal land in Nevada. In 2004, 10,329 acres of public land in Nevada sold off for $884 million.
$149,160
Vegas' take from the recent PGA golf tournament at TPC Summerlin. That's Jhonattan Vegas, who finished in a tie for fourth place.
2
The number of years it will take to dig a three-mile water intake tunnel under Lake Mead, once the giant machine that will do the job gets under way early next year.
QUOTES
"In my hands when I've killed people with it."
Mark Golden
Navy SEAL, when asked in court where he had seen an MP5 machine gun before. Golden was testifying in the federal trial of fellow SEAL Nicholas Bickle, who was convicted Friday in connection with illegal weapons trafficking.
"My wife says if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any."
George Burns
Nevada's top banking regulator, after his Las Vegas office was hit by lightning Monday. It was Burns' third close encounter with lightning, although he has never been hit directly.
"This land is our heritage and our souls. If you take our water we won't have anything left."
Kathy Hiatt
Lincoln County resident, in an emotional argument against plans to pipe groundwater to Las Vegas from across rural Eastern Nevada.
"I've been living here for years, and I've never seen anything weird unless I was drunk, and that's usually the ground I fell on."
Bob Hafey
Talking about Rachel and its much ballyhooed proximity to Area 51.
MULTIMEDIA
View all at lvrj.com/ multimedia
• VIDEO: Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival moves to Silver Bowl Park
• SLIDE SHOW: Protesters with Occupy Las Vegas march on the Strip
• SLIDE SHOW: Former employees of Area 51 meet in Rachel to talk about declassified experiences
• SLIDE SHOW: Rain hits the Las Vegas Valley
• SLIDE SHOW: Remembering those lost to domestic violence
