WEEK IN REVIEW: Top News
Despite strident opposition from a crowd that spilled into the hallway, an early plan for a dense hilltop development overlooking Red Rock Canyon received the go-ahead Wednesday.
Clark County commissioners voted 5-2 to approve Jim Rhodes' conceptual plan for roughly 4,700 homes and a business park on a former mining site overlooking the national conservation area.
County officials said it was a significant step but noted that a conceptual plan lacks details about how the project will actually take shape.
Rhodes now must tackle tasks such as site design, engineering and architecture to get the land rezoned and start construction, which is probably years away.
Rhodes' plans for the 2,500 acres on the mesa known as Blue Diamond Hill have long stirred an outcry from people who consider it a threat to the majestic beauty of Red Rock.
MONDAY
Tower to come down
MGM Resorts International told Clark County officials that the structurally troubled Harmon Tower cannot be fixed and submitted a plan to implode the unfinished luxury hotel and condominium tower at CityCenter.
MGM Resorts was responding to a directive from the Clark County Building Department, which sought a solution to public safety concerns surrounding the Harmon. Last month, a structural engineering firm said the building could collapse in a major earthquake.
TUESDAY
Mayweather sued
A Las Vegas man who accused undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. of ordering his bodyguard to shoot at him outside a Boulder Highway skating rink in August 2009 filed suit against the former Olympian.
Plaintiff Quincey Williams is being represented by high-profile attorney Robert Eglet in the negligence lawsuit.
Williams is one of two men who say they were shot at by Mayweather's bodyguard, Ocie Harris, outside the Crystal Palace Skating Center.
WEDNESDAY
More cuts, closures
After an emotional two-hour meeting, the North Las Vegas City Council approved the layoffs of 21 employees and the closure of recreation centers and pools to help bridge a $4.4 million shortfall in the city's fiscal 2012 budget.
The recreation centers could close as soon as Oct. 1 if the city doesn't reach concession agreements with its two police unions to make up for the shortfall.
THURSDAY
Two more life terms
A man prosecutors call a serial killer and rapist was sentenced to two more life prison terms on top of the one he already was serving.
Norman "Keith" Flowers received the additional prison time -- but avoided the death penalty -- after pleading no contest in June to two counts of first-degree murder for the 2005 deaths of 45-year-old Marilee Coote and 24-year-old Rena Gonzales at the same Russell Road apartment complex.
FRIDAY
Fire at Rosie's
A highway diner that has catered to motorists and lottery players between Southern Nevada and northwest Arizona for decades was destroyed by fire.
The early morning blaze at Rosie's Den, on U.S. Highway 93, about 25 miles south of Hoover Dam, apparently broke out in the restaurant and moved into the bar and lounge.
Rosie's owners quickly ordered a new machine so they could resume selling lottery tickets Friday afternoon in a small gift shop that was spared by the flames.
Week In Review
More Information
NUMBERS
38.8 percent
The percentage of Nevada public school students who are Hispanic, marking the first time an ethnicity other than Caucasian was the state's largest student group.
550
Height in feet of the Las Vegas High Roller proposed by Caesars Entertainment Corp. If built, it would be the world's tallest observation wheel.
$54 million
The second-quarter loss posted by The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, which opened Dec. 15 and is now reconfiguring its gaming operation.
1,146
Signatures turned in by a group trying to recall Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross from office. If the petitions check out, a recall vote could happen by November.
QUOTES
CityCenter is recommending that the structure be demolished by implosion.”
Gordon Absher
Spokesman for MGM Resorts, which has decided to knock down the unfinished Harmon Tower rather than try to repair structural problems.
“It’s always a little more tricky at night. Holy cow. Sometimes it’s just ugly.”
Misty Bice
a Staff sergeant from the Michigan Air National guard, during a midair refueling exercise requiring her to guide a 40-foot boom into a grapefruit-sized fueling port on another aircraft while bouncing through turbulence at more than 300 mph. And did we mention it was at night?
“It’s a full-time job with benefits. Just have to avoid the slots more.”
Brian Zawid
who moved here from New Jersey to take a job as a Social worker for the Clark County School District. The job pays less than the one he got laid off from in New Jersey, but he said it was the only response he got from the 20 applications he sent out.
“It’s chaos. Moving an entire museum is just nuts.”
David Millman
director of the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas, in the midst of a move to the Springs Preserve. The new museum is on track to open by mid-October.
MULTIMEDIA
• SLIDE SHOW: Hepatitis C trial begins
• VIDEO & SLIDE SHOW: Blinded Veterans Association
• VIDEO: Movie Minute with Carol Cling
• SLIDE SHOW: Recall supporters collect petition signatures
• VIDEO: Michigan Air National Guard crew helps keep the jets flying during Green Flag at Nellis AFB
• VIDEO: Bighorn sheep battle at Hemingway Park
