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.