Week in Review: Top News
April 3, 2011 - 1:01 am
After getting UNLV's basketball program singing again, Lon Kruger is headed to where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain.
Kruger has accepted a long-term contract to become the head coach at Oklahoma.
News of the deal leaked Friday, less than 24 hours after Kruger told the Review-Journal he would be back to coach the Rebels next year.
Kruger met with his players in Las Vegas Friday night.
The 58-year-old coach amassed a 161-71 record in seven seasons at UNLV, and guided the Rebels to the NCAA Tournament four times in the last five years.
His high point here came in 2007, when UNLV went 30-7 and reached the Sweet 16.
MONDAY
The average visitor
Marketers and movie makers portray Las Vegas as a 24-hour party place for the young and single, but the average tourist is a bit more, well, average.
Nearly 80 percent of visitors are married and the average age is 49, according to the newly released 2010 visitors profile commissioned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Average nongaming spending per person, per trip, rose from $590 in 2009 to $645 last year, partially offset by a decline in gambling.
The authority's visitor profiles come from interviews with 3,600 people on the last day of their Vegas vacations.
TUESDAY
20th century prices
Home values in Las Vegas have fallen below January 2000 levels with no end in sight, according to a new report.
Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index shows price declines in 19 cities from December to January.
Eleven of them are at their lowest level since the housing bust, in 2006 and 2007. The index fell for the sixth straight month.
Atlanta, Detroit and Cleveland also saw housing prices sink to their lowest levels of the 21st century.
WEDNESDAY
Second doctor probed
A second urologist is under investigation for reusing single-use medical devices during prostate biopsy procedures.
Dr. Lawrence Newman reported himself to the Nevada State Medical Board and began notifying his patients after he learned that state and federal health officials had sanctioned Dr. Michael Kaplan in early March for the same practice.
Doug Cooper, executive director of the state medical board, said Newman apparently performed 150 prostate biopsies over three years during which single-use needle guides were reused.
THURSDAY
That dump won't die
Momentum may be building in Washington to revive the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
Citing the nuclear catastrophe in Japan, leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced that they will investigate the decision to terminate the project.
The news came the same day it was disclosed that a second House panel also is examining Yucca Mountain and an unreleased federal safety report on the project.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., repeatedly has declared the project "dead."
FRIDAY
Prosecutor resigns
A Clark County prosecutor accused of possession of rock cocaine has resigned.
David Schubert, a low-key chief deputy district attorney who handled several high-profile drug prosecutions involving celebrities, was arrested March 19 and charged with possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy, both felonies.
Week In Review
More Information
NUMBERS
2:03 p.m.
The time Tuesday when Mojave Max the desert tortoise emerged from his burrow at Red Rock Canyon for the first time, signaling the unofficial start of spring.
36
The number of degree programs UNLV says it will have to cut if Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget is passed.
67
The number of people out of about 12,000 survey respondents who suggested cutting $1.3 billion from the Clark County School District’s $2.1 billion budget.
25 percent
The percentage of Southern Nevadans who sufferwith “clinically significant” allergies,according to allergist Victor Cohen.
QUOTES
“I don’t talk about other jobs. Those rumors are out there every year. I really like the group we’ve got returning.”
Lon Kruger
Answering (without really answering) questions about his future at UNLV one day before the news broke about his new job as head basketball coach for the University of Oklahoma.
“I would not go to the assessor’s office to register a complaint about an illegal alien. That’s like calling the DMV to report my house is on fire.”
Ben Gulley
A volunteer with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, denying a claim by Nye County Assessor Shirley Matson that his complaint prompted her to ask the sheriff to check the immigration status of some workers on a county job. Matson was recently reprimanded by the Nye County Commission for comments and conduct widely labeled as racist.
“We’ve put away the torches and pitchforks.”
Tom Padden
One of several Mount Charleston residents who have dropped their opposition to a proposed snow play area now that some protections have been included to prevent other kinds of development.
MULTIMEDIA
lvrj.com/multimedia
• VIDEO: Impact Nevada on medical marijuana
• VIDEO: New airline lands at McCarran airport
• VIDEO: Carol Cling’s weekly Movie Minute
• VIDEO: Corey Levitan’s Fear and Loafing