WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news
Last year's fatal shooting of Stanley Gibson by Las Vegas police officer Jesus Arevalo is headed to a grand jury for review.
The Review-Journal has learned that a grand jury is expected to start hearing testimony in the case this week. More than a dozen witnesses are likely to testify, meaning it could take weeks, or even months, for prosecutors to present their case.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson requested the action but has declined to discuss his reasons.
Grand juries are closed to the public.
The action could result in the first indictment of a Las Vegas police officer for an on-duty shooting in at least 20 years, if not the first ever.
Arevalo fired seven shots from an AR-15 rifle into Gibson's stopped car as other officers were trying to get him out of the vehicle using pepper spray and a bean-bag shotgun. The unarmed 43-year-old disabled Gulf War veteran died at the scene.
Monday
Keeping conventions
Two of the valley's largest conventions have signed lease extensions with the Las Vegas Convention Center that could bring in $1.4 billion in nongaming revenue over the next few years.
The Men's Apparel Guild in California, or MAGIC, attracts about 80,000 attendees twice yearly and has extended its stay here through 2015. The Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, draws about 130,000 people to its annual show and will stay through 2017.
Tuesday
HOA board ousted
In what they called an "unprecedented action," state officials removed the entire three-member board of a North Las Vegas homeowners association.
Autumn Chase Homeowners Association board members Joseph Bitsky, his wife, Barbara Bitsky, and Hellen Murphy were ordered to surrender the association's credit card and give all association records to the state until a new board can be elected, officials said.
The action resulted from a complaint filed by the Nevada Real Estate Division against the three board members accusing them of a series of state violations.
Wednesday
Gaming revenue falls
Nevada gaming revenues declined 3.1 percent during August, disappointing those who hoped July's $1 billion take foreshadowed a stronger recovery.
Statewide, gaming revenues hit $859.2 million, which was down from $886.8 million in August 2011, according to newly released figures from the Gaming Control Board.
On the Strip, gaming revenues fell 1.2 percent to $490.9 million, down from $496.9 million a year ago and $109 million less than what casinos took in during July.
Thursday
Police detail slaying
New details were released in the death of a 46-year-old Las Vegas woman who police say was killed by a hammer-wielding vagrant hired by her estranged husband for $600.
Shauna Tiaffay was beaten to death in her Summerlin apartment on Sept. 29.
George Tiaffay, 40, is now in custody, facing charges that he paid Noel "Greyhound" Stevens, 37, to kill the woman.
Friday
Bird killed, Men jailed
Two men who say they are California law school students have been arrested after police say they killed and decapitated an exotic bird at the Flamingo.
Eric Cuellar and Justin Teixeira, both 24 and students at the University of California, Berkley, were jailed after police said they were seen laughing and throwing around the body of a dead 14-year-old helmeted guineafowl that was part of the hotel-casino's Wildlife Habitat.
NUMBERS
4.4 inches
How much rain fell in Las Vegas between Aug. 1 and Friday, breaking the previous record of 3.63 inches set between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31, 1939.
$2,000
The reward Las Vegas cabdriver Adam Woldemarim received for returning a black laptop case stuffed with $221,510 in cash that was left in his cab.
71 percent
The drop in the number of foreclosure filings in Nevada from August to September. Such filings fell 7 percent nationally during the same period.
1994
The year both Erik Scott, who was shot to death by police at a Summerlin Costco in 2010, and murder-for-hire suspect George Tiaffay graduated from West Point.
QUOTES
"We estimated 15 truckloads, we've taken out 18 and we are about one-third through the house."
David Riggleman, City of Las Vegas spokesman, talking about the amount of junk removed from Kenneth Epstein's Duplex in Sun City Summerlin in what officials are calling the worst case of hoarding in city history. Each truck holds one ton.
"We've actually had little kids cry. It's kind of sad."
Sali Underwood, natural history curator for the Nevada State Museum in Las vegas, talking about the 14-foot-tall mammoth skeleton that greets visitors. The museum is holding a contest to name the mammoth.
"Some of them have gone up over ridges and down into other little valleys or washes. For a little tortoise, that's got to be like climbing Everest."
Jen Germano, researcher from the San Diego Zoo, talking about the desert tortoises she released at the Nevada National Security Site and is now tracking using radio transmitters.
MULTIMEDIA
lvrj.com/multimedia
VIDEO: Dalmatian and Clydesdale play blackjack at the South Point
SLIDE SHOW and VIDEO: Former President Bill Clinton campaigns for Barack Obama in Las Vegas
SLIDE SHOW: National Association of Convenience Stores convention
VIDEO: Range 702 opens with machine gun ribbon cutting
VIDEO: Record rainfall pushes Las Vegas past yearly average
SLIDE SHOW: "Pink Heals tour" brings women's cancer awareness to the Strip
