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WEEK IN REVIEW: Top news
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Cathleen Allison/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Assemblyman Steven Brooks, D-Las Vegas, flashes a peace sign as he leaves the Legislature in Carson City on Wednesday. Brooks was arrested in Las Vegas on Jan. 19 on a charge of threatening Nevada Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas. » Buy this photo
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State Assemblyman Steven Brooks began the week bailing out of jail and ended it with a medical evaluation that followed another encounter with police.
In between, he made a brief appearance at the Legislative Building in Carson City covered by a hooded sweatshirt and walking with a cane. Then he gave a disjointed, 35-minute interview to the Review-Journal in which he took off his shirt to show spots on his face, neck and torso that he and his lawyer attributed to mistreatment before and after his arrest.
The public saga of Brooks, 40, began about 6 p.m. Jan. 19 when he was arrested during a traffic stop in Las Vegas after Assembly Speaker and fellow Democrat Marilyn Kirkpatrick reported to police that she was the focus of threats by the lawmaker.
A gun was found in Brooks' car.
He says he is innocent and plans to take his seat in the Legislature as planned.
Monday
Officer kills family
A veteran Las Vegas police lieutenant killed his wife and 5-year-old son before setting fire to the family's Boulder City home and turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
Medical examiners later ruled that Kathryn Michelle Walters, 46, a former Las Vegas police officer, and Maximilian Walters, 5, both died from gunshot wounds to the head. Lt. Hans Pieter Walters, 52, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Tuesday
Rhodes land swap
Clark County commissioners voted to support swapping developer Jim Rhodes' property overlooking the Red Rock National Conservation Area with an equal, if less controversial, parcel.
Commissioner Susan Brager, who is spearheading the effort, said the next step is to enlist the support of Nevada's congressional delegation and approach the Bureau of Land Management with the idea.
She wants the deal done within a year.
Wednesday
Parents: pack them in
Parents delivered emotional pleas for the status quo as the Clark County School District's Attendance Zone Advisory Commission prepares to recommend how to redraw zones and alleviate crowding at southwest elementary schools.
The Clark County School Board will vote on the new zones March 6. The changes are expected to affect 15 to 20 schools in 2013-14.
At nearly 40 elementary schools, staff members are teaching a quarter more students than their buildings were built for, relying on portable classrooms and even portable bathrooms to do so.
Thursday
Creative constabling
John Bonaventura finally found a way to pay for two lawyers he briefly deputized last year.
Through creative accounting, the controversial Las Vegas Township constable in the past month has paid lawyers Spencer Judd and Robert Pool, against the wishes of Clark County commissioners.
The move may be legal, but for at least two commissioners it's yet another reason to look at doing away with the office.
Friday
He's coming back
To those who thought Las Vegas would never see President Barack Obama again after last year's election onslaught: Surprise!
The White House announced that the president will travel to Southern Nevada on Tuesday to promote an overhaul of immigration policy that fell by the wayside during his first term. The administration has reaffirmed the issue as a priority, and it has picked up bipartisan interest in Congress as well.
Obama will travel to Las Vegas for a midday event and back to Washington on the same day, according to the White House.
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