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ADOPTED CHILDREN ABUSE-VEGAS
3 charged with abusing adopted girls in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 53-year-old Las Vegas woman who published a book on foster care is accused of depriving her three adopted daughters of food, refusing to let them go to the bathroom and beating them with a stick.
Janet Solander was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of child abuse and sexual assault. Her 50-year-old husband, Dwight Solander, and her 21-year-old daughter, Danielle Hinton, have also been charged with abuse.
Investigators say the three sisters were forced to sleep on boards without sheets, blankets or pillows out of fear they would wet the bed. The girls told authorities their adoptive parents would make them wear their soiled underwear on their head if they had an accident.
Janet Solander is the author of a self-published book called "Foster Care: How to Fix this Corrupted System" that appears on Amazon.com and other websites.
GEORGE WALLACE-INJURY LAWSUIT
Comic George Wallace testifies in casino lawsuit
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Comedian George Wallace is telling a Nevada jury he's been hobbled by a leg injury he suffered at the Bellagio and he's seeking $9 million from the Las Vegas Strip resort.
The 61-year-old took the witness stand Thursday to say he can't do things he used to do before he got tangled in loose wires on stage during a performance for a corporate group in December 2007.
Wallace suffered an Achilles tendon injury. His civil lawsuit accuses the Bellagio and its employees of negligence.
Bellagio lawyers cast Wallace as careless and say he voluntarily assumed the risk of injury.
Wallace's close friend, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, was in court for part of the day last Friday but wasn't there for Wallace's testimony.
Wallace has headlined since 2004 at the Flamingo hotel-casino.
BASKETBALL PLAYER'S FATHER-PLEA
NBA player's father gets prison in fraud case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The father of NBA rookie Shabazz Muhammad was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison and ordered to repay almost $1.7 million in restitution after pleading guilty in a Las Vegas mortgage fraud case.
Ronald Holmes apologized Thursday before Senior U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks sentenced him in Las Vegas to 37 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
Holmes is due to surrender May 30 to begin his sentence.
His defense attorney, Michael Lippman, says Holmes looks forward to putting the case behind him.
Holmes pleaded guilty in December to felony conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud. Prosecutors agreed to drop two bank fraud counts.
Holmes' 21-year-old son played for UCLA before joining the Minnesota Timberwolves.
TEXTING ENFORCEMENT DRIVE
188 motorists ticketed for texting in Henderson
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Police say they handed out 188 summonses to motorists in Henderson for texting, checking email or using hand-held cellular phones while driving over a recent 18-day stretch.
Officers also issued 147 speeding tickets, 74 registration violations and 59 summonses to drivers who didn't have insurance.
Henderson police spokeswoman Kathleen Richards says the enforcement effort ran from Feb. 10 to 28, and included Nevada Highway Patrol troopers and Boulder City police.
Richards says officers issued about 2,500 texting tickets to motorists in Henderson the first year after a new law took effect in January 2012.
That number fell to fewer than 2,000 in 2013.
The Joining Forces effort was paid for with an $188,000 federal grant through the Traffic Safety Office of the Nevada Department of Public Safety.
LAKE TAHOE-FIREWORKS LAWSUIT
Lake Tahoe agency reviews July 4 fireworks lawsuit
RENO, Nev. (AP) — The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority is trying to decide whether to go forward with its annual Fourth of July fireworks show in the face of a lawsuit that says the spent explosives are polluting the lake in violation of the Clean Water Act.
The agency scheduled an emergency meeting in Stateline late Thursday afternoon to consider ending its sponsorship of the holiday tradition that helps attract an estimated 100,000 people to the alpine lake each summer.
Joseph and Joan Truxler of Zephyr Cove filed the suit in federal court in Sacramento in November against the LCVA and the California-based Pyro Spectaculars North.
They say they only want to protect the lake and have no intention of trying to halt the fireworks, only require the proper permitting and cleanup.
NEVADA SALES
Nevada sales up 2.1 percent in January
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Taxable sales in Nevada rose 2.1 percent in January over the same month last year, helped in part of notable gains in the state's tourism sector.
A report Thursday from the state Department of Taxation shows Nevada merchants sold $3.5 billion in goods during the month. Taxable sales rose 4.1 percent in Clark County and 7.5 percent in Washoe County.
The state collected $277 million in gross taxes based on the total sales.
Despite the increase, only five of Nevada's 17 counties posted sales gains.
Accommodations and sales at bars and restaurants had sizeable gains in January compared with the same month in 2013. Both are key indicators on the health of Nevada's vital tourism industry.
Accommodations jumped more than 80 percent, while bars and restaurants rose nearly 8 percent.
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