Speed is one of the the top three factors in fatal accidents in Clark County. Law enforcement says it wants to put a stop to heavy-footed drivers.

NHP, Metro, Henderson police and other law enforcement agencies around the state will team up from Oct. 24th - Nov. 1st to go after speeders.

Police say officers will adopt a “no tolerance” policy when it comes to dealing with drivers who are breaking the laws.  One area police will focus on is the Tropicana corridor which has been identified as having a high number of speed violators.

Wynn Resorts has started to accept room reservations for its $2.3 billion Encore resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

The 2,034-room hotel expected to open Dec. 22 is next to the Wynn Las Vegas. The hotel began accepting reservations Monday for Jan. 12, 2009, and beyond.

Room rates start at $229 per night. The average room price in Las Vegas was $107 in August.

A Wynn spokeswoman says the resort is waiting to receive certificates of occupancy for the rooms, but expects them to be issued well before guests start arriving. Wynn spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne says the hotel will book earlier dates once Clark County issues the certificates.

Encore is expected to include five restaurants, 11 retail stores, seven bars and a nightclub.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Three high-profile Las Vegas malls are for sale and the company that owns there is struggling financially.

General Growth Properties has announced it is looking for buyers for Fashion Show Mall, Grand Canal Shoppes and The Palazzo.

The company also replaced its CEO and president with two directors after learning about loans that were made that did not follow company policy.

General Growth has nearly a billion dollars in loans due by the end of November and their stock has been on a downward slide.

The parents of a nine-month-old child found in a stroller on the Las Vegas Strip have been arrested.

Police say the infant was found by tourists in front of the Imperial Palace Hotel Friday night and the parents were discovered inside the casino. They had left the child alone for more than an hour.

Thirty-seven-year-old David Luna-Cardenas and 35-year-old Maria Larios-Cortes was arrested and booked on one count of felony child neglect.

The family was visiting Las Vegas. The couple told police they had gotten into an argument and both adandoned the child on the sidewalk.

Among the hardest hit companies in the recent market crash have been gaming stocks. The stock price for Las Vegas based casino giants has plunged. For instance, MGM Mirage had dropped 88-percent within the year.

but where some people see a free fall, others see opportunity. So should you buy?

The market drop is affecting retirement, income, and in some cases daily spending money. Still there may be deals in all of it. Analysts say stocks are the only thing we do not buy when they go on sale. The problem is finding when to jump in to make the most on your money. MGM Mirage executives say their company is grossly undervalued by the stock market.

Bridget Peters moved to Las Vegas six years ago to pursue the American dream. She has seen good times, really good times and this slow down, “I used to go out a lot more. I have toned that down a lot.”

She invested in and helped open T&T Tacos and Tequila in the Luxor this month. Peters is glad to have a job and customers buying food. Still, the economy has her watching what she spends.

“Making sure that I work more and save and watch my money — that way, so that I am not affected by it so much,” she said.

She is also looking for opportunity in addition to her investment in the restaurant. Diving into the stock market at the bottom looks more and more attractive, “It will go up and it will go down. Probably keep doing that.”

Bill Ochs says investing right now may be a smart. He owns Nevada Mortgage and has lived in Las Vegas nearly his entire life. He points to the gaming stocks. All of the major companies in Las Vegas are at historic lows.

MGM Mirage closed at $11.20 a share. Six months ago it closed at $51 a share. Las Vegas Sands, which owns the Venetian and Palazzo is at $6.32 a share. One year ago it was at $133.65. Boyd gaming sits at $4.01 a share.

“Certainly the stock and the values of stocks and some of the things you see right now and worth taking a serious look at and maybe getting involved in purchasing some of those,” he said.

He says getting in on the ground floor with a stable company will grow your money over the long term. Peters hopes that is true. So far her investment in T&T is growing as she looks at stock market opportunities. She's betting on the long term future and growth of Las Vegas which will rely on an overall economic turn-around.

Bill Ochs says the foundation of any turn around will be housing. When home values go up, people use the line of credit on their homes to make major purchases — growing the economy. It requires more jobs to make large items like cars or adding a swimming pool.

Home values dropped, credit lines were yanked, buying stopped and like a stone in a pond, the ripple effect meant job losses.

For the first time, The Palms sportsbook will now be able to take bets on NBA games.

The casino had previously been banned from taking NBA bets because the Maloof family owns both the Palms and the Sacramento Kings.

The sportsbook can now take bets on all games except those the Kings are playing. It's similar to a deal the NBA struck with Harrah's Entertainment whose CEOo owns a portion of the Boston Celtics.

Police have made an arrest in a deadly stabbing on the Las Vegas Strip. It happened in front of the Hawaiian Tropics Zone. 20-year-old Desiray Ortiz has been arrested.

The stabbing happened early Sunday morning. Police were called to the Hawaiian Tropics Zone to break up a fight. When they arrived, they found a Hispanic man on the ground bleeding from a stab wound. He was transported to UMC where he died.

Detectives say a group from California, including Ortiz, was involved in an argument with several people working on the Strip. A fight broke out and the victim was stabbed.

Ortiz has been arrested and charged with murder with a deadly weapon.

Metro Police need help identifying the person who robbed a local casino. The robbery happened back on August 24, 2008 at the Harrah's Casino.

Police say the suspect robbed the main cage and took off in a cab. The man is about 35 to 40-years-old, 5'6″ to 5'8″ tall and weighs about 160 to 175 pounds.

Police say the man should be considered dangerous.

If you have any information on who this man may be, please call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

The economy has taken a toll on conventions in Las Vegas — not only on the number of conventions, but the number of people attending them. Those numbers spill over into other areas of the economy and affect everyone.

The money attendees spend while in town for a convention is down nearly 24-percent, but conventions are still coming to Las Vegas. At the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Emergency Medical Services Expo is taking place this week.

While convention bookings are down slightly for the year, the number of people attending sharply decreased in August.

Last minute preps are underway for the largest EMS Expo in North America.

“It's a great backdrop to have it here in Las Vegas, and we expecting 5,000 people from all over the United States, but also from Hong Kong, Australia and Europe,” said Joe Covelli.

Covelli is in charge of the setup. While 5,000 attendees sound like a lot, they were expecting 7,000 to show up, “It's a tough market for Las Vegas, both on the leisure side and convention side.”

Terry Jicinsky with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says fewer convention participants is a trend because of the economic turmoil, “The conventions scheduled to be in Las Vegas are still coming. It's the fact that they may not be bringing as many people as they brought in other years. So there is some concern about the number of total attendees at the convention, even though that convention is still being held in Las Vegas.”

He says the recent mining convention actually had more attendees than in years past, but others have suffered, “Other conventions, like Magic, are more retail focused, reaching the retail consumer. We're down a bit but all blended together about 3-percent.”

The numbers don't seem too concerning for convention goers who come back year after year.

“It's the over all experience whenever you do an event of this size — of this magnitude. You want your attendees to have an excellent experience and that's the experience we are after,” said Covelli.

Conventions that have come to Las Vegas for the first time this year have already signed on for years to come, a sign that Las Vegas is still attracting thousands despite the market meltdown.

Clark County voters are being asked to approve a measure that would increase hotel room taxes to help pay for education.

Proponents say the future of our childrens' education is at stake and opponents claims the tax could further hurt an already limping tourist economy.

Radio advertisements are already on the air promoting that the money is sorely needed to help education. “The support our schools proposal would add 3-percent to the cost of staying a hotel or other lodging in Nevada — the fee would be paid almost entirely by tourists,” the ad touts.

While the question is not binding on the legislature, the Nevada State Education Association hopes approval will prompt lawmakers to take action. The teachers union says increasing the hotel room tax could raise $125-million per year to replace money already cut from the state budget.

“We've seen our class sizes increase, we've seen resources diminish, we've got first grade classrooms being taught with paper that's just plain without lines,” said Lynn Warne, NSEA.

“There are many reasons to oppose Question 5,” said Alan Feldman, MGM Mirage. Opponents of the plan, including gaming giant MGM Mirage, say raising room taxes in the current economy would be another hit for tourism which is already seeing declining visitor volume and lower room rates.

“I also care about teacher salaries — and our company cares about teacher salaries — and we should be supporting our teachers. But the way to go about this isn't by isolating a tax on the tourism sector, it is by creating a broader base of taxes throughout the community,” Feldman said.

The plan calls for increasing the room tax up 3-percent to a maximum of 13-percent. Opponents say that's unfair to Southern Nevada where room tax rates ranging from 9-percent on the Strip to 11-percent in downtown Las Vegas are lower than in Washoe County and Reno. That means there's room for a bigger tax increase here with money being sent elsewhere in the state.

“And the money would be dispersed to the districts on student enrollment figures so Clark County would also realize the bulk of the money, said Warne.

The room tax increase advisory question came about as a compromise between the teachers union and several, but not all, large gaming companies.

Originally, the union planned to gather enough signatures to force an increase in the overall gaming tax. Question 5 has put big operators such as MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming on one side of the table and Harrah's, Wynn and Station Casinos on the other side.