Call News Editor Tom Tait in Las Vegas at (702) 382-7440 if you have questions about stories. AP stories, along with the photos that accompany them, can also be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com . For reruns, contact the AP Service Desk at (877) 836-9477.

LAS VEGAS — Rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight was jailed Wednesday on assault and drug charges after he was accused of beating his girlfriend while brandishing a knife near the Las Vegas Strip, police said. Knight, 43, posted $19,000 bail and was due to be released late Wednesday with a promise to appear Sept. 26 in Las Vegas Justice Court, a court spokeswoman said. By Ken Ritter.

HENDERSON — Potential vice presidential nominee Mitt Romney accused Democrats on Wednesday of playing "the politics of envy" in recent ads and speeches that focus on John McCain's wealth and multiple homes. The former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate defended his former rival for the Republican nomination against the full-on Democratic assault, saying presidential candidate Barack Obama was resorting to divisive politics. By Kathleen Hennessey.

RENO, Nev. — Sen. Harry Reid praised Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday as a leader who can reverse eight years of damage to the nation inflicted by a Bush administration he said conspired with the oil industry, profited from war and engaged in "out-and-out corruption."

LAS VEGAS — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that it would be dangerous for Republican John McCain to be in the White House because he "doesn't have the temperament to be president."

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada merchants had a bad year in fiscal 2008, with sales declining 2.5 percent compared with the prior year, the state Taxation Department reported Wednesday. By Brendan Riley.

LAS VEGAS — Lawmakers in White Pine County are considering whether to accept in-lieu payments from the Southern Nevada Water Authority for ranches the authority owns in east-central Nevada. The Las Vegas-based water authority is exempt from taxes, but officials say they've agreed after more than a year of negotiations to pay $156,400 this year and $45,000 annually in what amount to goodwill payments to the cash-strapped rural county.

KIRKWOOD, Calif. — Thousands of fish — including an 18-pound trout — have been rescued from a Sierra lake that must be drained this fall to allow for dam repairs.

CARSON CITY, Nev. — A regulation that would make it a Nevada policy to provide health care insurance benefits to domestic partners of state employees, including those of the same sex, was adopted by a legislative subcommittee on a 3-2 vote.

LAS VEGAS — Nevada's main electric utilities are extending financial incentives now offered to homeowners with solar power systems to customers installing wind turbines.

ELKO — Newmont Mining Corp. executives say Yukon-Nevada is responsible for paying 400 workers laid off from the closed Jerritt Canyon Mine, and that legal actions taken by Newmont to protect its assets should not have affected workers.

CARSON CITY — Culinary and bartenders unions have won another round in their 14-year legal battle with former owners of the Sahara and Hacienda hotel-casinos in Las Vegas. But there's still no final decision in the case.

SPARKS — The scent of smoky barbecue will be wafting over downtown Sparks as 25 rib cookers compete in the annual Best in the West Rib Cook-off. The six-day event sponsored by John Ascuaga's Nugget, now in its 20th year, began Wednesday and runs through Labor Day.

RENO, Nev. — Defensive ends Dontay Moch and Kevin Basped give Nevada's defense something it hasn't had in years — a speedy pass rush from the outside. The pair of sophomores have been showing off their wheels under the new 4-3, vertical style of defense instituted by first-year defensive coordinator Nigel Burton.

RENO, Nev. — Nevada athletic officials announced Wednesday a new text message number for fans to report inappropriate behavior during football games as part of a broader effort to crack down on drunks and other rowdy troublemakers at Mackay Stadium.

— JAVON WALKER-SUSPECTS — A Nevada grand jury has increased charges against two men accused of abducting, beating and robbing Javon Walker after the NFL player spent a night club-hopping.

— TROOPER CRASH-INDICTMENT — A dismissed Nevada state trooper has been indicted on charges he was under the influence of marijuana when he caused a three-vehicle crash that left one person dead and two others hurt.

— CVN-NOMINATING-NEVADA — Nevada's delegation to the Democratic National Convention cast 25 votes for Sen. Barack Obama and eight votes for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

— GOP DELEGATES — A key Republican panel has rejected Nevada's dueling delegations to the Republican National Convention and recommended a compromise group be seated.

— MOTHER ARSON — A Las Vegas mother of three is hospitalized and is expected to face arson and child endangerment charges after authorities say she set her apartment afire with her children inside.

— I-15 WORK-VEGAS — County, state and federal road authorities are airing plans to deal with traffic and congestion around the Las Vegas Strip once a big Interstate 15 construction project begins.

— WORK SITE ACCIDENT — Henderson city officials and Nevada OSHA are investigating a construction site accident that left two workers seriously hurt.

— EARNS-DILLARD'S — Dillard's Inc. department store chain lost $38.3 million in its second quarter, compared with a loss last year of $25.2 million, the company reported Wednesday and said it will close more stores.

The AP's weekly news feature package, Nevada Focus, consists of a staff-written story and two member stories.

LAS VEGAS — As trekkies from across the galaxy drank their last Warp Core Breach, mounted a final, futile resistance to the Borg and talked to fictional aliens from the venerable "Star Trek" series, Eric and Karen Klein renewed their wedding vows on the bridge of the USS. Enterprise. A typical afternoon for Star Trek: The Experience, a physical homage to the celebrated television franchise that ends its run of more than 10 years in Las Vegas on Monday. Eric Klein, 39, said he and Karen had planned to spend their 10-year wedding anniversary here and renew their vows on the replica bridge of the main starship from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but they had to do it four years early because of the planned closure. "It's really a shame," said Karen Klein, 38. "They seem to have a lot of draw here." The closure has many fans incensed with the Las Vegas Hilton, which houses the attraction, and Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which owns and operates it, because the sides could not come to financial terms on an agreement to renew the exhibit's lease. By Oskar Garcia.

Eds: Moving this week; exact timing to be determined.

RENO — Vicky Picco was playing slots at the Peppermill Hotel Casino the other day. She was asked what she thought of the carpet. "It's loud," she said kindly, looking down at the floor for the first time. Actually, it is more than loud. It's black, purple and aqua with planets, comets and rainbows. It's certainly nothing that you would want in your home. But put it in a casino, and loud carpeting can subtly help separate you from your money, some gambling experts said. "Casino carpet is known as an exercise in deliberate bad taste that somehow encourages people to gamble," David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, wrote in an essay. By Ray Hagar. Reno Gazette-Journal.

Eds: For release weekend editions, Aug. 30-31, and thereafter.

LAS VEGAS — Some of the main suppliers to drug dealers in Nevada wear white lab coats. Prescription medications rival street drugs in popularity among drug abusers and addicts, and authorities say many kinds reach the street through pharmacy technicians, who have the same access to controlled substances as pharmacists. They've even earned a nickname for themselves: "thieving techs." Nevada State Board of Pharmacy records show at least a dozen techs were disciplined for theft in 2006 and 2007, stuffing pills in their clothes or creating drug orders with fake names for their friends to buy. One technician was disciplined for stealing 1,500 pills hydrocodone, better known by the brand names Vicodin, Lorcet and Norco. Another was disciplined for taking 450 hydrocodone pills. Many more are caught stealing handfuls of pills. By Marshall Allen. Las Vegas Sun.

Eds: For release weekend editions, Aug. 30-31, and thereafter.

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