The city of Las Vegas has finalized the first phase of a major effort to cut down on the number of licenses that businesses are required to carry. As of this month, more than 5,500 businesses were notified that they no longer need to carry multiple business licenses and can conduct their business under one primary license. Businesses will receive a new consolidated sales or services license in the mail as their regular renewals are due over the next six months.

Trying to entice wayward students back to class in Las Vegas, Chaparral High School Principal David Wilson led teams into communities to knock on doors in search of dropouts. Ray Suarez reports on an offbeat approach starting to show some signs of success in a city that ranks near the bottom in the nation for graduation rates.

Don Snyder, the driving force behind the development of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts , was awarded Tuesday with a prestigious award from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Employers Association of Southern Nevada and Nevada Taxpayers Association.

Snyder received the Free Enterprise Award during a chamber luncheon at Aria.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley on Wednesday expressed support for Elissa Cadish, whose nomination to the federal bench is being blocked by U.S. Sen. Dean Heller.

Berkley called Cadish a "close personal friend" and suggested the Clark County district judge should be given a shot at a promotion.

"She's well qualified for the position," Berkley said when asked by a reporter whether she backs Cadish.

Berkley refused, however, to insert herself in the stand off between Heller, R-Nev., and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D- Nev., who nominated Cadish for the federal bench.

Recovery was firmly underway in the Intermountain West by the fourth quarter of 2011 but its pace varied considerably across the region's 10 major metropolitan areas. Six of the 10 metros saw job growth in the fourth quarter but only four saw it accelerate over the previous one. Output grew everywhere but only in half of the region's metros did the pace of growth quicken. The unemployment rate was down across the board from one year earlier. House prices in most markets stabilized. Yet signs of a robust, sustained, and self-fueling recovery remained elusive.