Nevada
Vegas developer selling $7.85M mansion for bitcoin
LAS VEGAS – A casino owner-turned-commercial developer is asking $7.85 million to sell a Las Vegas home, and he’s willing to accept the online currency bitcoin for the deal.
Jack Sommer said he got the idea to seek bitcoin for his 25,000-square-foot mansion from two of his sons, who’ve been involved in making and trading the currency.
“The advantage is that we’re expanding our market and adding some notoriety,” Sommer said.
Bitcoin peer-to-peer trading began in 2009. Value is purchased through an exchange website with a mainstream paper currency, such as dollars or euros, though trading isn’t government-regulated.
Using the currency can streamline international business deals, said Julian Tosh, a consultant and owner of the marketplace website bitcoinsinvegas.com.
“There are a bunch of people who have bitcoins, and they’re dying for a place to spend it,” Tosh told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Reno man gets probation for golf course shooting
RENO, Nev. – A Reno man has been placed on probation and fined $1,000 for shooting a golfer whose errant ball broke a bedroom window at his home.
Jeff Fleming, 53, was put on probation for up to five years in Washoe County District Court. He had faced as much as 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine after he earlier pleaded guilty to a felony charge of battery with a deadly weapon.
The unidentified golfer who struck Fleming’s house took a drop and was attempting to play his next shot on the Lakeridge Golf Course in September 2012 when Fleming fired a shotgun at him. The golfer, who was playing with a friend, was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to an arm and both legs.
Fleming’s attorney, Larry Dunn, said Friday his client was just waking up when the stray golf ball shattered his bedroom window and sprayed him with glass shards. Fleming shot at the golfer from about 50 yards away in an attempt to scare him, not injure him, Dunn said.
Pennsylvania
Police: Driver hid pot as Christmas presents
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Pennsylvania State Police say they found 20 pounds of marijuana in boxes wrapped as Christmas presents inside a minivan after a traffic stop.
The Centre Daily Times reports that 38-year-old Randy Jesus Valdivia, of Surfside, Fla., faces felony drug charges after the stop on Interstate 80 near State College.
Police say they became suspicious after Valdivia was stopped Thursday afternoon, and got him to agree to a search.
They say they found 20 pounds of pot vacuum-sealed inside large boxes wrapped as Christmas gifts. Online court records say he was taken to the local jail.
Utah
Polygamy advocates hail judge’s ruling in Utah
Advocacy groups for polygamy and individual liberties are hailing a federal judge’s ruling that key parts of Utah’s polygamy laws are unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups said Friday that a provision in Utah law forbidding cohabitation with another person violated the First Amendment.
The ruling was a victory for the polygamist Brown family that stars in the TV reality show “Sister Wives.” They had filed a lawsuit in 2011.
Anne Wilde of the polygamy advocacy group Principle Voices says polygamous families have lived under the threat of arrest for decades and no longer have to worry that “someone will knock on their door and take away their kids.”
Associated Press
