the cost of solar energy in the valley is changing.. find out what a decision by state regulators will do to current and future customer's bills.. and what it means for everyone else who writes a check to n-v energy each month. it's being called the most dangerous stretch of road in the area.. see what metro police did today to try and cut down on people getting hit and killed on boulder highway. caught on police camera... a local woman threatens to kill herself.. but swat snipers take action when she turns a shotgun in their direction. this is fox5 news at 6. local. las vegas we live in one of the sunniest places on earth.. so you might think solar energy is a no brainer.. but as of today .. some of the biggest players say their industry could collapse. i'm christine maddela. i'm john huck. customers of solar power companies may see a more expensive bill soon. in a vote today - the public utilities commission gave n-v energy the power to pay

less for the energy they produce. fox 5's ophelia young joins us now after speaking to a worried homeowner who's not sure what the future holds. solar customers will be getting back less than a fifth of what theyre receiving now - this includes all homeowners and small business owners with panels regardless of whether youve had them for years or you're installing them now. many went home after the vote and took out their calculators. "this cost a little over 27 thousand dollars." terry hickman is making payments on his 31 solar panels but he's been quite happy with his energy bills - "we pay a small fee to nv energy just under 15 a month to be connected" when he heard nv energy approached the public utilities commission with a new rate structure - he decided to speak up among dozens of other homeowners - solar industry workers - and environmentalists

tuesday's vote. "the number one thing we have here besides dirt is the sunshine and the sunshine is a renewable energy." nv energy proposed increasing their flat service fee for solar customers, and paying customers for their unused energy 80 percent less than what they receive now. there was also talk of a controversial demand charge - which the puc ended up dropping. but the other two first changes - "all those in favor say i i motion carries" the commission said in a press release - they agreed with nv energy who argues non-solar customers - the majority - are paying more to make up for what solar customers are not paying. but as terry calculates - the new rate structure - punishes those turning to renewable energy. "youre goign to be paying at least 127 more. right." with the monthly payments he's making on the panels he estimates - "were coming back to where we were

fox 5 tried to talk to nv energy. "nat sound." they shook their heads. the puc commissioners also declined an interview. the new rate structure goes into effect january 1st - it will be implemented over the next 4 years. "had i known this was coming i would not have put solar on the roof." late this afternoon .. nv energy did send a statement .. writing that they are reviewing the p-u-c's ruling. solar energy companies are afraid this vote will ward off new customers. there are many people here in the valley who work in the solar people here in the valley who work in the solar industry.. are their jobs in danger? there are around 6-thousand people who work in the solar related field ... and as of today .. i'm being

told their jobs are up in the air. a man who was hit by a car last night on desert inn has died. this happened around 5-30 at desert inn and maryland parkway. police say a man was on his phone when he was hit by vehicle. he was rushed to a hospital with critical injuries .. but passed away today. police say the man was hit by a car outside a crosswalk when he stepped off the curb to look at another crash. the driver stopped to help police, and metro does not believe they were impaired or speeding. one of the mosst dangerous roads in teh valley for pedestrians is boulder highway. this year alone, 14 people died on it .. 8 of them were pedestrians. with so many people on our roads this time of year .. metro police want you to to be extra careful whether you're walking or driving.

lundeberg is live along boulder highway tonight with a look at metro's extra efforts. today metro handed out these pamphlets... they have tips for both drivers and people crossing the street. capt jack owen says for him the most important thing is changing the drivers attitude.. he says that could save lives. you girls know youre not supposed to jaywalk right and look both ways? metro police say they hope educating drivers and pedestrians will

'sgt grahma here with the police department were out here talking about pedestrian safety ' tuesday morning officers passed out informational flyers near the busy stretch of roadway.. this year 14 people have died along boulder highway... eight of them pedestrians. metro police hope educating drivers and pedestrians will save lives. capt owen: all of those have been pedestrian related errors metro police say boulder highway is deadly all year long for pedestrians not using the crosswalks... and is a concern for officers between the hours of 6am up until midnight. william lamar ped- people dont use the cross walk a lot flamingo part a problem with the highway is a lack of crosswalks. metro says getting more installed is a long and difficult process dealing with the city.. state and nevada department of transportation. owen: so we're working with the county state city as well as our county beyond education out enforcing... lamar: police got to catch them and the time while officers

us a man was actually cited for jaywalking... that fine is 195 dollars. metro police officers began today at around 12 and ended just after three. they say there was one ticket actually handed out... and dozens of warnings. metro police say if their efforts today save one life it will be worth it. for more information on for both drivers and pedestrians visit the las vegas metro police department website. the woman arrested following a deadly crash on the strip - that hit a crowd of people and killed one person - has formally been charged. documents filed today list the charges against lakeisha holloway as "murder" - "child abuse" - and "felony hit-and- run". she is due in court tomorrow - and is currently being held without bail in sunday's crash in front of the planet hollywood and paris resorts. police say her 3-

was in the car but wasn't hurt - and is in county custody. today, the district attorney talked about his case against her.. "this was a lady that turned onto a sidewalk, ran over many people, continued to drive on the sidewalk, went back on the street and then went back into the intersection where there was a crowd of people. this was not a matter of a couple of seconds, this went on for many many seconds." the crash killed jessica valenzuela of buckeye, arizona... and sent at least 35 people to area hospitals - including three in critical condition. police say holloway intentionally drove onto the curb hitting the people. the woman who hit and killed a man while he was pushing his granddaughter in a stroller found out her sentence .. but not before talking directly to the victim's family. galina kilova / sentenced 6-15 years in prison "i just want to say i'm really sorry. and i'm really sorry for your loss. if there was anything i can

and to just make things better i will." galina kilova was found guilty last month for leaving the scene of a crash that resulted in the death of 63-year- old michael grubbs. kilova did take the stand to defend herself during the trial. she says she went onto an unpaved road because she was trying to get away from a road rage incident. grubbs sister sat through the trial and sentencing and even with her loss.. is able to forgive kilova. vicky fortune / sister of michael grubbs "both sides were hurt terribly, not just our family, but hers also, so i think we need to keep that in our minds that there were no winners here ever. it was simply a tragic accident and i hope the best for her, i really do." kilova also said that she didn't realize she hit grubbs until she

the man accused of shooting and injuring a metro officer was in court this morning. teag fox found out today he's now being held on one million dollars bail. fox was arrested after a more than six hour manhunt one week ago. police say when officer gregory sedminik arrived to a domestic disturbance call at the emerald suites... on south las vegas boulevard teag confronted him... asking him if the officer was there to kill him. police say fox then told the officer to look up - and fired three rounds in his direction. . hitting him once. this morning, metro undersheriff kevin mcmahil talked about the feeling he had once fox was captured. undersheriff kevin mcmahill "yeah it was a huge sense of relief, once we found out he was outside of that perimeter we were able to get him pretty rapidly into custody it provided a great sense of relief." the officer is recovering at home and is expected to make a full recovery. early last week metro officers were involved in

each other. the second was on aviation near nellis and craig when polcie were called out to a suicidal woman in a home. police and crisis negotiators arrived at the home and tried to talk her out for hours. at one point she even fell asleep and metro swat broke in her door .. but this woke her up leading to another standoff. eventually she came out. assistant sheriff tom roberts explains what happened next over police video of the incident. "at 1:48 p.m. kimberly exited the residence with a shotgun, placed it under her chin, kimberling attempted to manipulate the trigger and was unable to shoot herself. at 1:49 kimberling took the shotgun away from her chin and pointed it at the direction of swat officers." police stopped the video here.. the moment when kimberling was shot and killed. this was the 13th metro officer

eight hours earlier metro was at this scene on king palm avenue. today, assisstant sheriff todd fasulo said officers tried to pull over a vehicle that ended up with the officers putting three men into custody on the front lawn of a home. it turned out to be the home of one of the men .. and that man's father, robert sanchez, came out of the house and pointed a handgun at the officers. "the shooting could have been prevented if robert sanchez would have stayed in his house and let the police carry out their business and take those two suspects into custody." assistant sheriff fasulo also said he does not know why sanchez came out of the house with a gun. still ahead tonight.. what you might be able to see on christmas that hasn't been visable for close to forty years. and it's the "13 bloody days of christmas" with penn and teller. why y w is the best time of the year to roll up your sleve and help save a life. huge semi trucks didn't stand a chance on this southern

what threw them on their side like they were toys. your fox5 weather

local entertainers penn and teller are at

lifes. this marks the 15th year the comedy team is asking locals to donate blood. they call it their "13 bloody days of christmas" and it's held at "united blood services" offices. and to make sure no one questions their sincerity .. penn rolled up his sleeves and gave blood this afternoon. penn jillette / entertainer "and when people come in and give blood at one of the blood centers not only do they get the fun of probably saving someone's life, but they also get a couple tickets to see our show. we give away a bunch of tickets every year for people who are kind enough to give blood and help their fellow humans, free coffee." again ... if you donate blood before january second with united blood services .. you will also get a couple tickets to penn and teller's show at the rio. there are donation centers on west charleston, west craig and whitney ranch drive in henderson. it looks similar to a picture astronauts took from the moon back in the 60's.. but this one was just released. the lunar reconnaissance orbiter has been investigating the moon's surface for six years.

many pictures. you can see earth as it appears to rise over the lunar horizon. the large tan area is the sahara desert, and just beyond is saudi arabia. the atlantic and pacific coasts of south america are also visible to the left. if you're looking to the sky this christmas .. you might see santa clause.. but you might also see this... the last full moon of the year will appear on christmas day. the rare sight is called a "full cold moon" because it shows up during the beginning of winter. a full moon hasn't appeared on christmas day since 19-77. and it won't happen again for another 19-years. now fox5 weather 24/7 (( weather )) you might have been able to tell that forecasting the exact arrival and departure times of

isn't always easy. we were calling for a lot of cloud cover throughout this first full day of winter which would have kept the afternoon high in the mid 50s. but mother nature had other ideas, and the clouds cleared out, giving us more sunshine and moving the high past the 60 degree mark. the current forecast still calls for clouds to keep coming and going while temps will stay above normal for a couple more days. but the next

is supposed to get here during the day on christmas eve. that should mean more wind and much cooler temps heading into the holiday and on into the weekend. we'll go ahead and mention a slight chance for a quick passing shower as santa makes his big sleigh ride over southern nevada. if that happens, higher elevations around the las vegas area could see a snowflake or two (don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen).

be windy with high temps dropping into the 40s and lows down to the 20s over the rest of the christmas weekend. closed captioning will resume shortly

hey, is that it? i think that's it. oh! go amanda! we love you!

bowe bergdahl was arraigned at a fort bragg today. bergdahl didn't enter a plea at the pre-court martial he's facing desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. bergdahl disappeared from his base in afghanistan in 2009, and was held captivity by the taliban for five years. the commander of the u-s army forces command ordered bergdahl to face a general court-martial. meaning if convicted he could get life in prison. windy weather caused big trouble on the roads in mojave, california. this is just one of several big rigs toppled by strong winds. and with the wind was the dust and sand .. making it nearly impossible for drivers to see the cars ahead of them.

were shutdown as crews cleaned up the mess. so far there are no reports of injuries.. but the national weather service did issue a high wind warning for antelope valley and los angeles county mountains through midday tomorrow. another advancement in spaceflight from the florida coast. space x is celebrating a groundbreaking achievement..... one that could make space exploration much more affordable. fox news correspondent phil keating is in miami with more. a space-x falcon nine rocket shoots into the florida sky . the 23-story tall rocket carrying eleven communications satellites into orbit. but the real feat coming moments later, when the falcon's main booster detached and made its way back down to earth .... landing vertically ten minutes later. ((cheering)) space-x employees welcoming the rocket back with an eruption of elation and cheers, and the landing impressing veteran space coast enthusiasts.

jumped, because it was right above us, it didn't look like it was at the cape, it was right above us." it's a big deal for space-x because the costly booster has the potential to be re-used. . and that would bring down the price tag for future missions, by about 50 million dollars each launch. space x's last falcon nine launch in june did not end as well. that rocket exploded shortly after liftoff, destroying four- thousand pounds of food and supplies meant for the international space station. the company fixing the problem and upgrading that rocket before monday's mission. leek says: "..when it touched down, and the bang, that sonic boom, that was a wake-up call. it was a good day, it was well worth the wait." rival private space company blue origin, owned by jeff bezos of amazon, successfully landed its own rocket last month at a test in texas, however that rocket did not have a payload so a lot of people think that's apples to oranges. in miami, phil keating, fox news.

by space x failed