The Local Newsroom
Politics
The Year in Preview
January 3rd, 2013
After a year of rhetorical warfare in Nevada politics, the state will have to actually get down to business this year. The 2013 Legislature has a lot on its plate—especially the perennially kicked-down-the-road issues of revenue, education and legislative efficiency. Here are my fearless—maybe even reckless—predictions for the year ahead. Read more »
The Year After the Year of Downtown
January 3rd, 2013
Which neighborhoods have hit bottom and are ready to bounce? What areas are reaching toward a cultural or commercial critical mass? Which ones will benefit from some good old-fashioned wishful thinking? Read more »
Vegas Tech
Seven Trends to Watch in ’13
January 3rd, 2013
We’ve reached the point where the pace of technological progress is so fast that advancement itself seems ordinary. But things are anything but ordinary here in Las Vegas, where the growing tech scene is primed for a year of maturation. That said, here is my look at what to expect in 2013. Read more »
The Year the Silver Linings Shone
A look back at 2012, in the words of Las Vegans at the center of the storm
December 20th, 2012
The Zappos effect + critical mass of interest in how preservation is sustainability + decades of benign neglect + a remarkable collection of mid-century modern-era building stock (now officially “historic,” according to the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places) = One of the most dynamic urban revitalization opportunities in the U.S. We have all the ingredients for success that every other place that has done it had. Let’s hope 2012 is remembered as the year it finally all got fully baked. Read more »
About Town
Residents’ Evil
Every so often a new word worms its way into the Vegas lexicon. And then it lays eggs.
December 20th, 2012
Las Vegas doesn’t have a large native vernacular. We don’t have neighborhoods with native accents and nomenclature. We don’t have insider stuff that we hide from outsiders; we don’t want tourists to think that we’re withholding anything they could spend money on. As a result, whenever a word or phrase finds its way into our vernacular, we tend to use the hell out of it—often incorrectly. “I got a comp.” “This is my Friday.” The latest such piece of language is the word “residency.” Read more »
Seven Questions
J.T. the Brick
The sports-talk host on life as a stockbroker, his exasperation with the BCS and why Lance Armstrong should come clean now
December 20th, 2012
It’s five minutes into his drive-time “Power Hour” show on KBAD 920-AM, and already J.T. the Brick is sparring with his co-host about the topic du jour: Should San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Alex Smith have lost his job to second-year backup Colin Kaepernick? It’s this kind of energy and passion that helped the New York native morph from John Tournour, the full-time Merrill Lynch stockbroker and part-time radio caller, to J.T. the Brick, the popular local and national radio host. Read more »
Seven Questions
Jacob Snow
Henderson’s city manager on why parks are important, dealing with the gridlock on South Eastern Avenue and how a high-speed train could fuel economic development
December 13th, 2012
Jacob Snow is not big on small talk. In fact, everything about his top-floor office at Henderson City Hall—from the painstakingly placed décor to his well-polished cuff links—screams, “Let’s get down to business.” Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the City of Henderson hired Snow as city manager in March, plucking him from the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, the organization he helmed for 13 years. Read more »
Ghosts of the Boulevard
December 13th, 2012
One recent midweek afternoon I got the crazy idea to visit a place I once loved: the Boulevard Mall. It had easily been a decade since I’d last walked down those polished gray lanes, so redolent with childhood memories of family shopping trips. I remember drifting down the decorated holiday walkway, the joyful bustle of people carrying bags bearing presents, exhausted husbands resting on benches and puffing on cigarettes, as I searched for the perfect gifts for my family—with perhaps enough cash left over to buy myself some candy. Read more »
Politics
Three Stories and the Soul of Nevada
December 13th, 2012
If you woke up on Tuesday, Dec. 4, and opened the Las Vegas Review-Journal, you saw two pieces side-by-side. One was a news story: “Strip club mogul Jack Galardi dies at 81: Entrepreneur built empire, survived scrapes with law.” Beside it was an obituary—the kind for which families have to pay—for Shannon West-Redwine. Later that day, the U.S. Senate rejected the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The three stories speak volumes about politics and priorities in Nevada. Read more »
Character Study
Capitalist Conscience
December 13th, 2012
Hard-driving 31-year-old entrepreneur Justin Anderson makes no apologies for unfettered capitalism—after all, this is a man who named his contracting firm, Galt Development, for the hero of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. But he also understands that people get left behind—and he’s devoted a big part of his life to helping them. Read more »
