The Local Newsroom
The Local Newsroom
A Dream Deferred?
DREAM Act supporters haven’t given up
October 7th, 2010
Las Vegans who worked to get the federal DREAM Act passed are recharging, retooling and refocusing in the wake of the bill’s death. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM, would have granted six years of temporary residency for those who came to the U.S. as illegal immigrants before the age of 16 and have been in the country at least five years. Read more »
The Local Newsroom
You Catch It, You Eat It
The Lobster Zone turns consuming crustaceans into a game. Not everyone is amused
September 30th, 2010
Las Vegas isn’t exactly the kind of city where you’d expect to find a seafood restaurant with a “you catch it, we’ll cook it” policy; there just isn’t that much to catch around here, this being a landlocked desert and all. But if you like to make your dinner into a sport, look for a restaurant that has a machine called The Lobster Zone. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Even with no NFL team, Vegas scores big during football season
September 30th, 2010
Even though Las Vegas doesn’t have an NFL team, football is a popular pastime in the city, and one that has a huge economic impact on the area. Yes, there are the Locomotives of the United Football League and the UNLV Rebels, but football’s real impact here isn’t felt on the field or in the stands—it’s in the sports books and bars of the Valley. To provide an idea of what this means, some perspective from the “real world” of big-city professional sports: Proponents of new stadiums have estimated the annual economic impact of a football team to be between $100 million and $150 million. Read more »
The Local Newsroom
What Happens Here Sells There
How the people who market Las Vegas to the world adjust the pitch depending on the audience
September 30th, 2010
John Bischoff doesn’t speak Spanish, but he knows this phrase: Lo que pasa aqui, se queda aqui. As the vice president of international brand strategy for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Bischoff has spent the past three years repeating those words in Mexico, and the all-too familiar English version—”What happens here stays here”—in Canada, while working to woo international travelers to Las Vegas. Read more »
Politics
Some dam good thoughts for your consideration
September 30th, 2010
Sept. 30 marks the 75th anniversary of the day Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Boulder Dam, as it was then called. Recently, the Boulder City Chautauqua commemorated the occasion with “That Dam Depression,” an unforgettable gathering of historians and residents, and performances by historian Doris Dwyer as photographer Margaret Bourke-White and journalist/historian Frank Mullen as Babe Ruth. Read more »
The Local Newsroom
Change of Plans
A year after their founding, UNLV’s two new research institutes are adapting to a new reality
September 30th, 2010
The original plan for the Lincy Institute at UNLV was to hire from out of state. The institute, a Kirk Kerkorian-funded initiative aimed at bringing together researchers and nonprofit groups, wanted to supplement Las Vegas’ academic talent pool, not raid it. But the economic woes facing the community and the university scrambled the equation, says Lindy Schumacher, director of Nevada operations for the Lincy Foundation, which funded the institute with a $14 million grant last year. After a painful round of cuts to the state’s university system, the talented people Lincy sought were, in some cases, unemployed. Read more »
The Local Newsroom
Creepy, Crawly Things
Good news: Bedbugs aren’t on the rise in Las Vegas … yet
September 23rd, 2010
It’s not just 3-D piranhas baring their teeth lately; bedbugs have also taken a bite out of carefree summer days across the country. Lucky for us, Las Vegas doesn’t appear to be all that appetizing. Read more »
The Local Newsroom
Help-O-Meter
Donation Stations for the homeless show shift in city’s attitude
September 23rd, 2010
In April, the city of Las Vegas officially signaled a big change in the way it views the problem of homelessness by installing 10 old coin-operated parking meters around downtown areas known for high pedestrian traffic and panhandling. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Countdown to the Cosmo
September 23rd, 2010
With a glut of rooms and relative dearth of visitors, the last thing Las Vegas needs might be another luxury hotel-casino. But the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, about 90 days away from its Dec. 15 opening, is promising something different. It hasn’t been easy for the Cosmopolitan. When ground was broken in October 2005, it was one of a crop of planned casinos that were going to re-make Las Vegas. The Palazzo, Encore and Aria opened, but Boyd Gaming pulled the plug on Echelon in 2008, and the Fontainebleau’s post-bankruptcy owner, Carl Icahn, has no announced plans to resume construction on the partially built casino. Read more »
The Local Newsroom
The Hero Business
Local comic book stores thrive, despite the economy
September 23rd, 2010
Ralph Mathieu seems like a proud father as he gives a tour of his comic book shop, Alternate Reality Comics, which he just moved—after 16 years—into a new retail pad double the size of his previous space. Read more »
