Downtown restaurant owners walked away disheartened from a city meeting Tuesday, believing if a city proposal to prohibit food trucks from parking within a city block of existing restaurants is approved in August, the trucks still will be close enough to force some restaurants out of business.
When Las Vegas businessman Kelly Murphy last week announced the conversion of the old Neonopolis movie theaters into the largest gay nightclub anywhere, he also declared the beginning of the end to New York City’s reign as the top vacation destination for gays. “My goal is to knock New York out of the No. 1 spot for gays and lesbians in the United States,” he said.
One of the largest donors in 2011-12, giving $20,000, is Langley Productions, the company that produces the Fox television show “COPS.” "COPS" video crews often are seen on the streets of Las Vegas with Metro officers. Langley Production also films lurid happenings in the Clark County Detention Center, films Metro cops for “Vegas Strip."
Cut in county allotment to Medicaid match program will cost state $8.4 million
Monday, July 16, 2012
If the state had only played fair last year, what transpired quietly during a recent Clark County Commission meeting might never have happened. Instead, commissioners recently voted to cut the county’s annual allotment that enables the state to gain tens of millions of dollars in additional matching funds.
Developers on four fronts are maneuvering to start construction on what will be Las Vegas’ next big crowd pleaser. It may be a sports arena downtown. It may be an arena rising alongside the Strip behind Harrah’s and Imperial Palace. It could well be a 50,000-seat, enclosed stadium at UNLV. Or it could be an arena in Henderson.
County Commission gives community theaters hope for relief
Thursday, July 12, 2012
A chorus of opposition is lining up against massive fee hikes by the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District that are threatening to bring down the curtain on local community theaters' use of library theaters. ...
A five-year proposed contract with union employees of the Regional Transportation Commission has onlookers scratching their heads. Under proposed terms, RTC union employees will maintain merit and cost-of-living pay as well as longevity pay.
A settlement announced Tuesday might prevent new power lines and pipelines from going through a fossil-rich, 23,000-acre parcel in the north valley proposed as a national monument.
The Clark County Commission approved measures Tuesday aimed at decreasing the number of vendors peddling water and wares on the Las Vegas Strip. By unanimous vote, commissioners said no more peddling on the public right-of-way, which includes sidewalks on the Strip. Water peddlers and others who ask to be paid for a service will be banned. The change does nothing, however, about the so-called “card slappers.”
The introduction of a bill that aimed to provide more elbow room for slot halls like Dotty’s was tabled indefinitely this morning by the Clark County Commission.
You could practically feel the dark cloud settle over the Clark County Government Center when the agenda for next week’s County Commission went out. County staff and elected officials are stunned, to put it mildly, that the issue of regulating joints like Dotty’s is back.
After years of work, federal legislation was introduced today to fashion a national monument out of 23,000 acres of ice age fossil-rich land in the north end of the valley. The Las Vegas Valley Public Lands and Tule Springs Fossil Beds Monument Act would designate about 22,650 acres as the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. The legislation also would expand the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, set aside lands for the expansion of Nevada institutions of higher education and make thousands of acres available for private development and job creation in the Las Vegas Valley.
The deaths of two people after leaving the Electric Daisy Carnival make more interesting the difficulty Metro Police had in investigating Insomniac Inc., the business that puts on Electric Daisy Carnival, and its its chief operating officer, Pasquale Rotella.
An ethics watchdog group likened an expected $1.46 million donation to Las Vegas to a “public bribe” after learning new owners of the shuttered Crazy Horse Too club said they would give the city that much money for a permit.
A Las Vegas lawyer’s threat that if he didn’t get his way, his client would sue and potentially put up an even bigger sign on a hillside near Boulder City advertising a nearby gun club angered some county commissioners who implied the threat was unprofessional. That said, Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, whose district includes the gun club and the chalk signage in question, admitted that the possibility of a lawsuit coupled with questions about whether Boulder City residents still objected to the sign led her to hold the issue until August.
For the second time in seven weeks, emergency personnel were called to investigate a suspicious substance found in the Clark County Government building downtown.
They’d rather quit than fight. That’s music to the ears of neighbors/opponents of a proposal to create the Sloan Mine gravel pit near Sun City Anthem and to the public figures who have tried for years to derail those mining plans.
A proposal to create a county public arts fund appeared to gain the support of Clark County commissioners, a surprise to artists and those who support community arts. ...
While the state retirement system appeals a court order to release individual pension data, a privately funded nonprofit group has taken it upon itself to estimate pensions for hundreds of public employees throughout local and state government.
You know all those water peddlers, considered part of the growing Strip chaos that government and casino officials are trying to fix? They might be going bye-bye.
A county commissioner who came to loggerheads with Dr. Lawrence Sands, chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District, called news of Sands' resignation “a positive step for the county.”
A proposal to spend $155,000 on consultants to study how Las Vegas firefighters do their job is angering the firefighter union. The City Council will weigh a proposal to hire the consultants.
Clark County and its Fire Department face a monumental money issue in less than two years when the county has to prepare its budget by determining if voters will decide in late 2014 to renew a 20-year-old tax that raises about $15 million per year for Fire Department operations.
The defeat of an appeal by some Laughlin residents to let the tiny community incorporate doesn’t mean the fight is over. It just means it is likely postponed for a while, said Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, whose district includes Laughlin.
Michael Cornthwaite began work on the Downtown Cocktail Room seven years ago, at a time when the beggars and open-air drug dealers and prostitutes were still prevalent near his business at Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Clark County Commissioners approved a resolution put forth by Commissioner Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, that supports a proposal by a Republican state legislator from Reno to improve transparency in political campaign expense reports. But not until Sisolak agreed to take out a reference to a Republican and change a few other words. Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani also added 10 areas of transparency to Sisolak’s original 11. Those 10 did not become part of the final resolution.
Las Vegas officials did something Tuesday rarely seen in public. Officials gave the public the chance to see contract terms offered by the city firefighters union and by city negotiators.
Tony Hsieh, the Zappos CEO who is part of a team planning to invest $350 million in downtown Las Vegas, will have to undergo a Metro Police investigation before Heart Attack Grill, a downtown restaurant in which he has minority ownership, is granted a liquor license.
Water customers lambasted the Las Vegas Valley Water District for, as one man put it, “running amok” and changing the system to the point that some water bills increased by 300 percent in May.
Plan targets up to $1.25 million annually from existing tax collections
Monday, June 4, 2012
In support of public art and local artists, a county commissioner wants a portion of the money already collected from hotel room taxes and a capital projects tax for a county arts fund, capping it at $1.25 million annually. ...
Last week’s story about how a new fee schedule for water customers resulted in monthly bills two and three times higher for some small businesses generated a flood of calls to the office of Commissioner Steve Sisolak. Does he think there’s something that can be done?
Business and civic leaders launched the “Rediscover Downtown” campaign Thursday morning to announce a monthslong campaign targeting Las Vegas residents who may have never visited the area.
As chairman of the Metro Police Fiscal Affairs Committee, Jim Hammer has earned a reputation as someone who questions motives for budget increases. Now he’s wondering just how much questioning the Water Authority did when it voted to add a hefty surcharge to water bills that began arriving in May.
A county commissioner derisively noted last week that government thinks it is “saving” money when it pays less for something than was expected. For example, if a union asks for 7 percent pay raises but only gets 4 percent, government likes to say it “saved” 3 percent.
A county commissioner derisively noted last week that government thinks it is “saving” money when it pays less for something than was expected. For example, if a union asks for 7 percent pay raises but only gets 4 percent, government likes to say it “saved” 3 percent.
The expected approval this coming week of an agreement between UNLV and private developers will end 15 months of preliminary planning and open the door for the inking of hard-and-fast plans for a campus project that includes 4,000 living units and a 60,000-seat stadium.
The very real fear that the separate governments of Clark County and Las Vegas don’t see a quick end to their depleted budgets became evident during closed-door talks Monday between Metro Police administrators and elected officials from the city and county.
County commissioners Monday morning approved a $1.1 billion budget for the coming fiscal year that is virtually unchanged from the county’s current spending plan.
Lots of people imagine elected officials smoking cigars and holding secret meetings with big monied companies, laughing at the plight of the little people.
First, Clark County officials got the bad news: An arbitrator ordered that a former firefighter get back his old job, saying he was wrongly fired last year for suspicion of abusing sick-leave policies. This was going to cost the county about $165,000. Then, they got some good news: Another arbitrator’s decision from a year ago — this one against firefighters — will boost county coffers by an unexpected $30 million, it was learned this week. At least for Clark County, binding arbitration is a pendulum that swings both ways.
After learning the Southern Nevada Health District’s reserve funds had grown equal to about 25 percent of its overall budget, county commissioners told the district it would get about half the money it expected from the county.
Firefighter was found in violation of policy banning use of county computers to notify coworkers about sick days, resulting only in reprimand
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
A Clark County firefighter who was fired a year ago for misusing sick-leave privileges will get his job back. An arbitrator ruled that the firefighter be reinstated at his former position and repaid any losses in earnings or benefits that he would have received had he not been terminated.
It probably comes as no surprise that in Southern Nevada, some elected officials seek “political favors” such as air travel, hotel rooms and numerous other noncash perks from lobbyists.
The $500,000 county commissioners say they are likely to approve as settlement in a wrongful termination lawsuit will dredge up more than scarce taxpayer dollars. It will serve as a reminder of the Byzantine, sometimes Machiavellian, way of county politics. The lawsuit stems from the firing of Terry Lamuraglia in 2008 as assistant director of Clark County’s Parks & Recreation Department.
Metro Police don’t have dashboard cameras, but this month officers will begin testing one type of body-worn camera with hopes of purchasing more of the cameras and putting them into regular use within the next fiscal year.
Practitioners of paranormal practice gather at Green Valley Ranch next month
Saturday, May 5, 2012
When practitioners of paranormal “remote viewing” gather here in June, they will enjoy a little more swagger than in the past. Last year, a California court convicted ...
A ruling Friday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could mean Clark County and state officials no longer will be immune from paying damages resulting from lawsuits involving children in foster care. A three-judge panel overturned most of a 2010 decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Jones, who had previously dismissed the lawsuit filed by the National Center for Youth Law on behalf of a group of Clark County foster children.
Clark County commissioners tried on a tow-truck/storage lot fight that state lawmakers wrestled with a year ago and found it every bit as difficult to unravel — and full of the same emotional arguments on one side for status quo and on the other for change.