Richard N. Velotta

Story Archive

Tebow coming to local church — but no tailgating, please
Friday, March 2, 2012
Tim Tebow spends many of his Sundays reading National Football League defenses. This Sunday in Las Vegas, he'll be reading Scripture. Saturday, too.
Dogged by criticism, United reverses plans to raise transport costs for pets of military personnel
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Military personnel at Nellis Air Force Base are breathing easier now that the airline contracted to fly them to new duty stations has revamped its pet transport policy.
Spirit Airlines adding Chicago, Minneapolis routes
Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012
The fastest growing airline at McCarran International Airport last year is adding another flight and destination in May and June.
Taxicab Authority denies request for more cabs during March special events
Drivers speak out against adding more cars for NASCAR weekend, NCAA March Madness because it would mean decreased profits
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012
It took a boisterous crowd of more than 300 people, 90 minutes of public comments and two suspensions of a public meeting for cab drivers to make their point before the Nevada Taxicab Authority on Tuesday: that allocating more cabs than necessary for large conventions and special events could hurt the industry.
Proposal to put more cabs on streets sparks uproar among drivers
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012
The Nevada Taxicab Authority briefly suspended its Tuesday meeting twice after dozens of cab drivers shouted down cab company owners requesting additional vehicles for next month's March Madness basketball tournament and NASCAR race.
What every business should know about health care tax laws
Monday, Feb. 27, 2012
The best piece of advice financial experts can offer about strategizing for the tax consequences of President Barack Obama’s sweeping new health care legislation is to stay tuned — many of the rules have yet to be written, and some experts speculate that everything could change in the months ahead as opponents attempt to tinker with what’s been approved.
Tourism marketers shift gears when gas prices go up
Monday, Feb. 27, 2012
Las Vegas is finally hitting on all cylinders with tourists, conventioneers, international arrivals and special events contributing to a visitor volume projected to crack the 40 million barrier for the first time. Then, just as we thought the sunny skies of a booming economy had arrived, the black cloud of $4-a-gallon gasoline hit the horizon.
So what exactly does Arcata do?
Monday, Feb. 27, 2012
For the engineers who work at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center within Edwards Air Force Base, it can be something different every day.
Under the radar with Las Vegas aerospace firm Arcata
Monday, Feb. 27, 2012
It’s an unusual winter morning in the desert surrounding Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California — unusual in that the wind isn’t howling across the dry lake beds, Joshua trees and low-lying scrub.
Open-top tour bus doubles down on Las Vegas
Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012
A company that encourages tourists to go topless on the Las Vegas Strip is expanding.
January traffic at Las Vegas airport up over last year
Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
Domestic passenger counts sputtered in January, but a big bump in international arrivals and Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air’s 10.3 percent increase in passengers for the month kept economic momentum alive at McCarran International Airport.
Clamoring for pilots, Chinese airlines holding job fair in Henderson
Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
There's a lucrative new market for American airline pilots looking for work or a change of pace: China.
Need a taxi? There's an app for that, and it works in Las Vegas
Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
When three students at the University of Alabama developed their Get Me Home! iPhone app that enables users to call a taxi in one step, they felt it was the socially responsible thing to do. After all, they’d already invented another app that tells users where they could get the highest percentage of alcohol in a drink per dollar.
Nevada moving toward letting private labs test new casino games
Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012
In a bid to stay ahead of the rapidly increasing pace of technological advancement, the state Gaming Control Board on Wednesday conducted its first public workshop to amend regulations to allow independent laboratories to test new casino games and wagering systems for licensing in the state.
Recycling company gets tax break after losing out on paving project
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012
A company that brought the first tire recycling plant to Southern Nevada but wasn’t selected to supply an important paving project on Interstate 15 last year got some consolation Tuesday when the Nevada Commission on Economic Development awarded it more than a quarter-million dollars in tax abatements and deferrals.
Allegiant, Southwest trim Las Vegas routes
Southwest adds service to Detroit
Monday, Feb. 20, 2012
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air is discontinuing service between Las Vegas and four destinations in April, citing declines in profitability due to higher fuel costs.
Spirit Airlines’ future plans could spell success for Las Vegas
Monday, Feb. 20, 2012
One of Spirit Airlines’ top executives made a somewhat cryptic comment to me when he came to Las Vegas recently to talk about his airline’s new crew base that had just opened and the new twice-daily service between McCarran International Airport and Mesa Gateway Airport in suburban Phoenix.
Ruvo Center adds Nobel Prize winner to team
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012
Dr. Stanley Prusiner loves to solve puzzles. In Las Vegas, he’ll try to solve one of the biggest puzzles of the medical profession.
Chinese company expected to develop solar plant near Laughlin
Friday, Feb. 17, 2012
A Chinese energy company has signed an agreement with the state expected to lead to development of a solar-energy generating station and a plant to build solar panels in Southern Nevada.
Southern Nevada group bids to become a state-funded regional development authority
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012
A consortium of Southern Nevada municipal and county economic development departments and existing business organizations is expected to bid to be designated a regional development authority that would be funded by the state.
Spirit Airlines adds two daily flights between Las Vegas and Denver
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012
Fresh off the establishment of a crew base at McCarran International Airport and reporting a profitable 2011 Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit Airlines has add two new daily non-stop, round-trip flights between Las Vegas and Denver.
Spirit Airlines' earnings soar in the final quarter of 2011
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012
Spirit Airlines, the fastest-growing commercial air carrier at McCarran International Airport last year, expanded earnings and had 26.7 percent higher revenue for the fourth quarter to wrap up a profitable year.
State targeting L.A., San Francisco and Phoenix in tourism ad campaign
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012
The state will spend $2.8 million, most of it for television ads in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, to attract tourists to visit Nevada in the spring and summer months.
McCarran's Terminal 3: A model gateway
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012
I have seen the future, and it’s at McCarran International Airport’s Terminal 3.
Allegiant Air draws $50K fine over fare postings, disability complaints
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air has been fined $50,000 by the U.S. Department of Transportation for violating its new full-fare advertising rules as well as regulations protecting air travelers with disabilities.
LVCVA signs contract to develop one-stop tourism website
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority approved a contract with LV.com LLC to develop a website to let visitors bundle and purchase tourism products from a single site.
LVCVA budget to increase $18.8 million as tourism grows
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012
After 22 straight months of increases in visitor volume percentage in Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is finally seeing the payoff — an $18.8 million increase in its budget.
Las Vegas air tour company adds choppers to fleet
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012
Maverick Aviation Group, the air tour company that opened a new passenger terminal at Henderson Executive Airport last week, is expanding its helicopter fleet.
American Airlines employees in Las Vegas wait for word on layoffs
Monday, Feb. 13, 2012
The 175 employees working for American Airlines in Las Vegas may know by the end of the month how many of them, if any, will be laid off as part of the company’s bankruptcy restructuring plan.
McCarran's new T3 is A-OK
Monday, Feb. 13, 2012
I have seen the future, and it’s at McCarran International Airport’s Terminal 3.
Lou Ruvo Center helps those afflicted by diseases of memory, mood and movement
Monday, Feb. 13, 2012
The illnesses treated at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health are described as diseases of memory, mood and movement.
Sneak peek: An inside look at McCarran's Terminal 3
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012
When the doors open at McCarran International Airport’s $2.4 billion Terminal 3 on June 27, arriving passengers and locals leaving on international and long-haul domestic trips will see a 14-gate, half-mile-long building with plenty of flexibility. There’s still plenty of work to be done. Most of the electronic equipment hasn’t been placed, and contractors have begun work to finish the terminal’s retail areas and food outlets — which will be expanded gradually as terminal traffic grows.
Spirit Airlines' Las Vegas crew base up and running
Move will boost its staff of Southern Nevadans
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012
Spirit Airlines officially opened its Las Vegas crew base Tuesday, formally starting the process of making 200 of the company’s pilots, flight attendants and mechanics local residents.
Southwest Airlines preparing to offer football, baseball games via Wi-Fi
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012
Southwest Airlines passengers may soon be able to watch baseball and football games while they fly.
Las Vegas air tour company moving headquarters to Henderson airport
Monday, Feb. 6, 2012
Maverick Aviation Group has opened a new terminal at Henderson Executive Airport that will become a base for the company's air tour operations.
McCarran by the numbers
Monday, Feb. 6, 2012
Embedded within last week’s statistical report on the 41.5 million passengers who arrived and departed from McCarran International Airport are dozens of positives, negatives and what-ifs that will define how successful Southern Nevada’s tourism industry is going to be in 2012 and beyond.
Nobel laureate to chair Lou Ruvo Center scientific advisory panel
Friday, Feb. 3, 2012
In a major step toward establishing the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health as the pre-eminient facility in its field nationally, a Nobel laureate has agreed to chair its scientific advisory committee.
Major construction expo to stay in Vegas through 2014
Friday, Feb. 3, 2012
ConExpo-Con/Agg, the massive construction equipment exhibition that has come to Las Vegas in March every three years, will be back in 2014, thanks to a contract extension announced Friday by Phoenix-based Viad Corp.
Wynn reports revenue increases, hints at Encore redesign
Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012
Executives at Wynn Resorts on Thursday reported earnings higher than analysts expected, announced breaking a four-year-old casino win record and hinted about redesigning the traffic flow at the company’s Encore property.
Slot-maker Bally reports record revenue for fourth straight quarter
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012
Las Vegas-based slot machine manufacturer Bally Technologies reported record gaming operations revenue for the fourth straight quarter, propelling the company to earnings that outpaced analysts’ expectations.
Allegiant sustains profitability despite rising fuel costs
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co., parent company of Allegiant Air, recorded its 36th straight profitable quarter Wednesday, but earnings continued to decline as a result of higher fuel costs.
Las Vegas faces uphill battle in becoming medical-tourism destination
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012
When it comes to medical tourism, Southern Nevada excels at the “tourism,” but is weak on the “medical” part. That was the conclusion panelists and observers reached at the Southern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition’s inaugural medical tourism symposium Tuesday at Oscar’s at the Plaza Las Vegas.
77-year-old wins house in Station Casinos' football contest
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012
For 77-year-old Ernie Carey, who won a house in the Station Casinos’ $2 million Great Giveaway Football Contest, it took a little experience and a little luck to come up a winner.
Spirit Airlines says DOT ignoring cost impact to customers, adds 'unintended consequences' fee
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012
The battle between discount air carrier Spirit Airlines and the U.S. Department of Transportation escalated today with the airline — the fastest growing carrier at McCarran International Airport last year — adding a new $2 fee to ticket prices to cover costs associated with new consumer regulations that took effect last week.
SHOT Show sets record attendance of 61,000, commits to Vegas through 2015
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012
January’s Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show had record attendance of 61,000 people, and the owner of the annual firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry event has signed a three-year contract extension to have the show in Las Vegas through 2015. Representatives of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, owner of the SHOT Show, said this year’s event, which ran Jan. 17-20 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, also had a record 36,383 buyers in attendance and 2,466 registered media.
NHL signs deal to keep awards show in Las Vegas
Monday, Jan. 30, 2012
The National Hockey League has signed a three-year extension with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to continue bringing its annual postseason awards show to the city.
2012 shaping up to be a big year for conventions, trade shows in Las Vegas
Monday, Jan. 30, 2012
Once in a while, Chris Meyer sees a few familiar faces from out of town hanging around trade shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
They’re here to steal his business.
Southwest-AirTran merger looking like a blessing for Las Vegans
Monday, Jan. 30, 2012
a recent announcement by Southwest Airlines regarding progress in its merger with AirTran gives reason for optimism that Las Vegas not only would get additional seats to the market but a new list of cities with nonstop or direct service by the Dallas-based carrier, the busiest at McCarran.
Security systems at McCarran's Terminal 3 will be second to none, officials say
Friday, Jan. 27, 2012
When McCarran International Airport's $2.4 billion Terminal 3 opens in June, it will have the most advanced security and port-of-entry technology in the country, Department of Homeland Security officials said.
Gaming commission says small slots parlors are complying with regulation
Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
The Nevada Gaming Commission is satisfied that operators of small slot machine arcades are on the right track in their efforts to comply with regulations defining what types of amenities they must have to do business.