On Thursday, BMM Testlabs conducted an open house at its new world headquarters in Las Vegas. About 100 gaming professionals toured the company’s facility at 815 Pilot Road in a warehousing and manufacturing area south of McCarran International Airport.
Two more companies took a step toward joining Nevada’s interactive gaming license club Wednesday after the state Gaming Control Board unanimously approved recommendations for foreign and domestic operators.
Representatives of a taxi drivers union say a mediation session has been scheduled for Wednesday morning in the 3-day-old strike against Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation, but company management disagrees.
In the go-go 1990s, when it seemed like announcements about new casino megaresorts were annual occurrences, the prevailing wisdom was “the more the merrier” and “a rising tide raises all boats.” But that philosophy came into question in the late 2000s as Las Vegas and the rest of the country weathered the worst economic downturn in recent history.
An Asian gaming powerhouse is planning a $2 billion Asian-themed mega-resort on the Las Vegas Strip where the old Stardust was imploded and the stalled Echelon was planned.
Diversity summits emphasize civil rights in context of XpressWest development
Monday, March 4, 2013
Over the past three months, minority business organizations in California and Nevada have met in high-speed train diversity summits centered on the prospect of the $6.9 billion XpressWest train project planned between Las Vegas and Southern California. This week, a similar gathering pulls into Las Vegas, and local organizers are hoping it will be the best-attended summit of the series.
The community’s philanthropic leaders met at Las Vegas City Hall today to strategize on how to pool funds to assist Southern Nevada’s charitable organizations and develop a sustainable high return on investment for local causes.
Passenger traffic got off to a slow start at McCarran International Airport in January as airport officials reported a 1.6 percent dip for the first month of 2013. Clark County Aviation Department officials said that 3.12 million passengers used McCarran, with most of the drop-off in domestic traffic.
Construction workers began piecing together the first Fiberglass slides Wednesday for the Wet ‘n’ Wild water park under construction in southwest Las Vegas. Slides for the four-story Canyon Cliffs attraction were being assembled on a lot adjacent to the park at Fort Apache and Warm Springs roads near Faiss Middle School. In the next few days, the slide will be mounted on a tower.
Las Vegas will host an international wrestling event in 2015 that is expected to draw thousands of people to the city and could be one of the last links the sport has with the Olympic Games. The 2015 World Wrestling Championships are slated for the 9,500-seat Orleans Arena in September of that year and will be the first and largest qualifying event to send athletes to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
What some had expected to be a legal skirmish between Southern Nevada’s two largest taxicab groups fizzled Tuesday as the Nevada Taxicab Authority outlined details of a pilot program to test the RideIntegrity computerized regulatory system.
The revamped Nevada Development Authority has taken on a new name and new office to reflect its updated economic diversification mission. The Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, as the NDA now is called, has moved into the InNEVation Center at 6795 Edmond St., Suite 260, into an office provided by Switch Communications.
The Nevada Taxicab Authority will allow cab companies to put additional cars on the road during June’s Electric Daisy Carnival, but not as many as they had asked for.
While police continue to search for a suspect in last week's shooting and taxi explosion that killed three people on the Strip, the question remains: Will the violence discourage people from coming to Las Vegas? Most tourism leaders say it won’t, and a local expert in crisis communications said the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority did all the right things to assure the public that Las Vegas is a safe place to visit.
Lost revenue attributed to Atlantic City casino closures during Hurricane Sandy resulted in fourth-quarter losses for Caesars Entertainment, the Las Vegas-based company reported today.
With the Nevada Taxicab Authority a day away from considering parameters of a pilot program for a GPS-based computer system designed to thwart taxi long-hauling, a battle is brewing between rival cab companies over whether the proposed pilot program is legal.
Review finds fewer citations than Taxicab Authority had claimed
Monday, Feb. 25, 2013
The process to catch illegal long-haulers is simple. Enforcement officers park at a Strip resort and wait for cabs to come in. They note the dollar amount on the taxi meter, ask passengers where they came from and do a quick calculation.
Taxi monitoring software would cut down on long-hauling, but can it be approved?
Monday, Feb. 25, 2013
There are about a dozen good reasons the Nevada Taxicab Authority should adopt Frias Transportation Infrastructure’s RideIntegrity taxi monitoring software to help regulate the taxi industry. But there are a handful of reasons why it won’t.
The Desert Cab operations office is loud and busy at 4 in the afternoon. That's when cab drivers who have been picking up and dropping off passengers since 4 in the morning come in to tally their trip sheets while the night shift drivers prepare to go out in those returning cabs.
Las Vegas tourism officials say this morning’s shootout and car crash on the Strip shouldn’t discourage people from coming to the city. But it's too early to determine what effect the violence will have on tourism.
Longtime Clark County Aviation Department Director Randall Walker will retire in June and his deputy of 15 years, Rosemary Vassiliadis, will take his place at McCarran International Airport.
CEO Jim Murren says company open to selling Crystals mall at CityCenter
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013
Executives at MGM Resorts International say that despite fourth-quarter losses reported today, the company has positioned itself to take advantage of a brightening economy this year and in 2014. “We’re off to a very solid start in 2013,” MGM CEO Jim Murren said in a conference call with investors this morning. “The Super Bowl was a great event for us in Las Vegas, and we’re still seeing people here celebrating Chinese New Year. The Year of the Snake appears to be a really good one for us.”
Spirit Airlines, the fastest-growing air carrier at McCarran International Airport last year, reported its fourth straight profitable year and improved financial results in 2012, despite a fourth quarter hampered by cancellations resulting from Hurricane Sandy.
Forecast calls for high pressure, extreme heat in Southern Nevada labor negotiations
Monday, Feb. 18, 2013
When Punxsutawney Phil peered out of his burrow in Gobbler’s Knob, Pa., this month, he projected an early spring but didn’t say anything about how hot it was going to get this summer. It has taken a few remarks and actions from Southern Nevada’s labor unions for local prognosticators to forecast how much heat we’re going to get.
Kelly: Las Vegas is 'always going to be a primo destination'
Monday, Feb. 18, 2013
Southwest Airlines is, by far, the busiest commercial air carrier at McCarran International Airport. And, McCarran is Southwest’s second-largest station of the 98 airports it serves. With more than 2,700 Southwest employees in Las Vegas, the company is a major economic force in Southern Nevada, and the airline views the city as a key corporate partner.
Representatives of Southern Nevada’s resort industry are concerned about the cost and scope of UNLV’s proposed on-campus 60,000-seat football stadium, and one major company has withdrawn some support it had quietly committed months ago.
Members of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada approved two controversial bus operations and maintenance contracts today, as more than 100 union members jeered and applauded through more than two hours of testimony and debate.
The Regional Transportation Commission of Clark County received a report with a list of strategies to make bus stops safer for people waiting at the stops.
Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment reported record revenue in 2012 and will continue plans to close on its deal to acquire Ameristar Casinos this year, a move that would give the company its first Nevada properties.
The nation’s first privately funded high-speed rail line, which would connect Las Vegas with Southern California, remains in a holding pattern, awaiting a decision on a federal government loan, a representative of the company said today. Andrew Mack, chief operating officer of XpressWest, told the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors that his company is still awaiting word on approval of a $5.5 billion loan. The $6.9 billion train project would link Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif., and, eventually, downtown Los Angeles via Palmdale, Calif.
A presentation on a proposed multimillion-dollar improvement district for the Las Vegas Convention Center is expected to be postponed today because of illness.
About 1,000 members of the city’s Culinary and Bartenders unions jammed the theater at Cashman Center this morning to devise strategies for upcoming negotiations to renew contracts with 41 Strip and downtown resorts.
Las Vegas tourism industry could be hurt by merger of carriers, grounding of 787
Monday, Feb. 11, 2013
Two big national aviation stories could affect Las Vegas tourism in the months and years ahead. One is a potential merger between American Airlines and US Airways. The other is the grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Palmdale, Calif., recently hosted a diversity summit where Las Vegas business owners brainstormed strategies to win contracts for building XpressWest, the proposed high-speed train to Southern California.
Las Vegas closed the book on 2012 visitor volume with moderate growth in occupancy and average daily room rates, on top of a record 39.7 million people who came to the city for vacations and conventions.
Storing corporate data has become an industry unto itself in Nevada and city officials in Las Vegas welcomed one of the newest entries to the market Thursday.
Las Vegas, for the sixth year in a row, will be the most popular Valentine's Day destination in America. The city also scored an added bonus this year. It was named the nation's sexiest city by customers of the travel website Orbitz.com.
Some 150 Yellow Checker Star cab drivers and their supporters, some with megaphones and bullhorns, staged an informational picket at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Wednesday to protest a new contract implemented by the city’s second-largest cab company.
What happens when a bunch of aviation geeks get together to talk about the best airport approaches in the world? A lively discussion about which destinations are the most fun to fly into — and likely an argument or two about why some are better than others. McCarran International Airport recently landed on a list of the top 10 most stunning airport approaches in the world, compiled by British private jet charter booking service PrivateFly.com.
The parent company of Las Vegas-based convention contractor Global Experience Specialists generated more than $1 billion revenue in 2012, but ended the year with a fourth-quarter loss attributed to a change in the interpretation of an accounting strategy.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. will begin construction of its multibillion-dollar Macau resort on the Cotai Strip the day after Chinese New Year — Feb. 11 — setting up the prospect of opening it around that holiday in 2016.
Representatives of the Yellow-Checker-Star taxi group won’t return to contract negotiations, saying a contract rejected by 70 percent of the drivers’ union membership on Monday is their best and final offer.
At about the time Allegiant Air Chairman and CEO Maurice Gallagher was telling analysts about his company’s 40th consecutive profitable quarter on Wednesday, representatives of the Transport Workers Union of America were promoting a blistering new website criticizing Allegiant business tactics and policies.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel, parent company of Allegiant Air, reported its 40th consecutive profitable quarter today, closing 2012 with double-digit percentage increases in revenue, earnings and earnings per share.
The fastest-growing domestic airline at McCarran International Airport in 2012 is starting the year the way it left off last year. Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit Airlines today announced two new nonstop routes between Las Vegas and East Coast destinations.
Passenger counts at McCarran International Airport were flat in December, but the city’s airport – the seventh busiest in the country – closed 2012 with a 0.4 percent increase over the previous year with 41.7 million passengers.