The Latest
The Latest Thought
Summer of the Saints
Is this really ‘The Mormon moment’? This Las Vegan says church members still face plenty of bias.
August 25th, 2011
From presidential politics to Broadway, best-selling books and college sports, it’s difficult to turn on the TV or Internet lately without finding references to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Newsweek cover even proclaimed this “The Mormon Moment.” Bully for us, I suppose. But pardon me if I don’t believe the hype. From this Mormon’s perspective, the recent buzz about all things Mormon is inconsequential. Read more »
Seven Questions
Norman Chad
The ESPN commentator talks about the WSOP’s appeal, his TV favorites and the best way to pick NFL winners
July 14th, 2011
Norman Chad doesn’t even play Texas hold ’em, but he’s ingrained himself into the consciousness of poker players and television viewers worldwide with his one-liners and self-deprecating shtick since he first became a World Series of Poker announcer for ESPN in 2003. When the mustachioed funnyman is not cracking jokes about one of his ex-wives, penning his syndicated sports column “Couch Slouch” for The Washington Post or in front of his beloved TV—Chad can be found playing almost every other form of the game he covers for six months out of the year. Read more »
The Latest Thought
The Neighborhood Menace
So you want Vegas to have sweet urban enclaves with their own distinct identities? Be careful what you wish for.
July 7th, 2011
Las Vegas needs walkable neighborhoods. I’m not going to lie to you. One of the main reasons I moved to Seattle in July 2002 was the promise of neighborhoods—a multiplicity of civic subsets, each with its own personality, assets and liabilities. Read more »
The Latest Thought
Slots for Tots
Not enough money to keep the school afloat? Time to bring in the bandits.
June 9th, 2011
Despite my admission, I ask you to consider two possible ideas, either of which would go some way toward solving our education funding problem. My proposals would make a virtue of a vice, enable politicians on both sides to claim victory, allow those who profit from human weakness to stand as proud benefactors, and possibly make parent-teacher nights way more fun. Read more »
UFC
Local Boys Ready to Rumble
May 26th, 2011
There’s no bad blood between Frank Mir and Roy Nelson, but the May 28 heavyweight fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena is definitely a personal one—the two Las Vegas natives are battling for bragging rights in their hometown. Read more »
Sports
A Cut Above the Rest
Denny Crine is clearing big-league fences. Sure, it’s just softball, but it’s still a dream come true.
May 26th, 2011
San Diego’s Petco Park measures 367 feet to left field, 383 feet to right field and more than 400 feet to the power alleys. It is one of the hardest places in the major leagues to hit a home run. But here was Denny Crine, a physical education and health teacher at Henderson’s Mannion Middle School, crushing softballs far beyond the left-field fence with nearly every swing, depositing some of them on the roof of the Western Metal Supply Co. building 80 feet above the field. Read more »
The Latest
Courting the Boss
When it comes to luring business travelers, does Las Vegas have a perception problem?
May 26th, 2011
Despite a recent uptick, convention travelers—who represent about 11 percent of visitors to Las Vegas—have lagged behind general tourists in returning to Las Vegas. In 2010, total visitation rose by 2.7 percent, while convention attendance tailed off by 0.4 percent. This year, a big January boosted the number of business travelers, but the total number of meetings held continues to slide. Read more »
The Week
Goodbye to All That
May 19th, 2011
The thing about farewells is they’re much more pleasant when you know where you’re going next. But when, like a lumbering drunk, you break the furniture on the way out and step into the void of what’s next, it’s hard to relish the sweetness of goodbye. The Sahara is gone, the building is staying up, and not even the owner of the place, Sam Nazarian, can honestly tell you what for. In the phantom fever-vision future (where certain things, like local stadiums, forever reside), the Sahara site is home to a slick SLS Hotel that simultaneously embraces what Nazarian calls “the new Vegas” (whatever that is) and the classic Vegas of the Sahara’s heyday, which ended about 45 years ago. Read more »
The Week
The Strange Calm of Acceptance
May 12th, 2011
Nonetheless, as a city and as a state, we seem to have weathered an angry storm—and can only hope that today’s relative calm does not herald another. Read more »
Oddities
The End is Near—Enjoy Your Spring
May 12th, 2011
Why wait until 2012 for the world to end? That’s the question California-based Family Radio ministry is asking its followers. The ministry moved up its end-of-the-world prediction by more than a year to May 21, 2011. Hold on to your hats, Las Vegas—we’ve only got two weeks left. Read more »
