The Week
The Week
Better Days?
February 16th, 2012
Gov. Brian Sandoval’s plan will establish and fund regional development authorities to do most of the heavy lifting, and it emphasizes high-paying jobs, global export, technology and clean energy. And it’s surprisingly evocative for a government tome, almost New Deal-ish in its sweeping references to our collective well-being. Read more »
The Week
Without a Net
February 9th, 2012
If I learned anything from our brush with the national political spotlight last week, it’s that Mitt Romney really, really loves America. He said so repeatedly from a podium set up behind Metro Pizza in Henderson on Feb. 3, right after a couple of songs from a Los Angeles-based guitar strummer who warmed up the crowd with a joke about how lonely it is being a Republican in L.A., and then sang about loving America. Read more »
The Week
A Raucous Caucus
February 2nd, 2012
Then there’s the caucus system itself, which Nevada can’t quite seem to master. In 2008, the Republican contest turned into a chaotic mess of long lines and voter confusion. The Democrats didn’t do any better: Hillary Clinton supporters sued the Democratic Party to prevent caucus meetings at Strip hotels, fearing that the location would be a boost to Barack Obama. This year, things may get even weirder. Read more »
The Week
Putting a Lid on the Internet Soup
January 26th, 2012
The Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) were crafted to make it easier to combat Internet piracy, but as the bills wended their way through Congress in recent weeks, many in the Internet community—from giants such as Google to dorm-room startups—have seen them as a threat to the very essence of the Internet. Read more »
The Week
Messages and Messengers
January 19th, 2012
On Jan. 14, Mayra Politis was on the fourth day of a five-day hunger strike, camping out in a tent in front of the condemned building that used to house her vintage clothing store, the Attic. The store—a local institution that captured national attention in a 1998 Visa ad campaign—was destroyed by an explosion at a neighboring NV Energy substation on July 11, 2010. Read more »
The Week
Boss, Can You Spare a Down Payment?
January 12th, 2012
Blame it on New Year’s optimism, but good things could happen this year for both struggling homebuyers and those trying to keep their homes. Read more »
The Week
January Blues
January 5th, 2012
I drove down a residential street in the south Valley and found a private home with a decorated mailbox where kids could put their letters to Santa. (No word yet on the response.) I went to UNLV’s basketball game against the University of California at 2 p.m. on a Friday and found more than 15,000 fellow fans in a festive holiday mood, which the Rebels’ stellar performance only intensified. Afterward, I took my son on a long walk on the UNLV campus, culminating at Einstein Bros. Bagels on Maryland Parkway. On our way back, the sky had gone deep purple behind the Lied Library, and for a moment I was sure that there wasn’t a more beautiful place in the world. For those of us who long to believe, the holiday soil is rich indeed. Read more »
The Year
The Real Las Vegas
December 22nd, 2011
We’ve spent a year relishing what we were and defining who we are. Now it’s time to gather whatever wisdom we’ve gained, take a hard look at the present and get to work. Read more »
The Week
The Flight Goes On
December 15th, 2011
It was sunset. Ahead of us, the Las Vegas Strip shimmered. Beyond that, the sky was an unusual pink and purple. The ride was smooth; it was surreal to be close enough to the Stratosphere tower to see the deck, to see my own feet hovering above the MGM, to watch the moon rise out the window. The feeling wasn’t so much adrenaline rush as awe. The city below was tiny, but vibrant. Still vibrant. Read more »
The Week
Run, Sweat, Gasp, Survive
December 8th, 2011
I’m sorry to report that, on the night of the Rock ’n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon, the smell of the Las Vegas Strip, at pavement level, was of raw sewage. Either that, or 43,999 people were expressing digestive freedom very near me. This was how my first half-marathon started: intimately. It was extremely crowded, the kind of crowded that usually calls for a panic attack. But I decided at the start that I would push through the pain, perfumes, discarded tutus, bouncing asses and flying elbows, Elvises and showgirls without panicking. I had panicked the day before when I realized I hadn’t trained for this little affair. Read more »
