CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian and Sudanese troops rescued an abducted 19-member European tour group in an assault on the kidnappers in the remote Sahara borderland, officials said. The tourists and their Egyptian guides returned safely to Cairo on Monday.
The operation, apparently backed by European special forces, ends a 10-day hostage drama that took the 11 Europeans and their eight drivers and guides across a barren stretch of the Sahara Desert. They were seized by gunmen on Sept. 19 while on a desert safari in remote southwestern Egypt. Their abductors took them to Sudan. Reports followed that they were then taken to Libya, or perhaps even Chad.
An Egyptian security official said they were rescued in a joint operation near the Sudanese-Chadian border late Sunday or early Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Egyptian Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi said "half the kidnappers" were killed in the rescue operation, according to the state news agency MENA, but the report did not give a precise number or give details on the rescue.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini suggested Italian and German special forces were involved. He told the Sky TG24 news channel that Sudan and Egypt carried out "a highly professional operation" with the "intervention of Italian intelligence and experts from the special forces" from Germany and Italy.
The break in the hunt for the tourists came Sunday, when Sudanese forces engaged a group of the kidnappers in a gunbattle in northwest Sudan who had been sent out to get gas and food, the Egyptian security official said. Six kidnappers were killed in that fight, and two captured. The two told the authorities where the rest of the kidnappers and their captives were hiding, the official said.
The Sudanese and Egyptian militaries, using two helicopters, then launched the assault that freed the captives, two security officials said. One said there was an exchange of fire and that the hostages were freed inside Chadian territory, but there was no confirmation of where exactly the assault took place. Many of the borders in the desert region are unmarked and easily crossed.
The official said the tourists, who include two Italians in their 70s, were "feeble" but in good health. MENA reported that none of the captives was hurt in the rescue.
The freed captives, who included five Germans, five Italians, a Romanian and eight Egyptian guides and drivers, were brought by a military plane to Cairo on Monday, greeted at the airport by officials bearing bouquets of flowers. They were then taken to a military hospital for checkups.
"Our compatriots and the other hostages in Egypt have been freed," Frattini was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency. "It is the result of international cooperation for which we have to be really grateful to the authorities of other countries that have been working with us."
Frattini said no ransom was paid.
The kidnappers had reportedly been asking for up to $15 million. German authorities had been negotiating with them by phone, according to Egyptian officials, while Sudanese and Egyptian forces working with Germany and Italy were searching the deserts for the abducted group.
The kidnappers were believed to be armed desert tribesmen. Tour operators working in Egypt's Western Desert have reported several robberies of tourists in the area by heavily armed gunmen in SUVs and expressed fears the violence could be a spillover from the conflicts in eastern Chad and Sudan's war-torn Darfur.
The tour group was abducted while visiting the Gilf al-Kebir, a desert plateau famous for its prehistoric cave paintings. It is one of the most remote, little-visited sites in Egypt, lying in the country's far southwestern corner near the Sudanese and Libyan borders.
Eastern Chad and Darfur lie about 200-250 miles away across largely unguarded desert terrain. Both areas have become notorious for carjackings and other robberies by armed bands.
Source: Yahoo World
MEXICO CITY - Abraham Leon was getting a checkup when he found out he had high blood pressure and was at risk of developing diabetes.
On the spot, the 5-foot-6-inch, 240-pound lab researcher joined "Vamos Por Un Million de Kilos" (Let's Lose a Million Kilos), a national campaign to get Mexicans to collectively trim about 2 million pounds.
The project is one of several new efforts to fight obesity in Mexico, which is on track to catch up with the United States within a decade as one of the world's fattest countries, according to the Mexican government. Nearly half of Mexico's 110 million people are overweight, and the number of fat children has climbed 8 percent a year over the last decade.
"The longer we carry this excess weight, the more serious the problem becomes," said Dr. Samuel Flores Huerta, director of the Department of Community Health at Children's Hospital. "Obesity is costing this country a lot of money."
Mexico is working to mandate more physical education in public schools and encourage employers and unions to give workers time for exercise. The administration of President Felipe Calderon says it has built or renovated more than 800 public sports facilities around the country. The National Institute of Public Health is promoting food education and healthier choices in schools, such as fruits and vegetables instead of chips and soda.
Mexican cuisine has always been high in fat and carbohydrates. But for decades, people living in small villages could not grow enough crops to eat a lot and had to travel long distances to gather more food.
Now, as the middle class grows and more people move to cities seeking work, diets have become laden with processed and fast foods. At the same time, doctors say, Mexicans spend more time in sitting in cars or watching TV.
The country has the disease rates to prove it. According to government statistics, new cases of high blood pressure increased 24 percent in Mexico in just six years, from 2000 to 2006. New cases of Type 2 diabetes, believed to be linked in part to obesity, jumped 31 percent during that time.
Companies spend a lot to market unhealthy foods in Mexico, said Margarita Safdie, an investigator at the public health institute. In one so-called health-conscious promotion, a company offered a free bottle of water to anyone buying two soft drinks.
"It should be the other way around," Safdie said. "It's not that healthy food is much more expensive. What happens is that calories have become cheaper."
At Alvaro Lozano's taco stand in downtown Mexico City, customers line up every day for a choice of fatty meats on two corn tortillas washed down with a sugary soft drink. He said his customers are more concerned about money and time than about health.
Mexicans have also developed a taste for fast food.
"The food is good, and sometimes I don't feel like cooking," said Ana Lopez, 35, a Mexico City homemaker dining at Kentucky Fried Chicken on the Zona Rosa pedestrian mall.
"Vamos Por Un Million de Kilos" came out of a promotional campaign by the Televisa media company, launched after its sports department noticed a certain irony.
"Some of our sportscasters were talking about fitness while they themselves were obese," said Rafael Bustillos, Televisa director of sport. "It was after that that we decided to start creating awareness about this issue."
Advertisers sponsored spots encouraging viewers to eat healthier foods and showing easy and free ways to exercise in a country where few can afford gym memberships. Then the Mexican Institute of Social Security signed on, recruiting clinic patients like Leon for the weight-loss challenge. The campaign reached its goal in just four months with 2 million people.
"We only recommend that people lose a half to a full kilo (1 to 2 pounds) a week," said Dr. Ernesto Krug, a public health unit director. "More than that is not healthy."
The campaign is now starting a second phase, "Vamos Por Mas Kilos" (Let's Lose More Kilos), targeted more widely, including at adolescents.
Leon, 39, has dropped 40 pounds since May. Before his checkup, he ate tacos, burgers and whatever his wife prepared, and didn't exercise. Now he has learned to cook so he can choose healthy ingredients. He takes the stairs at work and walks at least twice a week with his wife. He also tries to be a role model.
"I have tried to tell my brother to do what I did. He's overweight," Leon said. "But he won't listen to me."
Leon plans to lose 20 more pounds. But already he worries less about heart disease and more about how to replace his baggy wardrobe.
"I think that it has paid off," he said. "Physically, I feel great and more secure with myself."
Source: Yahoo Health
Is it too late to nominate Donny and Marie for President?
OK, then. But what about president of Las Vegas?
Think about it: America’s First Brother and Sister are running on a pro-lively, antidepressant, universally entertaining platform. They’re pretty much scandal-free. We’ve all seen them grow up on television. They work the stage and screen like lifelong politicians, and no one alive — not even Bill Clinton — can grin, wave, point, wink and make eye contact like they can.
The toothsome twosome surely smile even while sleeping.
They’re installed for a six-month run at the Flamingo, but they could easily reign for four years — and be reelected by a landslide for another term.
The 90-minute show — it’s simply called “Donny & Marie,” because that’s exactly what it is — revives and revitalizes the idea of the classic performer-based Vegas revue.
Sure, there are eight energetic dancers, a nine-piece band with horns, light-up staircases, video montages and all the now-expected stuff on the showroom stage. But every effect serves solely to enhance the endearing and enduring duo.
It’s a money’s-worth show: The stars (he’s 50, she’s 48) look great, sound swell, and in the Flamingo’s human-scaled showroom you’re guaranteed a good look at them wherever you sit — if you’re seated anywhere near the sage, you’re more than likely to be able to touch them.
As solo artists and as a duo they don’t have the bottomless catalog of hits that Strip headliners Elton John and Cher enjoy, and it’s unlikely anyone would sit still for 90 minutes of either one of them separately. But together they’re irresistible. Corny, but irresistible.
After a round of duets, Marie gets a solo spot, nodding to her country-pop hits with a snip of “Paper Roses.” She rocks out Janet Jackson-style, flirts with the audience a bit, races through a sort of random Broadway medley, and indulges her recent interest in opera by prettily warbling Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu.”
Then it’s Donny’s turn, and he storms out, giving his “rock” hit “Soldier of Love” the full George Michael treatment. And he clearly enjoys paying tribute to his idol Stevie Wonder on a few numbers.
Donny knows what’s required of him, and he does his duty manfully, addressing his teen idol legacy with unplugged-style renditions of “Go Away Little Girl” and “Puppy Love” with affection and dignity. More than a trace of that youthful croon remains in his warm baritone. There’s a bit of his Broadway hit, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (with video of a buff Donny rocking a loincloth), and funks it up a bit at the piano on the Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing.”
Marie rejoins him for more bratty banter (“I couldn’t get any sleep, my room is so bright — they put me behind Marie’s teeth,” Donny says, joking about the “little poster” that wraps around the front of the Flamingo), and the inescapable “A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Rock and Roll.”
Entertainers since conception, these two are all-pro, all the time, and they’re really beyond concepts of sincerity or authenticity of interpretation. But they’re not robotic or on autopilot. They don’t overreach for hipness. Their bickering feels loose and spontaneous. They get winded, and work up a sweat. They flub lyrics (Donny flashed an adorably sheepish look when he missed a cue).
In a hilarious nod to Marie’s recent appearance on “Dancing With the Stars,” they work out their sibling rivalry with a climactic dance-off, comically set to the Sharks vs. Jets theme from “West Side Story” and tunes from “Grease.”
By the end of the evening, it’s hard not to get a lump in the throat or a tear in the eye, when they roll a montage of their entirely televised lives, with a galaxy of stars including just about everyone who has ever played Vegas.
Best of all, Donny & Marie sit right there onstage and watch themselves on TV with us.
They’ve got my vote, and not just because Donny fist-bumped me.
source: lasvegassun.com
The television advertising wars between Jon Porter and Dina Titus started off like the first round of most boxing matches: a few light jabs, with not many punches landing.
Porter, the 3rd Congressional District’s GOP congressman, started on Sept. 3 with an ad touting his promotion of solar energy. A day later Titus, a Democratic state senator, ran a spot with her mom at her side, noting some of her legislative accomplishments and having a laugh about her lingering Southern accent.
That lasted about a week.
The ads sponsored by both campaigns, and their “independent” proxies, have turned largely negative.
Porter has taken the lead.
The early negativity is an indication that the candidates think it’s a tight race, political consultants say. A Democratic lead in voter registration adds further incentive for Porter to go on the attack.
Two recent ads from Porter’s campaign have accused Titus of being a self-serving politician who has used public service to enrich herself, a dedicated tax-raiser and someone who consistently sides with “special interests” as opposed to regular Joes and Janes.
Titus’ campaign manager, Jay Gertsema, says the playing field is tilted in favor of Democrats this year because of one of the biggest issues, — the economy — and the higher number of registered Democrats in the district.
That gives Porter fewer ways to try to eke out a win, he said.
“He’s really only got one direction, which is to attack,” Gertsema says. “It’s sad that he wants to drag this down to a personal and ugly level. It shows how desperate their campaign is.”
Porter campaign spokesman Matt Leffingwell said the objective of the campaign’s ads is to connect with voters. “We want voters to understand the contrast between the two (candidates) on these important issues,” Leffingwell said.
Polls have shown the race to be close, often within the surveys’ margin of error, though Titus’ newest internal poll, released Thursday, showed her with a 9-point lead.
In Titus’ favor: Two years ago Porter defeated his opponent, Tessa Hafen, by less than 4,000 votes. Hafen was less well-known than Titus, a former gubernatorial candidate who has been in the state Senate for 20 years. And there are about 29,000 more Democrats registered to vote in the district than Republicans. In 2006, Democrats’ voter registration advantage was about 2,800.
Porter’s first negative ad came out Sept. 10. The Titus ad that started the next day — about her stance on energy-related issues — lasted only a day before she responded to the attack.
Titus accused Porter of spreading the same lies about her that Gov. Jim Gibbons used against her in their race two years ago. “And look where that got us,” she said, referring to Gibbons’ troubled governorship.
She then went after Porter for voting “in lock step” with President Bush. That ad is still running.
On Friday both sides released new ads, including Titus’ toughest spot yet. In that ad, titled “Enough,” she attacks Porter for repeatedly “smearing” his opponents, for letting oil companies keep gas prices high and for backing the relaxation of regulation “that created our financial crisis.”
At the same time, Porter released his latest attack ad, again going after Titus as a habitual tax-raiser. With the Wall Street crisis at hand, the narrator says, “the last thing Nevadans need is another tax-and-spend politician in Washington. The stakes are too high.”
Both sides also have outside groups attempting to influence the election with negative ads.
A spot being run by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington attacks Porter for accepting campaign donations from insurance, drug and oil companies, and then giving them tax breaks.
A pro-Porter ad, from a group called Freedom’s Watch, mocks Titus’ Southern accent and attacks her on taxes.
Those “independent expenditure” ads are sponsored by groups that are not supposed to coordinate their efforts with the candidates’ campaigns.
The negative ads may be distasteful, two local political consultants said, but they’re often effective — especially in tight races.
Dan Hart, a locally based political consultant, said it isn’t surprising that Porter has been aggressively negative in his ads.
“He’s done that consistently in his campaigns,” said Hart, who is not affiliated with Titus’ campaign but usually works with Democratic candidates. “None of that should be a surprise.”
Going negative could have an added benefit this election, Hart said. Because of the heightened interest in the presidential race, voter turnout is expected to be higher than normal, he said, possibly 85 percent or higher.
A steady influx of new residents has swelled Porter’s district to about 1.1 million people — 400,000 more than the average congressional district.
That means lots of newer, potentially less-informed voters, who typically are more susceptible to negative ads because they have little underlying knowledge to put them in context.
Reno-based Republican political consultant Pete Ernaut agreed. The ultratight nature of the race means the candidates don’t have the luxury of taking the high road, he said.
“When you’re sitting on a 10-12 point lead, you can be a counter-puncher. When it’s this tight, that just won’t work,” said Ernaut, who has previously done policy research for Porter but is not working for him.
“If you’re explaining, you’re dying,” he said.
source: lasvegassun.com
One of the most interesting developments of the football season as it steams toward the halfway point is that UNLV is competitive again, Saturday night’s 49-27 cannon-izing by rival UNR notwithstanding.
The second is that Chancellor Jim Rogers has called Rebels coach Mike Sanford not once, but twice, to congratulate him. Did it after the Arizona State win and again after the Iowa State win. In fact, Rogers said he called Sanford twice last year — after a competitive loss to Wisconsin and one another one he couldn’t remember. Rogers said Sanford thought that was strange, because the Rebels lost, and you’re not supposed to congratulate coaches when they lose.
Rogers and Sanford aren’t exactly best pals, because a couple of years ago Rogers wrote this memo to the higher-ups at UNLV saying that although Sanford wasn’t the problem with the football program, the program had problems he couldn’t fix.
That these two have achieved gridiron glasnost shows how competitive UNLV had become before Saturday night. At least Rogers won’t feel compelled to place another congratulatory phone call to Sanford this week, freeing the chancellor to write more memos to Gov. Jim Gibbons, in the hope Gibbons will write a check that will enable UNLV to have an English department next year.
Sanford also should write a memo. Maybe he can contact Frank Broyles, the old Arkansas coach, and ask him how to defend the option.
The Rebels made Colin Kaepernick, the UNR quarterback, look like James Street and J.C. Watts all rolled into one, which isn’t far from the truth, considering those guys were both about 5-foot-9 and Kaepernick stands 6-6. But he has a stride like Secretariat, and when the Rebels left the barn door open, it looked like the 1973 Belmont, with the exception that UNLV actually led by 10 points early.
By the fourth quarter, however, Kaepernick and the Wolf Pack were 31 lengths in front. Like Big Red, Kaepernick was running like a tremendous machine. He finished with 240 rushing yards — 416 altogether — and five touchdowns. It looked like James Street against Rice or Baylor, with the exception that Kaepernick also passed for 176 yards, completing 11 of 16.
Kaepernick was just leaving the starting gate when a colleague asked what I thought after a first quarter in which UNLV built a 17-7 lead.
“If you’re asking if I think it’s over, the answer is ‘no,’ ” I said, because unlike him, I was old enough to remember the Texas and Oklahoma wishbones and I could tell the Rebels were having great difficulty dealing with UNR’s version of the triple-option offense. Heck, the two people sitting alone in the top row on the UNR side of the field could see that.
Afterward, Sanford said UNLV practiced against the option ad nauseam and we’ll have to take him at his word, because practice at UNLV is closed. But I believe him, because even if you spend half of practice working against the option, when it’s being run by a walk-on quarterback, it isn’t the same, even if the walk-on is J.C. Watts’ second cousin.
So after taking two big steps forward in the past two weeks, the program took a giant step backward, because losing to your biggest rival for the fourth time in a row — at home, in front of a big crowd, no less — in a game in which defensive shortcomings are exposed like an old roll of film is never encouraging.
Before the UNR game, Frank Summers, the star UNLV running back who was stuffed like a pizza crust by the Wolf Pack defense, said if the Rebels didn’t beat UNR, those three wins coming in wouldn’t mean anything. This is why reporters shouldn’t write down everything players say, especially before a rivalry game, because UNLV could have lost 100-0 to UNR, and the win at Arizona State would still count for something. And I still think at the end of the day — or season — the victory against Iowa State will count for something, too.
Anyway, wide receiver Casey Flair had a different spin after the game. “It might take a little bit (to swallow the UNR loss), but that’ll all be long gone once we’re in a bowl game, and that’ll take that away,” he said.
“We have the capability, we have enough talent on this team, we just have to turn this around and keep it going in the right direction.”
Check, check, check ... and check.
Afterward, Sanford said there were still a lot of opportunities for the Rebels to make this a real nice season, that there still was a lot of football to be played. Check and check. Of the seven games remaining, there are probably only 1 1/2 (BYU and TCU) UNLV can’t win, although it wouldn’t surprise me if Air Force reverts to its old triple-option attack when the Rebels return home Oct. 18.
This week UNLV has an excellent chance to put the UNR debacle in the rearview mirror against a middling Colorado State team that Cal left at the rest stop, 42-7, on Saturday.
The Rams don’t run the option.
If the Rebels are 4-2 at the halfway point, Sanford might even receive another phone call from the chancellor’s office.
source: lasvegassun.com
Huge ‘plume’ traced to business under bankruptcy protection
A massive plume of pollution under acres of homes, roads and a golf course in central Las Vegas is the worst of 28 sites in the valley contaminated by the same chemical.
At some point, someone winds up footing the bill for cleaning up those sites, and the Las Vegas National Golf Club case is turning out to be a local test of federal regulations outlining who pays when the polluter has filed for bankruptcy protection. In this case, the party in bankruptcy court is Al Phillips the Cleaner.
The gas-like mass of perchloroethylene, PCE, also known as tetrachloroethylene, or TCE, is emblematic of the intersection of older, less regulated Vegas — indeed, the entire nation — with a world of science that discovers dangers in commonplace practices of years past.
The “Maryland Square site” — the name given to the golf course plume of the potential carcinogen by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection — is also the starting point from which to examine a list of PCE-contaminations pockmarking the Las Vegas Valley.
The sites identified by the Nevada Environmental Protection Division include two at Nellis Air Force Base, three at casinos and 19 at current or former dry cleaning businesses.
The chemical is widely used for metal degreasing as well as for dry cleaning fabrics. Inhalation of its fumes can cause neurological, liver and kidney problems, according to the EPA. Studies have found that prolonged exposure increases the risk of cancer. The EPA is currently reassessing its potential carcinogenicity.
Perchloroethylene remains in use in the dry cleaning industry, though other solvents with less harmful effects are also being used. Dry cleaners are now asked to take special precautions against site contamination to prevent PCE from getting into drinking water. In 1991, California declared perchloroethylene a toxic chemical, and its use will become illegal in that state in 2023.
Dante Pistone, public information officer for the state environmental protection agency, said the degree of contamination of most local sites other than Maryland Square is “minimal.” But six of those are considered serious enough to be in the various stages of a remediation process.
Those six sites are another Al Phillips location at 3754 E. Desert Inn Road; Cantrell Cleaners, 1015 E. Charleston Blvd.; Las Vegas Hilton/Convention Center, 3000 S. Paradise Road; Regency Dry Cleaners, 4575 S. Procyon St.; Ultra 1 Day Cleaners, 316 S. Decatur Blvd., and Vogue Cleaners, 550 S. Decatur Blvd.
“None of the sites even approach the magnitude of the Maryland Square site in terms of cleanup,” Pistone said.
He also said using the word “toxic” to describe the pollution is “alarmist.”
“The concentrations we’re talking about are such that they’re not acute at all,” he said, adding that the ground water contamination is 10 to 20 feet below the surface, “and shallow ground water doesn’t affect anybody.”
More worrisome, however, are the vapors from PCE that “can come up through the soil and potentially get into some of these houses” or other buildings that sit atop contaminated land, Pistone added.
The Maryland Square site is large and sweeps east from a former Al Phillips the Cleaner business at 3661 Maryland Parkway, north of Twain Avenue and west of the Boulevard Mall. The building that housed the dry cleaning business was demolished in 2006.
Pistone said the NDEP is not sure how PCE, a chemical used in the dry-cleaning process, leached or leaked from the site. He added that the number of sites of contamination in Las Vegas is hardly unique in the nation.
“It’s fairly common across the country,” he said. “There weren’t very tight operating procedures in the past,” so most, if not all, of the sites were contaminated years ago.
Two things about the Maryland Square site, however, distinguish it from the others. For one, a large contingent of concerned residents have hopes that, ironically, the underground chemical might actually help them preserve their quality of life.
The other is that the company responsible for the contamination is not likely to be forced to spend millions to clean it up, because of its bankruptcy filing.
Pistone said the Environmental Protection Division is watching the bankruptcy proceedings “to see how much we can get out of that.”
Barring a payout from the Al Phillips dry cleaning business, federal regulations require going after the land owner.
“It’s just the way the regulations are written,” Pistone said. “Somebody has to be responsible and if you own the land, you’re responsible for what goes on that land.”
That’s why the Herman Kishner Trust, which owned Maryland Square LLC and leased to Al Phillips, has set aside some money in case responsibility ultimately falls to it to pay for the cleanup, said Las Vegas attorney Al Marquis, who represents the trust.
“Al Phillips agreed they were responsible and that they would remediate the site,” Marquis said. “But with the filing of the bankruptcy ... it appears the ball is back in our court.”
He added, “We believe Al Phillips still has primary responsibility here and we intend to pursue that claim in the bankruptcy court.”
The state’s environmental agency hasn’t determined a cost for the cleanup yet, Pistone said. “Until we get actual cleanup plans in place, it’s pretty tough to estimate the cost.”
Marquis said the Kishner Trust estimates the cleanup will cost “millions of dollars.”
As part of the effort, the state environmental protection agency is taking water samples from 33 wells in the residential area under which the plume rests. The agency has also identified “about 15 homes,” Pistone said, where the amounts of PCE vapors exceeds “the health protective level.”
The state agency has contacted a contractor and talked to homeowners, and some remediation systems are about to be installed.
These systems can involve sealing a home’s foundation, then depressurizing the soil to prevent vapors from seeping indoors. Costs of these “subslab depressurization systems,” according to state agency’s Web site, can range from $2,000 to $20,000 per home.
The cost will ultimately be borne by whomever is forced to pay for the cleanup, Pistone added.
The agency estimates it could take five to 10 years to clean up the Maryland Square site.
Homeowners surrounding Las Vegas National Golf Club hope the contamination will somehow kill any plans by the golf course owners to build about 485 homes on the 130-acre site.
Actually, Pistone said, developers could build in the area as long as they follow environmental guidelines to ensure the health of anyone living there.
“There’s no regulation saying ‘until this is cleaned, you can’t do anything,’ ” he added. “We’d simply work with the developer as part of the developer’s due diligence, and if they decided to move forward, we’d do some additional monitoring wells as part of our due diligence.”
John Knott II, one of the investors who bought the golf course in August 2007, said before they bought it, the golf course was thoroughly tested for contamination.
“And we don’t have an (environmental) problem there,” said Knott, executive vice president of the CB Richard Ellis real estate brokerage. “There is a plume of PCE but it is in trace amounts and below all standards set by the federal government.”
source: lasvegassun.com
Lil Jon spins at Prive; Ashley Olsen’s romance heats up
By Robin Leach · September 24, 2008 · 5:54 PM
Ashley Olsen and "National Treasure" actor boyfriend Justin Bartha
* Ashley Olsen and "National Treasure" actor boyfriend Justin Bartha watched the Beatles "Love" musical by Cirque du Soleil. To avoid distracting the audience and causing a fan-scene, the hand-holding twosome arrived just as the show began and made a quick, quiet exit as the performance ended. Ashley and Justin had a romantic dinner afterward at Stack in the Mirage, enjoying shared plates of yellowtail sashimi, spicy wings, black cod miso lettuce cups and tomato soup with mini-grilled cheese. They then joined seven friends, including Justin's co-star, Zack Galifianakis from "What Happens in Vegas," for a night of partying at the neighboring Jet nightclub. Spies said the young couple drank Patron tequila with Red Bull and Grey Goose vodkas, and were arm-in-arm, dancing together in the VIP section until 2 a.m. Justin is in Vegas shooting a comedy movie "The Hangover."
Hard Rock
Carey Hart and Jess Rooke ride into Wasted Space.
* More than 150 motorcyclists met at the southwest valley warehouse of stuntman Carey Hart -- the ex-husband of pop-singer Pink -- then rode in a pack to the Hard Rock led by Carey and pal Jesse Rooke. It was to kick off Ride Night at Carey’s “Wasted Space” rock lounge and the riders got an enthusiastic greeting from an energetic crowd waiting their arrival.
* Local legend Brandon Roque held his birthday party at Prive in the Planet Hollywood resort and rapper Lil Jon turned up after dinner at the Strip House steak restaurant to play guest DJ for the dance party celebrations. Joining in the fun was Tito Ortiz celebrating the news -- with Grey Goose vodka mixers -- that he and galpal Jenna Jameson are expecting twins. She remained home safely in bed.
* A live-stage version of the hit "America’s Got Talent" TV show will be staged at MGM Grand Garden Arena for one night on Friday, Oct. 17. Jerry Springer will host the stage show as he does the NBC-TV production, in addition to featuring several of this year's Season 3 talent marvels and the soon-to-be-named winner.
Denise Truscello
Singer Cisco Adler and rapper Shwayze pump up the crowd at Blush.
* Singer Cisco Adler, frontman for the band Whitestarr, which appeared on VH1's "The Rock Life," rapper Shwayze and DJ Skeet Skeet were a lively trio at the Blush boutique nightclub in the Wynn. First, Skeet took over the turntable-twisting from resident regular Mighty Mi, then Cisco and Shwayze jumped onto the bar for an intimate impromptu performance. They sang their hits, "Corona & Lime," "Buzzin" and "High Together," and got their fans to join them in the sing-along.
* Kim Kardashian will zip in and out of Vegas on Oct. 24 to celebrate her birthday at the LAX nightclub in the Luxor.
Jenna Jameson sits front row at ‘Zumanity’; DJ AM recovering
By Robin Leach · September 25, 2008 · 6:02 PM
Cirque du Soleil
Jenna Jameson and Tito Ortiz go backstage with the Zumanity cast.
* Now that she’s expecting twins, don’t expect to see former porn princess Jenna Jameson out on the town too much. She’s been ordered to bed rest. Before the confirmation of the dual stork arrival, which we first reported this week, she and dad-to-be boyfriend, UFC champion Tito Ortiz, had one last night of hi-jinx earlier this week on the Strip. They snuggled up close in one of the front-row signature love sofas at the sexy adult-themed "Zumanity" Cirque du Soleil show in the New York New York resort casino. They shared popcorn drizzled with white truffle oil, but while Tito sipped a margarita with salt, Jenna stuck to a non-alcoholic frozen cosmopolitan. Following the performance, Jenna and Tito went backstage to meet the erotic exotic cast and told them "we couldn’t have picked a more perfect show."
* A shroud of secrecy has been wrapped around Adam Goldstein, also known as DJ AM, and Blink 182's Travis Barker’s treatments at a Georgia burn clinic. But we can confirm that Travis already has undergone "multiple surgeries" and skin grafts related to his second- and third-degree torso burns. Good friend Bill Nosel, who is a spokesman for Barker’s Famous Stars and Straps clothing company, said "Travis is trying to stay upbeat." He has started a memorial fund for donations for Travis’ personal assistant, Chris Baker and Travis’ bodyguard, Charles Sill, who died in last weekend’s plane crash in South Carolina. No word yet on any progress or medical treatments for Adam, who is a partner at Pure’s Lax nightclub at the Luxor.
Erik Kabik/Retna
Actress Dania Ramirez hosts at Jet.
* Actress Dania Ramirez was the picture of perfection when the "Heroes" star hosted at the Jet nightclub in the Mirage.
* UFC champion Randy Couture, along with wife, Kim, Playboy talent scout Lorris Baker and Miss Washington 2007 Elyse Umemoto will judge more than 30 girls expected to parade down a pageant runway in their bikinis and cocktail outfits at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile tonight.
* Couple Ashley Olsen and Justin Bartha cuddled up for the blockbuster "Jersey Boys" musical at the Palazzo. Then Ashley, in a grey cashmere summer sweater and blue jeans, went off with her new beau for dinner at the Yellowtail Sushi Restaurant & Bar at the Bellagio. They sat in a romantic corner table set away from the main room and enjoyed an assorted sashimi platter along with Black River sake. Spies reported the pair were affectionate and held hands at their 90-minute feast.
Harrah's
San Antonio Spurs forward Bruce Bowen signs "the wall."
* Three-time NBA championship winner and San Antonio Spurs forward Bruce Bowen signed the "celebrity wall of fame" at Steve Martorano’s restaurant in the Rio. Bruce loved the music so much that the manager made him a copy of the tunes that played throughout dinner.
* Boxer Zab Judah was spotted watching the football games on the big-screens at Hawaiian Tropic Zone inside Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile.
* The stars continue to make their home at the new Lavo restaurant club at the Palazzo. "Live A Thousand Years" author Giovanni Livera performed magic for hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari when they dined at separate tables. Giovanni, who authored the "Amazing Cigar" book of tricks, also blew 50 consecutive smoke rings in less than 60 seconds from the outdoor patio hookah pipe. Tito Ortiz was solo on his visit to Lavo for its industry night party.
By Sun Staff
Published Wed, Sep 24, 2008 (2:59 p.m.)
“Mr. Big Volume” is now Mr. No Volume.
Bill Heard Chevrolet and its sister Chevy dealership in Las Vegas closed their doors, along with 11 other dealerships across the country.
In a statement released Wednesday, Bill Heard Enterprises says the closures will affect about 2,700 employees nationwide.
The statement says the company didn't have the resources to continue operating. It cites factors including rising fuel prices, an inventory dominated by trucks and SUVs, economic recession, unfavorable market conditions and the current banking and financial crises.
The Columbus, Ga.-based company had five dealerships in Georgia and nine in six other states – Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas. The Arizona dealership closed two weeks ago.
Calls to the Las Vegas Bill Heard Chevrolet location at 444 South Decatur went unanswered. "No one is available to take your call right now and we'll get back to you as soon as we can," a recording said each time.
Calls to the Vista Chevrolet location at 5501 Drexel Road in northwest Las Vegas went to a voicemail box.
The closed Bill Heard Enterprises dealerships were two of the valley’s five Chevy dealers. The remaining dealers are Findlay Chevrolet, in the southwest valley near the Las Vegas Beltway at 6800 S. Torrey Pines Drive; Fairway Chevrolet at 3100 E. Sahara Ave.; and Henderson Chevrolet (in the Valley Auto Mall) at 240 N. Gibson Road in Henderson.
A spokesman for Findlay Chevrolet said the dealership will be ramping up its service operations given the Bill Heard and Vista closures, opening additional service bays and hiring additional technicians to take care of customers who used to rely on the closed dealerships.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
source: lasvegassun.com
By Natasha Shepherd
Thu, Sep 25, 2008 (11:09 a.m.)
The last day to register to vote without having to appear in person at the Election Department Office is Saturday, Oct. 4. In addition to the Election Department Office, located at 965 Trade Drive, Suite A, people can register at any city clerk’s office, all Department of Motor Vehicles locations and any state welfare or WIC office.
Mail-in registration forms can be found at all U.S. Postal Service locations and libraries. Postage is pre-paid but all forms must be postmarked no later than the deadline.
Field registrars will be at all Las Vegas area shopping malls on Oct. 4 during regular mall hours to make registering easy. If that isn’t easy enough, people can go to the Clark County Election Department’s Web site to request an application sent to them by mail.
Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax also encourages people already registered to vote to go to the Web site to ensure that their registration was processed correctly.
“One of the biggest problems on election day is people aren’t actually registered,” Lomax said.
After entering your name and birth date on the county’s Web site, it will verify whether or not you are registered and provide information on your precinct and a map and directions to your polling location.
After the Oct. 4 deadline, people can still register to vote by going to the Election Department Office or the first floor of the Clark County Government Center, located at 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, until Tuesday, Oct. 14. These locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 5; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct.6 through Oct. 9; and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 10 through Oct. 14.
There are 947,414 registered voters in Clark County as of Sept. 22, 2008, according to the election department’s Web site. That figure includes active and inactive registered voters.
The total for active registered voters is 754,323. That total breaks down into 353,481 voters registered as Democrats; 249,973 registered as Republicans; 113,579 registered with no party affiliation; 3,864 registered as Libertarians; 2,024 registered under the Green Party; 28,373 registered under the Independent American Party; and 3,029 registered under affiliations classified as “Other.”
More people in Clark County opt to take part in early voting rather than vote on Election Day. Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 18 and continues through the Friday before the election. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
By Jeremy Twitchell
Published Thu, Sep 25, 2008 (3:34 p.m.)
Updated Thu, Sep 25, 2008 (4:41 p.m.)
Pfc. Angel Salazar stepped off the bus and planted his unit's standard firmly on the ground, paused briefly, then raised it high over his head, cueing the crowd of anxious onlookers to break into cheers.
And with that, the 72nd Military Police Co. of the Nevada Army National Guard returned home.
Friends, families and dignitaries gathered at the Henderson Armory Sept. 25 to welcome the unit back from a nine-month deployment providing security at a detainee facility in Iraq. It was the 72nd's third deployment since 2001.
"I don't know how to explain it," Salazar said of the moment when he lifted the standard. "I was just tremendously excited."
For friends and family members, the day's jubilation was a welcome change from the somber deployment ceremony held on the same site in November, when the unit left for two months of training at Fort Dix, N.J., before its deployment.
The three deployments since 2001, along with a mobilization for Hurricane Katrina cleanup efforts, make the 72nd one of the most frequently deployed National Guard units in the country, according to the Nevada National Guard.
Capt. David Evans, who was on his second deployment to Iraq, credited the unit's cohesiveness for carrying it through so many deployments and for allowing it to carry out its difficult duties, which involved providing 24-hour security at a facility with 19,000 detainees and safely transporting 20,000 detainees, without a single casualty.
"It's loyalty to the unit, soldiers caring for one another," Evans said. "We've got a lot of soldiers in this unit that have been here for a long time, some as long as eight or nine years."
Gov. Jim Gibbons addressed the troops, saying he would keep his remarks brief to allow the reunions to continue.
"No other country takes such pride in the men and women who serve in uniform as this country does," he said. "And no other state takes as much pride in the men and women who serve in its National Guard as Nevada does."
When the ceremony concluded, the soldiers headed into the armory with their families to have lunch and begin the transition they've been dreaming of since last November.
"It feels very, very good," said Staff Sgt. Todd Simmons, clutching his 2-year-old son, Brayden. "It's a long time coming. It's tough leaving them at this age because you miss so much, but I think we'll pick up right where we left off."
Carey Simmons said she stayed with family in Wisconsin during her husband's deployment and was thrilled at the prospect of a return to normalcy for everyone in the family.
"I'm excited to get back to our family life, to have new things happen," she said. "Brayden is talking now, and he wasn't when (his father) left."
Brayden, meanwhile, basked in the moment. He knew his father from pictures, but still asked his mom if this was his dad just to make sure. When she told him yes, he smiled and rested his head on his father's shoulder.
The return ceremony marked the end of a difficult period for many families. Marlene Pujol said she had to learn how to control her thoughts and feelings while she struggled with daily worry for the safety of her 20-year-old son, Pfc. Salazar.
"I was always anxious to hear from him, to hear his voice and to hear him say, 'Mom, I'm OK. Mom, I'm safe,'" she said.
Now, the soldiers will use their leave time from the military to adjust to normal life before returning to their jobs, or for those who left their job for the deployment, finding new jobs. The soldiers will take anywhere from a week to a month to do that, Evans said.
"It's tough," Evans said. "It's going to take awhile to spin back up and get back up to speed."
The Nevada National Guard is providing courses for the families to teach them how to help their soldiers transition back into civilian life. Though returning home is a joyous experience, National Guard officials cautioned that it can be a difficult one.
But given the challenge that these families faced in the last nine months, this is one that they gladly welcome.
"I just can't describe it in words how happy I am," Pujol said. "I just can't believe that (Salazar) is home safe. And not just him, but all of them — the whole unit is home safe."
Source: lasvegassun.com
By Nicole Lucht
Thu, Sep 25, 2008 (6:44 p.m.)
Washington Mutual Bank has been acquired by JPMorgan Chase, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced late Thursday. The Thrift Supervision Office seized Washington Mutual and named the FDIC receiver.
All deposits are protected and there will be no loss to the FDIC fund, which is supported largely by premiums paid by banks, the FDIC said.
“For all depositors and other customers of Washington Mutual Bank, this is simply a combination of two banks,” said FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair in a statement.
“For bank customers, it will be a seamless transition. There will be no interruption in services and bank customers should expect business as usual come Friday morning,” Bair said.
JPMorgan paid $1.9 billion for Washington Mutual’s assets.
“WaMu’s balance sheet and the payment paid by JPMorgan Chase allowed a transaction in which neither the uninsured depositors nor the insurance fund absorbed any losses,” Bair said.
Washington Mutual also has a subsidiary, Washington Mutual FSB, in Park City, Utah.
They had combined assets of $307 billion and total deposits of $188 billion.
The bank had 37 branches in the Las Vegas market, according to In Business Las Vegas’ 2007 Book of Business Lists. In Business is a sister publication of the Las Vegas Sun.
Washington Mutual had the second largest amount of deposits in 2007 in the Las Vegas market, according to In Business research.
It listed $63.68 billion in deposits for June 30, 2007; however, because the bank was headquartered in Henderson, it included all of the bank’s deposits nationwide.
Washington Mutual customers with questions should call the local bank or (800)788-7000 or visit www.wamu.com. FDIC’s consumer hotline can be reached at (877)275-3342.
source: lasvegaassun.com
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Gracie Claire Sauer participated in her first graduation ceremony Sept. 12, not from a Boulder City kindergarten or preschool, but from the Napa Center, where she received a three-week barrage of therapies intended to help her cope with neuromuscular disabilities.
The accomplishment was no easy chore, though, for the 21/2-year-old girl who suffers from an undiagnosed illness that has stumped doctors for the past 20 months and has affected her neurological and motor skills.
Gracie's Napa Center professional team put her through an agonizing and exhaustive pace of four hours of intensive therapy and 90 minutes of auditory stimulation every Monday through Friday for three weeks, as well as twice-a-week biofeedback sessions.
It was no wonder that with but a few days left in her grueling, 15-day therapy program, the little girl who usually wears a happy smile would pout and cry, seemingly wanting, but unable, to ask when all of this would come to an end.
Even with the long, sad faces, a slight grin would emerge now and then as a therapist worked away on her fragile and sometimes rigid body, making it do things Gracie had never done before -- things her doctors and therapists believe she is capable of doing routinely with a little daily training.
"She's made a lot of progress, but she can make more progress if she wasn't so petite," said her physical therapist Rafael Munoz. "This week, you're going to look at her and she's tired, she's going to fuss and she's going to complain. She's not in any pain at all. She's probably saying, 'What's this guy doing to me?' 'Why am I here?' 'What do my parents want me to do?' 'I don't know why I have to do this.' So it's all resonating."
Accustomed to a moderate therapy regimen back in Boulder City, Gracie had little time during her six-hour daily sessions at Napa to recuperate from the strenuous routine Munoz and his aide, Kelly McGee, put her through that left her tired and sore at the end of each session.
From 8 to 9 a.m. each day, Gracie started with inhibition techniques -- forcing newly used muscles to work while restraining muscles she normally uses -- and soft-tissue techniques employed to loosen her up.
For another hour, until 10 a.m., Gracie would go through a pattern of therapy that would stretch, reach, twist, pull and push her tiny muscles, followed by a 15-minute break.
At 10:15, she'd be back in the therapy room, this time donning a special suit -- a NeuroSuit developed by the Russian space program and adapted for therapeutic use by Napa Center co-owner Trisha Gonzalez -- that had numerous ties and adjustments used to isolate the work needed to be done by a muscle or group of muscles.
Then at 11, Gracie would go to the "spider cage," so called for the four or eight bungee-like cords that attached to the NeuroSuit and held her in an upright position, giving her legs support like she never had before.
Then, at 11:30, it was standing in a special walker designed without a seat, which required Gracie to stand tall and move forward using her legs while McGee sat nearby.
A lunch break came at noon, then at 12:30 it was time to report to Geni King, 51, an auditory trainer, who used the Tomatis Method of listening improvement that played Mozart, Gregorian chant music and children's stories to Gracie to improve the use of the vestibule of her ears, which control various bodily functions.
King calls the vestibule, or the central part of the ear, "the battery to the brain" because it affects much of a person's everyday activities.
The Tomatis Method was named after Dr. Alfred Tomatis, a French-born ear, nose and throat specialist who studied occupational noise problems after World War II and made the discovery that poor learning is associated with poor listening.
As if putting on a set of oversized earphones weren't enough, Gracie also laid on a special electronic mat Tuesdays and Thursdays so Michael Galvan, a 31-year-old biofeedback technician, could register stress points in her body.
While the daily routine was fast-paced and strenuous, the intensity of it all seemed to pay off, Gracie's therapists said.
"The biggest change, I would say, is her trunk control in any position," said Munoz, 26, a University of Southern California graduate with a clinical doctorate degree in physical therapy. "Her mom reported the second or third day that she could sit at the dinner table without her chest harness on, which was a big deal for her because she couldn't do that before, and now she can sit through a whole meal without a chest harness on without being afraid of her falling over and hitting her head. That's a huge, huge difference we've seen.
"Another change is her initiating movements. When she came in, she's never been pushed so hard to do a lot of these tasks, so initiating certain movements with a lot of different activities, developmental activities, that's greatly improved. (What's) also (improved is) her ability to reach with her hands across her body. She would not reach across her body at all when she came, and she does that now with her right hand.
"She's demonstrating protective reactions also with her arms; as she falls toward the mat, she'll fuss and throw herself back. Now she'll throw herself to one side and have an arm to catch her. She's not catching herself yet, but at least it's out there. She's starting that step. There's a lot of subtleties, like the way her hands open, the way her feet are placed," Munoz said.
Gracie's mom, Jennifer Sauer, said she, too, noticed similar improvements in her daughter, giving credit to the use of the NeuroSuit while noting the difference in the therapy routine Gracie gets at home from physical therapist Jason Derryberry.
"I think it's just the intensity," she said. "The big thing here is the suit, and just having the suit on her automatically makes her sit up bigger. I can't really explain what the suit does, but when you put it on her body, suddenly her tone kicks in, she's sitting up bigger, that's the main difference. Jason is great, but I think as most therapists do, they get into a routine and tend to do the same things. Not just with Gracie, but all kids. Here, because what they're doing is geared to Gracie specifically, it just catapults the results forward. You saw her supporting her body weight on her hands and knees; that's huge because she wasn't able to do that before."
When it came to staying the full three weeks in California, Gracie's dad, Scott Sauer, wasn't as fortunate as his wife in that he had home inspection appointments to meet in Southern Nevada. That resulted in him having to commute by air when he could.
As a parent, Scott spoke about what it's like to sit there and watch Gracie go through the rigorous therapy, given the fact that a noted geneticist at the University of California, Los Angeles last year told the Sauers he believed it was unlikely Gracie would live to see the age of 4.
"You know what, when you're at UCLA and they tell you to take your child home and you have no hope, this is a happy time. It's a positive step," he said. "Obviously, when we came here, we knew this was the start of a long journey. We didn't expect anybody to fix her on this trip. Her progress is clearly going to be determined by the amount of therapy she has and the quality of that therapy ..."
Jennifer had similar thoughts.
"A year-and-a-half ago, to have a geneticist at UCLA tell us there's no hope, basically what he was saying to us was take your child home and watch her die, which gave us no hope," Gracie's mom said. "So, a year-and-a-half to now is like night and day. She literally couldn't move anything on her own at that point and now that she's taking steps, close to sitting up on her own, she's supporting herself standing, and weight-bearing on her hands and knees, all of those things are things we never thought were possible. So, it just goes to show you can't always listen or believe what doctors tell you because they're human; they don't always have the answers. And in this case, it's a good thing that he was wrong."
Thanks to the generosity of Boulder City residents who supported the Sauers with more than $16,000 in donations and silent auction purchases, this trip won't be their only visit to the Napa Center. Jennifer has already talked to center director Lynette LaScala about coming back at the end of the year.
"Lynette told me before we got here we'll be planning our next trip and we're already looking to bring Gracie back probably the end of November, early December, and luckily, because of the fundraising efforts, it will be possible to do that," Jennifer said. "What we'll plan on doing is just the four sessions, because I think that's the most beneficial, and possibly, the Tomatis again, but we'll see after this time."
For Gracie and her parents, the last of three consecutive Fridays spent in El Segundo, Sept. 12, was a memorable day.
Not only was it the end of a tiring learning experience, but it also marked the completion of Gracie's therapy at the Napa Center.
Gracie and five other children -- Gracie was the youngest and 13-year-old Jonathan was the eldest -- graduated that day with each one receiving a personalized trophy to commemorate their visits.
For Jennifer Sauer, it truly was a happy occasion.
"I think it was a great trip and we made kind of what we made over the last year-and-a-half -- slow, steady progress -- but I think that what she's done in the last three weeks would have taken her months and months to accomplish at home," she said. "I'm just looking forward to bringing her back and seeing what she's going to do next time around."
Rubber duckies numbering almost 2,000 glide down golf course creek ...
Sunrise Rotary's Kenducky Derby fundraising event at Cascata Sept. 13 certainly was all it was "quacked up" to be with few, if any, members ducking the event and those who were there not using one word of "fowl" language.
For starters, just in case attendees weren't sure they were at the right golf course, Rotarians had placed a giant, inflatable, sunglass-bespeckled duck lounging in an equally large inflatable spa courtesy of Diamond Coast Spas at the valet entrance to the clubhouse.
Once inside, the festive air -- many women wore fashionably flappable big-brimmed hats in the tradition of thoroughbred racing fans at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. -- gave way to the first of three events, the golf ball drop.
Promptly at 1:30 p.m., a Las Vegas Helicopters chopper hovered over a special green that had been clipped on the driving range and dropped a test ball.
Then, some 700 specially marked golf balls pelted the greens, falling from the sky like an deluge of hail the size of, well, golf balls.
A special three-person team assembled to government standards -- one to measure, one to record distance and one to supervise -- that consisted of Sunrise President Goldie Begley, event coordinator Doug Scheppmann and his helper, Dr. Robert Merrell, came back with the three closest to the hole.
First place and $1,000 went to the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce, second place and $500 went to Ryan Mechanical Co., and the $250 third-place award went to Parsons Auto Body.
A half-hour later, with Boulder City High School junior Kelsey Ripplinger playing "Call to the Post" on her trumpet, the Corporate Duck Race took off with more than 500 rubber duckies bobbing and weaving their way over the l'orange rills and rapids of Cascata Creek.
Rotarian and Fire Chief Kevin Nicholson, who was stunningly dressed in a pair of Melvin Kline khaki wading boots, waited at the finish line to pluck the winning duck from the specially constructed river chase.
After swirling away in a series of whirlpools created by the chase, Dick Blair Realty won first place and $1,500, Pepper Coombes took second place and $1,000, and Boulder Dam Credit Union took third place and $500.
Then came the granddaddy of all the events, the ballyhooed Kenducky Derby, which saw close to 2,000 -- many were double-dutied -- rubber duckies take a second run down the creek.
A large number of unlucky duckies got caught upstream behind the rocks, but the majority got through, under the footbridge and into the swirling eddies, and then into Nicholson's comforting hands.
For this race, 15 prizes were handed out. Third place and a round of golf for four at Cascata went to Denny Mayes, husband of City Manager Vicki Mayes; second place went to Mary Chaisson of Las Vegas, who won a 50-inch, flat-screen TV, but promptly turned around and donated it to Sunrise Rotary's Wurstfest event coming up this weekend; and first-place with a $1,500 shopping spree at Henderson Harley-Davidson went to John Kist.
Funds raised will cover the costs of buying a Boulder City Art Scape Project statue.
When it was over, there was talk of the USC-Ohio State football game that would kick off later that day in Los Angeles.
It seemed a bit odd since the really big football game of the day for those attending the Kenducky Derby figured to be the one played at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., where the Boilermakers faced the University of Oregon -- otherwise known as the Ducks. It took two overtimes, but the 16th-ranked Ducks triumphed, 32-26.
Source: viewnews.com
State Sen. Joe Heck, R-Henderson, on Monday accused his opponent, Democrat Shirley Breeden, of hiding from a debate on the issues and asked for help smoking her out from an unlikely ally: U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Reid called Heck personally more than a week ago to offer assurances that he was not behind the state Democratic Party's pummeling of Heck in campaign ads. Heck revealed the conversation Monday, and Reid's office confirmed that it occurred.
The ads, which Heck decries as misleading, haven't let up, while Heck says Breeden has declined at least two offers from neutral groups to hold public debates.
"I appreciated the fact that he (Reid) took the time to call me from Washington to tell me he has nothing to do with the misleading campaign against me," Heck said. "I hope he would be able to use his position in the party to convince my opponent to come out and debate. I've got a platform I'm running on. Whether people like it or not, I'm willing to defend what I believe in."
A spokesman for Reid said the Senate majority leader has his hands full on Capitol Hill, particularly with the economic crisis. "He is not in the business of micromanaging campaigns, and he wanted to make sure Senator Heck was aware of that," Jon Summers said.
Because Reid was never involved in the state Senate campaign to begin with, he does not intend to interfere now, Summers said.
Breeden could not be reached for comment. Senate Minority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said he was "surprised that Senator Heck is whining to the media instead of directing his attention to the voters."
Horsford said Breeden spends nearly every day connecting personally with potential constituents in Senate District 5, which covers a large swath of Henderson and eastern Las Vegas.
"She's decided that the best way to run her campaign is to focus on the voters in her district, because she understands that in the end, they're the ones who decide who gets elected," Horsford said.
If just one Republican incumbent loses in November, Horsford will become the majority leader in the state Senate. The state Democratic Party has focused its efforts on Heck and Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, both of whose districts are trending Democratic in voter registration.
The ads have been landing in mailboxes for weeks. They accuse Beers of hating children and being in league with pornographers, and charge Heck with being more concerned with taking care of industry cronies than his constituents.
One flier says that Heck "Voted 'No' to Cervical Cancer Screenings." Heck did oppose a bill that would have required insurance companies to cover a cervical cancer vaccine, saying it would have driven up the cost of health insurance and that he wasn't sure of the vaccine's efficacy. Cancer screenings weren't part of the discussion.
"What this is really about is educating voters about the records of the Republican incumbents," said Travis Brock, executive director of the state Democratic Party. "The fact remains that Senator Heck, a physician, repeatedly voted against a bill to require insurance companies to cover the cervical cancer vaccine. He's more interested in protecting insurance companies than the health of Nevada women."
Heck has mailed fliers of his own to voters, but sources say neither his campaign nor the Republican Party can afford to match the Democrats' efforts this far from the election.
Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.
source: lvrj.com
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