Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Shots of Brandi to inspire young voters

She is young, idealistic and says she believes that if people get politically involved positive change really can happen.

Over the next few months, many Americans ages 18 to 34, and anyone else who watches MTV, will get to meet her.

Las Vegas resident and UNLV communications major Brandi Powell, 23, has won the Cox Communications/MTV News "Choose or Lose" correspondent search. She leaves for New York today.

"When I first heard about this I thought, 'Oh my gosh! This is perfect for me,' " Powell told us. "And I couldn't believe it when they told me that I had been chosen."

Powell was an intern at KLAS Channel 8 when she applied for the coveted job covering the 2004 elections for MTV News and MTV.com.

"If my enthusiasm can get more young people to vote, to become more politically active, then I will consider my time there well spent," Powell said.

"I am just so excited to meet people and travel around and let people see how the process works."

We asked Powell who she was going to vote for in the November presidential election. Like a news industry vet, she demurred.

"I try to keep the opinions out of the reporting. I'll just help put the issues out there for people to decide themselves."

Rose bud

One thing about Pete Rose: He has a sense of humor.

When one of our more gaming-friendly sources ran into baseball's all-time hits leader at the Palms on Friday, Charlie Hustle was happy to sign a drink ticket from the Mandalay Bay Race and Sports Book.

He penned his name, and "4256" -- the all-time record number of base knocks he amassed during his major league career.

Rose only recently admitted he bet on baseball. The admission is an attempt to lift the sport's ban on him and allow him to gain entry to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. When our friend saw him, Rose was headed to a roped-off area at the Palms sports book to watch the nationally televised Yankees-Red Sox game.

Rose had a handful of betting tickets in his hand, but our source couldn't tell if they were for the baseball game or for horse racing, or for any of the NHL playoff games also being televised.

Later, Rose dined at N9NE, where he appeared to be having some serious discussions with three other men at his table.

On Saturday afternoon Rose was back at the Palms, eating off room-service delivery carts in the front row of the race and sports book. He was also seemingly in violation of one of the cardinal rules of Nevada sports books.

Several witnesses saw him making and receiving numerous calls on a cell phone.

Reality check

New Golden Nugget owners Tim Poster and Tom Breitling attended the live broadcast of "The Apprentice" finale on Thursday night. It was taped at "Saturday Night Live" studio 8H at Rockefeller Center in New York.

Afterward, they attended the afterparty with reality show genius Mark Burnett and the show's stars -- including Donald Trump -- at Trump Tower.

The same crew that taped "The Apprentice" also taped "The Casino," Burnett's next reality show, which was taped at the Nugget.

"The Casino" premieres June 8 on Fox.

Card sharks

The finale of the $30 million World Poker Tour was to kick off at noon today at Bellagio and run through Friday.

Admission is free, but get there early each day to secure a seat. Travel Channel cameras will capture the event for future broadcasts.

Four events in the two-week tourney were canceled because of the hotel's still-mysterious power failure last week, but the no-limit hold 'em championship events this week have not been affected.

Reunited

Pink and Carey Hart are back together, if their weekend behavior is any indication. There were numerous romantic sightings of the pop singer and the Motocross star (and Palms tattoo shop owner) around town.

Among their weekend activities: making out on a couch at Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel, playing poolside blackjack at the Hard Rock, attending "Zumanity" (New York-New York), partying at Tabu and having dinner at N9NE.

Saturday night at N9NE, by the way, was a dream evening for us personality news reporters. Among the diners (besides Hart, Pink and Rose): Sandra Bullock and her boyfriend, Jesse James; Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey; Jamie-Lynn DiScala; Joe Pantoliano; and Burt Bacharach.

VegasBits

Contest: Kato Kaelin was a celebrity judge at the Miss Hawaiian Tropic competition at Treasure Island on Friday night. Spotted in the audience: former UNLV hoops coach Jerry Tarkanian ...

Party on: Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys and Beyonce went their separate ways after their concert Friday night at Mandalay Bay. Elliott partied at Curve (Aladdin), Keys and recording artist pal John B. were at Prana (Desert Passage) and Beyonce went to her Four Seasons hotel room, where we heard that boyfriend Jay-Z was waiting for her. Concert attendees ranged from "American Idol's" Simon Cowell to NFL star Keyshawn Johnson ...

In the house: Recently deposed "Idol" contestant Camile Velasco attended the 7:30 p.m. Saturday performance of "O" (Bellagio). The native Hawaiian stayed with her dad, James West, at the downtown California hotel, the Boyd Gaming Corp. property with a large and loyal Hawaiian following ...

Dinner: Barbara Sinatra, Angie Dickinson, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme had dinner at Caffe Giorgio on Friday night after the Frank Sinatra art show opening at the Godt-Cleary gallery. Both the gallery and the restaurant are in Mandalay Place, not The Hotel at Mandalay Bay, despite what was repeatedly misreported elsewhere over the weekend.

From Sun wires

'Simpsons' holdout continues: The cast of "The Simpsons" is holding out for more d'oh, leading Fox to map strategies for doing without prime-time's top 'toon -- including moving some of its best performers into the breach.

The six lead actors, who provide voices for dozens of characters, are demanding a raise. They haven't shown up to work for a month, stalling production of the 16th season.

The actors have completed work on six episodes for next season, including the annual "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episode. With postseason baseball delaying "The Simpsons"' start until November, Fox should have enough episodes until January.

Fox may move "American Idol" or "That '70s Show" to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Former GE boss to marry: Former General Electric Chief Executive Jack Welch and his fiancee, Suzy Wetlaufer, plan to marry on Saturday.

The couple's affair made headlines when Wetlaufer, who was the editor of Harvard Business Review, revealed she had become romantically involved with Welch while working on a story about him. Shortly after, Jack and Jane Welch disclosed their plans to divorce.

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