Story Archive

Man must walk before he flies

Or take a shuttle bus as McCarran economy parking lot gives way to construction

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Construction of McCarran International Airport's Terminal 3 has reduced the number of parking spots at the airport’s economy lot from 4,100 to 3,000. And the parking situation could worsen by early September.

Fire from their own party isn’t friendly

Two in Assembly face rivals in GOP primary — in one case, three

Monday, July 14, 2008

Name recognition, party support and a fundraising edge typically make the return trip to Carson City a smooth one for incumbent lawmakers. But the road to reelection could be bumpy for two Assembly Republicans, Francis Allen and Bob Beers.

Candidate is a proud Republican — but he mentions it only if asked

Monday, July 7, 2008

We’re walking down the street with Sean Fellows to see how many doors he can knock on, campaigning for the state Assembly, without mentioning he’s a Republican.

How your D.C. servants are spending their holiday

Friday, July 4, 2008

Congress took the week off for the July Fourth holiday.

Assembly races pivotal

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Among the state’s 42 Assembly districts, elections in three of the most contentious have drawn candidates with little name recognition.

When a gallon of gas is not exactly a gallon

Class-action suit says we’re getting cheated when high temperatures expand the fuel

Monday, June 30, 2008

A gallon of gasoline isn’t quite a gallon of gas in the summer, and that has Southern Nevadans in a court battle to get motorists more for their money.

HOAs have recourse in lien times

Friday, June 27, 2008

Homeowners associations trying to force owners of foreclosed homes to comply with neighborhood rules have at least one safeguard: liens.

Vegas courts a magnet for reality TV

City’s sleazy reputation, ‘CSI’ factor draw studios to courthouse

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Televising stories about how crime doesn’t pay in Vegas apparently does pay off for the community.

District Court misstates clerk errors, chilling relations

County clerk: Attorney deposit cards in right place after all

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Relations between the office of the county clerk and District Court have been chilly, stemming from the court’s January 2007 takeover of a mismanaged trust fund. Now, they’ve turned arctic over details released by the court for a story on the fund reported by the Sun in mid-May.

Who dropped the ball?

After homes are foreclosed, it’s lenders, title companies, HOAs

Monday, June 9, 2008

Banks and other mortgage lenders are turning out to be lousy neighbors. Foreclosed homes featuring brown lawns and fetid swimming pools litter the Las Vegas Valley because the lenders that hold title have failed to keep the properties up.

Support hinges on healing

Clinton backers likely to swing if Obama reaches out

Thursday, June 5, 2008

With Sen. Hillary Clinton expected to concede this week, her campaign advisers in Nevada predict that most of her supporters will ultimately help Barack Obama carry the state.
That runs counter to sentiment expressed by many Clinton supporters at last month’s Democratic convention, however.

Mortgage fraud worse in nearby states

FBI finds mortgage-related crimes jump 31% nationwide; Nevada ‘significantly affected’

Monday, May 26, 2008

Nevada might be among the worst-hit states for housing foreclosures, but if it’s any consolation, other states are suffering more from mortgage fraud.

Why stores still sprout in valley

Strip economics, public backing are developers’ boon, conventiongoers told

Thursday, May 22, 2008

With today’s credit crunch, even the most appealing new development projects require substantial pre-leasing, according to real estate financing advisers who attended this week’s International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Foreclosure fallout

When landlords lose homes, tenants face short-notice moves, loss of deposits

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The biggest problem for renters is that a lease provides no safeguard against being evicted during foreclosure proceedings, even if the lease stretches beyond the date of foreclosure. And for the Montgomery family that has meant being forced to move for the third time in 18 months — paying $1,000 in expenses for each relocation — through no fault of their own.

Blunders yield bonanza

Millions in interest on unreturned attorney deposits can stay in coffers

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Shoddy accounting by a government usually drains coffers. But the county’s mishandling of one particular fund for more than a decade produced a windfall of extra interest on millions of dollars.

Jurors, don’t expect any shut-eye in these courts

Friday, May 2, 2008

If you’re selected to be a juror, then are immediately told you’re an alternate, isn’t it likely you will be prone to tuning out, maybe even dozing off?

Vegas bagels just don't compare

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Last year, 2,621 New Yorkers moved to Nevada. Clearly, they didn’t come for bagels.

Justice court still like a ‘ghost town’ after lunch

Friday, April 25, 2008

In the bustling county courthouse where the wait for an elevator can last 20 minutes, the public hallways and courtrooms on the seventh and eighth floors remain eerily quiet in the afternoons, often empty. Those floors are home to eight of the 10 Las Vegas justices of the peace.

What next? $3 million pipe fix latest courthouse woe

Emergency funding likely to be tapped for repair job that will tear up street

Thursday, April 24, 2008

The Regional Justice Center, arguably the county’s biggest boondoggle, is expected to cost taxpayers an additional $3 million-plus for emergency repairs.

Broken boilers are Justice Center’s latest malady

As arbitration continues over who pays, elevators keep breaking down

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Arbitration is under way between the county and the original contractor over which side owes the other tens of millions of dollars for a 2 1/2-year-old courthouse with mounting problems above and beyond the structural flaws that have beguiled county employees from Day One.

Lawyers may get millions more for courthouse fight

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Is it time to consider whether the Regional Justice Center is permanently flawed? The elevators still break down regularly, and the source of a nauseating stink on the lower level remains a mystery — among other lingering problems at the courthouse.

His job is to get your debt

Don’t pay your casino marker and you could be prosecuted for a crime

Friday, April 11, 2008

The gambler in the fraying pink jacket has no emotion left. It has spilled from her, heavy black makeup smeared into the deep-set lines of her 40-something face.
It’s nearing midnight on a Wednesday, and the West Texan’s $100 blackjack chips are dwindling and her purse, which had been clenched under her arm, has run dry. She casually motions with her right hand to a Bellagio casino host for a marker, a note that looks like a small check that denotes a loan. Perhaps the walk to the ATM is too far, or her bank account is empty.
The host confers with a computer in the center of about a half-dozen tables, then walks by with a $3,000 marker that she signs quickly. She doesn’t read the fine print — which says a failure to return the money is a criminal offense.

Construction lawsuits clog  judges’ calendars

Meanwhile, the source of stench at Justice Center remains unknown

Friday, April 4, 2008

At first glance the relationship seems to make sense: an explosion of new homes in the Las Vegas Valley since 2000 prompts a rise in the number of construction defects suits filed today.

Workers who can’t stand the smell in justice center get union’s attention

They say stench makes them sick, and supervisors aren’t taking them seriously enough

Monday, March 31, 2008

Sure, the idea of work may sicken some. But what if work actually made you sick and forced you to stay home to recover?

Legal eagles don't fly far from the nest

UNLV’s William S. Boyd Law School marks 10th anniversary

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

As it celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, Nevada’s only law school has earned its share of praise.
A youngster in the legal world, it nevertheless made U.S. News and World Report’s best law schools list with a tie for 100th place.

As justice’s wheels grind, frustration over failure-prone plumbing grows

Sunday, March 23, 2008

As many Southern Nevadans know, anyone who moved into a new home here in the past 10 years could have water pipes that are corroding and, in some cases, might explode. Reports of faulty Kitec fittings first surfaced at the McDonald Ranch residential development earlier this decade. The discovery raised concerns for homeowners across the Las Vegas Valley, but few could have foreseen the enormity of the problem as it stands today.

Big stink at justice center a mystery, but real enough to sicken workers

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Something is rotten at the Regional Justice Center.

So just how much money did Desai, his clinic gain by reusing syringes and anesthesia vials?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

For the 40,000 patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada who must undergo tests for infectious diseases, the issue comes down to this: Just how much was it worth to risk my health?

Decoding their silence

How ‘social facilitation’ can erode the ability to distinguish between right and wrong

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The reason why employees working at the clinics that put 40,000 patients at risk of hepatitis and HIV infection didn’t blow the whistle remains a mystery. But psychology has one theory that could explain what happened at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.

Feds finally on alert after other scares

Nevada leaders press for national action

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The unfolding hepatitis crisis prompted calls Wednesday by Nevada’s political leaders for a federal response. But when infectious disease outbreaks and scares have occurred elsewhere over the years, Washington has remained mostly silent.

State, federal agencies investigating clinic

Friday, March 7, 2008

The owners, managers and employees of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada could all face an onslaught of criminal charges — and not just from the district attorney’s office.

Disease scare adds to glut of lawyer ads on local TV

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

As if the airwaves weren’t already saturated with commercials for personal injury lawyers, last week’s revelation of a potential hepatitis outbreak immediately prompted many of them to bombard the public with bold advertisements whose blood-red message is: You may be at risk!
Alarmist? Maybe. But it’s clear the attorneys are satisfying a colossal and possibly unprecedented need in Nevada. The crisis is expected to spur one of the largest class action lawsuits in state history, potentially comparable to the one that followed the 1980 fire that killed 87 people at the former MGM Grand, now Bally’s.

Swift justice, so long as you’re not waiting for the elevator

Notoriously unreliable lifts find a new way to frustrate

Monday, March 3, 2008

The courthouse problems generally are frequent and predictable — out-of-service elevators; lifts that stay in place because the doors can’t close; shifting weight limits.

Courtroom: Break for lunch, see ya tomorrow

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008

Most of the justices of the peace, whose salaries range from $128,700 to $154,440, simply don’t hold court after lunch each day — a pattern courthouse officials and those who work with them acknowledge has become the norm.

Homeowners saw carrot, get delay

Sued over quality, builder of Sun City Summerlin asks for a new judge

Friday, Feb. 15, 2008

Some Sun City Summerlin residents must feel as if they keep having a carrot — a very lucrative carrot — dangled in front of them, only to have it yanked away.

Small victory for Sun City Summerlin residents: Builder fined for no-shows

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008

With a smirk and a slight laugh, District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez reasoned Monday that she couldn’t quite toss Del Webb — one of the nation’s largest development companies — in jail.

Judge, then a justice? No way, four say

Friday, Feb. 8, 2008

The people most likely to be best qualified to become Nevada Supreme Court justices would be those already serving as judges in the lower courts, don’t you think?

You can’t be sure who you may find in judges’ elevator at the courthouse

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008

The unlikely mix of inmates and judges on the same elevator probably wasn’t what architects envisioned when they conceived what increasingly appears to be a flawed plan for the Regional Justice Center.

Boggs judge had own campaign cash issue

But he scoffs at suggestion of bias, says he won’t step down

Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008

One of the charges filed against former County Commissioner Lynette Boggs is that she misused campaign funds — the same accusation previously leveled against the judge presiding over her criminal case.

A chance at a real life

Mentally ill stop cycling through jails, thanks to innovative program

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008

Jason Blackwood's mother began reinforcing her bedroom door at night with a chair to protect her from a son whose schizophrenic symptoms exploded when the drugs — cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, among others — took hold. By 2005, he had racked up 25 arrests, mostly in domestic disputes and petty thefts to support his habit.

Halverson calls for help, ends up in a fix

Tech guy says she wanted to hack e-mails of those she was feuding with

Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008

“Halverson didn’t want a missing file,” Klassoff said. She sought the e-mails of employees she was at odds with, including those of former executive assistant Ileen Spoor, according to Dorothy Nash Holmes, an attorney working on behalf of the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, which later investigated.

Rush to judgment on Kucinich, debate

Short hearing led to quick decision that was roundly criticized, overturned

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008

The loser of last week’s Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas may not have been Hillary Clinton, John Edwards or Barack Obama. It appears to be Nevada’s courts.

45,000 turnout looks good to GOP, Romney

Paul supporters flood caucus sites, come up short

Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008

The campaigning absence of other Republican front-runners propelled former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to a huge victory Saturday, while upstart libertarian Ron Paul, who campaigned extensively here, appeared to have nabbed second.

Romney finds his issue; it’s the economy

Friday, Jan. 18, 2008

After losing the Republican Party’s primary in New Hampshire to John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shifted his strategy in Michigan and championed himself as a savior of lost jobs. He won.

Republicans get around to us, now that all’s muddled

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008

With the scramble for the Republican presidential nomination increasingly muddled, the Nevada caucus finally is on the national party’s radar

11th hour, Ron Paul holds to his maverick strategy

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008

Ron Paul, a long-shot Republican presidential candidate with a cult following, did not break from his maverick campaign approach Tuesday: Instead of appealing to large crowds of undecided voters, he met with members of his base.

Most Republicans: There’s a Nevada caucus?

Libertarian Ron Paul may be the highlight as other states overshadow us

Monday, Jan. 14, 2008

The sight of several dozen Ron Paul supporters marching up the Strip on Saturday may be about as exciting as it gets among the Republican presidential campaigns in advance of Saturday’s party caucuses in Nevada.

Former Family Court judge wants to lose the ‘former’

Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008

Elected officials don’t normally leave a post and then return to it years later especially judges. Clearly, former Family Court Judge Terrance Marren isn’t getting tips from the traditional political handbook. Marren chose to leave the bench in 1998 and now wants back in. Such a story isn’t unheard of in politics; U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey decided to return to Congress in 2002, a couple of years after retiring.

Pollsters have a plan for Nevada: Skip it

Most say we’re too green at caucusing, too transient

Friday, Jan. 11, 2008

National public opinion pollsters, fresh off a glaring failure to pick the winner in New Hampshire’s presidential primary, are now violently queasy about trying to predict a winner in Nevada. In fact, for a variety of reasons, major news organizations are taking a pass on polling before Nevada’s Jan. 19 caucus.

Distress over remark during Vegas concert won’t dissipate

Some Persian Jews say singer Dariush’s comment in Farsi was anti-Semitic

Friday, Jan. 4, 2008

They flocked here for a long Christmas weekend of diversion: parties, booze and slots, maybe some family time. The usual. What 5,000 Persian-Americans encountered, however, didn't stay in Vegas. In a break between songs at Planet Hollywood on Dec. 23, Iranian artist Dariush Eghbali ignited a controversy that lingers nearly two weeks later: Did he make an anti-Semitic remark in his native tongue, Farsi?