J. Patrick Coolican

Columnist

J. Patrick Coolican was born in Connecticut to a large, Irish Catholic family and then studied dead white male authors at the University of Notre Dame. He started his career during the 2000 presidential campaign, writing for a Web site he created with two friends. He's written for The Seattle Times, The Nation, LA Weekly and, since early 2006, for the Sun.

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Story Archive

High-interest lenders need more, not less, supervision: To prevent payday loan abuse, House bill promoting deregulation must be stopped; Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012; According to the results of a recent survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Nevada leads the nation in the percentage of residents who are “underbanked” — meaning they have some sort of bank account but also resort to high-interest loans from nontraditional lenders to make ends meet.
Canyon Springs shuts out Rancho: Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012; Canyon Springs dominated Rancho 51-0, looking sharp after a mediocre win last week and two losses prior to that. They improve to 4-2.
Steven Horsford on his political missteps: 'I learned': Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012; Last week I wrote about Danny Tarkanian, the son of the legendary UNLV coach and Republican candidate for Congress in the 4th District. Let’s take a look at his opponent, state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford.
Canyon Springs snaps losing streak with sloppy win over Silverado: Friday, Oct. 5, 2012; Canyon Springs shook off a two-game losing streak to beat Silverado at home 29-21, improving their record to 3-2.
On order for Danny Tarkanian's congressional term: a 'stacked failure sandwich,' complete with FDIC suit: Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012; If the voters of Nevada’s newly created Congressional District 4 aren’t careful, they could wind up with a congressman who is in bankruptcy. But that’s just the start of the weirdness.
First Berkley-Heller debate left so much to be desired: Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012; Some quick thoughts on Thursday’s debate between Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Shelley Berkley. Overall, a weak display. But I was most disappointed in Berkley, who failed to make an affirmative case for the Democratic position.
Portraits of the 47 percent don't match Romney's narrative: Friday, Sept. 21, 2012; Mitt Romney is gracing us with his presence in Las Vegas today. In case you missed it, Mother Jones magazine showed video on its website of Romney telling a group of wealthy donors that people who vote for President Barack Obama “believe they are victims.”
Can we solve the homeless situation by ... giving them a place to live?: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012; A prominent business person suggested to me that to solve the homeless problem Downtown, we should buy an empty subdivision in the suburbs and move everybody in. This person was joking, but there’s actually some validity to that idea. Why? Well, that’s what we’re already doing, and it’s working.
The new rigors of PE: How these kids are muscling their way through school: Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012; When I was in school, gym class was a bit of a joke, and I’m sure the same is true for you. The kids who were athletic and competitive would play flag football or basketball while everyone else stood around.
Canyon Springs wins rivalry game with neighboring Cheyenne: Friday, Sept. 14, 2012; The Canyon Springs High football team won the battle of Alexander Road Friday, beating Cheyenne decisively, 42-8.
Obama doesn't have to apologize for lies told about his speeches: Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012; With President Barack Obama in town this week, I thought it useful to explore a commonly held belief about his foreign policy, namely, that Obama has apologized for America and doesn’t believe in “American exceptionalism.”
Despite efforts to beat them blue with our shoes, bedbugs are winning: Friday, Sept. 7, 2012; My bedbug obsession began about a decade ago, when I read a story in The New York Times that I was certain was an April Fool’s joke.
Close down bathrooms, not food trucks: Competition is healthy, so if city council wants to level the playing field, it should find other ways; Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012; An attempt by brick-and-mortar restaurants to stifle competition from mobile food trucks stalled at the Las Vegas City Council Wednesday, though only thanks to the council’s fecklessness. ...
'Queen of Versailles' serves as an indictment of years of false prosperity: Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012; Along with a lot of misery, the 2008 financial crisis and the resulting Great Recession have produced excellent films, both dramatic and documentary. ...
Reflecting on recession's unfolding a timely reminder of what Obama inherited: Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012; As I watched President Barack Obama on Wednesday at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas, I thought about four years ago. Because I was so busy covering the campaign, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the fact that the world was collapsing.
Six questions I'd like to ask President Barack Obama: Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012; Last time Mitt Romney was in town, I had six questions for him and promised I’d do the same for President Barack Obama, who will be in North Las Vegas today. So, here goes.
Las Vegas has the potential to be more of a fashion industry player: Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012; Downtown's upcoming Fashion Lab just might help.
Dissecting the Downtown glut of bail bondsmen: Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012; How bail bonds work, what the bondsmen do and more.
Medicaid expansion should be a no-brainer for Nevada: Monday, Aug. 6, 2012; If Nevada doesn’t expand its Medicaid program, one result is that people will die. That’s the stark conclusion we can draw from a New England Journal of Medicine study, which found that in states that expanded their Medicaid programs, mortality rates declined 6.1 percent, with the largest declines among minorities and older adults.
Six questions I'd like to ask Mitt Romney: Friday, Aug. 3, 2012; I can’t make it to this morning’s Mitt Romney event in North Las Vegas, but here are some questions I’m hoping the assembled media will ask him:
A food truck influx has Downtown restaurants—and local government—crying foul: Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012; We often hear that businesses wish government would merely get out of the way. Just as often, however, I see businesses lobbying government to kill off the competition. In the latest example, the Las Vegas City Council is mulling protecting Downtown brick-and-mortar restaurants from their wily new competitors: food trucks. As my Las Vegas Sun colleague Joe Schoenmann reported recently, the owner of Uncle Joe’s Pizza on Fremont East was outraged that “there, in front of his pizza joint, was parked a food truck. And it was selling pizza, no less.”
Fancy names aside, they're still Ferris wheels: Sunday, July 29, 2012; Desert Land LLC and Desert Oasis Investments LLC are building the SkyVue Las Vegas Super Wheel on the south Strip, and Caesars Entertainment is building the High Roller as part of the new LINQ project. But don’t call them Ferris wheels. Caesars is particularly adamant about this. That is why I’m calling them Ferris wheels.
It's time local government stop asking the state for permission to act: Friday, July 27, 2012; Clark County says the state of Nevada owes it $102.5 million and has sued to get its money. But state government, which took the money from county property taxes and sales taxes to solve its budget crisis, has all the leverage in this fight.
Downtown's dining options are about to explode. Hungry?: Wednesday, July 25, 2012; For years, Fremont East was a fun place to drink, especially if you were so committed to drinking (you know who you are) that you didn’t want food to get in the way. Now, however, a restaurant boomlet is coming Downtown. What had been slow and steady progress is quickening, with a pile of new spots opening, in construction or stewing in someone’s imagination.
Dodger Stadium in downtown LA shows that adding a ballpark is no magic bullet: Wednesday, July 18, 2012; Las Vegas could learn something from the City of Angels.
Governance is so bad, firefighters won't even live in North Las Vegas: Friday, July 13, 2012; Off-duty North Las Vegas firefighters walked precincts this week, telling residents to pressure the city to reverse cuts in emergency services. The firefighters can’t rely on their own votes in upcoming elections. Very few of them live in North Las Vegas.
Why an urban Downtown and lots of free parking spots are mutually exclusive: Wednesday, July 11, 2012; Strategic parking policies will be an important part of the Downtown renaissance.
Catching up on newspapers, finding I was missing a lot: Thursday, July 5, 2012; I doubt I’m alone as a journalist in confessing that I’ve often read the blockbuster news in the newspaper and what was pertinent to my beat, but I let many other stories slide.
Coolican measures how far downtown has to go, one step at a time: Wednesday, July 4, 2012; After watching the Las Vegas Philharmonic blow the doors off the Smith Center recently, my date and I wanted to have dinner downtown. We stood outside, looking toward the Golden Nugget, and pondered how we’d get there.
This team run isn't just practice for high school football, it's practice for life: Saturday, June 30, 2012; It’s Monday morning at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas, the start of summer football practice. At 6 a.m. sharp, Coach Hunkie Cooper tells an assistant to close the gate, because responsible men are prompt. “We took over this program three years ago. Had been 1-30. Last year, we won the division title, beat Vegas in the playoffs. But the most important numbers are our GPAs, our SATs.”
Towne Terrace and the apartment shortage of Downtown revitalization: Wednesday, June 27, 2012; Where's everyone going to live?
Nancy Williams Baker has been bringing color to Downtown for decades: Wednesday, June 20, 2012; The costume shop owner intended to stay in town for two weeks — she stayed a lifetime.
Finally buying into the Zappos hype: Tony Hsieh's dreams seem lofty, but they are worth pursuing; Wednesday, June 20, 2012; As a journalist, my job is to be skeptical, and given the incessant flimflammery in Las Vegas, I think I was entitled to be extra wary of the Tony Hsieh-Zappos-downtown craze. My outlook is deeply influenced by the “Simpsons” episode when the charismatic charlatan Lyle Lanley sells Springfield a rickety monorail (sound familiar?), so I always try to question what’s in that delicious Kool-Aid. For years I’ve been reading glowing profiles of Hsieh, the prodigy founder of an Internet company he sold to Microsoft for millions before becoming CEO of online retailer Zappos.
Nevada law firms seem to like to have ties to Carson City: Tuesday, June 19, 2012; Every upstanding law firm needs framed diplomas from the finest law schools, crystal decanters for single malt scotch and a nice solid oak conference table. And in Nevada, it seems, they require one other amenity: Their very own legislator.
Board member's resignation shines light on region's unhealthy habits: Sunday, June 17, 2012; Nancy Menzel, a professor of nursing at UNLV, is leaving the Southern Nevada District Board of Health in frustration after just one term. Menzel describes a dysfunctional board burdened by conflict with Clark County while public health problems fester. Menzel is supportive of the district but was scathing in her critique of its board.
Tony Hsieh’s vision for Downtown might be ambitious, but we need it to happen: Wednesday, June 13, 2012; "Not pursuing his brand of urbanism will doom us."
City Council's decision further brands Las Vegas as kid-unfriendly: Wednesday, June 13, 2012; Until they can score a fake ID, there’s not much for kids to do in this town. Las Vegas is like most American communities that way, but gambling and alcohol are central to life here, making the problem even worse.
Not so neighborly: Group essentially says, 'Schoolchildren: not in my backyard': Friday, June 8, 2012; Sometimes it’s hard not to feel like we live in a ridiculous town. In the latest example, Clark County has put the squeeze on a Montessori school — a Montessori school! — to appease unhappy neighbors, so the school has decided to pack up and leave.
Frustration takes over in quest for local all-ages music venue: Wednesday, June 6, 2012; Unless it's a religious or educational institution, "it's basically impossible to open a venue for kids."
On the horizon: A quick look at projects poised to shape downtown: Monday, June 4, 2012; While development remains fairly moribund in the rest of the Las Vegas Valley, there’s suddenly a diverse array of projects in various states of planning and completion downtown.
Want a grocery store downtown? Change is in your hands: Thursday, May 31, 2012; My colleague recently moved into a cool place in Soho Lofts in the Arts District—would someone please change the name of this otherwise worthy building?—and is mostly happy with downtown living. But he’s also discovering its frustrations
TVs, home goods, Gatorade and wisdom — all 99 cents at Henderson store: Friday, May 25, 2012; Regina Burns got in line for Thursday’s grand opening of the 99¢ Only Store on Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. She spent 30 hours securing a spot as one of the first nine customers, each of whom had the chance to buy a 22-inch flat-screen TV for, yes, 99 cents.
Though religious group's efforts are noble, tackling issues won't come without making enemies: Thursday, May 24, 2012; As Cantor Mariana Gindlin sang “Eili, Eili,” the packed ballroom at UNLV hushed. Just moments before, they were boisterous and cheerful, singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Now, though, the solemnity of the Hebrew song hit the crowd fiercely, and I felt a bit of a chill.
Mind over muscle: Fitness coach Denise Dinger shapes the body and soul: To many in the Las Vegas Valley, she's a bodybuilding icon; to the women she trains, she's family; Wednesday, May 23, 2012; High above Las Vegas, in a suite at the Palms, Denise Dinger is acting as matriarch of a trippy family whose obsession isn’t spelling bees or stringed instruments or dance. It’s human muscle and the display of it. Her charges — “my girls,” she calls them — are nervous and a little giggly, butterflies before they take the stage at the Palms for the Jay Cutler Desert Classic, an amateur bodybuilding event.
In remembering Dr. Clarissa Engstrom, friends and family will mobilize efforts against suicide: Monday, May 21, 2012; When Dr. Clarissa Engstrom died, they came from all over America, like pilgrims offering tribute to a healer. And for many, that’s what she was. As a veterinarian, she treated and cured their animals, but she also treated the soul sickness that afflicts many humans. “I was instantly enamored by her presence,” said John Talley, who came from Florida for one of the memorial services here. When he met Engstrom, known to friends as “Gooey,” Talley was struggling to come out as a gay man and found himself alienated from family. “She said, ‘You’re amazing, and don’t let anyone tell you anything different.’ ”
Young veterans searching for work after serving the country deserve support: Friday, May 18, 2012; During Shaun Clark’s time in the U.S. Army, he was deployed as airborne infantry to Afghanistan, Iraq and to Haiti after the earthquake. He’s experienced more in three years than most of us will in a lifetime. At 21, he’s back home and asking: Now what?
Kudos to Harry Reid for knowing when politicians shouldn't talk in Congress: Thursday, May 17, 2012; Majority Leader Harry Reid reversed himself last week and came out in favor of reforming the Senate filibuster. Better late than never. It might seem obvious that Reid would back changes to the filibuster, but Reid, like many in the world’s most exclusive club, is an institutionalist and traditionalist.
Downtown Bound: Column will focus on an evolving, exciting part of Las Vegas: Wednesday, May 16, 2012; This space is dedicated to one of the most important stories in the Valley.
Courageous first move could bring success to north portion of the Strip: Wednesday, May 16, 2012; Someone had to be first. Some guy in a hut had to have the courage to drink the juice of fermented grapes, and good things followed. Likewise, the north end of the Strip needed someone to have the courage to invest. Now that SBE Entertainment of Los Angeles and private equity group Stockbridge Real Estate are putting money into the shuttered Sahara, perhaps the 20-teens will eventually be known as the era when the action moved north on the Strip.
Teenage parents, trying to graduate, face enormous challenges: Sunday, May 13, 2012; Icalynn Gamble had quit going to school last fall, overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being an 18-year-old mother and dejected about her chances of graduating. That’s when a parade of dignitaries — including Clark County School District Superintendent Dwight Jones, state Sen. Steven Horsford and new Chaparral High School Principal Dave Wilson — knocked on her door on a Saturday morning and persuaded her to return.