Nicole Lucht

Story Archive

Cloobeck to chair board of Nevada Cancer Institute: Thursday, June 11, 2009; The Nevada Cancer Institute's board of directors elected Stephen Cloobeck, CEO of Diamond Resorts International, chairman of the board.
Congress makes reform a priority: Friday, June 5, 2009; It’s full-steam ahead on the health care reform debate.
House subcommittee, Titus tackle changes to workforce law: Friday, June 5, 2009; There’s a lot of work to be done to improve a federal program geared toward improving the country’s workforce during the economic recession.
Bank Takeovers 101: How the FDIC manages the takeover of troubled banks; Friday, June 5, 2009; They wait in the parking lot, men (and women) in black. An order is issued. It’s Friday, end of the business day. They get out of their cars, walk in the front doors, close the place down and announce they are the new owners.
Start of a positive trend in unemployment figures?: Friday, May 29, 2009; Could the unemployment rate be slowing down — even about to make a U-turn?
Community Bank enters agreement on oversight, loans: Wednesday, May 27, 2009; Community Bancorp and its subsidiary Community Bank of Nevada entered a written agreement with the state's Financial Institutions Division and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Mike Johnson: Southern Hills Hospital CEO; Friday, May 22, 2009; Mike Johnson, Southern Hills Hospital’s CEO since December, is optimistic. He thinks it’s only a matter of time before the economy improves and the hospital can capitalize on expected growth.
New UnitedHealthcare CEO strives for continuity: Friday, May 22, 2009; UnitedHealthcare Nevada’s senior vice president of sales and marketing has been promoted to CEO beginning in mid-June.
When it comes to wellness, ask employees what they want: Friday, May 22, 2009; If corporate wellness programs want to be successful, employers need to ask employees what they want — instead of dictating wellness terms to them.
Taking flight: After nurses jump, SEIU says its employee members haven’t lost power; Friday, May 22, 2009; The union leader representing workers at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals said he doesn’t expect the loss of the nurse group to another union to harm future negotiations.
Cost reductions are key to proposed health care reforms: Friday, May 22, 2009; Ever try to take a broken glass and make it whole again? The nation’s health care system is shattered.
Immigration focus on employers: Friday, May 15, 2009; A change in administration means a change in the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators handle undocumented workers. Instead of rounding up the workers and slapping the employer on the wrist, employers are going to be the focus — and with that comes heftier fines and penalties.
Exec: Traditional banks unfairly labeled as stingy lenders: Friday, May 8, 2009; Traditional banks are often criticized for pulling back on lending, but the head of City National Bank in Nevada said that criticism is unfair.
Businesses might want to rethink sick leave policy: Friday, May 8, 2009; Keeping the workforce healthy during an influenza outbreak can be a challenge.
Closer look at smoking ban: Friday, May 1, 2009; Maybe the clean indoor air initiative passed by voters in 2006 wasn’t quite as bad as tavern and restaurant owners thought it was.
James Gibson: Henderson mayor; Friday, April 24, 2009; As Henderson’s longest serving mayor, James Gibson is going to miss the job he never thought he wanted. But as he looks out his window at City Hall, he is excited to have more time to spend with his family, especially his growing brood of grandchildren.
‘Stress test’ may put public on more even footing with banks: Friday, April 24, 2009; It will be interesting to see what method the federal government is using to assess the health of the nation’s top financial institutions.
Hotel and casino cuts fuel rising jobless rate: Friday, April 24, 2009; The state’s jobless rate has nearly doubled in the past year.
Las Vegas braces for commercial foreclosures: Friday, April 17, 2009; A tsunami of commercial real estate foreclosures is on the horizon and is threatening banks and undermining developers who are already struggling with high vacancy rates. It’s another looming blow for many banks that are sweeping up after the financial wave of the residential real estate bust. Since the first of the year, a growing number of developers of offices, industrial space and retail centers are in default and face foreclosure, according to local real estate analysts.
Rising health care costs spur more anxiety than job loss: Friday, April 17, 2009; More people are worried about rising health care costs than they are about losing their jobs, according to a study commissioned by Catholic Healthcare West, parent of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals.
Volunteer to enjoy the spring season: Friday, April 10, 2009; As Las Vegas’ delightful spring weather visits us for a few brief weeks, you, your colleagues or your employees may be tempted to play hooky.
Las Vegas banks hit hard by bad loans: Friday, April 10, 2009; Banks across the country have been battered by plummeting real estate values and skyrocketing foreclosures, and Southern Nevada-based banks have had it worse than most.
PBS program aims to help people get through recession: Show will touch on economy, health care and job searches; Tuesday, April 7, 2009; This column is brought to you by the letters P, B and S and the number 10.
Vegas PBS offers ‘Recession Rx’ in response to downturn: Friday, April 3, 2009; This column is brought to you by the letters P, B and S and the number 10.
Valley businesses stand to gain from new tax code changes: Friday, March 27, 2009; Businesses could benefit from a few changes to tax codes this year.
About-face was right move: Friday, March 27, 2009; When I was younger, I remember one frozen winter morning bidding farewell to my father, then a major in the U.S. Army, as he departed with his green canvas duffel bag from a train station in Germany. My dad, Maj. Gregory Lucht, was headed to Hungary to set up support for U.S. soldiers deployed to a peace-enforcement mission in war-torn Bosnia.
Building, casino job losses fuel jobless rate: Friday, March 27, 2009; The construction and hospitality industries continued shedding jobs in February, and over the last year, have experienced massive cuts to employment, the state’s employment department announced.
Municipal elections will bring change: Friday, March 27, 2009; The political landscape in Southern Nevada will change significantly in the coming months and possibly as soon as the next few weeks. Early voting has begun for the valley’s municipal primary elections, which take place April 7, with some key posts up for grabs.
White House seeks to free up loans for small businesses: Friday, March 20, 2009; Small businesses could benefit from a new Treasury program to thaw lending during the ongoing credit freeze, including a promise to turn around loan requests in as little as three days.
Manpower opens new branch, program: Friday, March 20, 2009; A workforce readiness training program has been launched by Manpower of Southern Nevada to help people improve job-seeking skills. The 11-day program was launched in conjunction with the opening of Manpower’s North Las Vegas branch this month.
Asian bank takes it slow and easy: Friday, March 20, 2009; For almost two years now, First Asian Bank has been intent on capitalizing on the Asian business community defined by its presence on Spring Mountain Road.
Touro educates to meet Southern Nevada needs: Friday, March 13, 2009; The secret behind Touro University Nevada’s growth spurt over the past five years is simple: Offer degree programs in areas the Las Vegas economy needs.
Beyond the card check spin: Friday, March 13, 2009; The debate on the card check legislation making its way through Congress is giving me an opportunity to improve my rhetoric-spotting skills. Of course, not all rhetoric is a lie — a stretch, perhaps, or a great persuasive tool — and it is up to the listener or reader of the rhetoric to determine what is true or not.
Laid-off workers get break on COBRA; employers to foot bill: Friday, March 13, 2009; Laid-off employees will get a break on voluntary COBRA health benefits this year, but employers will have to front the cost. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed Feb. 17, employers will have to pay 65 percent of the employee’s Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act or COBRA premium, while the worker pays the remainder to the employer. The federal government’s subsidy program is effective through the end of this year.
State jobless rate jumps; numbers worse in Las Vegas: Friday, March 13, 2009; January was another grim month for unemployment in Southern Nevada and most of the rest of the state. Las Vegas’ unemployment rate hit 10 percent in January, while the state’s jobless rate increased a full percentage point to 9.4 percent.
State's jobless rate jumps to 9.4 percent: Friday, March 6, 2009; Nevada's jobless rate hit 9.4 percent in January, a full percentage point increase from December's revised rate of 8.4 percent.
Las Vegas Chamber takes anti-card check message to Washington: Friday, March 6, 2009; WASHINGTON — Standing in the rotunda of the Cannon Building, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce lobbyists prepared for their final two meetings of the day. A couple of hours earlier they sat across from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada in his so-called hideout office inside the Capitol on March 3, discussing businesses’ concerns about the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, or as the business group has deemed it, the Small Business Intimidation Act.
Sensible strategy nurtures year-old Bank of George: Friday, March 6, 2009; More than a year ago, Bank of George opened its doors, and since then its assets have quadrupled.
Bank of Nevada absorbs Security Savings Bank: Friday, March 6, 2009; Last fall the chief executive of Bank of Nevada’s parent company said he would welcome an opportunity to acquire other banks during the financial shake-up. And, on Feb. 27, Robert Sarver of Western Alliance Bancorp did just that.
Nevada records first bank failure of 2009: Security Savings Bank will open Monday as Bank of Nevada; Friday, Feb. 27, 2009; Henderson-based Security Savings Bank was seized by the state’s Financial Institutions Division today. The state appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver. It had 495 employees and $3 billion in assets.
A partnership built on hope: Friday, Feb. 27, 2009; I think it was the Frank Gehry-designed steel windows and archway at the Ruvo brain center that funneled cold blasts of arctic air onto the 150 people attending last week’s joint partnership announcement with the Cleveland Clinic.
Las Vegas counts on Obama housing rescue: Nationwide turnaround in housing would boost local economy, experts say; Friday, Feb. 27, 2009; With Nevada leading the nation in foreclosures, no one has a bigger stake in the Obama administration’s housing rescue plan than Las Vegas. Housing industry observers are guardedly optimistic the plan will help stem foreclosures, which continue to drive down home prices. Although the drop in prices has boosted sales, that threatens to depreciate values marketwide and trigger more foreclosures, which have ruined bank balance sheets and contributed to the deepening recession.
If an industry is immune to recession, it’s health care: Baby Boom ensures need for more workers; Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009; If Nevada is a boom-or-bust state, the economic meter is clearly pointing at bust.
Lenders short on answers now, but call back: Effects of Obama’s plan for homeowners still not certain; Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; Nevada homeowners have been flooding mortgage service centers with calls and questions about the Obama administration’s mortgage relief plan. But answers will have to wait, lenders said Thursday.
Carole Fisher: Chief executive, Nathan Adelson Hospice; Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; The grim reaper she is not. As chief executive of the nonprofit Nathan Adelson Hospice, Carole Fisher has the uncanny ability to bring sunshine to a dreary topic: hospice and palliative care. And that is what hospice is about — alleviating the pain — physical and otherwise — as a patient transitions from life to death.
Southern Hills CEO wants to provide spectrum of service: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; Southern Hills Hospital may one day be a one-stop shop for the southwest valley’s health care needs, the hospital’s new chief executive said. “There are two things to think about: Where we are at now and where we are going,” Chief Executive Mike Johnson said. “What you’re going to find is that almost anything can be done at a hospital like this.”
Technology brings quick care to orthotics customers: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; It’s like one-hour photos, only for orthotic foot support. Foot Solutions local franchisee DeWitt Paul sits on the board of Varifit Solutions, the company that developed a self-contained custom orthotic fabrication system.
SCHIP mental health parity: Outlook is unclear: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; It remains to be seen whether mental health parity will be good for the emotional health of children on the state’s Children Health Insurance Program. Parity requires mental illness treatments be covered at the same level as other medical care. For instance, premiums for mental health care cannot be higher than physical health care. However, parity does not mandate that any treatments are covered.
Medical billing company expands into patient advocacy: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; A medical billing company is trying its hand at patient advocacy. Strategic Collection Management wanted to contribute to the U.S. health care reform, Chief Executive Chris Gitersonke said.
Health care jobs jump despite downturn: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; If Nevada is a boom-or-bust state, the economic meter is clearly pointing at bust. But despite cuts in Nevada’s leading industries, the health care business continues to create jobs, fueled by another boom: The aging of Baby Boomers.