Several stories have made headlines this week that make me think "only in Vegas". Most are kinda sad. It ends on a good note.

First is a pit bull attack...at a convenience store! The dog attacks people (including a child) at the gas pumps, then goes inside the store. A couple of very brave men held the dog down but the dog had the arm of one of the men in his mouth. Several minutes later the cops showed up and shot the dog. Animal rights activists say this can happen with any animal and it's not a pit bull thing. I will continue to watch the local news for a poodle, a goldfish, or a hamster that does this much damage in the valley. Also, unable to locate loving animal rights activist that raised the pit bull from a puppy, thinking it would be a nice dog.

Over to the Tropicana in the wee hours of the morning, a man is stabbed to death in a drug deal gone bad. As police rope off the crime scene, a guy opens up his car door near one of the offers and says, "okay, you caught me". The cop tells him to go away, they are busy. The guy says "no, really. I'm the guy you're looking for". He had to show them where the knife was before they would believe him.

Down the street at the Forum Shops, a dead body is found in the bushes. It had been there for a while. No witnesses, no video surveillance. The body was finally identified and was an off duty restaurant employee who dies from rocks to the head. 4 days later, police made an arrest. It was an ex employee of the same restaurant. There might be more to this story.

The worst story of them all. Just another screwed up family having an argument. Daughter kicks daddy in the jewels. Parents leave spoiled brat and go out. Daughter calls police screaming bloody murder child abuse. Police respond urgently. Unrelated man driving home after a few beers with the boys turns his truck left into his subdivision. Responding officer T-bones truck. Truck flips over, cop car is beyond recognition, both vehicles explode. Cop is dead. Drinking driver is not "legally drunk". Other cops arrive at house of spoiled brat, and princess changes her story. Parents arrive home and are bombarded with the story. They tell the daughter she caused some very bad events. Princess couldn't care less.

The good news. Summer is here. 100 degrees this weekend. Over 300 women in bikinis celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. They were bussed to the Fashion show mall, except for Holly Maddison who rode in a pink convertible Caddy. From there, they had a fashion show in the mall, marched out to the sidewalk and did all the overpasses to the Wynn, Pallazo, TI, and back to the mall. This should set the Guiness record for the largest bikini parade. The parade was followed by pool parties up and down the strip. The whole stunt was to celebrate summer and boost tourism some how. FWIW, the 300 girls were paid $100 each when they responded to a craigslist ad to participate. The swimsuits were styled from 50 years ago to today's designs.

JMT,
The pit bull thing is a real problem in almost every large town in America. What makes this story sad is, It doesn't have to be. I have seen many pit bull terriers that are sweet loving animals. Even Mastifs, can be a loving family pet.
Unfortunately, most of these animals are not raised to become sweet and loving pets. It seems it is a macho thing for young punks to have a mean dog that will kill anything. (it's a my dog can beat up your dog, mentality) Just ask Mike Vic! Oh don't give me, "oh it's my culture" because if your culture is to treat dogs badly so they become fighters, your culture is messed up. FIX IT, don't excuse it!

I'm not a dog owner, I have never been. Way too much commitment in time for me. Besides, nothing smells worse then a wet dog, except a wet dog that has been sprayed by a skunk!
M2C

We get about 5 high profile pit bull attacks a year here. Mostly they attack kids, strangers, and other pets. This is the first I've seen where one hits a gas station and convenience store at morning rush hour. It's always the same "lipstick on a pig" debate. You can take a hooker off of East Fremont St, clean her up, teach her some etiquette, and bring her home to mama. It goes against the grain and is not sustainable without a lot of hard work and desire, and it's still not a sure thing. Look at the idiots that try to keep a chimpanzee as a pet.

I have seen where a deer gets inside a store and does a lot of damage. That's just funny to everyone except the store owner and the deer.

I don't know what's going on this past week or so. I can look around and observe.

Cheap Trick does Sgt Pepper coming to the LV Hilton in September.

Rumors getting hotter for Garth Brooks coming to Encore Theater for extended stay.

Abbacadabra, an ABBA tribute band played the Hilton. I made a poor judgement move, I saw the show.

Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band played at the Suncoast. I was always an Eagles fan and I know much of their guitar licks were just simple country music chords. Either these guys were lame or Eagles music is lame, maybe both. I'm not normally impressed with 60s-70s-80s bands that still perform today, and less impressed with their imitators.

Steve Tyrell played the Gordie Brown theater. What a great crooner. Steve joined Burt Bacharach right out of high school and never stopped working with him.

María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Moquiere de les Esperades Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Najosa Rasten has her name on top of the Riviera sign on Paradise. Actually, it says Charo. I've seen her alot around town at various functions. She might have a home here.

Stop me if you've hear this before but the Tropicana has new owners promising big changes. Okay, I'll stop.

Trader Vics is still open. I hope it can stay open at least until Eric and Ellen get a Mai Tai.

Fremont Street Experience is catching on, I think. My last several visits found crowds were good. Even on Monday and Tuesday nights, they still get a good amount of people. I do like the back to the 60s theme. Is that why FSE seems less like a Jerry Springer black party? I still don't like the "artists" that go crazy with the spray paint making those cool glossy pictures that nobody buys. If the audience knew just how toxic that paint is, they wouldn't huddle around the guy and huff on the fumes. Maybe that's why it seems like a Jerry Springer Block Party in the first place. No, it wouldn't be fair to single out FSE when the whole town is crazy.

The Luxor is ugly. It has ugly wraps on it. 3 of them are some lame logo about seeing Las Vegas, the other looks like a Transformer. On top of that...literally,... is a lot of dust/dirt. The pyramid almost has a gold shade to it, not terribly different from it's next door neighbor, Mandalay Bay.

Maybe you haven't seen those secret planes that carry workers to Area 51. They are 737 aircraft. Maybe you have seen them when you heard a noise and looked up and saw them. You will now see even less of them. They have gotten rid of their old inefficent jets, and acquired newer "next generation" Boeing 737s. These planes still sport the same plane white paint job with a single red stripe down the side. But they have much quieter engines and electronic cockpits.

Has anyone seen summer? We had a little hot weather and it went away. High temps of 85-95 seem to be the norm. Lows are bone chilling. I went to the Sprint store a couple of Saturdays ago at 7am. It was downright cold, even with 3 shirts on. I was the first one out of the door with a new Palm Pre cell phone. No more iPhone for me, at least not for the next 2 years. This new phone has more potential than the newest iPhone due out in the next few weeks. Time will tell.

On a sad note, the mean people are out in force and seem to be focusing on 2 year old kids. A 2 year old girl was found in a dumpster. Her mom's boyfriend is charged with murder and sexual assault. Mom is a prostitute in Arizona and isn't being charged at this time.

A 2 year old and a 1 year old kid were found buckled in their car seats. The car seats were in the garage, not in the car. The kids were tied together with rope. The rope wrapped around their necks too. They had gags in their mouths, and hoods over their heads. Fortunately, they were found alive. Mom's boyfriend is being charged. He just wanted to watch the basketball game on TV instead of watching the kids. Mom was at work and is not being charged.

Another 2 year was found beaten and dead this week. Mom's boyfriend is a person of interest.

I wonder what will happen next week.

no more iPhone? Say it ain't so Joe!

I still have the device even though it is permanently in the airplane mode. So I pretty much have an iTouch with a camera.

The Pre is sweeeeet.

I am soooo Cirqued out that I thought I was gonna barf. I was walking down the sidewalk in front of the Bellagio. As I looked up at the entrance to Paris, I noticed the street sign at the Paris entrance is labeled Paris. The bad part was the road formerly known as Las Vegas Blvd. At this intersection (and who knows where else), the road is labeled Cirque Du Soliel Blvd.

Speaking of circus. The circus came to town. In a town where the king of jungle is relegated to sit in a glass container and watch drunk tourists play mechanical horse racing, Ringling Bros. just doesn't pack much punch.

Peepshow at the P-ho has new front girls. Mel B and Kelly Monoco are out. Holly Maddison and Shoshana Bean are in. Does anyone care?

What does President Obama, Santana, and Larry King have in common? None of these them can sell out a venue here of just a few thousand seats. I would like to see Santana again someday and see if it's like I remember from the early 70's. I've had several free offers and even had a free ticket given to me. It just wasn't convenient at the time. If/when I go, it will be on my terms when I want to go.

The first day of Summer came around on Saturday. Up to this point we have only had 1 day of 100 degree weather.

Railroad Pass casino in Henderson was honored as the longest operating casino in Nevada. It opened in 1931 with casino gaming license #4.

The state finally passed the final budget for this session. Museums take a big hit. We already lost our art museum. All state funded museums are now open just 4 days a week and the employees are now part time. There were funds to allow the completion of the new state museum in the Springs Preserve. However, there are no funds to staff it.

Senator John Ensign in deep water over an affair with his best friends wife. You know that story isn't over. Our wonderful governor who is going through his own sloppy divorce gives him advice in the public media. These people are in charge of the state of my state.

It's official. The pinball museum will be moving from near Trop and Pecos, to near Trop and Maryland Pkwy. It could take a few months to get the new place remodeled and the machines moved.

The Gamblers Book Store has moved too. From it's once questionable location on the seedy edge of downtown to a less seedy location near Trop and Spencer.

That's all I know.

I wouldn't mind seeing Peepshow or Santana.
<PeepShow> Didn't know the old girls, and don't know the new girls, so what changed? LOL
Doesn't Carlos Santana live somewhere in or around Vegas?

Good old Carlos used to live down the road a bit from us in San Rafael. He had a beautiful home smack dab on the SF Bay with a beautiful view. I understand he sold is recently due to a recent divorce or something like that (if there is anything like that!).

For some unknown reason I can never pay for a ticket to see a singer or a musician when I can simply buy a record or turn on the radio.

But I don't have that problem seeing a impersonator such as Mr Fator.

Lee, re: Peepshow, one of the out's was a Spice Girl. One of the ins was a skank that hung around with Chris Angel, and might have been in Playboy. I'd probably see the show on a free ticket.

I have very nice memories of the band Santana, and I worry about seeing yet another old rocker on stage trying to scratch out a living. My ideal way of seeing Carlos would be a jazz fusion jam with people from Weather Report, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, BB King, and other greats from his prime. This way expectations are not high for anyone in particular. In defense of Carlos, he does sell out some performances.

Tahiti Village lays off dozens of employees. (insert joke here)

Encore in hot water? Not on Saturday when the boilers quit working. Guests experienced cold showers unless they went to the Wynn spa. Steve Wynn offered the guests a $50 voucher for future use.

Carrot Top signed a new 6 year deal with the Luxor. It's a good gig if you can get it. Just ask Lance Burton. He was about to expire too and got a deal.

The 100 degree temps are here. Long live the 100s.

Orbitz rates Las Vegas as the top holiday destination. Whether you want a party, fireworks, or celebrate the true meaning of the holiday, Las Vegas has it all. Here is a tiny sample of what you could participate in. As for me, WORK.

The BullRing at LVMS. Fireworks after a long night of racing of SuperModifieds, Bombers, Late Models, and more. Gates open at 5. Fireworks about 9:30. Admission $15.

North Las Vegas, Seastrand Park. 6-9:30pm. Free.

July 2&3 Las Vegas 51s Baseball with fireworks after the game. $14.

July 3-5 Faux Fireworks at FSE.

All weekend. Beer bash on the bridge, NYNY.

July 4 Boulder City Damboree. All day event. Fireworks at 6pm

July 4 Summerlin Patriotic Parade 9am. free

July 4 Henderson Events Plaza. 6-9pm. Music and fireworks.

July 4 Springs Preserve. 6pm Philharmonic Star Spangled Spectacular and Laser Light Show. $17.50-82.50.

July 4 Lake Las Vegas BBQ, music, and fireworks at 10pm free

July 4 BBQ and Fireworks Rio 7-10pm. $50

July 4 Mandalay Bay. fireworks at 9, followed by music. $20

July 4 Caesars rooftop fireworks at 9pm following private party.

July 4 fireworks at Stations Casinos by Grucci. free

July 4 LV Hilton fireworks after dark. free

Last Tuesday was the start of flood season. Yes we do have an "official" flood season. Even with less than a half of an inch of rain per month, the storms pop up quick and the rain comes down much quicker than it can soak in...hence the flooding.

Trains are back in the news. There is a regular choo-choo proposal that will link Vegas and Victorville. And there's a maglev train proposal to link Las Vegas to Anaheim. Senate majority leader Harry Reid backs the Victorville project. There's about 8 billion dollars of free Obama money to whichever project gets the green light.

LV Sands lays off about 200 Las Vegas employees in various positions. There were about 300 in April.

North Las Vegas Fire Department Captain makes about $97k per year. He burns his own car in the desert for insurance reasons, to pay off the Toyota Sequoia at $35k and $12k in negative equity.

City Council awards 11 million to finish the Mob Museum. It could open next year, but a contractor dispute could tie up progress in court.

New laws effective July 1.

*8.1 sales tax

*New business license fee doubles to $200, business tax on payroll will double to 1.17%.

*Businesses can not print full credit card number on receipts.

*Special licensing required for foreclosure and loan modification consultants

*Increased fines for copper (and other metal) thieves

*New DMV fees.

*Homeowners facing foreclosure can request mediation. Mediation run by Nevada Supreme Court with court appointed mediator. Lender must have representative with authority to modify loan.

*You can NOT cross a solid white line on the freeway entrance or most other streets. You must wait for the stripes/dots. You can cross a solid white line if it is at an exit or you are making an immediate right turn. I think there is an exception for the HOV lane.

*You MUST yeild to tow trucks doing their job just as you would to other emergency vehicles.

*...and almost 200 legal other items.


4th of July came and went. I was at work at the airport....which is an excellent vantage point. I'm sure it was a blast for tourists on the strip and downtown. OTOH, compared to the more spectacular fireworks events of the past, this holiday was a little lame. The only strip show was at Caesars. Looking out towards Henderson, there were fireworks everywhere. You could easily tell where Stations casinos were as the Green Valley Ranch Station and Sunset Station fireworks were in a different league than the others. Downtown Henderson was almost up to par with Stations, but not quite. LV Hilton did a pretty good job.

Magicians can't get good help these days. Steve Wyrick was all set to perform a stunt on the strip on Saturday night. He was going to climb in a box, a curtain would cover it and the box would be destoryed by picking it up and dropping it on spikes. Well, the curtain came down and immediately caught fire. The huge blaze injured one of his workers(who was in the box). But when the fire was put out, Steve was gone...leaving audiences to know that he was out by the time the curtain came down and would never be lifted or dropped onto the spikes. Earlier this year, David Copperfield was preparing to walk through a rotating industrial fan when an assistant fell through it, injuring the assistant.

Mayor Oscar Goodman is pressuring California based CIM Group to clean up their property and get on with construction projects slated for the old Lady Luck. As downtown slowly develops, this once thriving area has become an embarrassing eye sore. Previous eye sores near the Lady Luck are looking much better.

You aren't kidding about the flood season. About 6 pm on the Wednesday a spectacular thunderstorm went through the strip. The wind was strong enough to blow open the fresh air vents on our windows. It poured for about 20 minutes.

Eddie Mekka, aka Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Ragusa from the Laverne and Shirley show was arrested for DUI after wrecking his car near Trop and I-215.

Eiseblo Aguilar was arrested near Boulder Highway and Twain for suspicion of DUI when police pulled his car over and found him in the passenger seat. He faces more severe charges because police also found his 11 year old son in the drivers seat. The man knew he was too drunk to drive and forced his son to drive him home.

Bestrestroomdotcom has the Venetian's Zeffrino Risorante in the top running for the best restroom in the country. It features custom mosaic tile artwork, Carra marble floors, Venetian plaster, Murano glass chandelliers and wash basins, a limestone water fountain, and private restroom suites. Have you voted?

The top prospects to take over the 80% completed Fountainbleu complex include Wynn and Harrah's.

Project Link is the name of the Harrah's vision to build a winding corridor between Oshea's and the Flamingo resort. It may or may not be a 2 story district with around 20 shops and restaurants and might terminate near the monorail where there could be a huge ferris wheel sorta like the London Eye.

A fisherman in Sunset Park caught a 3 1/2 foot alligator on his hook. 99.999% that it was an abandoned pet. You can keep tigers and lions at your home. You can have dogs that bark all day and night. You can have disease carrying pigeons stroll through your patio restaurant. Alligators are illegal to keep as a pet.

Mad chefs at the M Resort. In an alleged effort to become more efficient, the M Resort has decided to outsource the control of kitchen workers to a separate management company. This means that CURRENT employees will have to reapply for jobs they already have with an equal opportunity of being replaced from someone off the street. It also means a loss of benefits and pay. They have union protection that kicks in once they have 6 months seniority. The M has only been open 4 months.

The Riviera missed another interest payment. On June 30, the Riv failed to pay $245 million dollars in interest. They are talking with creditors and investors about options.

Police had to revise their report on the 10th shooting by a Metro officer this year. It still says they were after an accused child molester. It still says a high speed car chase turned to a foot chase. It still says the tazer had no effect to the resistance. However, the part that says officers were forced to shoot the victim in the chest, now says they shot him in the back.

I noticed that the Riviera buffet only serves breakfast and lunch...NO dinner.

Also at the Riv, Scarlett. What was once Scarlett, the Princess of Magic, turning hankies into doves for kids at the V theater, is now billed as Scarlett, Abbra Ca Sexy, the topless show.

The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute is already taking patients even though the exterior appears incomplete.

Planet Hollywood to pay $750,000 because of troubles inside the nightclub Prive, which is owned by The Opium Group, who leases the property from Planet Hollywood. Some of the charges include allowing minors inside, prostitution, employees sexually assaulting customers, drunks being thrown onto the casino floor, and customers being involved in other crimes after leaving Prive. Emergency crews were getting more than 1 call per week to the nightclub since it opened in 2006. Several other big name nightclubs are also under investigation, which may change the future of casino nightclubs.

Mayor wants to chop of the head of the person that defaced the Welcome To Las Vegas sign with graffiti. He only wanted the thumbs cut off of vandals that spray painted a tortoise statue in his own jurisdiction.

The man who faced 52 charges after he opened fire in the NYNY casino is officially guilty of 51 of those charges. Steven Zegrean was found not guilty on one the charges of attempted murder as the jury could not identify exactly who his target was. His defense is that he wanted to be killed in suicide by cop with no intention of hurting people. The prosecution points out that he had about 250 rounds of ammo in several clips, and took recent training and target practice prior to the crime. He could receive life in prison.

7 kids have drowned in pools so far this year, tied with the 2008 total. I'm betting the over. There is no law in Nevada requiring a safety fence around the pool. I know that some of the drownings this year did have fences.

Holy Cow! The former Holy Cow has been bought and a new casino is promised. Expect a 100 ft high def TV screen out front.

I know of something else the mayor could chop off that would be very effective and keep the person from reproducing, more little hoodlums!

I notice that the guy shooting off rounds of ammo in the nyny might get life, but the spray painter gets his head chopped off? NICE!

Besides the pool drownings, how many childern are left in a parked car with the windows rolled up each year in LV?

The mayor clarified his remarks today that he doesn't really want to chop things off, but he is in favor of making examples of the offenders through public humiliation. He doesn't realize that maybe these were kids that were just trying to express themselves or may have been forced to eat their broccoli when they were younger.

There was a recent child molester (named Chester) that argued he got a worse penalty than a murderer. He video himself raping a 3 year old.

I have an entire bingo card that includes the number of police shootings, children left in cars, children drowning, people killed with unloaded guns, and pet attacts. And I have a wild card space for those items that just leave you speechless. It's summer time and that's when crazy stuff happens.

Madame Tussauds is 10 years old on the Las Vegas Strip.

The World Series Of Poker has winded down at the Rio and now there are just 9 finalists who will come back to town November 7th. The winner will be determined on Nov 10.

Mayor Oscar Goodman turns 70 years old on July 26. Party to follow on Friday July 31 at the Golden Nugget. Don't know what to the buy the mayor for his birthday? A bottle of Sapphire Gin would be nice. Expect lots of free martinis and DUIs that weekend.

Rich Natole's show, Voices Of A Generation has cancelled his next several shows. Some say his afternoon show at the Harmon Theater is gone for good.

Free tix for The Magic and Tigers of Rick Thomas have been popping up around town. I guess they are trying to get word out that he is playing at the Sahara.

Ex-NBA star Antoine Walker was arrested at Harrah's in Tahoe for passing almost a million dollars in bad checks at Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood, and Red Rock.

This weekend had temps about 10 degrees above average around 115. Then monsoon season with storms, some rain, and more lightning than I've seen in a long time. Lightning sparked about 30 fires in area mountains.

Wayne Newton is in financial trouble again....or still. Just this week he has been sued over $32,000 for hay to support his Arabian Horses and $37,000 for a 2005 Escalade that he leased. And if that isn't enough, he is about to be sued by his pilot who is almost $500,000 behind in salary.

The historic Boulder Hotel/museum closed on July 11 due to lack of funding. Reports of a generous quarter million dollar gift will allow it to reopen.

5 year old boy was shot in the head. Reports say he shot himself. The boy was in dad's car. The dad was in the car at the Walgreens drive thru. Boy was driven to the hospital and dropped off at the hospital drive thru. The boy died. No word if the dad was on the cell phone at the time of the shooting.

North Las Vegas police kill another out of control pit bull. Police were called to the scene where the dog attacked a cat and was threatening humans. Police ran over the dog with the squad car, then shot it. Then the dog ran off and the police shot it several more times.

Bad car crash sends 2 people to hospital. The car they were in ran into a cement block wall around a guys house. 5 years ago, the guy had a chain link fence. A car crashed into it. So he got a brick wall and gets hit too. The wall has been struck by a car 5 times in 5 years.

Please keep these headlines coming. They are fun information.

Thanks for the imfo. I guess my invite to the Mayors BD party is still in the mail.

Thanks Ed, I'm glad I'm not talking to myself.

And you are invited to the Golden Nugget for Oscar's Party. Everyone is.

I'm amazed everytime I read about a celebrity in financial trouble. I just don't get it. Especially someone like Wayne Newton. He's been around for years, has performed probably thousands of shows. He's a legend - and is having financial trouble??!!??