Max Jacobson and John Curtas visit with Mitchell Davis, Vice President of the James Beard Foundation, about the
foundation, its awards, and the art of food writing. Cities like Las Vegas tend not to fare very well when James Beard Awards are handed out, Davis has some ideas about why this is (hint: it has something to do with New
York.
The biggest international sporting event of the year is being held in Las Vegas this weekend. It's the 2010 USA Rugby Sevens Tournament at Sam Boyd Stadium.
The giant wave of foreclosures and huge drop in real estate values have left many homeowners in Las Vegas dishing out monthly mortgage payments that are meaningless in investment terms. It's money they may never recover.
The six piece future-jazz, afrobeat ensemble NOMO brings their driving danceable music to the Aruba Hotel Showroom, Saturday February 6. We talk with NOMO leader, multi-instrumentalist (and van driver) Elliot Bergman about the band's creation process.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority recently lost a major decision in the
Nevada Supreme Court when the court invalidated all the claims the authority
had made on rural water dating back more than two decades. We recently spoke
with the attorney who won the case for the rural Nevadans.
Author Timothy O'Grady left the United States in 1973 and he's lived in
Europe pretty much ever since. He recently returned to travel across the country and reconnect with the United States.
A Nevada company has been accused of bringing rare metals from mines in some
of the most troubled areas of the world - the Congo. We talk with an
official of ENOUGH - the project to end genocide and crimes against humanity
- about the importation of rare minerals for use in everyday electronics.
The Nevada Supreme Court has killed the applications lodged more than 20
years ago by the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Valley
Water District. The claims were to water in rural Nevada but now the
authority may have to back and start the whole application process again.
Shortly before he died, Las Vegas impressionist Danny Gans completed an
autobiography. We talk with his children Amy and Andrew Gans about their
life with their father and how they've dealt with his untimely passing.
It's pretty bad. But how bad. We talk with Jeremy Aguero of Applied Analysis
to find out why Las Vegas continues to bump along the bottom of the chart
and what can be done to improve things.
So what went right and what went wrong in the Las Vegas Valley during the boom decade? That's the business of the Urban Land Institute and six local planners give us their take on what was good and bad in land use during the
recent runaway real estate market. They also tell us what we can expect and what we should hope happens over the next decade.
Former Clark County Manager Thom Reilly joins us to talk about the
challenges local governments are facing in the recession. We discuss how
the cost of wages, benefits and union contracts are affecting services on
the county and city level and how local governments are tackling these
problems as tax revenues continue to decline.
We hear about the latest developments with the Fountainbleau and Carl Icahn's bid to buy that property at bottom of the barrel prices. Many of the gleaming strip properties were once old hotels bought for a song.
Our two favorites writers, Max Jacobson and John Curtas join us. They talk about Max's Vietnam trip, the top five pizza places and give us another round of Eat It or Beat It.
The Insurgo Theater Company has mounted a new production of Shakespeare's Othello in its new space on East Karen Avenue. It's an unusual venue for a
classic play but then Insurgo is not the typical theater company.
The year just past has been a rough one in the Vegas valley, but commentator Andrew Kiraly wants you to think ahead. Andrew Kiraly makes occasional motivational speeches in his new capacity as editor of Nevada Public Radio's Desert Companion - now available at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf near you, and online.
Revenues are way down and the city is negotiating with public safety and
clerical unions for salary cuts. The unions are fighting the cuts while the
city signs on to build a new privately-financed city hall.
Veteran Las Vegas band Big Friendly Corporation is enjoying a great 2010.
The group was named one of the top ten acts to follow by the Las Vegas Sun and they're launching a new CD with an appearance at the Aruba Showroom tonight.
Neal Williams, local business owner
Richard Cherchio, neighborhood activist
Chris Leinberger, Visiting Fellow, Brookings Inst
Lisa Morris, Deputy Dir of Neighborhood Svcs, City of LV
..
