Brigham Young was the man who led the Latter-day Saints to the Great Basin and established the Church's headquarters in Salt Lake City. His latest biographer, John Turner, calls that his signal achievement, which makes him the greatest colonizer of the Western United States.
Where do three singers go next after they've all sung in Las Vegas' longest-running musical, 'Phantom of the Opera'? The answer for three of them is to sing as The Phat Pack. Although the name alludes to Sinatra, Martin, Davis and the rest, these cats are a different breed.
Construction defects lawyer Nancy Quon died earlier this week. Police believe she had previously attempted suicide and charged her with related offenses. She was discovered dead in a bathtub at her condo in The District. After a spectacular career as a construction defects lawyer, Quon was the target of a federal probe that rigged elections at homeowners association boards and steered tens of millions of dollars worth of legal and construction work to Quon's law firm and a local construction firm.
The Gaming Control Board has opened an investigation into the links between organized crime and the junket operators that bring the gamblers from the Chinese mainland to Macau. Those ferry companies also control the VIP rooms where many gamblers play cards and they extend credit and collect debts because casinos cannot legally collect gambling debts under Chinese law. The reports of mob involvement were published by a union local on a special Web site it has created to publicize the problems. So what will happen if the allegations are proven true? Is this a storm in a teacup or could it lead to a big shakeup in the world's biggest casino companies?
The foreclosure crisis has not been an equal opportunity disaster for the housing market. Everyone has been hurt but the impact has been much more brutal in some neighborhoods than others. It's emptied out some streets that are looking like ghost towns in the making while other neighborhoods have only had a handful of foreclosures and new residents moved right in. What's causing that and what does it mean for the future of Las Vegas?
