Street Teens of Las Vegas, Nevada is seeking donations this holiday season. Do something nice and support an important cause. Watch the video below to find out more.

Street Teens a 501 (c)(3) corporation, founded by Rosario and David Mereaux is a volunteer based, non-profit organization dedicated to assisting homeless, abandoned, and at risk youth, ages 12-21 in the Las Vegas Valley. Street Teens provides basic necessities in a safe and compassionate environment, including access to educational, health care and employment resource services through the drop-in center and in collaboration with community partners.

Click here to donate

Posted December 6, 2007 3:55 PM by David Rosowsky | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

The Review Journal reported today that a student at Stewart School near Flamingo and Eastern has been diagnosed with a drug resistant skin infection called Methicillin-resistent Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

MRSA is a type of staph infection in which the bacteria has developed a resistance to methicillin and other antibiotics normally used to treat staph.

Although MRSA can be a serious and has caused the deaths of students across the nation, it is not an uncommon infection and most skin infections are treatable according to the Southern Nevada Health District. Infections are typically visible in the form of pimples or boils.

Continue reading "MRSA strain of staph infects Las Vegas student" »

Posted November 7, 2007 1:17 PM by Kevin Chomintra | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email This

The weather has mellowed out, summer temperatures broken and we’ve officially moved into fall. If you’re eager to take advantage of the cooling weather, Brian Head Vacation Rentals offers residents a vacation away from the bright neon and fast pace of Las Vegas. The website features a simple to use reservation system and makes it easy for people to book lodgings.

Continue reading "Brian Head Vacation Rentals targets Las Vegas market" »

Posted September 24, 2007 11:28 AM by Kevin Chomintra | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

A co-worker of mine has shown a bit of his true-self as I sat down to interview him on Capoeira, a synthesis of dances, fights and musical instruments from different cultures, from different African regions. It is a synthesis created on Brazilian soil. If you don’t know what Capoeira is…well let me tell ya.

Slaves were brought to Brazil, in the sixteenth century, and with them they brought their culture. The slave owners would not allow the slaves any form of fighting or self-defense so they made up Capoeira to hide their fighting techniques within the dance. To this day, when a person is baptized into capoeira at the batizado ceremony, they may be given an apelido.

One theory suggests that capoeira originated from a courtship dance in Angola used by suitors of young women, however, capoeira's origins are often disputed. The exact origin of Capoeira is under dispute, but you get the idea. Each of the ritual dances is done with a ‘band’ playing in the background and the pace of the performers is controlled by the tempo of the band. One of the instruments used in Capoeira is the Berimbau is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, another is the Pandeiro, a type of hand frame drum that differs from a common tambourine in a few ways.

Continue reading "Capoeira going strong in Las Vegas" »

Posted April 26, 2007 11:38 AM by Terry Piper | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Sunday, Feb. 18 is the 56th annual NBA All-Star game. For the first time the game is being played in a non-NBA city. Score for Las Vegas!

If you have procrastinated or just haven’t had the chance to secure your All-Star game tickets, unless you’re unusually, crazy wealthy, you have probably missed your chance to attend the game courtside.

The nosebleed seats are each going for about two-grand.

Nice seats? They’re about $25,000 each. Yep, that’s right. It would set you back $50 Gs for two tickets to the All-Star game. If that’s not crazy, what is? Think of all the good you could do with $50,000.

In a city known for excess, the NBA ought to feel right at home at the Thomas & Mack center with All-Star game tickets costing as much as automobiles.

The NBA All-Star competitions tip off this Friday, Feb. 16, as the League’s top rookies and second-year players square off in the Rookie Challenge.

If you’re looking for the place to be this weekend, even as early as Valentine’s Day, Las Vegas is it, baby!

Posted February 12, 2007 4:50 PM by Pete Codella, APR | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Perhaps you’ve heard that one of our local landline phone providers, Sprint, has changed its name to EMBARQ.

And certainly the folks at EMBARQ would like nothing more than to become the buzzword in telephone communications in the Las Vegas valley.

Here are a couple of tactics they’re using to reach out to their customer base:

On June 6 at the Orleans Arena at 5 p.m. EMBARQ is hosting “This Way to Common Sense,” a business innovation showcase featuring NBA legend-turned-entrepreneur Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson. If you’re interested, you can RSVP online or by calling 800-433-1889.

Also, for the months of June and July Sprint/EMBARQ have made two free Wi-Fi hot-spots in the City of Henderson. If you’re in the downtown Henderson or Green Valley Ranch areas, chances are you can surf the net for free, courtesy of our newly named telecommunications company. For connection instructions visit EMBARQ's website or call 800-280-4292.

Posted June 1, 2006 9:29 AM by Pete Codella, APR | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

A recent study of Las Vegas and Reno casinos has concluded that exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace may put casino employees at greater risk for heart disease and cancer.

Funded by a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the clinical trial followed 125 employees who work on the gambling floors of casinos in both northern and southern Nevada.

The study shows what we already have known for many years, that secondhand smoke is dangerous, even in a well ventilated casino environment.

So what does this mean for the casino industry, reluctant to ban smoking anywhere in their facilities?

Continue reading "Las Vegas casino smoke damaging to employees" »

Posted May 16, 2006 8:21 AM by David Rosowsky | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email This

Care to learn what some locals and media moguls think of what’s happening in our desert oasis?

There are a few fun podcasts you can tune-in to.

Check out . . .

Access Vegas’ Podcast

Five Hundy by Midnight

LivingInLV.com

TheStripPodcast.com

The Vegas Minute

Posted March 7, 2006 3:03 PM by Pete Codella, APR | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Are you budget minded? Do you drive around looking for the lowest gas price?

Save yourself some gas by visiting MSN Autos where you can search for the lowest gas price by zip code.

I need a fill-up today and found it’s cheaper (by $.02 a gallon) for me to purchase gas by my office than by my home.

Happy gas shopping!

Posted March 6, 2006 11:07 AM by Pete Codella, APR | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Those of us accustomed to water rationing know that March 1 means we can crank up our sprinklers to turn on three days a week.

March and April account for spring. After that, we’re into summer and regular watering.

So if you’re trying to keep that lawn green, it’s time to adjust your watering times.

Remember to water on the appropriate days. To find out which days are assigned to you, you can contact your water provider or visit the Southern Nevada Water Authority's website.

Posted March 2, 2006 11:54 AM by Pete Codella, APR | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

The Vegas thugs have come up with a new trick. This one involves a crowbar and your neighborhood/business mailbox.

You see, years ago, and still in older neighborhoods, individuals and businesses had the privilege of their own mailbox on their own property.

Nowadays we’re expected to use community boxes the U.S. Postal Service installs at convenient locations (that’s convenient to them, not to us).

Unfortunately, vandals have now targeted your community mailbox. They approach in darkness, jack open the front doors, then take off with all that’s inside.

Say you just completed one of those annoying credit card offers and instead of calling the phone number or logging on to the website decided to send your information the old fashioned way, so it’s safe in the mail. Guess who now has all the information from your credit card application?

Or say you’re a timely bill payer and don’t trust the internet with your sensitive financial information. If you’ve got a bill with a check in that mailbox, you’ll probably be sorry.

Twice in two months our business mailbox has been damaged. Once it just fell over, either due to high winds, a karate chop or one of those pesky desert tortoises. It took a couple weeks for a new foundation to be solidified and the box to be reinstalled.

Then, over President’s Day weekend, our community mailbox suffered at the whim of vandals. Thankfully, as far as we can tell, we didn’t have any mail in the box, either incoming or outgoing.

Both times our postal carrier obliged us with hand deliveries of our mail. Thanks!

Continue reading "Postal depository vandalism" »

Posted February 28, 2006 10:29 AM by Pete Codella, APR | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Here’s a quick look at Nevada’s population as reported by the state demographer’s office.

Most populous cities and towns:
1. Las Vegas – 569,838 – a 3.7% increase over 12 months (all percentages reflect an increase)
2. Henderson – 241,134 – 4.8%
3. Reno – 206,735 – 3.8%
4. North Las Vegas – 180,219 – 9.2%
5. Sparks – 85,618 – 4.8%
6. Carson City – 57,104 – 1.7%
7. Pahrump – 33,241 – 9.1%
8. Elko – 17,850 – 4.1%
9. Fernley – 16,357 – 18.7%
10. Boulder City – 15,203 – 1%

City planners estimate that the city of North Las Vegas will reach 517,000 in the year 2025.

Clark County saw an increase of 4.7%, bringing the July 1, 2005 population estimate to 1,796,380.

Posted February 23, 2006 1:01 PM by Pete Codella, APR | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This