J. Patrick Coolican

Story Archive

Bidding on building’s demise: Construction industry bust idles millions worth of heavy equipment; Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009; Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world’s largest industrial auctioneer, is selling used front-end loaders, water wagons, scrapers, generators and everything else needed to build roads and sewers, strip malls and houses.
Advocating a little pain at pump: Scholar with logical but unpopular idea will give talk today; Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009; To conserve energy, we need a higher gas tax. But wait, before you get angry: We’ll offset it with a cut in your income or payroll taxes.
Nevada suffers as rest of U.S. recovers: Report: State’s economy worse off than any other; Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009; For so long Nevada was like the Globetrotters of the American economy — a fun, twirling circus act always winning the race in growth of employment, wages and property values. But now we’re the Washington Generals — hapless, winless and sad. And, that’s our indefinite future, according to a new report by Moody's Economy.com.
Morale of those with jobs a big issue amid cutbacks: Monday, Nov. 2, 2009; The bad economic news in Las Vegas has become like winter rain in the Pacific Northwest — sometime it comes in a torrent, other times a mist, but always there.
Government doesn’t do much for Wynn ... or does it?: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009; Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn has lately been sounding a bit like his arch rival, Sheldon Adelson, the tough-talking owner of Las Vegas Sands who doubles as Republican fundraiser and conservative ideologue.
Obama’s way means ‘lights out’ for Vegas, Wynn says: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009; Steve Wynn continued his tough attacks on President Barack Obama in a wide ranging Sun interview last week.
Fraud could undermine housing tax credit: As Congress considers extending benefit for first-time buyers, troubling report emerges; Friday, Oct. 23, 2009; Nevadans have responded to the government’s offer of up to $8,000 in first-time homebuyer tax credits with gusto, filing more claims and receiving more in tax breaks per capita than anywhere else in the nation. Nevadans have claimed $146 million in tax breaks from the credit. But according to new federal reports released Thursday, the program nationwide is littered with potential fraud, threatening its future.
Wide open spaces, hint of optimism: At a once-thriving suburban ‘power center,’ there’s hope of new tenants and a pickup in customer traffic; Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009; The parking lot is so vast and so empty, neighborhood kids could play stickball here.
Why there’s hope for Reid: Nevada isn’t South Dakota: At least two pundits misread the majority leader’s challenge; Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009; Two normally savvy observers weighed in on Sen. Harry Reid’s electoral prospects, and both were, well, sort of wrong.
Civil rights group’s leader fears direction of U.S. politics: Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009; Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, says he fears the state of American political discourse, as radical rhetoric races through the veins of the body politic.
Lessons Las Vegas can learn from the Rust Belt: As Detroit is to automobiles and Pittsburgh was to steel, Las Vegas is to tourism — a one-industry town. How Las Vegas can make like Pittsburgh and grow beyond its roots; Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009; There are too many hotel rooms, too much commercial real estate and too many empty houses, and economists say Las Vegas should learn to live with diminished expectations. We can no longer be sure that we are the city of the future.
Brookings economist: Industries need to bolster their images: Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009; Anyone who thinks the Brookings Institution is a lefty think tank need only talk to Clifford Winston, a senior fellow in economic studies. Winston was in town this week to deliver a lecture at Brookings-partner UNLV. He argued that government intervention and regulation rarely make economic sense.
Analysts aboard for rail hub: Vegas the logical spot for such development, Brookings says; Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009; A study suggests Las Vegas is an ideal hub for a high-speed rail network and — because of heavy travel between McCarran International Airport and Southern California — is primed for a high-speed rail link connecting the regions.
After new disclosures, word of John Ensign investigations emerges: Hampton could also face serious legal jeopardy after his revelations about Ensign's actions; Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009; Sen. John Ensign faces the threat of expulsion from the U.S. Senate and possible criminal penalties, according to several legal and ethics experts. The New York Times reported Friday that he faces a preliminary FBI investigation into his actions.
Ruling by judges rattles mortgage industry: Some foreclosures may at least be slowed; Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009; A bankruptcy judge here, joining judges across the country, is throwing a bit of sand in the gears of the mortgage machine and its ruthless foreclosure blade. She has raised this issue: In many home foreclosures springing out of bankruptcy proceedings, the foreclosure is being triggered by a representative of the lender — a surrogate that may not have a legal, equity stake in the proceedings.
More Nevadans will need help as economic storm worsens: Total of Nevadans on food stamps jumps 45 percent; state projects greater hardship, more in need of aid by 2013; Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009; Nevada’s spiking unemployment rate is forcing the newly destitute to seek help from the state.
Housing scam artists staying on the move: They adapt to the market and the law, as Nevada’s top fraud fighter can attest; Friday, Sept. 25, 2009; John Kelleher’s professional life is beginning to feel cyclical, like the seasons. Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto asked Kelleher, a chief deputy, to head a mortgage fraud task force in early 2007. With so many shady real estate players and dicey mortgages, the new task force kept him busy. Then the foreclosure wave started, and the task force shifted its focus to scam artists falsely promising to keep Nevadans in their homes for a steep fee. Then the fraudsters began offering phony loan modification services, so Kelleher went after them, too.
Help may bring another bubble: Economists say extending tax credit for first-time homebuyers is bad policy; Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009; No doubt, a big tax break for first-time homebuyers is good politics. Although the politics are a surefire winner, especially here in Nevada, some economists across the political spectrum question whether the $8,000 tax credit is good policy.
Maglev money sparks a Gibbons-Reid quarrel: Friday, Sept. 18, 2009; When Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid announced his support for the DesertXpress over a magnetic levitation train this summer, that seemed to end Nevada’s long-running train feud. Reid was frustrated with the sluggish pace of planning for the maglev.
Signs of slow recovery bode ill for Reid’s reelection: Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009; It ought to sing out like a spirited chant or a song-and-dance number: “The recession has ended! The recession has ended!”
Fan-friendly traveling band plans Vegas stop: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009; Joel Cummins is the keyboardist for Umphrey’s McGee, the Chicago-based band that combines progressive rock with traditional American genres to create two-set improvisational journeys. Yes, the band plays 100 shows a year, often with a traveling group of freaky followers, but don’t stereotype it as like all the other jam bands.
Six Questions for Robert Lang: Brookings Mountain West Initiative co-director; Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009; Robert Lang is co-director of the new Brookings Mountain West Initiative at UNLV, the first significant U.S. presence outside Washington for the famed think tank. Lang is an expert in urban affairs and has published widely on cities of the Intermountain West.
The potential for prosperity in Las Vegas: Sure the city has its share of challenges, but two D.C. think tank guys see possibilities; Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009; Things are bad in Las Vegas, but there’s hope if you look in the right places. That’s the assessment of Brookings Institution urban policy scholars Mark Muro and Robert Lang, who delivered a state-of-the-city lecture Tuesday at UNLV.
Experts: Despite downturn, Las Vegas has hope: Urban policy officials launch Brookings Institution partnership with UNLV; Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009; Yes, things are bad Las Vegas, but there’s hope if you look in the right places.
That’s the view of urban policy experts Mark Muro and Robert Lang, who kicked off UNLV’s new relationship with the Brookings Institution on Tuesday with a state-of-the-city lecture on the UNLV campus.
'Wreckless Willie': The life of a fighter: He’s fought more than 50 bouts, lost 29 of them, and often spars for meager pay, yet he holds onto dreams of winning a title.; Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009; Inside a warehouse a few miles west of the Strip, Hasim Rahman launches a shot to the body of Willie Chapman, finding his rib cage. Small blood vessels are ruptured, and blood seeps into surrounding tissue. Chapman likely has another bruised rib, although it could be fractured. He won’t have it checked because he has no health insurance. Besides, he doesn’t want anyone to know about it, doesn’t even want to know himself, because he’s sparring again in two days.
Media aiding health care reform foes: Coverage focuses on conflict and political maneuvering, not substance of bills; Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009; Americans would like to know more about the health care debate, with about 45 percent surveyed by the Pew Research Center saying they have been tracking the health-care story closer than any other. At the same time, they are confused. In a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, half of the respondents said they don’t understand the reform plans being discussed.
Las Vegan’s lost battle for insurance puts face on reform: In her brother’s name, former CNN anchor continues advocacy in town halls, Washington; Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009; This isn’t how Veronica De La Cruz would have chosen how to grieve for her dead brother.
Mesquite: Feeling pain from Vegas, getting down to business: Hit hard by casino closing, border town looks to sports for economic revival; Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009; The parking lot of the Oasis Resort Hotel & Casino is empty, heat blasting off it, mocking the name of the now shuttered hotel. The go-cart track is silent and the pool closed, its deck chairs stacked, giving the place the feel of a wintry Rust Belt amusement park. For small communities in Southern Nevada like this town on the Arizona border, the troubles in Las Vegas are a contagion.
Ex-Nevada AG Sandoval resigns as federal judge: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009; Brian Sandoval has resigned as a federal judge. Sandoval, the former Nevada attorney general, has been heavily courted by Republican power brokers to run for governor, and his resignation would seem to indicate a move in that direction.
Heller acknowledges the John Ensign effect: Affair influenced decision not to challenge Reid, he says; Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009; Rep. Dean Heller has become the first high-ranking Nevada Republican to call on Sen. John Ensign to break his silence and answer remaining questions about his affair with a member of his staff.
An unspoken energy summit goal: Reelect Reid: Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009; There was a lot of high-minded, and no doubt important, policy discussion at the Clean Energy Summit at UNLV. But make no mistake, Monday’s event was about politics. It was about driving energy legislation in the Senate, and more narrowly, about the 2010 reelection of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Clinton: Efficiency efforts would bring jobs boost: Energy summit begins amid protests from activists outside; Monday, Aug. 10, 2009; Former President Bill Clinton today urged America to take control of its energy future. In a nearly hour-long speech at the National Clean Energy Summit at UNLV, Clinton urged Americans to support energy efficiency measures, including green building practices and weatherization retrofits on all buildings.
No spendthrift, state has ballooning health care bill: Medicaid costs reveal big stakes of reform; Monday, Aug. 10, 2009; Few places have more at stake in the health care reform debate than Nevada. The central aims of the reform movement pushed by President Barack Obama, congressional Democrats and a few Republicans are to extend coverage to the uninsured and stop spiking costs before they consume the entire economy.
Tarkanian enters race against Reid: Friday, Aug. 7, 2009; Danny Tarkanian has announced he'll run for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Recovery in Vegas? Not so fast: Growth, tourism — our economic pillars — show no sign of rebound, keeping upturn at bay, experts say; Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009; Las Vegas will take much longer than the rest of the country to emerge from the recession, several local economists said. And once it does, without major changes, expect flat or slow population growth, higher-than-average unemployment and slow wage growth.
Enron foe to aid in study of financial collapse: Monday, July 27, 2009; Seems like a long time ago, but earlier this decade, a number of companies that had been hyped as the next big thing got caught in dubious deals, misstated their true financial condition and overestimated their ability to manage debt and risk.
Ensign loses another senior aide: Thursday, July 23, 2009; Sen. John Ensign lost his second senior aide in as many days, as Tory Mazzola, Ensign's communications director, is moving over to the National Republican Congressional Committee. The moves were first reported by Sun columnist Jon Ralston.
Ensign's chief of staff leaving: Wednesday, July 22, 2009; John Lopez, Sen. John Ensign's chief of staff, is leaving the senator's employ, as first reported by Sun columnist Jon Ralston.
State GOP prepares for ideological battle over taxes: Party’s split over fiscal policy is prompting Republicans to gird for primary fights; Sunday, July 19, 2009; We must destroy the party in order to save it. That seems to be the view of Nevada conservatives, who are ready for ideological combat across a series of Republican primaries next year. Conservative candidates, mostly from the state Assembly, are talking about running in Senate primaries next year against Republican candidates who they consider insufficiently conservative and ideological.
Drawing lines in the sand: Raggio’s two-session strategy: Thursday, July 16, 2009; Some people in politics play checkers — plodding, fairly predictable moves and blunt instruments. Others play chess, anticipating future moves far down the game. State Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, is in that second category.
If shockers done, Ensign could stay in office, many say: Saturday, July 11, 2009; If Sen. John Ensign were, say, a casino manager, and he embarked on an affair with his underling’s wife, who also worked for him, he would be shown the door. But Ensign, the second-term Nevada Republican, lives and works by a different set of rules.
GOP support for Ensign dwindles as new details of affair emerge: Friday, July 10, 2009; Sen. John Ensign appeared to be losing support among his Republican base Thursday as the lawmaker disclosed that his parents, who made millions in the casino industry, paid the family of his affair partner $96,000 around the time she and her husband stopped working for him. Ensign’s parents made the gifts to Doug Hampton and his wife, Cynthia, “out of concern of the well-being of the longtime family friends during a difficult time,” said a statement issued by Ensign’s attorney.
Hampton portrays Ensign as relentless: Thursday, July 9, 2009; Doug Hampton spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday about the affair his wife had with Sen. John Ensign, alleging that the Nevada Republican engaged in a lengthy and calculated series of deceptions despite repeated attempts to get him to stop.
Obamaites untapped on health care: President working the business side of debate so far, instead of marshaling his mass of supporters; Thursday, July 9, 2009; When then-Sen. Barack Obama was elected president last year, Democrats hoped that his grass-roots organizing drive would change everything.
Hampton speaks publicly, says Ensign paid severance: Wednesday, July 8, 2009; Doug Hampton spoke publicly for the first time today about the affair his wife had with Sen. John Ensign, saying the Nevada Republican continued his pursuit even after intermediaries tried to get him to stop.
Elko County commissioner to seek Assembly seat: Monday, July 6, 2009; John Ellison, an Elko County commissioner and a small businessman, has announced he is running for the state Assembly as a Republican. The electrician also sits on the state contractor's board.
Ensign’s pal lacked usual qualifications for top job: Sunday, July 5, 2009; When Sen. John Ensign hired Doug Hampton to be his senior aide in November 2006, Nevada Republicans were baffled. Hampton was an unknown, without a policy profile or political experience.
Local conservative radio talk reflects right’s downcast state: Sunday, July 5, 2009; One might expect Heidi Harris, as a conservative talk show host, to be filled with fire and fury, given the liberal ascendancy and Age of Obama. But she was unwilling to engage in the apocalyptic rhetoric heard in other quarters.
Heller may have ruled out a run at Reid: Republican says he hasn’t decided; he hints otherwise; Friday, July 3, 2009; Although Rep. Dean Heller told the Las Vegas Sun he has not made up his mind and does not feel rushed to do so, he seemed to hint strongly this week that he will run for reelection rather than run against Sen. Harry Reid in 2010.
Heller feels pressure to take on Reid: Sunday, June 28, 2009; Sen. Harry Reid is up for reelection in 2010, and he has a fat target on his back. His poll numbers are weak, and national Republicans would love some payback for Reid’s years of hammering Republicans and stymieing their agenda when he was minority leader.