Alexandra Berzon

Story Archive

Perini seeks union givebacks: CityCenter, Cosmopolitan contractor looks to workers to cut projects’ costs; Saturday, March 7, 2009; CityCenter and Cosmopolitan general contractor Perini Building Co. has asked building trades unions to take pay cuts and make other concessions as they work to complete the financially troubled projects, according to several sources familiar with the negotiations. In meetings Thursday, Perini Chief Executive Craig Shaw and top executives of the CityCenter and Cosmopolitan projects asked for $2-an-hour wage decreases from about 11,000 trades members on those jobs, say sources involved in the discussion who did not want to be identified because the meetings were confidential.
Strip deaths sent message on safety, OSHA chief testifies: Thursday, March 5, 2009; The head of the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration told lawmakers Wednesday that the run of construction fatalities on the Las Vegas Strip “was a tragic situation that I believe caught everyone off guard.”
Solar industry, unions heading for clash on jobs: Titus postpones visit to Boulder City plant; Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009; The appointment on Rep. Dina Titus’ calendar last Saturday didn’t appear controversial at first glance.
‘Veterans deserve a natural green cemetery’: Legislators sponsor bill to preserve grass despite conservation pressure; Friday, Feb. 27, 2009; To Mark Manendo, the ground cover that surrounds his father’s gravestone is fraught with meaning.
Construction worker dies in accident at McCarran: Monday, Feb. 23, 2009; A construction worker at the new Terminal 3 roadways project at McCarran International Airport died Monday afternoon. The man was a laborer working for Las Vegas Paving Corp., said Randy Walker, Clark County director of aviation.
Hopes lowered for workers’ comp overhaul: Labor-friendly legislature aside, business will press recessionary concerns; Monday, Feb. 23, 2009; To hear the leader of the Nevada AFL-CIO tell it, the workers’ compensation system in Nevada is a crime, cheating employees out of treatment for legitimate injuries and all but encouraging employers to fire injured workers.
Resumes get scant inspection: Clark County does not routinely verify work histories of those it approves to inspect sites; Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009; One of the CityCenter inspectors who failed to spot serious errors at the Harmon high rise was approved by Clark County to monitor complex construction projects after submitting a curious resume.
Perini heeds safety critique: Audit of hazards is met with promises to improve Strip sites; Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009; Perini Building Co. will take a number of steps to improve workplace safety, including responding more quickly to safety concerns and establishing a phone number for confidential reporting of safety problems. Eight deaths have occurred at CityCenter and Cosmopolitan, massive adjacent projects.
Reports suggest fixes for CityCenter safety problems: Researchers put together safety audit based on surveys, interviews; Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009; The Center for Construction Research and Training unveiled a series of reports Wednesday that aim to diagnose and recommend fixes for safety problems endangering workers at the CityCenter and Cosmopolitan construction sites.
CityCenter work often precedes approval of plans: Ultimately, county says, it ensures compliance with codes; Monday, Feb. 16, 2009; In hundreds of instances, construction at MGM Mirage’s massive CityCenter project has moved forward based on unapproved engineering, a Sun review of reports issued by private inspectors at the work site shows. In those cases, inspectors on the project reported that contractors were working from last-minute drawings that affected the structural integrity of the building but had not been approved by the county. In some cases, the engineer of record also had not approved the drawings.
Big Apple’s big lesson on safety training: It should be backed up with strict enforcement; Friday, Feb. 13, 2009; Faced with the same predicament as Las Vegas — a string of construction deaths — New York City has turned to worker safety training.
Dana Wiggins, labor relations manager of Associated General Contractors: Reflections on the construction boom and its fallout; Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009; Las Vegas-native Dana Wiggins has lived through many a construction boom. But nothing prepared him for what he witnessed the past few years as towers rose rapidly on the Strip and off.
Perini redirects blame for errors at Harmon: Company president: Design flaws mishandled by subcontractor, inspectors; Monday, Feb. 9, 2009; Perini Building Co. is disputing Clark County’s claim that construction problems alone — and not design problems — led to the faulty installation of reinforcing steel at CityCenter’s troubled Harmon tower.
County wants proof CityCenter structures are free of defects: Friday, Feb. 6, 2009; Clark County has ordered MGM Mirage to verify that CityCenter’s towers are structurally sound six months after significant structural defects were found in one of seven buildings at the company’s project. The problems were repeatedly missed by third-party private inspector Converse Consultants, hired by MGM Mirage to ensure the complicated tasks were properly executed.
Little bending in lending: Bailout hasn’t shaken loose enough loans, critics say; Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009; Nevada State Bank and other recipients of federal funding from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, aren’t loaning enough to satisfy some critics.
Optimism, tempered by realism at Preview Las Vegas: Friday, Jan. 30, 2009; At last year’s Chamber of Commerce cheerleading session known as Preview Las Vegas, local business leaders suggested the looming recession could be prevented by pretending it didn’t exist.
Industry leaders continue dialogue on safety: Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009; Safety professionals, union representatives and injured workers at a roundtable discussion of construction worker safety Wednesday agreed that a shift in construction safety in Las Vegas is under way.
Harrah's ranked among top workplaces for gays: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009; Harrah's this week was the only Nevada-based company listed among the top workplaces for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people by the Human Rights Campaign.
A day to honor 2 for bravery on the job: Survivor of ’07 accident at the Orleans, co-worker who died tried to save colleague; Monday, Jan. 26, 2009; On Feb. 2, David Snow plans to drag his battered body to Travis Koehler’s graveside.
Snow’s and Koehler’s names will be always intertwined. The two fell unconscious together two years ago in a manhole at the Orleans in an accident that killed Koehler and another maintenance worker, Richard Luzier. Snow recovered after weeks on life support.
Law gives new FedOSHA boss few sticks: Agency has little leeway in assessing worker safety penalties on state bodies; Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009; If confirmed, labor secretary nominee Hilda Solis will oversee an Occupational Safety and Health Administration that many workplace safety advocates expect will become tougher on employers who put workers at risk.
Watchers were not watched: County failed to spot-check inspectors’ work as flaws developed at CityCenter; Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009; Clark County’s Development Services Department has no record of its monitors ever visiting the Harmon construction project at CityCenter during the period last year when faulty rebar was installed in the tower, department officials said.
Construction worker safety meeting rescheduled: Monday, Jan. 12, 2009; Snowed out once before, a public meeting on the safety of construction workers has been rescheduled.
How did CityCenter tower flaws persist?: Failed safeguards puzzle county inspections official; Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009; Clark County is investigating the consultants hired by CityCenter owner MGM Mirage to inspect the structural integrity of construction work at the site, after faulty rebar caused massive problems in the project’s Harmon tower.
On appeal, OSHA loses most of Monte Carlo fire case: Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008; The construction company cited by the state for worker safety violations in connection with the January fire atop the Monte Carlo was largely cleared of responsibility in an appeal decision this month. The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration had fined Union Erectors, a structural steel company, $18,000, saying the company had violated nine workplace safety laws. But the OSHA Review Board overturned all but one of Union Erectors’ citations, reducing the fines to $3,500.
Employers finding way around OSHA’s tougher stance: Companies increasingly appealing safety violation cases to a review board, and winning; Monday, Dec. 29, 2008; No one saw Michael Taylor fall to his death at the Cosmopolitan construction site nearly a year ago.
Evidence of change: Six months, no fatalities: Union safety rep says all involved have contributed to improvement; Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008; Twelve workers died in accidents at Strip construction sites during the first 18 months of Las Vegas’s current building boom. In the past six months, not one worker has died.
Setting record straight on Elliott case: Gibbons’ office says it wrongly attributed ‘vindication’ claim; Friday, Dec. 26, 2008; Gov. Jim Gibbons’ office says it erred when it issued a news release last week stating that an investigation by the attorney general had vindicated a top political appointee in her role in a workplace safety case.
Bridge contractor shows it’s willing to fight: A California case suggests Nevada OSHA will have a tough time in its probe of the death of worker on the Hoover Dam bypass bridge; Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008; Six years ago, while working on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, carpenter Kevin Noah fell 50 feet to his death.
State clears Elliott in Orleans probe: AG says Gibbons official’s role in probe of two workers’ deaths does not constitute misconduct; Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008; The involvement of a top Gibbons administration appointee in the investigation of a double fatality at the Orleans last year was not illegal, the Nevada attorney general’s office has ruled.
Safety meeting canceled due to snow: Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008; The Construction Safety Roundtable scheduled for 5 p.m. today has been canceled due to snow.
Contractors to propose training initiatives: Slowing the pace of work on the Strip not an option, group’s vice president says; Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008; Not wanting to show up empty-handed to a public meeting about construction safety tonight, contractors on Tuesday unveiled a wish list of proposals they say will promote safer conditions on Las Vegas work sites.
Suit names Boyd in Orleans death: Mother of worker says company ignored manhole dangers; Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008; The parents of one of two maintenance workers who died last year after entering a toxic manhole at the Orleans filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Friday seeking damages against Orleans owner Boyd Gaming. Workplace accident lawsuits against Nevada employers are extremely difficult for workers and workers’ families to win.
After 6 die, OSHA finds violations: Summer sweep by federal, state agencies uncovered dozens of serious problems; Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008; State and federal safety inspectors found 42 serious violations last summer during a sweeping review of the CityCenter construction site that followed a string of fatalities there, a review of recently released documents shows.
Follow-up to Round Table on safety finally scheduled: Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008; At the first Construction Worker Safety Round Table meeting held at the Clark County Government Center, building trades honcho Steve Ross painted a dire picture of the worker safety systems in the state.
Construction industry drying up, and not just in the desert: Jobs in Canada gave hope to local workers, but those are vanishing, too; Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008; Just weeks ago, Harry Tostowaryk was in Las Vegas from Edmonton, recruiting ironworkers to apply for visas to work in the upper reaches of Canada.
A sentence ending in a question mark: Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008; O.J. Simpson will spend how many years behind bars? Pick a number.
Dealer closes; town feels pain: In small Nevada burgs, car stores are big businesses; Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008; In Nevada, four dealerships have closed or stopped selling new cars, including two in the Las Vegas area and one in Winnemucca. Through September, auto sales in the state were down 17.5 percent for the year. It’s a scene taking place across the country as dealerships abruptly close, succumbing to a tight credit market that has dried up car financing and low consumer trust in Detroit’s big three auto companies, whose executives will be back before Congress today asking to be bailed out by taxpayers.
Road, water, transport projects are ready to go: If stimulus money flows, Nevada agencies say they can put people to work fast; Monday, Dec. 1, 2008; As President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress signal that they want a new economic stimulus package to include federal money for public works projects, officials at agencies across Nevada are imagining the possibilities.
Six Questions for Chris Giunchigliani: Clark County Commissioner, District E; Monday, Dec. 1, 2008; Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani convened a task force in June to brainstorm ways to improve worker safety on construction sites. Local officials concerned about the rash of worker deaths on the Las Vegas Strip heard a wide range of policy concerns and suggestions.
Work cut out for next OSHA chief: Even with optimism that comes with new president, many battles to be fought; Monday, Nov. 24, 2008; Frustration permeated a Washington hearing room in June as a House labor committee took testimony on construction safety that focused on fatalities in Las Vegas and other places.
Reports: Perini’s safety wanting: Analyses fault resort contractor for hazards, congestion, lax follow-up after accidents; Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008; Two stinging reports say there’s more the Perini Building Co., the general contractor of the CityCenter and Cosmopolitan construction sites, can and should do to create safe work sites.
Pols debate future of rural voter influence: Monday, Nov. 10, 2008; Barack Obama’s campaign in Nevada put unprecedented effort into courting rural voters.
Historic victory no win for some: In Elko, residents fear effects on jobs, taxes, gun laws; Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008; As it turned out, there was no dancing in the streets of Elko on Tuesday night.
Black and passionately for Obama in red Elko: Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008; Among Elko voters at the Convention Center on Tuesday, there was no way around it. Julie Embry stuck out.
Where the economy isn’t No. 1: In prosperous mining town, voters can afford to take the Iraq war, social issues into account; Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008; Obama or McCain? The conservative mining town of Battle Mountain, insulated from the economic downturn by high gold prices, provides a glimpse of what this election might have looked like had Wall Street not melted down.
Palin energizes Elko crowd on final campaign stop: Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008; "God bless America. God bless Nevada." With those words Monday night, the whirlwind two-month journey that sent a nearly unknown figure from the governor's mansion of Alaska to the set of "Saturday Night Live" and every swing state in between made its final stop before Election Day.
Democratic wave felt even in staunchly Republican Elko: Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008; As Alberia Sanders and her sister, Cristina Martinez, stepped out of their car Saturday morning to canvass in the heart of Nevada Republican country, clipboard and Barack Obama paraphernalia in hand, a man raking leaves looked up and laughed.
A low political profile: Valley Muslims say they don’t want to inflame GOP’s false claims about Obama’s faith; Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008; Muslim leaders interviewed by the Sun over the past week say they are keeping a low profile in what has been a difficult election season, even though they want to become a stronger presence in civic groups and politics.
Laissez-faire loses luster: Public begins to shed distaste for regulation, but can Nevada afford more of it?; Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008; Two years ago, as Gov. Jim Gibbons prepared to move into the Governor’s Mansion, his thoughts about government followed Republican political canon.
Economic view through eyes of mall voters: At least, the ones the press is allowed to talk to; Friday, Oct. 24, 2008; The mini-world of the Boulevard Mall was awakening. The sellers of wind chimes and wigs put finishing touches on displays and cinnabon odors began wafting through the expanse.