Jean Reid Norman

Story Archive

Crews battling wildfire near Mesquite: Monday, Aug. 17, 2009; Bureau of Land Management crews are fighting a wildland fire along the Virgin River in Mesquite. The fire, which covers about 4.2 acres, was about 10 percent contained as of 6:30 p.m. and didn't appear to be threatening homes, which were as close as 800 feet, BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon said.
Red Rock floats plan to raise fees; public comment sought: Monday, Aug. 17, 2009; Red Rock Canyon officials are seeking comments on plans to raise fees at the national conservation area.
The fees for a day pass on the scenic drive would rise from $5 for a car to $7.
City Council OKs contract for landfill improvements: Monday, Aug. 17, 2009; Boulder City has received a permit to expand its nearly full municipal landfill vertically by 25 feet. The expansion is just one of several improvements the City Council has planned for the crowded dump.
Teens, Boulder City reap benefits of federal stimulus funds: Monday, Aug. 17, 2009; he fresh, new faces around City Hall, on landscaping and public works crews and at recreation centers, are more than just some summer help Boulder City didn't have in its budget. They are work-training-in-progress. They are extra hands to tackle long-neglected projects. They are federal stimulus money that came home to roost in Boulder City.
Negotiations under way for more solar energy in Eldorado Valley: Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009; Boulder City will begin negotiating with Green Tech Solar to fill the expansion of the city’s energy zone in the Eldorado Valley. Green Tech proposes to develop a 200-megawatt photovoltaic solar facility on the site. It also wants to use 50 acres to develop a possible biodiesel power plant.
Connie Burnett Ferraro: Hometown Muralist, Boulder City: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009; Connie Burnett Ferraro may be best known as the wife of former Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro, but for the past several years the one-time professional dancer has made a name for herself as a hometown muralist.
Woman says son who died in desert was experienced outdoors: Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009; A man who died of exposure in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area was in the desert for days before he perished.
Public meeting held on proposed Primm solar plant: Residents raise questions about impact on environment, off-roading; Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009; On the fast track to building solar energy in the desert, the only obstacles may be desert tortoises, vegetation and off-road riders. Those were the three concerns residents raised during the first of three meetings the Bureau of Land Management is holding on a proposal for a 400 megawatt solar power plant NextLight Renewable Power wants to build on 7,000 acres outside Primm. The meeting was held Wednesday night at the Primm Valley Casino.
Valley will subsidize BC power no more: Error allowed city to keep flat rate for 20 years; Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009; For about a decade the Las Vegas Valley has been helping to cover Boulder City’s electric bills, at an estimated cost of more than $3 million last year alone.
Man dies of exposure after vehicle gets stuck in wash: Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009; A Bullhead City, Ariz., man died of exposure in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area last week after his SUV got stuck in a wash, park rangers said today. The body was found by a park visitor on a little-used dirt road about one-half mile from where his GMC Yukon was mired in sand.
Boulder City Council endorses Vegas-to-Phoenix interstate: Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009; The Boulder City Council has added its voice to those advocating an interstate freeway between Las Vegas and Phoenix. With a 4-0 vote, the council approved a resolution supporting the construction of the proposed Interstate 11 between the two cities. Councilwoman Linda Strickland was absent. The resolution was similar to ones already passed by the Las Vegas City Council, the Regional Transportation Commission and a couple of Arizona municipalities.
Economic conditions stall golf course hotel project: Hawthorn Suites says it's still interested in building when economy rebounds; Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009; The economy has halted another Clark County hotel project — this one in Boulder City.
Hawthorn Suites Golf Resorts has iced plans to build a resort hotel on the city-owned Boulder Creek Golf Course.
Tour helicopter makes emergency landing near Lake Mead: Monday, Aug. 10, 2009; The pilot of a tour helicopter returning from the Grand Canyon received minor cuts during an emergency landing about 5:40 p.m. Monday in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
New principal eager to know Boulder City students: Monday, Aug. 10, 2009; One thing is sure if you pop into the office of new Martha P. King Elementary School Principal Tony Gelsone, he says. You’ll hear his stories — plenty of them — and you may have to keep an eye on the clock, unless he’s due out on the playground.
BLM seeks comment on proposed solar plants near Primm: Monday, Aug. 10, 2009; Three meetings will be held this month to gather comments from the public on plans to build two massive solar power plants on 7,840 acres of federal land near Primm.
Along with growth, suburban town limited housing pain: Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009; Few speculators rolled the dice on real estate in Boulder City during Clark County’s housing boom — and not because gambling is illegal there. The town of about 17,000 can thank its slow-growth ordinance for keeping investors at bay and helping stem real estate market losses.
CSN Boulder City campus to offer classes but no credits -- yet: Friday, Aug. 7, 2009; The College of Southern Nevada’s Boulder City campus will offer noncredit courses as soon as September. But residents may have to wait until next year to take regular, for-credit coursework there.
Woman facing charges in May road-rage crash: Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009; A Boulder City woman has been charged with reckless driving, aggressive driving and three other misdemeanor counts in connection with a May 18 crash on U.S. 93. A warrant has been issued for Ashley Nicole Lombardi, 28. She is scheduled to be arraigned on the five charges Aug. 25 in Boulder City Municipal Court.
Local artist happy to hit the wall: Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009; At 5 a.m., Connie Burnett Ferraro begins her day, racing the sun as she paints a wall outside the old Nevada Pharmacy on Arizona Street. She starts at the top of the mural while there is shade available, and she works her way down the scaffolding with her acrylic paints, which dry seconds after she applies them.
Parks commission gives input on city’s plans: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009; The Parks and Recreation Commission has given Boulder City a head start on a long-overdue revision of the city's strategic plan and master plan.
Titus outlines concerns with health care bill: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009; U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) brought her concerns about health care reform to the Boulder City Rotary Club today, explaining why she opposed the first version of the bill in the House, answering questions and listening to comments.
Gary Booker, full-time defense attorney, part-time Boulder City prosecutor: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009; Before going into private practice and taking a part-time job prosecuting criminal offenses in Boulder City Municipal Court, Gary Booker spent 18 years with the Clark County district attorney’s office, handling many high-profile cases.
Old friends pay visit to B.C. Senior Center: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009; The Senior Center of Boulder City is a place where friends get together to eat lunch, play cards or just visit, but on July 21, some special guests stopped by.
Police-firefighter softball game highlights Boulder City event: Police win game but no match for firefighters when it comes to talking trash; Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009; When the stats from the annual police-firefighter softball game Tuesday in Boulder City game were tallied, the police ended up winning the game. But what mattered during the highlight of the National Night Out crime-prevention event was the trash talk, and the firefighters no doubt led by a wide margin.
From big pond to small pool, former DA metes out justice: Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009; For the 10 years Gary Booker was head of the DUI unit in the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, prosecuting high-profile cases and working in the media spotlight, he often wondered why anybody would want to work in a city prosecutor’s office on the small stuff.
But for the past five years, he’s been working in the city prosecutor’s office in Boulder City, where he’s more likely to handle a littering citation than a felony drunken driving charge. And he’s a convert.
DMV services in Boulder City suspended during building renovations: Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009; Progress is being made on the renovation of the Boulder City Police Station, 1005 Arizona St., but it is coming at a cost. Department of Motor Vehicles services usually provided at the station on Wednesdays will be suspended for August and September.
The reason: The Records Department, which handles the DMV service, was temporarily moved out of its location by the lobby while the floor is being replaced. Boulder City residents needing a DMV appointment will have to go into Henderson until Records can return.
Boulder City pool cuts hours to save money: Thursday, July 30, 2009; Boulder City residents who want to take a Friday morning dip or an early Saturday swim at the municipal pool are will have to keep a closer eye on the clock.
Roofing truck slams through fence, no one injured: Wednesday, July 29, 2009; A runaway truck loaded with roofing materials crashed into the ball field fence at Hemenway Park in Boulder City about 9 a.m. today, the Boulder City Police Department said.
Church, volunteers reach out to help homeless: Tuesday, July 28, 2009; Six adults and six children lined up to four pots of chili Thursday night in the social hall at Grace Community Church in Boulder City. Volunteers from the church had gone a little overboard in preparing to feed the four homeless families who were their guests: three platters of cornbread and crackers. Vegetables. Two bowls of watermelon and grapes. And pans and pans of brownies. The four families were calling Grace their home for the week through Family Promise, a nonprofit group that recruits churches, synagogues and mosques to host homeless families a week at a time.
Two of three Boulder City schools up to 'No Child' standards: Tuesday, July 28, 2009; Boulder City High School reached the high-achieving level for the third year in a row in the No Child Left Behind adequate yearly progress reports, which were released last week.
Meanwhile, Martha P. King Elementary School failed to make adequate progress for the first time since testing began seven years ago; Elton Garrett Junior High School received a passing grade after failing two years ago, allowing it to come off a watch list.
Sempra to sell solar power to California utility: Energy generated in Boulder City to be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric; Monday, July 27, 2009; Sempra Energy has signed a contract to sell the 48 megawatts of power it expects to begin producing by 2011 in Boulder City to Pacific Gas & Electric, a California utility.
In Boulder City, a fuss about a dam statue: Monday, July 27, 2009; One bronze figure sits with his boots off, sandwich in hand, looking up at a workmate clearly in midsentence. The standing figure in the new statue at Arizona Street and Nevada Way has his hands lifted up, shoulders shrugged, as if saying, “I don’t know what all the fuss was about.”
Demolition begins so pharmacy can move in: Monday, July 27, 2009; Demolition has begun on the corner of Nevada Way and Buchanan Boulevard in Boulder City where CVS plans to build a new pharmacy.
Police seeking input for strategy planning: Monday, July 27, 2009; The Boulder City Police Department is looking for a little back talk these days.

The department is in the middle of a strategic planning process, Deputy Chief John Chase said, and is asking residents to fill out a questionnaire to tell police how they’re doing.
Police to record license plates rolling through Boulder City: Police say new cameras will run up to 1,200 plates a minute to help track crime; Saturday, July 25, 2009; Come August, few visits to Boulder City will go unnoticed.
The Boulder City Police Department is buying two automated license plate readers to be mounted on patrol cars that will record every vehicle they come in contact with, both moving and parked.
Historical group needs to raise $100,000 annually: Friday, July 24, 2009; The nonprofit Boulder City Museum and Historical Association needs to raise about $100,000 a year to keep the Boulder Dam Hotel, restaurant and museum open, its board of directors was told this week.
Cue ball cuts a show of support for cancer patient: Family, friends go bald along with Marian Petrie as she fights ovarian and uterine cancer; Wednesday, July 22, 2009; Marian Petrie knows she has good friends every time she sees a bald head at the Elks Lodge in Boulder City. Petrie, who is fighting ovarian and uterine cancer, was losing her hair from the chemotherapy treatments that began after her surgery in June.
Anonymous $260,000 donation keeps Boulder Dam Hotel open: Historic hotel, museum will be back in business this week; Monday, July 20, 2009; Nine days after the Boulder Dam Hotel closed for lack of funds, an anonymous donation of $260,000 has made it possible for the historic structure, its museum and restaurant to reopen. “I’m so thrilled with this,” said attorney Ralph Denton, who brokered the donation to the hotel. He presented a check to Darryl Martin, president of the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association at 2 p.m. Monday in front of the hotel. The historical association operates the hotel and restaurant to support the museum.
Could mystery donor save historic Boulder Dam Hotel?: Lawyer suggests anonymous donor may be willing to put up $260,000 to save historic hotel; Thursday, July 16, 2009; An angel may be waiting in the wings to save the Boulder Dam Hotel. Board members of the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association are scheduled to meet Thursday with lawyer Ralph Denton about facilitating a contribution that could reopen the historic hotel and its museum. Denton told the board during a special meeting Wednesday night that he is willing to negotiate with the board and an anonymous donor to bring in $260,000 to keep the museum operating into the new year.
Planning Commission OKs running acting workshops out of house: Thursday, July 16, 2009; A Boulder City resident received permission to operate acting workshops out of her home on Chestnut Street from the Boulder City Planning Commission Wednesday night. Kristine Sader was given a conditional use permit for six months to run The Acting Workshop in the living room of her three-bedroom home.
Hoover Dam bypass bridge yields new approach for big rigs: City preps for first truck traffic since Sept. 11, 2001 restrictions; Wednesday, July 15, 2009; Count Gene Breeden’s truck-driving school in Boulder City among the many things that changed forever on Sept. 11, 2001. Breeden taught would-be truckers how to drive treacherous mountain roads on U.S. 93 across Hoover Dam, with its steep grades and switchbacks. If they could drive that, they could handle anything, he found. Within hours of the terrorist attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in New York and left a hole in the side of the Pentagon in Washington, Hoover Dam closed. When it reopened, no heavy trucks were allowed across.
Boulder City Council votes to give wrestling club a new home: Wednesday, July 15, 2009; The BC Youth Wrestling Organization has a new home. It just needs a little work. The City Council voted 4-0 July 14 to allow the young wrestlers to use a cottage in ABC Park east of the Boulder City Library, but the organization has to bring the building up to city code first.
Boulder City Council to re-evaluate access along U.S. 93: Wednesday, July 15, 2009; The Boulder City Council plans to take another look at a back road to provide access to Hemenway Valley neighborhoods on the west side of U.S. 93. The city also will ask the Nevada Department of Transportation to improve the upgrades it has made to the U.S. 93 truck route leading to Lake Mead.
Nurses union says labor practices at MountainView unfair: Wednesday, July 15, 2009; The California Nurses Association has filed charges alleging unfair labor practices by MountainView Hospital in its efforts to organize the 450 registered nurses at the northwest Las Vegas facility. The National Labor Relations Board said it received the filing today.
Former teacher's trial date set in child porn case: Monday, July 13, 2009; Former Garrett Junior High School teacher Charles Richard Rogers will face a jury March 15 on 76 counts of sexual assault of a minor, lewdness with a child, use of a child in pornography and possession of child pornography.
Historic Boulder Dam Hotel shuts its doors: Saturday, July 11, 2009; Sandy Nelson stopped by the historic Boulder Dam Hotel one last time on Saturday to play the grand piano in the lobby. Michelle Kessler, a former front desk clerk, brought her husband and two children to the Boulder City-Hoover Dam Museum at the hotel for a final visit. Sixteen years after the Boulder Dam Hotel Association began raising $3 million to restore the Depression-era structure to its original luster, the Boulder Dam Hotel closed its doors at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Freeway to Phoenix gains traction with bridge work: Saturday, July 11, 2009; The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is not just an engineering marvel that will route traffic off the dam. The four-lane span, scheduled to open late next year, also paves the way for realizing long-standing hopes of a Las Vegas-to-Phoenix freeway.
Hotel, old politics suffer blow: Vote to keep inn open isn’t cast, would have been in town’s past; Saturday, July 11, 2009; The behind-the-scenes politics surrounding the closure of the historic Boulder Dam Hotel illustrate one truism about Boulder City. It’s a small town, after all. The hotel, built in 1933 during the construction of Hoover Dam, will close at 5 p.m. today because the nonprofit group that owns it ran out of money.
Historic Boulder Dam Hotel out of money, shutting down: Thursday, July 9, 2009; The historic Boulder Dam Hotel, which since 1933 has been home to celebrities, royalty and bums, will close Saturday until further notice. The board of the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association, which owns the hotel, restaurant and Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum at the site, voted Wednesday night to close the operation because it has run out of money.
NLV stays on list of fast-growing U.S. cities: Despite the downturn, growth from July ’07 to ’08 was brisk enough to land city at 19th; Thursday, July 9, 2009; Last week’s list of the nation’s 25 fastest-growing large cities included only one from Nevada: North Las Vegas.