Monday, May 14, 2007
Local
Unions give Steve Wynn a pain in the … wallet
Someone needs to tell Steve Wynn that he’s never ever, not in a squillion years, going to run out of money. Mr. Wynn desperately -- and unsuccessfully -- attempted to convince his army of casino dealers not to vote in favor or unionization over the weekend. But the dealers went ahead and did just that by a 3-1 margin. If Wynn had wanted to keep things all in the family, he blew that all to hell last September when he added certain managers and casino supervisors to the tipping-pool program. The dealers didn’t like cutting in their overlords, and who can blame them? You can mess with people in a lot of ways and get away with it, but don’t ever mess with their tips.
National
DNA all ’round!
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is proposing a major expansion of his state’s database of DNA samples to include people convicted of most crimes, while making it easier for prisoners to use DNA to try to establish their innocence, reports The New York Times. If he gets his way, the DNA database will include all felonies and misdemeanors. Which means they’ll need a database the size of Donald Trump’s ego -- or at least something approaching that size. LasVegasWeekly.com can just see the headlines now: “Nevada governor decides to follow Spitzer’s lead on DNA.” Hell, if that happens, all of us living here in Las Vegas should just go straight to the proper authorities and hand over some body cells. Why leave it ’til the last minute? We live in Sin City, so by definition we’re already guilty, right?
Sports
Gladiators swing the axe
The top brass of the Las Vegas Gladiators -- our very own Arena Football League franchise -- think they may have found a cure for the team’s losing-ugly, internal-strife-infested ways: they sacked all the coaches. Actually, head coach Danton Barto and his staff can stick around ’til the end of this horrible season, but their ticket out of town has been punched. So they’re here for five more painful games -- and why not: we have to be. The Gladiators are 1 -10 on the year and have served up five straight losses, including Saturday night’s 61-34 surrender at San Jose. Sooner or later, someone was going to pay for the Glad Boys’ woeful season: and in pro sports, “someone” is generally the guy with high blood pressure who never plays a down. So that’s one decision taken (the easy one) and one to make (the not-so-easy one): picking the miracle merchant who can come in and make these guys win. Stay tuned.
Gossip
This ain’t the Hilton, baby!
Paris Hilton has had her share of Las Vegas “moments.” But things have caught up with wild child of the Hilton empire. On May 4, our Paris was sentenced to 45 days at the all-female Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, Calif., for violating probation by getting pinched for drunk driving last September. Here’s what’s in her future. At The Century, Ms. Paris will dine on such delicacies as turkey-bologna sandwiches and the house specialty: hot chicken patties. Mmmm. The sentence (which could be slashed in half for good behavior -- which would constitute a first for PH), or virtually nothing if the facility suddenly becomes overcrowded, has left the Celebrity of Nothingness dazed and confused. In fact, LasVegasWeekly.com was shocked to learn that she feels she was treated harshly by the sentencing judge. And word has it that it put a real crimp in her shopping spree a few days later. During her time in the big house, Paris will sport a jumpsuit ensemble in an eye-catching shade of orange. So forget about reality TV, Paris: We’d like to welcome you to the real Simple Life.
Footnote: US magazine reports that celeb sisters Hilary and Haylie Duff “toasted Hilton’s sentence during a May 5 dinner in Miami.” This whole story just oozes class, wouldn’t you say?