Vegas News

The International Consumer Electronics Show, the largest trade show in the Americas, opens its doors Tuesday.

More than 140,000 people are expected to visit the 2,800 or so exhibitors.

Originally focused on living-room electronics, the show has become the big annual U.S. event for all consumer technology after the demise of big computer-focused shows such as Comdex.

Downtown Las Vegas needs more than just a steakhouse named for former Mayor Oscar Goodman if the market is going to rebound following gaming revenue declines in five of the last six years.

That extra help is on the way.

2012 is a transition year for downtown, in advance of online retailer Zappos’ 2013 relocation of some 1,000 employees into the soon-to-be reconfigured former City Hall, providing a new source of business.

Houston Rockets guard Kyle Lowryis facing a misdemeanor battery charge amid accusations that he threw a basketball at a referee and threatened her during a game at a Las Vegas training gym. More >

With computing power and internet connectivity spreading to everything from televisions to cars, it’s no wonder the annual Consumer Electronics Show – which kicks off in Las Vegas on Jan. 9 – is expected to usher in the “year of the interface.”

The big electronics companies – Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and the like – have for the past few years been showing off so-called smart TVs, or flat panels that connect to the internet and run applications such as Facebook, YouTube and even email. TV remote controls are already complicated enough, so manufacturers are having to think up better input options.

Some are likely to use CES, one of the world’s largest technology shows, to demonstrate them.

In the branding world, Las Vegas stands out as a city so well known that it is in a class by itself. The hotel brands that occupy the Vegas strip are just as famously iconic, so it’s a rare event when one of them changes its name. More >

Attorneys for boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. completed the second part of a plea deal Friday that let the championship fighter pay a $1,000 fine and avoid trial and jail time for a November 2010 scuffle with a homeowner association security guard in an argument about parking tickets.

Mayweather, 34, didn’t appear in person before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Janiece Marshall while his lawyer, Karen Winckler, pleaded no contest on his behalf to misdemeanor battery and said the fine had been paid.

New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest parties of the year for Las Vegas. This year, the city could set records for the number of people here to ring in the New Year.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority expect 314,000 people to be in southern Nevada this weekend. If that holds true, this will be the biggest bash Las Vegas has hosted. Tourism experts say New Year’s Eve falling on a weekend is one reason the city will see more visitors. They are expected to spend $192 million on shopping, restaurants and entertainment. That total does not include money visitors will spend on gambling.

A Colorado man granted a Christmas wish through an unlikely act of honesty and persistence. He returned $10,000 in cash to its rightful owner after finding it in two Caesar’s Palace envelopes at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. More >

McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is continuing to report increases in monthly passenger traffic compared with a year ago.

A tally released Tuesday by the airport shows some 3.3 million passengers arrived and departed in November, up about 124,000 or 3.9 percent from November 2010.

The airport is the nation’s eighth-busiest by passenger volume.

Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a perfect 42-0 in the ring and has dodged significant jail time several times in domestic violence cases in Las Vegas and Michigan. More >