Vegas News

The Strip is “gaining traction” in its economic recovery, but rising fuel costs could set back any financial healing in the market, an analyst for bond rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said.

In a report released Monday, Moody’s gaming analyst Peggy Holloway said increased visitor volume and improving gaming revenues during 2011 have improved the prospects for casino companies that rely on the Strip for the bulk of their gaming revenues, including MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp.

Lawyers for rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight cleared up an unpaid traffic ticket case in Las Vegas on Monday, with a misdemeanor marijuana case still pending from a February traffic stop. More >

A Las Vegas woman told police she killed her young daughter because the little girl may have been possessed by a demon, the arrest report said.

Details of the slaying of 6-year-old Kyla Franks made available to the media Tuesday said Danielle Slaughter, 27, told officer she could not believe she had killed her daughter but told detectives she had felt an “evil presence” around the child.

Vegas casinos like top seed Kentucky better than all the other teams in the NCAA tournament, but think Ohio State is better than any of the other No. 1s. Oddsmaker Mike Colbert of Cantor Gaming said Monday that Kentucky is a 5-2 favorite to win the championship, despite losing the Southeastern Conference championship to Vanderbilt on Sunday.

“They started a little slow but I think they’ve been the best team for the bulk of the year,” said Colbert, Cantor’s risk management director. “I think the loss will end up being good for them — I think they were getting slightly arrogant.”

A Las Vegas man was ticketed three times in less than an hour while en route to a court appearance on drug-related charges, according to Oregon State Police.

Trooper Brent Ochesky said he stopped 34-year-old Jose Romero-Valenzuela on Interstate 84 just west of The Dalles on Wednesday morning for driving 92 mph in a 65 mph zone.

Investigators in two states were trying Thursday to determine why an Oklahoma man in a “great” marriage killed his wife and daughter before apparently committing suicide.

Police claim Daniel J. Johnston, 29, of Edmond, Okla., killed his wife and 16-month-old daughter, then flew 1,000 miles to Las Vegas, where he apparently committed suicide in a hotel room.

Johnston was found dead Tuesday night at the Mirage resort hotel, according to Las Vegas Police. Authorities have not yet released an official cause of death, but are calling it a suicide.

Police say a 35-year-old Las Vegas ex-convict repeatedly asked for the death penalty before he was arrested in the death of his girlfriend’s child. More >

Five-division world champion Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns will join former world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, and former top heavyweight contenders Earnie Shavers, Chuck Wepner and George Chuvalo, at a special autograph fan festival this Saturday, February 18, in the lobby of the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nev. More >

LAS VEGAS (AP) — With his trademark flair for spectacle, Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday on the famed Las Vegas strip — just hours after Newt Gingrich’s advisers were spreading the word that The Donald would be anointing him instead.

Trump’s endorsement seemed likely to affect this Saturday’s Nevada caucuses — and the GOP nomination fight in general — about as much as a Sin City breeze disturbs the real estate mogul’s legendary hair. But he managed to create a stir of a different sort, at least for a day.

Donald Trump will endorse Mitt Romney in Las Vegas on Thursday, sources familiar with the decision tell ABC News.

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