LV Skier Lands on Medal Stand to End Season - Patch.com

? Back to Article Embed | Share ?? ? Long Valley's Mike Rossi, far right, took second place in the National competition in Stratton, Vt. Barb Rossi

As the summer months head our way, and the U.S. Ski Team ends its winter season, Long Valley’s Mike Rossi can spend the next few months atop the rankings and readying himself for another successful year.

Rossi, a freestyle aerialist for the team, spent the end of March competing in the Junior Worlds competition in Italy, then taking part in the Nationals competition in Stratton, Vermont.

“Italy was… awesome. One of the coolest places in the world,” Rossi said about his 5-day trip to the European country. “It was a learning experience, getting used to competing with jet lag and being in a foreign place.”

Rossi competed in the doubles competition, meaning the jumps were limited to two aerial flips before landing. Rossi successfully landed his double twisting double flip, and attempted a triple twisting double flip. It was the latter, however, that didn’t go his way.

“My hand touched down on the landing for the triple,” Rossi said. “That’s a big no-no. But, it happened, and it’s something to work on going forward.”

Rossi said the Chinese team was very strong at the competition, and ski conditions were not good at all.

“There was like, no snow,” Rossi said about the jump site. “We had a steep in-run, then a long flat run before hitting the ramp. Conditions just weren’t good for jumping.”

Rossi placed 10th?in the competition in Italy, then headed home for one last competition in Vermont.

As he headed to Stratton, obstacles appeared much bigger than the jumps themselves for Rossi. Fighting fatigue and another poor jump site, as well as some of the nation’s best jumpers, the aerialist wasn’t too keen on the competition.

“We had to push snow into a mound from the mountain itself to make a ramp,” Rossi said. “I was tired from the trip. Didn’t really want to jump, but it was the last competition, so I stuck with it.”

Rossi’s first jump was a double twisting double, which he landed perfectly. The score was good enough for him to tune in and focus on his second jump, one that would catapult him to the podium.

The 18-year-old didn't make the same mistake he did in Italy, and executed a full double full–or triple twisting double back flip–to seal the deal, and grabbed 2nd?place overall in the competition.

The third place finisher is also on Rossi’s team, he said, as the juniors made up two-thirds of the medal stand.

“So I’m kind of ranked second now,” Rossi said with a sense of humility. “It was a good way to end the season.”

Rossi will be at home in Long Valley through the end of April, then return to Lake Placid, New York for summer camps where he’ll practice water jumps and other exercises to prepare for next season’s competitions.

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England trio set for LV=CC action - ECB.co.uk

Watch the latest of our new highlights round-ups - after the second week's LV= County Championship action in season 2012

England Test captain Andrew Strauss and Steven Finn will make their first appearances of the season for Middlesex when they host Durham at Lord’s in the latest round of LV= County Championship fixtures.

The duo, who have enjoyed a brief break following England’s tour of Sri Lanka, are included in a 13-man party that will be captained by Chris Rogers, with regular skipper Neil Dexter having temporarily stood down in a bid to recapture his best batting form.

Finn replaces fellow paceman Corey Collymore, who is rested as part of the club’s rotation policy, while Steven Crook has been called up as cover as Gareth Berg battles a chest infection. The latter is set to be assessed on the morning of the match.

Middlesex will be aiming to follow up a thrilling three-run triumph over rivals Surrey, their first win since they returned to Division One.

Durham welcome back Paul Collingwood, who missed the loss against Nottinghamshire due to a virus but has now recovered and is part of a 13-man squad.

Surrey are without South Africa batsman Jacques Rudolph for the visit of Worcestershire, the left-hander having been withdrawn from selection due to family reasons.

England Test skipper Andrew Strauss will open for Middlesex against Durham. Steven Finn and Ian Bell also return to county action this week

Wicketkeeper-batsman Steven Davies, who returned to domestic action last week following his commitments with England, admits Surrey are desperate to follow their narrow defeat to Middlesex with victory over his former county.

“It was probably one of the hardest losses in my career,” Davies told ecb.co.uk.

“We battled so hard for three days, both teams went at it and it was a really good game of cricket. It came down to three runs in the end so it was a pretty tough loss to take.

“We won our first game against Sussex while I was away so won one, lost one is not too bad and we’ve got a big game this week against Worcestershire. We have to look forward now and forget about what happened at Lord’s.”

Worcestershire, who were not in championship action last week, will hope to improve on their defeat at Nottinghamshire in the opening round.

Defending LV= County Champions Lancashire will hope to bounce back from a 10-wicket thumping at the hands of Sussex in their opening fixture when they play host to Warwickshire.

The match will take place at Aigburth, where the Red Rose were dismissed for 124 and 176 last week on a juicy pitch providing assistance to the seamers.

Overseas batsman Ashwell Prince, a half-centurion in Lancashire’s second innings, said: “We expect conditions to be similar, so it’s going to be tough for the team who bats first again.”

A hamstring injury continues to keep all-rounder Tom Smith out of contention for Lancashire. Seamer Oliver Newby and veteran spinner Gary Keedy join the 11 players who featured against Sussex.

Warwickshire, who kicked off their campaign with a home victory over Somerset, are able to call on England batsman Ian Bell for the first time this year.

Early leaders Nottinghamshire will look to maintain their 100 per cent record when they welcome Somerset to Trent Bridge.

Left-arm seamer Harry Gurney could make his debut for Notts, having joined from Leicestershire over the close season.

Lewis Gregory, fit again following a back injury, or Craig Meschede will replace the injured Adam Dibble in the visitors' line-up.

Dibble suffered an intercostal injury against Warwickshire and is expected to be out for a number of weeks.

Click here for exclusive match highlights from every day's play, latest scores, reports, news and interviews during the LV= County Championship campaign

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Jean Bennett, L.V. resident and music industry veteran, remembers Dick Clark - Las Vegas Sun

AP/File

In this 1957 file photo, Dick Clark is seen surrounded by fans during “American Bandstand.” Clark, the television host who helped bring rock ‘n’ roll into the mainstream, died Wednesday, April 18, 2012, of a heart attack. He was?82.

By Andrea Domanick (contact)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | 11:25 p.m.

Marv Goldberg

Buck Ram and Jean Bennett

Launch slideshow ?

Dick Clark passed away at 82 years old today, leaving the public with many memories of the TV icon: There’s Clark as the perennially boyish-looking host of “American Bandstand;” as the game show guru behind “Pyramid”; and as the familiar face who helped ring in the New Year, year after year. But few today remember Clark like Jean Bennett.

The Las Vegas resident, who turns 89 on April 25, first met Clark in 1956 shortly after he replaced Bob Horn as host of “American Bandstand.”

“Dick was the sweetest, coolest guy I’d ever come across,” Bennett recalls of her first meeting with the mild-mannered, clean-cut Clark.

Bennett met Clark while working as an artist promoter for songwriter and manager Buck Ram. Bennett and Ram brought the Platters to Clark, and the group went on to introduce their hit “Twilight Time” on “American Bandstand Saturday” in 1958; the song hit #1 on the Pop and R&B charts that spring.

Beyond Clark’s reputed charm, Bennett remembers his dedicated work ethos and high standards that “really straightened out the show,” catapulting “American Bandstand” to the national airwaves and the cultural institution it is today.

“He treated every show like it was a special occasion. He made sure everyone got dressed up and was on their best behavior,” she says. “He never raised his voice, but he sure had those kids jump through some hoops!”

As the Platters and other projects of Ram’s gained traction, Bennett began working regularly with Clark as she pushed new music to radio and TV stations across the country. The two quickly became good friends.

“He liked Buck because Buck knew talent, and if I brought him something, he would listen to it,” she says. “He trusted me and would always put on the records I suggested. He was very dedicated to the music business and really looked forward to every new release.”

Bennett says that Clark and she remained close, often meeting him for lunch when she was in L.A., though the last time she saw him was about a year ago.

“Those were such fun times,” she says of their time spent in the burgeoning rock ’n’ roll era.

Even at 89, the joie de vivre in Bennett’s voice is undeniable, and it’s almost certainly that same spark that kept Clark “the world’s oldest teenager” until his last days.

Follow Andrea Domanick on Twitter at @AndreaDomanick and fan her on Facebook at Facebook.com/AndreaDomanick.

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Louis Vuitton's Train Heads to Shanghai; Models Wear Food for T - New York Magazine

? Next stop on the Louis Vuitton Express: Shanghai. The fashion house's fall-winter 2012 show — and much-talked-about train — will travel to the Chinese city in late July to celebrate the reopening of LV's store at the Plaza 66 luxury mall. [WWD]

??Models wear?various food items for a fashion spread in the latest issue of?T,?styled by Robbie Spencer and shot by?Richard Burbridge. [T Magazine]

? Of the ecocertified dress that he designed for Meryl Streep to wear to the Oscars, Alber Elbaz said: "The seamstress that made the dress worked for three days and three nights on the dress, and after she finished, she was sick for three days. And you know, with the Oscars, you do the dress and you never know if they will wear it. I wanted so much for [Streep] to wear it, just for this woman that didn’t go to sleep for three days, and just put so much love into the dress." Elbaz also revealed that he's never met Streep. [WWD]

? Better Capital bought Jaeger London from British Fashion Council chairman Harold Tillman in a ￡19.5 million ($30.8 million) deal. Tillman's other label, Aquascutum, was said to be up for sale last week. [Telegraph UK]

? Britney Spears wore a $20,000 sports bra to promote the new game Twister Dance. Created by Body Rock, the "Eternal Love Bra" is made from silk, encrusted with silver diamond Swarovski crystals and gold pyramid studs, and has an $18K gold zipper. [Fashionista]

??Manolo Blahnik partnered with eighteen designers on their fall runway footwear, while Christian Louboutin collaborated with thirteen. [WWD]

??Madewell's creative director Kin Ying Lee can carve a chicken: "Like a raw chicken, no problem, blood and raw meat don't bother me. I used to work in a restaurant with my parents. Whenever I am at a friend's or family dinner, like at Thanksgiving, I am always the one to carve the turkey. I can dismantle it perfectly. Everyone is always amazed." [Fashionologie]

? H&M's same-store sales increased by 16 percent last month, the best numbers reported by the fast-fashion chain in more than three years, thanks to good weather and "a positive calendar effect." But those same reasons will have "a very negative effect" this month, according to the brand. [WWD]

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HIGH SCHOOL GOLF: LV's Word finishes strong - San Angelo Standard Times

ABILENE — After a difficult first nine holes in the first round of the Region I-4A golf tournament, Lake View's Madison Word needed to get off to a strong start to her back nine.

When two tee shots went astray, the Maidens player ended up taking a nine on the par-4 No. 1 and easily could have let it kill her round.

Instead, she rebounded to play the next four holes at 4-over, then went birdie-par-par to finish her opening round on a high note despite carding a 101 at Abilene's Diamondback Golf Club.

"I started out pretty rough, but I stayed calm for the most part," Word said. "After I carded that first nine, it was downhill from there, but I was able to finish strong with the birdie and parring the last two."

The junior's 101 came on a tough scoring day. Only three golfers broke 80 on the wind-blistered Diamondback course.

Word said shooting 1-under on the final three is a confidence booster for today's final round.

"It was a good feeling. It is always a good feeling to finish strong," Word said. "I know my stronger points. My driver was definitely the strongest part of my game today. I need to work on chipping for tomorrow, and my short game, definitely. I know the holes, and I know what to do."

Lake View girls golf coach Salye Coles said that Word's resiliency paid off after the difficult start to her round.

"One of the things she does best, other than getting out of the box, is overcoming a bad shot," Coles said. "If she has a bad shot, she gets out of that trouble really well. She utilizes her concept of where she is on the course really well."

Word began her round on the back nine — generally regarded as the more difficult side of the course — and from No. 10 on, the Lake View junior found the prevailing thoughts to be true.

She triple-bogeyed the first hole after skying over the green with her approach shot, then bogeyed No. 11 after she three-putted.

After she mis-hit a pair of approach shots, she tripled No. 12.

"She was nervous starting off. Her first nine were hard for her," Coles said. 'After that she seemed to regroup. On No. 1, she hit into the rough and had a hard time getting out, but after that she played well. She had a couple of errors on the front, but out here little errors turn into big ones."

Word took a 9 on No. 17 but bounced back to chip to within 3 feet on No. 18, which gave her the first par of the day, finishing the opening nine in 53.

"She was getting off the box really well," Coles said. "Her approach shot was a struggle. She wasn't following through her shot, and we fixed that coming in, and I think that will help her tomorrow. She putted well (Wednesday) and last week in practice."

Word said most of her difficulties came after hitting into the large out-of-bounds areas that line each fairway.

"Staying in the fairway is the most important thing here, and it is the hardest thing to do," Word said.

Word said she has a good feel of what she needs to improve on today.

"I want to fix what I messed up on today," Word said. "I know what I did wrong, and I know what I need to work on. I know I am a strong golfer, and I know what I need to do. I haven't carded a 100 in I don't know how long. That was tough, but I finished strong and I didn't break down, so that was good."

Region I-4A Girls Golf Tournament

Diamondback Golf Club, Abilene

Team standings: 1. Byron Nelson 312; 2. Aledo 331; 3. Frenship 339; 4. Canyon Randall 352; 5. Midway 358; 6. Mansfield Summit 366; 7. Denton High 367; 8. Wichita Falls 389; 9. Arlington Heights 393; 10. Granbury 398; 11. Stephenville 419; 12. El Paso High 429; 13. El Paso Burges 469; 14. El Paso Riverside 479; 15. Fort Worth Trimble Tech 491; 16. Ysleta 504.

Top 10 individuals: 1. (tie) Maty Monzingo, Byron Nelson, 74; Rainy Manor, Byron Nelson, 74; 3. Olivia Gibbs, Timber Creek, 79; T-4. Zoey DaneshFar, Byron Nelson, 80; Kendall Slaughter, Frenship, 80; 6. (tie) Mackenzie Cross, Canyon Randall, 81; Emily Odom, Frenship, 81; Elena Cervantez, Arlington Heights, 81; 9. (tie) Taylor Brookshire, Aledo, 82; Allie Akin, Arlington Heights, 82.

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Catt.-LV Board Approves Building Closure - Jamestown Post Journal

CATTARAUGUS - The Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District will be closing the doors to its Little Valley campus starting in September.

Several members of the community came forward at Monday night's Board of Education meeting to voice their opinion on closing the building. Despite arguments, pleas and petitions, the board chose to shut down the Little Valley campus in a 5-2 vote.

In doing this, the district's primary school, located on its Cattaraugus campus, will house all students in pre-kindergarten through fourth grade in the district, making it the only elementary school. Previously, the Cattaraugus campus only housed students in pre-kindergarten through second grade while Little Valley housed students in third and fourth grades.

"It is inevitable that this building is going to be closed eventually, whether it is this year, next year, the following year. Budgets get tighter and tighter. We are working harder and harder, we are putting more and more time and effort into trying to make a viable budget," said Jeannette Stein, Board of Education member, before casting her vote to close the school.

Of the seven board members, only two voted to keep the school open. Kent Joesel was vocal during the meeting, voting to keep the building open.

"As a board member, you are only one person on the board, and we are all going to have different opinions. It is a hard job. It's not an easy decision. I am comfortable with my decision," Joesel said.

Jon Peterson, district superintendent, said that although the board had a very tough decision, it did a thorough job weighing the pros and cons of closing the school before voting.

When the Cattaraugus and Little Valley school districts merged in 1998, one of the assurances that the Board of Education made was that schools would remain open in both towns. In closing the Little Valley school, Peterson said that the district looked for a legal opinion to find whether it had to adhere to a previous board's words.

"A future board, this board, isn't bound by the actions of a board in the past, because conditions change. The number of students that we have in our district changed. The demographics of those students have changed, and the needs of the students have changed," Peterson said.

In addition to deciding to close the Little Valley Campus, the board unanimously approved a budget of $23,453,485, which includes a 1.99 percent tax levy increase. The board will be putting its budget to a public vote in May.

"Hopefully taxpayers will say that the board made a good financial decision and a good educational decision and support the budget," Peterson said.

However, if the budget does not pass, the board will have to make changes to its budget before putting it to a second vote. If it were to still not pass, the budget would move to a contingency budget, which would include a number of limitations.

"Fortunately, there aren't a lot of changes we would have to make, since our budget is cut already to be at a fairly low amount, but we would have some work to do to be at a contingency budget," Peterson said.

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Roland-Jones: Surrey game a one-off - ECB.co.uk

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UPenn Schools Louis Vuitton in Trademark Law - American University Intellectual Property Brief

Image Attributed to Enoch Lau

Fashion law has been defined as the “specialized area of law that deals with intellectual property (copyright and trademark law, including brand licensing), domestic and international business transactions, textiles, merchandising, employment and labor concerns, and customs (import/export issues).”? This area of law is rapidly growing, and is very near and dear to my heart.? The chance to practice in this area of law was a major reason I decided to attend law school.

In the last few years, fashion law has garnered much attention in the law community.?? In 2010, Fordham University’s School of Law launched its Fashion Law Institute, where students can merge their passion for fashion with their academic desire to study law. Howard University School of Law’s Intellectual Property Students’ Association recently hosted its first annual Fashion Law Week here in Washington, DC.? Numerous blogs have been dedicated to this specialized field of law.? This area of law is ripe with intellectual property issues, including trademark, copyright, and even patent infringement cases.? And in an ironic turn of events, one law school, which has dedicated its resources to discussing the intellectual property issues surrounding the emerging field, found itself in the middle of a fashion law clash.

This year, the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Intellectual Property Group focused their annual symposium on fashion law.? In order to gain attention for their event the UPenn student group created a poster, which is a takeoff of the iconic Louis Vuitton Toile Monogram.? The poster uses similar colors to the recognized brown and tan monogram, but replaces the original letters “LV” with “TM,” standing for trademark.? Also, the flower in the famous monogram is replaced with the ? symbol for copyright.? Quite clever, if you ask me.?

However, Louis Vuitton (“LV”) is particularly sensitive about their trademarked Toile Monogram. The French fashion house has been in a number of disputes over their trademark recently, including suing Warner Brothers over featuring a knock-off handbag in the movie “The Hangover Part II.”? After catching wind of UPenn’s symposium poster, Louis Vuitton continued their litigious streak and sent University of Pennsylvania’s Dean Michael Fitts a cease and desist letter.? The letter claimed trademark infringement and dilution, but failed to mention which statutes in particular the University of Pennsylvania violated.? Further, Michael Pantalony, Director of Civil Enforcement at Louis Vuitton, asserted that people will be confused by the poster and could believe that Louis Vuitton was sponsoring the event.? The letter demanded that the law school take steps to change the poster.

However, Louis Vuitton didn’t scare the Ivy League school.? The University of Pennsylvania wrote its own response letter to Mr.Pantalony contending that the student group did not infringe on LV’s trademark and emphasized that the actions taken by the student group are protected under the federal trademark statute.? The response letter claimed that UPenn did not dilute Louis Vuitton’s trademark and cited 15 U.S.C. 1125(c)(3)(c), which excludes any noncommercial use of a mark.? UPenn further asserts that the poster is fair use under 15 U.S.C. 1125(c)(3)(A) and a parody under 15 U.S.C. 1125(c)(3)(A)(ii).? UPenn supported this argument by citing to a case that the fashion house might have some familiarity with.? The response letter cited Louis Vuitton Malletier v. Haute Diggity Dog, LLC, 507 F.3d 252 (4th Cir. 2007), a case where the luxury brand failed to win on either the trademark infringement or trademark dilution charge against a dog toy manufacturer.

The response letter further asserted that there was no violation of 15 U.S.C. 1125(a) because there is no likelihood of confusion.? Louis Vuitton could not be confused as to have sponsored the event or to have been associated with the student group’s symposium.

However, the IP rights of these luxury brands are many times their most important asset, and if their brand is being diluted, their rights should be protected.? One can make the case that the company is just protecting its legitimate trademark; while some argue that Louis Vuitton is acting as a trademark bully.?? In any event, Louis Vuitton could build a little goodwill with this audience in particular.? After all, they are the future lawyers who are interested in these issues and perhaps would like to advocate on the behalf of luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton one day.

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PAC Gives Obama Hitler Mustache in LV Protest - Patch.com

Photos of 2012 Republican presidential candidates wearing clown noses, an Adolf Hitler mustache drawn onto a profile picture of Barack Obama, and brochures about how to create jobs, impeach elected officials and what a LaRouche Democrat was sat on a table outside the Long Valley Post Office on Thursday.

The table, and accompanying information, was manned by Margaret Scialdone and Daniel Burke, two supporters of Diane Sare, a ‘LaRouche Democrat’ running for Congress in New Jersey.?

Sare, according to her website, has been working as a political organizer since the late 1980’s, when she learned about Lyndon LaRouche in Boston.

“We’re more of an insurgency into the Democratic party, than an actual part of it,” said Scialdone. “The Democratic party, since the 1960s, has really just become about sex and cutting budget.”

Passersby honked at the two campaigners and gave a thumbs up, as signs lined Old Farmers Road with the slogans “Stop World War III: Impeach Obama” and “No Bailout – Restore Glass- Steagall.”

When drivers would slow down or enter the post office parking lot, Burke would call to them, “Impeach King Obama. Come over and find out more.”

The two had set up shop, after alerting the Washington Township Police Department, at 9:30 a.m., and would stay until the post office closed on Wednesday.

“People hate Obama,” Scialdone said. “But they’re being brainwashed by the media that they can’t change it. That’s what we’re here for. This isn’t about moving pieces around. We need to completely flip over the chess board.”

Scialdone has been a political organizer since 1984, she said, while Burke is new to the game. He left his full time teaching job in February to dedicate his time to the Sare campaign.

And why the Hitler mustache for the country’s leader?

“Obama is just like Hitler,” Scialdone said. “He’s sending drones into other countries, killing people, including Americans.”

Sare’s supporters don’t discriminate their attacks, however. A photo showing Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich with superimposed clown noses and wigs reads, “Sick of the Clown Show? Don’t be a BOZO! Join LaRouche PAC.”

In fact, Scialdone said the difference between Obama and the previous administration isn’t very big.

“(Dick) Cheney ran the show under (George W.) Bush for those eight years,” Scialdone said. “Bush was an idiot. But Obama is like the son (Cheney) never had.”

While Sare’s campaign for Congress may be flying under the radar–she had to request her way into an upcoming political debate in Teaneck, Burke said–her supporters are certainly drawing attention, as they showed up in Hopatcong recently.

“Response has been pretty good here,” Scialdone said about traffic flow in Long Valley. “No one has been upset with us or bothered by our message. They've been listening.”

For now, the campaign will continue on, and supporters will drop into individual towns to spread the message.

Thanks. We'll email you the next time we update this story.
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where can i buy louis vuitton bags online louis vuitton purses 1998 louis ... - Portada Magazine

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LV= makes low cost move - Money Marketing

5 April 2012 5:03 pm

LV= Flexible Transitions Account Low Cost Option

Type: Hybrid self-invested personal pension

Minimum investment: Lump sum ￡20,000, additional regular premiums from ￡25 a month

Investment choice: 130 funds from Artemis, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, Fidelity, Henderson, Invesco Perpetual, Investec, J.P. Morgan, Jupiter, Liontrust, M&G Martin Currie, Premier, Schroders, State Street Global Advisers and Threadneedle

Options: Ability to switch to the higher standard charging structure to access other investment options available through the Flexible Transitions Account

Charges: Annual 0.25% for the first ￡1m invested, 0.1% for any amount over ￡1m, plus fund charges depending on funds selected. Establishment fee of 1.2 per cent for each 1 per cent initial commission taken by the adviser can be charged over a period of up to five years

Commission: Subject to negotiation with initial, ongoing and ad hoc options, available on factory gate pricing basis for fee-based advisers

Contact: www.lv.com/adviser

LV= has added a low-cost option to its flexible transitions account Sipp. The low-cost option offers access to 130 LV= pension funds from 16 fund management groups and has a 0.25 per cent annual service charge for investment amounts up to ￡1m. This is 0.3 per cent lower than the standard charging structure for the first ￡75,000 of the amount invested and 0.1 per cent lower for the next ￡925,000. At 0.1 per cent, the annual service charge for amounts above ￡1m is the same as the standard fee structure.

Clients will only benefit from the low fee structure if they start their plan with a single premium of at least ￡20,000; stay invested in insured funds and do not take any lump sum or income benefits otherwise the standard fee structure will be applied.

Independent Personal Financial Management director Luke Gibbon highlights the restrictions that are imposed to achieve the lower costs. He says: “The new pension plan is launched with a headline rate of a 0.25 per cent service charge, but to get this rate a minimum of ￡20,000 needs to be invested. The investment is also restricted to a choice of 130 funds from 16 fund managers.”

Gibbon points out that the 0.25 per cent service charge does not tell the whole story in relation to costs. “In addition to the service charge, there are fund management charges which range from 0.1 per cent a year for the State Street UK equity tracker fund to 2.13 per cent a year total expense ratio for the Jupiter Merlin growth portfolio. And of course adviser charges need to be added in addition to the above costs.”

Overall, Gibbon thinks the charges are competitive but not the cheapest in the market.

“The plan is designed to be RDR compliant and although the fund selection is limited, there is good quality and a wide range of funds available that should be suitable for most clients.? If a wider choice is required then the service charge will rise by up to 0.3 per cent.”

Turning to the potential drawbacks, Gibbon feels the plan will have a limited market, as it needs a minimum of ￡20,000 invested. “But once that has been met, additional contributions as small as ￡25 a month can be added,” he says.

Another possible hurdle for LV= in Gibbon’s view is name awareness, but he adds that the significant television advertising it has recently carried out may help as far as clients are concerned. He also says that although auto enrolment is still a while away, the plan does not lend itself to this new environment due to the initial funding it requires.

“The competition for this plan will come from other? big pension providers such as Aviva, AXA, Scottish Widows and Standard Life. As we draw closer to 2013 I suspect that new plans will be launched which will keep the charges competitive.? Having said that, a comparison I carried out showed that LV= was just 0.2 per cent a year cheaper than Scottish Widows over the illustrative term of 26 years.”

Summing up, Gibbon says: “One final point I would note is that we now have a service charge, fund management charge, advisor ongoing charge and advisor initial charge.? Each provider will have their own service charge, which is likely to reduce as the fund gets bigger, but increase as the investment choice increases.?

“Also different providers may have different investment charges for the same fund.?This is all explained in the LV= literature but I am not convinced this will give greater clarity to clients in the future.”

?BROKER RATINGS

Suitability to market: Average

Investment choice: Average

Flexibility: Average

Charges: Good

Overall 7/10

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Budget time for C-LV School District - Metrowny.com

At the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, March 27 and special meeting on Thursday, March 22, the board discussed the 2012-13 budget.

At the Thursday meeting, Superintendent Jon Peterson went over the same numbers and possible solutions for lowering the budget as he previously presented to the board and the public.

Going over some items on the budget, Business Executive Sally Hadley cited a question that was brought up by Board member Kent Joesel regarding the telephone expense. Joesel said that after looking at Allegany-Limestone School District?s budget, their expense for telephones was much less then the C-LV district.

Hadley said the Allegany-Limestone district uses voice-over IP through BOCES. Although it is a minimal cost to their district presently, it costs about $200,000 to set up. Joesel asked Hadley to look into the payback the district would gain if it went with this change and how much would be paid to BOCES for the service.

Other mentions of items on the budget were: board of education budget, legal expenses, business office, secretary and superintendent expenses, curriculum expenses, tuition expenses, technology expenses, transportation expenses, and more.

Board member Heather Gunther asked Hadley if the district overbudgets for unemployment costs. Hadley replied ?no.?

Joesel asked Hadley to also get a list of items that were highly aidable and which were not. Hadley mentioned many BOCES services are 80 percent aidable.

Gunther asked what the aid amount was per student. Hadley will look into the answer.

Joesel asked to look into building and grounds materials and supplies and see if there could be a cut of even 10 percent.

Board member Dave Shinners and Joesel inquired about the amount of overtime put in by the building and grounds department. Also, to find out if mileage on the vehicle used in this department can be minimized.

At the end of the Thursday meeting, Hadley said she would look into budget numbers if both the Cattaraugus and Little Valley buildings were both kindergarten through fourth grades.

At the Tuesday meeting Hadley handed out a sample budget if this were the case. If that were the occurrence, no transitional kindergarten would be sustained due to low numbers.

In addition to the budget numbers, there was an additional expense included in the changes.

However, with projected state aid, piece of the fund balance, and concessions, the gap to reduce lessens, to around $150,000 if Little Valley was left open and appropriate changes were made.

The board has convened at special meetings to discuss important items like the budget and options regarding the budget.

A special meeting is set for Monday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cattaraugus Campus followed by the regular meeting on Tuesday, April 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cattaraugus Campus.

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LV Sands continues quest for growth - Hotel News Now

ATLANTA—With massive expansion under way in Macau, Las Vegas Sands Corporation hasn’t completely closed the door on adding capacity in the United States.

While nothing is imminent, there are a few markets in which LV Sands would seriously think about adding properties, including New York and Miami, said Mike Leven, president and COO, during an interview conducted at last week’s Hunter Hotel Investment Conference.
Leven said the company looked at some downtown Miami sites that it was happy with, but it doesn’t appear the Florida legislature will approve the exclusive gaming license for the site LV Sands is seeking.

“The potential for us in the United States is pretty limited because there aren’t a lot of places where you can put an integrated resort of our size and our financial investment and get a return,” he said.

Mike Leven
President and COO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation

“Now, New York … there’s a little noise in New York now, and we’re going to take a look and see if we can put something … maybe in Manhattan and be able to do maybe something with (the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center) and us and a big place and put our complex in there. If the government wants it, we’d be interested in doing it.”

The plethora of gaming casinos in the U.S.—at least 22 states permit some form of casino gaming, according to the American Gaming Association—has focused on the wrong aspect of the benefits integrated resorts, such as the kind LV Sands operates, provide a market, according to Leven.

“The sad reality … is these state governments are looking for tax revenue, and our business is different,” he said. “We do integrated resorts; we produce tax revenue, but we produce jobs, we produce tourism and (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) business,” he said. “So when we go into countries like Japan or Korea or Vietnam or even Spain like we’re talking about now, that’s our pitch. Our pitch is we’re not just going to generate tax revenue, which we do.”

Las Vegas Sands’ U.S. portfolio comprises The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Eastern Pennsylvania. The company also operates the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.?

Through its majority-owned subsidiary Sands China Limited, the company also owns a collection of properties in Macau, including The Venetian Macau, Four Seasons Hotel Macau, and Sands Cotai Central, a 13.7-million square foot, 6,400-room complex opening in April 2012 at the company's Cotai Strip development. The company also owns the Sands Macau on the Macau peninsula.

‘An economic machine’
Leven said the company’s Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, for example, in addition to tax revenue, produced 10,000 direct jobs and another 15,000 non-direct jobs. The property also sources $400 million in goods in the local market every year.

“We’re basically an economic machine,” he said. “We drive business into the market. We want to bring tourists in. We want to bring people from out of state in and out of country in. That’s really our business model and why we think we’re so attractive to these other countries.”

Marina Bay Sands and the company’s Macau resort generate approximately 90% of the Las Vegas Sands’ annual earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization, Leven said. Macau—the only city in China where gambling is legal—is where the company’s core integrated resort concept has blossomed, as it owns or is planning to build hotels under the Venetian, Sands, Four Seasons, Sheraton, Holiday Inn and Conrad brands.

“(Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson’s) vision was to put these kinds of properties up, which were not just gaming centers—which represent about 2% of the space in our integrated resorts—but the full-service, convention, meeting, shopping, entertainment facilities that had not been seen before around the world,” Leven said. “His ambition and his vision and our ability to execute (are) really putting us in a position where we can go now to other Asian countries as well as in Europe.”

Two of the hotels—a 1,200-unit Holiday Inn and a 600-unit Conrad, are scheduled to open 11 April. The Sheraton property will open 2,000 rooms at the end of September and 2,000 additional rooms13 January 2013, Leven said.

“So we’ve got the biggest Sheraton, the biggest Conrad and today the biggest Holiday (Inn) opening under our management of Holiday Inn and Conrad and (Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s) management at Sheraton,” said Leven..

The 73-year-old Leven, who has spent 51 years working in the hotel industry, said having operations in China is no different than having a presence elsewhere in the world.

“Governments are governments no matter where you go. You can put a different face on or a different culture on, but at the end of the day—I’ve been doing international business since in the ‘60s when I lived in the Bahamas for Sonesta Hotels—what I’ve found as I went around the world and did things is that people are people no matter where you go. If you treat them right, if you deal with ethics and (have) a high regard for individual dignity, no matter what you do whether it’s at the line level or the senior level of the organization, it’s the same basic scenario.”

The Vegas factor
While the company continues to grow globally and looks for well-defined opportunities in the U.S., it also is seeking to maintain its standing in Las Vegas, where it has The Venetian and The Palazzo properties. Operating there is a different scenario than in Asia, Leven said.

“In Las Vegas, for example, 70% of our profitability is from non-gaming. The nature of the customer in Vegas to play is significantly different than the customer in Asia,” he said. “Asians tend to play more and longer and as a consequence in Asia (profitability is) 70/30 the other way.”

The Venetian, which opened in 1999, is preparing for an update that will include newly-designed rooms. Leven wants to buck some current trends in the hotel industry.

“We’re redoing a thousand rooms in The Venetian in Vegas, and I called in my design people and said, ‘Listen. I don’t want any duvets anymore. They run the energy bill up. They heat up the people. When you go into a hotel and you’re under the duvet, you turn the air conditioning down; people throw all these pillows on the floor. … Let’s get out of this thing and let’s try to find a way that will satisfy the guest, make it greener, make it less difficult for the maid,’” he said.

No exact timetable is set for the rooms renovation as the company is still in the testing phase, Leven said.

Leven said the Las Vegas market is still hurting from the recession as average daily rates are 25% below what they were during 2006 and 2007.

“It’s going to be a long time catching up because you have a big supply of the high-end rooms,” he said. “Over time I think the rates will gradually improve and the visitation will continue to improve. There will be more foreign visitors with the new visa rules—China and Brazil, that will help. But it’s a long way back. There’s about $20 billion worth of real estate that’s been built in Vegas since ’07 with very little return, so it’s going to be a long time.

“But you wouldn’t know going in there when it’s convention season or when you go in on a weekend. You think everything will be great because there are tons of people,” Leven added. “But if you get tons of people but not at the right price, it doesn’t help you very much.”

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Police: LV man used social networking site to meet 13-year-old he raped - Pocono Record

A 23-year-old Allentown man who posed as a 16-year-old on a social networking site has been charged with raping a 13-year-old girl he met through the website, state police at Fogelsville said.

Investigators say Ryan T. Mock of 435 S. 18th St. met the 13-year-old girl on myyearbook.com in the summer of 2010, the two exchanged phone numbers and began "sexting," according to a complaint filed at district court in Upper Macungie Township.

Police say the girl invited Mock, who she believed was 16, to her Lower Macungie Township house in August 2010 when her parents weren't home. Police said the girl told Mock she was 13 and that after a period of consensual kissing, Mock restrained and raped the girl despite her attempts to stop him.

After leaving, police said, Mock, who was 22 at the time, texted the girl and told her to wash her sheets.

The alleged assault came to light this month when the girl, now 14, mentioned it during a classroom discussion at her school, police said. The girl's teacher overheard the comment and asked her to speak to a guidance counselor.

Mock was charged Tuesday with statutory sexual assault, sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault, all felonies, as well as corruption of minors and indecent assault of a person under 16, both misdemeanors, court papers say. He was taken to Lehigh County Prison under $250,000 bail following his Wednesday arraignment.

Mock recently completed about 10 months in Lehigh County Prison's work-release program. He was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty last year to two counts of unlawful contact with a minor.

In that case, investigators say, Mock had sexual chats with a 15-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy on myyearbook.com during September 2010, about a month after the alleged rape of the 13-year-old girl.

While being sentenced by Lehigh County Judge Maria Dantos in May 2011, Mock said he made "a complete thinking error" when he joined the social networking site.

Defense attorney Michael Stump during the May sentencing said Mock was found not to meet the criteria for being a sexually violent predator
Dantos ordered Mock to serve two years of probation following his prison sentence. She barred him from having contact with minors and from having Internet access. Mock also had to register with police as a sex offender for 10 years.

Mock in December pleaded guilty in Lehigh County Court to statutory sexual assault, a felony, and indecent assault, a misdemeanor, for an assault that occurred in Allentown in June 2010, according to court records. The victim in that case was under 16, court records say.

Mock is scheduled to be sentenced in that case on April 27, court records show.

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Vegas cab alternative runs into regulations stifling competition - Las Vegas Sun

Steve Marcus

A Bell Trans limousine heads to a passenger area at McCarran International?Airport.

By Joe Schoenmann (contact)

Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | 2 a.m.

A San Francisco company that’s given the limo business a digital-age makeover wants to do business in Las Vegas but has run headlong into regulations that shield cab companies from competition.

Uber Technologies Inc., which already offers its service in nine cities, runs dispatch centers that customers access via a smartphone. To provide the rides, the company partners with licensed companies that use sedans, SUVs or limousines, using those vehicles during the companies' down time. No cash changes hands — the transaction, including tip, is paid for using the phone.

Uber is technically a livery business and as a result would not be regulated as a traditional taxicab company. But because it would be new competition, its efforts to enter the Las Vegas market has ignited a political war of sorts with cab companies.

Uber executives told the Sun they look forward to doing business in Las Vegas. But sources said the company is having “an interesting time” dealing with an old state statute requiring livery services charge a high minimum hourly rate.

Most livery services in Southern Nevada are required to charge a minimum rate of about $40 to $45 an hour. It means that even if a ride is five minutes long, the cost is at least $40.

Whether it was the intent of the law or not, it ensures that limos pose less of a threat to the Las Vegas taxicab business, which, using meters, can provide short rides at lower costs.

Uber executives said they haven’t encountered high minimum charges anywhere else. And no city where Uber operates has a minimum hourly rate. Uber started in San Francisco, where its base fare is $8.

The Nevada Transportation Authority approves rates for each company. Companies can request that regulators set lower minimum hourly rates. But even if a livery company figures it can make a profit with a minimum hourly rate of, say, $15, sources said opposition from the powerful cab companies would make it difficult, if not impossible, to get regulators to go along.

The Nevada Taxicab Authority, which regulates the taxi industry, is looking closely at Uber. Charles Harvey, Taxicab Authority administrator, said an “unregulated, unlicensed quasi-taxi operator is a concern.” He said the agency is doing research on the company and talking to the Transportation Authority, which regulates limousines.

The state’s Office of Economic Development is also interested in the company, but for different reasons.

While it offers transportation, Uber is a tech firm, founded by a man who developed a smartphone application after he was unable to hail a cab. It’s the kind of company that Gov. Brian Sandoval has said he wants to lure to the state to diversify the economy.

Dave Berns, the Office of Economic Development’s communications director, said state officials have spoken with Uber representatives and reached out to the state Department of Business and Industry and Transportation Authority about its interest in moving here.

Uber’s use of technology is a big part of the company’s allure. With Uber, money and credit cards are never exchanged — everything is done through a smartphone application, which already has logged a customer’s payment information. When a customer punches their Uber smartphone application, they can “watch” the vehicle on a map and see how how long it will take for the vehicle to arrive.

How Uber will fare in its effort to do business in Las Vegas is uncertain. But the company has a track record of facing adversity and winning.

In January, the head of the Taxicab Commission in Washington, D.C., Ron Linton, did a “sting” on Uber, towing away an Uber sedan and levying a fine because Linton said the company was doing the same thing as taxi companies but isn’t regulated like a cab company. National Public Radio reported Linton is moving quickly to get credit card machines into taxis to “make them … more Uber-like.” Uber is still operating in Washington, D.C.

San Francisco cab companies fought the company because its former name, UberCab, sounded too much like a taxi company. The company shortened the name to Uber.

Jim Gillespie, general manager for San Francisco’s largest cab company, Yellow Cab Cooperative Inc., said Uber has not hurt his business because the city has too few taxicabs. His company gets 6,000 to 7,000 calls a day but can only serve about 20 percent of those calls.

The city is expected to approve about 500 more cabs within the next year. Gillespie believes Uber will be hurt more by the increased competition because its service is more expensive than traditional cabs.

Sources told the Sun that Uber will know within a week or two whether it wants to try to do business here or go to other cities where regulations aren’t as daunting.

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Leavenworth boys' tennis start at home - Leavenworth Times

The Leavenworth boys’ tennis team opened up the 2012 season this week with back-to-back home meets Tuesday and Wednesday.

First, on Tuesday, the Pioneers welcomed Olathe South, Olathe North and Blue Valley Southwest. Moritz Kaletta held the top spot for LV in singles and didn’t disappoint as he won all three of his matches. He began with a 8-7, 7-5 tiebreaker victory against South’s Michael Serwatka and then defeated North’s Chris Kinzel 8-1 and Southwest’s Conner Davis 8-2.

“Moritz did not lose a match Tuesday which was definitely the bright spot,” Leavenworth coach James Vanek said. “He had the close first match but then really looked good in the next two.”

Josh Benard was the Pioneers’ No. 2 singles player and he fell 8-0 to Conner Petty from Olathe South, 8-1 to Askshay Prabhushankar of Olathe North and 8-2 to Austin Rottinghaus from Blue Valley Southwest.

The Leavenworth No. 1 doubles duo consisted of Brent Gersema and Noah Easterling, who went winless on the day. They lost 8-2 to South’s Brandon Edwards and Tyler Green, 8-5 to North’s Derek Bradshaw and Arnav Singh and 8-1 to Southwest’s Jeff Stevens and Niklas Hagenback.

Phil Tracy and Wesley Barbee, the Pioneers No. 2 doubles set, suffered the same winless streak, yet competed well in its final two matches of the day. Against South’s Brad Garcia and Young Lu the squad lost 8-0, yet versus North’s Dalton Bradley and Forrest Goyer, as well Southwest’s Dharam Patel and Pavan Kota, the LV pair fell by a score of 8-5.

“We had a couple of close doubles matches there, which is good for the first match of the year,” Vanek said. “The effort is there from everyone, but a lot of these teams are just ahead of us because they play year round, so we just need to keep working on improving, improving, improving every day.”

On Wednesday, the Pioneers hosted Shawnee Mission West. It was a rough day for the boys in blue as every Leavenworth competitor lost to its Vikings counterpart.

In singles, Kaletta was dropped 8-0 by Vinny Pham, Tracy tumbled 8-2 to Kevin Cao and Easterling was tripped up 8-1 to Brett Niese. Barbee suffered a 8-1 loss to Kyle Nelsen, Josh Benard slipped up 8-1 to Alex Hand and Michael Rielly was toppled by Brian Smith 8-1.

During doubles action, Kaletta and Easterling lost 8-0 to Cao and Niese while Tracy and Barbee dropped their match 8-0 to Pham and Hand. Benard and Rielly suffered a 8-2 loss to Nelsen and Smith.

“It might not show in the results but we are improving,” Vanek said. “We haven’t reached our peak yet, and that’s fine because we need to peak at the end of the season and just keep getting better week by week leading up to then.”

The Pioneers will next compete at Olathe East on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

The Leavenworth boys’ tennis team opened up the 2012 season this week with back-to-back home meets Tuesday and Wednesday.

First, on Tuesday, the Pioneers welcomed Olathe South, Olathe North and Blue Valley Southwest. Moritz Kaletta held the top spot for LV in singles and didn’t disappoint as he won all three of his matches. He began with a 8-7, 7-5 tiebreaker victory against South’s Michael Serwatka and then defeated North’s Chris Kinzel 8-1 and Southwest’s Conner Davis 8-2.

“Moritz did not lose a match Tuesday which was definitely the bright spot,” Leavenworth coach James Vanek said. “He had the close first match but then really looked good in the next two.”

Josh Benard was the Pioneers’ No. 2 singles player and he fell 8-0 to Conner Petty from Olathe South, 8-1 to Askshay Prabhushankar of Olathe North and 8-2 to Austin Rottinghaus from Blue Valley Southwest.

The Leavenworth No. 1 doubles duo consisted of Brent Gersema and Noah Easterling, who went winless on the day. They lost 8-2 to South’s Brandon Edwards and Tyler Green, 8-5 to North’s Derek Bradshaw and Arnav Singh and 8-1 to Southwest’s Jeff Stevens and Niklas Hagenback.

Phil Tracy and Wesley Barbee, the Pioneers No. 2 doubles set, suffered the same winless streak, yet competed well in its final two matches of the day. Against South’s Brad Garcia and Young Lu the squad lost 8-0, yet versus North’s Dalton Bradley and Forrest Goyer, as well Southwest’s Dharam Patel and Pavan Kota, the LV pair fell by a score of 8-5.

“We had a couple of close doubles matches there, which is good for the first match of the year,” Vanek said. “The effort is there from everyone, but a lot of these teams are just ahead of us because they play year round, so we just need to keep working on improving, improving, improving every day.”

On Wednesday, the Pioneers hosted Shawnee Mission West. It was a rough day for the boys in blue as every Leavenworth competitor lost to its Vikings counterpart.

In singles, Kaletta was dropped 8-0 by Vinny Pham, Tracy tumbled 8-2 to Kevin Cao and Easterling was tripped up 8-1 to Brett Niese. Barbee suffered a 8-1 loss to Kyle Nelsen, Josh Benard slipped up 8-1 to Alex Hand and Michael Rielly was toppled by Brian Smith 8-1.

During doubles action, Kaletta and Easterling lost 8-0 to Cao and Niese while Tracy and Barbee dropped their match 8-0 to Pham and Hand. Benard and Rielly suffered a 8-2 loss to Nelsen and Smith.

“It might not show in the results but we are improving,” Vanek said. “We haven’t reached our peak yet, and that’s fine because we need to peak at the end of the season and just keep getting better week by week leading up to then.”

The Pioneers will next compete at Olathe East on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

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70pc of drivers 'clueless' on speed limits - Telegraph.co.uk

But it appears ignorance rather than recklessness may be the cause. More than seven out of 10 drivers failed to identify the legal speed limit for different types of road in recent tests, according to car insurers LV=.

When shown photographs of different roads, one in three could not correctly identify the 60mph speed limit for a single carriageway, while more than one in two did not know the speed limit on a rural road without street lights.

Since 2009, nearly one in 10 drivers have been caught speeding and 17pc of these have been caught two or three times. A freedom of information request by LV= car insurance showed that the number of speeding offences was 6pc higher than in 2010.

John O’Roarke, the managing director of LV= car insurance, described these figures as “alarming” and urged drivers to “take care to know their limits so as to avoid a fine, penalty points or worse.” Recent evidence suggests that insurers will increase car insurance costs significantly, even after just one speeding offence.

Despite a widespread lack of knowledge about the correct limits, close to a third of drivers felt that the 70mph speed restriction on motorways and dual carriageways was too slow. A further 64pc of motorists said they wanted the speed limit on these roads to increase to 80mph. Whilst 41pc of drivers claim to routinely break the 70mph limit a minority of drivers have been caught driving at speeds more suited to an F1 track.

Britain’s worst speeder was caught by Sussex police last year reaching speeds of 152mph. This is not an isolated case though. The Tayside police apprehended one motorist driving at 149mph.

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Comprehensive protection for LV motors - SA Instrumentation and Control

NewElec’s N Series electronic motor protection relays are designed to protect LV motors. They offer the user a choice of protection features, mounting options, and a choice of appropriate motor thermal curves with five models to choose from. When used with their own integrated current transformers, which incorporate an earth leakage core balance CT in the same housing, and the inclusion of a 4 to 20 mA loop for monitoring motor loads, significant space and cost savings are achieved. Designed to IEC 60255-8, the N Series relays are reliable and provide overload protection with user adjustable cold and hot thermal curves linked to a comprehensive thermal memory. The user has the ability of selecting the appropriate thermal curve for the kW of the protected motor. This allows the motor to work hard but within its designed thermal envelope. Excessive jogging of the motor will not be tolerated, and the cooling time after an overload trip is never compromised.Earth leakage protection with a 250 mA sensitivity and a 100 ms trip delay, including harmonic filtering, enables DOL starting of large kW motors without accompanied nuisance trips on startup. N Series relays recognise the potential danger of opening the main contactor on potentially high energy faults. They provide co-ordination so that either the trip is blocked if the earth fault current exceeds a safe level, or use is made of a dedicated earth fault trip contact designed to operate the backup circuit breaker on detection of such faults. If required, LED and remote relay fault indication are available.


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Local for-sale housing inventory shrinking, data show - Las Vegas Business Press

Monday, March 19, 2012 BY HUBBLE SMITH

Maybe it's a ruse devised by real estate agents to deceive buyers into thinking Las Vegas could run out of homes for sale. Or maybe the market is starting to feel the effects of the robo-signing law that makes it more difficult for lenders to file for foreclosure.

Either way, for-sale housing inventory has been steadily declining, a February report from Keller Williams Realty shows.

Total inventory of homes on the Multiple Listing Service fell to 7,873 in February, a loss of almost 1,700 properties from the previous month and down from 14,036 a year ago.

JERRY HENKEL | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
David Brownell adjusts a sold sign March 13 on a home at 7221 Silver Valley St. in northwest Las Vegas. The total inventory of Southern Nevada homes on the Multiple Listing Service fell to 7,873 in February, a report from Keller Williams Realty shows. With 3,627 escrow closings in February, that's a little more than two months' supply of inventory, the lowest it's been since David Brownell of Keller Williams began compiling his monthly reports five years ago.

"By the middle of the year, we could be below 5,000 (inventory)," the Realtor said. "That may be lower than any time during the crazy months of 2004, 2005 and 2006."

Also, inventory of real estate-owned, or bank-owned, homes has shrunk to 1,314, less than one month's supply at current sales levels.

About half of existing-home sales in Las Vegas are foreclosures and one-fourth are short sales. That's about to flip as banks figure out how to deal with the new law, Brownell said.

"REO closings are going to drop dramatically in the next 60 days," he said. "It's not out of the question to think that there will be fewer than 1,000 REO units available. There's just no inventory out there."

Scheduled trustee sales have dropped to fewer than 50 a day, sometimes as few as 10 or 15 a day, compared with 200 a day in March 2011. Trustee sales are down as much as 90 percent in recent weeks, Brownell noted.

To really get a good sense of where the market is headed, Brownell points to total new listings (4,663) added in February and total new escrows (6,188) added in the month. Of the new listings, 1,318 were real estate-owned, and 1,814 were short sales. Of those in escrow, 1,807 were REOs and 2,970 were short sales.

Brownell said he doesn't buy into the theory that banks are holding onto a "shadow inventory" of 50,000 to 75,000 foreclosures in order to control prices.

"I have seen commentary on YouTube from a local real estate agent that prices could go up as much as 10 percent or more during these next few months as supply gets tighter," he said. "I am not sure that I agree. Instead, we may see investors taking a timeout as they wait for the next wave of bank-owned properties to come on the market."

HOMEOWNER EVENT

Nearly 3,500 homeowners at risk of foreclosure attended a two-day event at Cashman Center on March 9-10 that brought them face to face with their mortgage servicer or nonprofit housing counselor.

It was the fifth workshop presented by the Hope Now alliance of mortgage servicers, investors and counselors since 2008. More than 20 banks participated in the event, including major lenders such as Bank of America, Chase, Citi, US Bank and Wells Fargo.

"Las Vegas, like so many other markets, has been facing an unprecedented housing crisis for the past few years and the ability of so many groups to come together on behalf of at-risk homeowners is truly remarkable," Hope Now Executive Director Faith Schwartz said.

BUILDING PERMITS

The city of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency reported 177 new single-family unit building permits and 114 multifamily units in the fourth quarter. Their valuation was $20.7 million and $7.8 million, respectively.

Also, there were three new commercial and hotel-motel permits issued in Las Vegas with a total valuation of $418,000, including additional permits for The Smith Center for the Performing Arts that opened March 10 at Symphony Park.

Of the 995 certificates of occupancy recorded in Clark County in the fourth quarter, 207 were in the city of Las Vegas.

HOTEL BUYOUT

Want to keep uninvited guests out of your wedding party or corporate event?

Consider renting an entire hotel in Las Vegas. It's possible at the 150-room Rumor hotel on Harmon Avenue and the 64-room Artisan hotel on Sahara Avenue, both owned by the Siegel Group.

Rumor, across from the Hard Rock Hotel, is going for $13,000 a night, less than $100 a room, including hotel staff. The Artisan, just off Interstate 15, is available for $4,000 a night, or about $65 a room.

That's something the megaresorts can't offer, Siegel Group business affairs director Michael Crandall said.

"We are the only hotel group in all of Las Vegas that can create this type of offer," he said. "Each property can accommodate everything from a great party to a fashion show by the pool to a concert under the stars."

COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS

Cathy Jones of Sun Commercial Real Estate represented Service First Bank of Nevada in the 22-month lease of a 55,900-square-foot office at 8349 W. Sunset Road. The value of the transaction was $136,444.

She also represented Bank of Nevada and Twin Otter International on a 24-month lease for a 49,300-square-foot industrial building at 2806 Perimeter Road. The transaction was $62,605.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.

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EXECUTIVE SNAPSHOT: Terry Culp - Las Vegas Business Press

Monday, March 19, 2012 By CAITLIN McGARRY

Las Vegas manufacturers turn to Terry Culp when they need help making their businesses more efficient and profitable.

As business manager of Nevada Industry Excellence, the Nevada System of Higher Education's industrial outreach program, Culp and his team offer help to small and midsized manufacturing campanies. If a business needs help streamlining production processes, Nevada Industry Excellence heads to the site to offer advice, training and implementation of best practices.

Culp has worked with some of the city's largest manufacturers, including Young Electric Sign Co. and WMS Gaming, and also budding entrepreneurs, to help them "become more globally competitive and more profitable," he said.

JIM MILLER | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Terry Culp, business manager, Nevada Industry Excellence "We've got a lot of great companies in the state that have benefitted from what we do," Culp said. "That's what we're all about, and that's what floats my boat."

Nevada Industry Excellence recently launched a new service, ExporTech, to help manufacturers export goods and services. Culp also works with local economic development organizations to recruit companies to move to Nevada and help existing companies expand.

Culp, a Purdue University graduate, came out of retirement to oversee the outreach program in 2000.

When he isn't advising small manufacturers on efficiency practices, you might find Culp at the newly opened Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

"I encourage Las Vegans to take advantage of that wonderful facility," he said.

Las Vegas isn't exactly known for its manufacturing prowess. Is that a common misconception?

The misconception comes from the fact that gaming is so strong and the resorts are so popular. The state of Nevada is a very business-friendly state, especially for manufacturers. We have 1,000 manufacturers up north and about 1,000 in the south.

How have you helped companies survive the recession?

A lot of companies that we have worked with and helped would have been in a lot more trouble through the recession if they hadn't implemented a lot of lean initiatives throughout the years prior to the recession. In some cases, some of the companies we worked with didn't lay off virtually anybody during the recession.

You advise businesses — what is your own business background?

I used to own manufacturing operations in western New York. After having sold those, we moved to Las Vegas. Retirement didn't work too well for me. I golfed myself silly for a year and a half, started doing some consulting work, took some courses at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and connected with this program.

What is your business philosophy?

Regarding the clients, my philosophy is to listen to what they have to say about their business and the issues that they're having. As we get to know them and they get to know us and realize we're there to help them because we're rated on their success, then we become a partner as a result. In some cases today, we have a number of companies that don't move forward with any initiative until they call us first.

Do you tend to work with the same clients over several years?

Yes. Definitely. Our relationships with clients are long. In one case, we started working with a client (Chef Rubber) — he and his partner came to us and took our CEO mini-MBA course. They had a dollar and a dream, didn't know how to price their product, didn't know how to put a catalog together. We showed them how to do all that. They grew as a result, and are now a multimillion-dollar organization. They sell all over the world.

Since growing bored of golfing, what do you do in your free time?

Golf is still one of my favorite pastimes. I love to play the piano and the bass and the organ. I got myself through college playing in bands.

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Comic book store industry doing well in Las Vegas - Las Vegas Business Press

Monday, March 19, 2012 BY LAURA CARROLL

With the exception of Silver Cactus Comics' closure a few weeks ago, the comic book store industry in Las Vegas is doing well.

The longtime Las Vegas shop closed Feb. 25, but owner Tom Tisea wasn't ready to talk to the media. A few customers mentioned Tisea might reopen in another space, but that hasn't yet been confirmed.

Aside from Silver Cactus, other comic book stores in the valley are thriving.

Ralph Mathieu has owned Alternate Reality Comics for 18 years, and said the last couple have been good to local stores.

"They've been pretty great. It's a good time for the industry," he said.

Mathieu said comic books have been experiencing a resurgence in part because of major publisher DC's superhero relaunch in September. Not only has the effort attracted new readers, but it has reinvigorated returning fans.

Later this year, Marvel is expected to roll out a similar relaunch with their more well-known characters. In April, Marvel also is releasing the Avengers versus X-Men, a 12-issue, biweekly series that will lead up to the release of "The Avengers" movie May 4.

Derrick Taylor, owner of Comic Oasis, agreed with Mathieu.

After two rough years in 2008 and 2009, Taylor's sales began to tick upward at the end of 2010. He said 2011 was particularly good for the store.

"Especially the end of the year. The end of the year was really strong," Taylor noted.

He said he thinks it's because people are tired of not spending money and watching every dime. The average cost of a comic book at Taylor's shop is $3.50, and the average sale is $20. Comic Oasis handles between 65-70 transactions per day.

Thus far, sales are up 10 percent over 2011 for Comic Oasis.

Taylor said the Las Vegas comic book store industry as a whole is surviving, if not thriving.

"Comic book stores are agile. If you control your inventory you don't have that much of a risk," Taylor said.

However, depending on when a lease was signed, rent can be a problem. If a store, for instance, signed at the end of 2007 when rents were sky high, that could have a huge effect on business. If an owner signed in 2010, they could be getting a deal.

"That was one of the worst parts of the economy," Taylor said.

Popular items at Comic Oasis include books from the True Blood and Batman lines. Taylor's customers range in age from 14 to 35, and 80 percent of them are male. Today's comic book fan is looking for books with good stories, Taylor said, not just great art.

"They want to have something to read," he said.

For 16 years, Cosmic Comics has experienced growth every year with the exception of one year, according to co-owner Jim Brocius.

"I'm not sure what it is that drives people to take up reading as a form of entertainment," Brocius said of his success. "I'm a hard worker. I've reinvested everything I've made. Selection is the key."

When he first opened Cosmic, Brocius said there were about 28 stores. Since then, he's seen many come and go.

"I've seen dozens and dozens of them fail, probably 50 or 60," Brocius said.

Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588.

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Anglo-Welsh LV= Cup results - BBC Sport

Tries:
James 4, Hamilton, Cook Tries:
York, Stegman 2, Smith, Chisholm 2 Conversions:
Clegg 4, Urdapilleta Tries:
Biggs 3, Woodburn, Ovens Tries:
Long, Craig, Elliott 2, Cato 2, Waller Tries:
Wilson, Vickers, Swinson, Gopperth Tries:
Stringer, Melck, Tomkins 2, George Tries:
Batty, Perenise, Woodburn, Donald, Beech Tries:
Buxton, Molenaar, Simpson-Daniel 2, Hazell Tries:
Forsyth, Lewington, Pienaar Tries:
Ewers, Dorrian, Muldowney Tries:
Jones, Dirkson, Walker, Watermeyer Tries:
Warren, Myhill, Pugh, Murphy Tries:
Thompstone 2, Armitage, Bowden Tries:
Helleur, Goosen, Graham Penalties:
Shingler 3, Bowden Conversions:
Shingler, Bowden Tries:
Powell, Penney, Farrell, Vyvyan Tries:
Heathcote, Louw, Banahan, Cuthbert, Skirving, Woodburn, Abendanon Tries:
Artemyev, Hartley 2, Clark Tries:
Hart, Varndell, Filipo, Simpson Conversions:
Davis 2, Robinson Tries:
Cole, Tuilagi, Youngs, Agulla Tries:
Addison, Dickinson, Leota Tries:
Andress, Dollman, Tatupu Tries:
Vainikolo, May, Narraway, Lawson, Lawson, Sharples, Burns Tries:
Vernon, Higgins, Miller Tries:
Urdapilleta, Lindsay-Haugue Tries:
Wilson, Goosen 3, Mayhew Tries:
Woodburn, Banahan, Biggs, Carraro, Spencer, Cuthbert, Perenise Tries:
Murphy 2, Gilbert, Williams, Williams Conversions:
Thomas, Williams 2
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Q&A with artist and lecturer Erik Wahl - Las Vegas Business Press

Monday, March 19, 2012 BY CAITLIN MCGARRY

Corporations that want to inspire their employees have turned in recent years to an unlikely source: a graffiti artist.

Erik Wahl, who once worked in the corporate world himself as the owner of a brokerage firm, went from negotiating contracts to painting canvases after feeling burnt out and wanting to creatively recharge. Wahl wasn't a painter, but he was inspired to start creating works of art. That was about a decade ago.

These days, Wahl is on the lecture circuit, touring the country and speaking to businesses about applying creative, left-brain thinking to right-brain activities like inking deals and strategizing new plans for the future.

BILL HUGHES | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Artist and consultant Erik Wahl makes a point March 7 during his "The Art of Vision" seminar at the Air Conditioning Contractors of America conference at Paris Las Vegas. He compares great artists creating classic pieces to businesses inventing important products.

"Entrepreneurs can use the same kind of thinking to create great opportunities," he said.

Wahl uses art to convey his message, and considers his talks more of a performance than a speech. Onstage, he cues music to match the time it takes to paint. He crafts portraits of famous people while performing; Elvis Presley, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Abraham Lincoln have appeared in his pieces.

Wahl speaks in Las Vegas about once a month, and most recently appeared at the Air Conditioning Contractors of America's convention March 7.

Question: As an artist with experience working in the corporate world, what do you tell businesses when you speak to them?

Answer: It's opening up the channel between right and left hemisphere. How do you create an emotional experience in the right hemisphere and transfer it over into the left logical side? Through our education, business, work, we separate the two. We have emotional fun, outside work experiences and the transactional experiences. Merge those together.

Question: How would you describe your art?

Answer: Graffiti art, performance art. All of my paintings are created in two to three minutes. If I'm painting John Lennon, I'll do it to the song "Imagine."

Question: What do business audiences take away from your performances?

Answer: They haven't seen an artist create something so quickly and passionately onstage and also be able to speak practically to their business. There (are) great business speakers and great artists, but there's no one (else) who can translate that and make it successful.

Question: How can people buy your works?

Answer: I don't sell any of my artwork on the commercial market. The only way to get it is through the live performances I do. I also hide them in various locations around the world. (I want to) engage the community. I want them to get out and look and find something they haven't seen before. (I want to) make it available to everyone.

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5273.

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Manning dramatically improves Broncos Super Bowl odds - USA TODAY

Peyton Manning's reported desire to join the Denver Broncos was enough to remake them from Super Bowl XLVII outsiders to serious contenders among Las Vegas oddsmakers.

Sports books quickly reacted to the quarterback's decision, lowering odds that were 50-1 last month with Tim Tebow at QB to as low as 10-1. One of them, Bovada.lv, listed them at 12-1 along with the Houston Texans after posting them at 50-1 on Feb. 6 -- the day after Manning's younger brother, Eli, led the New York Giants to a second Super Bowl victory against the New England Patriots.

The Green Bay Packers (13-2), Patriots (15-2) and New Orleans Saints (10-1) are ahead of the Broncos and Texans according to Bovada.lv

"Our Super Bowl odds have been down for a couple weeks until we knew where Peyton would go, since this signing would have such a huge impact on every team's odds," Bovada.lv Sportsbook manager Kevin Bradley said in an email. "As I expected, the public is taking them regardless as soon as we opened. We were a bit lucky that Denver came out of nowhere in the Manning Sweepstakes so not too many people bet them at 50-1."

Lucky's sports book also has the Broncos at 12-1, with director Jimmy Vaccaro telling the Las Vegas Sun, "there will be no bargains on Denver winning it all now. It's very apparent that we're going to get a lot more money on Denver with the Peyton signing. I relish anything that creates interest. And this might be the biggest free-agent signing of all time."

He's an even choice to win Comeback of the Player award and a 7-1 choice to win a fifth MVP trophy according to Bovada. The Broncos' odds of playing the New York Giants in SB XLVII remain high (50-1) but they're a 6-1 choice to win the AFC and 2-3 favorites to win the West division.

Manning has also sparked a market of proposition bets, with Bovada offering wagers such as whether his first pass in 2012 will be complete (5-9), incomplete (3-2) or intercepted (10-1).

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Headed to the peak - Las Vegas Business Press

Monday, March 19, 2012

The Las Vegas Business Press' annual Rising Stars of Business Awards each year celebrate 10 up-and-coming professionals who are changing the way business is done in their industries.

In the past, we have chosen chief executive officers, presidents and partners, those at the very top of their game. For our sixth Rising Stars class, we looked for men and women whose best years have yet to come.

We sifted through piles of nomination forms to find entrepreneurs and forward-thinking workers who stood out from the pack. We looked at career achievements, philanthropic efforts and community involvement to winnow the pile to 10 from more than 100.

JEFERSON APPLEGATE | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Matt Engle, business development executive, Cragin & Pike JEFERSON APPLEGATE | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Zachary Delbex, CEO, Repurpose AMERICA JEFERSON APPLEGATE | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Nicole Mastrangelo, director, Young Philanthropists Society, United Way of Southern Nevada BILL HUGHES | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Aron Ezra, vice president of mobile technologies, Bally Technologies JEFERSON APPLEGATE | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Alison Monaghan, account executive, Kirvin Doak Communications JEFF SCHEID | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Suken Shah, assistant vice president, online marketing manager, Nevada State Bank JEFERSON APPLEGATE | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Dan Palmeri, director, Commercial Real Estate Solutions BILL HUGHES | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
M. Magali Wysong, associate, Pisanelli Bice JEFERSON APPLEGATE | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Tiffany Widdows, director of marketing, Play LV JESSICA EBELHAR | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Courtney Murphy, founder, manager, Community Management Group Many of our selections are young professionals making serious waves in fields ranging from gaming and finance to law and real estate. If 2012 truly is the year of downtown, a handful of our award winners will be at the forefront of its renaissance. Others still are advancing their companies into the technological frontier.

Regardless of their job titles or areas of expertise, this year's Rising Stars prove that hard work, especially in these tough economic times, goes a long way in any industry.

Kudos to our 10 winners, who will lead their companies out of the recession and into a bright future.

MATT ENGLE

Business development executive, Cragin & Pike

Matt Engle is passionate about Las Vegas, having grown up here and having attended Western High School and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

He's also passionate about making sure UNLV graduates have a place to go to network and put themselves in front of potential employers. To create that place, Engle in May will launch the Rebel Business Network.

"It's almost like building our own alumni association," Engle said. "The idea is to connect UNLV to graduates in the business community and businesses with alumni looking for interns or employees."

The network will include an online business directory of UNLV alumni-operated business professionals, networking events and opportunities for companies to hire alumni. Engle said there are a number of companies doing business here who are looking to "hire a Rebel."

Engle, who graduated from UNLV in 1991, recently stepped down as president of the UNLV Alumni Association. He admits he's been called "Mr. UNLV" a time or two, because of his close relationship with the university.

He is also a graduate of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Las Vegas Program.

Engle credits his close ties to UNLV with helping him become a successful insurance executive. He's spent more than 10 years in the industry both as a licensed agent and in business management.

Today, Engle works for Cragin & Pike, a commercial insurance and risk management firm in Las Vegas, where he's started a seminar series on Cyber Security for the firm's clients.

He joined the firm almost two years ago after a successful stint at AAA in business management.

Engle said he was looking for a new challenge when Greg McKinley, a fellow UNLV alum and past president of the alumni association, recruited him to join Cragin & Pike.

"I was looking for a niche," he said. "It turns out to be cyber liability insurance. Most companies don't realize that in the event their system is breached they are financially responsible."

Engle said he started the seminars to outline what companies have to do if a breach occurs.

"Most companies didn't know you can buy insurance to pay for those costs," he said. "I held four sessions last year ... now a number of brokers at the firm hold similar seminars." — Chris Sieroty

ZACHARY DELBEX

CEO, Repurpose AMERICA

"I can't do $50," Zachary Delbex told the shopper trying to squeeze out a low-ball price on a table and chair set. "Make it $80. OK, $75."

Haggling with people at a yard sale in front of his home might seem like an unlikely way to spend a Friday morning for someone tagged as having a bright business future. But 29-year-old Delbex will bend his job description as CEO to whatever it takes to keep his nonprofit Repurpose America going.

A week earlier, a major fire at a warehouse next to Repurpose America's in North Las Vegas destroyed a major portion of the inventory stored on an outdoor lot. The yard sale of some of the pieces that survived helped generate some quick cash flow.

"People always say with a fire that insurance will cover it," Delbex said. "But they cover it after the fact and not always on the timetable that you need."

Although he shuns the term recycling, that's what he has built Repurpose America to do. But instead of collecting cans or newsprint so they can be processed down to their base elements and then remanufactured, Delbex gathers the leftovers from conventions that cannot be recycled and changes their purpose.

For example, he took the huge vinyl banners cut for last year's International Consumer Electronics Show, cut them up and reassembled them as this year's credential badge holders. Following the typical pattern, CES donated the banners and then bought the badges to burnish its environmental standing, with the promise of a rebate based on the number of badges it returns. This gives Delbex the chance to find a third use for the same vinyl.

While banners to badges generated the most sales, he looks for other products to try to sell such as vinyl stadium seat cushions and paper board that can be cut into sections and reassembled as shirt folders.

Delbex started the company five years ago, originally under the name Greener Vegas, after driving a forklift for setting up and taking down trade shows.

He dabbled in the idea of trying to find some useful purpose for convention decoration that would otherwise wind up in a landfill before trying to do it full time.

"I'm crazy enough to think that I can change the world and stupid enough to invest in it," he said. — Tim O'Reiley

SUKEN SHAH

Assistant vice president, online marketing manager, Nevada State Bank

Social media is crucial to Nevada State Bank's efforts to reach its customers, attract new business and monitor its online reputation. Overseeing it all is Suken Shah, assistant vice president and online marketing manager.

Shah, a 2003 University of Nevada, Las Vegas graduate, said social media has moved way past being a niche operation for the bank, and has developed into another way of having a "conversation with our clients."

He said the company's pages on Facebook or LinkedIn are about making Nevada State Bank available to its customers online or through mobile or smartphones.

Shah describes the bank's LinkedIn page as its "consumer blog" with links to information about small-business financing, professional banking and business banking.

On Facebook, Nevada State Bank posts photos from employee events and offers advice on how consumers can organize their taxes. Shah said the bank's Facebook page allows it to connect quickly with customers when there is a problem or they have questions.

He said the bank's goal is to be able to respond to a question or complaint within 24 hours. Shah said the goal is to take care of problems quickly so they don't turn into bigger issues.

Social media also attracts a younger demographic, which has helped the bank reach out to new, younger prospective clients in the community, he said.

Shah is familiar with that demographic having taught marketing at UNLV's College of Business for a few years.

He's also part of that demographic that's most comfortable conducting most of its business online or using their smartphones.

"It's funny, ever since I was little, I was interested in computers," Shah said. "I used to ask my parents if I could get online all the time. It started from there." — Chris Sieroty

NICOLE MASTRANGELO

Director, Young Philanthropists Society, United Way

As a native Las Vegan, Nicole Mastrangelo is a born fundraiser.

At 23, she cut her teeth on the craft at KNPR-FM (88.9) as a development associate, where she coordinated public radio pledge drives, secured items for online auctions and coordinated volunteers. None of that, though, bothered her. The on-air pleas for money, though, rattled her a little, at least the first time.

"Are you kidding? It was totally nerve-racking," Mastrangelo said. "They just threw me on KNPR at drive time."

Mastrangelo's first on-air read lasted about eight minutes. She made her case for why listeners should support the station, then explained the donation levels. As nervous as she was, she was a hit. From then on, Mastrangelo was the station's go-to person whenever someone needed a break from on-air duties.

"It showed me not to be fearful of anything. It's a confidence booster," Mastrangelo said.

These days, the Western High School graduate is the director of the Young Philanthropists Society for the United Way of Southern Nevada, a position she's held since January. She helps guide the niche group of 60 donors -- from about 20 to 40 years old -- in their philanthropic pursuits.

"I love this city. I love the philanthropic vibe that's here," Mastrangelo said. "I'm in the relationship business. I love connecting people."

When she's not connecting donors with projects, Mastrangelo is helping promote downtown. For the past 10 years, she's been involved with the Get Back, and can be found at the monthly soul dance party every First Friday.

"I'm a big, big cheerleader for the downtown development," Mastrangelo said. "You will catch me at any of those bars on any given weekend." — Laura Carroll

ALISON MONAGHAN

Account executive, Kirvin Doak Communications

Alison Monaghan is making her dreams come true as an account executive at Kirvin Doak Communications.

At 28, Monaghan specializes in the nightlife industry, working on accounts like the Electric Daisy Carnival. One of her most memorable career moments was working with the event last year.

"Being able to land stories with national outlets like Rolling Stone and The Wall Street Journal -- that's a publicist's dream," Monaghan said.

She didn't always want to be on this side of the coin, though.

"When I was in high school I always thought I would be a reporter," she said.

After her freshman year at the University of Missouri, Monaghan realized she couldn't be satisfied telling someone else's story, she wanted to help craft it. She transferred to Iowa State University for the remainder of her college career and focused on public relations.

At 19, Monaghan organized a three-on-three basketball tournament to benefit her friend Kris Langgaard who at the time had cancer. She raised $6,000 in her hometown of Guthrie Center, Iowa, which went to help Langgaard's family pay his medical bills.

While helping her friend, (who is now healthy) Monaghan discovered a passion for publicity.

"After that I was hooked," she said.

After graduating in 2005, Monaghan applied for publicity work in New York City, but was confronted by potential employers who questioned her ability to move from her small town -- Guthrie Center has a population of 1,500 -- to the Big Apple. Monaghan decided that if she were ever going to move, she would just have to do it and not wait for an employment opportunity.

She landed in Las Vegas and took a job with Vanguard Media Group.

After nine months, she applied for and was chosen for a gig at Kirvin Doak, where she helped with accounts including MGM Grand's nightlife venues and CityCenter. Eventually Monaghan took work as an in-house public relations representative for Wynn Las Vegas.

After about a year there, Kirvin Doak offered Monaghan a management position, which proved to be an offer she couldn't refuse. She now oversees two employees.

"I feel that I'm so lucky that at 28 I love coming to work," Monaghan said. "I love that I don't know what's around the corner." — Laura Carroll

DAN PALMERI

Director, Commerce Real Estate Solutions

Just a couple of months ago, Dan Palmeri moved from Henderson to downtown Las Vegas, snagging a one-bedroom condo at The Ogden high-rise tower and melding into a hip culture that fits the 30-year-old commercial real estate broker's lifestyle.

He dines two or three times a week at Le Thai restaurant, sips espresso at the Beat Coffeehouse and meets up with friends at the Griffin cocktail lounge, all within a block of his home.

"Part of the reason I moved down here is this urban environment," said Palmeri, director of Commerce Real Estate Solutions. "I lived in Henderson for nine years and there's nothing to do after work but go home. Same with San Diego and Los Angeles. Down here, the ability to walk to everything is so enjoyable. It's more fun than I expected."

Palmeri, who is originally from Calabasas, Calif., moved to Las Vegas 10 years ago and went to work at his family's restaurant in Henderson. He's done it all, from busboy to waiter to manager.

"I grew up in the restaurant business, but it's not what I wanted to do the rest of my life," he said. "You're married to it, to say the least. It definitely gives you a great work ethic."

Palmeri got his commercial broker's license and worked at Colliers International for six years before teaming up with Mike Dunn at Commerce Real Estate Solutions. His primary focus is tenant representation.

"I'm providing a fiduciary commitment to the tenant. If you're a tenant, you don't want to be negotiating through the same agent for the landlord. That creates a conflict," Palmeri said. "I know the market conditions, what concessions to ask for."

Palmeri said he soaked up as much knowledge about the business as he could in a down economy.

"There weren't a lot of deals going on, so I pounded the streets and learned the market. I was actually grateful not to know it when it was good. If you don't know what good is, this is good," he said.

Palmeri said his mother always told him that his hard work and persistence would pay off someday. Now he's been selected as a Rising Star.

"Dan is extremely hard-working and dedicated," said Abran Vigil, a Las Vegas attorney who nominated Palmeri for the award. "He is a premier tenant representative, very knowledgeable, an effective negotiator and he secures great results." — Hubble Smith

ARON EZRA

Vice president of mobile technologies, Bally Technologies

Aron Ezra wants to turn your smartphone or tablet computer into a slot machine.

As the vice president of mobile for slot machine maker Bally Technologies, Ezra is overseeing the development of applications that could be at the forefront of legalized Internet gaming. For now, they allow casino customers to play Bally's games for free.

Some of Bally's most popular slot machine titles have been downloaded more than 100,000 times.

"Two-thirds of all phone sales today are smartphones and there are more than a million apps out there," Ezra said. "I read somewhere that on Christmas there were something like 240 million downloads. That's pretty stunning."

The idea behind Ezra's work is to catch the attention of casino customers.

His initial efforts caught Bally's attention.

He joined Bally Technologies after the slot machine maker acquired San Francisco-based MacroView Labs last summer, a 2-year-old mobile technology company he founded with a partner. Ezra, who was the company's chief executive officer, moved with a team of engineers to Las Vegas following the purchase and went to work for Bally.

MacroView was already developing applications and technology for the gaming industry and hospitality companies when it was bought by the slot machine giant.

Ezra reports to Bally's systems division, which provides casino management and slot machine floor management tools to casinos.

"The mobile piece encompasses so many aspects," Ezra said. "We can approach a traditional casino with an application that covers the entire casino, such as marketing and promotions, as well as allowing customers to play games for free."

One avenue could be Internet gaming, depending on what is eventually approved by Congress on a federal level, or by individual states. The smartphone and tablet applications could eventually allow customers to wager online using their mobile devices.

"Right now, free-play gaming continues to mature," Ezra said.

A graduate of Princeton University, Ezra served as a senior vice president with communications firm Hill & Knowlton, and as a director with The Advisory Board Co., a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm. — Howard Stutz

TIFFANY WIDDOWS

Director of marketing, Play LV

By this stage in her career, Tiffany Widdows figured she would be heading a nonprofit organization.

Instead, as marketing director for the company operating the Plaza, Widdows is part of the group trying to revive downtown Las Vegas.

The Plaza underwent a $35 million renovation last year, which includes Oscar's Beef, Booze and Broads inside the property dome overlooking Fremont Street.

Widdows, 28, oversaw the rollout of Oscar's, Hash-House-A-Go-Go and the Plaza's new entertainment aspects.

"I actually just got off the phone with the Mob Museum and we're looking at discussing some type of partnership," Widdows said. "We see the Plaza as a key player in what's happening downtown with the Smith Center, Symphony Park and all that is going on along East Fremont."

A casino was the last place Widdows figured she would end up.

Widdows, a Northern California native, graduated with a sociology degree from the University of California, San Diego, and came to Las Vegas six years ago.

Instead of nonprofit work, Widdows landed a job in marketing at the Stratosphere. The position allowed her to learn the casino business, deal with entertainment and gain an understanding of the hotel side of the business.

With Play LV, the company running the Plaza, Widdows coordinates the resort's marketing efforts, including advertising, direct mail, creative design, digital marketing and website development. She also handles public relations and social media for Plaza.

One of her other roles is working with Oscar's namesake, ex-mob attorney and former three-term Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

That aspect of her job, alone, can be a full-time position.

"Working with Oscar is unique," Widdows said. "He knows what he wants and what it takes to make the restaurant successful. I love hearing his stories."

Widdows joined the Plaza before the resort's renovation. She said the new look and attractions allow her to gain a new appreciation of the hotel-casino.

"I was here during the sadder times," she said. "Our best times are ahead." — Howard Stutz

COURTNEY MURPHY

Founder, manager, Community Management Group

Courtney Murphy bounced around college for a couple of years, changing her course of study from chemical engineering at the University of Arizona to business at the University of Nevada, Reno.

It was there that she took a part-time job in homeowners association management, found out how much she liked it and quit school to go into the business.

In October 2009, Murphy founded Community Management Group, a company that manages more than 60 community associations in the Las Vegas Valley.

"I essentially took over another company that was failing," the 27-year-old supervising community manager said in her office at 3360 W. Sahara Ave. in Las Vegas. "It was tough, but it's been a great experience because I learned so much about myself, about life and relationships. It's an eye-opener.

"When you go from working for someone to being someone that people are working for ... my perception has changed and my patience level is astronomically higher than before. You learn how relationships can help develop your company. I put relationships with my staff before everything else. A happy staff means happy clients," she said.

Murphy, a graduate of Basic High School in Henderson, supervises a staff of 27 and has expanded her office from 10,000 square feet to 14,000 square feet.

"We're really proud of our growth. This month is our biggest growth month in terms of clients," she said. "We've just been growing based off our reputation. I do very little marketing because, to be honest, I don't have time for it. I get a lot of clients by referrals, which is the biggest compliment that an owner of any company can get."

Community Management Group helps homeowners associations save money by providing them with cost-saving measures specific to their communities, Murphy said.

She's found ways to reduce HOA assessments by planning finances better, taking more bids on services and being proactive in common-area maintenance.

"We like to think out of the box and be creative to find ways to save money, which is huge in this economy," Murphy said. "We go through each community and find creative ways to help them save a couple of hundred dollars here and there. And that adds up." — Hubble Smith

M. MAGALI WYSONG

Associate, Pisanelli Bice

Magali Wysong's doctor parents expected her to follow them into the medical field.

But Wysong had other plans. After wrapping up her bachelor of science in business administration at the University of Nevada, Reno, she thought she'd give law school a try. She'd always loved reading, discussion and the exchange of ideas.

Her hunch was right on: Wysong thrived at UNLV's William S. Boyd School of Law, serving as managing editor of the school's Nevada Law Journal, clerking as judicial extern for the Honorable James Mahan of the U.S. District Court for Nevada and graduating cum laude in 2009. Along the way, she won a Dean's Award and a Scribe Award from the American Society of Legal Writers.

"Law school had a very cooperative environment," recalled Wysong, 28. "Everyone was very supportive, and we all worked together."

Wysong has taken her collegial approach to two local firms as an attorney practicing commercial litigation. After graduation, Wysong worked as an associate attorney for Holland & Hart. She joined Pisanelli Bice in February 2011. Her work has included providing research and legal support on cases ranging from political-race disputes to developer disagreements. She chose commercial litigation for its variety.

"I knew it would be the most interesting area to me, that I would be constantly writing," she said. "As a commercial litigator, you become a mini-expert in so many different areas. One day you might be working on water rights, and the next day, you might be working on property rights."

Yet, Wysong says the most enjoyable part of her work is a cooperative atmosphere similar to her experiences at Boyd Law School.

"I'm amazed every day at how smart everyone is (at Pisanelli Bice)," she said. "We talk about cases with colleagues, and it's very collaborative. It's very nice to have a supportive system."

Wysong took an unusual path to her career.

A native of Puerto Rico, Wysong left her family at 16 to move in with her aunt in Las Vegas, where she could start earning college credits while in high school.

"That was probably one of the best decisions I ever made," she said. "Had I not made that move, I don't know if I would be where I am." — Jennifer?Robison

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