Posts

Police ID Suspect in Deadly Car Rampage in Vegas

/2 Comments/in , /by

A 24-year-old homeless woman who cops said had been living in her car with her 3-year-old daughter in Las Vegas for about a week was charged Monday in the automobile rampage that killed one and wounded at least 35 others Sunday night.

Lakeisha N. Holloway appeared “stoic” when cops encountered her soon after the 1996 Oldsmobile sedan she was driving plowed into a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip multiple times – all while a young child was sitting in the backseat . . .

Holloway was booked Monday on charges including murder, first-degree child abuse or neglect and failing to stop at the scene of an accident, according to Clark County Detention Center records.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he anticipated also filing numerous counts of attempted murder. The charge of fleeing the scene is a felony and, as of Oct. 1, is a non-probationable offense.

The driver “went up and off these streets, two or possible three times,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lt. Dan McGrath said. The suspect then allegedly drove off before being apprehended outside the Tuscany Casino. After Holloway pulled into the casino lot, Lombardo said, she left her child in the car, approached a valet and told him “she ran over some individuals on Las Vegas Boulevard.” (Read more from “Police ID Suspect in Deadly Car Rampage in Vegas” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

One Dead, 37 Injured After Car Plows into Crowd on Las Vegas Strip

/3 Comments/in , /by

Las Vegas police said late Sunday that a woman who drove her car into a crowd of pedestrians along the Strip, killing at least one person and injuring 37 others, may have done so intentionally.

Police Capt. Brett Zimmerman told the Associated Press that while terrorism has been ruled out, the driver appeared to turn onto the sidewalk, hitting pedestrians, before going back into the street. She then drove onto the sidewalk again at a different spot of Las Vegas Boulevard, hitting others. Zimmerman said police are reviewing video from casino-hotel surveillance cameras.

Of the injured, six were in critical condition, 26 injured and four were treated and released, according to Lt. Peter Boffelli, who called the crash “a huge tragedy.”

“We know this was not an act of terrorism,” Zimmerman said. “We will comb through that footage to get a detailed idea of what occurred. Right now from what we know, we’re looking at it possibly being intentional.”

The crash took place at around 6:40 p.m. local time on a stretch of the Strip that includes the Planet Hollywood resort, where the Miss Universe pageant was taking place Sunday evening. There was no indication that the crash was connected to the pageant. (Read more from “One Dead, 37 Injured After Car Plows into Crowd on Las Vegas Strip” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Las Vegas Cop Shot ‘Ambush-Style’ While Sitting in Patrol Car at Traffic Light

/4 Comments/in , /by

las-vegas-undersheriff-2-e1441584276224A Las Vegas police officer is in stable condition Sunday after being shot in the hand “ambush-style” while he and a fellow officer sat in a patrol car at a traffic light, KTNV-TV said.

The suspect is in custody, police said.

Police told KTNV the suspect — who’s in custody — approached the cruiser just after noon and fired three shots “ambush-style” at the officers who had just departed the scene of a disturbance call. The officers fired no shots, police told the station.

The officer hit by gunfire was in stable condition at a hospital.

It’s the second time in three days that a Las Vegas police officer has been shot in the line duty. Officer Jeremy Robertson was shot in the upper leg Friday morning while answering a call; two suspects were taken into custody, KTNV said. (Read more from “Las Vegas Cop Shot ‘Ambush-Style’ While Sitting in Patrol Car at Traffic Light” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

'Duck Dynasty' Vegas Musical to Premier Next Year

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

The Duck Dynasty family is getting its own musical.

According to Variety, the story of the Robertson family will serve as the inspiration for The Duck Commander Family Musical, a new theater show that will open early next year at the Rio hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

The 90-minute show will reportedly be produced by Michael David, who previously produced the Four Seasons-themed smash hit Jersey Boys.

“The show will end up challenging the views and assumptions of people across the political spectrum, more than most theater does,” David told the New York Times. “The Robertsons are so unusual, their story so juicy, and theater shouldn’t be limited to telling stories about people you resemble or revere.”

“We’ve enjoyed the process of making a musical alongside the team who is interested in telling the Robertson family story from an outside perspective,” Duck Commander CEO Willie Robertson told the Times.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hacker’s Untimely Death Mourned at Las Vegas Black Hat Convention

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Isaac Brekken/APBarnaby Jack, the hackers’ hacker, was once again the toast of the Black Hat convention in Las Vegas.

He won an award. He drew packed crowds. His face adorned buttons and posters. His name was on everyone’s lips.

Except this time Jack was dead, the honours were posthumous and the gatherings were memorials. There were eulogies and questions: how did he die? What will happen to his work?

…The 35-year-old New Zealander was due to show how cyber criminals could remotely attack people with pacemakers and other implanted medical devices, but on July 25 was found dead at his home in San Francisco…

Friends said intellectual curiosity drove Jack to see if a villain could remotely hijack technology to steal, in the case of ATMs, or even kill, in the case of insulin pumps and pacemakers. He showed that a scene in which a terrorist kills a character in the TV series Homeland was not necessarily outlandish. “He had a flair for doing this that almost no one in our industry has,” said Chris Wysopol, a longtime friend and chief technical officer of Veracode. “Barnaby liked the excitement, the thrill of the hunt.”

Banks and medical equipment manufacturers shuddered when he probed their technology. “They always groaned. When someone outside your company does this it’s scary,” said Wysopol…

Read more from this story HERE.

GSA Parody Videos Released by Watchdog Group (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: YouTubeA conservative watchdog group released more than a half-dozen movie parody and comedy skit videos Tuesday that were removed from the General Services Administration website last year after a scathing inspector general report revealed the agency overspent taxpayer money on a lavish Las Vegas conference.

Judicial Watch used the federal Freedom of Information Act to obtain the videos, which include costumed GSA employees in parody movies scenes from “Rocky,” “The Godfather,” and “Mission Impossible.”

In the parody of “Rocky,” senior GSA officials lead employees on an extended jog through the corridors of the agency’s New York office and the streets of Manhattan, with the movie’s theme music playing. In another video, officials and employees participate in an elaborate “Jeopardy” game show parody, complete with theme music, light-up board and canned audience applause.

The group says it was tipped off about the videos from GSA whistle blower Linda Shenwick.

“This latest round of extravagant and embarrassing GSA videos is further evidence of a bloated federal government completely out of control,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

[Here’s a lengthy compilation of the skits. At about 7:50, you can watch a senior GSA employee rap, and at about 11:00, enjoy a GSA version of Jeopardy. And there’s much more, if you have the time to watch it]

Read more from this story HERE.

Casino Crony Kickback: Reid, Heller Slip Las Vegas Tourism Handout Into Immigration Bill

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) have inserted a provision that amounts to little more than a handout to Las Vegas casinos into the repackaged immigration reform bill, Breitbart News has learned. This provision, a brazen example of crony capitalism, was inserted into the immigration law enforcement section of the bill despite the fact that it has nothing whatsoever to do with “immigration” or “law enforcement.”

On page 66 of the repackaged bill, the following provision appears:

“CORPORATION FOR TRAVEL PROMOTION.—Sec- 9(d)(2)(B) of the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (22 U.S.C. 2131(d)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘For each of fiscal years 2012 through 2015,’’ and inserting ‘‘For each fiscal year after 2012.”

The Travel Promotion Act (TPA) of 2009 allows the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to spend up to $100 million on promoting travel to specific areas of the country. If the provision Reid and Heller inserted into the proposed immigration reform legislation becomes law, the benefits of the TPA would be extended indefinitely.

As the Heritage Foundation’s Jena McNeill wrote in June 2009, the Travel Promotion Act creates “a government-run public relations campaign funded by a tax on international visitors.” After the law was passed, the PR campaign touting Las Vegas casinos and other tourist destinations in the U.S. using that tax was rolled into a government-run corporation called “Brand USA.” In October 2012, Jim DeMint and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a report that “reveals a history of waste, abuse, patronage, and lax oversight” with the Brand USA program and the Department of Commerce that oversees it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Las Vegas Attempts to Cleanup X-Rated Litter but ACLU Threatens Tourists, City

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: Moyan Brenn

Some tourists try to dissuade them by directing icy glares their way. Others stare, zombie-like, into the Las Vegas Strip’s ubiquitous video screens and light displays in an effort to ignore the pushy handbill distributors.

But some tourists accept the pamphlets and glossy cards that advertise all-but-nude exotic dancers. Then, more often than not, they toss the material in the trash. Or if a trash can isn’t nearby, onto the sidewalk — creating an endless X-rated litter problem that Las Vegas officials are now trying to clean up.

A new ordinance requires handbillers to pick up litter within a 25-foot radius on the sidewalk. But there’s a hitch: The law might run afoul of the First Amendment.

“If someone takes some material, regardless of what it is, and then walks down the street and decides to drop it, that’s the person who is littering. That’s the person that is responsible, not the person who gave it to them originally,” said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union.

Las Vegas police aren’t enforcing the ordinance yet. The ACLU has been meeting regularly with the exotic dancer businesses and police to talk about how that will happen, as well as encourage handbillers to help keep the Strip clean. The group has not yet challenged the law in court.

Read more from this story HERE.