All Nevada News Is Not Casino News

Since I have not posted here for quite a while, and a full night's sleep still escapes me, as usual: ( According to what I've read, a normal night's sleep is 7 0r 8 hours without getting up in the middle of the night -- something I have not accomplished without drugs since 2001 !)

Nevada is a place that seems to get "newsy" in bursts and then there is only the background noise of the usual casino news.

To me the top story of the day is the closing of yet another bank ( Silver State Bank ) in Nevada. This can not bode well for the future, as Nevada is already burdened with enough bad economic news. The symptom of bad loans which becomes the cause of even more grief --- billions of dollars of losses will have to be paid from the US Treasury ( that's you and me via taxes ).

Another story is actually a future event, when the continuing saga of OJ Simpson's trial starting with jury selection on Monday, and the circus atmosphere returning to the Regional Justice Center. This will be great timing for TV media's slow news days following the Democrat and Republican national conventions; that is, in between hurricane tracks, missing children, cop car chases, and emergency airplane landings ( or crashes ).

A Nevada story of great interest to follow is the battleground state of Nevada's choice in the general elections. The recent GOP VP choice of Sarah Palin, a female governor from a conservative Western state, seemed to be tipping the scale slightly toward the Republican side, but it is still mostly a toss up at this time. I will leave it up to the political pundits and pollsters to follow this story!

Another future story is the big rise of apartment and house rental rates in the aftermath of the housing bubble burst in the Valley, and how this might affect the ability of the average casino worker who still has a job to actually afford to live here; but I will have to cover that in a future blog. Stay tuned, loyal readers.

Me, I'm driving up to Indian Springs today on business that hopefully does not involve either the US Air Force or the Southern Desert Correctional Facility. Especially thankful that the authorities are not involved ! :-)