The partiers are overflowing into Las Vegas for the New Year's Eve celebration. Las Vegas is expecting an additional 300,000 plus people to ring in the new year.

You have probably seen some of the prep work required to pull off the annual celebration. The most visible preparation will block traffic when the time is right.

Every year, county crews install gates to block all of the side streets crossing Las Vegas Boulevard. When the people take over the streets, the gates will be closed for public safety.

Sold-out hotels, standing room only in restaurants, packed casino floors — all of these are traditions for the largest party in Las Vegas all year. In fact, it's the party that kicks off the year.

More than 30,000 extra people are expected to converge on the four mile stretch that makes up the Las Vegas Strip.

“My husband and myself came in June for the first time. Absolutely loved it, so we brought the whole family back,” said Denise Appleby-Bell.

She and six other family members traveled for 26 hours from Yorkshire, England. The flight stopped over in San Francisco. Appleby-Bell says there is nowhere she would rather be for New Year's Eve than Las Vegas for a few reasons.

“Shopping and the night life — just the fact that my husband can stay in the casino and if I get tired, I can go do bed and leave him to it,” she said.

In order to make sure Appleby-Bell and the rest of the revelers stay safe, Clark County Public Works employees have been busy preparing. 

“I have heard it happen as early as 5 o'clock. It could happen as late as 9 o'clock. It depends on when the pedestrians and vehicle traffic become a public safety issue,” said Bobby Shelton of Clark County Public Works, regarding when the gates would cut off traffic.

Public works crews also welded manhole covers shut along Las Vegas Boulevard because of homeland security concerns.

All of it done with guests like Appleby-Bell in mind – because the preparation work may have started, but party plans may not be finished.

“We did look on the Internet. There are so many things going on. With so many of us, we did not know if everyone would be suited. So we just thought we will play it as it comes really,” said Appleby-Bell.

Now the entire family can do that safely because of the work being done to get the Las Vegas Strip ready.

When Las Vegas Boulevard closes sometime between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. New Year's Eve, the Interstate 15 off-ramps going east will also close at Tropicana, Flamingo, and Spring Mountain. Also, police recommend avoiding Frank Sinatra Drive.

On Monday morning, public works crews will also put out barricades along Las Vegas Boulevard. Metro will use them for crowd control.

Email your comments to Reporter Edward Lawrence.

Dubai World, the investment arm of the Dubai government, boosted its stake in MGM Mirage Inc. to 6.5-percent by making an additional purchase through Kirk Kerkorian's charity, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Cayman LP, an investment group for the Dubai government, bought 5 million shares of the Las Vegas-based casino operator from the Lincy Foundation on Dec. 24 for $424 million, or $84.80 per share, the filing said.

MGM Mirage stock was up $1.76 in morning trading Friday, at $86.01.

The investment gives Dubai World ownership of approximately 19.5 million outstanding shares of MGM Mirage. The casino operator had about 299.4 million shares outstanding as of Sept. 30, according to the filing.

Dubai World previously provided MGM Mirage with about $5 billion for a 50-percent stake in its $7.8 billion CityCenter megaresort being built on the Las Vegas Strip, and a minority stake in the company.

In October, Dubai World's cash tender offer for MGM Mirage ended short of its plan.

The company had offered to purchase up to 14.2 million shares, or nearly 5 percent of MGM Mirage's outstanding stock, at $84 per share. However, shareholders tendered 348,903 shares, or approximately 0.12 percent of the outstanding shares, which Dubai World agreed to buy. The company also agreed at that time to complete a previously announced deal to purchase 14.2 million shares directly from MGM Mirage at the same price.
 
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

The newest megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip may not open before New Year's Eve and is focusing instead on a grand opening Jan. 17, a company official said Thursday.

“We are still working with the county on our final inspections and permits,” said Ron Reese, spokesman for The Palazzo and its corporate owner, Las Vegas Sands Corp. “You want to have the building ready when you have guests in there.”

A spokesman for the Clark County Building Department could not say when an occupancy permit would be issued for the $1.8 billion hotel, 100,000-square-foot casino, restaurants and retail shops.

“We have inspectors at The Palazzo,” spokesman Dan Kulin said. “They've been there for the last few days and nights.”

Sands executives had planned to open the 50-story resort next to The Venetian by the end of 2007, and the company said during an August earnings report that the date would be Dec. 20. In recent weeks, company officials focused on plans for a “soft” opening this month to let year-end guests begin arriving while staff ironed out last-minute kinks.

Reese would not dismiss the possibility that the resort might open before New Year's Eve, when the Las Vegas Strip plans to host 300,000 people for a midnight fireworks display.

But he downplayed plans to make any announcement, and said passers-by might be the first to notice when doors open.

“It will be easy to tell,” he said, “when people are entering the building.”

“The Palazzo resort hotel casino is nearly complete,” Reese said in a statement that noted the company would not grant interviews until the grand opening.

“To help us best prepare for our grand opening in January we are continually reviewing potential dates for a soft opening” he said, adding that a date would be made public “in the immediate future.”

The 3,066-room property is designed to appear as a separate resort, but it shares guest amenities and services with the 4,027-room Venetian, the company's flagship Las Vegas resort.

Combined, the hotel complex will be among the largest in the world, Reese said, with almost 7,100 hotel rooms and suites and 2.25 million square feet of convention space.

The 36-floor Venetian opened in May 1999 at a cost of about $1.5 billion on the site of the old Sands hotel-casino, made famous by The Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.

In 2003, Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson added a 12-story all-suite tower called the Venezia.

A separate $500 million condominium tower is under construction, with the number of rooms yet to be determined and no firm date set for opening, Reese said. The company also owns properties in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau.

The Palazzo would be the first new resort hotel to open on the Strip in three years. It is part of a wave of new development also featuring casino mogul Steve Wynn's $2.2 billion Encore property, due to open in early 2009.

The $2.8 billion Fontainebleau hotel-casino and MGM Mirage's $7.8 billion CityCenter are due to open later in 2009. Boyd Gaming Corp.'s $4.8 billion Echelon complex is scheduled to open in 2010, and developer Elad IDB plans to open a $5 billion hotel-casino in 2011 modeled on the company's Plaza hotel in New York City.

Las Vegas Sands stock was down $1.95 Thursday at $105.97.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

New research suggests that getting a job in the casino industry may not be a bad idea. Gaming surveillance jobs are expected to jump 34-percent in the next eight years.

The list of 30-fastest growing occupations is out and if the government's list is right, odds are the Las Vegas job market is a sure bet.

Welcome to the surveillance society. You can't go many places in casinos, or other gaming areas, without your every move caught on tape by a security camera. With that heavy security comes the need for eyes to watch you.

David Schwartz with UNLV's Center for Gaming Research says being a casino surveillance officer is a growth area.

“With all the casinos opening up, this is probably a good time to get into the field,” he said. “Surveillance is something that the longer you do it, I think the better you get at it and you really have to have almost a sixth sense of what's going on on the casino floor.”

While many casino jobs have gone away with technology, the opposite is true with gaming surveillance.

“Surveillance is something where you still need a human person to look to make judgment calls,” says Schwartz.

Jonathan Fine is president of Sting Surveillance. His company has created a state of the art digital technology surveillance system.

“We're bringing in new technology. We're bringing in a new product — an unknown product to the industry,” he said.

He also believes casino surveillance is a booming job sector.

“I think it's going to become a more technical job. I think it's going to be a higher level job,” adds Fine.

While the glass eyes above will track and zoom, gaming surveillance brings new meaning to job security.

The job outlook was put out by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Email your comments to Reporter Aaron Drawhorn.

Local veterans are coming together to try to get a lounge at McCarran Airport for members of the military passing through.

Typically the USO provides lounges for soldiers in airports. They offer snacks, a place to rest and internet access to traveling troops.

But the USO recently denied a plan to bring its services to McCarran Airport.

Now, local veterans are coming together to open an independent military lounge at the airport which would offer many of the same services.

“It means the 50,000 or so military that frequent McCarran Airport as they leave to go to bases or come back will have an opportunity to go to a very nice upscale lounge,” said Denny Weddle with the Military Hospitality Center.

The local Military Hospitality Center would be located in what is currently the U.S. Airways VIP customer lounge.

The county has agreed to put up $750,000 of the cost associated with the lounge effort. The group hopes to have it open by Veterans' Day 2008.

Las Vegas is known for some serious heavyweight fights. But we've never seen a toe to toe, pound for pound auction battle over 13 acres of prime real estate near the strip.

Not surprisingly, this fight has an underdog, some grizzled veterans, County Commissioner Rory Reid moonlighting as an auctioneer and a surprise twist.

On one side, the underdog — Rick Burton from Rightpath, a development group from Arizona.

“It's 13 acres. It's exceptional,” he said.

They want to build a hanger on those 13 acres for planes — big toys for big boys.

The three veterans vying for the land; a local aviation company and two of the biggest names on the block — casino billionaire Steve Wynn and the sixth richest man on the planet, Sheldon Adelson who owns the Sands Corporation.

Round after round they went, 46 rounds to be exact totaling 98 bids. And as luck would have it, the underdog won.

“We knew that these were three 800-pound gorillas and we were maybe the chimpanzee, but it was fun,” adds Burton.

But that's not the twist. The land, originally thought to be worth $620,000, went for much more; $4.4 million to McCarran Airport every year for the next 30 years.

“We came here today with the intention of walking away with this piece of property,” said Burton.

Not bad for an underdog.

The money from the land, all $4.4 million a year, will be used by the airport for new construction and expansion. That's $132 million over the life of the lease.

Email your comments to Reporter Jonathan Humbert.

Las Vegas residents hoping for an improvement in our local economy are going to have to wait longer for things to get better. UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research unveiled their 2008 economic forecast Tuesday.

Without the Las Vegas Strip, Southern Nevada could be in some serious economic trouble. Travel and tourism continues to be strong for our valley, picking up the slack for the housing slump.

You may not see an economic struggle on the Strip, but travel just a few miles away, into residential neighborhoods and the problem is clear.

“It really is residential construction that is causing some serious problems, and that is the real drag that we've had on our economy,” said Dr. Keith Schwer, Center for Business and Economic Research.

Dr. Schwer with UNLV says too many houses were built that cost too much. Now 'for sale' or foreclosure signs sit on many front yard lawns, forcing builders to cut prices.

“When we see sharp decreases, they are likely to accelerate, so we are likely to recover here more quickly than other economies that have had housing problems,” said Dr. Schwer.

But even though we are expected to recover, it's a struggle Southern Nevada will more than likely feel through 2008. Experts with UNLV's Center for Business and Research say though our local economy is stronger than the national economy, we are moving sideways.

“Our major sector is doing very well,” said Dr. Schwer.

What sets Southern Nevada apart is travel and tourism — an industry that continues to see steady numbers and is expected to boom even more in the next few years, with the addition of 40,000 new hotel rooms — which means more jobs.

For now, experts say residents can expect to “muddle” through 2008 with hopes of a better 2009. Because travel and tourism plays such a huge role here in Southern Nevada, experts say there is a lot of risk that comes with that.

Travel could immediately drop with any global disturbance, like a terror attack, and problems with the national economy could also trickle down to us.

“The Best is Yet to Come” is the theme for the Las Vegas New Year's Eve party along the Las Vegas Strip and at the Fremont Street Experience.

As many as 400,000 people will gather to celebrate ringing in the new year. America's Party as it is called will include live entertainment in downtown Las Vegas and a fireworks show on the Las Vegas Strip. Fireworks will be launched from seven resort rooftops.

LasVegasNOW.com has complete coverage on our New Year's 2008 page

Police will have hundreds of officers in between barricades down the middle of the strip. The barricades will provide easy access for them and emergency crews to move up and down the streets with ease in case of emergency.

It's an idea they got from officers in New York handling the crowd at Times Square. Each officer will also have emergency crews alongside them.

Deputy Chief Gary Schofield says they'll be utilizing every available officer on the force that night.

“There's a lot of things going on and every available officer. Even undercover plain clothes officers are put back in uniform that night. They have to shave their beards off and cut their hair, but that's what we do,” he said.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has a complete list of events on their website.

There are also going to be several road closures starting at 5 p.m.

Police are offering several pointers to people interested in joining the party on the Strip. They want to remind revelers that the curfew for people under 18 will be strictly enforces.

People with small children and strollers are urged to avoid the Strip.

Police also remind the public that climbing on power poles is illegal and will lead to an arrest.

Metro officers held their last full-scale training on crowd control before New Year's Eve. Police have been preparing all year for the estimated 300,000 people expected to be up and down the Las Vegas Strip.

The biggest change from last year to this year will be in where the police focus their attention. Both the Stardust and Frontier have closed. Police anticipate that part of the north end of Las Vegas Boulevard will be almost empty.

The police presence will also shift. Metro police do not think they will need to test this training on New Year's Eve, but no one wants to take any chances.

Hundreds of officers on the Mobile Field Force Team had their last full scale exercise to prepare them.

“This is practiced training so that if something happens, they do not have to make up a plan as they go,” said Officer Bill Cassell.

These officers will be spread out up and down Las Vegas Boulevard on New Year's Eve. Depending on the problem, all of the officers can be used as one unit or smaller groups of police could use this training to stop a situation from escalating.

There is a crowd control line formed by officers. In that drill, officers subdue an agitator and haul him away. The K-9 units are used to help protect officers from others in the crowd.

“They can meet whatever problem that is presented to them with the appropriate level of force,” said Officer Cassell.

Add to that the mounted police. Horses seem to be able to move crowds at will. Even the police volunteers naturally jump when faced with the hind legs.

“In people's minds, they just don't know what that animal might do so it's the unknown that kind of scares them,” said Officer Matt Burris of Metro Mounted Unit.

And the fact that the horses are between 1,300 and 1,500 pounds makes them that much more intimidating.

Used all together, Metro hopes to have no problems ringing in the new year.

Metro actually came up with the crowd control techniques themselves. The plan started forming after riots in Las Vegas because of the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police in 1991.

Email your comments to Reporter Edward Lawrence.

Two magazine salesmen in Albuquerque are accused of murdering an elderly couple. Now it's been learned the company claims to be based in Las Vegas. The crime highlights a problem both Metro police and the state's attorney general's office have been working on in Nevada.

This neighborhood like many others in Las Vegas sees its share of door-to-door salespeople. We've all had them. A knock around dinner time, there's a younger looking person at the door giving a story about a school trip or charity. The pitch is — just buy a magazine to help the cause.

Vincent Barajas feels safe walking through his neighborhood. He takes a couple of his dogs for a walk almost every day. Those dogs also make sure the wrong people stay away from his front door.

“I have two pit bulls and the German shepherd and people – they sense that in people because there are some people they just don't like at all,” said Barajas.

Last week in Albuquerque, police say two door-to-door magazine salesmen murdered an elderly couple. According to Albuquerque police reports, the two were dropped off with 15 other salespeople.

Instead of selling, the police reports say Michael Lee and Travis Rowley robbed the couple. Then the report says Lee suffocated the wife and stomped on the husband's head until he died.

Both Lee and Rowley worked for Integrity Program, LLC, based in Las Vegas. The Better Business Bureau lists the company address near the intersection of Maryland and Sahara. The phone number has been disconnected and the office was not at the address.

Metro police officer Bill Cassell says this crime highlights the need to be cautious when anyone comes to the door.

“Ask them to show you their identification. They should have some type of ID. Usually it's a hand badge,” said Cassell.

Cassell says call the company to verify the salesperson is who they say they are. He adds always talk through the door while it's locked.

“If you do feel you want to take them up on their solicitation, buy a magazine or whatever it is they are selling – and you are home alone, wait until there is someone else with you,” he said.

That means asking them to come back later or use Barajas' plan to weed out the bad element.

“My dogs, yeah. They do let us know,” said Barajas.

The bottom line is be cautious. The state's attorney general's office says there have been more than 20 complaints against Integrity Program in Nevada.

The state Consumer Affairs division is also taking action against another company for selling subscriptions to another 20 people and never delivering. The recommendation from the state is not to buy anything at your door because too many bad apples outweigh the honest dealers.

Las Vegas Metro police put tips for preventing home invasion from someone knocking at your door on YouTube.

It's the first in a series of four crime prevention video clips. Click here to see.