Secret negotiations are underway to sell the venerable Las Vegas Country Club. Eyewitness News has learned that the country club's board of directors is engaged in talks about a sale to an unnamed buyer from the Middle East.

The Las Vegas Country Club drips with history and tradition and is home to many of the valley's most influential families, some of whom were blind-sided by the sales pitch now being made to the club's board of directors.

Someone wants to buy the club and develop the golf course land, although it's unknown what type of development the buyer has in mind. Negotiations began behind closed doors on Valentine's Day.

In a letter to the club's 600-plus members, the board president revealed that the would-be owner is 'part of a large Middle East-based consortium with very substantial holdings' who wants to seek dense rezoning for the club's 155 acres. Some residents speculated off-camera that the potential buyer might have ties to an oil-rich government in the Middle East.

This isn't the first time a deep-pockets investor has coveted the property. In 2004, billionaire casino man Steve Wynn offered more than $50 million for the same property. The members turned him down and changed their rules so any future sale would require a 2/3's vote of the members.

Most of the people who live within the walls of the country club are not members of the club itself, only homeowners or renters. They will have no say in how the property is developed but have told us off-camera that they are terrified that their pastoral golf course views might be gobbled up by condos. Whoever buys the golf course would not own most of the homes and many common areas including streets.

How serious is the offer? According to the letter, the unnamed buyer paid $100,000 as a non-refundable fee just to open the talks.

Although the potential buyer is not publicly known, the law firm which represents the buyer is known to have represented a large consortium from Dubai in the past.

Calls the board members were not returned.

Email your comments to Chief Investigative Reporter George Knapp.

Harrah's Entertainment, which was recently taken private, said Wednesday it swung to a fourth-quarter loss due to impairment charges, as its top executive described pockets of softness in the casino market.

The Las Vegas-based casino operator, the world's largest gambling company by revenue, reported a loss of $47.8 million in the three months ending Dec. 31, or 26 cents per share, compared with a profit of $47.6 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier.

Adjusted net income was $80.1 million, or 42 cents per share, compared with $84.9 million, or 45 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2006.

The company said revenue climbed 8 percent to $2.63 billion from $2.43 billion in the previous year.

Harrah's said results were hurt by $169.6 million in a pre-tax write-off of impairment charges resulting from annual accounting reviews at its Caesars Indiana in Elizabeth, Ind. and London Clubs International PLC.

London Clubs operates seven casinos in the U.K., two in Egypt, one in South Africa and is a consultant for a casino in Lebanon. The company was acquired by Harrah's in 2006.

Affiliates of Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital LP completed their $17.3 billion acquisition of Harrah's in January. The company operates 50 casinos worldwide, including Caesars Palace, Flamingo and Bally's in Las Vegas and Harrah's, the Showboat, Caesars Atlantic City and Bally's in Atlantic City, N.J.

For the year, Harrah's earned $619.4 million, $3.26 per share, compared with $535.8 million, or $2.85 per share, in 2006. Revenue rose to $10.82 billion from $9.67 billion in 2006.

In a call with analysts, Harrah's chief executive Gary Loveman described the company's regional market as “mixed,” citing its Harrah's New Orleans property as posting strong early numbers in
2008.

“Other markets, the results have been more modest. In Las Vegas, the gaming business has held up well, but room rates are off a little bit,” Loveman said.

Jonathan Halkyard, the company's chief financial officer, said the convention market in Las Vegas also had started to soften.

“We're seeing more cancellations and smaller number of participants for any group of that might attend a large show,” Halkyard said.

Revenue for the quarter in Las Vegas casinos rose to $905.2 million, up from $825.8 million last year. Income from Las Vegas area casinos rose to $199.2 million, compared with $192.3 million
from year-ago figures.

Harrah's casinos in the Atlantic City region saw income drop to $61.1 million from $64.3 million in the fourth quarter a year ago.

Loveman said Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack in Pennsylvania helped offset more further losses in the region, which he attributed to new smoking restrictions, increased promotional spending and competition from new gambling halls in Pennsylvania.
   
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, Metro police arrested three people near Chaparral High School — one adult and two juveniles.

Metro spotted a suspicious vehicle letting off a passenger in front of the school. They then pulled the vehicle over and spotted a sawed-off shotgun in the car. Metro also found several rounds of ammo for the shotgun.

CCSD school police assisted Metro during the car stop and arrest.

As Las Vegas grows, the people who are shaping the valley's future say without the arts, we will not be able to compete with other tourist destinations.

Las Vegas has a downtown arts district. Most people in the valley couldn't find it. Ask someone where to go to see contemporary art, they will most likely say they do not know. More people may be able to tell you that the classics can be found in the Bellagio and Venetian.

Community leaders say Las Vegas must find its art soul to make the next evolution. Tucked in the back of a public library on Sahara sits the Las Vegas Art Museum. In 1974, it became the first fine art museum in the state.

Libby Lumpkin, Las Vegas Art Museum's director said, “We occupy the West Sahara Library. We share the building with them. We have the smaller west end of the building.”

It's a hidden treasure. That's the problem according to MGM-Mirage president and COO Jim Murren.

“It is unconscionable today that we find it acceptable that the Las Vegas Art Museum is an addition to a public library. That is offensive,” said Murren.

Murren is shaping the future of Las Vegas by spearheading the CityCenter Project. He donates to the arts and says we are denying our children the chance to educate themselves.

“It is not acceptable that we have a sub-standard amount of cultural options here in general. That is why the performing arts center is such a critical effort that I love personally and corporately we enjoy,” he said.

The $470 million in private donations will build the Smith Center for Performing Arts downtown. It will open in 2011. The Las Vegas Art Museum has plans in 2009 to move to a new building on Sunset.

Lumpkin points to New York City as an example of how the arts anchor an area. She says the primary tourist draw in New York City is the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“With the Museum of Modern Art right behind it. Before Broadway, before any other attractions,” she said. Lumpkin adds for Las Vegas to take the next step in maturity as a city, the arts need to leap forward.

“The end of '09 you are going to see the beginning, the real beginning of a transformation of this town so that we will also be a cultural destinations well as a leisure destination,” said Lumpkin.

Both Libby Lumpkin and Jim Murren say a cultural core will diversify the attractions in Las Vegas. That in turn will bring more people.

Both new buildings will be in more central locations for the entire valley. The Performing Arts Center will be near the World Market Center downtown.

The new art museum will be near the airport on Sunset, making it a quick cab trip for tourists and just off the 215 for residents. Right now it's an $80 cab ride round trip for visitors on the Las Vegas Strip.

Email your comments to Reporter Edward Lawrence.

The Clark County Democratic Party is still wiping the egg off its collective face after this weekend's chaotic convention at Bally's. Thousands more people showed up than were expected. Now the county is calling for a “do-over.”

“This is the most disorganized mess I have ever seen in my life,” said Michael Shema, delegate.

“Chaos,” said Amelia Keene, delegate.

“I think they screwed up really bad,” said Steve Oldebeken, delegate.

The view from outside and inside the Democratic County Convention was raw politics. And from Joseph Cooper's lens – ”There was an awful lot of angst and anger going on,” he said.

It was easy to see there were problems. “It's pretty difficult getting that many people to agree on anything.”

Cooper works for PolitickerNV.com. He says all that anger is aimed at John Hunt and other county democrats for letting it happen. Hunt thinks otherwise.

“And that was all caused by the campaigns,” said John Hunt, Clark County Democratic Chair.

Hunt says the Clinton and Obama camps invited people who weren't supposed to be there in the first place, and real delegates got left out.

“How dare they? How dare they do that?” said Hunt.

But the ballroom may have been the biggest problem. Cooper was told the fire code limited it to 5,000 people. Bally's told Hunt it was limited for 7,500. Either way, delegates like Michael Shema got shut out.

“I'm a delegate; I can't get inside because the fire marshal said there's too many people in there,” said Shema.

So while the party regroups and figures out a better solution in a few months, Cooper takes a page from Will Rogers to sum it all up. “They're not members of any organized political party. They're Democrats.”

Monday on Face to Face with Jon Ralston, representatives from both campaigns responded to John Hunt's claims that Clinton and Obama supporters are to blame.

They say space and the convention rules led them to one decision.

“There was not adequate preparation for the convention–even going to the capacity issue alone,” said Billy Vassilliadis, an Obama supporter.

“They way the rules were, it favored the campaign that brought out the most people,” said Rory Reid, Clinton supporter.

April is likely the earliest the Clark County Convention can be rescheduled.

In an overwhelming vote, Democrats Saturday voted to abandon voting on delegates and instead try it again in a month.  

Saturday's Clark County Democratic Convention went anything but smooth. At one point, some people wanted to stop the vote and reconvene at a later time. There are even reports of people not allowed being allowed getting into the room.

These conventions are important because it's the second step toward deciding how Nevada's pledged delegates will be divided between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

When Eyewitness News cameras arrived, they couldn't get in because caucus officials were telling everyone that the fire marshal was threatening to shut down the convention because they were over capacity.

Hotel officials later said that never happened, but thousands of people were kept out early on, and that wasn't even where the problems began.

One of the first problems was the near 12,000 people who showed up for a conference being held in a room that only seats 5,000.

For six hours the campaigns debated with delegates and party leaders to bring the day to a peaceful resolution.

Delegates that were able to make it into the convention considered themselves lucky and those that were turned way because there was no more room were considered disenfranchised and a point of contention.

Eventually party leaders told the alternates to move to a smaller room so the registered delegates waiting outside could be seated, but there was a separate issue with the alternates.

Several people told us they were forced to register as alternates, even though they had their paperwork verifying they were delegates — and that was after they finally made it inside.

“It took me an hour just to get from the parking garage up to register. It's absolutely horrible, absolutely disorganized. I think they just weren't prepared for all the people here,” said one conventiongoer.

Many people said the registration process want fluid. Lines wrapped outside of the hotel and the process of paying the optional $50 registration fee kept people from getting inside on time for the start of the program.

Many first rejected the idea of postponing the vote because they worried they might not be able to attend the next one. But in the end, a final vote was taken and they decided to postpone the convention until the votes could be done right.

Officials with the Democratic Party said that the vote will take place again in about a month and this time there will be better plans in place to make this process quicker for delegates and make sure everyone is able to vote.

We asked party officials why a larger venue had not been reserved for the county convention. Their response, although they have a set number of delegates and alternates who could show up, never before have they had, nor did they expect, thousands to come.

Casino giant MGM Mirage Inc. reported soaring fourth-quarter profits Thursday, including a hefty gain related to its CityCenter project under construction on the Las Vegas Strip.

The world's second-largest casino company said net income surged to $872.2 million, or $2.85 per share, in the period ending Dec. 31, compared with $201.6 million, or 69 cents per share, in the same period in 2006.

The company, which owns several Las Vegas Strip resorts including Bellagio, The Mirage and Mandalay Bay, said earnings from continuing operations jumped to $870.8 million, or $2.85 per share, from $199.1 million, or 68 cents per share. Quarterly revenue rose 4 percent to $1.93 billion from $1.85 billion a year earlier.

The results beat expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who expected net income of 55 cents per share on revenue of $1.92 billion.

“Our future in this year, 2008, and well beyond is very bright,” Terry Lanni, company chairman and chief executive, told analysts in a conference call that emphasized the company's diversification and developments in the U.S. and abroad. 

“As a result of continued revenue growth and stable margins, we earned record profits in each of the four quarters last year,” Lanni said.

He said a key element in the fourth quarter was the Nov. 15 completion of a joint venture giving Dubai World, the investment arm of the Dubai government, a 50 percent stake in the CityCenter megaresort being built on the Las Vegas Strip.

Lanni called the transaction historic for the Las Vegas-based company, which received a $2.47 billion cash infusion. MGM Mirage will develop and manage the multi-hotel, retail and casino project. The project, now estimated at more than $8.1 billion, is expected to open in late 2009.

Dubai World's stake in MGM Mirage is due to increase to 9.1 percent in coming weeks with the purchase of 6.5 million more shares. Tracinda Corp., the investment arm of billionaire Kirk
Kerkorian, remains the main company stockholder, with just over 54 percent of company shares.

The company also cited the Dec. 18 opening of the $1.25 billion MGM Grand Macau, a joint venture in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, and said it recently obtained funding for what Lanni called “seed money” for a second project on Macau's Cotai Strip.

In November, MGM Mirage announced plans to manage, develop and operate a $3 billion mixed-use non-gambling complex in Abu Dhabi, including an MGM Grand resort.

“We are not investing any capital in this project,” Lanni said. “We will earn fees for managing the development and ongoing operations.”

Analyst Lawrence Klatzkin of Jefferies & Co. in New York, characterized the company as “confident in the future of gaming” with little fear of an economic slump.

“They expect a little bit of weakness in the first half of the year, but a recovery in the second half,” Klatzkin said. “They're saying the international side is doing as well as ever. They're going to be developing and managing, with other people's money, more than $10 billion worth of hotel projects.”

For 2007, the company said net revenues increased 7 percent, to $7.7 billion.

Fourth-quarter casino revenues increased 2 percent, with baccarat volume up 17 percent and slot machine revenues up 3 percent, the company said. Slot revenues at MGM Grand Detroit increased 12 percent with the opening of a new permanent slot facility.

A Jan. 25 fire on the upper facade of the company's Monte Carlo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip resulted in $90 million insurance claim for property damage and business interruption, according to Bobby Baldwin, company design and construction chief.

No serious injuries were reported among the 5,000 guests and 1,000 employees who were evacuated. The 32-story property remained closed until Feb. 15, when 1,224 of its approximately 3,000 rooms reopened. Baldwin said 2,026 rooms will be open by this weekend. But the top six floors, with 570 rooms most seriously damaged by smoke and water, will be redesigned and renovated to reopen this summer.

MGM Mirage shares were up 81 cents, up 1.25 percent, in afternoon trading.
  
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Eyewitness News has learned that federal agents have been inside Pure Nightclub at Caesars Palace all day. We have been told by IRS agents here at the headquarters of Pure Nightclub that they are conducting official business.

A little earlier Wednesday, Eyewitness News was on the scene as agents from both the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department were inside the offices. Again all they would say is that it is “official business” that brought the agents here.

They do hope to be finished with their work there by the end of the night.

Federal agents were also inside the Pure Nightclub inside Caesars Palace. We are also told by sources that agents showed up at the club at about 7 a.m. with a warrant and that this may be linked to tax evasion.

Channel 8 has also been receiving calls saying employees of the club are being told not to come to work Wednesday night.

Pure was set to host the after-party for Bette Midler after her first show Wednesday night at the Colosseum at Caesars.

Eyewitness News was told though that the VIP red carpet event will not be affected.

We did receive a statement from Pure Management Group. They tell us they are fully cooperating with the IRS investigation and look forward to a quick and satisfactory resolution.

They say until that time they will have no further comment about Wednesday's events. A spokesperson for the IRS says they might release more details about this case later Wednesday night. Of course, we will bring you that information as it becomes available.

There has been mixed reaction about Fidel Castro's resignation from the local Cuban community here in the valley.

There are close to 10,000 Cubans living here in Las Vegas and many of which are familiar with the popular Cuban restaurant, the Florida Cafe.

Cuban culture can be scene everywhere inside this restaurant. It's this culture that kept employees glued to the television all day for new developments in Castro's resignation. Among them was Malby's Martinez.

“They say Papa Fidel when you are little. They teach you that he is like God,” she said.

She still remembers what she was taught when she grew up in Cuba. She came to the United States in 1994 and now works at the Florida Cafe.

Her father is still in Cuba, along with several other family members. Today's news had her up early and calling friends and family here in Las Vegas.

“I was happy. He's not going to live forever. He's been there for so long that you give up,” she said.

But not all are celebrating just yet.

Sergio Perez owns the Florida Cafe and has been in the U.S. for 14 years. He got the call about Castro's resignation from his sister who is still in Cuba with their father.

He feels it's too early to know what this all means.

“Who has the power right now? Raul Castro is no different than Fidel Castro. It's the same. What is the difference?” he asks.

And until there is a free Cuba, he hangs onto the hope of seeing his family again soon.

“I want to hug my father and my sister,” he said.

Many we spoke with have tried to call their family in Cuba to see what is happening there, but the lines have been busy all day.

They see it as another example of how the Cuban government is controlling the people there.

Email your comments to Reporter Chris Saldana