Clark County Graffiti Abatement painted the walls on either side of Hacienda a few weeks ago to cover graffiti.  They thought everyone would be happy with the improvement.

“Here we’re out here trying to clean up the neighborhood and here a citizen is unhappy with the job we’ve done,” Chief of Code Enforcement Joseph Boteilho said.

Even though the Clark County has few complaints when it comes to graffiti cover-up efforts, one resident is “mad as hell” and has been fighting since the moment he came home and found that his walls had been painted. 

Joe Holmes lives on a corner lot, and the walls he battled the water district to paint in 2005 had no graffiti, but the county said they had the authority to paint it without notifying him first because of a permission slip signed in 1995.

“If (they were) concerned about the paint being the same on both sides of the street why did they not paint the portion of the wall in front of the water district, which is also on this side of the street? 

His explanation to me was that they did not have the authority to paint the wall belonging to the water district and I asked him what authority did he have to paint my section of the wall without my permission?” said Holmes.

To the untrained eye the difference is small.  The color difference is drastic enough to Holmes though, and Clark County has offered to repaint his walls with a color that almost matches the former color.  Holmes isn’t happy though.  He wants the same type of paint, in the same exact color. 

After talking more with Clark County Graffiti Abatement, Holmes is willing to look at a sample again.  Until he approves a new color, his walls will remain mismatched.

Is the great hope for nearly every political leader in Southern Nevada – build an arena and a team will come. But now the I-Team is investigating new worries that a $500 million “sure thing” arena project off the Strip may be having trouble.

This arena is going to be built behind Bally's at one of the busiest intersections in the city. Cab drivers call Koval and Flamingo the worst intersection near the Strip. Now there is going to be a 20,000 seat arena on the corner.

The joint project between Harrah's and sports developer AEG was announced a year ago. It was supposed to have broken ground nearly three months ago. Now the companies have few answers about how to deal with the thousands of cars at that crowded intersection.

If it's one thing you can learn about Las Vegas — big ideas get big attention. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman watched last year as AEG and Harrah's touted a new privately funded arena at Koval and Flamingo behind Bally's.

Since then — little has happened — giving Goodman's plans for a downtown arena a fighting chance. “Whoever turns the shovel first will have the NBA franchise here,” he said.

Only two problems – location and cars.

“Friday, Saturday night and the afternoon, that's going to be a jammed up situation,” said cab driver Jevon Dorsey. He says the backups and traffic jams are already bad. Another 20,000 people will make the area impossible.

“Where they gonna park it?” said Dorsey.

Clark Countysaid the project has submitted plans for drainage and some work has been done. Ground was supposed to have broken ground in June. But so far there is not a single piece of data on traffic.

Even the upbeat Goodman sees a problem. “Before they would ever be able to get that on, they're going to have to figure out how to get cars in and out,” he said.

No one from AEG or Harrah's was willing to speak on camera. The I-Team was told in early August no one would be available until after the Olympics. Executives came back from Beijing, but then went directly to Berlin for meetings in Germany. They asked us to call back in the middle of September.

During the original announcement, AEG and Harrah's said the arena was in a “convenient location” that was within “walking distance” of the Strip.

Dorsey says from where he sits, visitors can't or won't take the half mile trek from the Strip to Koval. “A lot of tourists can't even find the front entrance trying to get into a cab or limo,” laughs Dorsey.

Which leaves AEG's plan B: the monorail. People would drop their cars off at the convention center and zip over to Bally's and walk to the arena. No word on what would happen if game and convention are scheduled for the same day.

“That is basically a gimmick trying to keep the monorail alive,” said Dorsey.

It may be a big idea that got big attention. But Jevon Dorsey just sees a big problem. The only word from AEG is that the arena will still open in the fall of 2010 — on schedule — and architects are drawing up plans.

The person who answered at AEG headquarters questioned if there even needed to be a study of the traffic.

No word on when that June groundbreaking will actually happen.

Firefighters say a welder working in a trash chute sparked a fire inside a dumpster at the Bellagio Hotel-Casino Thursday morning.

The Clark County Fire Department says the fire was contained to the dumpster.

Five engineers were evacauted but hotel operations were not affected.

The 40/40 Club at the Palazzo resort is moving out. Wednesday, the club announced it's giving its space back to the casino.

The Palazzo says that area will become an upscale race and sports book and restaurant.

40-40 opened in December of last year.

County, state and federal road authorities are airing plans to deal with traffic and congestion around the Las Vegas Strip once a big Interstate 15 construction project begins.

The Nevada Department of Transportation has scheduled a 4 p.m. Thursday public information meeting at the Palace Station Casino-Hotel.

They're going to air proposals to deal with traffic on I-15 and surface streets between the Interstate 215 Beltway and the U.S. 95 Spaghetti Bowl interchange.

They're calling the effort the I-15 Resort Corridor Study. NDOT, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, the Federal Highway Administration, Clark County and the city of Las Vegas are all involved.

Officials say they expect to develop traffic alternatives by the end of the year — before construction begins on express freeway lanes.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

With the state in the red by hundreds of millions of dollars, cuts are costing everyone. Some trying to graduate college are feeling the pinch. Hundreds of courses were dropped this semester and that is forcing some to postpone graduation.

UNLV has already cut more than $25 million, but that may just be the beginning. The budget ax is falling and some students are suffering.

Another semester has begun, but this one will be different. 27,000 students returned to campus and many are learning a simple, but tough, lesson in economics.

Senior Jasmine Bradley had three of her summer classes canceled as the state slashed UNLV's budget, “They said for one of them, not enough people registered. For the other two, I just got a voicemail that said they were canceled — no explanation.”

The effect is huge. Bradley will go to her commencement as scheduled, but she won't be done finishing her degree, “Well, that means that I'll walk this December and those last three classes that got cut in the summer term will have to be picked up for next semester.”

“With the budget cuts has come pain, has come less class sections, less part-time instructors. We're trying wherever we can to minimize the effect on students.” UNLV spokesman Dave Tonelli says layoffs for part-time instructors have led to class cancellations, but the school is trying to avoid delayed graduations.

It could get a lot worse. The university may have to prepare for additional cuts of 14 to 20-percent. 15 employees have accepted a buyout offer and another 15 or so close to retirement age are also taking an offer to leave.

As a result of cutbacks, students have noticed some of their classes are more crowded, “It's difficult because when there are more kids in the class, you get less one-on-one with your teacher and with your professor.”

But in the current economic climate, it's the price of higher education.

“Actually I had my whole schedule just planned out. It was like boom, boom, boom, and I'm out of here. But guess not. I spoke too soon,” said Bradley.

While UNLV has cut class sections, they have added more offerings of required classes to keep students on track. In addition, the university has a new advising center to help students with their degree requirements.

Email your comments to Reporter Aaron Drawhorn

A Las Vegas woman is in the hospital and her three children are in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Police say the woman tried to kill herself by setting her bed on fire with her children in the home. The woman now faces charges of arson and endangering her children and others. The incident happened near Tropicana and Boulder Highway early Wednesday morning.

Firefighters say they received a call from a woman saying she was going to kill herself by lighting her bed on fire. She also told 911 dispatchers to send emergency crews to come rescue her children from the fire.

Metro officers did have to drag the mother kicking and screaming out of the apartment and the children were also removed safely. The children are all under the age of 10. The apartment is a total loss.

“It's really sad as firefighters to think that they have no consideration starting a fire like that and taking chance of you know taking their kids with them,” said Scott Allison, Clark County Fire Department.

The mother is currently at Desert Springs Hospital are being treated for smoke inhalation.

A computer failure in Georgia is causing flight delays all across the country, including here Las Vegas. The failure happened at a facility near Atlanta which handles flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S.

A similar facility in Salt Lake City, which normally handles the western part of the U.S., is now taking up the slack and that's causing major delays.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the problem is causing only delays. There are no safety concerns. Officials don't know, however, how many flights have been affected.

The problem trickles down to airports large and small across the country. Planes get backed up and that could mean late arrivals and departures for a lot of passengers at McCarran.

According to the FAA, outbound air traffic is experiencing gate hold and taxi delays of about 15 minutes. Earlier, we understand it was double that time. Most arrival flights are scheduled to land on time but several delayed flights are listed on the board.

The FAA says they're coming in to Las Vegas on average 15 minutes late. Elsewhere in the country, there are similar delays.

It's much worse at New York City's LaGuardia Airport. On top of the computer problems, there's some wind and weather-related concerns delaying arrivals into New York City.

And back here in the west, in San Francisco, it's about the same as it is at McCarran – also about 15 minute delays.

All of this is blamed on a government computer glitch. If you're expecting friends or family, you may want to allow yourself extra time. You can check flights with Flight Tracker.

Email your comments to Reporter Aaron Drawhorn.

Metro police are looking for the man who robbed the Cashier Cage at Harrah's Hotel and Casino on the Strip Sunday morning, just before noon.

Police are not sure how much money was taken from the cage. Harrah's says no weapons were used and the guests were unaware of the robbery.

Metro and Harrah's are now reviewing surveillance video to get a better description of the suspect. 

He is described as an African American man in his 50's, 5'11″, with close cropped hair.  He was wearing a brown striped polo shirt. 

Who was last seen exiting the casino onto Las Vegas Boulevard. If you know anything about this crime call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.

A Nevada man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for shooting two people at Caesars Palace after a fight.

Richard Shepherd shot into the lobby as retaliation against a man who insulted his sister.

He admitted the shooting was quote — one of the stupidest things he's ever done in his life.

The shooting was captured on casino security videotape.

Shepherd faced 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder charges.

The shooting wounded two people, neither of who was directly involved in the scuffle with Shepherd.