The stars were out Saturday night to help support the Las Vegas charter school Andre Agassi built. 

Celebrities such as Rod Stewart and Mariah Carey gave a private performance for the hundreds of donors shelling out big donations for Agassi's charter school. He's been a champion on the court and now he is one off the court. Andre Agassi's charitable foundation is one of the most successful in Las Vegas.

For the past 13 years he's raised $70 million to improve the education system in his hometown.  Agassi, speaking with Eyewitness News, said, “I built a charter school — a college prep academy in the most economically challenged part of Las Vegas — on Martin Luther King and J -street, it's a K thru 12 school.” In the tough economic times, Agassi admits he's lucky to be backed by many A-list celebrities in making his dream an ongoing reality. 

“These are 70% of kids who come from one parent homes kids who have no hope in their lives,” said Emeril Legasse, a longtime supporter and board member for the school.  “If anyone is going to figure out how to make better for the children of Las Vegas, it's going to be Andre Agassi.”

Singer Sheryl Crow is also a supporter, “Right now with the war, economy suffering, cancer money has been cut to an all time low, events like this, the way Andre does it, pulls from the worldwide community really admirable.”

The star-studded night is complete with performances by Mariah Carey and 16-year-old Charice Pempengco who shot to fame on YouTube leading her to America from The Philippines. “This performance tonight is for them I'm happy to be part of this because I can relate to them,” she said.

An emotional night indeed, this year's annual fundraiser means a little more to Agassi because the class of 2009 will be the first to graduate in June.  Agassi says, “it's a miracle you go there and walk down the halls you can't even believe what it is your feeling and seeing.”

Last year, the event pulled in $9.1 million. No word on how many private donations came in Saturday night. But just to give you an idea each table cost anywhere from $10,000 to $85,000. All of the tables were sold out.

The latest visitor numbers are out. August visitor volume was down almost 4.5-percent from last year, the sixth straight month of declines. As Strip casinos enter the slow season, they're having to work harder to entice visitors.

Not only are less people coming to visit the Strip, but those who are coming are spending less. Economic worries are now international and everyone is watching their spending, even in the city know for excess.

Busy Strip sidewalks and casino floors filled with the sounds of players - it's the Vegas seen slowly disappearing over the past few months.

“It is definitely the toughest time we have ever seen,” said David Norton with Harrah's

Combating the slowing tourism, Harrah's Hotels and Casino's are tapping their rewards members and offering deals to get them in the door, “Over time, this has helped us fill the rooms here in Las Vegas better then our competitors. We have these 10 million active customers across the country. We can invite them to Vegas and they respond to our offers.”

But the problem is not just getting them here, it is also getting them to open their wallets. Many tourists admit they are budgeting their trips little more this year.

“Last year, we were here, we spent way more money — probably twice as much. Just dinner and stuff like that,” said Graham Storey.

For many, their tips now mean less expensive dinners out, less cab rides and less overall, “Not gambling as much, kind of not tipping as much, not to sound cheap, but everything is a little less just a little more conscious.”

Aggressive room and package deals among the hotels are pushing prices lower. But many companies say, while this is the worst it has been in a long time, the town will weather this storm. Because, in the end, it's still Vegas.

“They are spending a little less than we've seen typically, but clearly people want to get to Vegas,” said Norton.

Many Strip hotels are also tapping in to the international market, offering prices that equal a great deal with the current exchange rate.

A fight between the future and the past is going on in Las Vegas. A local company is trying to make the Las Vegas National Golf Course profitable, but to do it may mean putting together a plan to turn the property into housing.

It sounds like a not in my backyard kind of story, at first. Only this time, the developer and the neighbors are on the same page — everyone wants to keep the golf course. But in this tough economic time, businesses have to adapt or die, and golf courses are no different.

The calm serenity of Las Vegas National Golf Club is now being drowned out by promises and suspicions.

David Caldwell is one of the handful of neighbors upset over the possibility their million dollar view could change, “When you look at the economics of what they're up against, they bought it to develop it and turn into housing and make a profit.”

His anger is directed at one man: John Knott, the operator of Las Vegas National, “If you look out on the long term, this golf course will be a treasured possession.”

Knott understands their frustrations. The financial forecasts for golf courses are, as he puts it, “very difficult.” His group bought the course for $38.5 million just last August. Since then, “Fertilizer going up. The petroleum costs associated with the maintenance on the golf course is going up. Labor's gone up.”

And high-flying tourist golfers aren't showing up, “It's harder to fill up your golf course on the tee sheet every day.”

The course and clubhouse need major upgrades to attract premium greens fees. High end clients mean high end payback. And that $38 million investment may have been too high a price to begin with.

“Certainly as a golf course alone, it's not worth that much,” he said.

Enter the housing plan and Knott's conditional promise. He is going to submit a map for a potential housing development. He claims he won't build, but he needs to prove to Wall Street he could build and turn a profit.

Knott hopes they will fund the proposal so he can use the money on making the golf course succeed, “We are doing that to simply protect our investment. We have no plan to build.”

It may be a last ditch plan to save the course, even if neighbor Brenda Hitchins questions Knott's motives, “To make it successful, you've got to put the work into it, you've got to put the demand into it, you've got to have a business plan.”

While they may be on different sides of the fence, everyone wants National to stay.

“If the golf course can be successful, it'll stay a golf course,” said Knott.

And until Knott's promises become reality, neighbors will keep their calm serenity and their suspicions.

Knott says the refurbished clubhouse restaurant would need to clear $3 to $4 million a year. No word on when that housing plan will be submitted.

Email your comments to Investigative Reporter Jonathan Humbert

Nevada casinos had a rough August, reporting a 8.1-percent slump in money won from gamblers for a record eighth straight month of declines in growth rates, a state report showed Thursday.

The resorts won $934.1 million during the month, and had declines compared with the same month a year earlier in many major markets, the state Gaming Control Board report shows.

“What you're seeing is customers still coming in, but their spending is way off from what it was a year ago,” said GCB analyst Frank Streshley. ” It's a continuation of a lack of consumer confidence.”

State taxes based on the casino wins — a major revenue source — amounted to $54.6 million. That's about 6-percent below the collections at the same point a year ago.

So far this fiscal year, the tax collections are off 9.4-percent. The state's Economic Forum had projected in June that the collections would be up slightly.

The $934.1 million win in August was the amount left in casino coffers after gamblers wagered $13.5 billion during the month, including $10.9 billion in slot machine bets and the balance on table games.

The GCB report shows declines during August for all but one of several major markets in the Las Vegas area. The Las Vegas Strip was down 7.4-percent and Laughlin was down 10-percent, while downtown Las Vegas was down 9.5 percent, North Las Vegas was down 17.8-percent and the Boulder Strip was down 22.4-percent.

The lone bright spot was Mesquite, up 2.1-percent.

In northern Nevada, clubs in Reno were up 0.9 percent while resorts in Elko County, in northeastern Nevada, were up 2.9-percent and casinos on Lake Tahoe's south shore were up 1.3-percent. For Reno, that was the first increase in nine months.

A statewide breakdown showed that slots were down 12.3-percent while table games were barely up 0.4-percent compared with the same month last year.

Slots accounted for $598.6 million of the total August win. That included $272.4 million won by multidenomination slots, down 7.2- percent. Penny slots were second with a win of $147 million, up 7.2- percent.

Live games, including poker, accounted for the balance of the August total. That included $98.2 million won on blackjack tables, down 12-percent; $47 million on craps, up 47.2-percent; and $29.5 million on roulette, down 10.3-percent.

The win on baccarat was $73.7 million, up 4.7-percent; and the win on mini-baccarat was $10.5 million, up 16.4-percent.

Sports books won $7.9 million, for a gain of 18.5 percent. Poker games won $13.1 million, up 0.8-percent.

“Win” is a gross figure, with no operating costs or other expenses deducted. It represents casino revenue only, not hotel, restaurant or bar revenues.

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

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Steve Wynn on a controversial tip sharing policy at his resort.

Dealers had challenged the policy that made them share their tips with pit bosses and supervisors. Dealers argued they were losing about 15-percent of their income because of the sharing.

Wynn executies felt the managers should get a percentage of the tips because they don't make as much as the dealers. The supreme court agreed and sided with Wynn.

The unemployed aren't the only ones who may need help finding jobs. New college graduates may also need a helping hand.

That was the aim for a career fair held on the campus of UNLV. As many pound the pavement, looking for work, the competition grows for recent graduates. But many took advantage when more than 100 companies went looking for applicants.

“Right now, I've seen a lot of concentration of the hotels. You know, a lot of different hotels from different areas, which is nice. So you're able to recruit and possibly leave Las Vegas. You can go to different areas,” said UNLV senior Adrien Wilson.

Companies with job offerings in hospitality, business and engineering were on hand at the fair to accept job applications.

Allegations of voter registration fraud led state investigators to search the local office of a nationwide registration program. State agents served a search warrant on the group ACORN, the Association for Community Reform Now because it obtained evidence of phony registrations.

Last week, Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller warned that his office would come down hard on anyone engaged in any hanky panky in voter registration.

Tuesday morning, he made good on that vow.

Read the Affidavit for Search Warrant

State investigators used a search warrant to enter the office of ACORN in Commercial Center, which is a nationwide program designed to empower the poor and get them involved in the political process.

Ironically, Tuesday was when ACORN had scheduled a potluck meal to reward workers for signing up some 90,000 new voters here in recent months.

But an unknown number of those new registrations are bogus according to election officals.

Some of the registrars working for ACORN submitted the names of voters already registered or names that were essentially made up.

“Some of these forms that were submitted were the starting lineups for the Dallas Cowboys. So, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that some of the forms coming in are fraudulent,” said Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller. “In many instances, you see the same individual registering over and over again, day after day. And some of them are just fraudulent.”

The exact number of phony registrations won't be determined until state agents have a chance to comb thru the documents and computer files seized, but Secretary of State Miller thinks it could be substantial.

His office was tipped to the problem by the Clark County Election Department, which tracked many of the problem paperwork back to ACORN.

A group of wounded soldiers and sailors are getting the star treatment in Las Vegas for the next few days.

The men and their spouses arrived from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center. The wounded servicemen will spend the next couple of days at the Venetian, with access to all the restaurants, shows and pools.

Patricia Driscoll with the Armed Forces Foundation says it's a once in a lifetime experience that means the world to the men, “It's overwhelming and it's heartwarming to know that America really cares about you, especially seven years after the war's been going on. It's amazing for them because they think that they're starting to be forgotten.”

The special weekend getaway was paid for by Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson and the Armed Forces Foundation.