This year the New Year's Eve fireworks will not be set off from hotel rooftops. Instead they'll be shot from nine locations, some from the ground and some from parking garages.

One reason for the change is the Monte Carlo fire earlier this year. Fire officials were concerned because so many hotels have similar foam facades and they didn't want to take any chances.

If you can't make it to the Strip, you can catch all the action right here live on Channel 8.

The four women are described as young and beautiful and now they have something else in common: Three are dead and another is missing. The women worked in the Las Vegas area as prostitutes.

Their murders and disappearances are unsolved and America's Most Wanted will feature the case on its Nov. 15th show.

In the three murder cases, the women were dismembered and dumped along remote stretches of highway.

Lindsay Harris, Misty Saens, Jodi Brewer and Jessica Foster all disappeared between March 2003 and April 2006.

Foster, who is believed dead, has never been found.

America's Most Wanted website says that police suspect the killer could be a truck driver.

MGM Mirage CEO Terry Lanni announced Thursday he is retiring Nov. 30 but will remain a member of the Board of Directors.

“I have served as Chairman for more than 13 years and have seen this company grow from owning one resort in Las Vegas to 17 resorts internationally, with joint ventures around the world. I believe it is now time to step aside from full-time engagement and turn over the reins to the new generation. I am recommending to the Board of Directors that Jim Murren succeed me as chairman and CEO. Jim is fully equipped to lead the company through these turbulent times in the global economy and take it to new levels of growth and success,” Lanni said in a MGM Mirage news release.

Lanni, who is 65, joined the MGM Grand in June 1995. He has guided the MGM Mirage through periods of unprecendented growth, including the merger with the Mirage.

The release says, “The MGM MIRAGE Board of Directors will take up the issue of formally
naming Mr. Lanni's successor at an upcoming meeting.”

Wynn Resorts Ltd., the upscale casino company run by billionaire Steve Wynn, said today it will issue 5 million new common shares in conjunction with its inclusion in the S&P 500 index.

The company also says it will allow an over-allotment of 750,000 common shares if there is excess demand. The casino giant with resorts in Las Vegas and Macau says it will use the proceeds for general purposes including paying down debt.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Banc of America Securities LLC are acting as joint book running managers and underwriters for the offering.

Before the offering, the company had 103.8 million shares outstanding, according to Thomson One. Wynn shares lost $2.76, or 6.2 percent, to $41.85 in aftermarket activity, having shed 49 cents to close the regular session at $44.76.

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

Eyewitness News has learned of the arrest of a couple who left their two young children in their car at the Tuscany Casino while they were inside gambling. 

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Spokesperson Bill Cassell confirmed the arrest took place at just before 3 p.m. on Saturday. The children had been left in the car for 30 minutes.

The couple, 35-year-old Brian Paynter and 36-year-old Shuang Chen, was transported to the Clark County Detention Center and are facing two counts of Child Endangerment each. 

Their children were rescued from the vehicle and taken into custody of Clark County Child Protective Services. 

Casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Thursday that it is in jeopardy of missing certain financial covenant requirements and needs to raise more capital.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands plunged $3.63, or 31.1 percent, to $8.03 in morning trading. Over the past year, the stock has traded between $4.32 and $122.96.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Las Vegas Sands said it does not expect to comply with its maximum leverage ratio covenant for the fourth quarter which ends on Dec. 31, and potentially afterward. If it defaults, lenders would be able to exercise their rights under the agreements, including bringing financing maturity dates forward.

The defaults would “raise substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern,” the filing stated. A going-concern qualification refers to a company's ability to continue to operate indefinitely. Las Vegas Sands was in a similar covenant predicament in the third quarter, but managed to escape default after Chairman and Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam Adelson, loaned the company $475 million through a 6.5 percent convertible note due in 2013.

Late last month, the operator of the Venetian and Palazzo resorts in Las Vegas and the Sands Macao and the Venetian Macao in China said Adelson and his family also planned to take part in a capital raising program with an unnamed investment banking company.

Celeste Mellet Brown of Morgan Stanley said it remains to be seen what role Adelson will play in capital raising efforts. “If he does not (participate), the company may have a very difficult time getting the financing completed given its debt load, and the stock could decline significantly. If he does (or puts in all the capital himself), we think the stock will trade higher, even if a capital raise is dilutive,” she wrote in a client note.

In an October interview with The Associated Press, Adelson said that Las Vegas Sands was looking to raise $2 billion in debt financing from Asian banks to finish work on some Macau expansion projects. The casino mogul controls nearly 70-percent of Las Vegas Sands personally and through family trusts.

Analyst Jake Fuller of Thomas Weisel Partners LLC remained upbeat on the company. “No doubt there are serious balance sheet issues here, but we expect Las Vegas Sands to outline plans shortly and see the probability of resolution as high,” he said.

Fuller reaffirmed an “Overweight” rating and kept a $25 price target. Las Vegas Sands also filed a shelf registration with the SEC which gives it the option to raise capital through debt, stock or other financial vehicles.

The casino industry has been pressured as consumers continue to curb spending due to the ongoing housing slowdown, diminishing credit, rising food costs and recession fears. Boyd Gaming Corp. recently postponed work on its $4.8 billion Echelon resort in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas-based company also suspended its annual dividend.

MGM Mirage's default rating was downgraded by Fitch Ratings in October partly due to its difficulty paying for the $9.2 billion CityCenter complex in Las Vegas. The company has reached a deal with lenders to change the terms of $7 billion in debt.

Meanwhile Ameristar Casinos Inc. disclosed in an October SEC filing that it had arranged an interest rate swap with U.S. Bank National Association in order to change the annual interest rate on a credit agreement from floating to fixed.

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