How I Got My Uncle Arrested

I lied to you people a couple of weeks ago. When had to cancel The Strip on April 24, I claimed it was because Miles had to work. The fact is, I spent the day helping the U.S. Marshals arrest my uncle, a fugitive from Palm Beach County who fled instead of showing up on April 16 to be sentenced on 82 charges of trafficking child porn online.

I wasn't really comfortable talking about this in bits and pieces, so there were no blog posts, no Twitter comments, only the broadest of hints on the podcast. I didn't even tell many close friends. That didn't mean I didn't want to express myself or tell the story, just that this one took some digesting and required me to put the whole thing in the context it deserved.

That's what this week's Las Vegas Weekly cover story is all about. It replaces my regularly scheduled column this go-around. I hope you all find it illuminating.

Good Super Bowl signs, re: #Vegas

[UPDATE: AOLNews.Com just posted my piece on Vegas and Super Bowl betting.]

We don't get uplifting Vegas economic news much, so let's enjoy it while it lasts, shall we?

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority projects Super Bowl XLIV -- a.k.a. The Big Game/Super Party for those afraid of lawsuits -- will fill up 83 percent of the city's 148,941 rooms, up 5.9 percent from last year even though there are now about 8,000 more rooms now. Of course, without those extra rooms this weekend's occupancy would've been 88 percent, according to my calculations. But still.

Interestingly, the NFL will hate Vegas anew for projecting the non-gaming economic impact at $89.7 million because that pretty much debunks a 2007 study claiming a $463 million economic bonanza for the Miami area from hosting the 2007 game. Y'see, only about 100,000 people go to a Super Bowl city each year, about a third of the predicted number of people who will be in Las Vegas this wet weekend.

How could 100,000 people spend $463 million but 278,000 spend just $89.7 million? Some illicit accounting, that's how. The answer, per reporting by the Palm Beach Post's Jeff Ostrowski, is that the South Florida figures are literally bogus x 10, most likely jacked up by NFL forces to encourage Miami to plunge $250 million into a stadium upgrade if they want another go at the event.

This, from Sarah Talalay of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, makes the point perfectly:

University of South Florida economics professor Philip Porter said the game's impact is neglible. He said he examined data from the Florida Department of Revenue showing expenditures in Miami-Dade County were $3.318 billion in February 2006 and $3.308 billion in February 2007.

"If the Super Bowl generated $463 million each year," Porter said, "the NFL team owners would build a stadium in the desert, host their own game and keep all that money."

Of course, it wouldn't be our desert. No, no, can't have that.