Daily, local business news powered by Las Vegas Sun and VEGAS INC.

Business and Economy

Plumbing disasters, liquid fireworks, reverse vending machine — it's what's new at RECon: May 21, 2013; By Eli Segall; It’s tough getting people’s attention at RECon, the retail industry trade show, with its 30,000 people and 1,000 exhibitors. But repair guy Ray Salzer has found a way: fart sounds and plumber’s cracks.

In dispute with Culinary, UFC counters with attack site of its own: May 20, 2013; By Ed Komenda; After two years of battling the Culinary while fighting to legalize the sport in New York, the UFC’s counter jab comes in the form of a critical website aimed at exposing the union’s “smear campaign,” the company said.

Joe Downtown: Local Motors CEO visits Las Vegas: May 20, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; One of the newest businesses to gain support from VegasTechFund is Local Motors. Founded five years ago, Local Motors uses crowdsourcing to help in the design of a car, motorcycle or other type of vehicle. John Rogers Jr., president and CEO, last week was in downtown Las Vegas, where VegasTechFund is headquartered. The fund is a tech investment group whose partners include Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

Joe Downtown: Doughnut shop, tavern, offices may be in mix for former John E. Carson Hotel: May 20, 2013; By Joe Schoenmann; Work last week began on the interior demolition of the John E. Carson Hotel, 124 S. Sixth St., purchased a year ago and now part of the realm of the Downtown Project.

Key events involving Yahoo and its performance: May 20, 2013; Associated Press; Yahoo has reached a deal to buy online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion, the latest acquisition under CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo is paying mostly cash for Tumblr and expects to complete the deal by the end of the year. Here are key events involving Yahoo Inc. and its performance in recent years.

Yahoo looks to regain its cool with Tumblr deal: May 20, 2013; By Michael Liedtke, Associated Press; After falling woefully out of fashion, Yahoo wants to be cool again while catering to the capitalistic demands of its shareholders.

Some Pacific Coast League stadiums will be tough for proposed Summerlin project to match: May 20, 2013; By Ray Brewer; Building the "finest Triple-A facility in the country" might be easier said than done for the new ownership of the Las Vegas 51s minor league baseball franchise. Some of those other stadiums are pretty impressive — even the cookie-cutter ones of similar design.

Practice makes perfect: Learning to speak without fear in the business world: May 20, 2013; By Paul Delos Santos; Public speaking is essential in the business world, not to mention many other careers. Avoiding it can hurt a person’s ability to network, close doors to promotions and new job opportunities and hinder an upward trajectory in the corporate world.

My case for ‘The Amazing Race’: May 20, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; Looking around Las Vegas’ Friendly Ford dealership, I almost felt sorry for the scores of people who had arrived to audition for “The Amazing Race.”

Gamble on house calls pays off for pharmacy: May 20, 2013; By VEGAS INC staff; To compete with the giant chain pharmacies, Well Care Pharmacy decided to focus its business model on free delivery service anywhere in Las Vegas or Henderson.

Few big tax bills afoot, but plenty of little ones at Nevada Legislature: May 19, 2013; By Anjeanette Damon; Democrats may have fallen short of crafting a comprehensive tax reform plan to address Nevada’s wobbly revenue structure, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a bevy bills to raise taxes floating around the Legislature this year.

Raising a glass to an Atomic history: May 18, 2013; By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times; On a nearly deserted downtown Las Vegas block, a small brick building fronted by a curvy neon sign heralds a bygone era here: That’s when the big bombs went boom and awestruck Las Vegas residents watched the mushroom clouds billow into the bright desert sky. At Joe and Stella Sobchik’s liquor store and bar on Fremont Street, downtown denizens walked up to the roof, cocktails in hand, for a better view of the sky show.

Board tells Las Vegas table game maker: Stay out of California: May 17, 2013; By Ed Komenda,
Richard N. Velotta; Galaxy Gaming, a Las Vegas manufacturer of casino table games, has been deemed unsuitable to do business in California by a judge, a recommendation that could call into question the company’s Nevada gaming license.

After $7 million renovation, Terrible’s casino now the Silver Sevens: May 17, 2013; By Ed Komenda; The Terrible’s cowboy is taking the next horse and buggy right outta town. The Affinity Gaming casino has a new name: The Silver Sevens Hotel & Casino.

Economic diversification office grants major tax breaks to one of its own: May 17, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; The Governor’s Office of Economic Development carefully considered the largest request for tax abatements in its history on Thursday — carefully, because the request came from one of the members of the board making the decision.