Not much new in Las Vegas this week the OJ Simpson case was finally beaten out of the top story by the presidential debate that was held in Las Vegas this week. The Nevada caucus hosted the debate which featured all the main democratic presidential candidates.
As far as OJ goes his trial remains in the headlines with accusations of corruption and the that the trial may be a sort of make up trial for the murder many believe he got away with years ago.

The social movements going on in Las Vegas are based on capatalism and business as usual. Business expansion, and profit maximizing are what drives this city . Government plays a smaller role in Las Vegas than most other cities because private industry controls so much of the economy. There is however a green movement that some prominent businessmen are supporting which includes companies usuing vegetable oil powered cars and much more solar power then previously used in the past. It is an attempt to offset the energy being used to power the city, and surprinsingly it was started by a private company not through government regulation.

The town square venture i previously wrote about is opening on Wednesday. The 750 million dollar 1.5 million square foot shopping center has a movie theatre, a grocery store, numerous places to eat and drink, many high end retail shops, childcare services, electronic stores, basically it has any and everything a person could want or think they might want. Turnberry spent $5 million to build a private flyover road that takes shoppers directly into the main loop around the center from northbound Las Vegas Boulevard, WOW. James Lowry, a marketing professor at Ball State University, said Town Square is part of an emerging retail trend toward "lifestyle" shopping centers. They purposely didnt include any gambling or casinos in the project stating that people in the area are looking for something else to do which makes sense because people who live there probably arent the gamblers that tourists are in the same way that tourists probably arent grocery shopping buy home appliences, or spending a night at the movies. Makes sense to me

The notion that Nevada will soon be paved over by development is laughable. The federal government controls almost 90 percent of the state, and Washington's holdings continue to expand. With less than 10 percent of land available to be developed in the Silver State, it is clear that Nevada will never resemble New Jersey. U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show that in 1992, only 0.06 percent of Nevada's land was developed. (The agency will soon release revised figures based on data obtained in 1997.) So to the extent that sprawl is a problem in the Silver State, it is clearly a city and county issue. While the Reno metropolitan region's population continues to swell, Las Vegas' phenomenal growth has made that city a national symbol for sprawl. But what's true for Nevada is also true for Clark County: nine out of every 10 acres in Southern Nevada is controlled by the federal government.

In an update on the OJ Simpson case the AP reports that FBI agents were informed of his plan the retrieve his allegedly stolen items from a memorabilia dealer three weeks before the events actually happened. A man named Thamos Roccio went to FBI agents and told them about Simpsons plans to conduct his own "sting," operation in which he would confron the dealer, retrieve his items and supposedly video tape it so he could later televise the events. Roccio said he went along with the plan but had no idea Simpson would be bringing in other people who would be armed and use force to take back the items. Roccio also thought that because he warned police before the events occured he would be safe from further prosecution. He was arrested and charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, and a number of other felonies just like everyone else involved in the case.

Retail in Las Vegas is the most rapidly expanding industry. Las Vegas population is growing by 6,000 people a month the city has added nearly 1.5 million square feet of retail space during the last quarter. The retail vacancy rate in las vegas is among the 5 lowest in the country. Las Vegas is headed to become a national luxury shopping destination with many prominant high-end business opening in the area. A capital markets report stated that retail growth in recent years was largely supported by housing and mortgage refinancing, due to low interest rates and loose underwriting standards.