Las Vegas

Distancing himself from Republicans on housing issues, President Obama pitched a $5-billion to $10-billion plan to help a key segment of struggling homeowners — those still making monthly payments, but on underwater mortgages. Obama proposed Wednesday to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages. He argued that those homeowners — and the country — couldn't afford to let the housing market bottom out, as many Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have advocated.

If you're planning a Memorial Day road trip, you'll be in good company, AAA says. More than 2 1/2 million Southern Californians are  expected to hit the highways for the long holiday weekend, the auto club says, a 1.6% increase from last year. Where will you be going? San Diego , Las Vegas , Arizona's Grand Canyon , San Francisco and the Central Coast , the Auto Club says. And more of you may be camping. Kampgrounds of America reports an 8% increase in reservations for this weekend.

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

Sporting bodacious bodices and over-the-top makeup and wigs, the "ladies" strutting along the Fremont Street Experience hand out coupons for free drinks at one of the newest attractions in downtown Las Vegas . Drink & Drag features drag queens who not only serve up generously sized drinks but also entertain as they get their groove on dancing to popular songs. The lounge, which opened in mid-May, caters both to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) crowd and others looking for a scene that's somewhat unusual, even by Vegas standards.

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

Lady Luck or Lady Liberty? Las Vegas edged out the Big Apple on a postage stamp that bears the likeness of Sin City's diminutive replica of the New York City landmark instead of the original. It wasn't intentional, U.S. Postal Service officials said, but there are no plans to correct the mistake. Though 2 billion of the stamps were issued Dec. 1 -- and 3 billion were printed -- the agency learned of the discrepancy only last month. "A stamp collector looked at the image and noticed that's not the original, that's the replica, the Las Vegas version," said Roy Betts, manager of community relations for the Postal Service in Washington.

Getting a last-minute room in Las Vegas is about to get easier. HotelTonight , the free mobile app that lists same-day hotel discounts in a dozen cities, plans to expand to Sin City starting at noon Thursday. Here's how it works: At noon local time each day, HotelTonight lists three hotels at different levels of comfort (such as elegant or basic) in each destination that can be booked until 2 a.m. If rooms sell out at one location, HotelTonight adds a different hotel to the listings.

Just for a moment, as Carlos Santana was outlining the philosophy underlying his latest business venture, it started to sound as if he might be branching out into the food service industry. "What we do is focus on making everything fresh," the veteran musician and bandleader said. "I remind people: 'Ooh — don't bring last night's leftovers! Make it fresh and new and people will feel it.'" He's not launching a new Subway sandwich franchise but a two-year residency at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, where beginning May 2 he'll be holding court for 80 nights a year with a reimagined show he's calling "Greatest Hits Live: Santana — Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.

IT'S a dark and crowded theater in New York. The curtain has only been up five minutes, and Steve Wynn, the billionaire owner of the Wynn Las Vegas hotel, leans in, grips my knee and whispers in my ear: "Eric," he says, "this will be great in Las Vegas. " "Yes," I say, "it will. " Then I realize, slightly disappointedly, he means "Spamalot. " My future as a billionaire's date is still up for grabs. "Can I give you a ride home?" he asks nicely. I'm thinking 6th Avenue, but he means L.A. Well, OK. He flies us home in a plane bigger than my boarding school.

I just read Scott Kraft's article ["Looking Up, Up, Up in Hong Kong," May 6]. I lived in Hong Kong from the mid-1970s to 1980, and his article refreshed my memory. Hong Kong is one location that changes ever so quickly. I can only imagine what it must look like today - much, much more of what I loved, adored and encountered in my past living experience. I would suggest another film, "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," as parts of it were filmed in Hong Kong. Jennifer Jones and William Holden - a very touching story set in a dramatic time to come.

One problem with talk about the A's relocating is there is no obvious market for MLB to move into. Charlotte and Las Vegas are possibilities but the most viable is probably Portland. There's less talk about a third New York team with the Mets sorting through financial difficulties ? Miguel Cabrera was expected to be a monster with Prince Fielder behind him but has inexplicably expanded his strike zone. He recently went 17 games in a row without a walk, the longest stretch of his career ?

Memorial Day looms like a giant prize for the work-weary. But where to go? In the May 13 issue of the Travel section, we outlined seven weekend escapes that can give you a break from the tedium of the daily turmoil. We suggested getaways to Ventura , San Francisco , Del Mar , Portland , Ore., Las Vegas , Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage and San Juan Capistrano . Watch for a story on Arroyo Grande in this Sunday's print edition and online.

Two new Las Vegas venues invite guests to - quite literally - have a blast. Letting loose with high-powered firearms may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but my visits to two indoor gun ranges suggested just how popular they are with tourists. The bed. After you've plunkeddown plenty for a session at a gun range, that credit card may be close to maxing out. Consider staying at the Plaza (1 Main St.; [800] 634-6575, http://www.plazahotelcasino.com ; rooms from $31 weekdays and $80 weekends)

LAS VEGAS - It sits along a stretch of median on the less-glamorous south end of this city's glitzy gambling Strip, a stubborn holdover from another era. Yet, as the days turn to night and back into day, it beckons as many tourists, human tumbleweeds and adventure-seekers as any newfangled casino. They come to see, touch and photograph the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign, a 1959 scramble of colors, typefaces and flashing light bulbs. They come in droves, as if on some obligatory Vegas pilgrimage, arriving in taxis, rental cars, stretch limos, golf carts, pickup trucks, motorcycles, double-decker tour buses.

Among all the special places inside his sprawling 10,700-square-foot mountaintop home, Daniel Coletti savors the vibe inside the living room most. It's a luxury dreamscape distinguished by mammoth walls of glass and Idaho-hewn stone. At night, he gazes out past the blue waters of an indoor-outdoor infinity pool and onto a vast citywide vista capped by the shimmering lights of the Strip. "It's like looking at a fire," his wife, Natalie, said. "You can't turn your eyes from it. " The property has another unique feature: Offered at $13.9 million, it's the most expensive residential listing in Las Vegas.

This post has been corrected, as indicated below. Super Bowl fans, add blue to your team colors. Tickets to selected performances of Blue Man Group at the Venetian in Las Vegas will be reduced to $46 in honor of Super Bowl XLVI . The catch? You have to wear something with the logo of the New York Giants or the New England Patriots . The deal: To get the $46 tickets, put on a football jersey or other logo clothing item for one of the two teams that will square off in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.

Memorial Day looms like a giant prize for the work-weary. But where to go? In the May 13 issue of the Travel section, we outlined seven weekend escapes that can give you a break from the tedium of the daily turmoil. We suggested getaways to Ventura , San Francisco , Del Mar , Portland , Ore., Las Vegas , Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage and San Juan Capistrano . Watch for a story on Arroyo Grande in this Sunday's print edition and online.

Spain's Real Madrid and Italy's Juventus FC will face off Aug. 5 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas as part of the 2012 World Football Challenge.  MGM Resorts International is the title sponsor with Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino acting as the host hotel for the event. Tickets start at $68, at UNLVtickets.com or by calling toll free (855) 258-5425 . . . . Hostelling International USA will conduct a free travel workshop, “Budget Travel Europe,” Saturday at its Santa Monica store, 1434 2nd St. The workshop is designed for the first-time traveler going to Europe or for those who want a refresher before heading back overseas.

The Inland Empire's version of "Carmageddon" begins Friday night when Caltrans shuts down sections of northbound Interstate 215 in San Bernardino as part of an ongoing $723-million freeway-widening project. The "Big Shift," as transportation officials are calling it, is necessary to reconfigure traffic lanes during construction. The closure begins at 11 p.m. Friday and is scheduled to end at 6 a.m. Monday. It will occur in stages between 2nd Street and Highland Avenue. The southbound lanes will be open.