Las Vegas Nv

Within 90 days, this city founded on risk-taking is supposed to break ground on one of its biggest cultural gambles to date: the $475-million Smith Center for the Performing Arts. The ground-breaking is taking place at a challenging time for Las Vegas' biggest cultural institutions, which have been buffeted by the recession. Most notably, the Las Vegas Art Museum closed last month.

The Dubai developer building an $8.6-billion complex on the Las Vegas Strip with casino company MGM Mirage Inc. is suing MGM Mirage because it's worried about the project's viability. Dubai World subsidiary Infinity World claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in Delaware Chancery Court that MGM Mirage's statements about its financial condition put the project at risk.

He didn't meet with the unhappy governor. He didn't hit the slots or cruise the Strip. Still, locals were counting on President Obama to assume the role of Las Vegas' promoter in chief, touting the virtues of Sin City in an effort to ease the hard feelings he caused months ago with a slap at corporate excess. Excess, of course, being one of this city's chief commodities.

Just behind a large plate glass window, Cazzie Luz is getting inked. A weekend visitor to Vegas, Luz is getting the University of Arizona's "A" logo tattooed onto his right leg. There's no garish neon sign in the window announcing the shop is "Open." The bright lights -- far stronger than the 40-watt bulbs one might expect to find -- make that obvious. Also missing are the bongs and rolling papers found in seedier tattoo parlors.

The spectacle that is UFC 100 is underway. Ticket brokers say the sold-out mixed martial arts bout Saturday at Mandalay Bay is driving a frenzied resale market. UFC President Dana White expects this to be the fourth pay-per-view event in its history to reach 1 million sales. And a record number of credentialed reporters are documenting the event.

The economy is healthy when it comes to betting on the NFL. "Football is America's game," said John Avello, executive director of race and sports operations at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. "People seem to have money for it. "Maybe the bettor thinks he can hit eight of 10 straight bets. But we anticipated the bettors being here [for the first weekend of the NFL season], and they were." Avello said the Wynn saw action from the squares betting $10 to the whales betting thousands.

The drab, cheap motel -- the type that rents rooms by the hour -- sits just a couple of blocks off the Strip. Compared with its upscale neighbors, with their towering hotels and neon-laden casinos, this place seems better suited for a lonely crossroads in the desert than for fabulous Las Vegas. In a dimly lighted alley behind the motel lies the body of a young woman. She is sprawled near a Dumpster, her right arm outstretched toward her faux-leather purse. Nearby are her cellphone and a publicity photo like the ones models and actresses use. The 8-by-10 glossy depicts the now-deceased woman.

MGM Mirage will slash prices of its high-end CityCenter condos by 30%, the company said Monday, a move intended to mollify buyers who were unsure they could close on units purchased during the Las Vegas real estate boom. The price cuts underscore the reversal of fortunes on the Las Vegas Strip. Just a few years ago, condominiums were being touted as the next stage in its seemingly unstoppable growth. Although the reductions mark a significant reversal by the gaming giant, which took deposits on about half of its 2,400 residential units, it was unclear whether the cuts were deep enough to satisfy some buyers.

A sea of people wearing hard hats and reflective vests moved in and out, up and down among the slot machines, still covered with drop cloth. Everyone had a role to play, almost like a well-choreographed, contemporary ballet. But instead of brass and winds, there was the discord of drills, circular saws and beeping electric vehicles. Across a grimy marble floor, a woman stood beside what will soon be the registration desk of Aria, one of four hotels that will anchor CityCenter, the $8.5 billion, mixed-use development south of Bellagio on the Strip.

Eight years after trading in his Stetson and pop music superstardom for domestic life raising his three young daughters, Garth Brooks, the biggest-selling solo performer of all time, has decided to dust off that hat and come out of retirement -- but only on weekends. Brooks announced Thursday afternoon that he'll start a series of solo acoustic concerts in the 1,500-seat Encore Theater at the Wynn casino and resort in Las Vegas as part of a multimillion-dollar deal with Steve Wynn, the hotel's billionaire developer.