Dan Kail was vacationing in Las Vegas when he heard that the temperature at Death Valley could approach 130 degrees this weekend. He didn’t hesitate to make a trip to the desert location that is typically the hottest place on the planet.

“Coming to Death Valley in the summertime has always been on the top of my bucket list,” the 67-year-old Pittsburgh man said. “When I found out it might set a record I rented a car and drove straight over. If it goes above 130 I will have something to brag about.”

The forecast called for Death Valley to reach 128 degrees Saturday as part of a heat wave that has caused large parts of the western U.S. to suffer. Death Valley’s record high of 134 degrees, set a century ago, stands as the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

“The wind out here is like being in front of a blast furnace,” Kail said.

As temperatures soared in Las Vegas Friday, 200 people were treated for heat problems at an outdoor concert, Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said.

Thirty of them were hospitalized for heat-related injuries at Vans Warped Tour at Silverton Casino as temps reached 115.

Most of the others “were essentially provided shade and water and a place to sit down,” Pappa said.

More: Heat Wave Strikes Western US as Temps Approach 120 in Phoenix, Las Vegas

Former Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks was arrested near Barstow after a high-speed chase, hours after being expelled from the Legislature because he was “potentially dangerous.”

Brooks, 41, was arrested about 7 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 15 at Stoddard Wells Road, officials said. He was being held in the San Bernardino County Jail in Rancho Cucamonga on $100,000 bail, jail officials told the Los Angeles Times.

Authorities said it was unclear why Brooks was in California.

The arrest followed a high-speed chase that ended when police used spike strips to disable the runaway vehicle in which the driver was throwing metal objects at police, including a handgun, according to the Victorville Daily Press.

In January, Brooks was arrested on suspicion of threatening a fellow Democrat, Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. Just days after Brooks’ alleged threats against the speaker, he was accused of grabbing for an officer’s gun during an arrest in Las Vegas on suspicion of domestic battery.

Troubles also arose in February: Investigators shadowing Brooks from North Las Vegas say he unsuccessfully tried to purchase an unspecified type of gun at a northern Nevada sporting goods store.

Brooks, who has spent time under psychiatric observation, had been banned from meetings with party colleagues in the Assembly and was banished from the Nevada Legislature building. Last month, he was also kicked out of a casino restaurant in Reno for unspecified reasons.

His was the first time the Legislature kicked out one of its members since a lawmaker was accused of libeling other members in 1867.

More: Expelled Nevada Lawmaker Steven Brooks Arrested Near Barstow

John Alleman, the unofficial spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, has died of a heart attack.

For the past year and a half, Alleman would stand outside of the restaurant and try to encourage people to come inside. Owner Jon Basso didn’t actually pay him for this, but would occasionally give him some free food.

“I told him if you keep eating like this, it’s going to kill ya,” Basso told the Las Vegas Sun.

The Heart Attack Grill is known for its over-the-top burger creations such as the quadruple bypass burger, which holds the Guinness World Record for “most calorific burger.”

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With seven players a side on a full-sized football field, playing two halves of just seven minutes with a one minute break, it’s a cut down, fast-moving, fast-scoring game.

• Sixteen teams from sixteen countries.
• Nine tournaments in venues all around the globe.
• A full knockout competition -- 45 games -- in a single weekend.

And from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th February, it’s the USA Sevens at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

In 2016, this will be an Olympic sport. Given the US won the last Olympic gold for rugby, albeit in 1924 and for the full code, it might be worth dipping your toes in the spectator waters on Saturday and Sunday with NBC Sports.

Here’s a dumbass Democrat who clearly needs to lose his right to own a gun and his seat in the legislature.

Assemblyman Steven Brooks was arrested Saturday night on a charge of threatening Nevada Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick.

State Sen. Kelvin Atkinson said Sunday he informed Kirkpatrick of Brooks’ threat against her. Atkinson said Brooks had been telling people Kirkpatrick’s “first day as speaker would be her last.”

North Las Vegas police said Brooks, 40, was booked about 6 p.m. at the Las Vegas City Jail on a felony charge of intimidating a public officer by threat of physical violence. Jail records show Brooks was in custody Sunday evening.

Brooks is a Democrat serving Nevada Assembly District 17 in northern Clark County.

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Cars, Homes Smarten Up for Vegas Tech Extravaganza

At the world’s largest technology conference that kicks off on Monday, the most intriguing innovations showcased may be gadgets and technology that turn everyday items into connected, smarter machines.

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas promises a new generation of “smart” gadgets, some controlled by voice and gestures, and technology advancements in cars, some of which already let you dictate emails or check real-time gas prices.

Pundits have long predicted home appliances like refrigerators and stoves will be networked, creating an “Internet of things”. With advancements in chips and the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets, it’s now happening.

Despite the absence of tech heavyweights, Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp, CES still draws thousands of exhibitors, from giants like Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics to startups.

“We’ve been talking about this convergence of consumer electronics and computers and content for 20 years. It will actually be somewhat of a reality here, in that your phone, your tablet, your PC, your TV, your car, have a capability to all be connected,” said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

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The Secretary of State in Nevada has asked the State legislature to consider a voter ID law that he has proposed.

Miller Calls for Voter Photo ID Law in Nevada - News - ReviewJournal.com

Under his proposal, which lawmakers will consider in 2013, the photos on residents’ driver’s licenses would be placed electronically with their voter registration records and in the poll books at election locations. People without any identification, but who are registered, would be required to have their pictures taken by poll workers and sign an affidavit that they are the person they represent the first time they vote.

What is surprising is that the Sec’y of State is a Democrat. And what is different about this Voter ID law is that the ID is maintained by the election officials. Hence although it is called a voter ID law, voters are spared the burden of acquiring an ID.

Miller has himself suggested that voter ID is a solution in search of a problem. And he also admits that the program will cost many millions of dollars. But the strategy is clearly to neutralize the Republican effort at voter suppression by satisfying their explicit concern for ID without satisfying their real aim to disenfranchise those who don’t really deserve to vote anyway: poor people and minorities.

Although Republicans, not Democrats, generally have championed voter ID laws, Miller said the Minnesota secretary of state, who is a Democrat, proposed the photo ID bill, and the Republican legislators opposed it.

“I am not sure why they would oppose it,” Miller said. “It suggests to me you are after something else.”

Steve Wynn Much Better Suited to Casinos Than Politics - Las Vegas Sun News

For years now, we’ve been hearing the rich baritone carnival bark of Steve Wynn, who never misses an opportunity to attack President Barack Obama for his economic policies.

His passion on the subject is a little obscure. After all, in March 2009, about two months after Obama took office in the midst of the financial crisis, Wynn stock hit a low of $15.40. It now trades above $100, an increase of more than 500 percent.

Like many of the super wealthy, Wynn has come out of this recession largely unscathed — in 2010, the richest 1 percent took home 93 percent of all the income gains — and his taxes remain largely unchanged.

But it was Obama’s rhetoric that scared Wynn, apparently, with all his “socialist” talk about returning tax rates on the wealthy to where they were during the crazy socialist tenure of President Bill Clinton.

Politico reported that Wynn gave “millions” to Karl Rove’s super PAC to defeat Obama and the Democrats. Money well spent. But Wynn was perhaps most effective attacking Obama in interviews.

Last week, three days after the election, a story appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer in which Wynn said in an interview that he was proposing to build Wynn Philadelphia. Wynn told the reporter that the board of directors of Wynn Resorts signed off on the project two weeks ago, meaning before the re-election of the crazy socialist Obama.

Perhaps Wynn was duped by Karl Rove into thinking Obama would lose. Or, just as likely, all that talk about business sitting on its hands until Obama leaves offices was just that: talk.

Either way, Wynn apparently now believes there’s money to be made in an America whose president will be Obama for another four years. Not to mention he’s doing it in high-tax Philadelphia — the tax on slot machines is 55 percent there, compared with Nevada’s state gaming tax of well below 10 percent.

Jindal tries to reinvent the GOP as Big tent, but he’s talking to small minds in a pup tent.

Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) rebuffed Mitt Romney’s claim that President Obama won reelection because of “gifts” to minorities and young voters, calling the statement “wrong.”

“That is absolutely wrong,” Jindal said at Wednesday’s session of the annual Republican Governors Association meeting in Las Vegas, according to the Washington Examiner’s Byron York. “I absolutely reject that notion.”

‘I don’t think that represents where we are as a party and where we’re going as a party,” Jindal continued. ‘That has got to be one of the most fundamental takeaways from this election: If we’re going to continue to be a competitive party and win elections on the national stage and continue to fight for our conservative principles, we need two messages to get out loudly and clearly: One, we are fighting for 100 percent of the votes, and secondly, our policies benefit every American who wants to pursue the American dream. Period. No exceptions.”

The New York Times reported Wednesday afternoon on Romney’s comments, which he made during a conference call with his presidential campaign’s national finance committee.

Hangover Heaven: Keeping the Party Going in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a party town. But there’s no better killjoy than a hangover. Enter Jason Burke, anesthesiologist and entrepreneurial party-saver extraordinaire. His bender-busting bus guarantees to keep the party going with hangover cures.

Brian is actually supposed to be boarding a helicopter in three hours for a tour of the Grand Canyon. But at the moment he’s sitting in a reclining chair in the back of a converted bus, groaning with an IV in his arm. “Just a while back, he was still dancing on tables,” says his brother Zack.

Zack is sitting with his cousin in the rear part of the bus. His eyes are squinted and puffy, and he has an IV in his arm, as well. Brian is supposed to get married in a month, so he and his buddies traveled to Las Vegas a day earlier to celebrate before he makes his vows. They are getting the full package: concert, dance club, strip club — and buckets of booze.

Zack says his brother had 12 Martini Colas, the last of which came just four hours back. If worse comes to worst, they’ll have to cancel the helicopter tour and the visit to the shooting range. But that would be no fun. “Our last hope is the hangover truck,” he says.

The hangover truck is the brainchild of Jason Burke, a 42-year-old anesthesiologist who worked in Las Vegas hospitals for seven years before going out on his own and starting up his “Hangover Heaven” practice. Since then, he’s been driving his massive, converted bus up and down the Strip treating people who’ve drunk themselves senseless.

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