Las Vegas contingent falters on Forbes 400 list

Posted on by October 5, 2018
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Forbes 400Keeping a fortune growing smartly can be as hard as amassing it in the first place, at least around Las Vegas. That’s my New To Las Vegas take-away from the latest annual edition of the famous Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, which was released this week.

Last year’s roster listed nine from Vegas. This year: just seven. And most of the remaining ones did not outperform the average 7% yearly gain of their peer group.

Casino czar and local newspaper owner Sheldon Adelson remained the wealthiest person in town (and the state) at No. 15 on the Forbes list. The 85-year-old was valued at $35.5 billion, up $100 million from last year. But that’s an increase of barely 1/4 of 1%. He dropped a click in the ranking.

Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie, 67, remained the richest woman in town (and the state) with a really good year. She was up $800 million, a hefty 16%, to $5.7 billion, also moving up her 13 notches from last year to No. 109.

But Andrew and Peggy Cherng, owners of the Panda Express Chinese restaurant empire, completely disappeared from the U.S.-only list. Last year they shared a No. 226 rank with a combined net worth of $3.3 billion. It’s my understanding that Forbes now values couples actively involved in a business individually. With the cut-off this year for the list–No. 400–rising to $2.1 billion a head, that means the Cherngs between them would have needed $4.2 billion. Forbes figures they’re now down to $2.9 billion. Continue reading →

Kids Wish Network–one-time ‘worst charity in America’–prowls anew in Las Vegas

Posted on by April 17, 2021
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Kids Wish NetworkLong before New To Las Vegas, I was New To Seattle. And it was in the Emerald City way back in 2012 that I first got called on the phone from a fundraiser for a Holiday, Fla., charity called Kids Wish Network. She asked for a donation to help children with life-threatening conditions.

I asked how much of cash donations went to fundraising as opposed to the children. The fundraiser said she had no current information. That pretty much ended that conversation. After looking up documents online, I had my answer: 74%, meaning barely a quarter of what was raised remained available for everything else, including kids. I wrote up KWN in a withering post headlined “Another day, another dodgy charity calls around Seattle.” You can read it by clicking here.

The next year, KWN popped up as No. 1 on a list put together by the Tampa Bay Times of “America’s Worst Charities.” The once-off roster of 50 was based on two factors: the large amount of money raised over time that went to fundraisers, and the tiny amount of money going out in cash grants in support of the stated mission. The paper flatly called KWN the “worst charity in America.” I can’t say I was surprised by KWN’s ranking.

But here’s something surprising to me. Despite my earlier lashing, a KWN fundraiser asking for money just called me again, this time at the New To Las Vegas world headquarters. The conversation was even briefer. The caller–actually an interactive computer–quickly hung up as I again started asking questions, not even answering one.

And again looking up documents online, the organization seems to me no less sketchy, as I will explain more fully below. Meanwhile, I am nominating KWN for my own long-running list: America’s Stupidest Charities. The criteria is pretty basic: nonprofits that call me asking for money despite being the subject of a previous critical post by me. I mean, can it get any dumber than that? The list of other nominees can be found nearby. Continue reading →

In Las Vegas, Clark County Parks and Rec has a doggone problem

Posted on by September 4, 2018
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Earlier this year, a Las Vegas woman whose small dog was killed by a bigger dog at Dog Fancier’s Park shamed Clark County Parks and Rec officials by going public on TV to complain about the lack of a dedicated dog run for smaller canines. Nor, as I earlier had recounted here, was that the first such recent attack at the sprawling off-leash East Las Vegas facility off E. Flamingo Road near the New To Las Vegas world headquarters.

Since then, chagrined county managers have been rushing to remake Dog Fancier’s Park by adding fencing to create new dog runs for smaller dogs and installing a whole lot of new warning signs. That’s all good. But maybe a little too much rushing, judging from the embarrassing capitalization, spelling and word spacing errors displayed on one newly posted large new sign (red annotations are by yours truly):

Dog Fancier's Park

“Learn the 4P Warning Signs” to prevent dog fights, the metal sign proclaims near the top. To Parks and Rec, I suggest a fifth P.

Proofreading.

Follow William P. Barrett’s work on Twitter by clicking here.

It Didn’t Stay Here: Alleged Las Vegas affair before ritzy New York wedding

Posted on by December 28, 2019
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Las Vegas affairThere’s nothing like an alleged affair in Las Vegas with a Trump angle to spice up the pre-Labor Day dog days of summer.

Page Six, the venerable gossip arm of The New York Post, is reporting today that a Las Vegas waitress starting posting online photos allegedly proving she had a brief affair earlier this year in Las Vegas with an heir to a New York laundry fortune hours before his marriage last weekend at a ritzy Long Island venue to a manager at The Trump Organization. To make the account even more delicious, the waitress, who goes by the name Mayra Angel, posted the photos on Instagram using a hashtag set up by the couple, ensuring that the bride, bridegroom and all the guests would see them.

The heir, Cory Perlson, denied any fling whatsoever, according to The Post. His lawyer is trying to get some kind of restraining order against Angel while also seeking to convince prosecutors to bring criminal charges. What they might be is unclear, if Angel truthfully told The Post she requested no money and hasn’t been in contact with Perlson or his now-wife, Brianna Ehland. Her LinkedIn profile says she has been senior manager of social marketing for The Trump Organization since early 2016 and is a 2014 graduate of the University of Arizona.

But this is more than enough to make Perlson a candidate for my New To Las Vegas list, It Didn’t Stay Here. It’s a roster of folks in hot water somewhere else for something that happened in Vegas. It’s a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal of “What Happens Here, Stays Here,” the infamous marketing slogan of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Continue reading →

In Las Vegas, watch what they write, not what they show, at Sprouts

Posted on by August 17, 2018
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At Sprouts Farmers Market in Las Vegas–and, I suppose, everywhere else across the 325-store chain in 19 states–it’s fine to look at the big colorful packaging on the items. But make very sure you read the smaller type.

Here’s what I saw today in the store at the corner of E. Flamingo Rd. and S. Pecos Rd. The red annotation was added by yours truly at the nearby New To Las Vegas world headquarters.

Sprouts

Follow William P. Barrett’s work on Twitter by clicking here.

Sketchy law enforcement supporter trolls Las Vegas

Posted on by April 17, 2021
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Sketchy law enforcement supporterIn the past month or so I have received several telephone calls at the New To Las Vegas world headquarters from cold-calling telemarketers soliciting a donation for something they call Association for Police and First Responders. They made it sound like a charity that would funnel large amounts of needed aid to, well, police and first responders.

Don’t believe it.

For starters, there really is no APFR. It’s a dba used by a Washington, D.C.-based outfit called Heroes United PAC. That’s right, PAC, as in political action committee, supposedly working to influence elections. Heroes United PAC isn’t a charity at all, although it also solicits under the seemingly charitable name Volunteer Firefighters Association.

According to Heroes United PAC’s filings with the Federal Election Commission–not exactly a charity regulator–in a year-and-a-half of existence, about 90% of the $2.6 million raised went for fundraising costs. That left just 10% for the mission, in this case exercising political influence to advance law enforcement interests. That only 10 cents on the dollar went to the cause is a fact that would-be donors are not advised of upfront and likely would not be pleased to learn even if they didn’t mind being fooled by the charity-sounding spiel of the telemarketers.

Aside from a single $9,800 expenditure in support of one candidate, it’s a little unclear where all of the other money has gone–so much so that the FEC has raised questions. But gone it has. Despite receiving that $2.6 million, Heroes United PAC as of June 30 had only $3,533.87 in cash on hand. That’s not going to fund much of a campaign for anyone or any cause in the fall elections.

Indeed, Heroes United PAC is so sketchy it can’t even get its names all straight. The telemarketers who called me, the website and even the logo displayed nearby on this page called it the Association FOR Police and First Responders (my emphasis). But the filings to the FEC–which are under penalty of perjury–used Association OF Police and First Responders (again my emphasis). It’s only a preposition, but the variance is further evidence to me that something is off. Continue reading →