As long as Las Vegas casinos continue to provoke untrammeled, excessive behavior at their pool parties, they’re going to make the police blotter. It seems that one MGM Grand guest got an unwelcome surprise when he passed out in a restroom. While unconscious, he was assaulted sexually by Gustavo Banegas (right), one of those Millennials so prized by the industry. The incident occurred at Wet Republic, during or after a Tiesto performance. Banegas’ brazen confession of his activities, turned up by TheSmokingGun.com, is prima facie evidence of the ‘anything goes’ mentality the characterizes Vegas’ pool-party culture.
Although criminal charges have been filed, it is noteworthy that we have not heard a peep from the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Previously, when sexual misconduct was documented in Strip nightclubs, the NGCB was on it like white on rice. Perhaps gaming regulators figure that the criminal justice system will sort things out. In the meantime, you can edify yourself with the five-page police report, if you so choose … and have a strong stomach.
* Its Arizona chapter having already established that Arizonans are driving less than before, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund has turned 
its fire upon the mooted I-11 freeway between Phoenix and Las Vegas, an important link in the proposed Intermountain West Corridor. It has labeled the $2.5 billion project a “boondoggle,” likely to be superseded by alternate (if unspecified) forms of transportation. If you’re a Millennial, argues U.S. PIRG, you’re an unlikely candidate to use I-11 (which would take 20 years to complete, so don’t wait up for it.) Arizona PIRG Executive Director Diane Brown said, “It’s important to note that the projects identified in the Highway Boondoggles report aren’t necessarily worst of the worst. They are a sample of projects, some that had been proposed for decades, that have been moving forward more recently to show … some of the different types of spending that we believe is wasteful of taxpayer dollars.”
The Nevada Department of Transportation‘s Meg Ragonese responded, “The report claims that the driving boom is over, but it has to be remembered that many areas of the west continue to see development, as well as population and traffic increases,” and she could have added that Las Vegas is one of them, as monthly visitation numbers show.
* Congratulations and thanks to Caesars Entertainment for taking a leading role in water conservation, something on which it has spent $70 million over the last 10 years. Company CFO Donald Colvin downplays it has as being a “penny-pinching Scotsman,” but he’s also doing a great service to the Las Vegas Valley.
* While the U.S. seems unlikely to join, there’s a growing global movement to ban dolphinariums. You can bet PETA has The Mirage squarely in its sights, so enjoy its dolphin habitat while you can.
