Free Republic

After a tumultuous week of violent lurches higher (but mostly lower), the S&P 500 has ended April with its worst start to a year since the start of World War 2...Vacation bookings are soaring, car sales are booming and Americans continue to spend with abandon, thanks to higher wages and brisk hiring; and yet, the economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter, led by trade deficits and a drop in inventory purchases.“The market is worried about a very fragile economic outlook, as it should be," said Joe LaVorgna, chief Americas economist at Natixis and former Trump White House economic adviser.“The...

BOSTON (AP) — A former chairperson of the Massachusetts tribe whose ancestors aided the Pilgrims goes on trial Tuesday for bribery, extortion and other federal charges related to the tribe’s planned casino project. Cedric Cromwell’s criminal trial opens in U.S. District Court in Boston after being delayed for months by the coronavirus pandemic. Federal prosecutors say Cromwell used his position as chair of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to extort tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and engaged in a conspiracy to commit bribery. The Cape Cod-based tribe’s casino plan has faced years of legal setbacks, but it got a...

Authorities said two men have pleaded guilty on Monday to federal crimes for being involved in a political contribution scheme. According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) statement, John Keeler, former vice president and general counsel of gaming company New Centaur LLC, pleaded guilty to creating false statements on the casino’s corporate tax return by concealing contributions to a local political party as deductible business expenses.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday proposed giving Native American tribes $100 million so they can purchase and preserve their ancestral lands.

Is it a sin to buy a lottery ticket? What about making a bet at a casino – so long as it's a budgeted amount of money and made responsibly? How about dropping a sports bet? Is it a sin to gamble? Some people would argue there is nothing sinful about it. Recently, after posting on Facebook one of my editorials against the legalization of sports betting in the Tar Heel state, a woman said in the comments section: "I've never found any basis in the Bible to oppose gambling specifically, even though I have searched." Another woman wrote, "Nowhere...

Darrell Brooks was busted in March 2007 for calling in a bomb threat to the $43-per-night Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, Nevada, ... He was put on probation after being convicted of conspiring to disturb the peace - a gross misdemeanor - and was banned from the casino for life.. His rap sheet also includes a conviction for statutory sexual seduction – the term for sex with a minor aged 16 or under in Nevada law - in January 2007.. Brooks was also charged with failing to inform the police of a change of address while a registered sex offender.....

These wagers were too rich for the Department of Justice’s blood. A Los Angeles County casino was hit with a hefty fine for failing to properly alert financial regulators and the Internal Revenue Service when a “high roller” walked in with $100 million in cash to bet on games of baccarat. Federal prosecutors say the unnamed whale — who was described only as a Chinese national — made over 100 visits to the Bicycle Hotel & Casino over eight months in 2016, often arriving with duffle bags full of cash to bet on marathon sessions of the high-stakes card game.

During both crises, a Native American reservation on California’s far northern coast kept the electricity flowing with the help of two microgrids that can disconnect from the larger electrical grid and switch to using solar energy generated and stored in battery banks near its hotel-casino. As most of rural Humboldt County sat in the dark during a planned shutoff in October 2019, the Blue Lake Rancheria became a lifeline for thousands of its neighbors: The gas station and convenience store provided fuel and supplies, the hotel housed patients who needed a place to plug in medical devices, the local newspaper...

Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign. The casino owner, Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, known as Pepe, jumped bail in Iowa in 1994 and disappeared, and has since been linked to violence and corruption in Mexico. A State Department cable in 2009 said he was suspected of orchestrating the assassination of a business rival and making illegal campaign donations to Mexican officials. When The New York Times...

Multiple people were struck by gunfire in a shooting at a casino hotel near Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Saturday night, a tribal official said. Melinda J. Danforth, director of intergovernmental affairs for Oneida Nation, which runs the casino, said as many as seven or eight people may have been hit. The gunfire broke out in a dining room at the Radisson Inn connected to the Oneida Casino in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, just outside Green Bay, she said.

Bruner, 67, of Albany, Minnesota.. was attempting to move the vehicle to straighten a trailer it was pulling when he fell out of the driver’s side door... “The driver landed in the path of the motor coach’s rear tires. The motor coach was still in drive and slowly moving forward.” The Clark County coroner’s office said Bruner died from head and neck trauma. His death is listed as an accident.

---snip--- We have another great example that showcases how one innocent looking insecure IoT device connected to your network can cause security nightmares. Nicole Eagan, the CEO of cybersecurity company Darktrace, told attendees at an event in London on Thursday how cybercriminals hacked an unnamed casino through its Internet-connected thermometer in an aquarium in the lobby of the casino. According to what Eagan claimed, the hackers exploited a vulnerability in the thermostat to get a foothold in the network. Once there, they managed to access the high-roller database of gamblers and "then pulled it back across the network, out the...

1 and maybe MORE tribal casino's staying OPEN!!! They are on FEDERAL land..so the state over reach is a bit much.

Rapper Akon has revealed plans for a futuristic $6 billion city in his Senegal homeland modelled on Black Panther's Wakanda. The R&B star, who boasts two multi-platinum albums, told a news conference on Monday he had laid the first stone for the city in the Atlantic Ocean village of Mbodiene, around 60 miles south of the capital Dakar. The solar-powered Akon City will offer hotels, a university, hospitals, business and leisure centres including a casino, as well as movie studios, all featuring futuristic designs by architect Hussein Bakri, with African sculptures for inspiration.

As Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana overnight, the winds appeared to push a riverboat casino in to the pillars supporting the Interstate 10 bridge. Louisiana State Police Maj. Doug Cain said they received a report that the Isle of Capri’s riverboat casino broke from its mooring and was stuck against the Interstate 10 bridge in Lake Charles. Early reports emerging in the wake of Hurricane Laura show less damage than what was feared.

Christie Wilson, 27, was killed by Mario Flavio Garcia after the pair met at Thunder Valley Casino in Oct. 2005. In the early morning hours of Oct. 5, 2005, 27-year-old Christie Wilson left Thunder Valley Casino after a night of gambling. She wasn't alone. When a missing persons report was filed, Placer County investigators immediately pulled surveillance footage from the casino northeast of Sacramento. They watched Wilson, under no apparent duress, enjoying herself like any other patron. Then, they spotted a man who kept striking up conversations with her, hour after hour. Around 1 a.m., the man and Wilson left...

In Nevada, you can’t have more than 50 people meet for a religious service. However, the state’s lifeblood — casinos — can operate at 50 percent capacity, a much less strict restriction. If you’re Evangelicals for Trump, there’s an easy workaround to that: Hold a church service in a Las Vegas casino. The event took place at the Ahern Hotel and Convention Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, according to Fox News. The venue is one of Vegas’ numerous facilities that combine hotel and convention space with casino facilities. Headlined by Trump spiritual adviser Paula White, the church service took...

As many of you know in the State of Nevada churches are not allowed to have more than 50 people in attendance however, casinos are allowed to operate at 50% capacity. In July, the Supreme Court ruled that Nevada is allowed to impose tighter restrictions on churches than casinos thanks to Chief Justice Roberts who sided with the liberal judges.

BOSTON (AP) - Gyms, casinos, museums, movie theaters and guided tours are some of the businesses and cultural activities that can begin welcoming back customers and visitors in Massachusetts as the state launches Phase 3 of its reopening plan on Monday. In order to open, the facilities will have to meet specific safety protocols, including limiting capacity or instituting timed entries to control how many people are allowed in at a given time, Gov. Baker said Thursday. Tour buses and duck boats will be limited to 50% capacity. In Boston, the Phase 3 reopening will begin a full week later,...

As Rodney Butler walks through the dark halls of the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut, he laments that the 4,500 slot machines throughout the establishment that he considers home are turned off. It’s “unbelievable,” Butler said. “They should be clinging and clanging right now.” Foxwoods, in Mashantucket, Connecticut, is one of the largest casinos in the world. It’s owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, for which Butler is the chairman. He says that up until the coronavirus, COVID-19, came to the United States, the casino had never shut its doors. **SNIP** Across the country, from Las...