Free Republic

LAS VEGAS (AP) — MGM Resorts International announced the sale Tuesday of two casinos that will significantly alter its portfolio of Las Vegas Strip properties and offer up cash. The Las Vegas-based company said it is selling the Circus Circus hotel-casino for $825 million to Treasure Island casino owner Phil Ruffin. The company also sold the Bellagio for $4.25 billion.

A gargantuan spiderweb hangs across the steep dirt road. It shimmers, translucent in the sunlight, slack lines nearly imperceptible. As I duck the web and trudge further up the road's corkscrew turn, the thick brush, thistle, weeds and poison oak part, revealing an ancient looking stone bench on the shoulder above the road. Finally. More than a year after I first searched for it, I have found the mysterious, nearly forgotten memorial to legendary California novelist Frank Norris in this far corner of the Santa Cruz Mountains. A simple cross and a crooked, barren flag holder crown the semicircular, mission-style...

Situated in the California bay's waters, Red Rock, also dubbed Treasure Island, covers three counties: Marin, Contra Costa and San Francisco. According to legend, the island was once a burial site for pirate's treasure - though the discovery of any has never been confirmed. In the early 19th century, Russian hunters trapped otters on the mass of rock, which has a private beach on its north side that faces Richmond Bridge. Then, in 1964, the land was snapped up by Mendel Glickman, the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, for less than $50,000. He dreamed of transforming Red Rock into...

Most people who visit Calistoga -- a town in the Napa Valley -- come for the wine and the spa treatments; few come for the literary history. But they could: one of the most romantic honeymoon getaways ever written about happened one hundred and thirty five years ago. Instead of mud baths and geysers, picture an abandoned mining shack infested with snakes, poison oak, and rusty nails. Now picture a sickly writer and his new wife spending their first two months of married life living there. Sounds crazy, right? But that’s exactly what Robert Louis Stevenson — author of the...

“We found radiation, contaminated materials, in playgrounds and in areas that had previously been playgrounds,” said McLean, 52, who lives in North Carolina. “We found it in front yards. We found it underneath sidewalks and along the roadways.”

Speaker Mop & Glo made headlines for her call to investigate opponents of the Ground Zero mosque, but there was something else about her remarks that should have raised your hackles: “There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded,” she said. “How is this being ginned up that here we are talking about Treasure Island, something we’ve been working on for decades, something of great interest to our community as we...

"Through two mayors, connected island developers cultivated a profitable deal: how the city handed over control of one of the city’s most scenic locales — despite audits, voter anger and rebellious bureaucrats".....

Politicians with ties to land developers are trying to force the Navy to hand over one of the most valuable pieces of property in the country for free. The House version of the 2010 Defense authorization bill scheduled for conference today contains language that would speed the transfer of Naval Station Treasure Island to the city of San Francisco at no cost.

President Barack Obama has shot down a little-known provision in a massive Pentagon policy bill that would have greatly benefited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district. Pelosi (D-Calif.) is among dozens of lawmakers pressing for language in the House version of the 2010 defense authorization bill that would transfer closed military bases, at no cost, to local authorities for economic development. But the White House is opposed to the provision, saying it would provide “potential windfalls” for private developers. Responding on behalf of Obama to letters from several senators who support the House legislation, Dorothy Robyn, the deputy undersecretary of Defense...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is eyeing treasure in a massive Pentagon bill that could benefit her district greatly. Pelosi is among dozens of House lawmakers pressing for a little-known provision in the defense policy bill that would speed up the transfer of military bases to private developers. One of those shuttered bases has been the subject of years of failed negotiations between San Francisco, the city Pelosi represents, and the Navy. The two parties have been at a stalemate over Treasure Island, a Navy base that closed in 1993 and sits atop a man-made island in the San Francisco...

Dan Riehl of the Riehl World View has run two very interesting posts building on published material about Nancy Pelosi’s family fortune(s), and the possible role of (gasp!) political influence in securing lucre for relatives. The issue immediately at hand is Treasure Island, formerly the property of the United States Navy, a man-made isalnd in the middle of San Francisco Bay. It is being decontaminated at taxpayer expense, and plans are for it to be developed to house 6,000 families.

Tony Hall is taking his fight with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to a whole new level -- and maybe to court. Hall, the former supervisor from west of Twin Peaks, has filed a blistering legal claim against the city alleging he was unfairly fired from his $159,000-a-year job as Treasure Island czar last year. Hall was voted off the island, he says, in retaliation for having blown the whistle on a sweetheart deal involving Newsom and the former Navy base's main developer, Darius Anderson, a big Democratic fundraiser and Newsom supporter. The mayor's handpicked Treasure Island Development Authority voted...

Former San Francisco Supervisor Tony Hall spent thousands of dollars for thank-you dinners for his contributors -- but a woman who helped raise that money says the only thing she got was a fat headache, and now she's threatening to sue. "He stiffed me -- I didn't get paid a dime,'' said Julie DeGregorio, who worked as Hall's fund-raiser earlier in the year as he was contemplating a re-election bid to the Board of Supervisors. Even more embarrassing, DeGregorio says Hall was dialing for campaign dollars right out of his Board of Supervisors office. How does she know this? "Because...

Not since the 17th and 18th centuries, when cutlass-wielding outlaws terrorized the Caribbean, has piracy been so rampant on the world's oceans. Acts of piracy soared worldwide in the first six months of this year, reaching an all-time high of 234 attacks and claiming the lives of 16 sailors, according to a report released yesterday by the London-based International Maritime Bureau. The new figures, which amount to a 37% increase over the same period last year, represent the worst six-month period for piracy since the bureau, a specialized division of the International Chamber of Commerce, started compiling statistics in 1991....

Pirates Make Last Performance At Treasure Island It's the return of sin city for one hotel on the strip. The curtain was drawn on the family oriented pirate show at Treasure Island Sunday night. The property wants a sexier image, so in October the "Sirens of Treasure Island" kicks off. News 3's Ann Lim reports it will be a somewhat racier pirate show with female performers. It's the final battle between the Brits and the pirates. The performers had a long climb up. A decade later, it's time to come down. A flock of people of all ages surround...

End Of An Era This Weekend Channel 13 reporting Last Updated: July 2, 2003 The end of an era on the Las Vegas strip is now just days away. After more than 16 thousand performances: the daily Battle of Buccaneer Bay at the Treasure Island is over for good. Tourists say they're sad to see one of the only attractions for children go away. Its all part of the hotel's plan to become more adult oriented. This fall the name Treasure Island will go. The hotel will just be called the "TI", the show out front will be called...