Las Vegas

One thing that happened in Vegas last week certainly won't stay in Vegas: The lobbyists Lisa Harris Jones and Sean Malone were married there before about 100 well-wishers, who included some of Maryland's top government officials - including the wedding officiant, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Malone, a one-time top aide to Gov. Martin O'Malley, and Jones, perennially among the state's highest-earning lobbyists, joined professional forces five years ago and on Tuesday were married in Las Vegas by Rawlings-Blake.

Kate Parker was skeptical during a 2006 triannual pool tournament at Dundalk's Green Room Billiards club, and with good reason. "I've got a feeling we're going to Vegas," she remembered one of her teammates saying. And despite the banner adorning the lobby - "This way to Vegas" - Parker still had her doubts. "We had a shot at Vegas and we lost," she said. "So we went into the losers' bracket; we had a shot at Vegas and we lost. " Even after the two defeats, Parker and her team turned things around, going on an unlikely run. And through a combination of luck, skill and quirks in the rules, the Elkridge resident's team was off to Las Vegas for the American Poolplayers Association National Team Championship with a wild-card bid. And come Friday, and running over the course of two weekends, more than 100 teams will be competing for the same honor at Maryland's APA spring program tournament.

Note: Since I recap both Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance and they're overlapping seasons this week and next, I'll be covering both nights in one recap for these first two weeks. They open with past winners and notable contestants being interviewed about how their life changed by putting on a number and getting in the audition line. My favorite bit is Mary with a giant, tight, curly hairdo, like when we had perms in the '80s. Tuesday Night - Los Angeles Auditions We're in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theatre.

One thing that happened in Vegas last week certainly won't stay in Vegas: The lobbyists Lisa Harris Jones and Sean Malone were married there before about 100 well-wishers, who included some of Maryland's top government officials - including the wedding officiant, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Malone, a one-time top aide to Gov. Martin O'Malley, and Jones, perennially among the state's highest-earning lobbyists, joined professional forces five years ago and on Tuesday were married in Las Vegas by Rawlings-Blake.

A year ago, Tracy Whitehead was planning how to leave her abusive relationship with Joseph Palczynski, a decision that triggered her abduction, the deaths of four bystanders and the terrorizing of her family. Yesterday she was contemplating how to spend the money she won after "shock jock" Howard Stern was moved by her horrifying story. Stern flew the Baltimore County woman to Las Vegas as the winner of a hard luck contest he advertised on radio. And on Sunday night, in a Stern-arranged bet, Whitehead won $100,000 in one hand at blackjack.

A headstone for Chubby of "Our Gang" is front page news in The Sun while a $2 billion bank loss only makes page 16 ("Morgan's $2 billion loss stuns Wall Street," May 11). Banks return about two tenths of 1 percent in interest on deposits, while charging 4 percent to 8 percent interest on money they lend. Instead of encouraging deposits with higher interest rates, they put the difference into a gambling pool and wager on things like credit default swaps. JP Morgan has amassed over $200 billion to gamble with.

Compare Yelawolf to Eminem and you could miss the point. Sure, both are white rappers with chips on their shoulders and working-class backgrounds, but it's Yelawolf's power with the pen and his tenacity on the microphone that should be drawing the comparisons. Yelawolf, the 31-year-old Alabamian born Michael Wayne Atha, can rap circles around many of his peers, all while confidently projecting a poor-boy-from-the-sticks swagger. Eminem took notice after a producer showed him Yela's video for "Pop the Trunk," a standout from last year's "Trunk Muzik" mixtape.

Sometimes it's the steady march of footsteps that irrevocably changes a place. Other times it's a single man with a vision and a mission who leaves big footprints.In the case of Las Vegas, it is Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, whose legacy survives in Nevada's Mojave Desert. The renowned mobster's Flamingo Hotel, which opened in 1946, set Las Vegas on its way to becoming glitter gulch and the fastest-growing American city in the second half of the 20th century.Two events greased the wheels for Siegel's vision -- the legalization of gambling in Nevada in 1931 and the gusher of electricity that began to flow out of Hoover Dam's power plant five years later.

Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines will be starting daily nonstop service between Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Las Vegas on April 25. The flight, announced Wednesday, will leave BWI at 7:30 p.m. and arrive in Las Vegas at 9:22 p.m. The return flight departs Las Vegas at 11:47 p.m. and lands at 7:20 a.m. Spirit, which shifted its operation to BWI from Reagan National Airport outside Washington last September, also...

WHAT DOES IT say about America that this year's hottest city - the nation's cultural and economic trend-setter - is Las Vegas, sprawl that only began to sprout at a desert railroad stop 60 years ago, that produces next to nothing and that profits from peddling live fantasies, increasingly sexual, to the rest of the country and world? Las Vegas is America's fastest-growing city. Each month, 7,000 more newcomers show up, driving its population toward 2 million by this decade's end. Its just-built suburbs spread endlessly across arid bleakness, their land and home values rocketing.

Note: Since I recap both Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance and they're overlapping seasons this week and next, I'll be covering both nights in one recap for these first two weeks. They open with past winners and notable contestants being interviewed about how their life changed by putting on a number and getting in the audition line. My favorite bit is Mary with a giant, tight, curly hairdo, like when we had perms in the '80s. Tuesday Night - Los Angeles Auditions We're in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theatre.

After cutting his list of potential colleges to three finalists, St. Frances small forward Dwayne Morgan has spent the past two weeks deciding between Maryland, Georgetown and Nevada-Las Vegas. On Wednesday, Morgan made his decision in front of an assortment of family, friends and classmates in a makeshift press room at St. Frances. One of the top recruits in the Class of 2014, he announced his intention to play for coach Dave Rice and the Runnin' Rebels. “When I went on my visit, I felt like I was at home.

1. Phoenix 2. Los Angeles 3. Sacramento, Calif. 4. San Diego 5. San Francisco 6. San Jose, Calif. 7. Denver 8. Washington, D.C. 9. Jacksonville, Fla. 10. Miami 11. Orlando, Fla. 12. Atlanta 13. Chicago 14. Indianapolis 15. Baltimore 16. Boston 17. Detroit 18. Minneapolis 19. St. Louis 20. Las Vegas 21. New York 22. Rochester, N.Y. 23. Charlotte, N.C. 24. Columbus,...

Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines will be starting daily nonstop service between Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Las Vegas on April 25. The flight, announced Wednesday, will leave BWI at 7:30 p.m. and arrive in Las Vegas at 9:22 p.m. The return flight departs Las Vegas at 11:47 p.m. and lands at 7:20 a.m. Spirit, which shifted its operation to BWI from Reagan National Airport outside Washington last September, also...

City officials are expected to sign off Wednesday on a deal that promises to help residents seeking the 1,700 jobs planned for Horseshoe Casino Baltimore — addressing one of the main arguments made by gambling supporters in the debate over expanding casinos in Maryland. A Caesars Entertainment subsidiary has agreed to fund a temporary employee in the mayor's employment development office to lead hiring efforts in Baltimore, to print informational materials targeting potential employees in the city, and to report twice a year to city officials on hiring progress toward its workforce development plan.

Life has accelerated quickly for Laurel native Greg Merson in the wake of his $8.5 million victory last week in the World Series of Poker Main Event. As champion, Merson got to luxuriate in a free villa provided by the Rio Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, where the tournament was held. He spent part of the day after his victory being ferried around the city in a Rolls-Royce by new sponsor IveyPoker, an online venture recently launched by the world's best player, Phil Ivey. But the former University of Maryland student nonetheless made a little time to call The Baltimore Sun and reflect on his experiences at poker's biggest event.

Even at the depths of a drug addiction that cost him a fortune and dulled his world-class poker skills, Greg Merson believed he could do something great. “He always had a lot of faith in himself,” said his father, Stan. “I never saw him lose that.” Wednesday morning in Las Vegas, the North Laurel native showed the world that his faith was well-placed, winning the $8.5 million first prize in the World Series of Poker Main Event. “He's been through a lot, and a lot of people have told him he wouldn't make it at poker,” said Stan Merson, still running on emotion as he watched a television replay in his hotel suite a few hours later.

The possibility that Gov. Martin O'Malley and House Speaker Michael E. Busch will round up the votes needed to authorize a referendum to expand Maryland's casino program shows just how far attitudes have shifted in the last five years. Lawmakers and their constituents are generally more comfortable with the notion that the state will raise significant revenues from casinos and will embrace table games in addition to slot machines. But the political dynamic surrounding the issue in Annapolis is largely unchanged.