went to lunch with my grandma at a local casino(Henderson, Nevada) and she gave me a $20 to go play in the arcade while she waits for the food. The arcade is about a 30ft walk. Now I think $20 is a lot to spend in an arcade and I have ones in my wallet so I put the $20 in my pocket and walk on over to the coin machine and get some coins. 10 minutes later food comes and I walk back. I reach in my pocket to give the money back and there's nothing. I check all my pockets, my wallet, the arcade, all along the food court and there was no sign of it.

"It was an annual tradition, a 130-mile ride on long stretches of highway from the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson, Nev., through Searchlight to Nipton, Calif., and back.
But at 9:39 a.m. on Thursday, about 40 miles into the ride, a box truck slammed into the group of about 20 cyclists as they rode on the shoulder of U.S. 95 in Clark County, just north of Searchlight, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol.
Five cyclists were killed and four were injured, "
// full article text //
https://pastebin.com/pHLcMyvq
from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/us/cyclists-crash-las-vegas-dead.html

I read so many of these stories and can relate to almost all of them. I don’t know how many can relate to me because I literally lost thousands upon thousands of dollars all within weeks. A few weeks ago I won probably $20,000 and within two weeks ive lost it all plus several more thousands. Currently, my bank account is $4000 overdrawn! I have an entire Ziploc bag full of 1099 ‘s! For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically every time you win anything over $1200 you have to pay taxes on it. I live in Henderson Nevada which is right next to Las Vegas. I can literally walk to the casino from my house. Unfortunately, I’ve been gambling since I was 17 years old and I’m currently almost 55 years old! I started out gambling and my parents took me to Las Vegas when I was 17 years old. They told me is the greatest place and so much fun and they would give me money to gamble. I never got carded or anything I just got to play on my parents money. Typically, I would be the only one coming home with money at the end of each trip. My parents will often ask me for gas money to get home. It’s different when you’re not playing with your own money. Several years later after having children and getting divorced, I started playing bingo. I was living in California at the time where there wasn’t casinos nearby. I started getting hooked on bingo and then started frequenting an Indian casino within about an hours drive away. First it was bingo which I won $1200 the first time I was there. Overtime I started playing slot machines and then really got into video poker. Long story short, in 2008 I ended up moving to Las Vegas with my new husband. All of a sudden The opportunity to gamble was literally at my fingertips. I would have to spend my lunch hour from work at the casino across the street. In the evenings, my mom lives with me and is also a gambler and I would go to the casino. My husband, although when I met him didn’t really gamble much, really got into it too. Between all three of us we spend several nights a week at the casino. I am by far the heaviest better of all of us and I’ve gone from playing nickels to quarters to now dollars! At the beginning of the year I won $10,000 and one video poker hand. One night I won probably almost 20 grand just playing video poker. I’ve had stacks up on stacks of money to where I can’t even close my wallet! This was just a few weeks ago and now I don’t even have enough to cover All of the advances I’ve gotten from the casinos over the past week. I finally come to a place where I know this has to stop or I’m going to lose everything including my marriage and my gorgeous home! I have made a decision to finally get help! I really want to go to GA but right now there are no actual face-to-face meetings and I’m thinking that the virtual stuff probably wouldn’t work for me. My husband is fully aware of my struggles as well as my mother and they are both willing to help me even though they are both gamblers but not to the extent that I am. I’ve been listening to a podcast that directed me to Reddit And I’m hoping this is A form that will help me stay accountable by reading other peoples stories of gambling addiction as well as success and overcoming it. I welcome any advice anyone has to give and support because God knows I need it!

Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis.
Title refers to: The Trump admin is blocking IGs from getting info on over $1 trillion in relief spending, including corporation bailouts. The admin is also withholding PPP info from Congress, meaning we don't know if Trump or his family took taxpayer money. Additionally, we learned that at least 4 members of Congress have benefited from PPP money, but aren't required to disclose it.
Housekeeping:

• HOW TO SUPPORT: I know we are all facing unprecedented financial hardships right now. If you are in the position to support my work, I have a patreon, venmo, and a paypal set up. No pressure though, I will keep posting these pieces no matter what.
  
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Coronavirus

Inspectors general warned Congress last week that the Trump administration is blocking scrutiny of more than $1 trillion in spending related to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the previously undisclosed letter, Department of Treasury attorneys concluded that the administration is not required to provide the watchdogs with information about the beneficiaries of programs like the $500 billion in loans for corporations.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin refused to provide Congress with the names of recipients of the taxpayer-funded coronavirus business loans. After criticism, Mnuchin began to walk back his denial, saying he will talk to lawmakers on a bipartisan basis “to strike the appropriate balance for proper oversight” of PPP loans “and appropriate protection of small business information.”
At least 4 lawmakers have benefited in some way from the Paycheck Protection program they helped create. Politico has been told there are almost certainly more -- but there are zero disclosure rules, even for members of Congress.

• Republicans on the list include Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, a wealthy businessman who owns auto dealerships, body shops and car washes, and Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, whose family owns multiple farms and equipment suppliers across the Midwest. The Democrats count Rep. Susie Lee of Nevada, whose husband is CEO of a regional casino developer, and Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell of Florida, whose husband is a senior executive at a restaurant chain that has since returned the loan.

Mick Mulvaney dumped as much as $550,000 in stocks the same day Trump assured the public the US economy was 'doing fantastically' amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Mulvaney unloaded his holdings in three different mutual funds, each of which is primarily made up of US stocks. The next day, the value of the mutual funds tanked.

Cases rising in many states

Good summary: There was supposed to be a peak. But the stark turning point, when the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. finally crested and began descending sharply, never happened. Instead, America spent much of April on a disquieting plateau, with every day bringing about 30,000 new cases and about 2,000 new deaths. This pattern exists because different states have experienced the coronavirus pandemic in very different ways…The U.S. is dealing with a patchwork pandemic.
As of Friday, coronavirus cases were significantly climbing in 16 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Oklahoma is experiencing a massive increase in coronavirus cases just days before Trump’s planned rally in Tulsa. In Tulsa county itself, 1 in roughly 390 people have tested positive. Yet Trump plans on cramming 20,000 people in an event with voluntary face mask policy and no social distancing. Attendees must sign a waiver that absolves the president’s campaign of any liability from virus-related illnesses.

• On Monday, Pence lied saying that Oklahoma has “flattened the curve.” As you can see at any of the resources immediately below, this is not even close to true. Over the past 14 days, the state has seen a 124% increase in cases and reports 65% of ICU beds are in use.
  
• Tulsa World Editorial Board: This is the wrong time and Tulsa is the wrong place for the Trump rally. "We don't know why he chose Tulsa, but we can’t see any way that his visit will be good for the city...Again, Tulsa will be largely alone in dealing with what happens at a time when the city’s budget resources have already been stretched thin."
  
• Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that he is a victim of double standards when it comes to perception of his decision to resume campaign rallies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, declaring that attempts to “covid shame” his campaign “won’t work!”
  

Resources to track increases: There are many different sites with various methods of visualizing the spread of coronavirus. Here are some that may be particularly useful this summer… Topos COVID-19 compiler homepage and graphs of each state since re-opening. How we reopen Safely has stats on each state’s progress towards meeting benchmarks to reopen safely (hint: almost none have reached all the checkpoints). WaPo has a weekly national map of cases/deaths; the largest regional clusters are in the southeast.
On Monday, Trump twice said that “if we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” (video). Aside from the fact that cases exist even if we don’t test for them, we cannot explain the rising number of cases by increased testing capacity: In at least 14 states, the positive case rate is increasing faster than the increase in the average number of tests.

• Reminder: In March Trump told Fox News that he didn't want infected patients from a cruise ship to disembark because it would increase the number of reported cases in the US. "I like the numbers being where they are," Trump said at the time. "I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault."

Fired scientist Rebekah Jones builds coronavirus dashboard to rival Florida’s… Her site shows thousands more people with the coronavirus, and hundreds of thousands fewer who have been tested, than the site run by the Florida Health Department.

Equipment and supplies

More studies prove wearing masks limits transmission and spread of coronavirus… One study from Britain found that routine face mask use by 50% or more of the population reduced COVID-19 spread to an R of less than 1.0. The R value measures the average number of people that one infected person will pass the disease on to. An R value above 1 can lead to exponential growth. The study found that if people wear masks whenever they are in public it is twice as effective at reducing the R value than if masks are only worn after symptoms appear.
Meanwhile, Trump officials refuse to wear masks and Trump supporters copy his behavior… VP Mike Pence, leader of the coronavirus task force, published a tweet showing himself in a room full of Trump staffers, none wearing masks or practicing social distancing. Pence deleted the tweet shortly after criticism. A poll last week showed that 66% of likely-Biden-voters “always wear a mask,” while 83% of likely-Trump-voters “neverarely wear a mask.”

• Trump’s opposition to face masks hasn’t stopped him from selling them to his supporters, though. The online Trump Store is selling $20 cotton American flag-themed face masks.
  
• Yesterday, we learned that South Carolina Republican Rep. Tom Rice and family have tested positive for the coronavirus. Just two weeks ago, Rice was on the House floor and halls of the Capitol without wearing a mask.
  

Internal FEMA data show that the government’s supply of surgical gowns has not meaningfully increased since March… The slides show FEMA’s plan to ramp up supply into June and July hinges on the reusing of N95 masks and surgical gowns, increasing the risk of contamination. Those are supposed to be disposed of after one use.
Nursing homes with urgent needs for personal protective equipment say they’re receiving defective equipment as part of Trump administration supply initiative. Officials say FEMA is sending them gowns that look more like large tarps -- with no holes for hands -- and surgical masks that are paper-thin.
More than 1,300 Chinese medical-device companies that registered to sell PPE in the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic used bogus registration data… These companies listed as their American representative a purported Delaware entity that uses a false address and nonworking phone number.
Florida is sitting on more than 980,000 unused doses of hydroxychloroquine, but hospitals don’t want it… Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered a million doses of the drug to show support for Trump, but very few hospitals have requested it.

Native American communities struggle

The CARES Act money for Native American tribes, meant to assist people during the pandemic, came with restrictions that are impeding efforts to limit the transmission of the virus. For instance, the funds can only be used to cover expenses that are "incurred due to the public health emergency." On the Navajo Nation, the public health emergency is inherently related to some basic infrastructure problems. 30% of Navajo don’t have running water to wash their hands, but the money can’t be used to build water lines.
Federal and state health agencies are refusing to give Native American tribes and organizations representing them access to data showing how the coronavirus is spreading around their lands, potentially widening health disparities and frustrating tribal leaders already ill-equipped to contain the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has turned down tribal epidemiologists’ requests for data that it’s making freely available to states.
A Hospital’s Secret Coronavirus Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns… Pregnant Native American women were singled out for COVID-19 testing based on their race and ZIP code, clinicians say. While awaiting results, some mothers were separated from their newborns, depriving them of the immediate contact doctors recommend. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that state officials would investigate the allegations.

Personnel & appointees

Former IG Steve Linick told Congress he was conducting five investigations into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the State Department before he was fired. In addition to investigating Pompeo's potential misuse of taxpayer funds and reviewing his decision to expedite an $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, Linick’s office was conducting an audit of Special Immigrant Visas, a review of the International Women of Courage Award, and another review "involving individuals in the Office of the Protocol."

• Pompeo confidant emerges as enforcer in fight over watchdog’s firing: Linick testified that Undersecretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao, a decades-old friend of Pompeo’s, “tried to bully [him]” out of investigating Pompeo.

Trump has empowered John McEntee, director of the Presidential Personnel Office, to make significant staffing changes inside top federal agencies without the consent — and, in at least one case, without even the knowledge — of the agency head. Many senior officials in Trump's government are sounding alarms about the loss of expertise and institutional knowledge.
Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defense for policy, retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, has a history of making Islamophobic and inflammatory remarks against prominent Democratic politicians, including falsely calling former President Barack Obama a Muslim.
Amid racial justice marches, GOP advances Trump court pick hostile to civil rights. Cory Wilson, up for a lifetime seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, has denied that restrictive voting laws lead to voter suppression and called same-sex marriage “a pander to liberal interest groups.”
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has indefinitely extended the terms of the acting directors of the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, sidestepping the typical Senate confirmation process for those posts and violating the Federal Vacancies Reform Act,

Courts and DOJ

The Supreme Court declined on Monday to take a closer look at qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that shields law enforcement and government officials from lawsuits over their conduct. Developed in recent decades by the high court, the qualified immunity doctrine, as applied to police, initially asks two questions: Did police use excessive force, and if they did, should they have known that their conduct was illegal because it violated a "clearly established" prior court ruling that barred such conduct? In practice, however, lower courts have most often dismissed police misconduct lawsuits on grounds that there is no prior court decision with nearly identical facts.
The Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-discrimination laws protect gay and transgender employees. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court’s liberals in the 6 to 3 ruling. They said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “because of sex,” includes LGBTQ employees.

• Alito, writing more than 100 pages in dissent for himself and Thomas, accused the court's majority of writing legislation, not law. Kavanaugh wrote separately: "We are judges, not members of Congress...Under the Constitution and laws of the United States, this court is the wrong body to change American law in that way."
  
• Just days before the SCOTUS opinion was released, the Trump administration finalized a rule that would remove nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people when it comes to health care and health insurance. The SCOTUS ruling may make it easier to challenge the changes made by Trump.
  

The Supreme Court also declined to take up California’s “sanctuary” law, denying the Trump administration’s appeal. This means that the lower court opinion upholding one of California's sanctuary laws is valid, limiting cooperation between law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two of the Court's conservative members, supported taking up the case.
A federal appeals court appeared unlikely Friday to stop a judge from examining why the Justice Department sought to walk away from its prosecution of Michael Flynn. "I don't see why we don't observe regular order," said Judge Karen Henderson. "Why not hold this in abeyance and see what happens?" Judge Robert Wilkins told Flynn's lawyer that if Sullivan doesn't let the government drop the case, "then you can come back here on appeal."

Other

Good read: Fiona Hill on being mistaken as a secretary by Trump, her efforts to make sure he was not left alone with Putin, and what the US, UK and Russia have in common. “It’s spitting in Merkel’s face,” said Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat who’s now a foreign-policy analyst. “But it’s in our interests.”

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry welcomed Trump’s plan to withdraw more than a quarter of U.S. troops from Germany.
  
• Op-Ed: Why cutting American forces in Germany will harm this alliance
  

According to a new book, the Secret Service had to seek more funding to cover the cost of protecting Melania Trump while she stayed in NYC to renegotiate her prenup - taxpayers paid tens of millions of dollars to allow her to get better terms. Additionally, NYPD estimated its own costs conservatively at $125,000 a day.
Georgia election 'catastrophe' in largely minority areas sparks investigation. Long lines, lack of voting machines, and shortages of primary ballots plagued voters. As of Monday night, there were still over 200,000 uncounted votes.
Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Fox News Mocked After Mistaking Monty Python Joke for Seattle Protest Infighting
In addition to holding a rally on the day after Juneteenth (originally scheduled the day of), Trump will be accepting the GOP nomination in Jacksonville on the 60th anniversary of “Ax Handle Saturday,” a KKK attack on African Americans.
Environmental news:

• Ruling against environmentalists, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the federal government has the authority to allow a proposed $7.5 billion natural gas pipeline to cross under the popular Appalachian Trail in rural Virginia.
  
• Trump administration has issued a new rule blocking tribes from protecting their waters from projects like pipelines, dams, and coal terminals.
  
• The EPA published a proposal in the Federal Register that critics described as an assault on minority communities coping with the public health legacy of structural racism. The rule would bar EPA from giving special consideration to individual communities that bear the brunt of environmental risks — frequently populations of color.
  
• The Trump administration is preparing to drill off Florida’s coast, but says it will wait until after the November election to avoid any backlash from Florida state leaders.
  

Immigration news

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection used emergency funding meant for migrant families and children to pay for dirt bikes, canine supplies, computer equipment and other enforcement related-expenditures… The money was meant to be spent on “consumables and medical care” for migrants at the border.
  
• ACLU files lawsuit against stringent border restrictions related to coronavirus that largely bar migrants from entering the United States.
  
• Under Trump’s leadership, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has mismanaged its finances so badly that it has sought an emergency $1.2 billion infusion from taxpayers. When Trump took office, USCIS inherited a budget surplus. A large amount of funding is drained by its deliberate creation of more busy work for immigrants and their lawyers — as well as thousands of USCIS employees. These changes are designed to make it harder for people to apply for, receive or retain lawful immigration status.
  
• Asylum-seeking migrants locked up inside an Arizona ICE detention center with one of the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases say they were forced to clean the facility and are 'begging' for protection from the virus
  
• ICE plans to spend $18 million on thousands of new tasers and the training to use them
  

Background:

I am originally from Arizona. My mother remarried when I was 18 and still in high school - she had some mental issues that stemmed from long-term loneliness, so it actually didn't suprise me when she ended up marrying some guy from work after just a single week of dating. They got married without me ever officially meeting the guy.
 
Anyhow, one day (shortly after the marriage) during my senior year of high school I came home to find that my house had been sold, and my mom was moving out. She had an eviction notice from the bank, as it turns out my mother was going to lose the house, so the marriage was a way of her getting a safety net.
 
Long story short, I was told by my mother's new husband that I was an adult, and needed to start fending for myself. I was not allowed to move in with them (even though they had a guest room), and had to pack a bag, grab my dog, and go...to school.
 
I mean, I had class the next morning. I went to my wrestling coach with my issue and he allowed me to live with his family. When season ended I got a job, my own apt, and eventually a car. I was an honor roll student my entire life, but that last semester I failed all my classes because I had to work. I shouldn't have graduated, but the school principal ordered all my teachers to give me a C due to my situation...I had A's & B's in their classes the previous semester, so they were happy to do it.
 
I worked three jobs at a time trying to support myself and also put myself through school. Community college was only 900 bucks a semester, but that was hard as heck to save - given I was working for $5.25 an hour minimum wage. But, I did it...
 
I competed in NJCAA Football and Wrestling, eventually earning All-American honors in both. This led to a wrestling scholarship to a DII school. The scholarship was just enough so that if I maxed out my student loans, tuition was paid for. This school was in California so I had to move.
 
This started the next chapter of my life as a broke college student who lived out of my car, and would usually walk around with less than $100 dollars to my name. It was the sacrifice I chose to make in order to get my education, as the athletic schedule kept me from holding a job, so what money I did have came from working at a labor staffing agency on the weekends. You'd get like 50 bucks for roofing, drywall deconstruction, or digging ditches.
 
It was rough, but I don't think I minded it too much - I was just happy to be consistently moving forward with my life.
   

The Rant:

I kept in contact w/ my mother. She had her various mental breakdowns here and there, but I always hoped she would eventually revert back to normal. Anyhow, when she found out that I was living in my car she insisted on paying for my car insurance. She knew that I frequently ran out of money, and she didn't want me to lose my "home."
 
I decided to travel back to Arizona to spend the Holidays with her. She had told me that she had cleared this with her husband, but I guess she actually hadn't. Because when he found out, he threw a huge fit and eventually cancelled my car insurance.
 
I was commuting through Vegas at the time, when I received a call from GEICO wanting to know why I had cancelled my insurance. I had enough money at the time, so I actually paid for it myself and got my insurance back. I asked for clarification if everything was ok, and if I was good to continue driving, and the sales rep said that it was.
 
Later that night while I'm somewhere in between Henderson and The Hoover Dam I get pulled over by a police car for not having any insurance. I explained to him the situation, and he confirmed that I did indeed have insurance. Unfortunately for me, the DMV had already suspended my license plate. Not my driver's license, but my actual license plate. They also suspended my registration.
 
The police officer informed me that even though I was without insurance for less than an hour, since GEICO reported it to the DMV, the wheels were already set in motion. In fact, after checking the time of expiration, it was revealed that by the time the DMV had processed the suspension, I had already purchased back my insurance.
 
I asked the police officer how on earth I was expected to know this. He claimed that when the DMV processed the suspension they automatically issued a letter to the address on my license informing me of the suspension, and that I should receive it in 3-5 business days.
 
So I asked again, how on Earth was I expected to know my license plate was suspended, I had asked the GEICO rep if I was good to go, and he said yes. The officer told me that the GEICO rep had no way of knowing my license plate was suspended...and that there was no way of me knowing that it had been suspended either, not until I received the letter.
 
So I clarified that I indeed had insurance, and that I should be legal to drive, but because the DMV had already suspended my license plate I was in fact not legal to drive...even though it was absolutely impossible for me to know that my plate was suspended. He confirmed that was indeed the truth. He said that in order to get my license plate and registration reinstated all I'd have to do was visit the Arizona DMV and show them my insurance card. It wouldn't cost any money, it would take about 10 minutes to do, and the closest AZ DMV was in Kingman about a hundred miles up the road.
 
So I told him that I would drive to Kingman, go to the DMV, and get everything straightened out. The officer told me that wasn't possible, because he needed to tow my car.
 
I asked him how that was fair, and he stated that it wasn't fair. But in the eyes of the law ignorance is no excuse and he has to do his job.
 
We were on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. No street lights, no stores...nothing but dirt. I asked him what was I to do? He said I should call someone to come pick me up. I explained that I didn't live in Nevada, I didn't know a single soul in the entire state. That I only had about 200 bucks on me, which was gas money to get to Phoenix. On top of that my phone was dead.
 
The cop stated that he was authorize to get me off the dark road due to it being a hazard, and he could drive me to the nearest populated area, which was The Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino.
 
So they tow my car to a lot in Henderson, while the cop drops me off at the Railroad Pass Casino, and now I'm stuck. This casino was by itself in the middle of the desert. There was nothing else around. There were no sidewalks or neighborhoods nearby. Just the Casino and the highway...which was dark without any lighting. So I couldn't even walk to the next town. I was thoroughly stranded.
 
So I walk into the hotel lobby and search for an outlet to charge my phone. I find one, but security immediately stops me. I explain to them my situation, and they state that unless I'm staying in the hotel or making purchases I have to leave. I ask them to let me charge my phone for at least ten minutes, as it's completely dead. Nope, apparently I'm trespassing - so I have to leave.
 
They walk me out to the parking lot, and want to know where my car is. I told them that I don't have one, but they claim that there is no way for me to get their without a car. There aren't even any busses that stop at that casino. I explained my story again, and they still don't believe it. They think I'm a homeless hitchhiker. They claim that if I don't leave they'll call the police, to which I reply, "please do."
 
They leave, and I'm stuck in the parking lot asking people if I can borrow their phone. Eventually the police do indeed come, and I explained to them my situation. They arrest me for trespassing, cuff me, and take me to Boulder City where I spend the night in a jail cell.
 
The next morning the police verify my story, and the same officer who pulled me over offers me a ride to Henderson so I can get my car. No trespassing charges are actually filed, and when I get to Henderson the officer authorizes the release of my vehicle. He tells me to drive carefully, because I could get pulled over again by a different officer.
 
Two hours later I make it to the Kingman DMV, and in about 5 minutes they reinstate my license plate and registration. I go ahead and drive to my mother's house for Christmas, only to be given gas money from my step-dad and told to drive home.
 
That same night, I'm back in Boulder City and I'm pulled over by the same police officer. He had no reason for pulling me over other than it's suspicious that I'm still in the area. I explained to him my situation, and he apologizes to me for the hell I've been through. He lets me know that the impound lot will NOT be charging me for the tow, and offers to buy me dinner at, of all places, The Railroad Pass Casino. I politely decline and make my way back to California.
 
Now here is where life really begins to suck. The tickets I received for "displaying false plates" and "providing suspended registration" equates to about 7 thousand dollars. Which I obviously cannot pay. My driver's license is suspended shortly afterwards. I'm forced to drive carefully from then on out, basically parking and never moving. But eventually a warrant is issued for my arrest due to failure to pay. My car is towed one night (it was parked) and I lose my "home."
 
Luckily I was able to move in with my girlfriend, and after the police realize I have no money to pay them the arrest warrant is rescinded. I eventually graduate college, and get a job working in San Francisco tech. Lucky for me I don't need to drive anywhere. Everything is in walking distance.
 
Ironically enough, I got my job in tech partly due to this debt. You see, I actually wanted to become a police officer, and one of the degrees that I received was in Criminal Justice. I actually interned for two years at the police department while finishing up school. Following my graduation, I was denied entry into the police academy until all of my outstanding traffic tickets were paid.
 
I picked up a paid internship at a gaming company, that eventually turned into a full time gig. That's since morphed into various different jobs over the years, but all pretty cool. My intention was to save enough money to eventually pay off the ticket and enter the academy...but I've since become very jaded when it comes to the "system", so I ultimately just decided to stay in the Silicon Valley tech industry instead.
 
I thought the blunt of this entire debacle was mostly behind me, but recently I tried to marry my girlfriend of one year, but, I was denied my marriage license because I need to pay the tickets. Which w/ interest has ballooned to over $12,000 dollars. Which is about half of my current savings.
   

Conclusion:

Fuck what the law says, ignorance IS an excuse!

Clark County announces a partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the state of Nevada to administer up to 60,000 additional drive-through coronavirus tests over 14 day at no cost to individuals receiving tests.
Texas Station in North Las Vegas is one of the newly added sites
North Las Vegas, Nevada – Clark County and state officials requested the additional resources as part of a federal program offering surge testing in COVID-19 hot spots across the country. Appointments are not required at any of the three “Stop, Swab & Go” drive-thru sites but are strongly encouraged. The public can register online for an appointment at www.DoINeedaCOVID19Test.com. Each site will operate Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Aug, 31 through Sept. 18, providing self-administered nasal swab tests. All three locations will be closed Monday, Sept. 7 in observance of the Labor Day holiday. The tests are free and no proof of health insurance or identification is required. The “Stop, Swab & Go” event will offer drive-thru tests at the locations listed below. The hotel testing sites will be set up in parking garages. The Sam Boyd site will have a drive-thru site set up in its parking lot, and will offer an additional walk-up testing area inside the stadium’s concourse.

• Fiesta Henderson Hotel and Casino, 777 W. Lake Mead Pkwy. in Henderson, 89015
• Texas Station Hotel and Casino, 2101 Texas Star Lane in North Las Vegas, 89032
• Sam Boyd Stadium, 7000 E. Russell Road, 89122

"Testing is the best thing we can do right now to understand precisely how and where COVID-19 is spreading," said North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown, who represents Ward 2, which includes Texas Station. "I'm happy to work with Clark County and our state and federal partners to bring convenient, free testing opportunities to North Las Vegas where our residents, especially African Americans and Latinos, are being impacted in such disproportionate numbers."
“This is a unique opportunity for our community to do an enormous amount of testing over a short period of time, and we appreciate the White House and Coronavirus Task Force’s leadership in helping to coordinate the HHS surge testing sites in our Las Vegas Valley,” said Clark County Commission Chairman Marilyn Kirkpatrick. “We encourage anyone who wants to be tested whether you have symptoms or not to participate because it will give us the most accurate picture yet of where we are in our fight against COVID-19. The more cases we identify now the faster we can limit community spread and fully reopen our local economy.”
The ”Stop, Swab & Go” testing event will occur in conjunction with other community-based testing efforts offered by Clark County and community partners at Cashman Center and the UNLV Thomas & Mack Center Strip View Pavilion and neighborhood strike team testing events. The Clark County Fire Department and the Nevada National Guard are providing logistical support as part of “Stop, Swab & Go,” while the federal government is providing the test kits, sample collection staff, lab capacity, registration and PPE. Five free face coverings will be offered to individuals receiving testing at each location.
“It’s important that we reach those people who might not otherwise get tested out of privacy, cost or financial concerns,” said Clark County Vice Chairman Lawrence Weekly, whose Commission District D includes Texas Station. “These testing locations will cater to everyone, but we especially want to assure everyone it’s safe, private and completely free of charge to them.”
The registration website for the “Stop, Swab & Go” event, www.DoINeedaCOVID19Test.com, is managed by eTrueNorth, a HHS program contractor. Registrants will need to provide an email address to be notified when their test results will be available online, approximately three to five business days after their test. To access their results, they will need to set up a username and password on the website. All test results, positive or negative, will be reported to the Southern Nevada Health District. Anyone notified of a positive test result is encouraged to stay home and self-isolate to limit the spread of the virus. The Health District will follow up only with people who test positive for the virus as part of its local contact tracing and disease investigation efforts. Providing a current telephone number as part of the testing registration information for the “Stop, Swab & Go” event is critical to local health district contact tracing efforts.
COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. People with general questions about COVID-19 can call the health district’s Information Phone Line at (702) 759-INFO (4636), between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Anyone in need of social service support to self-isolate can contact Nevada 2-1-1 for resource referrals. Information about COVID-19 resources also is available in Spanish through the “Esta En Tus Manos” (It’s in your hands) outreach initiative at estaentusmanosnevada.com. The health district has a calendar of testing events in English and Spanish posted at www.SNHD.info/covid. The list includes the upcoming “Stop, Swab & Go” events.
Be safe,
The City of North Las Vegas
###

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 46%. (I'm a bot)

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University and medical analyst for CNN, said on Sunday that 's indoor rally in Nevada is "Negligent homicide."
"If you have a mass gathering now in the United States in a place like Nevada or just about any other place with hundreds of thousands of people, people will get infected and some of those people will die."
"If you took this virus seriously, you would never hold an indoor rally or almost any rally now and particularly one that doesn't enforce very strict rules on masks. People will die as a consequence of this. I think that Nevada has a law right now limiting gatherings to more than 50 people. So, the president is defying that. Makes no sense."
The Trump campaign defended its plans to hold an indoor rally in Nevada as it faces criticism from city officials and others on social media.
Trump's rally in Henderson, Nev., at a facility owned by Xtreme Manufacturing, is expected to violate the city's rules against indoor gatherings of more than 50 people, and while masks will be given to attendees they will not be required to wear them.
"If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States," Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told reporters.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: people^#1 rally^#2 Trump^#3 campaign^#4 indoor^#5
Post found in /politics, /politics and /RepublicanValues.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

What if I told you in October of 2007, Las Vegas would be home to a NFL and NHL team with brand new stadiums and arenas to house them ?
You would've said impossible.
What if I told you on the morning of Oct 1st, 2017 in just a few hours the city will face its most tragic and horrific day ever but the very next day the entire community would give everything they could even if it was their own blood.
You would've said impossible.
What if I told you just a few days later a expansion NHL team would do their small part to heal a entire city by taking them on a ride of a lifetime all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in the first year ?
You would've said impossible.
What if I told you in the 2nd seaaon the Knights would be ahead 3-1 in a playoff series vs the Sharks but still lose in a game 7 after being up 3-0 with 10 minutes to go in the 3rd?
You would've said impossible
What if I told in December 2019 that Knights would fire their beloved head coach in January 2020 and hire Pete Deboer from the Sharks ?
You would've said impossible.
What if I told you the best goalie on the team could be the current backup?
You would've said impossible.
What if I told you the Knights would purchase a AHL team from Texas and move them to Henderson with a new arena shortly after.
You would've said impossible.
What if I told you after hiring said coach the team would only play a few more games before pausing the season @ 71 games in 1st place with no restart in sight? Meanwhile every casino and school in Nevada is closed with thousands of our own brothers and sisters out of work?
You would've said impossible.
What if I told you this city will rise again stronger than ever because the individuals who call it home are truly what makes it one of the best places in the world to visit?
We all would say nothing is impossible.

staygolden #NevadaStrong

George Tony Sandoval | Henderson, Nevada (episode 42)
George Tony Sandoval, 31, vanished on June 21st 2015 from the M Resort in Henderson, Nevada. He didn't tell his family where he was going when he left the hotel, and calls have gone unanswered since that day. He was an openly gay, Hispanic man, and in a relationship with Treigh Imsand at the time of his disappearance.
On January 20th 2020, it was announced that his remains had been located. No further information was given. An update was posted on the podcast episode page (linked above), and a social media post from his boyfriend confirming the news was shared on the podcast's facebook page.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/henderson-police-ask-for-help-finding-man-missing-nearly-a-yea
Jacob Hilkin | Everett, Washington (episode 137)
Jacob Hilkin, 24, had recently moved out of his mother's house and in with some friends. After losing his job, he asked her if he could spend some time with her to organise his next steps, as he didn't have internet access at the place he was living. It was Monday, January 22nd 2018, and he was in good spirits. His mother went to bed at around 9pm, and when she woke up the following morning, Jacob had gone, and both the front and back doors had been left unlocked. She assumed he'd gone out and forgotten to lock up, and tried unsuccessfully to contact him before leaving to work, believing she would see him when she returned.
She found out later that he had been picked up by friends a couple of hours after she had gone to bed. One of them later told her that a friend named Robbi had driven them to the Tulalip Resort Casino to gamble. He claimed that they stayed there until the early hours, Robbi inside the casino, and Jacob and the other friend, Tyesean, waiting in the car outside as they had no more money.
Between 6 and 7 in the morning, their phones were dead when casino security asked the two friends to leave, refusing to let them go inside the casino to find Robbi or make a call. At that point, Jacob said he wanted to go home, and claimed he was going to take a bus to his mother's house. He left the parking lot, heading towards a bus stop. It was the last time Tyesean saw Jacob.
At around 10.20am on Tuesday, January 23rd, police had contact with Jacob at a camp located behind Quil Ceda Village. When they spoke to him, they had no reason to believe he was in danger, so did not contact anyone on his behalf. They witnessed him leave the camp, walking south on 27th Avenue NE.
That evening, when his mother returned home, Jacob had not returned. His Xbox had been left behind and was on, he had left $90 in cash, and his blankets remained untouched. After calling his friends and hearing about the previous evening, she called the police and reported him missing.
On Sunday, February 9th 2020, human skeleton remains were found in Marysville. These have since been identified as Jacob Hilkin. The death is not believed to be suspicious, but is being investigated.
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/missing-in-america/washington-man-jacob-hilkin-disappears-after-night-casino-friends-n860241
https://q13fox.com/2020/02/11/skeletal-remains-found-in-marysville-identified-as-everett-man-missing-since-2018/
Sad news for both families, but maybe real answers will come from this.
It's saddening to see how few articles there are about George's disappearance. I would definitely recommend listening to the podcast to get his full story.

If you missed it, last week's thread may be found here.
The following were the most popular releases of last week (May 29th): Amazing Spider-Man #22 | Immortal Hulk #18 | Daredevil #6 | X-23 #12 | Thor #13 | Magnificent Ms. Marvel #3 | Giant-Man #2
New to Marvel Comics? Not sure where to start? Whether you're completely new to comics or you're just looking for something great to read, head on over to the Recommended Reading page for a handy guide put together by Tigertemprr!
Looking for a quick guide to current Marvel comics? Check out our Marvel Fresh Start Relaunch Schedule for release dates on all the Marvel titles releasing now!
Also, War of the Realms is finally here! Here are the checklists for April and May to keep you up to date with all of the tie-ins you need! You can check out our Calendar Release Guide here. War of the Realms #5 is out this week. Tie-ins releasing this week include: Captain Marvel #6, Deadpool #13, Tony Stark: Iron Man #12, War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery #4, and War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #3.
By popular demand, Rocket Raccoon is the current Character of the Month! A write-up will be posted in the coming days.

ENDGAME DISCUSSIONS: (SPOILERS)

MEGATHREAD 1: INTERNATIONAL RELEASE MEGATHREAD 2: THURSDAY NIGHT PREVIEWS MEGATHREAD 3: FRIDAY NIGHT MEGATHREAD 4: BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND EVER
ENDGAME DAILY - THURSDAY: Thor ENDGAME DAILY - FRIDAY: Captain America ENDGAME DAILY - SATURDAY: Bruce BanneHulk ENDGAME DAILY - SUNDAY: Tony Stark/Iron Man ENDGAME DAILY - MONDAY: Favorite Scenes
NOTE: Our Endgame spoiler ban has been lifted and spoiler discussions are now permitted as long as they aren't included in the post title. If you still haven't seen the movie, you are being warned now to leave the sub and not come back until you do if you want to avoid spoilers.

New Issues Out This Week

Age of X-Man: Prisoner X #4 W: Vita Ayala A: German Peralta THE AGE OF X-MAN CONTINUES! The walls begin to crumble around the inmates! Can Bishop keep his sanity long enough to break free?
Black Cat #1 W: Jed MacKay A: Travel Foreman SPINNING OUT OF THE PAGES OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN! ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES! The Black Cat is back and starring in her first ever ongoing series! Felicia Hardy has a taste for the finer things in life and a certain set of skills that can get her into any mansion, vault or museum to…procure said finer things. But due to her actions in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, Felicia’s not only on the run from the police but also by the New York Theives Guild and their boss ODESSA DRAKE! High-octane heists, climactic chases and twist after twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat like a cat on a perch. IN THIS ISSUE: Find out a secret from Cat’s past in a bonus story that sets a foundation for the future! All this and an all-new MARVEL MEOW short story by Nao Fuji!
Captain Marvel #6 (War of the Realms tie-in) W: Kelly Thompson A: Annapaola Martello WAR OF THE REALMS TIE-IN! The Dark Elf King Malekith and his allies have conquered Earth! At least, they THINK they have — and they’ve divided the spoils accordingly, with the Enchantress raising an army of the dead and staking her claim on South America. But if the Enchantress is expecting a royal welcome, she’s forgotten what she’s dealing with — Earth isn’t going down without a fight. And as Captain Marvel leads DOCTOR STRANGE and BLACK WIDOW into the land of the dead, nothing about this mission will be what our heroes expect.
Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History #4 W: Paul Scheer, Nick Giovannetti A: Shawn Crystal Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys…World War II?! Witness the true story of how the Allies won the war… Thanks Cosmic Ghost Rider!
Dead Man Logan #8 W: Ed Brisson A: Mike Henderson THE LAST REAL HULK ALIVE! When Logan slaughtered the Hulk Gang, he spared its youngest member...but every burnout, sporto and motorhead in the Wastelands wants the kid dead — or under their control!
Deadpool #13 (War of the Realms tie-in) W: Skottie Young A: Nic Klein As the War of the Realms rages, Deadpool is sent to Australia to take care of a pesky troll problem! No, not those obnoxious internet nerds. REAL TROLLS! How many didgeridoo jokes can one comic book make? Let’s find out together!
Domino: Hotshots #4 W: Gail Simone A: David Baldeon The immense power of the Creation Constellation is in reach! The only thing between it and Domino’s squad is...each other?! Which of these knockouts are gonna get knocked out?!
Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1 W: Donny Cates, Al Ewing, Tini Howard, Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler A: Yildiray Cinar, Ibrahim Moustafa, Filipe Andrade Since the Black Order’s attack on the galaxy’s greatest defenders, the cosmos has been wtihout its heroes. Find out what really happened to Nova, Quasar, Adam Warlock, and Darkhawk! And who better to tell this story than Cosmo, the Spacedog?
Incredible Hulk: Last Call #1 W: Peter David A: Dale Keown HULK LEGENDS, PETER DAVID & DALE KEOWN REUNITE! In his twelve-year stint on THE INCREDIBLE HULK, Peter David redefined the Green Goliath for generations of fans and creators. Artist Dale Keown drew some of that run’s most beloved and influential issues. Now the pair return to their incredible collaboration for a special oversized one-shot issue! Bruce Banner is tired of being the Hulk. Heck, he’s tired of being. But just when he’s about to lose all hope, a miracle occurs: a fight worthy of the Incredible Hulk.
Marvel Team-Up #3 W: Eve Ewing A: Joey Vazquez Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel both wanted a change of pace...or so they thought. Will things ever get back to normal? Will they defeat the Jackal? And where is Pete’s old friend Dr. Rosario, anyway?!
Meet the Skrulls #5 W: Robbie Thompson A: Niko Henrichon The Warner family may be alien infiltrators trying to bring down human civilization, but could PROJECT BLOSSOM actually be WORSE?! Don’t sleep on the book that everyone will be talking about for years to come!
Old Man Quill #6 W: Ethan Sacks A: Ibraim Roberson HAIL THE HERO OF HORSE CREEK! Word is spreading throughout the Wastelands about PETER QUILL’s heroic actions in Horse Creek. But as his reputation rises, will he inspire the downtrodden of the Wastelands or seal their doom? Speaking of, DOCTOR DOOM is none too happy with these developments! It all leads up to a BIG ending that will rock the future of the Wastelands, and the next chapter of the saga that will change what you thought you knew about OLD MAN QUILL!
Savage Avengers #2 W: Gerry Duggan A: Mike Deodato Jr The Hand has teamed up with the evil wizards of the Hyborian Age to summon a death god from a celestial hell. The only thing standing between Earth and destruction is the Savage Avengers: Conan, Wolverine, Punisher and Voodoo. Plus: Logan donates blood, changing one Avenger forever. And Conan discovers a dark secret squirming in a genie bottle. Your new favorite ongoing series is knives out in its second chapter.
Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #9 W: Seanan McGuire A: Takeshi Miyazawa Gwen Stacy — drummer extraordinaire and literal beating heart of the punk rocking MARY JANES finds herself in a battle of the bands! But there’s a new monster in town, and he calls himself the MAN-WOLF! And when he sets his sights on SPIDER-WOMAN and the people she cares about most, suddenly the musical battle onstage isn’t the most important battle Gwen’s involved in.
Tony Stark: Iron Man #12 (War of the Realms tie-in) W: Gail Simone A: Paolo Villanelli WAR OF THE REALMS TIE-IN! A war needs weapons — but Tony Stark once vowed that he’d never build weapons again! So why’s he hunkered down with Screwbeard the Dwarf in Avengers Mountain? And what is he making?
Uncanny X-Men #19 W: Matthew Rosenberg A: Carlos Villa First – learn the truth about the Hellfire Club’s involvement in the X-Men’s quest. Then, the mutant race faces elimination at the hands of a vaccine erasing the X-Gene from future generations…
War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery #4 W: the McElroy brothers A: Andre Lima Araujo PLACE YOUR BETS – ON SURVIVAL! When Balder the Brave’s unofficial babysitter’s club runs out of cash in Nevada, they hit on a foolproof plan: a casino heist! They just have to disguise a few famous heroes, a cyborg, an Asgardian god and a talking dog to do it. With the luck of baby Laussa on their side, nothing could go wrong! Unless of course they stumble upon…a convention of SUPER VILLAINS? What the heck, Nevada. Looks like the heroes will need a miracle in the desert to get out of this one!
War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #3 W: Greg Pak A: Gang Hyuk Lim BURN, BABY, BURN! AMADEUS CHO has always been the cocky rebel, bucking authority to do the right thing. But now he’s the authority — the de facto leader of a disparate group of heroes from all over the Pacific — each of whom has their own idea of the best way to free their countries from the fiery rule of the QUEEN OF CINDERS! Can Amadeus pull these NEW AGENTS OF ATLAS together — or will QUEEN SINDR succeed in her ultimate plan to drive north and turn all of Earth into NEW MUSPELHEIM?
War of the Realms #5 W: Jason Aaron A: Russell Dauterman MIDGARD'S LAST STAND! Malekith’s army gets a whole new crop of recruits — the dead! As Midgard transforms under the rule of Malekith and his allies, the dead rise up to form a new Niffleheim! The Black Panther calls in every hero on his roster to fight for Earth, from Spider-Man and the Spiders of Hel to Ghost Rider and Balder the Brave. But if there’s any hope for the Ten Realms, it’ll come from the skies…

Trade Collections

• Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Spider-Man (Trade Paperback)
• The Marvel Art Of Skottie Young (Hardcover)
• Avengers by Jason Aaron Vol. 3: War Of The Vampires (Trade Paperback)
• Solo: A Star Wars Story Adaptation (Trade Paperback)
• Adventures Of Spider-Man: Sinister Intentions (Trade Paperback)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home Prelude (Trade Paperback)
• Captain America: Evolutions Of A Living Legend (Trade Paperback)
• Marvel Knights Punisher By Garth Ennis: The Complete Collection Vol. 3 (Trade Paperback)
• Daredevil Epic Collection: Purgatory & Paradise (Trade Paperback)
• Cloak and Dagger: Agony and Ecstasy (Trade Paperback)

Spotlight Release of the Week Poll

The results of last week's poll are in. The big winner this week for your Most Anticipated New Release is War of the Realms #5, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1 and Savage Avengers #2.
Click here to vote on next week's most anticipated release!
Previous spotlight releases: Immortal Hulk #18 | Avengers #19 | Giant-Man #1 | Invaders #5 | War of the Realms #3 | Amazing Spider-Man #20 | War of the Realms #2 | Amazing Spider-Man #19

General Discussion

What comic storyline would you like to see adapted into a film or television show (live-action or animated)?

The following news headlines come from sources which may limit or restrict access to those with a paid subscription. Each article headline will be posted as its own parent comment below to foster discussion on individual items.
Las Vegas Review Journal
Rep. Susie Lee introduces bill to increase value of Pell Grants
Henderson neighborhood bristles at proposed assisted living facility
NDOT gets $27M boost for North Las Vegas freeway project
Las Vegas Sun
Next steps toward I-11: Environmental studies, defining routes, finding funding
Raiders, California casino trumpet Allegiant Stadium partnership
Arresting the homeless is neither effective nor sustainable
Nevada Appeal
Carson City supervisors consider bids for Brown Street property
Survey: Nevada roads good but too many midday fatalities blamed on alcohol
Churchill Commissioners meet Wednesday afternoon
Reno Gazette Journal
Safer nuke shipments? Critics split on whether tech has cut nuclear transportation risk
Nevada's latest nine-figure bond sale expected to bring 200 senior housing units to Reno

List of Las Vegas casinos that never opened
Over the years there have been several casinos and resorts planned for the Las Vegas Valley that never opened. The stages of planning may have been just an announcement or groundbreaking.[1][2][3]
Asia Resort and Casino
Where the Palazzo Casino and Resort currently stands (adjacent to the Venetian Hotel and Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center), an Asian themed casino was proposed but was rejected for the present Palazzo project.[4]
Alon Las Vegas
A proposed luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip on the former site of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, announced in 2015.[5] The project was put in doubt after Crown Resorts announced in late 2016 it was suspending its involvement in the development.[6] Crown announced in December 2016 that it was halting the project and seeking to sell its investment. The remaining partner Andrew Pascal announced he was seeking other partners to proceed with the project. However in May 2017, the land went up for sale.[7] The land was later purchased by Steve Wynn.
Beau Rivage
Steve Wynn, who had purchased and demolished the Dunes hotel-casino, had originally planned to build a modern hotel in the middle of a man-made lake. He later built the Bellagio with a man-made lake in the front of the hotel.[citation needed] The name was later used by Wynn for a resort built in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Caribbean Casino
In 1988, a sign for a proposed casino was erected on a fenced vacant lot on Flamingo Road. Standing near the sign was a scale model galleon. For several years, that was all that stood on the property. The empty lot was the source of many jokes by the locals until the ship, which was later damaged by a fire started by a homeless person, was torn down in the 1990s and the lot became the site of the Tuscany Suites and Casino co-owned by Charles Heers, who has owned the property since the 1960s.[8]
Carnival
In 1990, the Radisson group proposed a 3,376-room hotel next to the Dunes, with a casino shaped like a Hershey's Kiss.[9]
Cascada
A proposed resort that was to have been built on the site of El Rancho Vegas. The parcel is now partially taken by the Hilton Grand Vacations Club and Las Vegas Festival Grounds.[4]
City by the Bay Resort and Casino
A San Francisco-themed resort was proposed for the site of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino. The project was rejected in favor of the Swiss-themed Montreux, which was also eventually cancelled.[4]
Countryland USA
A country music-themed resort was planned for construction of the site of the former El Rancho Hotel and Casino. For some years, the El Rancho sign stood with the words "Coming Soon - Future Home of Countryland USA."[10][11]
Craig Ranch Station
Main article: Craig Ranch Station A Mediterranean-themed hotel-casino for North Las Vegas, proposed by Station Casinos in March 2000.[12] The project faced opposition from nearby residents,[13][14][15] which led to the proposed location being changed to a vacant property on the nearby Craig Ranch Golf Course.[16] Residential opposition to the new location led to the project being rejected by the Nevada Gaming Policy Committee in March 2001. Station Casinos still had the option to develop the project on the initial site,[17][18] but the project was cancelled entirely in July 2001, following a weak financial quarter for the company.[19]
Crown Las Vegas
Main article: Crown Las Vegas Formerly known as Las Vegas Tower, the Crown Las Vegas was to have been a supertall skyscraper built on the former site of a Wet 'n Wild water park. In March 2008, the project was canceled and the property was put up for sale.[20]
Desert Kingdom
In 1993, ITT Sheraton purchased the Desert Inn casino, and had announced plans to develop the large parking lot into a Balinese themed resort to complement the Desert Inn. The project was never developed and the site is now the location of Wynn Las Vegas.[4]
DeVille Casino
After building the Landmark Hotel and Casino on Convention Center Drive and selling it to Howard Hughes, developer Frank Carroll built the DeVille Casino across the street from the Landmark at 900 Convention Center Drive in 1969. Chips were made for the casino (and are sought-after collectibles), but the casino never opened.[21] The building was renovated in 1992 as a race book parlor named Sport of Kings which closed after nine months.[22] It became the location of The Beach nightclub, which was demolished in 2007 to make room for a planned 600-unit tower[23] that was never built.[24] The land sits currently empty.
Echelon Place
Main article: Echelon Place An announced project by Boyd Gaming planned to have a hotel built on the property of the former Stardust Resort & Casino. Construction was suspended on August 1, 2008 due to the Great Recession. In March 2013, Boyd Gaming sold the proposed site for $350 million to the Genting Group, which is redeveloping the project as the Asian-themed Resorts World Las Vegas.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
Main article: The Drew Las Vegas Located on the Las Vegas Strip and originally known as Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Construction began in 2007, and the resort was to include a casino, 2,871 hotel rooms, and 1,018 condominium units.[25] Construction on the $2.9 billion project ceased in 2009, the year of its planned opening. Investment firms Witkoff Group and New Valley LLC purchased the unfinished resort in 2017.[26] In 2018, Witkoff and Marriott International announced a partnership to open the renamed project as The Drew Las Vegas in 2020. The resort will include a casino and three hotels totaling nearly 4,000 rooms, with the condominium aspect removed from the project.[27]
Harley-Davidson Hotel and Casino
A resort themed after the motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson was proposed, complete with hotel towers shaped like gigantic exhaust pipes, but was never built.[4]
Jockey Club Casino
The Jockey Club is a condominium and timeshare resort at 3700 Las Vegas Boulevard South. It was planned to have a casino, and chips were made for its use, but the casino was never opened.[28]
Kactus Kate's
By April 1994, Gold Coast Hotel and Casino owner Michael Gaughan was interested in building a hotel-casino in North Las Vegas,[29] at the northeast corner of North Rancho Drive and Carey Avenue. In January 1995, the city planning commission approved the rezoning of the land for use as a hotel-casino. The resort, to be named Kactus Kate's, would be built by Gold Coast Hotel/Casino Limited. The hotel would include 450 rooms, and the casino would be 105,000 sq ft (9,800 m2),[30] later decreased to 102,000 sq ft (9,500 m2).[31] The resort would be located directly north of the nearby Fiesta and Texas Station resorts.[31]
In December 1998, Coast Resorts, Inc. received approval from the planning commission for a use-permit relating to the undeveloped property. In November 2000, the planning commission unanimously approved a two-year extension on the permit, giving the company more time to decide whether it would build Kactus Kate's. Because of a 1999 Senate bill that placed restrictions on casinos in neighborhoods, Coast Resorts had a deadline of 2002 to build the casino. The hotel would measure over 100 feet (30 m) high, and Coast Resorts was required to notify the Federal Aviation Administration of its final plans, due to the site being located less than 1,000 feet (300 m) from a runway at the North Las Vegas Airport.[32] In January 2001, Station Casinos purchased the 29-acre (12 ha) site for $9 million. Coast Resorts president Harlan Braaten said, "As we saw the competitive nature of that area intensify, in terms of the size of competing facilities, we just felt we would have to build something much bigger than we had intended to compete with Texas Station and Santa Fe Station. It was just going to be a very expensive project, and we didn't feel the returns would be that good." Station Casinos planned to sell the property as a non-gaming site.[31]
Las Vegas Plaza
Main article: Las Vegas Plaza Not to be confused with the Plaza Hotel & Casino.
This was to have been modeled after the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The project was announced shortly before the demolition of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, where the new hotel would be built. Las Vegas Plaza was cancelled in 2011 due to the Great Recession.
London Resort and Casino
This announced project was to have been themed around the city of London, and featuring replicas of the city's landmarks. The project was to be built on land across from the Luxor Hotel and Casino. A second London-themed resort was to be built on the former land of the El Rancho Hotel and Casino. Neither project ever began construction.[4]
London, Las Vegas
This was a proposed three-phase project using London as its design inspiration. When completed, the 38.5-acre (15.5 ha) property would have featured 1,300 hotel rooms, a casino, a 500-foot-tall (152.4 m) observation wheel named Skyvue (partially constructed), and 550,000 square feet (51,097 square meters) of restaurants and shops — all of which would be architectural replicas of various British landmarks and neighborhoods.[33] The project was to be constructed on land across from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, where — as of November 2019 — the partially-constructed Skyvue still stands. The wheel was to be "Phase I of London, Las Vegas".
Montreux Resort
This Swiss-themed resort was to have been built on the property of the former New Frontier Hotel and Casino, but was ultimately cancelled.[34]
Moon Resort and Casino
Proposed by Canadian developer Michael Henderson, this is a planned 10,000-room, 250-acre (1.0 km2) lunar-themed casino resort.[35] Gaming experts doubt it will ever be built in Las Vegas, simply because the space planned for it is too large for the Las Vegas Strip.[4]
NevStar 2000
Further information: Craig Ranch Station § NevStar 2000 Proposed by NevStar Gaming in 1998, the NevStar 2000 entertainment complex in North Las Vegas would have included a hotel and casino,[36] but the project faced opposition from nearby residents who did not want a casino in the area.[37][38] The project was cancelled when NevStar Gaming filed for bankruptcy in December 1999.[12]
North Coast/Boyd Gaming project
In May 2003, Coast Casinos had plans for the North Coast hotel-casino, to be built at the southwest corner of Centennial Parkway and Lamb Boulevard in North Las Vegas. The project would be built on approximately 40 acres (16 ha) of vacant land, surrounded by other land that was also undeveloped. At the time, the North Las Vegas Planning Commission was scheduled to review requests for zoning changes and approvals for the project. The project was not scheduled to be built for at least another four years, after completion of a highway interchange at Lamb Boulevard and the nearby Interstate 15, as well as the completion of an overpass over nearby railroad tracks. Bill Curran, an attorney for the land owner, said, "We're going through the zoning changes now so everybody knows what's going to be out there." The North Coast would include a casino, a 10-story hotel with 398 rooms, a bowling alley, movie theaters, and a parking garage.[39] In June 2003, the Planning Commission voted 6 to 1 to approve preliminary applications necessary to begin work on the North Coast.[40][41]
Boyd Gaming, the owner of Coast Casinos, announced in February 2006 that it would purchase the 40-acre site for $35 million.[42] Jackie Gaughan and Kenny Epstein were the owners at the time.[43] Boyd Gaming had not decided on whether the new project would be a Coast property or if it would be similar to the company's Sam's Town hotel-casino. At the time, no timetable was set for building the project.[42] In March 2007, the project was put on hold. At the time, Boyd Gaming had been securing construction permits for the project but decided to first review growth in the area. Construction had been scheduled to begin in mid-2007.[44] In August 2013, Boyd Gaming sold the undeveloped property for $5.15 million.[43]
Palace of the Sea Resort and Casino
This was to have been built on the former Wet 'n Wild waterpark site. Conceptual drawings included yacht-shaped towers that housed suites, a casino resembling the Sydney Opera House and a 600-foot (180 m) tall Ferris wheel-type attraction dubbed a "Sky Wheel". It never left the planning stages.[4]
Paramount Las Vegas
A casino and hotel and condo resort with more than 1,800 units that was planned by Royal Palms Las Vegas, a subsidiary of Royal Palms Communities.[45][46] The project was to replace the Klondike Hotel and Casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip,[47][45] beside the Las Vegas welcome sign.[48] The resort was approved in October 2006,[45] but an investor pulled out of the project in August 2007, and the land was put up for sale in May 2008.[46]
Pharoah's Kingdom
Pharoah's Kingdom was planned as a $1.2 billion gaming, hotel and theme park complex to be built on 710 acres (290 ha) at Pebble Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, five miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.[49][1] Construction was approved in October 1988,[49] with Silano Development Group as the developer.[50]
The project would have an Egyptian theme, including two 12-story pyramids made of crystal, with each containing 300 suites. The hotel would have a total of 5,000 rooms,[50] making it the largest in the world.[51] The 230,000 sq ft (21,000 m2) casino would include 100 table games and 3,000 slot machines, while an RV park, mini-golf, a bowling alley, and a video game arcade would be located beside the casino area.[52] Three of the project's various pyramid structures would house the 50-acre (20 ha) family theme park. Other features would include sphinxes, man-made beaches, waterways resembling the Nile river, an underwater restaurant, a 24-hour child-care facility, a 100-tenant shopping promenade, and a repertory-style theater that would be overseen by actor Jack Klugman.[52] Additionally, the resort would feature an 18-hole PGA Championship golf course,[52] and a monorail located within the theme park.[50] The project would have one mile of frontage along Las Vegas Boulevard.[52]
Frank Gambella, president of the project, stated that financing was in place, with groundbreaking planned for March or April 1989. Gambella said the project would be financed by several entities, with the money coming from a Nevada corporation, suggesting the entities would be grouped together as an umbrella corporation. Gambella stated that the project could be opened by Labor Day 1990. The resort was expected to employ 8,000 people. Following the completion of the resort, Gambella said a complex of 750 condominiums would be built on the land along with 900 retirement-care apartments.[52]
The project was cancelled shortly after it was announced, as authorities became suspicious of developer Anthony Silano's fundraising efforts for the project. It was discovered that Silano and his associates hacked into the Switzerland bank accounts of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos following his death in 1989. Silano pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges. Another Egyptian-themed resort, Luxor Las Vegas, would open on the south Las Vegas Strip in 1993.[1]
Planet Hollywood Resort (original plans)
Not to be confused with the current Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.
Originally planned to open in the late 1990s on the site of the Desert Inn, it was to be one of the largest hotels in Las Vegas. Because of the bankruptcy of Planet Hollywood Restaurants, the hotel was never built. However, in the 2000s, a group of investors bought the new Aladdin Hotel and Casino and remodeled it with a modern Hollywood theme.[4]
Playboy Hotel and Casino
A proposed casino resort themed after Playboy magazine was rejected in favor of a nightclub and suites built at the top two floors of the new Palms tower.[4] The planned location for the Playboy Hotel and Casino, on the Las Vegas Strip, was later used for the Cosmopolitan resort.[53]
Santa Fe Valley
Main article: Santa Fe Valley Santa Fe Gaming, which owned the Santa Fe hotel-casino in northwest Las Vegas, had plans for a second Santa Fe property in 1996.[54] The Santa Fe Valley would be built on a 40-acre (16 ha) lot[55] in Henderson, Nevada, adjacent to the Galleria at Sunset mall. The start of construction was delayed several times because of poor financial quarters for Santa Fe Gaming,[54] and because of the company not yet receiving financing for the project.[56] Site preparation started in July 1998, with an opening date scheduled for December 1999,[57] but construction never began. In 1999, the property was sold to Station Casinos,[58][59] which sold the land a year later for use as a shopping center.[60]
Shenandoah Hotel and Casino
A project by Wayne Newton. Although the hotel operated for a short time at 120 E. Flamingo Road, the management was unable to get a gaming license. After years of floundering it was sold to a Canadian company and became Bourbon Street Hotel and Casino.
Silver City proposals
By January 2000, Luke Brugnara was planning to build a San Francisco-themed resort on the site of the closed Silver City Casino.[61] Brugnara intended to give Silver City a multimillion-dollar renovation, with plans to have a fully operational hotel-casino by 2002.[62] In March 2001, Brugnara's request for a gaming license was rejected.[63] In May 2002, it was announced that Brugnara had sold the casino while retaining six acres located behind the building.[64] In 2003, Brugnara was planning to build a 24-story, 304-room hotel and casino resort on a portion of the Silver City property. The resort, to be named "Tycoon", was to be designed by Lee Linton, with an expected cost of approximately $100 million.[65]
Starship Orion
International Thoroughbred Breeders (ITB) announced plans to demolish the El Rancho and construct Starship Orion, a $1 billion hotel, casino, entertainment and retail complex with an outer space theme, covering 5.4 million square feet (501,676 square meters). The resort was to include seven separately owned casinos, each approximately 30,000 square feet (2,787 square meters).[66][67] Each potential casino owner was to contribute up to $100 million to own and operate a casino within the complex.[68] The complex would have included 300,000 square feet (27,871 square meters) of retail space, as well as 2,400 hotel rooms and a 65-story hotel tower. ITB hoped to begin construction later in 1996, with a planned opening date of April 1998.[67]
Sunrise
This was to have been located at 4575 Boulder Highway. Property developer Michael Mona Jr. built the hotel-casino and stated that he was going to break tradition by starting a "casino without a theme". He failed to get an unrestricted gaming license when suspicions arose concerning his associations with alleged organized crime figures. Chips were made for the casino, but were never used.[69] The building was opened as Arizona Charlie's Boulder.
Titanic
In 1999, Bob Stupak was planning a 400-foot-high (122 m) resort themed after the RMS Titanic, to be built on a 10-acre (4 hectares) property he owned near downtown Las Vegas. The resort would have included 1,200 rooms, 800 of which were to be used for timeshares to help finance the project. That year, planning commissioners rejected Stupak's request to change the zoning to allow for a hotel.[70] The project was later planned for the former site of the El Rancho Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip, but was rejected by the Las Vegas City Council.[4]
W Las Vegas
Main article: W Las Vegas W Las Vegas was proposed in August 2005, as a $1.7 billion joint project between Starwood and Edge Resorts, with a scheduled opening in 2008. The project would include a 75,000 sq ft (7,000 m2) casino and approximately 3,000 hotel, condo hotel, and residential units.[71][72] The project was cancelled in May 2007, after Starwood pulled out of the deal.[73]
Wally's Wagon Wheel
Wally's Wagon Wheel was to be developed by Walter Weiss through his company, Magna Leisure Partnership.[74][75] The project was proposed for 2200 South Boulder Highway in Henderson,[76][77] between Wagon Wheel Drive and Roberts Road,[78] near Henderson's Old Vegas western theme park. Manga Leisure Partnership purchased the 15.5-acre property in late February 1988. Weiss, at that time, had tentative plans for a western-themed, 112-room property known then as the Wagon Wheel Hotel and Casino. The Wagon Wheel was expected to cost $15 million, and financing had yet to be obtained for the project, which Weiss expected to open in early 1990.[74] The project, which would include a 55,000 sq ft (5,100 m2) casino, was to be built in two phases.[79]
By October 1991, Wally's Wagon Wheel remained unbuilt due to difficulty obtaining financing.[80][76] That month, the Henderson Planning Commission voted to give Weiss more time to make progress on the project. At that time, the project was to include 204 hotel rooms and would be built on 13.30 acres (5.38 ha). Weiss noted that the nearby successful Sam's Town hotel-casino opened with 204 rooms, and he believed his project would be successful if he opened with the same amount of rooms for good luck.[76] By the end of 1992, Weiss had still not acquired financing for Wally's Wagon Wheel. At the time, the project was the largest of five casinos being planned for Henderson. The three-story project was to include 200 rooms, two restaurants, a theater lounge for country and western entertainment, and a large bingo room. Weiss stated that groundbreaking was scheduled for May 1993, with an expected opening in June 1994. The hotel-casino would employ approximately 600 people upon opening.[81]
Weiss met with nearby residents to discuss the project, and he had the original design changed to include a larger buffer zone between homes and the hotel-casino. In November 1994, the Henderson Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of Weiss' requested zone change as part of the redesign. The project, at that time, was to include a one-story casino and a four-story hotel with 400 rooms.[82][83] In December 1994, the Henderson City Council rejected Weiss' plans for a 200-foot (61 m) buffer.[84]
In July 1997, the unbuilt project received its sixth extension from the Henderson Planning Commission for a use permit and architectural review.[85] In August 1997, the Henderson City Council approved the sixth extension, but denied Weiss' appeal for a one-year extension, instead giving him six months to make progress on the project.[77] Up to that time, $1.7 million had been invested in the project by Magna Leisure Partnership.[86] As of 1998, the project was expected to cost $80 million and employ at least 1,200 people, and the proposed site had increased to 19 acres (7 ha). At that time, Weiss stated that he was close to obtaining financing for the project from a casino operator.[87] The project was never built.
Wild Wild West
Not to be confused with Wild Wild West Gambling Hall & Hotel. As of 1993, Station Casinos owned a 27-acre (11 ha) site on Boulder Highway with the potential to be developed as a casino. The site was located across the street from Sam's Town hotel-casino.[88] In January 1998, Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. announced plans to purchase Station Casinos, which had intended to sell the land prior to the announcement.[89] By March 1998, Station Casinos was planning to develop a hotel-casino complex on the land, which was occupied by a vacant strip mall. The complex would be known as Wild Wild West, with local residents as the target clientele.[90][89]
Crescent's purchase of Station Casinos failed in August 1998, and Station Casinos subsequently slowed its plans to build the project.[91] By the end of the year, the project had received approval from the Clark County Planning Commission for a 273,000 sq ft (25,400 m2) casino and a 504-room hotel.[92] No timetable for construction was announced,[92][93] and Station Casinos had already decided by that point not to start any new projects prior to 2000.[92] Station Casinos sold the undeveloped land for $11.2 million to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in April 2004.[94]
World Port
In 2000, Howard Bulloch, David Gaffin, and their partner Tom Gonzales transferred ownership of the Glass Pool Inn property to their group, known as New World, with plans for a megaresort.[95] New World purchased several other nearby motels to accumulate a 77-acre (31 ha) parcel located on the Las Vegas Strip and east of the Mandalay Bay.[96] In January 2001, plans were announced for World Port Resorts, a megaresort consisting of hotel-casinos, a convention center and a fine arts facility. The project was to be built on the 77-acre (31 ha property, a portion of which was occupied by the Glass Pool Inn.[96]
World Trade Center
To have been located at 925 East Desert Inn Road. Leonard Shoen, co-founder of U-Haul truck rental, purchased the property of what had been the Chaparral Hotel & Casino in 1996, renovating it into the World Trade Center Hotel. A gaming license was applied for, but when it was discovered that two of Shoen's closest partners were convicted felons, the application was denied in 1998. He withdrew his application, and died in a car crash in 1999 that was ruled a suicide. Cards and gaming chips were produced for the World Trade Center Casino, but were never used.[97] The property has since been demolished and is now a parking lot, part of the Las Vegas Convention Center Annex.
World Wrestling Federation
A casino resort themed after the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was proposed for a property near the Interstate 15 freeway across from Mandalay Bay. The project never went past the proposal stage.[4] The land where it would have stood is now Allegiant Stadium.
WWF also proposed to open the project on the property once used by the Clarion Hotel and Casino, which was demolished in 2015 to become a parking lot.
Xanadu
In February 1976, the Clark County Commission approved the 23-story Xanadu resort, to be built on the Las Vegas Strip at the corner of South Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The resort would include approximately 1,700 hotel rooms and a casino, as well as convention facilities, a showroom, dining, and indoor tennis courts. The resort was to be developed by Tandy McGinnis – of Bowling Green, Kentucky – and his Xanadu Corporation, and would be built on 48.6 acres (19.7 ha) owned by Howard Downes, a resident of Coral Gables, Florida.[98][99][100] The Xanadu would feature a pyramid design, and was expected to cost $150 million.[100] It would have been the first themed mega-resort. Much information and many artifacts of the project are housed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas library. The Excalibur Hotel and Casino ultimately opened on the property in 1990.[101]
See also
Category:Defunct casinos in the Las Vegas Valley List of Atlantic City casinos that never opened

If you haven't had time to listen to seven hours of podcast interviews, or you didn't retain everything you heard, here are some key points. I didn't think to do this until just now, so I'll be posting it as a work in progress and updating it throughout the afternoon. That way more people will have a chance to read up before the premiere.
Karishma Patel, 37, Personal Injury Trial Lawyer, Houston, TX -First generation Indian-American Her mom was as a legal assistant, and got her a filing job at her law firm when she was 14. "I didn't have other options. I was basically told I was going to be a lawyer and I didn't disagree."She has watched every season and regularly listens to RHAP. She sits close to the TV to study the inflections on people's faces when something is said to them, so that she can think about what that means. But, her parents and husband don't share her enthusiasm for the show. Asked if it's her dark pleasure she says, "It is completely bright. It is a beautiful pleasure of mine, but it is mine and mine only. I haven't been able to find people to share it with." -Doing the show has caused her conflict. "Not only is it not expected, it's not allowed. It's kind of like being a disobedient Indian girl. You're not supposed to be doing this. What you're supposed to be doing is having babies. But I don't care. I'm a risk taker. I'm here to prove to myself that I don't need to listen to anybody else. I don't need permission from anybody else. This is my journey and I'm going to take it. I hope that people watching out there can see that an Indian woman's value does not come from doing what she's told." -She doesn't currently have children, and she says she has some decisions to make as she enters a crossroads and the next stage of her life. -Her law firm told her they'll replace her if they're able to find someone, and she can have her job back if they don't. "I didn't flinch." -Her strategy is to be non-threatening and play a social game. She doesn't look 37, and she wants to use that youthfulness to be disarming. She wants to build relationships other people believe in. She defines success by other people vouching for her loyalty when they go off and have private conversations with one another. "That means I got 'em, because it's actually the other way around." Asked if she wants to find someone she can trust, "I'm not going to be capable of it. I'm too skeptical for that. I overthink things, so I'm not going to be able to trust somebody the way I want to be trusted... If I do, that's the end of my game."
My take: Oh my God. Poor Karishma. Her story hurts my heart. She reminds me so much of myself in her isolation, her defiance and her deep feelings. I worry that her fear of trusting people could get in the way of her forming genuine bonds. But, there's nothing she can do. Society has made her the way she is. I hope she gets a lot of screen time so she can be a star of her favorite show.
Missy Byrd, 24, Military Veteran/App Developer, Tacoma, Washington -Originally from Georgia. Her family was 'decently poor.' She played basketball for the Air Force Academy because she thought it was her ticket out. -She had a brain tumor. She stopped menstruating for a year and two quarters. "I'm not dating anyone but I have breast milk. I'm a literal cow... I would look down and my shirt would be wet, and I thought, 'Dang you're clumsy. I knew you were clumsy, but you're clumsier today than you were yesterday. But it was - it was - uhh - milk." She had crying fits. She developed a stutter and couldn't look at people. Doctors told her she was just stressed. When her dad died she couldn't process emotions normally. She was about to go to the French version of the Air Force Academy, École de l'air, after graduation but because of her mental instability she was removed from school. The military shipped her to the same Air Force base as Sandra (Fort Lewis.) "I don't want to be there. Super sad. Check into the post office - fuck this. Check into the dorms - hate that." The doctor there found the tumor. She got an MRI and all weekend she believed she might have cancer. Over the next year and a half she eliminated the tumor and the symptoms using vitamins. She enlisted and worked logistics. -She made a list of the things she wanted to do now that she was going to live. "The first thing was go see Beyonce. Beyonce costs way too much money for a normal person to go see, but if you've just almost had a near death experience you go see Beyonce, bro!" She was feet away. She drove across the country. She tried weed. -She had an idea for an app, but didn't even have the computer literacy to use social media. She found a veteran's association and asked if she could intern. "They said, 'No, you should build this out yourself. We want to work for you.' I said, 'No, the fuck you don't. Okay, lemme call my grandma.'" She wrote a grant proposal and won a $1,500 office space in the center of Seattle. "Just to do whatever I want. It was like a laboratory for a child. I had Play-Dough up there. I had a white board... Just mind blowing shit when I could have been dead." -She'd seen every episode of Survivor at least three times. She started watching because her Air Force Academy basketball team was getting decimated, and she related to Foa Foa getting decimated in Survivor: Samoa. She added the show to her list. Josh suggests, "The bugs are eating you because they want some of that magic." -She isn't going to tell people her story until she's in the Final 3. "That's that Final 3 magic." She doesn't want to overly rely on strategy. She doesn't want to win individual challenges. She to build a social game and find ways to relate to everyone.
My take: She's so full of exuberance. There's not a negative bone in her body right now. She's too young and her life experience is too necessarily limited to talk around three years of her life. If she shares her story, the beauty of her perspective will cause everyone to fall in love with her and want her to do well. If she doesn't, people will sense that she's hiding a lot. I think she'll figure that out and course correct within the first day. Since she was at the same Air Force base as Sandra and she was a massive fan, does that suggest she knows her?
​
Ronnie Bardah, 35, Professional Poker Player, Henderson, Nevada-Born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, 20 minutes south of Boston. They were the only Israeli family in town. 50% of the people in Brockton were from Cape Verde, and he considers himself an "honorary Cape Verdian." A couple of his friends were shot and killed at a young age. -He was a good kid and had a good heart, but he was always hustling. In Junior High he was flipping Oatmeal Cakes and Fudge Rounds for a profit. Slinging baseball cards. Both his parents gambled. They were always at the dog tracks or Mohegan Sun. He had his friend make him a fake ID and got stuck with the name Alaja Jones. He went by Al and started playing the casinos. Quit his job at Sears Automotive to play poker full time.-He played Atlantic City, Vegas, then internationally. He had his first big score in 2010 when he took 24th place in the main event for $320,000. Got to keep $150,000 after taxes. "Poker's a hard way to make an easy living. Lots of people try. We risk every day. You have to get to a point when you can manage your bankroll and I've never gone broke in the 16 years I've played." -In one of the most viewed poker hands of all time, he was bluffed out of a million dollar pot by a supermodel on a poker TV show filmed in Monaco. "She made a sick play. She had no idea what she was doing but all the stars were aligned."-He watched Borneo when it aired and got back into it when fellow poker player Anna Khait was on. He calls Jean-Robert, "kinda a lazy guy...He's really good at befriending multi-millionaires." "Anna Khait... is probably the least poker player out of all of us. She played for a couple years." "And then Garrett - He's a very, very smart, smart kid... Self-made millionaire. One of the very, very few." -He only drank water for 7.5 days and lost 25 pounds for his health and to get an idea of the conditions of the show. He thinks he'll thrive in the survival situation. "People like being around me. I like to fucking bust balls and joke." He thinks old school alliances are a good plan, but you have to adapt. He says that like in poker, Survivor players can have every advantage, but they have to really smell it. -He wants Vince out. "There's an Asian Zeke in there. What value does he bring besides ruining people and getting in people's heads? He's a liability in challenges. He looks like a little corn puff. We gotta get him outta here. Sorry to sound so mean but it's the truth."
My take: Ruuuuude. He has no way of knowing how other people on the cast are talking in their interviews, and may assume the trash talk is standard. If he were playing on some seasons it would be. But, in this particular season it sets him apart in an unflattering way, and it seems a part of the tough persona he's built up to escape a scary situation growing up and enter a fantasy career. We'll see whether his tribe thinks he's a straight talking character or a jerk.
​
Tom Laidlaw, Former NHL Player, Brampton, Ontario, Canada -He was with the New York Rangers for 7 years and the LA Kings for 4. Now he has his own podcast, True Grit Life (truegritlife.com). Does it with a friend, Kevin Allen, who writes for USA Today. Does motivational speaking. -Growing up on a dairy farm outside Toronto there was a pond to water the cows. It froze over in the winters and he'd play hockey because there wasn't much else to do. Went to Northern Michigan University - four year hockey captain, ranked #1 team in the country. Drafted as a 20 year old. "My buddy had a horse farm. We were cleaning horse shit out of the stalls. There were no cell phones back then. This is 1978. My father got a call at our farm house from the New York Rangers at the draft. Back then nobody went to the draft - it was just teams. They said I'd been drafted in the sixth round. He calls the farm house where I'm working. They bring me up. He says, 'Son, you've been drafted by the Rangers.' I said, 'Great. What do I do now?' He says, 'Finish cleaning the shit out of the stalls.'" -When he played intimidation and fighting was strategy. There were guys tougher than him, but he could fight and he could also play. Problem was, he fought a guy once, and from then on the guy wanted to fight him over and over. -Jerry Bruckheimer, big hockey fan, called the NHL and wanted to get some players on the Amazing Race. Tom had kept himself in shape, he had his passport. They ended up asking him about Survivor. He'd watched it before but not for a while. He wasn't so sure he wanted to play a game where you hurt other people, but friends helped him get his head around it. He was very impressed by Christian's toughness in the endurance challenge. To prepare for the show he studied how he reacted to different situations, how to control his heart heart, etc. He wants the mental challenge.
My take: Tom really ticked me off when he spoiled a couple of outcomes of this season. That's a betrayal of the producers, his cast and the viewers. But, if that hadn't happened I would like him. He's an easy-going, charming guy. His life experiences are a bit different than anyone else who's been on the show, which is what you want.
Vince Moua, 27, Admissions Counselor, Merced, CA -His family is Hmong. His parents lived in Vietnam in the destruction left by the war - dead bodies, guns, people who wanted to kill them. They went to refugee camps in Thailand. Then his dad became a Montana farm hand. He met Vince's mom in the US, but she came from the same place. -Vince is from small town Merced, California - the 209. Few people he knew went anywhere but the UC system and community college. He went to Stanford, one of only 7-10 Hmong. He realized the significance someone can bring to people from the same community. He tried to be pre-med but realized "no, not today." The issues of access he cared about came well before people got to the hospital. He ended up going with education. His mom was a teacher, "But when I was growing up she said, 'Yo, if you become a teacher Imma disown yo ass.' To all of us. But, that's always kinda been my jam." -He lived in South Korea for five years. He taught English in a town. Then in Seoul ahed worked with low and middle income students who wanted to study outside of Korea. -He's a Survivor superfan, who even mentions on his Tinder account that he plans to be on Survivor. His parents were worried about him doing TV because he's not out as gay to his extended family. He comes from a clan where his dad is the "top dog" and Vince is "the next top dog." In the Asian American/Pacific Islander community when you come out, it's your family who faces - in a sense - dishonor. For a long time he distanced himself from his family, hoping they'd all be less hurt if they found out and disowned him. He always tried to find friends who would be there for him should his parents not be. A year ago his mom asked him rhetorically if he was gay. "I was try'n to go around it. I was like, 'Gurl, you don't wanna know! Yo ass keeps asking!' But she kept asking, asking. So finally I told her 'Yeah, I am!' and she was crying. My dad was like, 'Oh, my son!'" But, Vince is fine with who he is and wants to show kids like him that "let's hope that it gets better." Now his parents just want him to win. -He'd like to play an old school strategy but "I'm not afraid to cut a bitch." With the tribe he's going to be Homeboy Vince from the 209, but when he talks to the camera he's going to tell people "Don't underestimate your narratives." This past year with Crazy Rich Asians, he wants people to know that there are some Crazy Hood Ass Asians.
My take: What a character. Vince has a clear point of view - Hmong, blue collar, gay - which is unique to him in Survivor lore. Even though double minorities have sometimes had trouble fitting in socially on Survivor I think somehow he's going to pull it off. As unlikely as this sounds I could even see him being a Cochran-esque winner.
Aaron Meredith, 36, Personal Trainer, Warwick, Rhode Island -He's very keyed up at Ponderosa. Rambling so fast it sounds like you're listening to 1.5x. He's read four books so far - Relentless by Tim Grover, Can't Hurt Me by Dave Goggins, Iron Cowboy by James Lawrence, Harry Potter. -He was an engineer at a building insulation plant. He was miserable, too antsy sitting at a desk. Couldn't focus. So, he drove up and down the East Coast popping kettle corn - from Maine to Florida - traveling with carnies. Bartended for a while. He'd played college football and baseball, lifted since high school, and he and his friends wanted to get "huge and jacked and ripped." The owner of the gym suggested he become a personal trainer. He ended up working mostly with middle aged women and it taught him empathy. Now he owns two women's-only fitness studios. He puts supportive women around one another and offers them the positivity to seek self-growth. -He's also a party boat emcee. Lights, DJ, bar, drinks. He's an extremely social person. -He'd first applied at 23 - 6 or 7 times over the years. He was in the mix for Cook Islands and David vs. Goliath. -He's been married 7 years and has a 5 year old son. His son is a huge fan of Survivor. Libby Vincek is his favorite player. Kara Kay was his next favorite. Aaron is already sure Molly will be his son's favorite. "He has a type. He He likes the attractive blondes. He says, 'I like them because they have a nice face.' I like mommy because she has a nice face too." The boy was very concerned about his dad going on the show. He said, "Dad, I don't want anyone to laugh at you and make fun of you." Aaron said he wanted to win. His son said, "But you might not win." When they watch the show he'll always ask, "Do they like him? Do they like her?" If Aaron is portrayed in a negative light he'll have to sit down with his son and talk. He doesn't want to play a deceitful game, but he will, because he doesn't care how he's portrayed.
My take: His story about his son is one of my favorites from all these interviews. I hope he gets to work with Molly. His adrenaline is too high. I hope he calms down a lot when the game starts. But, someone so social and sweet hearted who can win challenges and take themselves to the end has got to be a contender to win.
Chelsea Walker, 27, Digital Content Editor, Los Angeles, CA -Chelsea just took the cast photo and they put her in the third spot from the bottom, a good omen because a weird number of winners have been in that position. "Your girl's number three. I got this!" -She's a Jersey girl. She went to the University of Maryland. "I didn't do Survivor: Maryland or anything." She studied Broadcast Journalism. She knew the generic emails for NBC Universal and emailed random people until someone replied. Now she's been in LA a year. She did coverage of award shows. Now she works at IMDB, where she helps Kevin Smith with his show. She just interviewed people at SXSW. -She's been watching Survivor since she was 8. She's cried in every interview because this means so much to her. She's trying to explain that at the point she starts crying again. "It's been such a dream of mine and To be told no year after year after year - these past six years have been a total mindfuck. I've basically been called every single year. I've been to finals three times. Survivor is my one true love, but the one year they didn't call me I got really pissed off so I tried out for Big Brother. I ended up becoming the alternate and got my key being filmed and all of that crap. But I don't like that show anyway." -In September 2017 she was at a WeHo bar for her friend's birthday when, "Oh shit that's Jeff Probst." Her girlfriends all know she's obsessed, so she pulled the waiter over and asked what that guy was drinking. So, Chelsea sent another one over. "I told my friends, 'Take my credit card. Split the bill, because I can't come back after I do this. As soon as the waiter drops off the drink I'm like, 'Jeff, this one's on me. You can buy me the next one at finals.' And I just walked out of the restaurant... That was a big move!" They didn't call her again that year, but Jeff still remembered when they talked this year. -She's been working out at four different gyms - weights, pilates, yoga. Push ups. Memorized puzzles. Reading How to Win Friends and Influence People, which she keeps in.a Bible sleeve so people will think she's religious. She also carries Harry Potter because she would trust someone who read HP. She wants to keep it cool. Make one on one connections. Eventually find idols - and not tell anyone she has one - and make calculated moves. "I don't want to be a Jacob. No offense."
My take: Hearing this girl cry from joy because she's so happy to be on the show makes me emotional. She's a real go getter. I wish I were that damn fearless. Truly, I wish I were more like her. I hope her pure zest for life comes across on TV and she doesn't get stuck with a purple edit just because of her age and gender. I also hope no one decides to get threatened by her as a competitive girl and vote her off premerge. I think she'll go far. Hope so.
Dean Kowalski, 28, Account Executive, New York, New York -Referring to himself in the third person, "Dean is 28 years old. As we mentioned, he lives in New York and he prides himself on being a well rounded person when it comes to interests, abilities, personalities... If I'm listening to Drake and Lil Wayne, I gotta go home and cry to This Is Us.. I can play basketball but also think about our place in the universe." He likes to tag basketball courts with a peace symbol with a ball on it which he makes using a stencil. -He structures most of his interview with Josh around an Outwit, Outplay, Outlast format, explaining why he excels at each. -He grew up in an affluent suburb. His dream was to play in the NBA. He was 5"9 3/4, so he set his eyes on college basketball as a realistic alternative. In order to get looks from colleges he went to a school 30 minutes away - top five in the country, Nike would fly them around for games and give them free Jordan sneakers. He was one of only 4 white guys in the whole school and the only one on the team. He played with Kyrie Irving, the #1 overall draft pick. "My friend said you look like the Make a Wish Kid who just wants to be on the team for a day." He played at Colombia University, where he was co-captain his senior year despite averaging two minutes a game. He became a teacher, then did sales for a tech startup in New York. He now sells ads for Google. -He's a fan, but far from a superfan. He started watching Brenda's season. (He thinks it was Nicaragua, but it was actually Carmoan.) He works with a superfan who freaked out when they had a meeting at H&R Block with Carolyn Rivera and they went out to Bourbon Street with her. He kept watching for five years and thought he could do well. He hates when people are all talk, so he sent in a tape. For the video he interviewed random strangers on the street, who had never met him or seen the show, and asked them, "Why am I going to win it?" A barber, a construction worker. He's going to tell people he's in marketing, not sales - people have sales.
My take: I'm just not that into him.
Elaine Stott, 41, Factory Worker, Rockholds, NY -When Josh asks her not to touch the table she asks him, "You seen that Bart Simpson commercial, right? Don't touch my Butterfinger? I'm already hungry thinking about it." -"I had a pretty rough way to go growing up." Her single dad raised her and her three brothers. She was the youngest. "I was raised like one of the boys. Know what I mean? Daddy didn't know how to raise no little girl." He worked 16-17 hour days. The kids raised themselves. "When little children make their own decisions, they make poor ones." She was a hellion. -She's originally from Woodbine, Kentucky, Nick Wilson's hometown. Her god sister went to school with him and she knows him through the grapevine. "We rode on different sides of the track. 20 years ago he coulda been my lawyer, because I was on the other side of the law. I'm not bad. I've just done some things." Public intoxication several times. "I come from a dry county. It's like Footloose. We cross the state line to get a beer and when you come back you're in trouble." She stole a newspaper stand once and had to do community service. "I was a little bit mean." -She went to live with her grandpa and cleaned her act up, by which she means that she started smoking a little weed and playing sports - basketball, softball, track. She played softball and judo in college. "I couldn't do nothing real technical. We had Brazilians on the team who could do flying arm bars. But if I got these claws on you and got ya on the ground I'd waller you to death." In casting she put this guy Will in an armbar. She was gonna choke him but didn't know if she should. -When she graduated, her girlfriend was a college Freshman so she went to all the same parties and ballgames for four years. Then she realized she needed a job. Now she drives a Ford truck for a factory. She's been there 15 years. She works 12 hours, 7 days a week. -Growing up her mom "was always in my life in some sense. She'd never miss a birthday. She'd be homeless, but she'd still call." Elaine and her brothers bought her cars, and places to live, and got her jobs. "In a sense I've been mourning the loss of my mom my whole life." Once Elaine was homeless herself and there was snow on the ground. It was cold, and her teacher took her in. Gave her Christmas presents. Made her go to prom. Survivor was a thing they shared, and the teacher was gonna be Elaine's loved one. But within a one year period the woman lost her daughter, her husband, her dog and then had a stroke. Now "she walks like Frankenstein" and can't go. Elaine got Probst to talk to her, and she can't wait to watch. In October Elaine's biological mom went into a coma. She was on life support, but Elaine wouldn't unplug her. Her mom came out of it and seemed to be doing a lot better only to die very suddenly of a heart attack. -Her girlfriend and her girlfriend's two sons are gonna be watching. The 18 year old doesn't know because he can't keep a secret. The 13 year old helped her lose 20 pounds doing crossfit to come out here. She wants the money, but she really wants "some of that soul searching, that life adventure, that life changing - some of that. You know what I mean? Gimme some of that soup! Lemme eat some of that up! I want this show to build me up, because I feel like it can. I sure hope to hell it don't tear me down."
My take: About 12 sobbing emojis in a row. She's my favorite. If she gets voted out premerge I'm going to go into mourning. And how can you not sort of expect that? I am going to be so upset if they just dismiss her because she's older and looks out of shape and sounds country. If that happens, I want another Second Chance season next year.
Elizabeth Biesel, 26, Olympic swimmer, South Kingstown, Rhode Island -Josh says that Elizabeth was outright identified by one of the other contestants because they'd been watching YouTube videos about how to be a better swimmer. Others guessed she was an Olympian based on her rings tattoo. -She's from the Ocean State. They lived a block away from the beach, so they wanted her to take swimming lessons. She was a rambunctious child and swimming was the only way they could calm her energy. She started breaking records when she was 7 or 8. When she was 13 she made her first national team. At 15 she went to the Olympics. She got good early. Women peak around 22-23, and she ended her career at 24. You couldn't make much money doing it. She swam one of the longer, more grueling races, and her body said "no more." She listened to her body and retired. Some athletes lose their love for swimming because they're embittered by losing by 1/100th of a second, or they leave injured. She left on a good note. Still, if she could swim competitively for the rest of her life, she would. Now she doesn't know who she is or what she's going to do with the rest of her life. Every hour of the day used to have a purpose. Now her days are wide open. She can't keep eating 5,000 calories a day. "It's sort of like I'm mourning the death of Elizabeth Biesel the swimmer." -She was a Survivor fan as a kid because Richard Hatch was from Rhode Island. In her area "Every single household that had a television set was watching Survivor." When they asked her if she'd do the show, she felt pure joy. She said absolutely right away. She's excited about the competition of Survivor. No heated Olympic pools. You're stripped down to your core. She's amazed by the scope of the production apparatus. She's not a schemer. She wants to be a challenge beast - not the best woman but the best overall. She'd love to have a Wendell and Dom relationship with another woman. But, she wants to avoid the drama as long as she can.
My take: Could Chelsea be Wendell to her Dom? She's so wholesome. She's just so "Olympics." I love her and everything she represents. I'd love to see her rocket through the swimming competitions, lapping everyone else. Go Elizabeth.

The following news headlines come from sources which may limit or restrict access to those with a paid subscription. Each article headline will be posted as its own parent comment below to foster discussion on individual items. Monday lists include articles from the weekend.
Elko Daily Free Press
City's email outage snarls communications
Las Vegas Review Journal
EDITORIAL: Jara right to seek new principals for failing schools - Editorial
COMMENTARY: ‘Restorative discipline’ in schools a pathway to a more peaceful community - Opinion
COMMENTARY: Gun groups working for safer communities - Opinion
Do bad principals get free pass or is CCSD setting them up to fail?
17 Nevada charter schools on notice over performance
Dr. Joe Iser, chief of Southern Nevada Health District, is retiring
Recession lessons may help Las Vegas casinos face next downturn
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman shares story of cancer fight
Raiders seat licenses for Allegiant Stadium nearly sold out
Las Vegas shooting settlement faces complex process, experts say
Las Vegas Monorail, Boring Co. teams building relationship
STEVE SEBELIUS: Good law makes a hard case - Opinion
Las Vegas Sun
State official lists old, new reasons why Yucca Mountain should not be licensed
Some neighbors wary of Henderson golf course redevelopment
Nevada Appeal
Nevada Department of Education seeks input on Career and Technical Education Act
Buttigieg presidential campaign to open Carson City office
Stormwater rate hike study seeks options to cover Carson City’s costs
Reno OKs Indigenous Peoples Day; no more Columbus Day
Reno Gazette Journal
Nevada officials concerned about reliability of Mt. Rose Highway avalanche control
2017 police shooting of man firing rifle from the Montage in downtown Reno deemed justified
Nurses ink new contract with Saint Mary's two weeks after picketing outside the hospital

Hi, within a week my mother, grandmother, and brother will be living in Nevada. I'll be living in Kaua'i with my father and beginning my first year at UH Manoa (dorming). I love the islands and can't see myself moving to a place without people and views as beautiful as it is here, so it's gonna be pretty bittersweet once we all part ways. I'm gonna be flying with them to help get them settled down for a couple weeks and fly back, but I have several questions about Las Vegas.
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People from Hawaii that have visited/moved to Vegas; how was the move? What do you miss about Hawaii (I plan on sending them aloha snacks or spam or whatevah)? What don't you miss? What's the culture like around Henderson? Is it safe around those parts? What tips do you have on dealing with summer heat/dry heat? What kinds of things are there to do besides gambling and casinos? For UNLV, since my brother will be finishing his bachelors, are there lots of opportunities/internships? How is the job market? Is the traffic as bad as Honolulu? Really, anything at all about Las Vegas would help. I've read up on this subreddit through search but these are some questions I wanted to ask more about. Any advice for them would be highly appreciated. Thanks

Backstory:
My earliest memories are of an overwhelming idea that I was supposed to be a girl. My story is super typical in that respect. This was back in the 80's My whole family had no idea what transgender even was. ( I had no idea what it was till the late 80's ) They did see that I was actively telling them and showing them on a regular basis. but they ignored it. They were kinda hippyish, and would just ignore us most times anyways.
They would let me have dolls. and my parents did not care when I would go to my cousins house, and play house and dress-up with her. She was a tomboy and hated all her dresses. I loved them, and she would let me wear them most times that I went over to play with her. We were only 10 months apart in age and we were inseparable.
One time her dad caught us playing in her room and I had one of her dresses on. He screamed and yelled. We hid under her bunk bed. He said "you had better take those clothes off right now." That is when I started to believe it was wrong and started hiding who I was.
I did get caught dressing up in my moms clothes many times throughout my childhood and teen years. I cut myself bad one time, trying to shave my legs. ( i was 5 lol ) Ran to my mom crying. On several occasions I told them directly that I thought God made a mistake on me and I should of been a girl.
I could go on and on with stories, but suffice it to say, and how it relates to the story: I always knew who I was, but in typical fashion I chose to hide it from the world, for way too long.
​
Story time:
I was friends with a lot of girls and boys in childhood, and it was fine. But in my teen years, when everyone started dating, I would attempt to have Relationships with girls, because I liked the closeness, and I got along so well with them. Also that was what you were supposed to do, right? Guys perplexed me, and we did not usually stay friends long. I was never interested sexually, to anyone.
When I would date a girl it would be Just kissing and cuddling in the beginning, but every girl I dated would eventually pressure me or I felt pressured into having sex. and I would try to do it, but when it came down to it I would be overwhelmed with dysphoria and I would stop. It felt wrong to me at the time, and it would ruin any fun I was having. I felt ashamed. I never told them why, and tried to play it off. They probably blamed themselves and that sucks. For whatever reason they would not want to be just friends and would end it shortly after. This happened every time. Until Amy...
Back In 1997 I worked as a busser in a restaurant inside of a casino. It was in Henderson Nevada, on boulder hwy. Kind of a low rent casino but it was a good job. It was mostly women who worked there. We all got along pretty well.
One night it was especially slow and Amy walks in with her friend Jen. I noticed her right away, there was just something about her. She was super tall for a woman, 5'11" and she was Beautiful. She was wearing the cutest sundress. Her style was bohemian, just like all the clothes I had hidden in my closet. Her hair was so pretty. It was dirty blond, long and curly. It was not just her looks tho, as soon as I seen her, I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted to be part of her life.
The first night she came in, I did not have the nerve to approach her. I just watched her, and kept trying to build up the nerve to talk to her. after she left I figured I would never see her again, but she came in again very soon after with her same friend. this time, I told one of the other girls I worked with that there is something about her, and I wanted to meet her. She said "you want me to go ask her if she wants to talk to you" i said "no" and immediately got really nervous.
She promptly walked over to her table and started talking to her. I was freaking out. But while my co-worker was talking to her Amy looked right over at me, we locked eyes and she smiled at me. My heart melted. after a bit the co-worker came back over to me and said "she says she is single, and you can go talk to her." It took me a bit more to build up the nerve to go over there. but I eventually did. I do not remember what we talked about that night but I did get her number.
I called her the next day, and we hit it off immediately, it was like we had known each other forever. we talked every night for hours at a time. We hung out together with Jen the first few times, but eventually we found time to be alone. We were hanging out or talking on the phone every night, and the conversation never got dull.
We did not even hold hands or anything for months, and I was ok with that. At this point in my life, I was burned by past experiences, and I did not want to ruin this. This was special.
After a few months of hanging out and talking until we both fell asleep on the phone. we decided to go to lake mead to watch a meteor shower, we brought a blanket with us and laid under the falling stars, It was a beautiful night, really romantic. I built up the nerve and rolled over to my side and started kissing her, she eagerly kissed me back. It was wonderful.
After a few minutes, we took a breather, and she said "It is about time, I thought you were gay" lol That is Amy she has no filter, and I still love that about her. after about an hour of light petting, we decided to go back to my apartment. We did not try to have sex that night we just kissed and cuddled, it was perfect. We made plans for her to come back over the next night.
I knew she wanted to take it further that night. I did too, but I was afraid I would ruin it when the time came, just like every other time. I was nervous, but when you are around Amy you automatically let your guard down. She is open, confident, funny, and so easy going.
We were laying on my bed just chatting. I was drawing on my sketch pad, just doodles and such, while we talked. I think she got impatient. She did not think I was going to initiate, At the time I was not even thinking about it. I was just enjoying our time together.
She did something no other girl I had tried to be with had done. She took the lead. She asked if i was ticklish, I'm super ticklish, but i tried to play it off by saying "not really." I thought it was kind of weird, we were 20 right? who tickles someone at that age? But she started tickling me, and I was reacting as you would if you are ticklish. I was tickling her back and she was ticklish too, but not as bad as me.
At the end of the tickle fight when I was out of breath and in agony. she was laying over me. clearly the winner. We held each other and started kissing. by this point I was strangely really aroused, like more then I had ever been. She continued to take the lead. (I will spare the details, to keep this sort of PG) She stayed on top of me. I didn't even have to see the thing that had caused me so much discontentment. She even held my wrists down, which I have found out is a thing for me.
the way she was that night I could imagine the thing in which we will not speak, was hers, not mine at all, and she was in control. For the first time I felt real oneness with someone. we were like one person and nothing else mattered. We had many more nights like that one where she was in control, and I was under her spell.
Those few years with Amy, were a shining light in the dark misery of my life pre-transition. Eventually we drifted apart, she told me I did not make her feel safe, and secure like other men do (go figure) and she wanted more of a man. I was heartbroken, I could of stayed with her forever. We still stayed friends for awhile, I could not see a future with no Amy in it, even if we were just friends.
I was weak and when she started dating her Ex again I could not deal with it. He had beat her when they were together before. That is why they broke up. I could not be there anymore. I moved away to New York, and stayed with my brother for a year or so. We talked on the phone occasionally. But at some point her phone was disconnected, so I called her friend Jen. Jen said "Amy did not want to talk to me anymore." because she had moved on or some shit. My heart got broke again.
I never called her again. I was angry and sad at first, but eventually I got over it.
5 years later at 28 I made a choice, end this life or be my authentic self, and fuck what other people think. It turned out to be the best decision I have ever made. I moved to Colorado on my own and when I stepped off the plane Pre-everything, I started presenting female. About 2 years later i was seeing a psychotherapist, and had my HRT letter, soon after I Met a Wonderful man, and we have been happily together ever since.
Fast-forward to the beginning of last year. I get a message on my facebook. it was Amy. She had been scouring the internet looking for me. since I started presenting Female all my social media was my new name and gender. so for many many years [Deadname] had no internet presence, so I thought no one but my family would find me from my past.
Apparently, Amy never said she did not want to talk to me anymore, Jen had lied. Over the years she had tried to find me many times on the internet. She had never stopped thinking about me, and she had come to realize letting me go was Dumb. She HAD loved me, but she was scared and confused back then. She had never stopped thinking about me, and the few years we had together. So she would search for me periodically, and always come up with nothing.
Until my brother and I connected on facebook, he was the one person in my family that did not accept the new me, and our relationship had soured to the point of me ghosting him for years. 2 years ago My Dad insisted we try to work it out, so I added him to Facebook. That is how she finally found me.
Her first message to me was this:
​

Hey!!!! No freakin wonder why I couldn't find you!! I've been looking for your ass for years lol! I messaged your brother and all.. I was actually starting to wonder if you were ok. How the hell are you?? I'm glad I found you!
You best know who this is lol

​
Of course I did know who it was.
​
We started texting and calling again, just like old times. except she is married with 3 kids, and I am pretty much married and 3 step-kids. We talk everyday, and she is planning on coming out to see me soon and meet my Husband. I love the fact that my best friend is back in my life, after so many years.
We both agree I made the correct choice to transition. (DUH) She says even back then she seen it in me. signs of it, I was not like any guy she had ever met. It was part of the reason I scared her so much. We joke that it was both of ours one and only lesbian relationship, and it kind of was. ❤
​

MPX Bioceutical Corp. (MPX/MPXEF) - Geographic Footprint and Addressable Markets
https://mpxbioceutical.com/investors/
I wanted to get a better understanding of MPX Bioceutical's U.S. footprint and addressable markets
MPX hasn't updated their investor presentation since November 06, 2017 (Slide 8 for MPX Operations) so I used press releases, old interviews/investor calls, and cursory Google searches.
I suck at formatting so apologies in advance.
Arizona
*MPX Dispensary Distribution: https://imgur.com/Xs3otSd *MPX-Owned Dispensaries: https://imgur.com/bPQutTc *Health for Life Locations *The Holistic Center *Melting Point Extracts - Arizona Locations
Current Market Share in Arizona (March 28, 2018) - 24:12 ~7-8%
MPX Concentrates Dispensary Distribution

1. Health for Life (Crismon) - Mesa, AZ (MPX-Owned) 9949 E Apache Trail, Mesa, AZ 85207 (Opened April 6, 2018)
   
2. Health for Life (East) - Mesa, AZ (MPX-Owned) 7343 S 89th Pl, Mesa, AZ 85212
   
3. Health for Life (North) - Mesa, AZ (MPX-Owned) 5550 E McDowell Rd, Mesa, AZ 85215
   
4. The Holistic Center AZ - Phoeniz, AZ (MPX-Owned) 21035 N Cave Creek Rd C-5, Phoenix, AZ 85024
   
5. Catalina Hills Care - Tucson, AZ 12152 N Rancho Vistoso Blvd, Oro Valley, AZ 85755
   
6. Green Hills Patient Center - Show Low, AZ 3191 S White Mountain Rd, Show Low, AZ 85901
   
7. High Desert Healing - Lake Havasu, AZ 1691 Industrial Blvd, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403
   
8. Kompo - Taylor, AZ 600 Centennial Blvd, Snowflake, AZ 85937
   
9. Leaf Life - Casa Grande, AZ 1860 N Salk Dr B1, Casa Grande, AZ 85122
   
10. Metro Meds - Phoenix, AZ 10040 N Metro Pkwy W, Phoenix, AZ 85051
    
11. OASIS - Chandler, AZ 26427 S Arizona Ave #8223, Chandler, AZ 85248
    
12. The Good Dispensary - Mesa, AZ 1842 W Broadway Rd, Mesa, AZ 85202
    
13. The Mint Dispensary - Tempe, AZ 5210 S Priest Dr, Tempe, AZ 85283
    
14. The Prime Leaf - Tucson, AZ 4220 E Speedway Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85712
    
15. Uncle Herbs Dispensary - Payson, AZ 200 N Tonto St, Payson, AZ 85541
    
16. Urban Greenhouse - Phoenix, AZ 2630 W Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85017
    
17. Yavapai Herbal Services - Cottonwood, AZ 675 E State Route 89A Cottonwood, AZ 86326
    
18. Botanica - Tucson, AZ 6205 N Travel Center Drive Tucson, AZ 85741
    

Relocated Production Facility: North Mesa, AZ
Annual Capacity
*Phase One - 150,000 grams of MPX-branded products (Currently in Operation) *Phase Two - 400,000+ grams (Scheduled for completion in calendar Q3 2018) *Phase Three - 800,000+ grams (Schedule for completion in calendar Q4 2018)
New production facility will increase production capacity 2-4x: 11:31 , 25:11

• March 28, 2018 - MPX Bioceutical Q3 Investor Call: March 28, 2018(title says March 8 but at 1:44 he says March 28, 2018)
  
• January 31, 2018 - Beth Stavola MPX Bioceuticals Interview with New Cannabis Ventures - 4:12 - "the largest production facility, production laboratory in the state of Arizona"
  

March 05, 2018 - MPX Signs Definitive Agreement to Expand Its Footprint in Arizona -

• “This acquisition represents a solid addition to our industry and presence in Arizona, a State that offers MPX one of the best-regulated, yet industry-supportive markets in the country,” said W. Scott Boyes, MPX’s Chairman, President and CEO. “The entities being acquired have recorded trailing 12-month revenues of US$15 million and EBITDA of approximately US$3.5 million and its results will be immediately accretive to MPX earnings. Furthermore, the acquired companies are well-managed and will allow both parties to share best practises and benefit from the ability to share purchase economies. With the pending opening of our Apache Junction dispensary, the addition of the Holistic Center, will bring the number of dispensaries managed by MPX in the greater Phoenix market to four, will more than double our cultivation capacity and will materially complement our management team in the State. Adding to our critical mass of operations, this acquisition will add to MPX’s ability to benefit from purchasing economies, spread the administrative overhead costs over a larger revenue base and provide cash flows to support additional growth.”

April 03, 2018 - Mpx Enjoys Record Monthly Revenue of Cdn$5.2 Million in Arizona

• Beth Stavola, COO and President of MPX’s U.S. operations, adds “With our fourth dispensary opening soon in the Apache Junction suburb and our expanded concentrate production facilities coming on-stream this month, we expect to see our Arizona revenues continue to expand over the next several fiscal quarters. The Arizona program is well-regulated by AZDHS, the patient count continues to grow, the supply and cost of flower and trim for re-sale and concentrate production is excellent and, while the Phoenix area market is increasingly competitive, retail prices and margins remain attractive. This is a great state for MPX to conduct business in.”

April 09, 2018 - MPX Adds a Fourth Dispensary in Phoenix and Triples Capacity for MPX Concentrate Production in Arizona

TORONTO, April 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MPX Bioceutical Corporation (“MPX” or the “Company”) (CSE:MPX) (OTC:MPXEF) is pleased to announce that the official opening of the its newest “Health for Life” medical marijuana dispensary in the Metropolitan Phoenix area, located at the junction of E. Main and Crimson in the suburb of Apache Junction. This brings the number of dispensaries under MPX management in Arizona’s Sun Valley to four. The Crimson dispensary will meet the needs of patients in this comparatively underserviced southeast quadrant of the region by making available the full spectrum of MPX concentrates, an extensive variety of cannabis flower, and a broad selection of 3rd party, processed cannabis-infused edibles.
The Company also announces that it has relocated the processing and production of MPX concentrates to a new location in North Mesa. Phase one of the build-out at this facility, now in operation, will immediately double the current production capacity of MPX-branded products in Arizona to approximately 150,000 grams annually. The second phase scheduled for completion early in calendar Q3 will increase potential production to over 400,000 grams per year and the final phase expected in calendar Q4 will result in annualized capacity increasing to a total in excess of 800,000 grams annually with a wholesale value (at current prices) of approximately US$18 million.

Arizona Medical Marijuana Patient Numbers:
*- 152,979 (Current through 12/31/17)
*- 162,528 (March 2018) , Reports
Arizona is the 14th most populous state - 7,016,270 (Population estimate, July 1, 2017)
Phoenix is the fifth most populated city
Population: 1,615,017 (2016 estimate) , U.S. Census Bureau , World Population Review
Nevada
*MPX Dispensary Distribution (Nevada): https://imgur.com/l3SoaWl *MPX Dispensary Distribution (Las Vegas, Nevada): https://imgur.com/J9rM7JU *(Greenmart of Nevada - Where To Find Us) *[(Acquired October 13, 2017](https://www.newcannabisventures.com/bcc-finalizes-17-8mm-greenmart-nevada-cannabis-producer-purchase/

• January 31, 2018 - 4:27 - 30,000 sq. ft. cultivation and laboratory for MPX concentrates
  
• March 28, 2018 - 11:46
  

In Nevada, our production capacity has been limited by the availability of raw material, of biomass. And most of our product produced there has been sold 2-3 weeks in advance.

MPX Dispensary Distribution *Melting Point Extracts - Nevada Locations *(Greenmart of Nevada - Where To Find Us)

1. Acres Cannabis - Las Vegas, NV 2320 Western Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89102
   
2. Black Jack Collective Delivery - Las Vegas, NV 1860 Western Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89102
   
3. Blum - Reno, NV 1085 S. Virginia St. Suite A Reno, NV 89502
   
4. Blum Western - Las Vegas, NV 1921 Western Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89102
   
5. Blum Decatur - Las Vegas, NV 3650 S Decatur Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89103
   
6. Blum Desert Inn - Las Vegas, NV 1130 E Desert Inn Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89109
   
7. Canopi (Southwest) - Las Vegas, NV 6540 Blue Diamond Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89139
   
8. Cannacopia - Las Vegas, NV 6332 S Rainbow Blvd #105, Las Vegas, NV 89118
   
9. Deep Roots Harvest - Mesquite, NV 195 Willis Carrier Canyon, Mesquite, NV 89034
   
10. Essence (Henderson) - Henderson, NV 4300 E. Sunset Road Suite A3 Henderson, NV 89014
    
11. Essence (Las Vegas Strip) - Las Vegas, NV 2307 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104
    
12. Essence (West) - Las Vegas, NV 5765 W Tropicana Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89103
    
13. Euphoria Wellness, Las Vegas, NV 7780 S Jones Blvd, Ste 105 Las Vegas, NV 89139-6489
    
14. Inyo Fine Cannabis - Las Vegas, NV 2520 S Maryland Pkwy #2, Las Vegas, NV 89109
    
15. Jardin - Las Vegas, NV 2900 E Desert Inn Rd #102, Las Vegas, NV 89121
    
16. Jenny's Dispensary (North Las Vegas) - North Las Vegas, NV 5530 N Decatur Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89130
    
17. Jenny's Dispensary (Henderson) - Henderson, NV 10420 S Eastern Ave, Henderson, NV 89052
    
18. Las Vegas Releaf - Las Vegas, NV 2244 Paradise Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89104
    
19. Nevada Wellness Center - Las Vegas, NV 3200 S Valley View Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89102
    
20. NuLeaf (Lake Tahoe) - Lake Tahoe, NV 877 Tahoe Blvd, Incline Village, NV 89451
    
21. NuLeaf (Las Vegas) - Las Vegas, NV 430 E Twain Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89169
    
22. Oasis Cannabis - Las Vegas, NV 1800 Industrial Rd #180, Las Vegas, NV 89102
    
23. Reef Western - Las Vegas, NV 3400 Western Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89109
    
24. Rise Dispensary - Carson City, NV 135 E Clearview Dr #119, Carson City, NV 89701
    
25. Sierra Wellness Connection (Reno) - Reno, NV 1605 E 2nd St #103, Reno, NV 89502
    
26. Sierra Wellness Connection (Carson City) - Carson City, NV 2765 US Highway 50E Carson City, NV 89701
    
27. Silver Sage Wellness - Las Vegas, NV 4626 W Charleston Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89102
    
28. The Apothecarium - Las Vegas, NV 7885 W. Sahara Ave #112 Las Vegas, NV 89117
    
29. The Apothecary Shoppe - Las Vegas, NV 4240 W. Flamingo Rd. No. 100 Las Vegas, NV 89103
    
30. The Dispensary (Decatur) - Las Vegas, NV 5347 S. Decatur Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89118
    
31. The Dispensary (Henderson) - Henderson, NV 50 N Gibson Rd #170, Henderson, NV 89014
    
32. The Dispensary (Reno) - Reno, NV 100 W. Plumb Lane Reno, NV 89509
    
33. The Grove - Las Vegas, NV 4647 Swenson Street Las Vegas, NV 89119
    
34. The Source (Henderson) - Henderson, NV 9480 S Eastern Ave #185, Las Vegas, NV 89123
    
35. The Source (Las Vegas) - Las Vegas, NV 2550 S Rainbow Blvd #8, Las Vegas, NV 89146
    
36. Thrive (Downtown) - Las Vegas, NV 1112 S Commerce St, Las Vegas, NV 89102
    
37. Thrive (North Las Vegas) - Las Vegas, NV 2755 W Cheyenne Ave #103, North Las Vegas, NV 89032
    
38. Top Notch THC - Las Vegas, NV 5630 Stephanie St, Las Vegas, NV 89122
    
39. Zen Leaf - Las Vegas, NV 9120 W Post Rd #103, Las Vegas, NV 89148
    

Population: 2,998,039 (Population estimate, July 1, 2017
U.S. Census Bureau
Nevada Medical Marijuana Patient Numbers:
*- 23,489 (Current through 12/31/17)
*- 21,759 (February 2018) , Reports
Nevada is the 34th most populous state - 2,998,039 (Population estimate, July 1, 2017)
Las Vegas is the 28th-most populated city
Population: 632.912 (2016 estimate) , U.S. Census Bureau , World Population Review
Las Vegas Tourism
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority - Las Vegas Visitor Statistics *- Year End Summary for 2017: 42,214,200 *- Year-to-Date Summary 2018 (As of Apr 20, 2018) - 10,274,100
Massachusetts
*MPX Dispensary Distribution (Massachusetts): https://imgur.com/pIN0pAA
*MPX Dispensary Distribution (New England): https://imgur.com/wk3e4Hs

• Dispensaries 2 of 3 dispensaries disclosed: Fall River, Attleborough
  
• Production Facility: Fall River, MA (40,000 - 50,000 sq. ft. cultivation and production facility)
  
• Dispensaries: 3 (Approved for building, 1 in Fall River, 1 in Attleborough, 1 still being targeted)
  
• 3rd dispensary targets:
  

• October 14, 2017 - 34:08 - Near Wynn Casino, 34:50 - Third dispensary target: "Near Revere, not right in the city itself"
  
• January 31, 2018 - 6:13 - "Right now we are searching for third location. We've got a number of really good prospects there."
  
• March 28, 2018 - 16:29 - "I think we're pretty close on number three. It is a great location and I'm gonna refrain from mentioning the town but it's a great population."
  

• 1 Production Facility on Innovation Way in Fall River, "next door to Amazon and Mass Biologics."
  
• Using Mass Biologics's address as a marker: 1240 Innovation Way, Fall River, MA 02720
  

MPX-owned Dispensaries

1. Cannatech Medicinals, Inc.,- Fall River 160 Hartwell St, Fall River, MA 02721 (Under construction) April 11, 2018 - Patch.com
   
2. Cannatech Medicinals, Inc.,- Attoboro 220 Oneil Blvd, Attleboro, MA 02703 (Under construction)
   

• January 19, 2018
  
• January 31, 2018 - 6:00
  

• April 6, 2017 - Local medical marijuana company sells part of operation to Canadian firm

The company, which is building a facility to grow and process marijuana for medicine, sold 51 percent of its real estate and management companies to The Canadian Bioceutical Corp., for $5.1 million. The agreement was announced Tuesday.
The company is in the process of building a 50,000-square-foot facility on Innovation Way, next door to Amazon and Mass Biologics, the medical research and testing facility run by the University of Massachusetts.

• June 15, 2017 - BCC Completes Massachusetts Transaction

• TORONTO, Ontario, June 15, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Bioceutical Corporation (the “Company” or “BCC”) (CSE:BCC) (OTC:CBICF) today announced that further to its press release of April 4, 2017, the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary CGX Life Sciences, Inc. (CGX), has completed the acquisition of a 51% interest in IMT, LLC and Fall River Developments, LLC (“FRD”), Massachusetts registered companies active in the cannabis space.

• January 31, 2018 - Beth Stavola MPX Bioceuticals Interview with New Cannabis Ventures - 5:22
  
• February 27, 2018 - Midas Letter - MPX Bioceutical Updates their Aggressive USA Expansion Activities
  
• March 07, 2018 - MPX Bioceutical Corp announces scheduled opening of Fall River Innovation Way facility
  

The marijuana industry has become a popular spot for Fall River.
According to MPX Bioceutical Corp, construction of a 40,000 square foot marijuana cultivation/processing facility on Innovation Way in Fall River, Massachusetts is targeted to be complete in the summer of this year with cultivation beginning in the third quarter of 2018. Cannatech Medicinals, who is owned by MPX Bioceutical Corp, has been working on the facility next to Amazon.
They have also commenced construction on the first of three dispensaries in Massachusetts, including one at 160 Hartwell Street in Fall River near the Applebee’s restaurant. The Hartwell Street location will get their supply from the Innovation Way facility.

• March 28, 2018 - MPX Bioceutical Q3 Investor Call: March 28, 2018 - 16:17 - Fall River and Attleborough still under construction
  
• April 17, 2018 - Mass. Selects First 20 Recreational Dispensaries for Expedited Review
  
• April 25, 2018 - 3 Fall River medical marijuana firms eye recreational sales too
  

CannaTech Medicinals; Hope, Heal, Health; and Northeast Alternatives will all be in the running for licenses to grow and sell marijuana for the recreational market. Recreational sales are scheduled to start July 1.
CannaTech Medicinals is building a 50,000-square-foot growing facility and processing laboratory in the biopark on Innovation Way. It is also building a dispensary off Hartwell Street.

Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Patient Numbers:
*- 45,505 (Current through 12/31/17)
*- 48,265 - (March 31 2018) - Massachusetts Medical Use of Marijuana Program snapshot
Massachusetts Medical Use of Marijuana Program snapshot

• Under "RMD information", the current status of all registered marijuana dispensaries and applicants through April 27 2018 - Entries #35-37 - Cannatech Medicinals, Inc.:

*- Only two of three have "Proposed Dispensary Locations" (Fall River, Attleboro)
*- No siting profile has been submitted for the third dispensary yet, invited to submit on December 12, 2017 (same date as Attleboro)

• Mass.gov - Medical Use of Marijuana Program
  
• Massachusetts Medical Use of Marijuana Program: External DashBoard - March 2018'
  

Massachusetts is the 15th most populous state

• 6,859,819 [(Population estimate, July 1, 2017)]Ihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population] , U.S. Census Bureau ,
  
• 6,895,917 World Population Review
  

Boston is the 22nd most populated city in the U.S. and most populated in New England
Population: 673,184 (2016 estimate) , U.S. Census Bureau ,
Not to mention the populations from surrounding states and tourism.

• October 14, 2017 - 33:41 - 26 million population in surrounding states
  
• May 2018 - 13.2 million people reside within 150 miles of Boston. (iAnthus Capital - May Presentation - Slide 22)
  
• 2010 Census Results - U.S. & Puerto - Population Density
  

Maryland
*- Managing dispensaries under Health for Life brand
*- MPX-Owned Dispensary Distribution (Maryland): https://imgur.com/KrcT0g4
*- Melting Point Extracts - Maryland Locations (None available yet)

• Dispensaries: 3 (2 in Baltimore County, 1 in Bethesda)
  
• Production Facility: Gaithersburg, MD - "to feature our MPX concentrates brand" - Production Capacity: 825,000 grams
  
• January 31, 2018 - Beth Stavola MPX Bioceuticals Interview with New Cannabis Ventures - 4:45
  

From the press releases below, I gather:

• 1 production facility in Gaithersburg/Montgomery Country (through Rosebud Organics/Budding Rose, Inc.) (January 8, 2018) - No square footage provided. However,

• January 08, 2018 - The facility is completely built-out and when fully operational will be capable of producing 825,000 grams of MPX-branded cannabis concentrates per annum.

• 1 dispensary in the White Marsh suburb in Baltimore, Maryland (through LMS Wellness, Benefit LLC) (December 12, 2017) - No specific address found
  
• 1 dispensary in close proximity to the Walter Reed Military Medical Center and National Institutes of Health - Bethesda, Maryland (through Rosebud Organics/Budding Rose) (January 8, 2018)
  

*- Possibly at: 4909 Fairmont Ave Bethesda, MD 20814

• 1 dispensary off North Point Road in Colgate, Baltimore, Maryland (through GreenMart of Maryland) (January 31, 2018) (No specific address found)
  
• Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission: Dispensary Information - Licensed Dispensaries (As of April 10, 2018) - Nothing yet licensed for any of their Maryland subsidiaries
  
• Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission: Cannabis Industry Information)
  

*- Under "Pre-Approved Dispensaries": GreenMart of Maryland (District 6: Baltimore County)
*- Under "Pre-Approved Dispensaries": LMS Wellness BLLC (District 8: Baltimore County)
*- Under "Pre-Approved Dispensaries": Budding Rose, LLC (District 16: Montgomery County)
*- Under "Licensed Processors (as of April 10, 2018): Rosebud Organics LLC (Montgomery County)
*- Under "Pre-Approved Processors": Rosebud Organics, LLC (Montgomery County)

• Maryland MDMDA Member Dispensaries -

I'm guessing that they will be selling MPX concentrates through these dispensaries as they have done in Arizona and Nevada once their production facility is operational. I'll wait for the press release and theMelting Point Extracts site to update before factoring that into their footprint.

• December 12, 2017 - MPX Enters Into Management & Purchase Option Agreements With LMS Wellness, Benefit LLC in Baltimore Maryland

• MPX Bioceutical Corporation (the “Company” or “MPX”) (CSE:MPX) (OTC:MPXEF) today announced that the Company, through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, S8 Management, LLC (“S8 Management”), is entering into a management agreement (the “Management Agreement”) with LMS Wellness, Benefit LLC (“LMS”) which will result in MPX building and managing a full service medical cannabis dispensary in the White Marsh suburb of Baltimore, Maryland.

• December 15, 2017 - Medical Marijuana Dispensary To Open in Downtown Bethesda

Photo caption: A medical marijuana company has signed a lease for the space at 4909 Fairmont Ave., next to the mural.
A medical marijuana dispensary is coming to a long-dormant space on Fairmont Avenue in downtown Bethesda.
Rich Greenberg, of Greenhill Capital, which owns the building, said Budding Rose LLC signed the lease for the roughly 1,900-square-foot space about six months ago. He said work is ongoing to fit out the interior to meet the dispensary’s needs, and he wasn’t sure when the shop would be ready to open.

• January 8, 2018 - MPX Expands Cannabis Operations in Maryland

The management agreements with Budding Rose and Rosebud will result in MPX subsidiaries now operating three medical cannabis enterprises in the State of Maryland. The first management agreement with LMS Wellness, Benefit LLC was announced on December 12, 2017. Rosebud is one of only 14 licenses issued to process cannabis derivatives in the State of Maryland. The facility is completely built-out and when fully operational will be capable of producing 825,000 grams of MPX-branded cannabis concentrates per annum.
Budding Rose will operate a dispensary in a high-traffic area of downtown Bethesda, Maryland, in close proximity to the Walter Reed Military Medical Center and National Institutes of Health. Bethesda, Maryland is located within the Capital Beltway and is one of the wealthiest communities in the Capital Region. The dispensary is currently under construction and is expected to be operational in late February of this year.

• January 31, 2018 - MPX Enters Into Management and Option Agreement with Dispensary in Baltimore, Maryland

GreenMart will operate a dispensary, under the “Health for Life” brand, in a high-traffic area of Baltimore, Maryland, situated off of North Point Road in the community of Colgate. The location is conveniently located near Interstate Routes 695, 95 and US Route 40 and a 15-minute drive from Baltimore’s Inner Harbour, Canton Waterfront, Federal Hill, and Fells Point. Within 2 miles of the location sits Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, a teaching hospital within the world renowned John Hopkins Health System. GreenMart has been welcomed and supported by the community leaders of Colgate. The dispensary is currently under construction and is expected to be operational in April 2018 of this year.

Maryland Medical Marijuana Patient Numbers:
*- 18,000+ (Current through 12/15/17)
*- 17,000+ (March 20, 2018)

• More than 17,000 consumers in Maryland have registered for medical marijuana.

• Reports - Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission - I couldn't find any patient statistics reports on this site.

Maryland is the 19th most populated state - 6,052,177 (Population estimate, July 1, 2017) , U.S. Census Bureau
Baltimore is the 30th most populated city
Population: 614,664 (2016 estimate) , U.S. Census Bureau , World Population Review
Training/staffing/spreading themselves too thin:
*- March 28, 2018 - 25:56
Future Targets *- January 31, 2018 - 10:03 *- November 2017 Presentation: Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio
California *- March 28, 2018 - March MPX Bioceutical Q3 Investor Call: March 8, 2018 California 15:53, 33:45
Ohio *- March 28, 2018 - 14:32 - Five applications in Ohio.
New Jersey
*- January 25, 2018 - Beth Stavola, MPX COO is invited by NJ Governor Murphy as a Marijuana Industry Leader during the signing of an executive order which would ease access to medical marijuana in the State.
*- 1:14 - "Beth, this one is for you. You represent not just you but the whole industry"
*- January 31, 2018 - [Beth Stavola MPX Bioceuticals Interview with New Cannabis Ventures - 10:14](https://youtu.be/Mffwj_sP7T0?t=10m14s]
*- March 28, 2018 - 14:54
Keep in mind they're in only four states right now and currently operating in two. There are other U.S operators with multi-state footprints (IAN, CRZ, LHS, MRMD, etc.).
A few private players:
*1) Acreage Holdings - 11 States,
*2) Columbia Care - 9 States + D.C and Puerto Rico,
*3) Green Thumb Industries (GTI) - 5 States,
*4) Cresco Labs - 4 States.
Also, there are the other companies with agreements/operations in both the U.S. and Canada (CRZ, SNN).
Once their RTO (April 30, 2018) is completed, MedMen will have the highest addressable market of the publicly traded U.S. operators (CA - 39.5 million, NY - 19.8 million, NV - 2.9 million, Canada - 35 million through their JV with Cronos). Not too mention the number of visitors each of those markets get annually.
That being said, of the current public companies, I think they give good multi-state exposure in the U.S. in markets with high population density](https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/thematic/us_popdensity_2010map.pdf). This doesn't even factoring their Canadian exposure once they get operating. We'll see where they stand in the U.S. market if they're able to execute on the Massachusetts, Maryland, and Canadian operations. Also, remember they're pushing the MPX concentrates brand and are set to get exposure on both coasts.
I can't speak on their capital structure or financials. Some other users can discuss that.
TLDR
Arizona - Operating
*- MPX Dispensary Distribution: https://imgur.com/Xs3otSd
*- MPX-Owned Dispensaries: https://imgur.com/bPQutTc
Nevada - Operating
*- MPX Dispensary Distribution (Nevada): https://imgur.com/l3SoaWl
*- MPX Dispensary Distribution (Las Vegas, Nevada): https://imgur.com/J9rM7JU
Massachusetts - Building/Not currently operating
*- MPX Dispensary Distribution (Massachusetts): https://imgur.com/pIN0pAA
*- MPX Dispensary Distribution (New England): https://imgur.com/wk3e4Hs
Maryland - Building/Not currently operating
*- MPX-Owned Dispensary Distribution (Maryland): https://imgur.com/KrcT0g4