The state's economic-diversification agency has selected a panel of business and government leaders to help build Nevada's aerospace economy.
The Governor's Office of Economic Development announced that 15 people will serve in a group to oversee Nevada's efforts to obtain a Federal Aviation center of Excellence designation for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.
It would allow for significant research and development, testing and training of unmanned aerial vehicles in Nevada.
"Nevada has the talent, the resources and a history of excellence in unmanned aerial flight said the Director of the Governor's office which last year selected defense and aerospace as a key growth sector for Nevada."
Nevada already has a presence in the world of unmanned aerial vehicles : the Predator drones used in wars are operated from Creech Air Force base near Indian Springs.
But researchers are studying civilian uses for unmanned aerial vehicles, including livestock tracking, police use, storm and hurricane tracking, and surveys for natural resources.
Nevada's Adjutant and Brig. General Burks and Hill will serve as the panel's co-chairmen.
Passenger counts increased for the 2nd straight month in February, while Las Vegas based Allegiant airline continued it's double-digit growth in passenger traffic.
According to figures released by the Department of Aviation, 3,108,106 passsengers passed through the airport in February, an increase of 6.6 percent from last February.
The February increase benefited from an extra business day because of Leap year, so the actual increase was about 3 percent.
Looks like this growth trend is real. Taxable sales numbers just released showed tidy gains in goods sold by merchants across Nevada and Clark County.
Statewide taxable sales came in at $3.15 billion in January, up from $3 billion a year earlier, the State Department of Taxation reported.
It was the 9th straight month of local gains, and notably, the 2nd consecutive January with growth.
No longer is the sales base increasing year by year merely because numbers are weighed against recession era lows. Expansion is officially underway.
"These are respectable gains in any environment. They suggest that the market is experiencing increased stability, and consumers are feeling much more comfortable than they did a couple of years ago."
Virtually every major sales category in Clark County saw improvements.
A local retailer said, "we have educated the consumer to be looking for deals now." Discounts seem to be the norm."Canadians make up for 30% of his stores sales, up from 10 percent two years ago. The surge in Canada's dollar against the U.S. dollar is behind this."
From 2002 to 2007, growth in consumer outstripped income gains as shoppers tapped home equity for buying binges. Mortgage backed sales spikes couldn't last.
We are seeing a more conservative growth that is more sustainable.
Revenue from sales and use taxes helps fund prisons and schools and gross revenue collections were up 6% in January.
Zappos CEO's latest deal would lure college graduates for stints with downtown startup companies.
Zappos efforts to remake downtown Las Vegas took another step forward with a real estate deal and plans to lure more young talent to the area.
The Downtown Project, funded by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and other investors to spearhead revitalization efforts, announced Tuesday a partnership with Venture for America to bring new college graduates for two year stints to help startup businesses get off the ground.
The hope is participants will make their move downtown a permanent one. A spokesman for Zappos said, "there is a good chance they will be inspired by the start-up and want to stay with that business".
"It's great exposure and experience for them" Founded a year ago, Venture for American is a non-profit organization that describes itself as a "pathway for young talented grads to become business builders and job creators in areas of need."
In August, 50 grads selected by the group will join start-up companies across the nation, including Las Vegas. Zappos said that the organization is a natural partner for us. Their fellows will be a valuable part of the community we are developing, and we appreciate their focus on job creation.
"We are going to create thousands of jobs here in downtown Las Vegas over the next 5 to 10 years." This deal echos Zappos donation of 1.5 million to Teach for America, which trains teachers to work in schools that serve children from households in poverty.
Meanwhile, the Downtown Project, funded with $350 million from Hsieh and others, recently closed on a $5.2 million purchase of the Motel 6 property on Fremont Street. The building will be demolished to make way for a yet to be determined facility.
The purchase continues a high-profile buying spree by Zappos, the former 7 -11 building, the acquisition of as many as 50 units at the Ogden high-rise condos, and of course, the old City Hall.
Some of the plans for the Motel 6 purchase include affordable residential units and retail space made up of large storage containers similar to those transported by railroads and tractor-trailers.
It may be time to kiss record low mortgage rates goodbye. They jumped this week, as investors bought into the notion that the economy in the U.S. is strengthening and the situation in Europe is stabilizing.
The benchmark 30 year fixed rate mortgage rose 14 basis points this week, to 4.9 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of lenders.
A basis-point is one-hundredth of one percentage point. The mortgages in this weeks survey had an average total of 0.42 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 4.96 percent, four weeks ago it was 4.16 percent.
The optimism among investors may wear off, but it's unlikely rates will return to the bottom, said a spokesman for Quicken Loans.
"I think we have seen the absolutely lows." Most of the recent economic data including the jobs report, indicate a positive sign.
"Nearly 13 million people remain unemployed. I think the optimism is short-lived." But I don't think that we are going back to the yields of 1.7 percent on the 10 year Treasury note."
The yield on the 10 year Treasury note remained below or close to 2 percent when the rates reached the bottom. This was one of the forces pushing rates down.
"Should you wait? Probably not, said the mortgage experts. Years from now, you will hear stories of how you could get a 30 year fixed rate mortgage of 4.5 percent."
The Moore family of Henderson attended Wells Fargohomeowner workshop this week with low expectations of getting a loan modification approved on the spot, something that hasn't happened for them in previous workshops.
But this one was different. It was better organized,they met with Bank officials in private and left with dignity. The Moores were ecstatic to learn that their mortgage payment would be reduced by $800 a month, with delinquent payments put on the back end of the loan and interest rates down from 7 percent to 4.6 percent.
The Moores are among 733,180 active trial and completed loan modifications made by Wells Fargo since January 2009. A trial modification ensures that a customer can make the payment over a 3 month period before the modification is made permanent.
Of those, 84 percent were done through the bank's proprietary modification programs, and 16 percent through the Federal governments Home Affordable Modification Program.
Wells Fargo has agreed to more than 4.1 billion in principal mortgage reduction. That's possible if the loan was originated by Wells Fargo, and it's the only way to gain affordability.
About 25 percent to 30 of Wells Fargo customers left the workshop with some type of immediate solution, and that percentage will increase in the coming weeks as people return and follow up with missing documentation.
Wells Fargo invited 3,200 customers in financial hardship to the workshop, one of 33 to be held around the country this year.
Counting workshops such as the one presented by Hope now held at Cashman Center in Las Vegas two weeks ago, Wells Fargo has participated in 600 foreclosure prevention workshops.
Roughly two thirds of Wells Fargo customers who attend these workshops will avoid foreclosure. Wells Fargo originates one in six home loans nationally and services one in six.
As of fourth quarter 2011, less than 8 percent of first mortgage and home security loans from Wells Fargo were past due or into foreclosure compared with an industry average of 10.9 percent.
"The biggest struggle is trying to get in touch with the customer and have them work with us." John Moore of Henderson said Wells Fargo worked with him as he struggled to make his mortgage payments.
An Asset Management company, a ammunition maker and a manufacturer of high-efficiency that lights are on their way to Nevada.
The Nevada Commission on Economic Development said that it approved incentives such as tax abatement, tax deferred and training grants for 8 businesses looking to move or expand in the Silver State.
Six of these businesses are headed to the Las Vegas valley. The biggest is Ameriprise Financial, a global asset management company that will locate it's Western sales center in a new 100,000 square foot building at Sunset Road and Pilot Road in Las Vegas.
The center will employ about 300 people in 3 divisions and hourly salaries will range from $16.35 to $39.44. The CEO said it's local operation had only about 9 employees before the big move.
Ameriprise could give the Authority a toehold in Minneapolis, it's headquarters. Minneapolis is a huge center for corporate headquarters with trillion dollar companies doing business there.
Also looking to open here is Patriot Precision Ammunition, a Rockford based business that makes ammunition for law enforcement, military and competitive shooters.
Precision will launch a facility in Las Vegas that will employ about 40 people. A related company, management consultant Day-Dra Holdings Group,will create 55 jobs downtown.
BritePointe, a Hayward California based business that makes patented light-emitting diode, or LED lamps is bringing a distribution center to Clark County and will hire 80 workers.
LED Solar Green Energy Technology will hire about 30 workers to help with the company's line of solar water heaters and related products.
SA Recycling, a scrap metal company already in Las Vegas, will expand by about 30 employees.
Tax incentives for all of the companies will cost about $10 million dollars, and training grants about $550,000.
These businesses will have an economic impact of nearly $450 million.
A senior associate director at the Federal Reserve called the fines "appropriate" but declined to offer more details about the size of the fines or when they will be levied.
The nation's 5 largest banks BOA, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial last month agreed to a $25 billion settlement with state and Federal governments after a 16 month probe.
As part of the settlement the banks agreed to reduce mortgages for about one million homeowners. They also will pay into a fund that will send $2,000 to some 750,000 homeowners that were improperly foreclosed upon.
Seperately, government regulators in April ordered 14 mortgage lenders and services to reimburse homeowners who were improperly foreclosed upon.
Since then, letters have been sent to 4.3 million borrowers who were at risk of foreclosure during 2009 and 2010.
The deadline for homeowners to seek money under the orders is July 31. So far , nearly 122,000 homeowners have asked for an auditor to review their foreclosure.
Moody's investor service said rising gas prices could endanger the recovery as money that consumers will spend at the casinos could be used for fuel spending with the average cost of gasoline at $3.83 at the time of this report.
Consumers could pull back on discretionary spending and cost of travel to Las Vegas.
"The effects would hit hardest at the Casinos. While we expect strong visitation this year, consumers may dial back their allotments for gaming which are entirely discretionary."
Also, the cost of travel would increase by car or air potentially reducing spending.
"While trends on the strip are improving, it will be a while before Casino operators reach the peak levels of the mid-2000s."
The pace of recovery largely dictate the fortunes of companies that rely on this market for a material portion of their profits, focusing attention on MGM resorts and Caesars which each operate ten hotel-casinos on or near the strip.
"These companies have a high mountain to climb to reach previous levels of absolute profits."
Adding another piece of downtown Las Vegas real estate to the Downtown project inspired by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
Recently closing a $ 4.1 million transaction to acquire the former 7-11 building just east of the Fremont Street experience and at the gateway of the Fremont East entertainment district.
Hsieh and others involved with the Downtown Project envision the building, now largely empty and marred by graffiti, as a future gathering place for community groups, entrepreneurs and others who want to work in downtown Las Vegas.
"We are still working on the details but the idea is to provide more space for different community groups to gather in."
Since the online shoe and apparel retailer announced plans to take over the former City Hall, interest in the area has surged with technology and creative communities.
"About a year ago, a few people in the community started working to bring the tech community together by starting the "Tech Jelly." Imagine what could happen if a dozen more communities of passion could form in things like music, woodworking, fashion, etc."
The Downtown Project and related entities have made a big splash in Las Vegas since 2010 when Zappos, a subsidiary of Amazon, announced it would move it's headquarters from Henderson in 2013.
The move is designed to give Zappos a place to grow, while remaining true to a company culture built on passion, collaboration and what Hsieh calls "serendipitous interactions", fostered when people with ideas for projects and businesses work in close proximity to one another.
Zappos, with Amazon and developer Resort Gaming Group, are funding the conversion of the old City Hall to a corporate headquarters.
Resort Gaming Group purchased the old City Hall property for anout $18 million and will lease it to Zappos, which is investing millions to renovate the old building.
The Downtown Project and related entities are funded through about $350 million from Hsieh and other investors.