HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Looks at the City of Las Vegas and Its Battle With the...

HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Looks at the City of Las Vegas and Its Battle
With the Recession

How can this city, famous for reinventing itself, weather today's economic
storm in 'Busted' - Tuesday, April 21 at 8:00 p.m. ET

DALLAS, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- This Tuesday's "Dan Rather Reports" travels
to Sin City to present a story on how America's playground, and its economy,
are reeling.

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In the boom times, Las Vegas seemed to epitomize a uniquely American approach
to the high life. Now, Las Vegas has the dubious distinction of double-digit
unemployment and a huge number of home foreclosures as the economy goes bust.
From subdivisions littered with foreclosed homes to pawn shops brimming with
the riches of a better time, much of Las Vegas is feeling the pain.

In "Busted" Rather speaks with citizens of Las Vegas on both sides of the
fence, those who are struggling to stay afloat and those who are still willing
to dream.

Penelope is an exotic dancer who competes for work with thousands of others
who have taken to dancing to make money. "I have a house, I'm educated. I
have job skills," Penelope told Rather. " I lived in New York, had a real
estate license. I was a licensed EMT. I was in the military. You know, so --
this isn't supposed to happen to me."

With approximately 100,000 people unemployed in Nevada, she is not alone in
suffering through the recession.

Tom McCormick is a home builder in Las Vegas and the President of Astoria
Homes, a local, privately owned company. He too is living his own nightmare
as the bank now owns 30 of his brand new, never lived in homes. "At our peak
we were selling about one hundred homes a month," McCormick told Rather. "And
now we probably do two or three."

But Oscar Goodman, the popular Mayor of Las Vegas feels that the city will
rebound, and do so quickly.

"Vegas -- has been remarkable, very resilient," said Goodman. When asked by
Rather for a timeline on the Las Vegas comeback, Goodman said that he feels
the city will be back to being a leading tourist destination in twelve months.
"I think people are drowning where they are. They're depressed where they
are. They're looking for relief and Vegas will provide that to them."

"Dan Rather Reports: Busted" premieres on HDNet, Tuesday, April 21 at 8:00
p.m. ET with a re-air 11:00 p.m. ET to accommodate West Coast Prime Time.

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SOURCE HDNet

Colette Carey of HDNet, +1-303-542-5576, ccarey@hd.net