It's been shuttered for a year and a half amid rumors that it was going to be a boutique hotel.  When it appeared that funding had bottomed out and there was no light at the end of the tunnel, the rumor mill began in earnest that the Lady Luck was cursed.

Word came yesterday that a Hollywood ending may be in sight after all.  John Given of the CIM Group told the Las Vegas City Council his firm is taking over the Lady Luck from the current owners and will make it a priority to put the closed casino "on the fastest track to turn the lights back on."

The Lady Luck sits across the street from the old Post Office which is being turned into a Museum called the PostModern and will highlight the Mob's history in Las Vegas.

Given was there to ask the City to agree to sell CIM the 5.5 acres that are currently Frank Wright Plaza (a park).  The City Council voted unanimously in favor of that idea.

In addition to calling on CIM to give the council progress reports on the project, the agreement also requires the firm to consider removing a pedestrian bridge over Third Street that connects the Lady Luck's two hotel towers. City officials say the bridge blocks views between the Fremont Street Experience and the historic post office (the PostModern) on Stewart Avenue.

Given is aiming for the Lady Luck to reopen in 2009.  (Everything under construction is slated to open or re-open in 2009.  Sounds like a week won't go by that something new will be celebrated).

CIM Group will take "full ownership" of the project from Downtown Resorts, the company that bought it in 2005 then closed the casino and hotel, displacing about 700 workers. Since then Downtown Resorts, led by Andrew Donner of Las Vegas, failed to meet deadlines it set to re-open the property.

Besides reviving the casino and hotel, CIM Group will create a development plan for adjacent property that includes businesses that were part of the Lady Luck deal like Triple George Grill and Sidebar as well as independently owned businesses like Hogs & Heifers Saloon. (We will be very sad if Triple George and Sidebar become yet another trendy ultra lounge.)

Hogs & Heifers and a nearby pawn shop are the only two businesses on the street that weren't part of the Lady Luck's outgoing ownership's plan to revive the block. The owner of Hogs and Heifers has a 20-year lease top operate the bar in the building. (The Harley crowd is cheering, no doubt).

Yeah, I know.  It seems like they just got finished with the New Forum shops, the latest tower, the new front entrance and the new facade.

But word comes from Harrah's Entertainment that they aren't done yet.  They have announced an approximately $1 billion expansion of Caesars Palace.  I know what you're thinking, what else could they need?

Well how about  new 665-room hotel tower. The Octavius Tower (because the Caesars Palace has to resemble Old Rome no matter what.  Do you think they remember how the story ends?) will be located adjacent to a new 263,000-square-foot (yeah, you read that right)  Meeting and Convention Center (because you can't have a hotel in Vegas today without Convention space.  There will come a time when the whole Strip is just Convention Space, forget the food, the rooms and gaming.

Other additions will include new luxury villa suites (are the ones they just finished already out-dated by today's "hip" stnadards), pools, an outdoor spa (because when it's 115 outdoors, I want to go to an outdoor spa) , and a garden wedding chapel.

The expansion should be completed  in early 2009.   Isn't almost every project under construction on the Strip and Downtown slated for a 2009 completion?

Erin Kenny, the corrupt former County Commissioner, was sentenced to 30 months on public corruption charges earlier this morning.

Prosecutors, whom Kenny had worked with by providing evidence against her former Commissioners:  Dario Herrara, Lance Malone and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey (all doing longer jail sentences than Kenny) as well as Mike Galardi and Donald Davidson, had asked the court to sentence Kenny to 24 months.

US District Judge Kent Lawson imposed the 30 month jail term.   

Stay tuned later today for more updates! 

Update:

Kenny has also been fined $129,000. She will have to report to prison in 60 days.

Jerry Yang, the Southern California psychologist from Temecula, won the 38th World Series of Poker this morning shortly before 4:00 am. 

 Yang collected $8.25 million in winnings.  He defeated Tuan Liam of Toronto after almost two hours of heads up play that began around 2:00 am.

Yang took the lead yesterday afternoon and held the lead for almost 16 hours.  He won when he drew a six on the river card for a nine-high straight on the 205th hand of competition. 

World Series of Poker has narrowed the field to the final four players.  The current leader is Jerry Yang, a  39-year-old psychologist from Southern California who won the first two hands when play began after noon and has been riding a hot streak ever since.

He's vying against South African grandfather Raymond Rahme, Vietnamese Canadian Tuan Lam and Russian Alex Kravchenko for the $8.25 million top prize.

A jury has found developer Donald Davidson  guilty on six charges but they deadlocked on the other 18 charges.  Donaldson was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to KLAS-Channel 8:

A judge declared a mistrial on 18 counts, which included conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering.