Hank Greenspun

Valley Times

In a storied journalism history that includes Mark Twain and Dan De Quille, national figures such as Hank Greenspun, and renowned newspapers like Virginia City's Territorial Enterprise, the Valley Times has a place among Nevada's most controversial and important newspapers.

Las Vegas Sun

The Las Vegas Sun is its city's second longest published newspaper, with a legendary past as a muckraker and crusader. It debuted on May 3, 1950, as the Las Vegas Free Press, a thrice-weekly newspaper founded by the International Typographical Union, which consisted of typesetters locked out of the Las Vegas Review-Journal for trying to unionize.

Las Vegas Review Journal

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is Nevada's largest newspaper and has been the flagship of two media empires. It began publishing as the Clark County Review on September 18, 1909. Founder Charles "Corky" Corkhill, then serving as Clark County's first sheriff, had edited the Las Vegas Age until its sale to Republican C.P. "Pop" Squires in 1908. Corkhill wanted a Democratic voice for Las Vegas. He promised the Review would be Democratic, "providing the Democrats behave themselves and 'come across' occasionally."

History of Nevada Journalism

The first newspaper in present day Nevada was apparently the Gold-Cañon Switch of Johntown, a mining community about four miles from what became Virginia City on the Comstock. The paper, founded about 1854, was handwritten. Unfortunately, no copies exist.

Charles I. West

Nothing better describes Dr. Charles I. West's influence on Nevada and myriad accomplishments than the first line of Hank Greenspun's Where I Stand column in the Las Vegas Sun on October 10, 1984. Greenspun, in devoting his column to Dr. West upon his death, began the tribute by saying, "The freedom fighter has lost a true champion."

Central States, Southeast, Southwest Areas Pension Fund

Once nicknamed "the mob's bank," the Teamsters Union's Central States, Southeast, Southwest Areas Pension Fund, based in Chicago, played a major—and infamous—role in the rapid expansion of the Las Vegas hotel-casino industry following World War II. From 1958 to 1977, the pension fund's almost $250 million worth of low-interest loans to casino developers, many with ties to organized crime, brought unprecedented growth to the Las Vegas Strip and the city's downtown.

Bugsy Siegel and the Flamingo Hotel

Flamingo Hotel owner Billy Wilkerson and mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel had been friendly since the mid-1930s, when Siegel was a regular at Wilkerson's famous Los Angeles nightclub, Ciro's on the Sunset Strip. By 1946, the long-time member of organized crime in New York and Los Angeles was receiving hefty monthly fees from bookmakers for a wire service that transmitted horse racing results.

Al Cahlan

Albert E. "Al" Cahlan was one of the most influential newspapermen in Las Vegas history. Born in Reno in 1899, he earned an engineering degree from the University of Nevada and taught math at Las Vegas High School. In 1922, E.M. Steninger, the longtime owner of the Elko Free Press, hired Cahlan, a friend of his son, as editor and business manager. Cahlan remained in Elko three years until one of his passions got the better of him. A sports fanatic, Cahlan accused a basketball referee of bias and ended up facing a libel judgment, prompting Steninger to fire him.

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