At Heart Attack Grill, diner's symptoms weren't fake

 

The Heart Attack Grill in downtown Las Vegas promises that its food will clog arteries, expand waistlines and lead to the loss of lovers. It offers a parody of a medical-based dining experience, with food servers called "nurses," diners called "patients" and the food itself called "prescriptions."

All told, perhaps it's small wonder that other patrons thought a man who appeared to be having a heart attack Saturday night was part of a stunt pulled by the restaurant. 

But no, the man really was in distress.

“It was no joke,” said restaurant owner Jon Basso, according to the Associated Press. Although Basso promotes himself as "Dr. Jon," employees called for real medical help instead, the AP reported. A video on YouTube showed the man being wheeled out on a stretcher by medical responders.

One server, aka "nurse," told Fox5 in Las Vegas that the man -- who reportedly had been eating a triple bypass burger -- began having chest pains, sweating and shaking. Calls to the restaurant went unanswered Wednesday.

Authorities in Las Vegas have not disclosed the man's name or condition, the AP reported, but Basso told the local Fox affiliate that the man was recovering from what was described only as a "medical episode."

News of the event was circulating Wednesday through social media venues and news sites -- but not on the Heart Attack Grill's website. It wasn't responding. 

One tweet read: "PR stunt for the Heart Attack Grill? No, he actually needs ambulance"

Another: "A customer has a heart attack at The Heart Attack Grill. The rest writes itself."

The restaurant, whose slogan is "taste worth dying for," is no stranger to criticism. It's come under fire over the years for its menu offerings. Among them is the 8,000-calorie "quadruple bypass" burger, with four half-pound patties, eight slices of cheese and a lard-doused bun. The restaurant's  "flatline fries" are not cooked in oil, but instead lard. 

The Heart Attack Grill offers free meals to people weighing more than 350 pounds. 

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Photo: The Heart Attack Grill in downtown Las Vegas. Credit: Julie Jacobson / Associated Press

An offer you can't refuse: Las Vegas opens new Mob Museum

In this casino town partly built on gangster money, it's a sentiment you hear with some frequency: Things were better when the mob ran Vegas.

It conveys a certain wistfulness for the smaller, ostensibly friendlier city where, decades ago, locals shrugged at mobsters' running casinos and reinventing themselves as civic leaders. Sports handicapper Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal hosted a television show. Bootlegger Moe Dalitz helped build a hospital.

The city began formally cashing in on its mafia legacy Tuesday with the opening of the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement -- better known as the Mob Museum.

The publicly funded museum opened in a former federal courthouse where a U.S. Senate hearing on organized crime was held in the 1950s. Its exhibits were shaped by historians and former FBI agents, and include crime scene photos, tommy guns and a brick wall shot up during the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day massacre in Chicago.

The $42-million project has raised some hackles among fiscal conservatives, who consider it a waste of taxpayer money, the Associated Press reported. But the museum's cheerleaders -- including mob attorney turned mayor Oscar Goodman -- are betting it will draw tourists from the Las Vegas Strip to a slowly gentrifying section of downtown.

Other recent efforts to capitalize on Sin City’s mobster past have had mixed success. The Vegas Mob Tour, a 2½-hour jaunt that includes a stop at Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's Flamingo hotel, has managed to rumble along for several years.

“I try to do it tactfully and with taste, as much as you can with a mob tour,” founder Robert Allen told The Times in 2008. “You can say someone cut off someone's head with a machete, but we prefer to say ‘decapitated.’ ”

The Mob Experience at the Tropicana casino had a tougher time, despite its Strip location and an extensive collection of gangster artifacts. For example, it displayed one of Meyer Lansky's love letters to his wife: "Keep your legs crossed and go to sleep."

The attraction closed last year amid a bevy of problems, including the bankruptcy of its owner, Murder Inc LLC. It's slated to reopen under a different name.

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-- Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
Twitter.com/ashleypowers

Photo: A tommy gun exhibit at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Credit: Isaac Brekken / Associated Press

Victim of O.J. Simpson Vegas robbery accused of shoplifting

One of the sports memorabilia dealers whom O.J. Simpson was convicted of robbing in a down-market Las Vegas hotel is now fighting his own court battle.

Bruce Fromong, who testified against Simpson in the 2008 armed robbery trial, is accused of shoplifting from the Nellis Air Force Base Exchange near Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.  He is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Authorities say that in October, Fromong swiped a Madden football PlayStation game from its package and a Case Logic briefcase; and that in November he removed another Madden disc from its package, taped up the box and put it back on the shelf.

In 2007, Fromong and Alfred Beardsley had gone to the Palace Station hotel expecting to sell Simpson collectibles to a wealthy buyer. The meeting was a ruse. Simpson and a ragtag band of men –- two of them armed -– stormed into Room 1203 and scooped up dozens of items. Simpson claimed he was merely trying to get back memorabilia stolen from him. 

Fromong made for a particularly interesting witness. He and Simpson had been such close friends, he said, that the football star used to sing "Happy Birthday" to Fromong's mother over the phone. But defense attorneys attacked him as a leech hoping to cash in on Simpson’s infamy. A recording captured Fromong telling someone minutes after the robbery: “I'll have 'Inside Edition' down here for us tomorrow. I told them I want big money.”

Jurors quickly convicted Simpson, who had been acquitted years before in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. A Las Vegas judge sentenced the former football star to between nine and 33 years in prison.

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-- Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
Twitter.com/ashleypowers

Photo: Then-Clark County Dist. Atty. David Roger, left, questions Bruce Fromong during O.J. Simpson's robbery trial in 2008. Credit: Daniel Gluskoter / EPA

Vegas political couple breaks up; tawdry accusations fly

Nevada has survived its share of tawdry political scandals. Gov. Jim Gibbons endured accusations of infidelity and a messy divorce. Sen. John Ensign resigned after trying to cover up an extramarital affair with an aide.

But the latest scandal could top both in terms of ickiness, and tarnish the careers of two of the state's rising political stars.

Steve Sisolak, 58, is a Las Vegas-area county commissioner. He was dating Kathleen Vermillion, 44, a former suburban city councilwoman.

When they broke up, war broke out -- and in an astonishingly public way.

Last week, Vermillion sued Sisolak. One of her accusations was that he’d tried to carry on an “improper and secretive” relationship with her 15-year-old daughter, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

This week, Sisolak filed a criminal complaint against Vermillion. He claimed that, over the weekend, she’d tried to shake him down for $3.9 million. 

Vermillion’s camp called a news conference and played a heavily edited video of her teenage daughter, the Review-Journal reported. The girl said Sisolak was a “scumbag” who’d asked her to model bathing suits for him.

Sisolak denied the allegations and tried to exonerate himself by distributing text messages from Vermillion. “You are in over your head. I can, and will destroy you,” they said, according to a transcript he provided to reporters.

On Wednesday, Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston reported that the alleged extortion meeting was taped. “I hear it is awful,” he tweeted.

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-- Ashley Powers in Las Vegas

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Mitt, Newt, meet Marvin the puppet, a rival and poseur

 

Attention, GOP voters: Are you sick of Mitt and Newt? Meet Marvin E. Quasniki. He’s a puppet. Not a puppet of interest groups -- a real puppet.

Quasniki, the creation of the Jim Henson Co., which gave us the Muppets, has starred in a series of YouTube videos. Though he's not on the ballot in any state, he's won tens of thousands of clicks -- and an interview with a real newspaper reporter.

In his presidential campaign announcement, the bespectacled, bolo-tied, bulbous-nosed puppet says he’s a “turquoise farmer” from Tonopah, Nev.,  a blip of a town between Reno and Vegas where local inmates shovel driveways and dig graves. No, really.

“It just seems amazing to me that the state that produced legalized prostitution can’t produce a president,” Quasniki said in a recent interview with Karoun Demirjian, the Las Vegas Sun’s Washington correspondent, who tried mightily to keep a straight face.

To his credit, Quasniki has a more discernible political philosophy than many a lawmaker: He's arguably as libertarian as Ron Paul, who has a fervent following in Nevada. The puppet’s solution to healthcare issues? “Don’t get sick.”

Like Mitt Romney, who touts his abilities as a job creator, Quasniki’s solution to Nevada’s moribund economy is for government to get out of the way. But in his view, that means state leaders should drop their long-standing opposition to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.

“Nevada should become the state of, ‘Yeah, we’ll do that!’ ” the puppet told Demirjian. “Give us your nuclear crap … and maybe we’ll get the aliens from Area 51 to sort of supervise the whole thing.”

Quasniki appears less comfortable talking about religion than Rick Santorum, who appeals to social conservatives. The puppet scoffed at the idea that God had ever nudged a politician to run for office, as Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle once claimed. If God did approach him, Quasniki said in a video, “I’d say, ‘You get back to work, God! Be thankful you have a job!’ ”

But the GOP candidate Quasniki might most resemble in temperament is Newt Gingrich, who has shown a certain deftness in handling hot-potato questions. (Ahem, open marriage.) In a video where Quasniki glad-handed voters in Los Angeles, a woman asked him about healthcare.

“You know, that’s a very complicated issue,” the puppet replied. “I think the best way for me to answer that is to pretend I didn’t hear the question.”

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-- Ashley Powers in Las Vegas

Twitter.com/ashleypowers

Video: Puppet Marvin E. Quasniki hobnobs with voters. Credit: YouTube

Vegas priest who stole church money to gamble sentenced to prison

For years, Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe lived something of a double life.

He was widely admired by his flock at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, which he helped build into one of the largest Roman Catholic parishes in the Las Vegas area. But at the same time, he was stealing money from the church.

He stole from the gift shop. He stole from the votive candle collection. He stole from a fund for novenas, or Masses in honor of the dead. Over nearly a decade, he pocketed about $650,000.

His motive was all too familiar in slot-machine-heavy Nevada. McAuliffe was a gambling addict.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan sentenced the priest, who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the thefts, to more than three years in prison and ordered him to pay restitution. In doing so, the judge waved off the defense's request to give McAuliffe probation.

McAuliffe’s attorney, Margaret Stanish, asked the court to consider his lifelong devotion to the Catholic Church, which started with helping nuns when he was a schoolboy. McAuliffe has also been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and depression, she said, but in recent months had “excelled” in gambling addiction treatment.

“Some supporters see the potential for something good to come from the realization that their trusted spiritual leader also suffers from human frailty, a frailty that merits forgiveness in accordance with their religious beliefs,” she wrote.

Indeed, dozens of parishioners asked the court to show mercy. Before McAuliffe’s gambling addiction was made public, some parishioners told reporters he must have had a Robin Hood-type reason to steal. McAuliffe, 59, appeared to them a picture of humility, with his scuffed boots and banged-up Cadillac.

At St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, he oversaw the construction of a K-8 school and a community center, and he promoted collections of socks and underwear for the homeless, court papers said. He has since resigned as the church’s pastor, and the local bishop restricted his authority to perform various priestly duties.

“I speak for myself and many from our very large congregation, that we are sorry for what Fr. Kevin has done," parishioner Karen Kinney said in a letter to the court, "but all the good that he has done for all of us over these many years has outweighed the sin of taking the money from our Church."

But the judge was more heavily swayed by prosecutors, who focused on the length and depth of McAuliffe's deception. He falsified parish financial reports and shuffled money among accounts to cover his theft, court papers said.

McAuliffe never sought treatment for his betting problem, prosecutors said, though he could have through the church or private counselors. He also left his own savings untouched as he burned through the church's money.

“The defendant worked diligently within the church, was bestowed with a position of high honor, responsibility, and trust, and abused those bestowals,” wrote Christina Brown, an assistant U.S. attorney.

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--Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
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Photo: Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe has pleaded guilty to federal charges involving the theft of more than $650,000. Credit: Las Vegas Review-Journal

TSA fighting back in case of the confiscated cupcake

Were you among those rolling your eyes at the latest Transportation Security Administration flap, in which an agent confiscated a cupcake from a passenger in Las Vegas because the frosting was deemed a security threat? Well, the TSA would like you to hear the other side of the story.

But first, some background. The report, on its face, seemed outrageous: The TSA confiscated the cupcake last month at McCarran International Airport because there are strict limits on how much of a "gel-like" substance passengers can take aboard. In this case, the rich creamy frosting was deemed a gel-like substance, and there was too much of it.

The media made much of the killer-cupcakes story during the holiday travel season. "Cupcake Deemed 'Security Threat'" said one headline. The traveler with the offending cupcake, Rebecca Hains of Peabody, Mass., changed her Twitter bio to include "Cupcake Terror Expert!" and created a Facebook page called Rebecca and the Threatening Cupcake. It has 265 "likes" so far.

And Wicked Good Cupcakes, which made the questionable confection, got in on the fun. "Apparently we're a tasty terrorist threat," Brian Vilagie told the Boston Channel.

Now, the TSA is using its blog to weigh in on what it calls "Cupcakegate."

"I wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake," TSA blogger Bob Burns wrote Tuesday. His post included the photos above to illustrate that this was not a traditional cupcake, but a cupcake-in-a-jar.

"If you’re not familiar with it, we have a policy directly related to the UK liquid bomb plot of 2006 called 3-1-1 that limits the amount of liquids, gels and aerosols you can bring in your carry-on luggage. Icing falls under the 'gel' category. As you can see from the picture, unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar."

Let's forget, for just a moment, that there's no such thing as too much frosting on a cupcake. Burns defended the TSA officer's right to confiscate the confection. He added that such a cute container is precisely why authorities should screen it more carefully.

Exhibiting a sense of humor, he wrote that "intelligence gathered from all over the world tells us ... that unless Wile E. Coyote is involved, the days of the three sticks of dynamite with a giant alarm clock strapped to them are long gone....When you think about it, do you think an explosive would be concealed in an ominous item that would draw attention, or something as simple as a cute cupcake jar?"

The TSA blogger points to two attempted attacks involving liquid or gel-like substances -- a 1995 plot to explode a dozen passenger planes bound for the U.S., and that foiled 2006 plot, which tried to use liquid explosives to blow up at least 10 jetliners.  

Hains told The Times on Tuesday she was surprised that the TSA bothered to respond to Cupcakegate. But she believes the comments only reinforce her belief that the TSA goes overboard too often -- as in this case.

"I think there just needs to be some common sense here," she said.  

She also wondered about the uniformity of TSA's screening practices, noting that she started her Boston-to-Vegas holiday travel with two cupcakes in a jar, and both made it through Boston's security screening. She and her husband ate one on the flight west. And they planned to eat the other on the flight back. (You have to pause and appreciate such sweet, tasty scheduling.)

When the cupcake-in-a-jar was flagged in Vegas, she offered to scoop the contents into a plastic baggie. Nope. Turns out the TSA was OK with her bringing a glass jar aboard -- just not all that potentially dangerous frosting.

Hains, an assistant professor of communications at Salem State University in Massachusetts and author of a new book called "Growing Up With Girl Power," was probably the wrong person to mess with. After the cupcake-in-a-jar was confiscated, she proceeded to her destination -- but not before writing this little missive and sending it to Boing Boing. Needless to say, it went viral.

A funny aside: When Wicked Good Cupcakes learned of the flap, they gave Hains a dozen cupcakes to make up for her trouble.

What do you think about this showdown? Do you think TSA went too far? Or do you think Hains made too big of a deal out of this sweet controversy? 

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--Rene Lynch
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Photo comparison: Regular cupcake versus cupcake-in-a-jar. Photo credit: TSA

Stories that grabbed us in 2011: Rogues, thieves, porn and more

A philandering governor. An inmate, an ex-girlfriend and an accusation of rape. A sprawling hodgepodge of buildings that has neighbors up in arms. And an earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands.

Stories on these topics were the most-read of the year at latimes.com.

But before we get to the headlines that made us cheer, jeer and tear up, take a moment to slap yourself on the back, dear readers. It seems that media pundits are constantly wringing their hands and lamenting the state of long-form journalism, or complaining about the public's seemingly insatiable desire for all things Kardashian. You've proved them wrong.

The stories that were most widely read were largely hard-hitting investigative pieces or breaking news. There wasn't a Kim, Khloe or Kourtney in the bunch.

PHOTOS: The most-viewed stories of 2011

In fact, the single most popular story on latimes.com in 2011 was the disturbing two-part tale of Louis Gonzalez III, a Las Vegas father who found himself facing life behind bars for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child by tying her up in her Simi Valley home, burning her with matches and sexually assaulting her with a wooden hanger.

"One of the most brutal attacks I have ever seen," is the way one Simi Valley law enforcement officer described the crime scene. A dogged Simi Valley detective set out to collect the evidence to support the woman's claim -- that her ex-boyfriend attacked her -- but the evidence would end up pointing to a more surprising conclusion.

Then there was the revelation that former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, had separated because she discovered that he had fathered a child with a longtime member of their household.

Readers were also drawn to our extensive coverage of Japan's worst earthquake in recorded history. The temblor occurred March 11, rocking the northeast coast of Japan and triggering a deadly tsunami, the effects of which were felt as far as the Pacific Northwest. In all, more than 15,000 people perished.

Other stories that struck a chord with readers included the tale of Alan Kimble Fahey's homemade, ramshackle labyrinth of buildings that he calls Phonehenge West. Located in Acton, the structure is Fahey's 30-year labor of love. But authorities say it violates practically every building and fire code in the book. And officials are trying to force him to tear it down.

An estimated 15 million poker-playing Americans were affected by this next story: The founders of the three largest online poker sites were indicted on charges including bank fraud and money laundering. Many poker players fretted about the fate of their bettings, and the fate of on-line poker playing. But one of the sites, Full Tilt Poker, defended its business practices and the rights of Americans everywhere to gamble away their hard-earned money. 

Rounding out the rest of our list: the colossal failure of Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, an experimental aircraft capable of traveling at 20 times the speed of sound; a U.S. Supreme Court ruling ordering California to improve inhumane conditions for state prison inmates; an in-depth look at Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel; and the Los Angeles-based porn industry's shutdown after an adult film performer tested positive for HIV.

But we all know that readers cannot live on news alone. Here's a look at our most-viewed photo galleries of the year.

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--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch

Photo: In happier days, newly-elected California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife Maria Shriver celebrate at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City. Credit: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times

In Las Vegas, MGM Grand casino to retire its lions

The MGM Grand lions were once as prized on the Las Vegas Strip as a visit from Paris Hilton -– sightings of either one provided tourists with an only-in-Vegas moment. The few dozen lions were probably as pampered as the wealthy socialite, and they arguably worked more frequently.

The lions lived on an 8.5-acre ranch named The Cat House -- not to be confused with Cathouse, a nightclub at the Luxor hotel  -- where they snacked on horse leg bones and steaks and were trained as cubs to tolerate their own version of paparazzi. Some were said to be descendants of Leo, the original Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion.

At least once a week since 1999, the lions were loaded into transport cages and driven to the Strip, where their golden manes were shampooed and blow-dried before their star turn. They spent hours in a $9-million, 5,000-square-foot glass habitat, so enamored with the attention that it was sometimes hard to get them to leave.

The animals even had a trust fund of sorts, a 2008 Times story said. MGM Grand managed a 401(k) for them, which would pay for food and trainers if their owner, Keith Evans, no longer could. A few years ago, the account held $1.6 million.

But time passes and tastes change. Like Hilton, the lions have fallen out of favor in Las Vegas (though it had nothing to do with cocaine possession and anemic TV ratings).

The lion habitat will permanently close Jan. 31, the Las Vegas Sun reported Wednesday. A spokeswoman for MGM Resorts International, which owns the hotel, said the closure is part of “significant changes” planned for the massive property, which has a giant lion statue on Las Vegas Boulevard.

MGM Resorts, along with other major casino companies, remains financially bruised from the recession, though in recent months tourism here has somewhat steadied. “The lion is the hotel’s logo,” owner Evans told the Sun, “but times change I guess, and we’re a free show.”

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--Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
Twitter.com/ashleypowers

Photo: Tourists catch a big cat resting in the soundproof lion habitat at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. Credit: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times

Reno takes on SNL’s Seth Meyers -- but Fozzie Bear gets a pass

This post has been corrected. Please see note at bottom for details.

Perhaps the Biggest Little City in the World is still smarting from "Reno 911," a “Cops” parody that showed the city’s officers policing chickens and trailer park denizens -- sometimes in washcloth-sized shorts.

That would explain the local reaction to a recent round of Reno-bashing that started with, of all things, the new Muppet movie.

In “The Muppets,” Jason Segel and Amy Adams rescue Fozzie Bear from a Reno casino, where he’s performing with a Muppets tribute act, the Moopets. As the Las Vegas Sun described it: In a riff off the song “The Rainbow Connection,” the Moopets tout the fictional Chulo casino’s free parking and 24-hour wedding chapel (“No marriage certificate is needed!”). Later, the gang retreats to Fozzie’s dressing room -– an alleyway where they hear the pop-pop of gunfire.

Boosters of downtown Reno, where the majority of casinos tower over the Truckee River, seemed to take the big-screen portrayal in stride. Some businesses even launched a tongue-in-cheek website called “Reno Loves Fozzie.”

Then Seth Meyers of  “Saturday Night Live” joined the pile-on.

“According to a new list, the least happiest city in America is St. Petersburg, Fla.,” Meyers said on a recent “Weekend Update” segment. “But that’s only because Reno, Nev., finally killed itself.”

Oh, and he mispronounced Nevada.

Reno was not amused.

The city has suffered tremendous misfortune this year, including a major wildfire and a plane crash at one of its top tourism events, the National Championship Air Races, which killed 11 people. Even before that, residents were sick of Reno’s hick-town image, especially because they live so close to spectacular Lake Tahoe.

So the Reno Gazette-Journal asked readers to submit their responses to Seth Meyers, which the paper published last weekend.  One reader invoked Dan Aykroyd (“Seth, you ignorant slut”); another said the zingers had actually been helpful (“Keep telling them it’s awful -- it keeps the Californians at bay”).

The paper didn’t ask for a response from Las Vegas -- the cities have a mutual antipathy akin to that of San Francisco and Los Angeles. But the Sun provided one anyway, listing Reno’s five food groups as venison, fish, berries, beer and Marlboro Reds.

There was some irony in this. On the saddest-cities list that Meyers citied, Reno was No. 9. What was No. 10? Las Vegas.

[For the record, 3:13 p.m., Dec. 21: An earlier version of this post misspelled Jason Segel's last name.]

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-- Ashley Powers in Las Vegas
Twitter.com/ashleypowers

Photo: Fozzie Bear and Walter arrive at the premiere of "The Muppets" at El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles. Credit: Katy Winn/Associated Press