CNN news 2011-10-21 加文本

cnn news 2011-10-21

AZUZ: Las Vegas is also where cnn hosted the Western Republican Debate last night.

AZUZ (voice-over): You are watching a time-lapse video of us setting up for it. The stakes are getting higher for the candidates, who hope to run against President Obama next year. This was their eighth debate overall, and ratings for earlier matchups showed roughly twice as many Americans are watching this time around than the early primary debates of four years ago.

AZUZ: Location in Las Vegas is also significant here. The economy has been the biggest issue in these debates so far. And as T.J. Holmes shows us, it`s one of Las Vegas` biggest problems.

T.J. HOLMES, cnn REPORTER (voice-over): Welcome to Las Vegas, underneath the glittering lights and entertainment, a city that`s struggling in the down economy. Just ask the cab drivers.

HOLMES: You think that people don`t get it, how bad you`re hurting?

LANCE OLIVIA, TAXI DRIVER: They don`t. You know, the Strip will be busy to them. We know it`s not.

ANDY ABBOUD, V.P., LAS VEGAS SANDS CORPORATION: People are coming to Vegas, but they`re hesitant to spend money.

HOLMES (voice-over): Andy Abboud helps to run the Venetian. He said business is starting to pick up, but it`s not enough by itself.

ABBOUD: So while other people in other parts of the country are rolling in, locals still don`t have the confidence they can go out and start buying homes again and making money.

HOLMES (voice-over): Construction, the engine of the Vegas boom, has come to a standstill. The unemployment rate is at 14.2 percent. The foreclosure rate is higher here than anywhere else in the country. One of the few places that`s bustling: Vetserve (ph), which provides meals for veterans who can`t afford them.

SHALIMAR CABRERA, VETSERVE (PH): The economy is closing down businesses, and they`re losing jobs. So the number one reason veterans are coming to us right now is unemployment.

HOLMES (voice-over): One idea to help Vegas rebound: trying to put the focus back on the people who live here.

ZACH WARE, ZAPPOS.COM: So this is Fremont Street, which is the original Strip.

HOLMES (voice-over): So Zach Ware works for the Internet`s premier shoe shopping site, zappos.com. The company is in the process of relocating more than 1,200 employees to downtown -- old Vegas -- the heart of an economically depressed area.

WARE: For us, the community and the locals are first. And if we happen to create something that`s really, really cool as a community, and they want to come visit, that is awesome. We`d love that.

I think that the most important thing we can do as a community is really focus on creating the elements in downtown Las Vegas that serve the community, and not sort of fall into the trap that (inaudible) the Strip has fallen into for all the right reasons, which is we need to serve the tourist community. We need to make sure it works for them first and then the locals second.

AZUZ: Call it the perfect dust storm.

AZUZ (voice-over): These weren`t rain clouds rolling into Lubbock, Texas, though heaven knows rain is needed there. The Texas drought is part of the reason why this 8,000-foot dust cloud descended on Monday.

Extra dry soil plus a cold front joined forces here. The cloud blew in on winds as fast as 75 miles per hour, taking down trees and causing some minor damage. It also coated everything around in dirt and dust. Texas` summer wildfires factored into this, too. Plants that normally would have held soil in place had burned up.