1.
Ogden, Utah
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Ogden /ˈɒɡdɛn/ is a city and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately 10 miles east of the Great Salt Lake and 40 miles north of Salt Lake City. The population was 84,316 in 2014, according to the US Census Bureau, the city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a convenient location for manufacturing and commerce. Ogden is also known for its historic buildings, proximity to the Wasatch Mountains. Ogden is a city of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Weber, Morgan, Davis. The 2010 Census placed the Metro population at 597,159, in 2010, Forbes rated the Ogden-Clearfield MSA as the 6th best place to raise a family. Ogden has had a Sister City relationship to Hof since 1954, originally named Fort Buenaventura, the city of Ogden was the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in the region that is now Utah. It was established by the trapper Miles Goodyear in 1846 about a mile west of where downtown Ogden is currently located, in November 1847, Fort Buenaventura was purchased by the Mormon settlers for $1,950. There is some confusion in which Ogden was the first to set foot in the Utah city, peters older brother Samuel Ogden traveled though the western United States on an exploration trip in 1818. The site of the original Fort Buenaventura is now a Weber County park, Ogden is the closest sizable city to the Golden Spike location at Promontory Summit, Utah, where the First Transcontinental Railroad was joined in 1869. Railroad passengers traveling west to San Francisco from the eastern United States typically passed through Ogden, in 1972, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints completed construction of and dedicated the Ogden Utah Temple in Ogden. The temple was built to serve the large LDS population in the area, in 2010, the LDS Church announced a major renovation of the Ogden Temple and the adjacent Tabernacle. The Temple was rededicated in 2014, because Ogden has historically been the second largest city in Utah, it is home to a large number of historic buildings. However, by the 1980s, several Salt Lake City suburbs, the Defense Depot Ogden Utah operated in Ogden from 1941 to 1997. Some of its 1,128 acres has since converted into a commercial and industrial park called the Business Depot Ogden. Ogden is located at 41°13′11″N 111°58′16″W, at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.6 square miles, all land. Elevations in the city range from about 4,300 to 5,200 feet above sea level, the Ogden and Weber Rivers, which originate in the mountains to the east, flow through the city and meet at a confluence just west of the city limits. Pineview Dam is located in the Ogden River Canyon 7 miles east of Ogden, the reservoir behind the dam provides over 110,000 acre feet of water storage and water recreation for the area. Prominent mountain peaks near Ogden include Mount Ogden to the east, Ogden experiences a dry summer continental climate
2.
Las Vegas Valley
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The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area located in the southern part of the U. S. state of Nevada. The largest urban agglomeration in the state, it is the heart of the Las Vegas–Paradise-Henderson, the Valley is largely defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a 600 sq mi basin area surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east and west of the metropolitan area. The Valley is home to the three largest incorporated cities in Nevada, Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, six unincorporated towns governed by the Clark County government are part of the Las Vegas Township and constitute the largest community in the state of Nevada. Since the 1990s the Las Vegas Valley has seen exponential growth, in 2014, a record breaking 41 million visited the Las Vegas area, producing a gross metropolitan product of more than $100 billion. The first reported non-Native American visitor to the Las Vegas Valley was the Mexican scout Rafael Rivera in 1829. Las Vegas was named by Mexicans in the Antonio Armijo party, including Rivera, in the 19th century, areas of the valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas, or meadows, hence the name Las Vegas. The area was settled by Mormon farmers in 1854 and later became the site of a United States Army fort in 1864. Since the 1930s, Las Vegas has generally been identified as a center as well as a resort destination. Nellis Air Force Base is located in the northeast corner of the valley, the ranges that the Nellis pilots use and various other land areas used by various federal agencies, limit growth of the valley in terms of geographic area. Businessman Howard Hughes arrived in the late 1960s and purchased many casino hotels, as well as television, legitimate corporations began to purchase casino hotels as well, and the mob was run out by the federal government over the next several years. The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was augmented by a new source of money from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom which is now leveling off. The Las Vegas area remains one of the top entertainment destinations. The valley is contained in the Las Vegas Valley landform and this includes the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson, and the unincorporated towns of Paradise, Spring Valley, Sunrise Manor, Enterprise, Winchester, and Whitney. The valley is located within the larger metropolitan area, as the metropolitan area covers all of Clark County -including parts that do not fall within the valley. The government of Clark County has an Urban Planning Area of Las Vegas and this definition is a roughly rectangular area, about 20 mi from east to west and 30 miles from north to south. Notable exclusions from the Urban Planning Area include Red Rock, Blue Diamond, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is the largest police department in the valley and the state and exercises jurisdiction in the entire county. The department does not exercise jurisdiction in areas with separate police forces such as North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Nellis Air Force Base
3.
Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
4.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations, according to the church, it has over 70,000 missionaries and a membership of over 15 million. It is ranked by the National Council of Churches as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States and it is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening. Adherents, often referred to as Latter-day Saints, or, less formally, Mormons, view faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement as fundamental principles of their religion. The church has a canon which includes four scriptural texts, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants. The current president is Thomas S. Monson, individual members of the church believe that they can also receive personal revelation from God in conducting their lives. The president heads a hierarchical structure with various levels reaching down to local congregations, Bishops, drawn from the laity, lead local congregations. Male members, after reaching age 12, may be ordained to the priesthood, Women do not hold positions within the priesthood, but do occupy leadership roles in some church auxiliary organizations. Both men and women may serve as missionaries, and the church maintains a large missionary program which proselytizes, faithful members adhere to church laws of sexual purity, health, fasting, and Sabbath observance, and contribute ten percent of their income to the church in tithing. The LDS Church was formally organized by Joseph Smith on April 6,1830, Smith intended to establish the New Jerusalem in North America, called Zion. In 1831, the moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri. However, in 1833, Missouri settlers brutally expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County, the Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections. Smith regrouped with the church in Far West, Missouri. Believing the Saints to be in insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that the Saints be exterminated or driven from the State, in 1839, the Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the churchs new headquarters. Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who then flooded into Nauvoo, meanwhile, Smith introduced polygamy to his closest associates. He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow people to become gods in the afterlife. He also introduced the church to an accounting of his First Vision. This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in history since the resurrection of Jesus
5.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
6.
Salt Lake City
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Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and the most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Utah. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014, the city lies at the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo Combined Statistical Area. This region is a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along an approximately 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front and it is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin. The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and numerous other Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City—the word great was dropped from the name in 1868 by the 17th Utah Territorial Legislature. Today, however, less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church. It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the banking center of the United States. Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. The land was treated by the United States as public domain, the first U. S. explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845, the Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846. The first permanent settlements in the date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints on July 24,1847. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley, president of the church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, This is the right place, Brigham Young claimed to have seen the area in a vision prior to the wagon trains arrival. They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement, four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple, which would eventually become a famous Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark. The Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block that would later be called Temple Square, construction started in 1853, and the temple was dedicated on 6 April 1893. The temple has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece, in fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake Meridian, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon pioneers organized a new state called Deseret and petitioned for its recognition in 1849, the United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size, and designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the capital in 1858
7.
SLS Las Vegas
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The SLS Hotel & Casino Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned by Stockbridge Real Estate, the hotel was formerly known as the Sahara Hotel and Casino. It was in operation under that name for 59 years from 1952 to 2011, the hotel had 1,720 guestrooms and suites with a casino covering more than 85,000 square feet, and sits on 55 acres including the All Net Resort and Arena. The hotel is the site of the SLS station, the northernmost stop for the Las Vegas Monorail, the SLS anchored the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip. The renovated property reopened on August 23,2014, after a $415 million renovation as part of SBEs chain of SLS hotels, the first casino built on the site was the Club Bingo, which opened in 1947. Owner Milton Prell replaced the casino with a new hotel in 1952 called the Sahara Hotel. It was located just outside the City of Las Vegas, and was the resort to open on the Strip. The resort was built by Del Webb, the Sahara was one of the last remaining vintage Rat Pack casino-hotels, leaving only the Flamingo, Caesars Palace and The Tropicana. The porte-cochere entrance, topped by a minaret, was designed to set the resorts warm Moroccan flavor. In late 1954, the hotel hired jazz musician Louis Prima to be their late night lounge act, along with his then-wife Keely Smith and sax player Sam Butera, they created one of the hottest late-night attractions on the Strip. In 1956, Abbott and Costello appeared together for the last time on the Sahara stage before their permanent breakup, the hotel constructed the first high-rise tower on the Strip in 1959, designed by Martin Stern. In 1961, the hotel was purchased by Del Webb, in 1962, a Don the Beachcomber restaurant opened in the hotel, becoming a top attraction to not only hotel guests but a variety of celebrities as well. A 24-story tower was added in 1963, which made the hotel the tallest building in Las Vegas, the resort was the site of the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for many years, mostly in the 1970s, and for a brief time in the 1990s. Performers at the resort over the years have included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, in 1964, The Beatles stayed at the Sahara and played two shows at the nearby Las Vegas Convention Center. Del Webb ran into problems in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He sold the Sahara to Paul Lowden for $50 million in 1982, ownership changed in 1995, when Archon Corporation sold the property to Bill Bennett. Bill Bennett owned the hotel until his death on December 22,2002, the 27-story tower addition was added in 1987, and a new porte-cochere was added by the relocated pool in 1997. In 1999, further added a roller coaster and a restaurant
8.
Howard Hughes
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Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was an American businessman, investor, pilot, film director, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most financially successful individuals in the world. He first made a name for himself as a film producer, later in life, he became known for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle, oddities that were caused in part by a worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder and chronic pain from a plane crash. As a maverick film tycoon, Hughes gained prominence in Hollywood beginning in the late 1920s, when he made big-budget and often controversial films like The Racket, Hells Angels, later he controlled the RKO film studio. Hughes formed the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932, hiring numerous engineers and designers and he spent the rest of the 1930s setting multiple world air speed records and building the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 Hercules. He acquired and expanded Trans World Airlines and later acquired Air West, Hughes was included in Flying Magazines list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation, ranked at No.25. Today, his legacy is maintained through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the birthplace of Howard Hughes is recorded as either Humble or Houston, Texas. The date remains uncertain due to conflicting dates from various sources and he repeatedly claimed that his birthday was on Christmas Eve. A1941 affidavit birth certificate of Hughes that was signed by his aunt Annette Gano Lummis and Estelle Boughton Sharp states that he was born on December 24,1905, in Harris County, Texas. Hughes was the son of Allene Stone Gano and Howard R. Hughes Sr. a successful inventor and he was of English, and some French Huguenot, ancestry, and was a descendant of John Gano, a minister who allegedly baptized George Washington. His father had patented the two-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for petroleum in previously inaccessible places, the senior Hughes made the shrewd and lucrative decision to commercialize the invention by leasing the bits instead of selling them, and founded the Hughes Tool Company in 1909. Hughes uncle was the famed novelist, screenwriter, and film director Rupert Hughes, at a young age, Hughes demonstrated interest in science and technology. In particular, he had great engineering aptitude and built Houstons first wireless radio transmitter at age 11 and he went on to be one of the first licensed ham radio operators in Houston, having the assigned callsign W5CY. At 12, Hughes was photographed in the newspaper, identified as being the first boy in Houston to have a motorized bicycle. He was an indifferent student, with a liking for mathematics, flying and he took his first flying lesson at 14, and later attended math and aeronautical engineering courses at Caltech. The red brick house where Hughes lived as a teenager at 3921 Yoakum St. Houston today serves as the headquarters of the Theology Department of the University of St. Thomas and his mother Allene died in March 1922 from complications of an ectopic pregnancy. Howard Hughes Sr. died of an attack in 1924. Their deaths apparently inspired Hughes to include the creation of a research laboratory in the will that he signed in 1925 at age 19. Howard Sr. s will had not been updated since Allenes death, on his 19th birthday, Hughes was declared an emancipated minor, enabling him to take full control of his life
9.
Steve Wynn
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Stephen Alan Steve Wynn is an American real estate businessman and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino, in 2000, Wynn sold his company Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand Inc. resulting in the formation of MGM Mirage. Wynn afterwards took his company Wynn Resorts public in a public offering. Current projects include Wynn Palace in Macau and Wynn Everett near Boston, in 2006 Wynn was inducted into the American Gaming Association Hall of Fame. As of September 2015, Wynns net worth was estimated by Forbes at $2.4 billion, Steve Wynn is an avid collector of fine art, often exhibiting pieces by artists such as Picasso and Claude Monet in Wynn Resorts hotels. Steve Wynn was born Stephen Alan Weinberg in New Haven, Connecticut on January 27,1942, Wynn was raised in Utica, New York, and graduated from The Manlius School, a private boys school east of Syracuse, New York, in 1959. Steve Wynn received his Bachelor of Arts in English literature at the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, shortly before graduating his father died of heart problems, leaving $350,000 in gambling debts. Wynn relinquished a position at Yale Law School to take charge of his familys business in Waysons Corner, Maryland, within a year he had expanded the company. Wynn and his family moved in 1967 to Las Vegas where his success with his familys business allowed him to purchase a small stake in the Frontier Hotel. That year he met E. Parry Thomas, dubbed by Vanity Fair as the most influential banker in Las Vegas. Thomas was the president of the Bank of Las Vegas, which was the bank at the time that would extend loans to Las Vegas casinos. Starting in 1968 Wynn also spent four years operating a wine and his company stake increased so that, in 1973, he became the majority shareholder, and the youngest casino owner in Las Vegas. In 1977 he opened the Golden Nuggets first hotel tower, followed by several others, frank Sinatra was a periodic headliner at the Golden Nugget, and Wynn has since maintained a relationship with the Sinatra family, even naming a restaurant at Encore “Sinatra”. In 1980, Wynn began construction on the Golden Nugget Atlantic City in Atlantic City and it was Atlantic Citys first casino built from scratch, first and only locals casino, and the citys sixth casino after the city legalized gambling in 1976. Joel Bergman, who designed Wynns other resorts, designed the Golden Nugget, though at its opening it was the second smallest casino in the city, by 1983 it was the citys top earning casino. The Atlantic City Golden Nugget was sold by Wynn in 1987 for $440 million, in 1989, the company acquired the Nevada Club casino in Laughlin, Nevada, and re-branded it as the Golden Nugget Laughlin. Wynns first major casino on the Las Vegas Strip was The Mirage and it was the first time Wynn was involved with the design and construction of a casino, and he financed the $630 million project largely with high-yield bonds issued by Michael Milken. The resorts high cost and emphasis on luxury meant that it was considered high risk at the time, the hotel, with its erupting volcano and South Seas theme, ignited a $12 billion building boom on the Strip
