Meteorologist Scofield leaves Channel 13
THOSE checking in about this issue via email and text can know this: Longtime KTNV, Channel 13, meteorologist Bryan Scofield is indeed off the air.
The popular broadcaster and ABC affiliate split ways formally Oct. 17. Scofield is a 20-year news personality and is the latest veteran broadcaster to leave KTNV this year. Long-running anchor Steve Wolford departed the station in April.
Also, several department heads have left KTNV this year, and meteorologist
Karla Huelga Knepper left the station in June after her contract was not renewed.
As a matter of disclosure, I appear Wednesdays on KTNV’S “Midday” program.
KTNV General Manager Chris Way confirmed the shuffle in his station’s weather lineup and that a replacement for Scofield is being sought. Industry ads list a meteorologist position open at the station. Otherwise, Way said he could not comment on personnel matters.
‘Le Reve’ charity
For the first time in its 13-year run, “Le Reve,” the aquatic spectacular at Wynn Las Vegas, is donating a single performance to a charity. The show is teaming up with the Southern Nevada chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The hotel-casino will give all proceeds from its 7 p.m. Sunday performance to the organization, which has 1,500 tickets in its clutches. To purchase, go to crowdrise.com.
The campaign hits home for an individual vital to the hotel’s entertainment department yet typically out of the public eye. Wynn General Manager of Entertainment Operations Rick Gray has arranged for the event, and his inspiration is entirely personal. Gray’s daughter, Alexandra — known as “Zan,” a character in Lillian Hellman’s stage play “Little Foxes” — died of Hodgkin lymphoma on Nov. 2, 2016.
Other members of the
“Le Reve” production team have suffered personal loss because of this particular disease. The idea arrived from “Le Reve” stage manager Samantha Caughron, whose partner is in remission from the disease.
Gray says he “took the idea upstairs” to stage the single-night benefit show of the hotel’s signature production. Wynn Las Vegas President- Maurice Wooden and Chief Executive Officer Matt Maddox cleared the project.
“It’s a big ask of the company,” Gray says. “It’s a big idea, but it’s a big need.”
Zan was interested in live entertainment, working at “Le Reve” as a costumer and pursuing her dream to be in theater. Since her death, Gray and his wife, Tracy, have channeled their philanthropy to lymphoma fundraising causes. Wynn has myriad charitable outlets, of course, “dozens of charities we support.”
“We have made such a big push this year, especially, in giving back to the community,” says Gray, who has navigated the many executive changes at Wynn Las Vegas over the past several months.
Nationally, the Lymphoma Society has invested more than $1.2 billion in research and treatment over the years. Whether the show that opened with Wynn Las Vegas will continue to support the cause depends largely on support Sunday night.
“We are hopeful, but we haven’t really had a chance to discuss it,” Gray says. “We’ll look at it after the fact. We have had some discussions that if it does take off, it can be an annual kind of thing. The Wynn Employee Foundation has so many charities we support, we’re not just wedded to the Lymphoma Society. We can look to other needs, too.”
Cool hang alert
We must give props, formally, to column fave Lannie Counts for a doubleheader this weekend. He’s delivering “The Greatest R&B Songs Ever Written” to Casablanca in Mesquite at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, and if you want that bona fide old-vegas vibe, high-tail it to Casablanca.
Counts is also at the West Las Vegas Library Theater, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd., at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets for the Casablanca show are $15 general admission, $30 VIP. The cost at the West Las Vegas Library gig is $25 general admission, a mere pittance, I tell you!
Counts is well-known as a vocalist for Santa Fe & The
Fat City Horns at the Copa Room at Bootlegger Bistro, and also during the Lon Bronson Band’s dates at Myron’s Cabaret Jazz. Counts can sing like any R&B superstar — I met him when he portrayed Stevie Wonder asa dealertainer at Imperial Palace in 2005 — and even such rockers as David Bowie and Steve Perry of Journey. He’s a special talent, a special man and worth the trip.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @ Johnnykats1 on Instagram. As of 9 p.m. Thursday:
1. Girl killed after jumping from bridge onto 215 Beltway in Henderson
A section of the 215 Beltway in Henderson was closed for more than five hours Thursday morning after a teenage girl jumped off an overpass and was hit by a semitrailer, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol. 2. Las Vegas stadium to have Caesars-branded entrance
Caesars Entertainment Corp., the operator of Caesars Palace and eight other Las Vegas casino properties, has signed a 15-year agreement to be a founding partner of the $1.8 billion Las Vegas stadium.
3. Fans fear for Zak Bagans’ safety in Las Vegas Halloween TV special
Zak Bagans told the Review-journal he wasn’t sure if he would open the Dybbuk Box during “Ghost Adventures Live.” 4. Las Vegas jury convicts man in pregnant woman’s 2015 death
A 22-year-old man was found guilty Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter in the 2015 fatal shooting of a pregnant woman in North Las Vegas.
5. Man attacked, robbed in Las Vegas Strip casino bathroom
Las Vegas police are searching for a man who attacked and robbed another man early Wednesday morning in a Circus Circus bathroom. As of 9 p.m. Thursday:
1. Girl killed after jumping from bridge onto 215 Beltway in Henderson
Eastbound lanes of the 215 Beltway were shut down Thursday after a female juvenile jumped from the 215 overpass at Stephanie.
2. Las Vegas Raiders stadium progress
Construction at Las Vegas Raiders stadium as seen on September 11, 2018, in Las Vegas.
3. Stephan Bonnar DUI arrest
Stephan Bonnar arrested for DUI in Nevada.