IN BRIEF
Las Vegas CityLife awarded first place in national contest
Las Vegas CityLife has won a first-place award in a national journalism competition for a report on how the city's redevelopment efforts have bypassed the historically neglected West Las Vegas neighborhood.
The multimedia package, "Wasting Away in West Las Vegas," earned the top honor in the 2010 AltWeekly Awards, sponsored by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. CityLife Editor Steve Sebelius accepted the award Friday at AAN's annual conference in Toronto.
CityLife, owned by Stephens
Media LLC, the same company that owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, beat out several formidable finalists
in the Innovation/Format Buster category, including Willamette Week,
a Portland, Ore., newsweekly that
won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005, and Washington City Paper, based in the nation's capital.
The CityLife staff members responsible for the award-winning package, published in February 2009, were writer Amy Kingsley, designer Maureen Adamo and videographer Justin Yurkanin.
WASHINGTON
China reduces holdings of
U.S. Treasury debt in May
China reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasury debt in May as total foreign holdings of government debt posted a slight increase.
China's holdings fell by $32.5 billion to $867.7 billion, the Treasury reported Friday.
The report said that total holdings of Treasury securities edged up $5.8 billion to $3.96 trillion in May, a slight increase of 0.1 percent compared to April.
ROUND ROCK, Texas
Dell says it's close to settling investigations of top officer
Computer maker Dell Inc. said Friday it's getting closer to settling investigations by regulators into its accounting and the actions of CEO Michael Dell.
The computer maker has proposed settlements to the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which the staff will recommend to the commissioners, the company said.
Dell has already set aside $100 million to cover the cost of settling charges that employees had misled auditors and manipulated results to meet performance targets.
OAK BROOK, Ill.
Rough call for smoothies: McDonald's stops samples
McDonald's Corp. is scrapping plans to offer free samples of its new smoothies because it's worried it would run out of the fruit drinks.
In a statement late Thursday, the fast-food chain's chief marketing officer called the fruit-flavored yogurt drinks "an absolute hit," with "unprecedented demand."
Sales of the drinks officially began this week, but were already being sold in certain parts of the country. The company, based in suburban Chicago, had planned to offer free samples from July 22 through July 24.
The smoothies are the latest offering from the company's revamped McCafé drink line. The effort includes espresso drinks and lattes and icy coffee drinks.
McDonald's is debating whether to reschedule the event.
