Filmmaker puts focus on Las Vegas Paiute Tribe

Independent filmmaker Stan Armstrong is once again telling an intriguing story from the heart of the real Las Vegas.

His latest effort is "City Within a City," which focuses on the century-old Las Vegas Paiute Tribe and its diminutive reservation not far from Fremont Street.

The film is scheduled for a screening at 2 p.m. Sunday at West Charleston Library, at 6301 W. Charleston Blvd. Admission is free.

REID'S ASSISTANT: Retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's plan to use campaign funds to pay for a full-time assistant once he leaves office next year has some of his critics in an uproar, but they should consider themselves lucky. That's right. Lucky.

If Reid had spent campaign funds for a personal fitness trainer, he'd still be a heavy favorite for re-election in 2016.

CALENDAR GIRL: Conservative legislative firebrand Michele Fiore, R-Smith & Wesson, says she might take a shot at the CD 3 race. (Guessing her possible opponents are already ducking for cover.) Maybe it's just a coincidence that she's just produced a Second Amendment-themed calendar with pictures of her and some of her closest friends: guns, of course.

I suppose now she'll be able to say with confidence she's the, ahem, highest-caliber candidate in the race.

DOWNTOWN DRONES: There's a new buzz downtown. Downtown Project is calling it the Xtreme Drone Circuit, and it's the best reason to visit Fremont Street's Western Hotel since it served extremely cheap tequila.

That's right. We're talking drone racing.

No wagering yet, at least not officially, but give it time.

And since the racing will take place inside the building, there's no risk of running afoul of the law.

The event is scheduled to start at noon Nov. 15 at the Western. I'm told spectators will be separated from the drones by a net.

PRIZE WINNER: Hannah Birch has made the dedicated professionals at UNLV's Greenspun College of Urban Affairs very proud. Birch was a member of The Seattle Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning team coverage of the disastrous 2014 mudslide in Snohomish County, Wash.

A 2012 journalism graduate, Birch was honored Wednesday night at UNLV.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Shifting gears: Growing talk, and hope, of a possible Faraday electric car factory for North Las Vegas. ... Bernie Sanders is launching political ads in Spanish in Nevada. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton's army of volunteers is busy meeting everyone who speaks Spanish in Nevada. And Martin O'Malley has received the endorsement of former Mayor Oscar Goodman. I think that's a non sequitur. Anyway, Nevada's Latino population is 27.8 percent, about 10 percent higher than the national average.

BOULEVARD II: Wally Wallace, who died recently at age 87, was not only a veteran of the Merchant Marines and the U.S. Air Force, a loyal Nevada Test Site employee, talented artist, solid family man and savvy amateur baseball coach, he was an even better man. ... Longtime Vegas guy Bernie Sindler selling plenty of copies of his new memoir — 150 to Cyndi Doumani alone. ... I don't know how he does it, but legendary Vegas sports bettor Lem Banker, pushing 90, still makes his daily plays and holds court at the finer restaurants in town. He should have changed his name to "Bank" years ago. ... Astute reader Miriam Samuels of Mesquite reminds me that the first state you enter when leaving Nevada headed north on Interstate 15 is actually Arizona, not Utah. My column on the Eureka Mesquite failed to make that distinction. Knew I should have read the map.

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