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Rose was an omen for Wayne Newton

Wayne Newton has begun a slow goodbye of his beloved Casa de Shenandoah, home since 1968.

He’s moving out of his famed 40-acre, five-home estate this week after a Graceland-style project fell apart in bankruptcy court.

Family friend Alicia Jacobs broke the news on Twitter on Tuesday, adding Newton has purchased the tree-covered eastside mansion formerly owned by longtime Las Vegas producer Norbert Aleman.

Newton told Jacobs, “I look forward to creating something equally as magnificent.”

Later I paid a visit to Newton at his new six-house property, now home to his 20-some peacocks, exotic birds and Charlie the 13-year-old penguin.

Newton, 71, said he’s not looking back.

“For me, it’s like that the new Beyonce Pepsi commercial: ‘Embrace your past, but live for now.’ ”

He added, “That’s where it is for us.”

The new home came with a welcoming memory of his mother, Evelyn, who died in 1986.

During the early 1970s, she had planted beds of red roses at Casa de Shenandoah, a nod to her son’s 1964 hit song “Red Roses for a Blue Lady.”

Not long before her death, a lone yellow rose appeared among the red ones. When his mother started to remove it, Wayne pleaded with her.

“I told her to keep it because every time I see it I will smile,” Newton said.

Earlier this week, something outside the main window of the new home caught the attention of Newton and his wife, Katherine.

It was a single yellow rose in full bloom.

“It was an omen,” he said.

CHANNEL 3 MOVES

KSNV-TV, Channel 3, will launch its one-hour 7 p.m. newscast on Sept. 16 featuring Jim Snyder and Jessica Moore.

Moving up to the 11 p.m. telecast are newcomers, 4 p.m. co-anchor Reed Cowan and McKenzie Warren, fresh from her role covering the 2013 legislative session in Carson City.

Cowan worked in Miami and Salt Lake City markets before joining KSNV more than a year ago. He also has been a weeknight reporter at the station.

Warren, a 2006 Green Valley High graduate, interned for “NBC Nightly News” before her senior year at Southern Methodist University. She arrived at Channel 3 in the fall of 2011.

Snyder and Moore also will co-anchor the 5 p.m. newscast.

Gerard Ramalho and Marie Mortera will team up as the 6 p.m. anchors.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Former UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger had a second close call in 11 days when rare EF5 tornadoes battered the Oklahoma City area. Kruger moved to Oklahoma a year ago to revive the Sooners program. Kruger, his wife and son, former Rebel sparkplug Kevin, live in north Norman, south of hard-hit Moore. “We were OK,” Kevin Kruger said in a text message. “We had to take shelter. 80+mph winds knocked down a few trees. But no real damage.”

SIGHTINGS

Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., taking in Will Smith’s “After Earth” film at the South Point late Monday. ... The “America’s Got Talent” judges — Howie Mandel, Howard Stern, Heidi Klum and Mel B — doing media interviews at Planet Hollywood on Monday afternoon. Stern was seen giving Klum a belated birthday gift. She turned 40 on Saturday. Klum and Mandel were spotted Wednesday night at Anthony Cool’s uncensored hypnosis show at Paris Las Vegas.

THE PUNCH LINE

“A new study found that drinking soda is just as bad for your teeth as using meth. However, soda is still less likely to make you live under a bridge with a guy named Snake.” — Jimmy Fallon

Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or email him at norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke. “Norm Clarke’s Vegas,” airs Thursdays on the “Morning Blend” on KTNV-TV, Channel 13.

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