This Week's Video
Most Active Articles
Sean DeFrank
Associate Editor
Contact: 868-4553 • Email
A Southern Nevada resident since 1974, DeFrank worked for the Las Vegas Review-Journal for more than 13 years, primarily as a sports copy editor but also covering the city of Henderson in the late ‘90s, before coming to Vegas Seven just in time for its launch. The UNLV graduate is also a U.S. Army infantry veteran, and was recalled to active duty in 1991 as part of Operation Desert Storm. He lives in Henderson with his wife, enjoys traveling and going to concerts, and loves his UNLV Rebels.
Recent Articles
Fighting Back
UFC star Forrest Griffin returns from injury
For a fighter, inactivity is an enemy. The absence of action can hurt in many ways—causing a body to grow soft and a mind to grow doubt. In preparing for his first bout since November 2009, UFC light heavyweight Forrest Griffin is dealing with the anxiety of returning to the Octagon after a long layoff to face mixed martial arts veteran Rich Franklin in UFC 126 on Feb. 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Read More »Please Stay on the Line
Remember pay phones? They’re still out there. You just have to know where to look.
The proliferation of telephones in the United States has never been greater. More than 285 million Americans, about 91 percent of the population, have mobile phones. As these numbers grow, there’s less need for pay phones. But there are still people out there who depend on pay phones for daily communication, and finding those phones is getting harder and harder to do. According to Willard R. Nichols, president of the American Public Communications Council, a national trade association that represents many of the country’s independent pay phone operators, there are more than 5,000 pay phones left in Nevada.
Read More »Prep Powers Excite Crowd in Double Overtime
As the Findlay Prep-Bishop Gorman High School basketball game neared a possible third overtime on Jan. 22, the sellout crowd at Cox Pavilion rose to its feet, as it also did toward the end of regulation and the first OT period. And when Findlay’s Kevin Kaspar nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key with two seconds left, giving the Pilots an 89-86 victory over the defending Class 4A state champions, everyone knew they had witnessed something special.
Read More »Dear, Sweet Grandmama
Grandmama is back! For those of you not old enough to remember, after former UNLV basketball great Larry Johnson was drafted No. 1 overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1991 NBA Draft, he signed a contract with Converse to peddle shoes. The company created an ad campaign in which Johnson donned a dress and wig and ruled the court as Grandmama.
Read More »Zaher ‘Z’ Fakih
The Hookah Master
In celebrating a part of his own cultural identity, Zaher Fakih is out to embrace the world. With the opening of Nu Sanctuary in April, the Indianapolis-born, Lebanon-raised Fakih—known as “Z”—has created a lounge where global unity is the message and the hookah is the medium.
Read More »Bill Young
The Public Servant
<p>With a nurse for a mother and a police officer for a father, Bill Young Jr. always knew he wanted to help people. When it came time to pursue a career, though, Young never really considered following directly in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he sought another avenue in public safety.</p>
<p>“The running joke in our family was, ‘Nobody likes the cops; everybody loves the firemen. It’s a no-brainer,’” he says.</p>
Napoleon McCallum
The All-American
Football has helped teach Napoleon McCallum many life lessons, including how to battle back from adversity. After suffering one of the most gruesome injuries in sports history (dislocated knee, ruptured artery, three snapped ligaments), ending his NFL career one game into his sixth season in 1994, the College Football Hall of Famer was forced to re-evaluate his future. As director of community development for Sands Corp., McCallum now is doing what he can to help Las Vegas bounce back from hard times.
Read More »