The last cards have been dealt as the iconic Mirage closes its doors on the Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A final blast from The Mirage's signature volcano marked the passage Wednesday of an aging Las Vegas resort that wowed crowds when it opened in 1989 and went on to revolutionize the casino resort industry and reshape Las Vegas as a tourist destination.

“What would The Mirage be without one last volcano eruption?” asked Joe Lupo, property president of The Mirage, as he ended a closing ceremony that drew hundreds of onlookers, including 137 employees who worked at the 3,044-room resort from the beginning.

Jim Allen, head of the property's new owner, Florida-based Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming, said work would “literally start tomorrow” to raze the volcano, which thatrumbled and gushed nightly for nearly 35 years.

Plans call for a 600-room hotel in the shape of a guitar that renderings depict with guitar string-like beams spiking into the night sky from a purplish 660-foot (201-meter) tower. Allen promised more details in months to come.

Lupo, who remains the property president following the change of hands, said the new Hard Rock Las Vegas will open in 2027.

Elaine Wynn, billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of casino mogul Steve Wynn, who built the property, recalled that two performing tigers belonging to resort headliners Siegfried & Roy were the first “guests” through the door in November 1989. She said the first wave of people stopped, stared and applauded beneath the entry atrium. It featured lush tropical foliage beneath a domed glass ceiling and a faint piña colada scent in the air.

Its last week drew a frenzy of standing-room crowds wagering to win a total of $1.6 million in slot machine progressive jackpot winnings that state regulations said had to be disbursed to clear the books before the doors closed. Slot players lucky enough to get a seat vied for daily prize pots totaling up to $250,000 per day. Nevada Gaming Control Board spokesman Michael Lawton said Wednesday that he could not by law provide information about how the effort went.

Costing $630 million, The Mirage was no simple gambling hall. It was the world’s largest hotel when it opened. Visitors were met by two bronze mermaid statues on the way to check in at a desk with a huge shark and fish tank behind it.

It had glitzy shops, celebrity chef restaurants and theater-size showrooms featuring headliners like Johnny Mathis, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. The illusionist duo Siegfried & Roy and their tigers performed for 14 years, ending in 2003. Later, it became home to The Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show “Love," which ended its 18-year run this month.

“Instead of neon, a garden of dozens of rich Canary Island palm trees and a cool refreshing waterfall,” Steve Wynn recalled in a statement of recollections he released Monday through his Las Vegas attorney, Donald Campbell. Wynn titled it “An Homage to Lady Mirage.” He did not attend Wednesday's ceremonies.

In his statement, Wynn noted that The Mirage was the first new hotel in Las Vegas in several years and opened amid competition from casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the expansion of tribal gambling in California. He pointed to a decade-long resort building boom that followed, helping make Las Vegas one of the fastest-growing cities in America.

“To call The Mirage a catalyst would be an understatement,” Wynn wrote.

By 2000, more than 30,000 new hotel rooms were added as new Las Vegas Strip resorts went up: Excalibur, Luxor, Treasure Island, MGM Grand, New York-New York, Monte Carlo, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Venetian and Paris Las Vegas. Many were funded by Wall Street bonds. Wynn bought and demolished the 50-year-old Desert Inn to build and open his eponymous Wynn Resort in 2005.

Wynn, now 82 and living in Florida, paid a $10 million fine to Nevada gambling regulators last year and cut ties with the industry he helped shape to end a yearslong legal fight stemming from media reports in 2018 that he sexually harassed or assaulted several women at his hotels. He has always denied the allegations.

Bo Bernhard, director of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, studies the emergence of what he terms the “fun economy” around the world. The Mirage, he said, set a standard for resort development in places like Singapore and Sydney.

“The Mirage changed the image Las Vegas projected to the rest of the world,” Bernhard said. It was “much more than just gambling” and "transformed everything,” he said.

The Seminole Tribe acquired the Hard Rock brand in 2007 from an MGM Resorts International deal worth nearly $1.1 billion. It became the first Native American operator in the lucrative and competitive Las Vegas Boulevard corridor. The tribe also operates seven casinos in Florida and owns the Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos business with locations in 76 countries. It purchased naming rights in 2016 to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

An off-Strip former Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas was separately owned. A group that included billionaire Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, acquired that hotel-casino in 2018 for about $500 million. It was renovated and reopened in 2021 as Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

“Las Vegas always reinvents itself,” said Michael Green, a UNLV history professor whose father dealt blackjack for decades at casinos, including the long-ago-imploded Stardust and Showboat. “The Mirage is no longer state-of-the-art.”

People play slot machines during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

People take photos of the atrium during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

People make their way out during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage in the early hours of Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

The lobby bar closes during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

A pair of musicians make their way out during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage in the early hours of Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

People play slot machines during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

People watch the final scheduled volcano show during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

People watch the final scheduled volcano show during the final night of operations and gaming at The Mirage on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Tourists take video of the final "volcano eruption" show in front of the Mirage hotel-casino before the casino was closed Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

FILE - Dallas Cowboys' fans Tom Connolly, left, and Eddie Hidalgo, of Los Angeles, celebrate in the Mirage hotel and casino's sports book after winning one of their bets on the Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 28, 1996, in Las Vegas. Gambling ends Wednesday, July 17, 2024, and the doors will close at The Mirage, the iconic tropical island-themed Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino that sparked a resort building boom when it opened in 1989 but became overshadowed while Sin City converted from a desert gambling hub to a worldwide entertainment destination.(AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)

FILE - The silhouettes of Beatles members are projected on the screen during the preview of "Love," a new Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show, in Las Vegas on Tuesday, June 27, 2006. Gambling ends Wednesday, July 17, 2024, and the doors will close at The Mirage, the iconic tropical island-themed Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino that sparked a resort building boom when it opened in 1989 but became overshadowed while Sin City converted from a desert gambling hub to a worldwide entertainment destination. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2020, file photo, a woman wearing a mask as a precaution against the coronavirus plays an electronic slot machine during the reopening of the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Gambling ends Wednesday, July 17, 2024, and the doors will close at The Mirage, the iconic tropical island-themed Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino that sparked a resort building boom when it opened in 1989 but became overshadowed while Sin City converted from a desert gambling hub to a worldwide entertainment destination. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

FILE - Las Vegas Magicians Siegfried (left) and Roy show off three new, six-day-old additions to their royal white tiger family Monday Oct. 28th, 2002 at The Mirage Hotel and Casino. Gambling ends Wednesday, July 17, 2024, and the doors will close at The Mirage, the iconic tropical island-themed Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino that sparked a resort building boom when it opened in 1989 but became overshadowed while Sin City converted from a desert gambling hub to a worldwide entertainment destination.(AP Photo/Eric Jamison)

FILE - People watch the Volcano show at the Mirage hotel-casino along the Las Vegas Strip, May 13, 2022, in Las Vegas. Gambling ends Wednesday, July 17, 2024, and the doors will close at The Mirage, the iconic tropical island-themed Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino that sparked a resort building boom when it opened in 1989 but became overshadowed while Sin City converted from a desert gambling hub to a worldwide entertainment destination. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

In this photo released by the Hard Rock International a graphic rendering shows Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's plans to build an iconic Guitar-shaped Hotel which will be located on the famous Las Vegas Strip. (Hard Rock International via AP)

FILE - The Mirage Hotel and Casino is seen in Las Vegas, on May 3, 2018. Gambling ends Wednesday, July 17, 2024, and the doors will close at The Mirage, the iconic tropical island-themed Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino that sparked a resort building boom when it opened in 1989 but became overshadowed while Sin City converted from a desert gambling hub to a worldwide entertainment destination. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Donald Trump is returning to the battleground state of North Carolina Friday to address a meeting of the Fraternal Order of Police as he tries to portray himself as tougher on crime than his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the campaign’s closing months.

Meanwhile, Harris’ campaign announced Friday that it raised $361 million from nearly 3 million donors in her first full month as a candidate. Trump’s team announced Wednesday he brought in $130 million over the same period.

Early voting for the November election will be underway in at least four states by the end of this month.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here's the latest:

A North Carolina appeals court on Friday directed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name be taken off state ballots for president, blocking the planned distribution of absentee ballots later in the day in what would have been the first sent out nationally for the Nov. 5 elections.

The intermediate-level Court of Appeals issued an order granting the request of Kennedy’s attorneys to halt the mailing of ballots with his name. The court also told a trial judge to issue an order telling the State Board of Elections to distribute ballots without Kennedy’s name on the ballot.

State law otherwise required the first absentee ballots be mailed or transmitted no later than 60 days before the general election, which was Friday. The process of reprinting and assembling ballot packages likely would take over two weeks, state attorneys have said. Friday’s ruling could be appealed.

Kennedy, named earlier this summer the nominee of the We The People party, had sued last week to get off North Carolina ballots after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump. But the Democratic majority on the State Board of Elections rejected the request, saying it was too late in the process of printing ballots and coding tabulation machines.

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump appeared in court on Friday as his team tries to overturn a verdict finding him liable for sexual abuse and slander. Trump walked in quietly and passed right in front of writer E. Jean Carroll, who brought the lawsuit against him, and did not acknowledge or look at her.

Trump reacted at times such as shaking his head when Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, said that Trump sexually assaulted her client. He would tilt his head from side to side periodically but otherwise sat still and mostly alone.

When the hearing concluded, Trump stood up and his lawyers approached him briefly. He did not appear to say anything, then looked up and stood for a few moments before walking out of the courtroom.

It could be a well-rehearsed zinger, a too-loud sigh — or a full performance befuddled enough to shockingly end a sitting president’s reelection bid.

Notable moments from past presidential debates demonstrate how the candidates’ words and body language can make them look especially relatable or hopelessly out-of-touch — showcasing if a candidate is at the top of their policy game or out to sea. Will past be prologue when Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday?

“Being live television events, without a script, without any way of knowing how they are going to evolve — anything can happen,” said Alan Schroeder, author of “Presidential Debates: 50 years of High-Risk TV.”

▶ Read more about some highs, lows and curveballs from presidential debates past.

The Democratic National Committee is up with new digital billboards in the battleground state of North Carolina as former president and GOP nominee Donald Trump plans to visit the state for a meeting of law officers.

The DNC says its digital billboards are running in half a dozen locations around Charlotte, where Trump is slated to speak later Friday at a gathering of the Fraternal Order of Police.

One bears only the text “TRUMP 2024” and “CONVICTED FELON.” Another notes the “140 Police Officers Assaulted” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, along with what Trump has said about wanting to “Pardon the Capitol rioters.”

A third billboard says that the Project 2025 plan “Gives Trump Virtually Unchecked Legal Power.”

The Justice Department announced Friday it will send federal observers to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws in Tuesday’s primary election.

This comes after federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit earlier this year alleging the city failed to make voting information, forms, instructions and ballots available in Spanish, violating sections of the federal Voting Rights Act.

A federal court in May approved a consent decree to resolve the claims. The decree also addressed a claim that Pawtucket election officials didn’t allow voters to cast a provisional ballot or properly train poll workers on provisional ballots, violating a section of the Help America Vote Act.

The agency regularly sends observers to monitor compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities across the country.

Vice President Kamala Harris raised well more than double what former President Donald Trump took in from donors in August, her campaign announced Friday, saying it raised $361 million from nearly 3 million donors in her first full month as a candidate.

Trump’s team announced Wednesday he brought in $130 million over the same period. Harris’ team says it ended the month with $404 million on hand for the final sprint to Election Day, $109 million more than Trump’s campaign says it had at the end of August.

The massive Harris war chest is being used to fund a $370 million paid media effort for the final two months of the campaign, and to pay for its more than 2,000 field staff spread through more than 310 offices in battleground states.

Harris’ fundraising builds on the $310 million she raised in July, the overwhelming majority of which came in after she took over President Joe Biden’s campaign after he dropped out that month. The ticket swap has helped the Democratic party reverse the fundraising edge Trump had developed in the prior months when voter doubts about Biden’s fitness for another term dampened donor — and voter — enthusiasm.

▶ Read more here.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Donald Trump is returning to the battleground state of North Carolina Friday to address a meeting of the Fraternal Order of Police as he tries to portray himself as tougher on crime than his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the campaign’s closing months.

Trump is scheduled to address FOP’s National Board of Trustees fall meeting in Charlotte. The FOP, the world’s largest organization of law enforcement officers, endorsed Trump’s reelection bid in 2020, with its president saying on behalf of its 373,000 members that Trump had “made it crystal clear that he has our backs.”

The imagery of the former president and GOP nominee in a room of law enforcement officers offers Trump the platform to contrast their support with his characterization of Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general whom Trump has called the “ringleader” of a “Marxist attack on law enforcement” across the country.

▶ Read more here.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz was asked on WCMU in Michigan Thursday how a Harris administration would handle the Israel-Hamas war and whether his running mate would break with President Joe Biden, who has steadfastly supported Israel while working to broker a ceasefire.

Walz said the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that touched off the war, was “a horrific act of violence against the people of Israel. They certainly have the right to defend themselves.”

But, he said, “we can’t allow what’s happened in Gaza to happen. The Palestinian people have every right to life and liberty themselves.”

He said those protesting the war in Michigan were speaking out for “all the right reasons.”

He said the only way forward was a ceasefire and return of hostages. He didn’t mention the revelation earlier this week that six additional hostages had been killed by Hamas.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is promoting Donald Trump’s plans to deport people living in the country illegally at record levels.

The Ohio senator spoke to a friendly crowd of about 300 people at a Phoenix hotel, saying a second Trump administration would “finish that beautiful border wall,” stop releasing asylum seekers while they await a court hearing and end Medicare benefits for people living in the country illegally, though unauthorized immigrants are not currently eligible for Medicare.

“I have a message from Donald J. Trump,” Vance said. “If you are in this country illegally in six months, pack your bags.”

The federal election interference case against Donald Trump is inching forward.

A judge on Thursday permitted prosecutors to file court documents later this month that could detail unflattering allegations about the former president as the Republican nominee enters the final weeks of his White House run.

The order came hours after a court hearing in which U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan sparred with a Trump lawyer who accused the government of trying to rush ahead with an “illegitimate” indictment in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

Chutkan made clear she would not let the upcoming election affect how she proceeds. She turned aside defense efforts to delay the process while also acknowledging that the case is nowhere close to a trial date.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers are bitterly at odds over the next steps in the case after the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the prosecution by ruling that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from criminal charges. The case against Trump charges him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team filed a revised indictment last week to strip out certain allegations against Trump for which the Supreme Court said the former president enjoyed immunity. Defense lawyers, however, believe that that indictment did not fully comply with the justices’ ruling.

▶ Read more here.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waving to media members as she arrives at Pittsburgh International Airport, in Coraopolis, Pa., Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, where she is expected to prepare for the first presidential debate. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, gestures to supporters at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a rally along the waterfront, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Erie, Pa. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz greets volunteers at an Erie Pennsylvania field office Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Erie, Pa. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Pittsburgh International Airport, in Coraopolis, Pa., Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, and takes a selfie with Sen. John Letterman, D-Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump attends a campaign event at the Economic Club of New York, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign event at the Economic Club of New York, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)