Vegas hotel that held Trump event fined over COVID-19 rule

A Las Vegas hotel that hosted a faith-based Donald Trump rally and a beauty pageant, and is battling the governor’s office and city officials over coronavirus crowd limits, has been fined for failure to comply with COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures, officials said.

Ahern Hotel and Convention Center was assessed a $10,930 penalty, according to a state Occupational Safety and Health Administration report posted Monday.

A Las Vegas tire store also was fined a little under $3,000 in the only two enforcement citations issued last Friday, the agency said.

Nevada OSHA did not make public the findings leading to the Ahern fine. A statement said an investigation following a referral.

Hotel owner Don Ahern had been fined $250 after Las Vegas police and city employees arrived minutes before the Aug. 6 “Evangelicals for Trump” rally at the former Lucky Dragon casino-hotel just off Las Vegas Boulevard.

The event continued, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported a city employee tallied more than 1,100 attendees — far more than the 50-person limit Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak has ordered for public and private events.

Organizers of the Mrs. Nevada America pageant on Aug. 9 removed spectators to comply with crowd limits, the newspaper said.