Myram Borders
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Myram Borders (born in
Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
in 1936) is an American
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
, a former
United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
reporter, and the wire service's Las Vegas bureau manager from 1965 to 1990. Upon retirement, she was appointed Nevada commissioner of consumer affairs and, after two years, in 1992 was named chief of the
Las Vegas News Bureau The Las Vegas News Bureau is a promotional agency within the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). It is based in the Las Vegas Valley. It was created as the Desert Sea News Bureau in 1949, originally as a promotional branch of the l ...
, a post she held for a decade.


Early life and education

Borders moved with her family from Kentucky to Nevada in 1940 when she was 4 years old. She attended the historic Fifth Street School, and graduated in 1954 from Las Vegas High School (now a performing arts academy) in downtown Las Vegas, where she reported for the school newspaper. On a
Harold's Club Harold's Club, also spelled Harolds Club, was a casino in Downtown Reno, Nevada that was established in 1935. The casino closed in 1995 and the building was demolished in 1999. Harold's Club was the set for the 1955 movie ''5 Against the House''. ...
scholarship, she graduated from the
University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...
's school of journalism with a bachelor of arts degree.


Career

During her senior year at UNR, she interned at United Press International in Reno and, upon graduation, went to work for UPI full-time, later transferring to the San Diego bureau, then Los Angeles and, ultimately, to Las Vegas as the bureau manager, from the time it was mob influenced into the large corporate era of the 1990s. Borders was the first female wire service manager in the western United States. After leaving UPI, she opened the first full-time Las Vegas office for
Gannet Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus ''Morus'' in the family Sulidae, closely related to boobies. Gannets are large white birds with yellowish heads; black-tipped wings; and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the ...
Newspapers before accepting her appointment as Nevada commissioner of Consumer Affairs. After that short stint, Borders headed the Las Vegas News Bureau before retiring in 2002. While with UPI, Borders covered the
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
' arrival in Las Vegas in 1964 when they performed at the
Las Vegas Convention Center The Las Vegas Convention Center (commonly referred to as LVCC) is a convention center in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As one of the largest convention centers in the world, it h ...
. She also broke the news story of
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
's 1967 wedding to girlfriend Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin hotel-casino wedding chapel after getting a tip. She went to the Aladdin Hotel Casino and waited all night. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Borders noticed a Nevada Supreme Court justice walking into the casino and asked if he was there to marry Elvis, and he confirmed it. She was first reporter to file the story about the wedding. In 1969, she wrote a review of Presley's opening night at the International Hotel in Las Vegas for UPI. In the article titled "Elvis Swings Into Action in Vegas," she wrote, "During the performance, Presley went through 15 selections including some of his top records, '
Blue Suede Shoes "Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by American singer, songwriter and guitarist Carl Perkins in 1955. It is considered one of the first rockabilly records, incorporating elements of blues, country and po ...
,' ' Love Me Tender,' ' Jailhouse Rock,' and '
Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being ...
.' He also strummed his guitar and slithered through his recent recording, '
In The Ghetto "In the Ghetto" (originally titled "The Vicious Circle") is a 1969 song recorded by Elvis Presley and written by Mac Davis. It was a major hit released in 1969 as a part of Presley's comeback album, and also on the single release of " Any Day No ...
'." In 1981, Borders was the first reporter on the scene of the car bombing on Sahara Blvd. involving mob connected bookmaker and casino operator
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal Frank Lawrence Rosenthal (June 12, 1929 – October 13, 2008), also known as "Lefty" Rosenthal, was an American professional sports bettor, former Las Vegas casino executive, and organized crime associate. Rosenthal, who was once called "the gre ...
. "As I drove by Tony Roma's and Marie Callender's, I heard this huge boom," Borders told the ''Las Vegas Sun''. "A guy was getting out of a car, sort of smoky and his hair was standing on end." As she approached, she told the paper, Rosenthal shouted, "They're trying to kill me, they're trying to kill me!" Rosenthal survived the assassination attempt, while suffering burns, because of a steel plate factory installed under the driver's seat to correct balancing issues in his 1981
Cadillac Eldorado The Cadillac Eldorado is a luxury car manufactured and marketed by Cadillac from 1952 until 2002 over twelve generations. The Eldorado was at or near the top of the Cadillac line. The original 1953 Eldorado convertible and the Eldorado Brougham ...
. During her career with UPI, Borders also covered the Watts riots in Los Angeles, the assassination of
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
, the indictment of
Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ar, سرحان بشارة سرحان ''Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān'', born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian Jordanian man who was convicted for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, a United States Sena ...
, and the
Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
murder trial. In 2015, Borders was featured as a "Nevada Maker" as part of its
KLVX KLVX (channel 10) is a PBS member television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Owned by the Clark County School District, it is the flagship outlet of the district's communications arm, the KLVX Communications Group. KLVX's studios a ...
Documentaries series. In 2019, upon receiving the Nevada Press Association award in Carson City, Nevada, she told the audience, "Nevada was and is an ideal place to be a news reporter. ... You won’t get bored.”


Awards

In September 2019, Borders was inducted into the
Nevada Press Association The Nevada Press Association is the official member trade organization for news publications in the state of Nevada. It is a non-profit organization that represents seven daily and thirty-five weekly news publications in Nevada and the Lake Tahoe ...
's Hall of Fame.


Affiliations

She served three terms as president of the Las Vegas chapter of the
Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
and was instrumental in helping get Nevada's open meeting law on the books, which passed at the 11th hour by the
Nevada Legislature The Nevada Legislature is a bicameral body, consisting of the lower house, the Assembly, with 42 members, and the upper house, the Senate, with 21. With a total of 63 seats, the Legislature is the third-smallest bicameral state legislatur ...
and was signed into law in 1977 by then-Gov.
Mike O'Callaghan Donal Neil "Mike" O'Callaghan (September 10, 1929 March 5, 2004) was an American politician and educator who served as the 23rd Governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1979. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Early life Born in La Crosse, Wis ...
."Saying goodbye to 'Governor Mike'"
''
Las Vegas CityLife ''Las Vegas CityLife'', founded in August 1996, was the oldest alternative weekly newspaper in Southern Nevada and covered news about the Las Vegas Valley and surrounding areas. Coverage included news, politics, arts, and culture reporting in prin ...
'', March 10, 2004.


References


External links


July 1968 UPI Directory (Domestic)

''Orlando Sentinel'', "Las Vegas Builds, Renovates," February 15, 1998

A Guide to the Myram Borders Scrapbooks, 94-07
Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno. {{DEFAULTSORT:Borders, Myram Living people People from the Las Vegas Valley American women writers Writers from Kentucky Writers from Nevada 1936 births University of Nevada, Reno alumni American women journalists 21st-century American women