Travel Roundup: Hard Rock Tulsa Opens, Bomb Hoax Hurts LaGuardia, Canada Waives Amtrak Border Fee and More

Hard Rock Tulsa opens in Catoosa, Okla. — The seventh Hard Rock Hotel and Casino opened in a former Cherokee Nation casino in Catoosa, Okla. Today is the official opening of the hotel which will feature memorabilia from Prince, Elvis and the Spice Girls. Also included is McGill 19, a steakhouse on the 19th floor and one of Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill restaurants. Keith will be at the ceremonies this afternoon. [Source: KOTV]

Bomb hoax closes La Guardia terminal — A terminal at LaGuardia Airport was temporarily closed and one man taken into custody after authorities found what turned out to be a fake bomb in his bag. Most of the main terminal was closed at 5:30 a.m. Saturday and travelers weren’t allowed to come back until around 9 a.m. A spokesman described the suspect as emotionally disturbed while a New York Police spokesman called the man drunk. The man allegedly was carrying a “hoax device” of batteries and wires in his duffel bag. [Source: Reuters]

Second Amtrak train headed to British Columbia — A second daily passenger train between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia will start this month. The extra train on the Amtrak Cascades was initially derailed because Canada wanted a $1,500 a day customs fee.  For now, the fee has been waived for the next seven months by the Canada Border Services Agency after pressure from officials on both sides of the border. [Source: Seattle Times]

Illegal ATM set up in Riviera Hotel for Defcon — An illegal ATM kiosk was placed in the conference center of the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, capturing confidential data from an unknown number of hackers and others at the DefCon hacker conference before anyone noticed something suspicious about the machine. Security authorities seized the device which was placed strategically to avoid surveillance cameras. A security officer noticed the ATM’s smoked glass and on a closer look, saw a computer was hooked up to record customer data. [Source: Wired]