Congress opened the door in 1998 for Nevada to sell federal land around Las Vegas to fund parks, schools and water infrastructure as the valley grew. Nearly three decades later, more than 1,000 acres inside that same boundary are reserved not for sale on the open market, but for cities and the state to build… Continue reading A 1998 Law Let Nevada Sell Off Las Vegas Valley Public Land for Growth. Today More Than 1,000 Acres of It Are Reserved for Housing Instead.
Category: Local News
Nevada Carved Clark County Out of Lincoln County in 1909 With an Elected Sheriff. Voters Just Renewed That Office for Four More Years.
Every four years, Clark County voters elect the same kind of office the Nevada Legislature created when it carved the county out of Lincoln County in 1909: a sheriff who answers directly to voters, not to a mayor or a city council. That same elected sheriff’s office still sits atop the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police… Continue reading Nevada Carved Clark County Out of Lincoln County in 1909 With an Elected Sheriff. Voters Just Renewed That Office for Four More Years.
Hoover Dam’s Turbines Were Sized for a Full Reservoir in 1935. Lake Mead Is Now a Few Feet From Gutting Their Output.
Hoover Dam’s turbines were engineered in the 1930s to run on a reservoir the Bureau of Reclamation expected to stay full. Ninety-one years later, Lake Mead has fallen within a few feet of the elevation where those same turbines lose most of their power — and the agency that built the dam is now spending… Continue reading Hoover Dam’s Turbines Were Sized for a Full Reservoir in 1935. Lake Mead Is Now a Few Feet From Gutting Their Output.
The Strip’s Casinos First Went Dark in a 1970 Culinary Strike. The Union’s Newest Contract Came Without Anyone Walking Out.
The last time Culinary Union Local 226 pushed a contract fight all the way to a deadline, no one walked out. The union’s 60,000 members ratified a five-year contract in 2024 worth roughly $3 billion in raises without a single strike day — leverage built on decades of demonstrating it can shut down the Las… Continue reading The Strip’s Casinos First Went Dark in a 1970 Culinary Strike. The Union’s Newest Contract Came Without Anyone Walking Out.
A Mob-Linked Teamsters Loan Nearly Sank Circus Circus in 1971. Bennett and Pennington’s 1974 Takeover Started Its Corporate Turn.
Nevada’s gaming regulators still decide who is allowed to own a casino on the Strip — the same job the state took on as Las Vegas cut its mob-linked financiers out of casino ownership decades ago. The Nevada Gaming Control Board approved another change of casino control in April 2026, when Golden Entertainment moved from… Continue reading A Mob-Linked Teamsters Loan Nearly Sank Circus Circus in 1971. Bennett and Pennington’s 1974 Takeover Started Its Corporate Turn.
The Spring Mountains Lost Their Own Forest Name in 1915. Congress Didn’t Give Them a New One Until 1993.
More than a million visitors a year drive up from the Las Vegas heat to Mount Charleston without knowing the mountains around them spent nearly nine decades folded into other national forests before Congress ever gave the range a federal identity of its own. This year, the U.S. Forest Service and Clark County imposed new… Continue reading The Spring Mountains Lost Their Own Forest Name in 1915. Congress Didn’t Give Them a New One Until 1993.
Nevada’s School Funding Formula Has a Weight for Almost Everything. Music Isn’t One of Them.
Nevada’s per-pupil funding formula gives extra money for English learners, gifted students, and students who are at risk. There’s no line in that formula for a school’s band program — which means when budgets get tight, music funding depends entirely on what’s left over. Nevada’s Pupil-Centered Funding Plan, the formula that determines how state education… Continue reading Nevada’s School Funding Formula Has a Weight for Almost Everything. Music Isn’t One of Them.
Every Student Who Leaves for a Charter School Takes CCSD’s Per-Pupil Funding With Them
Nevada’s charter schools have grown by double digits while the state’s largest school district keeps shrinking. Both trends draw from the same funding pool — and CCSD is the one losing ground. Nevada’s public school enrollment peaked at roughly 500,000 students during the 2019-20 school year and has since fallen to about 474,000, according to… Continue reading Every Student Who Leaves for a Charter School Takes CCSD’s Per-Pupil Funding With Them
Nevada Charter Schools Enroll 70,000 Students. None of Them Get Dedicated Funding for a Roof.
Nevada’s charter school sector has nearly tripled in a decade. What it hasn’t gained along the way is a dedicated source of money to build or maintain the buildings those 70,000 students learn in. Gov. Joe Lombardo praised Nevada’s charter school sector at a Charter School Association of Nevada event this spring, saying the state… Continue reading Nevada Charter Schools Enroll 70,000 Students. None of Them Get Dedicated Funding for a Roof.
Nevada’s Lake Mead Recreation Area Got Its Name in 1947. Congress Didn’t Decide Who Was in Charge of It Until 1964.
Six million visitors a year come to boat, swim and camp on Nevada’s largest reservoir without ever noticing that two separate federal agencies still answer for different pieces of it — a split in authority that traces to a recreation area Congress didn’t fully hand to the National Park Service until 28 years after the… Continue reading Nevada’s Lake Mead Recreation Area Got Its Name in 1947. Congress Didn’t Decide Who Was in Charge of It Until 1964.
