Before a Las Vegas child ever sets foot in a public school classroom, there’s a good chance their earliest education already runs through a corporate chain built and financed by private investment firms. KinderCare operates 11 daycare and child care centers within 15 miles of Las Vegas, according to the company’s own location listings, spanning… Continue reading Private Equity Runs Nearly a Dozen Daycares in Las Vegas Alone

A federal judge ruled a private equity firm can be sued directly over a data breach at a company it bought, in a case that turns on the exact records schools keep on every child: grades, attendance, and enrollment. Bain Capital closed a $5.6 billion acquisition of PowerSchool on October 1, 2024, taking over a… Continue reading A Private Equity Firm Now Owns the Software Holding Millions of Students’ Records

The University of Phoenix operated a campus in Henderson for years while its parent company faced federal fraud findings, a $191 million settlement, and repeated attempts by the U.S. Department of Education to claw back money from the private investment firms that now own it. Apollo Global Management and the Vistria Group, two private investment… Continue reading A Private Equity Firm Owns a College Campus in Henderson — Here’s What That’s Cost Students

The Joshua tree’s range almost perfectly outlines the Mojave Desert itself. Scientists studying how that range is shifting are using the tree as a living instrument for measuring climate change across the region Las Vegas calls home. Joshua trees are spindly, tree-like yucca plants so closely tied to this specific desert that their historic range… Continue reading How a Warming Climate Is Reshaping the Mojave Desert’s Signature Tree

Lake Mead supplies drinking water to Las Vegas and much of the Southwest. Understanding why its water line keeps dropping starts hundreds of miles away, in the snowpack of the Rocky Mountains. The Colorado River stretches roughly 1,400 miles from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains through seven U.S. states before filling Lake Powell and… Continue reading The Science Behind Lake Mead’s Falling Water Line

Las Vegas and Reno have ranked among the two fastest-warming cities in the entire country for years running. The reason isn’t just global climate change. It’s what pavement and concrete do to a desert once you build a city on top of it. Climate Central, a nonpartisan nonprofit made up of climate scientists, analyzes average… Continue reading Why Las Vegas Is One of the Fastest-Warming Cities in America

Carbon dioxide makes up less than half a percent of Earth’s atmosphere. That tiny fraction is the main reason the planet has warmed as fast as it has over the past century. The greenhouse effect itself is not the problem. NASA describes it as the reason Earth is habitable at all: certain gases in the… Continue reading The Greenhouse Effect, Explained: How a Trace Gas Warms an Entire Planet

Nevada treats compulsive gambling the way other states treat a public health crisis, with a dedicated fund, a state advisory council, and its own annual research report tracking outcomes. The Nevada Legislature passed Senate Bill 357 in 2005, creating the Problem Gambling Fund and, alongside it, the Advisory Council on Problem Gambling, a state-appointed panel… Continue reading Nevada Built a Public Health System Around a Single Behavior: Gambling

The casino floor is not an accident. It is one of the most heavily studied behavioral environments on Earth, and much of that research happens a few miles from the Strip. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas houses the International Gaming Institute, a research center that treats gambling not as entertainment but as a behavioral… Continue reading Why Slot Machines Are Designed by Psychologists, Not Just Engineers