Helen J. Stewart, the rancher whose water rights anchored downtown Las Vegas, deeded 10 acres of her property to the federal government on Dec. 30, 1911, to be held in trust for the Southern Paiute people who lived alongside her ranch — the only land base the tribe held for the next seven decades. That… Continue reading Helen Stewart Deeded 10 Acres to the Paiute in 1911. Their Colony Now Hosts the World’s Largest Cannabis Dispensary.

Howard Hughes spent less than two years buying five Las Vegas Strip properties with cash, prompting Nevada to rewrite its licensing rules to accommodate a buyer who wanted nothing to do with the state’s old system of hidden ownership. Six decades later, the buildings under several of the Strip’s most recognizable casinos don’t belong to… Continue reading Howard Hughes Bought Five Las Vegas Casinos in Two Years. Their Buildings Are Now Owned by a Public REIT.

The desert springs that gave Las Vegas its water supply for six decades ran dry by 1962, drained by the same groundwater pumping that was already sinking the valley floor. On Aug. 21, 2026, federal regulators finalized new operating rules that cut into Nevada’s Colorado River supply for years to come — and the same… Continue reading Las Vegas’s Springs Went Dry by 1962. The City Now Banks Colorado River Water in the Same Ground.

On Sept. 21, 1991, 550 hospitality workers walked off the job at the Frontier Hotel and Casino, starting a strike that ran six years, four months and 10 days before it ended — the longest in U.S. history by that measure. The union that outlasted that fight, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, now represents 60,000… Continue reading The Frontier Strike Lasted 6 Years. The Union That Outlasted It Now Writes AI Protections Into Its Contracts.

Congress protected 83,000 acres around Red Rock Canyon as a National Conservation Area in 1990, and expanded it three separate times since to its current 198,000 acres. The gypsum mine on Blue Diamond Hill next door was never part of that boundary — private land that predates the conservation area by decades and has outlasted… Continue reading Red Rock Canyon Got Federal Protection in 1990. The Private Hill Next Door Just Drew a Federal Hydropower Filing.

On July 1, 1973, the Las Vegas Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff’s Department stopped existing, replaced by a single agency the Nevada Legislature built to end duplicate law enforcement spending across the valley. Fifty-three years later, on April 30, 2026, the five-member committee that same law created approved a $958 million budget for… Continue reading Nevada’s 1973 Police Merger Created LVMPD. Its Budget Just Hit $958 Million.