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Many veterans live hours from VA facilities, or they need health services that aren't readily available from the VA.In s...
08/07/2025

Many veterans live hours from VA facilities, or they need health services that aren't readily available from the VA.

In such cases, the department is supposed to provide a referral and pay for private care. Some veterans' advocates say it often hesitates to do so.

Republicans controlling Congress aim to streamline the process of obtaining what is known as community care.

Two Republican senators have introduced legislation that would make it easier for rural veterans to seek care at local hospitals and clinics.

Read the full story here: https://tinyurl.com/mr768y2k

The Las Vegas City Council yesterday (Wednesday) approved funding to expand school crossing guards at all 16 middle scho...
08/07/2025

The Las Vegas City Council yesterday (Wednesday) approved funding to expand school crossing guards at all 16 middle schools within city limits along with three high schools.

The process to bring in more crossing guards is underway for the upcoming 2025-26 school year which begins Monday. The program already stations hundreds of crossing guards across 72 elementary schools in Las Vegas.

The additions will have a rolling start as the city works to hire new crossing guards. Results of a pilot program appeared to indicate that drivers and pedestrians follow traffic laws better and feel more comfortable when crossing guards are present.

Find more stories like these at https://knpr.org/health

Due to extreme heat risk, cooling station locations throughout Clark County are activated from August 5 - 10 for those i...
08/07/2025

Due to extreme heat risk, cooling station locations throughout Clark County are activated from August 5 - 10 for those in need of respite from the heat.

Locations can be found on the post.

Additionally, Courtyard Homeless Resource Center can accommodate pets in a carrier. Please seek help if you needed.

There has been an upward trend in the number of heat-related deaths in the last few years.

2023 documented 309 deaths, which was a record at the time. Then in 2024, there were 526. This year so far there have been 87, however this data is a lagging indicator.

This number comes from the Clark County Office of the Coroner and Medical Examiner, and most cases take up to 90 days to investigate.

For more stories & updates like these, follow or visit knpr.org

It may not feel like it yet, but summer is quickly coming to an end, especially for the roughly half a million students ...
08/06/2025

It may not feel like it yet, but summer is quickly coming to an end, especially for the roughly half a million students enrolled in public schools across the state.

We’ll look ahead to the new school year in our conversation with Clark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert and others, on KNPR's State of Nevada.

Hear the full story here: https://tinyurl.com/4u2u6v7z

Claire's — the ear-piercing, glittery tween mall staple — is once again on the brink of survival.The chain on Wednesday ...
08/06/2025

Claire's — the ear-piercing, glittery tween mall staple — is once again on the brink of survival.

The chain on Wednesday filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in seven years. It is struggling under the weight of new tariff costs just a year before an unwieldy loan of nearly $500 million is due. The retailer says that its Canadian arm will pursue a similar bankruptcy proceeding but that North American stores will remain open during the process.

Claire's has blamed its declining sales on inflation and shoppers' growing reluctance to spend on whims like faux-gold bangles, cat-shaped lip gloss, Hello Kitty socks and Barbie purses.

"Increased competition, consumer spending trends and the ongoing shift away from brick-and-mortar retail, in combination with our current debt obligations and macroeconomic factors, necessitate this course of action for Claire's and its stakeholders," CEO Chris Cramer said in a statement.

Claire's has been piercing ears across America since the 1970s, over time gobbling up Japanese, British and American rivals selling jewelry and accessories. By the peak of its popularity in the early 2000s, Claire's had grown into a fixture of malls.

Read the full story here: https://tinyurl.com/tmvxunpt

You very likely have noticed the hazy conditions we’ve been experiencing the last few days. The gloomy hue over Vegas is...
08/06/2025

You very likely have noticed the hazy conditions we’ve been experiencing the last few days. The gloomy hue over Vegas is the result of the Gifford fire burning in Los Padres National Forest. A report this morning from Cal Fire identified the fire has grown to a little over 84,000 acres, at 9% containment.

reports yesterday point to “Great progress … on the west, north and east flanks of the fire” and furthermore 11 Type 1 and 3 Type 2 helicopters making very significant water drops throughout the day yesterday.

The haze in Las Vegas is expected to clear late in the week.

As Hazy skies over Las Vegas might be the norm for the next day or two depending on which way the wind blows from California, the Clark County Division of Air Quality issued a smoke alert Tuesday through Thursday.

The smoke could be dangerous for people with certain health conditions and officials recommend that strenuous outdoor activity should be curtailed for most people when smoke is around.

They say an N95 mask will filter out most particulate matter.

For more stories like these, visit https://knpr.org/environment


County

Nevada is one of 13 states the Department of Justice says they consider to be sanctuaries for migrants, claiming in a ne...
08/06/2025

Nevada is one of 13 states the Department of Justice says they consider to be sanctuaries for migrants, claiming in a news release yesterday that they have "policies, laws, or regulations that impede enforcement of federal immigration laws."

The Department of Justice did not provide any specifics. The offices of Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jackie Rosen denounced the designation as clearly unfounded. State and local leaders have been here before.

When Las Vegas was included on a massive list of sanctuary states, cities, and counties revealed in May, the list was soon removed from the DOJ website with no explanation.

Governor Joe Lombardo, Mayor Shelley Berkley, Republican Congressman Mark Amodei, and Sheriff Kevin McMahill were among those saying the inclusion had no basis in fact. Not long after, Metro signed up to provide extra support for federal migrant enforcement.

Four counties and 18 cities are also on the new list, none in Nevada.

For more stories like these, visit https://knpr.org/politics

You've heard the news summaries of Dragon Bravo, the massive wildfire burning its way through the North Rim of the Grand...
08/05/2025

You've heard the news summaries of Dragon Bravo, the massive wildfire burning its way through the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. But what's the bigger picture?

When could the blaze be contained? How long will it take for the area's ecology to recover? And when might Las Vegans be able to again visit the beloved mountain getaway?

A KNAU reporter who's been covering the fire, and the U.S. Forest Service spokesperson for the fire gives the overview and outlook.

Hear the full conversation here https://tinyurl.com/3rjp2jpk, or visit knpr.org

On July 29th, the Southern Nevada Health District announced its first positive West Nile sample of the season, among mos...
08/05/2025

On July 29th, the Southern Nevada Health District announced its first positive West Nile sample of the season, among mosquitoes found just south of the Harry Reid Airport.

No human cases have been reported, yet.

While that means 2025’s mosquito season has been milder than last year’s, which recorded a five-year high of mosquito borne illness, there’s other worrying news on the horizon.

Namely, researchers from UNLV’s parasitology and vector biology laboratory have found evidence of pesticide resistance among local mosquitoes.

These pesticide-resistant mosquitoes are commonly found on and around golf courses in Summerlin and Henderson.

And they’re appearing to survive pesticide concentrations 100 times higher than what is typically used, and for hours longer.

Hear the full conversation with UNLV assistant professor Louisa Messenger & SNHD environmental health supervisor Vivek Raman, here https://tinyurl.com/mppp9nj2

An Australian mining company has canceled its controversial lithium project near the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refug...
08/05/2025

An Australian mining company has canceled its controversial lithium project near the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, removing it from its website's project list. The project, which had proposed an open-pit mine in a delicate ecosystem vital for numerous endangered species, has faced significant opposition.

The company, formerly known as Rover Critical Minerals, recently acquired a gold project in Brazil and has changed its name to Stockworks Gold, Inc.

The now-scrapped lithium project has a contentious history. In 2023, the Bureau of Land Management initially approved the company's exploratory drilling plan but quickly withdrew its authorization after facing a lawsuit from conservation and local groups.

The proposal was met with unanimous opposition during a public meeting in Amargosa Valley.

The threat of mining near Ash Meadows, however, remains. The Bureau of Land Management has recently approved an exploratory drilling project just two miles from the refuge in California.

For more stories like these, visit https://knpr.org/environment

mining

Big organizational changes could be coming to the U.S. Forest Service under an effort to restructure its parent agency, ...
08/04/2025

Big organizational changes could be coming to the U.S. Forest Service under an effort to restructure its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The plan, released last week by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, would eliminate the Forest Service’s nine regional offices over the next year, including offices in Missoula, Mont., Lakewood, Colo., Albuquerque, N.M. and Ogden, Utah.

The National Association of Forest Service Retirees, which includes all former chiefs, said they were “extremely concerned” about the reorganization in a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee leaders. Board Chair Steve Ellis, who retired after several decades of work with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, said he doubts that getting rid of regional offices will lead to more efficiency.

“What they’re doing is just pushing more work down on fewer people at the field level,” he said. “These are the same people that are trying to meet your timber target and provide for recreational services to the public.”

The regional office structure at the Forest Service has been in place since 1908. The offices oversee several forest supervisors, manage budgets and ensure operations are consistent across forests and districts.

read the full story here https://tinyurl.com/y9vk9xru or visit knpr.org

08/04/2025

Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford was denied entry to an immigration detention center in Pahrump for an oversight inspection, as seen in a video posted to social media last Thursday. The privately operated Nevada Southern Detention Center contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold migrants for the agency.

Horsford said he was denied his right as a congressman to enter, with Warden John Mattos telling him he was a security risk. Horsford told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his office informed the jail last week that he planned to visit, as he had in the past.

This time around, the warden, who started there last month, said he was calling the Nye County Sheriff’s Department. Officers arrived just as Horsford was leaving. Department of Homeland Security guidelines say members of Congress do not have to provide advance notice to visit a facility.

For more stories like these, visit knpr.org/local

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