Giovanni Guerrero wasn’t even born 22 years ago when Culinary Workers Union Local 226 last called a strike by its workforce at a Las Vegas resort. But early Friday morning, Guerrero, 18, found himself on the picket line in front of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas just seven months after starting his first real full-time job since graduating from Valley High School.  A kitchen steward at the off-Strip resort, Guerrero was one of 700 non-gaming workers from the Culinary and affiliated Bartenders Union Local 165 participating in a 48-hour strike to call attention to the stalled contract negotiations ..read more

The Nevada Supreme Court on Friday unanimously affirmed a district court ruling that two proposed ballot questions each seeking to establish an independent redistricting commission are legally deficient. The order found that the measures — identical save for when they would go into effect — were invalid because they would create a new state body (an independent redistricting commission) without establishing a revenue source to pay for it. Each sought to establish an independent, seven-member commission to draw congressional and legislative district maps, thereby removing state lawmakers’ role ..read more

A Carson City judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Nevada trial lawyers seeking to block an Uber-backed ballot petition that would cap attorney fees at 20 percent of all settlements and rewards in Nevada civil cases. Judge James Russell ruled Friday that the petition passed legal muster by only consisting of a single subject and sufficiently conveying its effects, if enacted, in the description included on signature-gathering forms. The lawsuit argued that the petition failed to inform voters of its full implications and contended that it functionally represented an effort by Uber to stymi ..read more

As the last day of the school year approaches, Nevada schools are sounding the alarm as they prepare for the end of a universal free school meals program that was available for students throughout the pandemic.  Prior to the pandemic, only students from households at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line, and students between 130 percent to 185 percent of the federal poverty line could receive school meals for free or at a reduced price, respectively, under the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program.  This school year, a family of four making $55,50 ..read more

Madison Ellison, quien cursa el último año de la Academia de Artes, Carreras y Tecnología (AACT), es una de 15 estudiantes de la nueva Academia de Ciencias de Incendio en el Condado Washoe. Disponible en conjunto con el programa Living With Fire de la Extensión de la Universidad de Nevada, Reno (UNR), la academia es la primera en su tipo en el condado que enseña a los estudiantes los conceptos básicos de la extinción de incendios municipales y silvestres. La academia también les brinda la base para postularse directamente a puestos de trabajo o estudiar ciencias del fuego en la universidad. El ..read more

Good morning, and welcome to the Indy Environment newsletter. I'm Amy Alonzo, the environment reporter for The Indy. As a budding photojournalist in the early 2000s, I covered multiple wildfires across the West. I was young and the fires were exciting. I also covered my fair share of structure fires — a blaze flushing a cauldron of bats from an old restaurant, another time when multiple oxygen tanks exploded in a house, sending everyone on scene ducking for cover. When I moved to the East Coast in my 30s, I found I actually missed wildfires — the eerie orange glow in the sky, adrenaline pumpin ..read more

The Nevada Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on the legality of a proposed ballot measure to require voter identification, after a lower court dismissed a lawsuit challenging it in February. The appellant — represented by a group of Nevada and Washington, D.C.-based attorneys who typically represent Democrat-backed causes — argues that the petition would cost money while not explicitly outlining a funding source, which would be unconstitutional. Voter ID proposals are favored inside and outside of Nevada by Republicans, who say they are necessary to ensure election security, but the prop ..read more

Una audiencia inusual — accionistas de casinos de Nevada — están pidiendo a los administradores, que supervisan los que tal vez son los últimos espacios en un mundo que se está volviendo libre de humo, que cambien algunas de sus prácticas. Defensores que han buscado prohibir que se fume dentro de los casinos de Nevada, se han unido a los accionistas para solicitar a inversionistas en tres compañías de casinos, un reporte que detalle resultados sobre los posibles ahorros al implementar una política libre de humo en sus propiedades. En los próximos dos meses, accionistas de Caesars Entertainment ..read more

When VICI Properties was created out of the Caesars Entertainment bankruptcy reorganization in 2018, the real estate investment trust had 20 casinos and less than $1 billion in annual rent revenue.  Six years later, VICI has become an unmitigated success story, with annual revenue having grown threefold and the company nearing ownership of 100 gaming and non-gaming properties in the U.S. and Canada.   Now, the trust is finding new ways to expand its footprint — providing more than $1 billion in loans to the operators of Las Vegas’ marquee casinos. Please click here to sign up fo ..read more

Indy Elections is The Nevada Independent’s newsletter devoted to comprehensive and accessible coverage of the 2024 elections, from the race for the White House to the bid to take control of the Legislature. In today’s edition: We explore what’s going on with the campaign to establish ranked-choice voting and open primaries in Nevada, analyze a new Emerson poll where President Joe Biden reached his best Nevada performance since November and share how lawyers with the attorney general’s office said a recent motion from lawyers of Nevada’s so-called “fake electors” had no legal merit and “inaccur ..read more