
City Cast Las Vegas
🐍 Test your wildlife knowledge
August 1, 2023
Happy Tuesday, Las Vegas. Hey, if you have time to give on Saturday morning, the organization Homes for Our Troops needs volunteers to help landscaping a new home specially adapted for a severely wounded local soldier. Details here.

What's CITY Talking About?
🔥 Another California Export We Don’t Want
Recent apocalyptically hazy skies were courtesy of the 77,000-acre York fire, started in the Mojave Preserve. It’s now burned across the California state line and into Nevada, near Searchlight and Nipton. As of press time there’s been no order to evacuate, but some residents aren’t waiting. Some flights were canceled at Reid International. [Review-Journal, KSNV]
🏥 Hot Hot Heat
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Nevada saw a doubling of heat-related visits to emergency rooms last month over the previous July. At UMC, the admissions count was around 80; it was just 20 in July 2022. No surprise: The National Weather Service says 2023 might see the hottest Vegas July in history. [Nevada Current, Review-Journal]
📃 Contract Talks Heat Up
Aug. 26 — that's the date set by leaders of CCSD's largest teachers union to have a new contract in place. If it doesn't happen, some schools may face “work actions.” The union wants 10% and 8% raises over the next two years. The district says it can’t afford that. [Nevada Independent]
💊 Nevada’s Fentanyl Problem
The fentanyl epidemic is a still-unspooling national tragedy that’s having grim impacts here in Nevada. How bad is it, and what can be done about it — those are the subjects of a two-part podcast series created by The Nevada Independent. Producer Joey Lovato and reporter Sean Golonka join our podcast to elaborate. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]

What To Do
🎤 ‘Summer Lightning’ | Wednesday | 7 p.m.
Las Vegas institution Clint Holmes performs classic summer songs, from The Beach Boys to Harry Styles. [The Smith Center, downtown; $35-$59]
🎞️ ‘Las Vegas on Film’ | Thursday | 7 p.m.
As part of the library district’s Las Vegas Stories series, historian Lynn Zook examines how the movies have utilized this city. [Clark County Library; free]
🎸 Local Music Showcase | Thursday | 7-10 p.m.
Amid the aroma of excellent barbecue, local bands SECOS, Los Emptys, Pure Sport, Hunter’s Briefcase, and A Valleys bust out an alternate Preview Thursday show. [Soulbelly BBQ, Arts District; $10-$15]

Today on City Cast

Nevada’s Big Win in the Opioid Crisis
After four years of litigation, Nevada has won $1.1 billion from big pharma in the fight to hold those companies accountable for their part in the state’s opioid crisis. Nevada Independent reporters Joey Lovato and Sean Golonka join co-host Vogue Robinson to explain Clark County’s response to the opioid crisis, where the funds will go, and what we can do to keep our neighbors safe.
Before I go, a leftover factoid from the wildlife quiz above: Nevada is where scientists have found the oldest fossilized … digestive tract. 🦠 See you tomorrow!
— Scott Dickensheets
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