🧠 Does your ancient brain mess up your life?

🏈 Just Joshin’

Still stinging from the Raiders’ home-debut loss to the Steelers on Sunday? Blame coach Josh McDaniel for one of “one of the worst coaching decisions (he) has made,” says columnist Ed Graney: kicking a field goal instead of going for it late in the game. That’s not McDaniels’ only (literal) headache: QB Jimmy Garoppalo is in the concussion protocol. [Review-Journal, KTNV]

🚫 No More Big Swamp Coolers

Pop quiz: What’s the second largest “consumptive use” of water in the valley after landscape irrigation? Evaporative cooling, particularly at commercial scale. So the Southern Nevada Water Authority will prohibit swamp-cooling in large business projects from now on. [Las Vegas Sun]

⚖️ Are Prison Reforms Working?

The 2019 Legislature passed prison reforms meant to limit incarceration and avert a crisis in the prison budget. (Gov. Lombardo campaigned in part on rolling back those reforms.) How are the reforms working? It seems they’ve saved some $42 million and reduced the inmate population. But critics say they’ve made jailing criminals harder. [Nevada Independent]

🎨 Our Less Than Favorite Public Art

Not every piece of art erected around town is a winner. I mean, have you seen that — well, listen to today’s podcast to learn which artworks we can do without. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]

📽️ ‘Storming Caesars Palace’ | Today | 6 p.m.

Screening of a documentary about Las Vegas activist Ruby Duncan, who led a 1971 equality march that shut down Caesars Palace. Followed by a conversation between historian Claytee White and director Hazel Gurland-Pooler. [UNLV; free]

📚 Expo: Five Authors, Five Minutes | Today | 7 p.m.

Writers include local favorites Krista Diamond and Andrew Romanelli, as well as New Yorker-certified author Sterling HolyWhiteMountain. [The Writer’s Block, downtown; free]

• More books: Check out the schedule for next month’s Las Vegas Book Festival.

🎤 ‘Dirty Old Men Need Laughs, Too’ | Wednesday | 9 p.m.

Debuting a new evening of comedy, music, magic, and more in a racy variety show featuring Fletcher Rhoden, Sadia Carone, and others. [Saddle N Spurs Saloon, Smoke Ranch and Jones; no cover]

Public Art We Don’t Heart

Mass taste being quite fickle, public art is a chancy proposition, with as many misses as hits. Today, I join host Dayvid Figler and former host Vogue Robinson to talk about the misses — do not get me going about those downtown paintbrushes! Whoops, too late! — and a few of the ones we like, too, as well as the processes by which these things come to be.

➕ Not long ago, this very newsletter rounded up its own list of Best Public Art. [Hey Las Vegas 📧]