⚖️ Motel sued for not stopping trafficking

⚖️ Motel 6 Hit With Trafficking Suit

A woman who now lives in Washington state is suing a Motel 6 on Tropicana near the Strip for failing to prevent her sex-trafficking between 2013-2019. Her suit contends that the “procession of unregistered male guests” should have made it obvious what was happening — but the motel did nothing because it was profiting from it. [Review-Journal]

🩺 Abortion Destination

With 21 states now banning or restricting abortion rights, Las Vegas Planned Parenthood centers have seen a 31% increase in abortion appointments (and a 600% increase in patients arriving from Texas). What could this mean for Las Vegas? [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]

😬 Slow Action

When someone is found incompetent to stand trial, they’re supposed to be sent for psychiatric treatment until their condition improves. But long — and growing — delays in that transfer process leave patients in jail, are racking up fees for the state — and even costing lives. [Review-Journal]

• Additionally: What happens with involuntary mental-health commitment? [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]

🤫 Regents, Shhhh!

Overtly, this story is about various academic leaders and higher-ed regents pushing back against a presentation by an organization hostile to diversity efforts during a Board of Regents meeting. More interestingly: Observe how often the board attorney shushes dialogue with Open Meeting Law warnings. It’s almost as if the attorney is walking on eggshells because the turbulent board faces disbanding by voters next year. [Nevada Current]

All Hail Cook E. Jarr!

🎤 Some responses to Dayvid Figler’s paean to the legendary Las Vegas lounge lizard:

Robyn Campbell-Ouchida: “My first job out of UNR was at the Sahara when the Lowdens owned it. Cook E. was playing the Casbar Lounge, and I had to help promote him to the weekly pubs. He brought in a stack of headshots, and he had used White-Out to color in his teeth! There were no lines between them! Hilarious! I'll always remember that.”

Michael Feder: “Wes Winters has paid his dues and gets honorable mention in the lounge lizard department.”

Grab Bag

😭 Our Best Places to Cry list, which included Hoover Dam, prompted this corrective:

Torya: “Crying at the Hoover Dam!? Someone is likely to think you’re going to do a swan dive and call the police 😂”

🚧 Got a text from my son:

Him: “(There should be) a law that would require public disclosure of progress on publicly funded construction projects.”

Me: Yes! An online roadwork dashboard, with easy-to-read progress bars showing how every project is coming along!

Him: “Requiring every project to have daily or weekly updates about what phase they’re in or what delays they’re experiencing would probably do a small amount to hold them accountable.”

🏈 With this Raiders season circling the drain, the locals are getting restless:

🎶 Skoryk Concerto | Today | 7:30 p.m.

The UNLV Symphony Orchestra performs Concerto for Orchestra by the Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk, plus other rarely heard Ukrainian works. [UNLV; $20]

📡 ‘Revolutionary New Radio Telescope in Nevada’ | Thursday | 7:30 p.m.

Caltech professor Greg Hallinan talks about a facility to be built in the Great Basin: 2,000 computer-connected radio dishes that, working together, promise unprecedented access to the universe. [UNLV; free]

🎉 Nevada Day Celebration | Friday | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sure, Oct. 31 is the real Nevada Day, but it’s being observed on Friday, and Springs Preserve will have family-friendly activities, gold-panning, garden explorations, Silver State trivia quizzes, and a series of speakers. [Springs Preserve; free for Nevada residents]

Las Vegas Is an Abortion Haven. What Happens Now?

Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision last year, 21 states now ban or severely restrict abortion rights. But patients aren’t going to stop getting abortions — and as an easy-access tourist destination bordering red states, Las Vegas has seen a sharp increase in those seeking care. Today, podcast host Dayvid Figler talks with Adrienne Mansanares, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain Region, to talk about what this means for Las Vegas, and what comes next.