📢 Strike averted — what's next?

Co-host Dayvid Figler gives us his take on the biggest headlines of the week.

📢 What’s next for Culinary?

A “historic” new contract with Caesars, MGM and Wynn gives the mighty Culinary Union 226 much to crow about. They averted the strike, a “doomsday scenario” of effectively shutting down the Strip during the all-eyes-on-Vegas F1 race, by negotiating record-high worker benefits, wages and security for all these properties for another 5 years. So what’s next? At present, the Union’s being guarded, but a peek at the way back machine reveals many smaller casinos, including the downtown resort corridor, were finally wrapped up with 5-year contracts in November 2018. Quick math suggests all those properties are now on “extension time” and headed back to the mix. Will negotiations be as… dramatic? Or will all fall in line, so Culinary can ride the success to seamlessly return to its decades-long battle with Stations Casinos? [Fox 5, Review-Journal]

• Tune into Friday's news roundup to hear the team debate the merits of the union's tactics [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]

👀 Transparency vs. privacy

Not ALL local unions are happy right now. The Las Vegas Police Protective Association (PPA), the collective bargaining representative for LVMPD officers, just filed a lawsuit against their Citizen Review Board for revealing, in public documents, the names of officers under scrutiny. The Metropolitan Citizen Review Board is (sorta) tasked with overseeing police misconduct. We say “sorta” because, as reported, this Board rarely, if ever, finds a need for discipline and only has the power to make recommendations. In fact, the overwhelming majority of cases are dismissed. Be that as it may, the PPA lawsuit argues that releasing the names of any officers, even those cleared of wrongdoing, violates confidentiality and “could lead to harassment and endangerment.” [Review-Journal]

First, Where Was It? ⤴️

Last week’s 📷 challenge: The holey site above is at the Beverly Theater downtown, specifically on the lovely second-story event patio. Says reader Michael R.E., “I am so thrilled that I know this one! I now feel ‘cooler’ and in the know!” Here are this week’s other cool, in-the-know readers:

🏆 Tami Belt, Cynthia Watson Catha, Liliane Floratos, Colleen Kelly, David P., Michael R.E., Chris Race, James Stover, Te Ann, Andrew W., Sarah Wray

Now for This Week’s Challenge ⤵️

If you know, you know. And if you don’t — you guess! Either way, use the button below to respond, and please put Where Is It in the subject line. Thanks!

📚 Las Vegas Jewish Book Festival | Today | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Authors, both national and local — including Liza Wiemer, Lynn Rosenberg, Joanne Gilbert, Susan Dubin, Sheryl Green, Karin Sporn, Bruce Isaacson — talk about their work and participate in workshops. [Sahara West Library; free]

🪣 ‘Bucket List Open Mic’ | Tuesday | 7:30 p.m.

Comedians — pros, rookies, amateurs … you? — put their names in a bucket, and perform a three-minute set when their name is drawn. [Wiseguys, Arts District; $5]

🎟️ Kefauver Day | Wednesday | 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Mob Museum commemorates the famous Kefauver hearings on organized crime — held in a courtroom in the building that now houses the museum — with free admission for Nevada residents. [Mob Museum, downtown; free]

♻️ Electronics Recycling Event | Wednesday-Saturday | 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Those janky old laptops, cell phones, blenders, copiers, and DVD players that you didn’t know how to safely recycle — this is how. [evTerra Recycling, Henderson; free]

Don’t Donate These Items to the Food Pantry

It’s giving season (though the need for food items is year-round) — and you might be surprised by some of the items that aren’t very useful at food pantries. Rae Lathrop, Director at Desert Spring Community Resource Center, talks with co-host Sarah Lohman about the do’s and don’ts of donating food, how anyone can access their services, and what food pantries really need.