🏠 Could wildfires drive up Vegas rent?

⛺ More Las Vegans Living in Tunnels

Outreach workers say the number of people living in underground drainage tunnels is on the rise. The reasons, in no particular order: drug addiction, mental illness, a sharp increase in the cost of housing, and new laws that crack down on sidewalk camping. [Nevada Independent]

• Does Metro have the bandwidth to enforce camping bans? [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]

🏘️ Wildfire Crisis Could Influence Vegas Rental Rates

As wildfires continue to rage in Southern California, thousands are expected to relocate to Las Vegas, putting added pressure on rental prices that are already feeling the squeeze. [KLAS]

• Las Vegas businesses continue to help wildfire victims with donation drives. [KTNV]

✈️ UFC Fighter Taps Out to Simple Request

If a flight attendant asks if you’re willing to help out when seated in an exit row, try to come up with a good answer. All-time UFC great Khabib Nurmagomedov was asked to switch to an upgraded seat on a flight leaving Vegas after giving a noncommittal response to stepping up in an emergency. He opted to leave the plane altogether — and of course, the video of the incident has gone viral. [CNN]

🎰 Is Gambling Getting Worse in Vegas?

Casinos are tipping the odds against you — but at what cost? City Cast Las Vegas co-host Dayvid Figler talks to Scott Roeben of Vital Vegas to discuss the tricks and tactics used by casinos to further shift the odds in their favor.

Hey, look at this 👀

If you picked up the Sunday edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, you saw our City Cast Las Vegas collaboration with ProPublica was picked up for the front page — so buy co-author Dayvid Figler a drink the next time you see him crawling his way through Arts District bars.

The investigative piece reveals incidents related to the Boring Company’s construction of the Vegas Loop underground transportation system. The story has gained undeniable traction since it was released on Wednesday.

Here’s what some of our readers and podcast listeners had to say.

I hate this project so much. Build a subway system instead of car tunnels.

— Sam K. (Instagram)

Just think; with enough oversight, it could cost five times as much and take ten times as long!

— l.31 (X)

Although it’s a well laid-out investigation, I was not expecting the Review-Journal to include it on their front page. While the attention the story has received is amazing, seeing the skewed RJ run it feels like a breakthrough!

— Rachel H. (reader mail)

I feel that the Boring Company's claim of a “90,000 passengers per hour” capacity is vague and misleading, and obscures a very real issue with the system's actual capacity that is rarely covered in analysis … Allegiant Stadium has a maximum capacity of 71,835, yet the Boring Company's own maps show that they intend to only build two stations for the site. At 2,250 passengers per hour, it would take the Vegas Loop 32 hours to shuttle everybody home at the end of an NFL game.

— Adam N. (reader mail)

Such violations on complex groundbreaking projects are typical. Yes, this is the only viable option. A 70-mile light rail project would cost upwards of $250 million per mile. You are not looking ahead.

— Kerry L. (YouTube)

Real upgrades to public transit would have been cool. This is nonsense.

— Pablo P. (Instagram)

The County Commission and the other powers that be won’t do anything about mass transit unless they can sell it as a tourist attraction.

— ScotTheDuck (Reddit)

Thank you for reporting real news and holding people accountable.

— Tami B. (Instagram)

And …

After Jalopnik called the Vegas Loop “hilariously bad” during the SEMA show in November, another writer for the publication called “Tesla's dumb little tunnel” an “over-engineered crosswalk” after experiencing it during CES last week 😳

Agree? Disagree? Feel there’s something we missed?

Let us know 📬