Your Daily Guide

🛒 Food Insecurity Rises in Southern Nevada

Based on the latest numbers, nearly 400,000 people were considered food insecure in Southern Nevada in 2024 — up by about 20,000 from the previous year. Judging by growing demand at food pantries, including one at Broadacres Marketplace that draws up to 500 cars a day, those stats are likely still moving in the wrong direction. [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

• City Cast Las Vegas breaks down the definition of food insecurity in today’s news roundup, which also asks a big political question: Is it too soon to start thinking about Nevada’s 2027 legislative session? 😳 [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]

🖐️ Please, No Nuclear Waste in Nevada

When Congress returns from its latest recess, Nevada’s two U.S. senators plan to push a bill that will reverse legislation from the ‘80s that set aside Yucca Mountain as a storage site for nuclear waste. About 90 miles north of Vegas, it never received the toxic leftovers due to ongoing political resistance — and the Trump administration appears to have given up on reviving the idea. Here’s what’s saving us: Other states actually want to bid on storing nuclear waste ☢️ Have at it. [KTNV]

🛜 Wi-Fi Hacked on Delta Flight

It happened between Las Vegas and Atlanta following the latest edition of DEF CON, an annual conference for hackers on the Strip. [Simple Flying]

📚 The New School Year So Far

Okay, we’re only halfway through the first week of a new school year in Clark County — but so far, so good. Teacher vacancies are lower than usual, new steps are being taken to improve traffic safety, and the school district says it's prioritizing math and literacy. The biggest challenge? Chronic absenteeism. [Nevada Independent]

• The RTC modified its bus routes to better align with new school start times. [KTNV]
• The Las Vegas Enrichment Academy is a private microschool that caps enrollment at 30 students and takes a different approach to learning with reading nooks, meditation sessions, and (don’t gasp) cursive. [KLAS]

Las Vegas has never shied away from weird and wacky tourist attractions, but as we continue to dig our way out of a visitation slump, no idea is too offbeat these days.

📷 The Palms just turned the exterior video wall on the 423-foot-long Ivory Tower into the world’s tallest photo booth. (We think. I haven’t checked with the record keepers at Guinness to confirm it.) It’s called 55 Stories of Fame — and will allow you to become a part of the Vegas skyline during special activations and entertainment events.

🧢 Luke Combs is inviting fans to send in their (used? 😬) baseball caps for consideration in a “larger than life” hat wall at Category 10, the country star’s upcoming honky tonk at the Flamingo. My thoughts and prayers to the intern assigned to sort through the donations.

👊 Fight at the office: The UFC has expanded its Apex mini-arena, increasing the capacity from just 175 people to nearly 1,200. Now renamed the Meta Apex (thanks for the sponsorship, Mr. Zuckerberg), the venue is part of the same Southwest Valley campus that’s home to UFC headquarters — and a nice low-cost alternative to bigger cage fights at the T-Mobile Arena.

🎰 Don’t discount the power of a casino rewards club promotion, but this one is unusually good. Treasure Island is offering $200 in free slot play with barely a string attached. New and current loyalty club members can claim the promotion Mondays through Wednesdays until Sept. 7.

🎄 Celebrate Christmas … with Creed 🎸 Relive the late ‘90s and the early aughts as the rock band takes the Mariah Carey route and performs two holiday-themed “Creedmas” shows at the Fontainebleau December 11-12.

🤔 A lie in the sky? As previewed in our guide to August, the Vinyl Room is now open atop the Mandalay Bay hotel. Booze, views, and DJs are nothing new in Vegas, but as our friend Corey Levitan at casino.org pointed out, the venue isn’t really on the 63rd floor as advertised. The number is completely made up. If you want to be accurate, the Vinyl Room is on the 43rd floor.