In January, when the year was still pretending to be orderly, a small group of Reno detectives began pulling on a loose thread. It belonged to a man who was not supposed to slip through cracks. Geovaughanii Chambers-Richie, 28, had a standing obligation to the state of Nevada: if he moved, he had 48 hours…

There are stories folks will tell you with a campfire crackling and the stars out in full regalia, and then there are stories they’ll only whisper when the fire’s gone out. And the desert is dead still. This one falls into the latter. Now I’ve been known to chase hot springs across Nevada like some…

Virginia City has always had a talent for mining things out of the ground, silver in one century, trouble in the next, and occasionally both in the same afternoon. On April 23, just about the time honest citizens were deciding whether to call it an early dinner or a late surrender to the day, Storey…

There are some doors in this Republic which open only with great difficulty, opportunity, for instance, or common sense. And then there are some that swing so freely a man might pass through them three or four times before anyone thinks to oil the hinges. Such is the case of Cesar Daniel Reyes-Rodriguez, a Mexican…

There are people in this world who insist on seeing the good in others, the way some men insist on petting a strange dog with bad manners. It is a generous habit and is also, on occasion, a dangerous one. Tabatha Tozzi was such a person. Her friends called her a light, and by all…

It is a peculiar feature of modern civilization that a man may announce himself as Jesus Christ, and the neighborhood will not argue theology with him so much as call the police. Such was the case in downtown Las Vegas on the evening of April 21, when George Barrios, age 39, took to proclaiming divinity…

There are many fine things in the world, but it is a rare contraption that can bruise a child and still call it instruction. In the east valley of Las Vegas sits the Variety School, a place devoted to special needs children, which is to say, children who require more patience than the average bureaucracy…

Nevada, it seems, has achieved a modern sort of distinction: it employs mothers in large numbers while making the arrangement feel like an endurance sport with paperwork. A new study has the state 47th for working mothers, which is the sort of ranking that does not require celebration so much as explanation. Women now make…

There are certain professions a man enters with a solemn promise to behave himself. Schoolmaster is one. A bank teller is another. The politician tries, but we keep an eye on him anyway. An assistant principal is responsible for children and a set of keys, both of which should never be misused, although history demonstrates…

There was a time in this country when a man could get told to leave a store and would do so, if only out of habit or shame. These days, he treats the request as an opening argument. Police in Las Vegas are now asking the public to identify a gentleman who took offense at…