Las Vegas has many talents. It can turn a desert into a mirage, a mirage into a casino, and a simple morning bicycle ride into a case file thicker than a church Bible. On a Thursday morning, just after the city had finished pretending it would behave itself for the day, a bicyclist was struck…

Las Vegas is a town built on motion, cards sliding, dice rolling, neon buzzing, and people walking as though the sidewalk itself owes them winnings. So it is almost fitting, in a dark, but, and unreasonable way, that one of its longest-running stories would begin with motion too, slow motion that is. In December of…

North Las Vegas has a talent for turning ordinary afternoons into something that looks like a rehearsal for Judgment Day, only with better traffic control and worse timing. On a Wednesday, just after 4:33 p.m., that sacred hour when honest folks are trying to get home, and dishonest ones are apparently trying to audition for…

There are few things in American life more dangerous than a man with a pencil and a cause, and the Supreme Court has just reminded Louisiana of this fact with the gentleness of a hammer. On Wednesday, the Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, finding that lawmakers had drawn district lines with too much enthusiasm…

All too often in politics, those who climb the ladder will, upon reaching the top, kick it away for safety. Monica Jaye Stabbert proposes leaving the ladder in place and refraining from stomping on the people holding it. Announcing her campaign for Senate District 16, Stabbert declared that protecting public employees from harassment and retaliation…

Congress has discovered the night sky and, through a show of characteristic silliness, has proposed to celebrate it with legislation. Nevada’s senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, joined by a couple of colleagues from neighboring states, have introduced a measure to create a National Dark Sky Week, an official span of days in which…

In Nevada, it is customary to begin close to home, and Reno has kindly obliged by proving the oldest rule in the state: the house does not merely win, it prospers. Reno reported $62 million in gaming win for March, up 7.5% from last year, which is a polite way of saying the visitors arrived…

Justice, when it finally arrives, tends to travel slowly and speak plainly. On April 29, in Washoe County, it spoke in numbers a man can’t outtalk: 141 years to life. Robert Vasquez received his conviction in January on seven counts, three for sexual assault of a child under 14, two for lewdness, and two attempts…

In Pahrump, where the curriculum still lists reading, writing, and arithmetic, two enterprising brothers attempted to introduce a fourth subject: retail narcotics. Deputies with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office arrived at Pahrump Valley High School after a student was found semi-conscious, an outcome rarely associated with academic excellence. The boy went to a hospital, and…

In Fernley, where the schools prefer arithmetic to wrestling, a substitute teacher delivered a demonstration no curriculum had the nerve to print. On April 20, according to the Lyon County School District, the gentleman supplemented his lesson with “inappropriate comments” and a practical exercise involving two students’ necks, complete with a shaking, choking motion, as…