Yvette Fernandez
Regional Reporter, Mountain West News BureauYvette Fernandez is the regional reporter for the Mountain West News Bureau. She joined Nevada Public Radio in September 2021.
Before joining, she worked as a reporter in Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Phoenix in both radio and television. She has won awards including a regional Emmy for spot news coverage, a national award for investigative reporting from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and several others.
Yvette has also been a consulting professor with C.A. Specialized Training Institute, teaching first responders and public information officers how to conduct various types of interviews and prepare for news conferences in emergencies
Yvette is bilingual in English and Spanish and jokes she learned French in Mexico, having attended a trilingual school there. She earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism at Arizona State University. Yvette enjoys spending time outdoors with her dog, Maya.
-
Vice President Kamala Harris made an appearance in Las Vegas on Monday, touting President Joe Biden's record in preserving reproductive rights and framing Donald Trump's choices for Supreme Court justices as the reason Roe v. Wade was overturned.
-
Weddings on unusual dates, such as ones with patterns — think 12/31/23, which is 1, 2, 3 repeated, or 07/07/07 — are popular. In April, there are several palindromic dates, or dates that are the same backwards and forwards, such as 4/22/24. There's also 4/20/24, which falls on a Saturday and might be a chance to have a cannabis-related wedding. It could be even bigger business for chapels in Las Vegas.
-
Tillie Torres is an English teacher in Las Vegas who had more than $80,000 in student loan debt. She tells her students to be careful with loans, and in a bittersweet moment, saw her own child graduate debt-free and become a teacher. When she had her own loan forgiven, it felt like a "huge weight" was lifted.
-
Vision Zero is a European-inspired program which aims to eliminate traffic accidents by 2050. Las Vegas a few other cities in our region that are participating in the program.
-
The Affordable Connectivity Program has helped millions of households get internet access with subsidies. The program will wind down at the end of April unless the federal government agrees to fund it through the end of the year.
-
Transitioning to electric vehicles – or EVs – is much more complicated than simply adding more charging stations across the country. Those on the cutting edge of this effort talked about the challenges and potential solutions at a recent expo in Las Vegas.
-
A new report called “Ready or Not” measures every state's emergency preparedness and finds that fewer than half of all states are well prepared. In the Mountain West, Nevada and Wyoming rated “low.” New Mexico, Idaho and Utah rated in the “middle” tier. Colorado rated “high” for public health emergency preparedness.
-
Nevada has the second-highest grocery prices in the nation, with Colorado and New Mexico also placing in the top 10. High prices mean local food banks are having to help fill in the gaps for many working families.
-
The Western Governors' Association has been looking for ways for its member states to reduce their carbon footprint. One thing they're exploring is how government buildings are built and whether carbon can be stored in concrete.
-
During a State of the University speech at University of Las Vegas, President Keith Whitfield discussed efforts to improve campus safety. Putting a focus on mental health is at the heart of their efforts.