The Daily Rundown - December 2, 2025
🌧️ There are still a few weeks left in 2025, but it has already been the wettest year in Las Vegas since 2019, thanks to a wetter-than-usual November. The National Weather Service said 1.64 inches of rain was recorded at Harry Reid International Airport last month, making it the fifth-wettest November since record-keeping began in 1937.
Through the end of the month, the airport recorded 4.96 inches of rain for the year, compared to the average of 4.18. That's the highest since the 6.87 inches recorded in 2019. Death Valley National Park also had a wet November, with the 1.76 inches recorded breaking the record of 1.70 inches set in 1923, the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas reported. The park also set a record for wettest September through November with 2.41 inches, breaking the 1923 record of 2.36.
🎸 David Byrne has a long history of staging elaborate live shows, often with a sprawling cast of musicians, highly choreographed dancing and unusual instrumentation. So when we learned he wanted to have more than a dozen performers at the Tiny Desk, playing everything from cello, saxophone and marimba to a Brazilian timbau and zabumba (not to mention various guitars and keys), we weren't sure we'd be able to fit it all in.
🛏️ The NoMad Las Vegas will have a new name starting Dec. 17, with MGM Resorts International rebranding the boutique hotel, which has 293 rooms and suites, as the Reserve at Park MGM, the company announced. NoMad opened in 2018 as a hotel-within-a-hotel at Park MGM. The rebrand is part of MGM's expanding partnership with Marriott International, officials said.
☀️ Rising temperatures and increasing use of data centers have put a spotlight on our energy grid, and the Las Vegas grid is on the City Council meeting agenda this morning. Nevada's Community Based Solar Resources program gives NV Energy customers access to renewable solar energy from a community source rather than residential panels. The existing Freedom Park and Mojave High School projects put solar power on the grid at the community level in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, respectively.
Several other sites have been proposed and considered. Based on the City Council meeting agenda, Twin Lakes Lorenzi Park may be the site of another of these projects in the future. Reporting from the Las Vegas Review-Journal identifies thousands of NV Energy customers who were deemed eligible in the community solar program and saw savings on their energy bills as a result of previous similar projects.
Read more about NV Energy's recent rate changes from State of Nevada.
🏀 While F1 weekend is still fresh in the minds of many Las Vegas residents, both good and bad, another sport has become an increasing staple of our local sports scene. For Americans who can afford it and the workers who make it possible, summer is a time for pools, beaches, lakes and water parks — a cooling down of the Great American Machine. Unless you're looking for the next generation of NBA stars making their professional debut. For this, one must brave the desert heat.
It's been more than 20 years since the NBA Summer League stepped onto UNLV's campus with six teams and a laissez-faire fantasy. Two decades later, the 11-day tournament in mid-July is the official offseason hub for all things business and basketball, injecting an estimated $280 million into the local community for 2025 alone.
You can read the full story in Desert Companion's Dining Issue, or read it right here.
Part of these stories are taken from KNPR's daily newscast segment. To hear more daily updates like these, tune in to 88.9 KNPR FM.
