⚠️ Department of Homeland Security employees affected by the partial government shutdown may be eligible for state unemployment benefits, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.
But anyone who receives unemployment payments will be required to repay the benefits once back pay is processed. And with spring break for Southern Nevada schools occurring this week, Harry Reid International Airport reminds travelers to be prepared because staffing shortages could affect security wait times.
🦠 The Southern Nevada Health District has confirmed Nevada’s first case of measles this year in an out-of-town attendee at the ConExpo trade show in Las Vegas.
The construction event is the biggest of its kind globally and only happens once every three years. This year’s event hosted more than 140,000 professionals from more than 120 countries. The measles-positive visitor was present and infectious both days of the convention, March 6 and 7.
They also stayed in the city for one day afterward. The health district encourages anyone unvaccinated who might have come into contact with the infected person to reach out to their health care provider for next steps.
🌍 The war with Iran is in its third week, and while the fighting appears to be intensifying, questions about why the U.S. began military operations continue.
Administration officials have offered various — and sometimes conflicting — justifications for the war, referencing Iran’s growing ballistic missile program, its naval fleet, its network of terror proxy groups across the Middle East and its nuclear ambitions.
“Look at how much gas has gone up,” said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada. “About $1 a gallon since last week as a result of this war ... and we’ll see what the impact on tourism is. We no longer have TSA being paid, and then threats internally by terrorist cells that always make airplanes a target. So I think absolutely people will feel it directly right here at home.”
For Iranian Americans, the war also means immediate disconnection from family members still living in Iran. Shahab Zargari’s parents fled Iran just ahead of the 1979 revolution, but he still has family living in the country. Zargari, a member of UNLV’s faculty and an independent filmmaker, told State of Nevada that it’s been difficult to reach family in Iran. Hear the full story by KNPR’s Paul Boger here.
🏀 The NBA may move a step closer to adding teams in Seattle and Las Vegas next week when expansion — a topic for some time — will again be discussed by the league’s board of governors, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Monday.
A vote is planned on whether to go forward with those two cities as the sole expansion targets at this point, the people said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because those details were not released publicly. It would take a three-fourths majority of governors to go forward, meaning 23 of the 30 teams would have to approve the motion.
Owners are also expected to get an update next week on where the NBA and FIBA stand on plans for a new league in Europe, one of the people said. ESPN first reported that the vote was planned.
Expansion being on the agenda is not a surprise: The board gathers for only a few meetings each year, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said on multiple occasions that a decision will be made by the end of 2026 on whether the 30-team league will add one or two new franchises in the coming years.
🎭 Southern accents. Carnies. Trailer parks. Cornhole. Line dancing. Remember discovering those cultural touchstones in your 11th grade reading of “Hamlet”? No, you don’t. But you might recall them from a tent show of the Bard’s classic tragedy at Cornerstone Park in Henderson last May.
That raucous production came to Clark County by way of the Nevada Shakespeare Festival. Over the last six years, the troupe has taken public spaces such as parks, recreation centers and urban plazas to stage works from the William Shakespeare canon. That’s one comedy and one tragedy per festival, with one staged multiple times for free and one designated as the mainstage production under a tent at Cornerstone for $15 a person.
The bold, modernized retellings of some of the greatest plays ever written — along with their unconventional venues and affordability — are all part of a plan to bring accessible theater to as many Southern Nevadans as possible. Hear the full story by Mike Prevatt 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.
