The Daily Rundown - April 22, 2026
✈️ For the past few years, Spirit Airlines has been in trouble: It has filed for bankruptcy twice since late 2024 and had a merger with another airline blocked. Now, like all carriers, it faces rising jet fuel costs because of the ongoing war in the Middle East. Spirit has said it plans to emerge from bankruptcy protections this summer.
But experts say the rising cost of fuel due to the war in Iran could throw a wrench in those plans — and shut the company's doors for good. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a Tuesday press conference that he is "taking a look" at the airline at President Trump's request.
"Spirit has just declined to the point now where they'll have to shrink to survive. And no airline can shrink to survive," said Mike Boyd, the CEO of Boyd Group International, an aviation forecasting company. "So it's a matter of time with or without fuel costs. This just accelerates things." Spirit Airlines told NPR in a statement it does not "comment on market rumors and speculation. Our operations continue as normal."
But if experts' projections pan out, what could the loss of Spirit mean for the airline industry — and consumers? Opinions vary. Read the full story by NPR's Ayana Archie here.
🗳️ Nevada election officials are urging voters to mail their ballots early this year. Sherry Patterson, a Postal Service spokesperson, told the Nevada Independent that people should send them at least one week before the June primary. This advice follows recent changes at the U.S. Postal Service.
New mail policies may delay delivery for rural residents, as ballots now receive postmarks at regional processing centers. Processing centers are only in Reno and Las Vegas. At an interim legislative meeting last week, state election officials noted they recommended using secure drop boxes instead of mailing ballots if possible.
The state’s unemployment rate in February was 5.3 percent, compared to the national average of 4.4 percent.
💼 Nevada is adding jobs at the fastest rate in the nation, according to newly analyzed employment data from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. From January 2025 to January 2026, the state added 30,200 jobs, an increase of almost 2 percent, giving the state more than 1.6 million jobs for the first time.
Initial reports showed a fairly flat trend during the year, the department’s chief economist said, but digging deeper showed a sustained expansion. He added that the pace was unmatched by any other state. Significant gains have been recorded in construction, health care, business services, and education.
🏀 MGM and AEG’s T-Mobile Arena has new competition for the future home of an NBA team in Las Vegas. Starr Vegas Development has launched a campaign to promote a new sports-focused resort as the site for the future Vegas team.
The company unveiled plans last week for a $10 billion development that would include a 25,000-seat basketball and concert arena near Las Vegas Boulevard and Starr Avenue in the south valley. The league announced in March that it would officially consider bids for franchises exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle.
MGM Resorts’ T-Mobile Arena is already the site of the NBA Cup In-Season Tournament. Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley has previously said she believes the league is considering locations in unincorporated Clark County, away from downtown and the strip.
⚡ NV Energy says it exceeded state requirements for the generation or purchase of renewable energy in 2025. Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard requirement was 34 percent last year, and NV Energy said in a news release that they reached nearly 48 percent. The standard rises each year until it reaches 50 percent in 2030.
The company says that as of the end of last August, it had around 3,800 megawatts of renewable resources providing electricity between company-owned resources and contracted generation.
NV Energy notes that they have more renewable energy projects underway, including large-scale solar and geothermal projects, but that increased demand could make reaching the 50 percent mark difficult.
🦸 Water is precious in the Southwest — every drop counts. And for the Southern Paiute People, water is life and it must be protected. Protecting the lifeblood in the Las Vegas valley is a superhero called Captain Paiute, the Indigenous Defender of the Southwest. He’s the main character of the comic book series created by Las Vegas resident Theo Tso.
When Tso was a child, he found his father’s stash of comic books from the Vietnam War in an old shed. He was fascinated, but even in his youth, there was something he couldn’t overlook. As an enrolled member of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, he didn't see himself positively represented in those pages.
Before the modern era of comic books, which started in the '80s, many Indigenous characters were stereotypical representations. “If [Indigenous People were] in a comic, they were sidekicks or they were in the background or they were the wild savages, the Wild West,” Tso said.
It wasn’t until a friend handed Tso a new comic book with Indigenous characters on the cover, Tribal Force, that he finally saw himself reflected in the drawings. That was 1996. It was then that Tso started developing elements of the character that would become Captain Paiute. Sitting in an art class at Rancho High School, Tso would draw superheroes with his classmates. Hear the full story by KNPR's Jimmy Romo 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.
