The Daily Rundown - June 11, 2026
☀️ Clark County opened cooling stations around the valley yesterday, June 10, in response to an extreme heat forecast. They will be open through June 17 for people who need a break from the heat.
Hours vary. Las Vegas-Clark County Library District locations will also be available as daytime cooling stations during regular operating hours. High temperatures are expected to be around 108 Friday through Sunday.
🗺️ People living near oil refineries can often see or smell signs of industrial pollution. Now, a new interactive map aims to help them better understand the potential health impacts associated with those facilities. The Refinery Risk Map, developed by researchers at PSE Healthy Energy and academic partners, combines emissions data, air pollution modeling and health impact estimates for nearly every oil refinery in the contiguous United States. The tool includes Mountain West refineries in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Users can click on individual refineries to view information about emissions, estimated health impacts and nearby populations. The map also highlights schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that may be especially vulnerable to air pollution. "The strength of this tool is that it provides data behind some of those lived experiences," said Sofia Bisogno, an air quality scientist with PSE Healthy Energy.
The tool estimates health impacts associated with fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, a form of air pollution linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Researchers stress that the map's mortality estimates are not counts of actual deaths, but statistical estimates based on established public health methods that link air pollution exposure to increased mortality risk.
According to the researchers, the map is the first publicly available tool to estimate and visualize PM 2.5-related mortality impacts associated with emissions from nearly all oil refineries in the contiguous United States. Read the full story by the Mountain West News Bureau's Kaleb Roedel here.
🌱 Older adults are increasingly turning to cannabis to self-medicate. According to a report by the Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen, researchers in our region are trying to understand this cohort's motivations to help them navigate complex medical decisions. Researchers surveyed about 170 people 60 or over about why they wanted to purchase edible cannabis products.
These adults were in Colorado where recreational marijuana is legal. And they weren’t trying to get high – but to manage pain, sleep or mental health concerns. They essentially started to run out of options and wanted to turn to something new. Rebecca Delaney is a population health scientist at the University of Utah and an author on a new study analyzing the survey results.
She says many respondents were choosing cannabis to avoid pharmaceuticals. But many had concerns about side effects. Delaney says the research could help physicians better meet the needs of their patients. They want to help, but they also need more information and training.
🚀 Elon Musk's mega-conglomerate SpaceX is about to launch an initial public offering of stock that is expected to break records — and soon the world will know just how historic that IPO is going to be. In a June filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SpaceX said it is aiming to raise $75 billion by selling more than 555 million shares at an expected price of $135 each — but the amount raised could be bigger if the initial share price is set higher.
The listing price is expected to be revealed late Thursday, and the stock is expected to start trading publicly on Friday under the ticker SPCX. It could be the biggest initial public offering ever, eclipsing the current record holder, Saudi Aramco, whose 2019 listing netted $29.4 billion. SpaceX acquired Musk's AI company, xAI, this year, and that makes it part of a trio of huge artificial intelligence-related IPOs in the works.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Anthropic, owner of the popular Claude AI models, have also filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to begin the process of what are sure to be giant IPOs of their own, likely later this year. Analysts say these three IPOs could reshape markets and inject new volatility into equities, as already sky-high expectations for AI companies come face-to-face with the reality of how these companies are run. Hear the full story by NPR's John Ruwitch here.
🌡️ New data shows heat-related deaths were down last year. But some populations remain at high risk, especially ahead of what could be a hot, dry summer. Last year, heat was a contributing factor in 1,837 deaths across the country, according to provisional federal data. But those numbers are down from roughly 2,400 deaths in each of the prior two years. Rob Bhatt, an insurance expert with the financial group, Lending Tree, analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People older than 85, and Indigenous people have the highest heat-related death rates. “If you are in one of these groups that has higher rates of death from heat exposure, then it's even more important to take even mild symptoms seriously and treat them before they turn into something more serious,” Bhatt said.
This also means that with the anticipation of hotter heat waves, municipalities need to institute more safety measures. “So, this is something that we need, resources like cooling centers and other facilities to give people some relief when these heat waves break out,” said Bhatt.
Southwest communities are also trying to push beyond simply opening cooling centers. This spring, officials from Arizona and Nevada, states with the highest number of heat-related deaths in the country, participated in a Heat Summit to discuss ways their communities can improve heat response efforts. Heat is not officially recognized as a disaster and therefore communities cannot receive disaster relief funds for heat mitigation efforts.
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.
