The Daily Rundown - June 17, 2026
🏆 Casa Playa’s Executive Chef, Sarah Thompson, brought home a James Beard Award for best chef in the Southwest region on June 15. The prestigious annual award ceremony recognizes the talent and dedication of chefs and restaurateurs spanning across the country.
Located at Wynn Las Vegas, Thompson opened Casa Playa in 2021, bringing coastal Mexican cuisine to the Strip. It features sustainably sourced seafood from Mexico’s Pacific coastline and a masa program characterized by in-house corn tortillas. The win marks the first in 15 years for Las Vegas, with Lotus of Siam’s Saipin Chutima being the last chef to take the honor.
🛍️ An international retail giant is closing 14 shops on the Las Vegas Strip. W.H. Smith North America said the company was trimming its resorts division following year-over-year declines in 2025 revenue. The company says the decision was “driven by the continued reduction in Las Vegas visitor numbers.”
Local investment analyst Hightower Las Vegas noted in its weekly report that Southern Nevada visitor volume last year was nearly 39 million, down 7.5% from 2024, according to Convention and Visitors Authority data. W.H. Smith operates fashion stores around the world, including Strip brands Marshall Rousso and Misura.
🗳️ Henderson mayor Michelle Romero and former Police Chief Hollie Chadwick are headed to a general election runoff. According to the Nevada Current, Romero's vote share fell just below the 50% threshold to avoid the runoff. Chadwick won 23% of the mayoral race vote.
Together, the four challenging candidates won more votes than the incumbent mayor. Romero raised $800,000 in the first quarter of the year. Chadwick raised about $50,000 during that same time. She said she is currently trying to gain the support of her former primary opponents.
⌚ Boxer Floyd Mayweather faces two felony charges in Las Vegas over allegations that he wrote a bad check to purchase a watch from a luxury resale store. Mayweather was scheduled for an initial appearance Monday in Las Vegas Justice Court. He was not physically present for the hearing, but an attorney represented him on his behalf, according to the Clark County District Attorney's office. His case is scheduled for a hearing in September.
Mayweather, 49, was charged in April with theft as well as drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds with the intent to defraud, according to court records. Prosecutors in Clark County allege that in December 2024, Mayweather wrote a $200,000 check through Wells Fargo Bank to Las Vegas designer resale store Gold and Beyond, despite having insufficient funds in his account, according to the criminal complaint. Mayweather's attorney and representatives did not immediately return requests for comment.
📺 The NHL said Tuesday the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring were the most-watched on record in the U.S. with an average of 1.8 million viewers. That surpassed the previous record of 1.56 million in 1996 and is up 68% over last year. ESPN reported this was the most-watched Cup final since 2019. Carolina beat Vegas in six games in a final without some of the biggest hockey markets in the country.
Some of the increase across sports ratings can be attributed to a change in how Nielsen is counting viewers, but hockey is also enjoying a popularity spike, especially among women, after the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics and in light of shows like “Heated Rivalry” and "Off Campus” putting it in front of a different audience.
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.
