The Daily Rundown: August 28, 2026
A note to viewers: Due to unforeseen circumstances, today’s edition of the Daily Rundown is audio-only. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
💼 Nevada U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is leading an effort asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cancel plans to give officers electric shock gloves. Democrat Cortez Masto is among 15 Democratic senators questioning ICE’s need to spend up to $20 million to buy gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks.
They also say the device presents substantial risks if used during a civil arrest. The devices are normal patrol gloves that are activated by pressing a button. Touching someone’s skin produces a shock that causes pain.
The gloves have been used by some jails and police departments in recent years. Administration officials argue that the gloves can be used to gain compliance instead of an agent resorting to the use of deadly force. Training and policy details for ICE agents are still being worked out.
🛫 Harry Reid International Airport reported 4.4 million passengers in July. That's down about 8% when compared to the same period last year, the Clark County Department of Aviation says.
The vast majority, about 4 million of those travelers, were domestic passengers — a drop of about 9% largely attributed to the demise of budget carrier Spirit Airlines in May. For the first seven months of 2026, there were about 30 million passengers, a decrease of about 7% from last year.
🍼 According to a March of Dimes report released earlier this month, eight Nevada counties are currently considered maternity care deserts, meaning they lack adequate obstetric care.
The “Nowhere to Go” report shows that the Nevada counties lacking access to routine labor and delivery services are concentrated in the state's central and northern areas. That includes Nye, Pershing, Eureka, Storey, Lyon, Douglas, Mineral and Esmeralda counties. That same collection of counties is also home to zero obstetric clinicians.
March of Dimes chief medical and health officer Michael Warren said people tend to underestimate the impact these deserts have on families, who have to travel three times longer to access this type of care than people who live close to obstetric services.
These maternity desert designations come amid news from Henderson Hospital, which announced it will close its maternity care ward and NICU unit at the end of September. Those soon-to-end maternity services were the next-closest option for Boulder City patients, as Boulder City Hospital has no functional maternity ward.
Though the hospital did not respond to KNPR's request for comment, a press release from leadership cited an ongoing lack of available emergency department beds as the primary catalyst for its decision to discontinue (and repurpose space from) birth services. Hear the full story by KNPR's Anne Davis here.
⚖️ The 22-year-old man accused of terrorizing people in Philadelphia while wearing a mask was in a Las Vegas courtroom on August 27 for an extradition hearing. Zymire Hughes told the judge that he understood the two waivers of extradition from Pennsylvania that he signed.
Pennsylvania has 30 days to file the paperwork necessary to extradite him. Hughes is wanted by Philadelphia police for threatening people while wearing a mask from the horror movie Chucky.
Police said in one case he chased a jogger while asking: "Do you want to die?" He was arrested in Las Vegas on August 25 and is in the Clark County Detention Center.
🎼 If you had encountered Rodolfo Fernandez during his 1980s and ’90s heyday in Las Vegas, you would not have been surprised to learn he was a conductor. He looked the part: “He had the most magnificent head of hair. Legendary,” says French horn player Beth Lano. “With that hair and the mustache, he cut quite the figure in his concert attire.” His was a face destined to be framed by arms moving in fluid, precise musical notation.
In addition to being a talented cellist himself, Fernandez, who died in April, for decades conducted the Nevada Chamber Symphony — previously the Serenata Chamber Orchestra — which essentially served as the house ensemble of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District before branching out as a nonprofit.
He was 94, a leading figure from a heady time in Las Vegas culture, when the valley was building stunning new libraries, KNPR was recently underway, the city had an arts council, and more.
Fernandez was, by all accounts — and in contrast to the popular stereotype of overbearing orchestra leaders in movies like Tár — distinctly nontyrannical. Desert Companion Editor-at-Large Scott Dickensheets took a look back at the conductor's storied life in the newest issue of Desert Companion, available now. Visit here to see where you can pick up a copy.
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.
