The Daily Rundown: September 8, 2026
🏥 The state’s Health Authority and Medicaid agencies are urging Nevadans to keep an eye out for letters detailing new Medicaid work requirements, which begin on Jan. 1, according to reporting by KNPR's Anne Davis. Starting at the beginning of the year, Nevada Medicaid recipients will have to log 80 work, job training, education or volunteer hours per month.
That’s according to President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which introduced the new restrictions last year. They apply to Medicaid enrollees aged 19 to 64. The Jan. 1, 2027, start date is also reflected in state materials.
Nevada Medicaid says it’s sending out around 250,000 letters throughout September notifying enrollees about the new requirements. However, state officials expect most of the people who receive the letters to either already be exempt from the requirements or already qualify for them.
Exemptions include postpartum and pregnant Nevadans, people with disabilities or in drug or alcohol treatment, parents and caretakers of young children, those on unemployment benefits, and the incarcerated.
According to Nevada Department of Health and Human Services data from late 2024, over 800,000 of the state’s residents, or one in four people, are enrolled in Medicaid.
🚗 The Nevada Department of Transportation is studying the future of Interstate 15 between Sloan and the Nevada-California state line. The project is focused on possible residential, commercial and industrial growth in the area as well as any road upgrades potentially needed.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the public can comment at an open house scheduled for Wednesday (Sept. 9) at the South Career and Technical Academy.
🏎️ According to CDC data from 2022, nearly 14% of Nevadans aged at least 18 have a mobility disability. That group includes Sam Schmidt, a former IndyCar racer who lives in Las Vegas.
Schmidt had a promising career ahead of him when, on Jan. 6, 2000, he got into a life-changing accident at the Walt Disney World Speedway, damaging his spinal cord and paralyzing him from the shoulders down.
Since then, he’s dedicated his time to physical recovery and disability advocacy. More recently, he's also spent the intervening time writing an autobiography, No Finish Line — which Diversion Books released earlier this year — detailing his life before and after the crash.
Schmidt said his impetus for writing the book came as he noticed the lack of information surrounding his type of paraplegia. "I can't reach everybody, you know, and I can't answer everybody's phone call," Schmidt said. "So a lot of people thought it was going to be a racing book or a motorsports book, but I really wanted it to be all-inclusive."
Schmidt also aims to raise awareness surrounding treatment and therapy resources, of which his own DRIVEN Neuro program is one. Hear the full conversation with KNPR's Anne Davis here.
🚸 Law enforcement agencies across the state are joining forces to help enforce pedestrian safety laws. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says basic rules of the road are put in place to help save lives. All road users, riders, drivers and pedestrians need to remember and obey them.
Extra patrols will be heightening enforcement through Sept. 22. The campaign is funded by a grant from “Joining Forces.” That’s a program aimed at keeping roads safe through increased public awareness.
🏁 This fall, KNPR's membership drive is a friendly competition between Las Vegas neighborhoods — 8 neighborhoods, fourteen days, one MVP — because public radio is a neighborhood thing. When you tune into KNPR, you're part of a massive, shared moment.
You're reacting to the same news, at the same time, as thousands of other people across the region. It’s that rare feeling of an entire community being on the exact same page. Keeping this connection alive takes all of us stepping up to support the station!
🖖 Sixty years ago, NBC aired the first episode of Star Trek, a television show that became a pop culture phenomenon. The original series starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, who led his diverse crew of humans and at least one alien on adventures in space.
"Space: The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise," Kirk says, narrating in the title sequence of each episode. "Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before."
Over the decades, the original series and its spinoffs earned generations of devoted fans. They're commemorating Star Trek's 60th anniversary with worldwide celebrations, from the Hollywood Walk of Fame to New York Comic-Con to the International Space Station, where one astronaut plans to wear a badge from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
At the Science Museum in London, fans hope to set a Guinness World Record for the most people performing the Vulcan Salute — a greeting made famous by Star Trek's beloved half-human, half-alien character Spock. Read the full story by NPR's Mandalit del Barco 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.
