The Daily Rundown: September 9, 2026
🏞️ National Park Service officials expect to restore a reliable water supply in the Grand Canyon in weeks — not months — as the deadly flash flood didn’t damage most of a near-complete pipeline project, they said Tuesday.
Officials said that they were just over a month away from completing a major upgrade to the sole 12.5-mile-long Transcanyon Waterline, which supplied water for millions of visitors to the Grand Canyon’s South Rim and about 1,600 residents of Grand Canyon Village.
Construction of a temporary water intake that matches the park’s pre-flood pumping capacity will start this week. Park officials encourage residents and tourists to continue conserving water as they work on a more than $200 million repair and upgrade project.
Before the floods, officials said the project would ensure the park can meet its water supply needs for the next 50 years or more.
“The damage to this old pipe is no longer relevant to our new solution,” Dave Black, deputy incident commander at the National Park Service’s Western Incident Management Team, said. “Every gallon we conserve gives our crews more time to complete the work in the canyon.”
The flash flood on Aug. 29 caused two deaths, left one person missing and caused about 80 rescues. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing. The floods mark the third time that overnight stays have been paused due to pipeline failures since August 2024.
🫎 Researchers are focused on a herd of elk north of Elko, in the Independence and Tuscarora mountains, that have been mysteriously dying. In some years, 10% to 30% of collared females in the affected population have died.
Ava Window, a University of Nevada, Reno researcher, said what’s puzzling is that the elk are dying during a season when conditions should be working in their favor.
“That’s when there’s the most forage available to them. That’s when they’re having their calves, that’s when the males are growing their antlers,” Window said. “So, this is usually a really good time for them, and the fact that this is when they’re dying is very unusual.”
The phenomenon has an informal name: seasonal elk mortality syndrome. Window and her colleagues are working with the Nevada Department of Wildlife in an attempt to understand what’s causing it.
Affected elk often appear healthy before declining rapidly. Window said examinations have found damage and lesions in their hearts, along with excessive fluid around the heart and in the chest cavity. Hear the full story by the Mountain West News Bureau's Kaleb Roedel here.
🚧 Officials from the Nevada Department of Transportation are seeking public comment on plans to upgrade I-15 over the next 20-plus years, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. NDOT is holding an open house today (Sept. 9) at 4 p.m. at the South Career and Technical Academy.
The proposed changes include reconstructing the existing Sloan interchange, set to be renamed Via Inspirada; reconstructing the Primm interchange; and building the Brightline West high-speed rail system between Las Vegas and Cucamonga, California.
According to NDOT, employment in Nevada is expected to increase by 44%, rising from 1.3 million jobs in 2023 to around 1.9 million in 2050. To meet future industry demand, Southern Nevada may need more than 6,000 acres of industrial land over the next 14 years.
Because of the high rates of injury crashes on I-15, NDOT is looking for additional connections to nearby highways to provide alternate routes in case of crashes and other emergencies. One proposed connection would link I-15 to U.S. Highway 95 to the east and to State Route 160.
🏒 The broadcast rights for the future Las Vegas Professional Women’s Hockey League expansion team are set as part of a larger deal.
The newly expanded PWHL will enter its fourth year by securing its first season-long U.S. national broadcast deal in partnering with Scripps Sports.
The agreement builds on Scripps’ decision last season to broadcast a select number of regular-season games followed by the entire Walter Cup Finals playoff series. The move is expected to help the PWHL reach more than 128 million U.S. households.
Scripps will produce and televise a game of the week each Saturday to be broadcast on ION. The Scripps Sports Network will also broadcast two national games per week. As part of the agreement, Scripps television affiliates in Detroit and Las Vegas will hold the local broadcast rights for the two yet-to-be-named expansion teams.
✈️ Harry Reid International Airport is one of 13 U.S. airports that will offer a new program allowing non-ticketed passengers to pass through security and enter the gates. The Transportation Security Administration program is for eligible TSA PreCheck members and those with Known Traveler Numbers.
The program, called Gateside by TSA PreCheck, is free, but non-travelers must apply online one to three days before their planned visit to an airport gate. If approved, they can access the airport beyond security through a TSA PreCheck lane and with an acceptable form of identification.
The pass is valid for one calendar day, and visitors can re-enter that day. According to TSA, children are eligible but must be entered on their parent or guardian’s reservation.
This program differs from an airline-issued gate pass, which also allows someone without a plane ticket to enter through security. For example, when a parent escorts an underage child flying alone. In these cases, both individuals will need to go through the standard screening line instead of using the expedited TSA PreCheck lane.
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.
