⚖️ A Las Vegas judge sentenced Duane Davis to 40 years to life in prison for his involvement in the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. The judge gave Davis 20 years to life for first-degree murder and 20 years to life for a deadly weapon enhancement.
Shakur was gunned down just off the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996. He died on Sept. 13. Davis is the only person charged in connection with the murder.
The one-time Los Angeles gang leader published a memoir in 2019 in which he admitted to being involved in the shooting. That and other comments by him led to his arrest in 2023.
🚔 State officials have ordered the Nye County Sheriff’s Office to update its database policies after allegations of misuse. That's according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
A Nevada Department of Public Safety audit found that more than 100 searches in state and federal law enforcement databases lacked proper documentation. Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill admitted documentation was missing but insisted every search served a legitimate law enforcement purpose.
The Criminal Justice Information System databases contain non-public details like criminal histories, DMV files and warrants. The audit findings have led to new state requirements for the Nye County Sheriff's Office, including staff retraining, quarterly state meetings and monthly internal audit reports.
Email records show an employee previously warned superiors about searches targeting online critics, political figures and media members. Local resident John Sorget sued Sheriff McGill, alleging he improperly accessed his criminal file after public criticism.
McGill remains locked out of the databases by the county IT director. The sheriff claims the lockout and the audit are part of a politically motivated smear effort against his re-election campaign.
🏠 The Nevada Attainable Housing Council has approved about $38 million for 10 affordable housing development projects statewide, according to a release from the office of Gov. Joe Lombardo.
The funding is expected to provide 891 attainable homes and rental units. In Southern Nevada, there is one project in Henderson and one in Las Vegas. The Nevada Attainable Housing Account, which was established by a bill passed during the 2025 legislative session, provided the money.
Its aim is to support housing development, homeownership assistance and partnerships with local governments. For the 2026 development funding round, the council received 23 complete applications requesting a total of about $120 million.
🩺 The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded the Orvis School of Nursing at the University of Nevada, Reno a $3 million grant. That’s according to a UNR news release. The money is to prepare nursing students to serve rural and frontier communities across the state.
It will be used to establish the Nevada Rural Nurse Scholars Program and to expand rural nursing education through the bachelor’s degree in nursing program at UNR’s Lake Tahoe campus. Students there will be able to connect classroom learning with rural health care.
The plan is for the first cohort of 16 students to begin classes in January. Program administrators expect about 96 students to graduate over the grant’s four years.
✈️ A new study finds that construction upgrades at airports can make a difference to their bottom line — once the dust has settled, according to reporting by the Mountain West News Bureau's Yvette Fernandez.
J.D. Power’s North America Airport Satisfaction Study lauded airports with an easy process from security to boarding gates. It also praised those with well-thought-out layouts and an abundance of clear signs, as well as clean, well-stocked bathrooms.
Michael Taylor of J.D. Power says airports that rank high also give travelers a sense of where they are, giving them a new experience with something they can’t get at home.
“That might be food, it might be beer, it might be a different kind of coffee shop. Airports are now getting a little bit better at offering those unusual things that reflect the local flavor of the airport where it's located,” he said. “And there’s a very high correlation between how much money people spend at an airport and how much they like it.”
Some airports also have dogs and other animals greeting travelers. Taylor says animals “humanize” the experience because travel can be robotic or dehumanizing, but animals touch on people’s feelings.
Among the so-called “mega” airports, Phoenix Sky Harbor ranked third and Harry Reid International in Las Vegas ranked fifth. Denver International ranked 19th because construction has not been completed.
Among “large” airports, Salt Lake City’s airport ranked eighth, and among “medium” airports, Albuquerque’s airport ranked 10th.
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.
