The Daily Rundown: October 26, 2026
🎨 Indigenous AF, a Native art nonprofit, has opened its doors to the Wai Gallery in the Las Vegas Arts District. The organization's founders, Fawn Douglas and A.B. Wilkinson, welcomed everyone into a space that was once just a dream.
The space's main goal is to highlight art from Indigenous artists as well as artists from around the Las Vegas Valley. It also includes one of the state's few stores that offers Indigenous-made art and products year-round.
It’s something that Douglas, a citizen of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, has dreamt of for years.
🌎 Las Vegas ranks among the world’s top cities according to a recent global economic forecasting survey. The Oxford Economics Global Cities Index evaluates 1,000 cities across five categories. The categories include economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance.
Las Vegas ranks 31st in North America and 89th globally, improving from 96th last year. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the improvement comes from GDP growth and fewer weather anomalies. New York ranked first overall. Sokoto, Nigeria, was last.
🧳 Harry Reid International Airport has completed a $71 million project to improve baggage handling. Airport officials say in a news release that the Baggage Handling System upgrade took about three years.
In Terminal 1, eight carousels were replaced. Another eight were upgraded. New carousel columns with LED screens were installed, and conveyors were replaced.
Terminal 3 improvements focused on modernizing the BHS control systems with upgrades to computer hardware and software.
Officials say the updates will make baggage handling more efficient and reduce congestion. Most of the funding came from federal Airport Infrastructure and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act grants.
🗳️ Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar has launched a new election data dashboard to increase voting transparency. It includes real-time, detailed information on statewide voter turnout, including both mail ballots and in-person voting.
The Visual Interface for Voter Information and Data, or VIVID, includes the number of ballots mailed out, returned, accepted and outstanding. It also includes the number of ballots that need to be “cured” or verified by county election officials, and in-person early voting turnout by day.
In a statement, the Secretary of State’s Office says it is trying to find innovative ways to engage voters. Early voting runs through Oct. 30. Election Day is Nov. 3.
🖼️ For 40 years, UNLV's Marjorie Barrick Museum has served as Southern Nevada's must-see destination for contemporary and local art. After a four-month closure for upgrades, the museum reopened on Oct. 23 with four new exhibitions, just in time for that evening's UNLV ArtWalk, the College of Fine Arts' annual open house.
As UNLV's original gymnasium, the Barrick needed upkeep, especially its roof. "It shows that UNLV is taking care of us," said executive director and curator Alisha Kerlin.
Among the four shows — all to remain up until the end of the school year — is "More," the first solo show of local multimedia artist and UNLV instructor Krystal Ramirez. The bright, text-heavy works draw inspiration from UNLV's collection of photographs documenting decades of demonstrations in Nevada.
All four exhibitions feature themes and artists with connections to Mexico and Iran, two countries that have been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. The Barrick has been primarily focusing on exhibitions with social, cultural and/or political themes for almost a decade.
Kerlin uses inclusion as a curatorial guide, which fits a collegiate student body once proclaimed the most diverse in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Hear the full conversation with KNPR's Mike Prevatt here.
🛣️ This year marks not just an American anniversary, but the 100th birthday of national icons like Chuck Berry, Marilyn Monroe — and Route 66. Route 66 extended 2,448 miles from the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago to the seagulls of the Santa Monica Pier.
Running through the heart of America, it was dubbed the Mother Road by John Steinbeck … but that name also symbolizes what was left behind as the nation grew up. Travel over smoother, speedier freeways has emptied the small towns once fueled by the motorists who stopped at their traffic lights and postcard racks.
But a big birthday is always a good reason to visit home. Slow down and take the long way — savor hearty cooking, admire old photos, pick up a tchotchke or two. Lissa Townsend Rodgers takes us through a section of the nation's most historic highway in Desert Companion's newest edition, available now.
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.
