"They’re living beings that come and go,” Lisa Ortega says, swaying slightly, full of kinetic energy. “And they’re misunderstood. They just can’t be the only answer.” She’s talking about trees, of course. Ortega is the executive director of Nevada Plants, a tree-planting nonprofit she founded in 2021. While environmentalists have long been stereotyped as “treehuggers,” we’ve come to learn that simple acts, such as planting trees, are part of a much broader network of solutions to a more complex set of problems.

Southwest Airlines will begin assigning seats on its flights next year and launch late-night “red-eyes” from Las Vegas to Orlando, Florida, and Baltimore in February, the company announced Thursday.

Southwest Airlines is ending its unique open-seating policy after more than 50 years. The airline said its research found 80% of customers preferred assigned seating.

Along Boulder Highway near a neighborhood of chemical plants is a part of Henderson that has come to be known, disparagingly, as “Hendertucky.” But, where did that less-than-flattering nickname for the area come from?

What will it take for drivers in Clark County and throughout the state to drive more carefully? Even rising death rates don’t seem to be making the case.

The President of UNLV sent an email to students regarding the changes made at Beam Hall ahead of the 2024 fall semester and a survey for artwork and mural ideas. The president says they plan to reopen Beam Hall and have classes in the building. The university announced the reopening in March.

UNLV’s Beam Hall is reopening next month after closing in December following the Dec. 6 shooting inside the building that killed three professors and critically injured another. University President Keith Whitfield said in a news release that the university has been working to continue safety upgrades and repairs on the building in time for the school year starting Aug. 26, and will reopen the building on Aug. 13.

The battle for Red Rock Canyon is lost. The national conservation area is still there, still breathtaking, still red—but it’s increasingly hemmed in by encroaching urban sprawl. It’s tempting to pin the blame on developer Jim Rhodes—who, owing to a protracted legal battle and some unforced errors by the Clark County Commission, now has the go-ahead to build 3,500 homes on the site of a former gypsum mine near Blue Diamond, which is just under nine miles away from Red Rock’s visitor center. But the melancholy truth is that we lost Red Rock several years ago, when nearby Bonnie Springs Ranch—seven miles down the road—was leveled to make way for a luxury gated housing development.

For 300 days of the year, the sun is shining down on the Mojave Desert. Our climate here in Southern Nevada makes us the ideal place to harness the sun’s power through solar energy projects. And while developers have seized that opportunity with big solar plants out in the desert (we counted at least 20 operating in Southern Nevada, with many more on the way), there’s still room for residential and commercial solar power in our urban environment.