In The News: College of Liberal Arts

An outspoken advocate for restoring voting rights for felons could become the first candidate with a known felony conviction to be elected to state office in Nevada.

Clay Heximer remembers eating pizza and jelly beans at the Boulevard Mall 40 years ago. The Vineyard “had a buffet that had, like, pizza and jelly beans,” said Heximer of the now-defunct Italian restaurant. “It was just the coolest thing.” Heximer’s family moved from Alhambra, a suburb of Los Angeles, to downtown Henderson in 1984. When they visited the mall it was a whole-day affair.

For 67 years, the Tropicana was a staple on the Las Vegas Strip. It first opened on April 4th, 1957. UNLV history professor Micheal Green said the casino was the most advanced when it was built, now symbolized as part of the old Las Vegas.

Much of the attention each presidential election cycle centers on swing states where the outcome can have an outsize impact on who wins the White House. But candidate campaigns and political analysts also zero in on smaller areas where factors like demographics and turnout can play critical roles in the race's ultimate outcome.

Much of the attention each presidential election cycle centers on swing states where the outcome can have an outsize impact on who wins the White House. But candidate campaigns and political analysts also zero in on smaller areas where factors like demographics and turnout can play critical roles in the race's ultimate outcome.

In 2024, this delicate equilibrium is key to understanding the seven battleground states where, according to the polls, the presidential race is closest. Last election, several of these states were decided by fewer than 40,000 votes. Since then, together they’ve added about 1.3 million potential voters, and the smallest shifts in sentiment or turnout among certain groups could be enough to alter the outcome of this election.
A recent bipartisan effort to impose federal guidelines on the rapidly expanding legal sports gambling market has encountered significant resistance from Nevada officials. The Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet (SAFE Bet) Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-New York, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, seeks to establish federal regulations for advertising, individual betting activities, and the use of artificial intelligence in the sports gambling industry.
In general, the Latino community tends to vote Democratic, but it is not a monolithic bloc. And in these difficult economic times, more and more Latinos believe that the solution lies with Donald Trump, the Republican who managed to steal the Hispanic vote in 2020, when he narrowly lost Nevada.

Longtime friends of Shelley Berkley were surprised when the former congresswoman — more than a decade removed from holding elected office after losing a close race for the U.S. Senate — decided to run for Las Vegas mayor.

The Democrats' not-so-secret weapon in Nevada is an army of service workers from the Culinary Workers Union who have been helping deliver the party victories for several elections.

When Sam Thomas was 15 years old, he learned the word “bulimia” by reading an advice column in the paper. The person who had written in seeking help was a single mother who binged and purged after her children went to bed. While Thomas didn’t relate to her situation, he immediately recognized the behavior. He hadn’t known before that moment that what he was doing had a name.
The insurance industry contributed more than $60 million during the current 2023-24 election cycle, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit organization tracking campaign donations and lobbying. There are more donations to be counted before the Nov. 5 election, but the insurance industry is well behind the $127 million donated in the 2019-20 election cycle. The off-year 2021-22 election cycle netted $83 million in donations from insurers.