In The News: University Libraries

More than 70 years later, the low-income housing complex in the Historic Westside is being redeveloped, with the high-priced venture set to completely remake a pocket of a neighborhood once defined by segregation.

Slot machines in Nevada have gotten tighter over the years, according to a recent report from UNLV. The university's Center for Gaming Research published its annual report on the historical hold percentage, or the portion of money gambled that a casino retains, for Silver State slots.

There’s a theory — maybe call it a conspiracy theory? — that the reason Nevada gaming win is up despite visitation being down is that the state’s slot machines are taking more money than they’re legally allowed. But Nevada regulators say not only is that virtually impossible, but that casinos would be foolish to even attempt it.
The difference between online and physical slot machines is another factor influencing expectations. Online titles often feature higher RTP rates, typically ranging from 95 to 98 percent, compared with land-based games, which may sit closer to 90 or 92 percent. Supporting this, Nevada Gaming Revenues' Long-Term Trends, conducted by the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2025, notes that slot machine units on casino floors have dropped more than one-third since 2000 (as they are migrating to online platforms), but total win has climbed almost 70 percent.
Next on the slate to curate an exhibition at the Civic Center Gallery are Las Vegas arts commissioner Carmen Beals and historian Claytee D. White, founding director of the Oral History Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Another future organizer is Las Vegas-based curator Heidi Straus, who curated the current exhibition The Choices of Man Through the Lens of the Holocaust (October 27, 2025–January 29, 2026) at the Clark County Government Center.

Saturday marks two years since a gunman opened fire at UNLV, killing three professors and injuring a fourth. The shooting happened December 6, 2023. Police say the gunman came to campus heavily armed and opened fire at Beam Hall, hitting four professors. Three of them died. Two Metro Police officers gave medical assistance to the fourth victim in the middle of the active scene. Those officers were later honored for saving his life.

Two years after the tragic shooting that killed three professors on UNLV’s campus, ways to honor the victims’ memory are beginning to take shape.

Human remains unearthed in a desert area outside Henderson more than half a century ago have been identified as those of a Canadian woman who may have been an acquaintance of a mob-linked Las Vegas union leader and convicted killer, police announced. During the investigation of Just’s disappearance, Metro said Friday, several reports suggested she was an acquaintance of Thomas Hanley, who according to UNLV archives was a Las Vegas union leader with ties to organized crime families in the Midwest. A deputy district attorney had also accused of Hanley of being responsible for Just’s killing, according to previous Las Vegas Review-Journal coverage.
Human remains, found in the desert near Las Vegas 50 years ago, have been identified as a Canadian woman who may have been killed by the mob. The remains belonged to Anna Sylvia Just, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced Friday, after the identification was made using DNA provided by her sister.

Using DNA samples, human remains found in the desert south of Las Vegas more than 50 years ago have been identified as a missing Canadian woman who may have been the victim of a mob hit. During the investigation, reports suggested Just was an acquaintance of Thomas Hanley, the former head of the American Federation of Casino and Gaming Employees and the Gaming and Office Employee Union. Hanley had known ties to organized crime in Las Vegas and the Midwest, according to the UNLV Special Collections and Archives. He was accused of killing Ralph Alsup, of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 525, in 1966, but the charges against Hanley were dropped.
On Sept. 12, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh unveiled a powerful and historic tribute — a stunning exhibition honoring 60 Black photojournalists from across the nation. Among those featured in this visually compelling space was our very own Clinton Wright, veteran photojournalist of The Voice Newspaper, whose images of Las Vegas’s Black community have captured decades of untold stories.

Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl pays homage to the rip-roaring lifestyle of showgirls. TIME called up showgirls who have performed in Las Vegas, the longtime capital of showgirl shows in the U.S., to see how they think the album captured the life of a showgirl and what the life of a showgirl is really like.