City Cast Las Vegas

What did the open hand say to the Nevada State Athletic Commission? SLAP. And then they all unanimously agreed to make it a sport in Nevada! In this week’s news roundup, host Vogue Robinson contemplates auditioning for slap fighting, lead producer Sonja Cho Swanson updates us on a new parking garage downtown that brings on some nostalgia for the days of free parking everywhere, and newsletter edit...

The federal Equal Rights Amendment was a simple thing: An amendment to the Constitution to guarantee equal rights regardless of gender, for both men and women. But the bill languished in 1977 without enough state support... Until Nevada (yes, our very own Silver State) brought it back from the dead and ratified it in 2017 — thanks to NV, the federal ERA is back in play. And then, we took it one st...

Chris Giunchigliani, or Chris G. as she’s often known, is a familiar name to Nevadans — from teacher’s union president to Nevada Assemblywoman for 15 years, she then served as a Clark County Commissioner for 12 years. Today, Vogue sits down with Chris G. to look back at some of her pivotal career moves, from voting yes on voting machines and no on the Raiders’ Stadium. We ask how Nevada might be d...

During his time in Nevada, journalist John M. Glionna has visited pretty much every city, town, township, hamlet, burg, village, and wide spot in the road in this state. In every spot he’s found a compelling story, a very human character — the last sheep farmer, an Indigenous artist, dozens more. He’s gathered the best of those tales in Outback Nevada: Real Stories from the Silver State. In today’...

Yes, Las Vegas has rapidly become a sports town — but could we also become an eSports town, too? Ryan Smith and Lukas Eggen, co-hosts of the RJ’s eSports and gaming podcast LAN Parties, think so. Today, they sit down with Dayvid to talk about how this billion dollar global industry could take hold in our city, how betting and superstars might help, and what it takes to be a professional gamer (spo...

Aaaand eyebrows UP! We’ve got some head-turning news for you in the roundup this week. Vogue, Dayvid and Sonja are talking about this week’s surprising endorsements… and lack thereof. The Clark County Education Assocation declined to endorse either gubernatorial candidate, while 14 members of Adam Laxalt’s family just endorsed his opponent, Catherine Cortez Masto… without mentioning poor Adam’s na...

It’s a big week for the Vegas cannabis industry. Cannabis consumption lounge applications open tomorrow after 5 years of back and forth in the state legislature. Forty-five dispensaries and 20 individuals will be granted licenses to open lounges in Las Vegas and Unincorporated Clark County. While no alcohol or gaming will be allowed, other business models like movie theaters, bakeries, and music v...

Last week, the Clark County Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve Jim Rhodes’ housing project near Red Rock Canyon — predictably, Vegas Twitter exploded. Building near Red Rock just might be one of our city’s most contentious issues (just ask Rhodes, who’s been locked in a 20 year battle with the County to build here). But — deep breath, everyone — the approved project contains just 429 h...

Look, we’ve got some great galleries and small art museums here in town — we’re not denying that. But when it comes to the massive, three-story, famous-permanent-collection kinda museums that other cities have… where’s ours?? Even Reno has one. We were actually supposed to get one, until the pandemic put a halt to it. In 2020, the Nevada Museum of Art, which runs programs throughout the Silver Sta...

What. A week. Of news. Before we get into today’s topics, we wanted to acknowledge the violence that occurred on the Strip yesterday: Six people were injured and two died in a mass stabbing attack near Las Vegas Blvd. and Sands. It’s a lot to process and the story is still developing, so we’ll be coming back to it next week. In the meantime, we’re got plenty more news to discuss today. Vogue is jo...

As we’ve discussed on City Cast, homelessness in the Vegas Valley is an urgent issue that’s only getting worse. Our patchwork of municipalities—including the County and the City—have taken different approaches (and have sometimes publicly sparred about them). But City Councilman Brian Knudsen has quietly been laying the groundwork for longterm solutions through healthcare — some of which might not...

On Sunday, The Nevada Independent hosted a debate between Nevada gubernatorial candidates Steve Sisolak, the Democratic incumbent, and Sheriff Joe Lombardo, a Republican. The heated debate, moderated by CEO Jon Ralston, was an hour and a half long and went over education, taxes, crime rates, and more (read the full rundown on the Indy here). City Cast was one of the sponsors of IndyFest this year,...

Remember that Vice article about Vegas dive bars? Yeah, we panned it in a Friday roundup — it was full of breathy, gleeful observations that painted a lurid picture of the down-and-out. Consider this episode your antidote. Dayvid sits down with P Moss, longtime local, writer, and owner of two Las Vegas bars, one of which is the world-famous Double Down Saloon, a punk rock dive bar where you can bu...

If you’re listening to this podcast, you probably know how to pronounce “Nevada.” Or do you…? Is the Spanish “ah”more historically accurate, and why did we start saying “Nuh-vadda?” Plus, you’ve seen Nevadans boo politicians across the political spectrum, from Donald Trump to Michelle Obama, for saying “Nev-ah-da,” so why do we care so much, and do Nevadans have an extra-deep chip on our shoulder...

The escape and eventual capture of prisoner Porfirio Duarte-Herrera was all over the news this week — but could it become a hot button topic in this year’s fiercely competitive governor’s race? After all, Sheriff Joe Lombardo is running on a public safety platform, and the Nevada Department of Corrections director was a Gov. Sisolak appointee. Today, Sonja, Dayvid and Scott get into the potential...

Despite being the most diverse city in Nevada, North Las Vegas has yet to see a Black woman mayor. This November, all that will change as Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown and Democratic state Senator Pat Spearman, both Black women, go head to head for the nonpartisan seat. They take on major issues facing the city including housing, policing, and education. Host Vogue Robinson is joined by The Nev...

“Break a leg” takes on new meaning for Dr. Kevin Debiparshad, a Las Vegas doctor and the subject of a recent viral article on GQ. Dr. D, as he often goes by, has pioneered a minimally-invasive limb-lengthening procedure that will nonetheless leave many squeamish: Via a small thigh incision, he breaks the femur bone, inserts a remote-controlled titanium gadget, and leaves the bone to fill the caref...

Baz Luhrmann directed a new film, which was recently released on HBO Max, about Elvis Presley’s life from childhood to riches, fame, and eventual demise. The film stars Austin Butler as Elvis and Tom Hanks as his devilish manager, Colonel Tom Parker. No Elvis story is complete without our city, as Elvis had a seven-year-long residency at the International Hotel (which later became the Las Vegas Hi...

Amy Saunders’s stage presence, Miss Behave, is more than an alter ego. Think more like “Amy times Amy,” — and if you’ve seen any of the Miss Behave shows, you know that Miss B is a brash, warm, comedic force, an androgynous drag queen in spectacular costumes, a master of audience interaction. Today, Dayvid talks with Amy (and Miss B) about the journey from London to Vegas via freak shows and the F...

Wow, Friday snuck up on us FAST this week — there’s just so much going on the news! Today, Vogue, Layla and Dayvid break it all down for us: What’s going on with Yucca Mountain (we thought that plan was dead), and why Governor Sisolak’s office just proposed that we kill it for once and for all. Plus, how other states vastly underestimated Senator Harry Reid when Yucca Mountain was first proposed b...

Today on City Cast Las Vegas, Vogue chats with Dr. Erika Gisela Abad Merced, (AKA Dr. Abad) an educator, writer, and curator. We talk about Vegas as a multicultural city and how that encompasses generation gaps, sexuality, race, & ethnicity. Dr. Abad shares how she’s turned her personal story into art and invited others to do so too with her show, Two Cultures, One Family. In a press release, Dr....

When Kim Foster started the cookbook club Please Send Noodles (a cheeky play on “please send nudes”), it was a gathering of local home cooks who discussed a new cookbook and met for a potluck every month. Then, the pandemic shut down Las Vegas — and the cookbook club. Our hospitality-centric city was devastated… and hungry. The Please Send Noodles crew swung into action, pivoting from potlucks to...

Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto made headlines when she publicly criticized President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, breaking rank with Democrats. So is this a play for Republican votes during a tough battle for reelection? Or is she actually swinging left of the Dems on this issue — especially given the fact that she’d already proposed a college affordability and loan forgiveness bi...

A few weeks ago, our team talked about the movers and shakers from Las Vegas history who would be on our(hypothetical) Mt. Rushmore. The problem? We had no women on our list! Here to help us fix that glaring omission is Dr. Su Kim Chung, Head of Public Services in Special Collections and Archives at UNLV Libraries. She and host Vogue Robinson talk about four iconic women in Vegas history that we s...

Sonja and Dayvid are joined today by a very special guest: Joey Lovato, host of the Nevada Independent’s podcast IndyMatters. (Psst, it’s his birthday today, y’all!) Joey catches us up on the cannabis news — namely, that the ACLU has won its lawsuit against the State Board of Pharmacy, who will now be required to de-classify cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug. So what does that mean for Las Vegans? We...