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Confronting climate change impacts, tribes prepare and persist
This story is the last in a series. Read part one on infrastructure issues here, and part two on environmental consequences here. It can take up to a century for a piñon pine to produce the soft sweet seeds that birds, squirrels and other small mammals rely on for food. The Walker River Paiute Tribe has […]
Upstream solutions lead to downstream problems for Tribal plants and animals
This story is the second in a series. Read the first part on infrastructure issues here, and the final part of the series here. Sometimes the Pyramid Lake Fisheries director peers out from Popcorn Rock — a humorously shaped chunk of limestone — to watch the delta where the mouth of the Truckee River meets […]
From not enough water to too much: Floods in Nevada bring pain and relief
This story is the first in a series. Find part two on environmental consequences here. It’s the second year in a row the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe have had to hook tarps over roofs torn apart by historic storms and prepare temporary shelter for shaken residents. The tribe has lived in what’s now known as […]
Report of giant lithium find underscores need for less ‘sloppy’ permitting, conservationist says
An ancient supervolcano formed millions of years ago in present-day Nevada may be hiding the largest deposit of lithium found anywhere in the world. And one U.S. mining company owns the rights to a small portion of it. A new study published in Science Advances hypothesizes that the McDermitt Caldera — which sits on the […]
Hurricane Hilary could be part of a trend, study says
As climate change heats up the ocean, unusual Pacific storms like Hurricane Hilary and flooding summer rains could be a peek into the future of the West Coast. Global sea surface temperatures reached record highs in 2022, with parts of the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico all engulfed in abnormally intense and persistent […]
Judge again declares DACA unlawful, sending program on path to Supreme Court
A Texas federal judge on Wednesday declared President Joe Biden’s version of an Obama-era program protecting young immigrants from deportation unlawful, saying the new iteration is no different from earlier ones he knocked down. More than 11,000 Nevada residents benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, which allows people who arrived in […]
August rains clear drought in three-quarters of Nevada
More than three-quarters of Nevada are fully drought free after an abnormally wet August in the state. Nearly 80% of the state is drought-free with no severe or significant drought for the first time since April 2020, according to the National Weather Service. Only Clark County remains in drought watch. Still, two powerful storm systems […]
Extreme heat hitting more workers across every sector, complaints show
Nevada workers in nearly every industry are suffering the consequences of record breaking heat this summer, and a growing trend in labor complaints shows it’s only getting worse. Data from state labor regulators paint a picture of more and more workers across multiple industries at high risk of heat-related illness in the state. Last year […]
Leisure and hospitality hiring contributes to solid jobs report
Hiring slowed this summer and unemployment rose in August, the sign of a cooling but still-resilient labor market despite high interest rates, say economists. Employers added 187,000 jobs last month, while wages rose 4.3% from a year earlier, according to Friday’s job report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. From June through August, […]
NV ranks 4th in clean energy jobs for communities of color
Nevada’s communities of color are benefiting from major federal investments in clean energy related projects, according to a new report. According to the Department of Energy’s latest energy and employment report, the clean energy workforce is more diverse than other energy sectors. Employees in the wind, solar, and electric transmission jobs have higher rates of […]
Southern Nevada at risk of losing tree shade to extreme heat
Southern Nevada is at risk of losing the few trees it has due to extreme heat, a loss that would only exacerbate how unevenly protective tree shade is distributed across communities in one of the fastest-warming metros in the nation. As climate change disruption continues at a faster pace than predicted by climate scientists, the […]
After dry monsoon season, hurricane set to bring Southern Nevada heavy rain
Las Vegas is in the path of a rapidly intensifying tropical storm that is expected to cause temperatures in Las Vegas to tumble and bring flooding in the coming days. A tropical storm along the west coast that developed into Hurricane Hilary Thursday is expected to bring periodic rainfall to Southern Nevada, some of which […]