LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you’ve driven on the streets of Las Vegas, you’ve seen people running red lights.

Whether it’s impairment, impatience or insolence, failing to stop has had real consequences, and sometimes deadly ones.

That’s one of the reasons a viewer named Nicole wrote to us to ask why Nevada doesn’t use red-light cameras, which snap a picture of scofflaws and send them a ticket in the mail.

It’s a common question, one that’s been asked many times, by locals and lawmakers alike.

Here’s the story:

Back in 1999, automated traffic cameras were banned in Nevada. Legislative committee minutes from that year show then-state Sen. Mark James, R-Clark County, warning about Big Brother.

“He urged the [Senate Transportation] committee to be careful to not set us on a path of compromising the civil liberties of our citizens,” the minutes read. “Senator James then stressed the need to recognize possible consequences to our actions if they, as legislators, were to permit law enforcement to infringe on our rights.”

James’s arguments carried the day, and the law he backed has remained undisturbed for a quarter century.

But not for lack of trying.

Lawmakers have considered bills to create exceptions or repeal the ban on automated traffic cameras no fewer than 11 times in the years since it was put in place.

Each time, the bill has failed to pass both houses of the Legislature, even when circumscribed to apply only to school zones, construction zones or railroad crossings. Restrictions, including requiring an officer to review each photo before a ticket is sent — and limiting the fine to between $50 and $100 — have failed to sway lawmakers in libertarian Nevada.

Until this year, that is.

In the 2025 Legislature, three bills were introduced. One would have allowed the cameras in construction zones, where workers face dangerous conditions, especially on freeways. Another would have allowed cameras in areas where traditional law enforcement methods have failed.

Both those bills were rejected, although the construction-zone bill passed the Assembly and made it to the Senate floor before dying.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who strongly supported the red-light camera bill in testimony before lawmakers, admitted he fell short in his October speech announcing his bid for re-election.

“And listen, I will fully admit to you that I went up to the Legislature this last session and testified in front of them on red-light cameras, and I literally got laughed out of the building,” McMahill said. “I don’t deny that. But what I will also tell you is that I’ll be back again next time. I’m going to come back with a better plan. And I’m going to continue to ask those other elected officials to have some level of responsibility for the ways people are dying in our community.”

But one bill carving out an exception to the ban did pass the Legislature: Assembly Bill 527 will allow cameras to be mounted on school buses, to catch people who speed by when red lights are flashing.

The Clark County School District said Monday that it is in the process of hiring a vendor to install the cameras, and expects to present a proposal to the board of trustees in January.

So while red light cameras won’t be used on Las Vegas streets, on freeways, in school zones or at railroad crossings, they will be used on buses starting next year, the first exception to the camera ban in decades.

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Law enforcement agencies are teaming up to make the roads safer in Southern Nevada.

Multiple departments on Monday announced the formation of a new Southern Nevada Traffic Task Force.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Division, North Las Vegas Police Department, Henderson Police Department, Clark County School District Police Department and the Boulder City Police Department are all involved.

Scientists have made an exciting breakthrough for one of North America’s rarest mammals. 

After detection dogs located 85 scat samples in California’s Lassen region, researchers found promising evidence that the critically endangered Sierra Nevada red fox is still holding on. 

According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, estimates suggest that only 18 to 39 foxes remain in the wild — so every confirmed detection is significant. 

Detection dogs have long been known for locating explosives and missing persons, but they are increasingly helping researchers pinpoint biological markers, such as scat and scent trails, that humans often can’t find. 

This humane approach allows scientists to map the presence of elusive species without disturbing them, giving endangered animals a better chance at recovery.

As Pete Coppolillo, the executive director for Working Dogs for Conservation, put it, “Our field in the last 15 years has just exploded.”

The red fox plays an important ecological role: as a predator of rodents and small mammals, it helps to regulate prey populations and support the health of surrounding plant communities. 

The Center for Biological Diversity has expressed concern about the fox’s vulnerability to inbreeding, hybridization, and other pressures associated with extremely small populations, as the loss of this species could trigger cascading ecosystem effects. 

Genetic testing of the scat is now underway at UC Davis. The testing could confirm new individual foxes and provide land managers with crucial insights into how to strengthen recovery plans.

Detection dogs also protect communities by identifying invasive species early, preventing economic and environmental damage. 

Working Dogs for Conservation has already trained teams to detect invasive species such as Scotch broom in New York, knapweed in Montana, salt cedar and perennial pepperweed in Wyoming, yellow thistle in Colorado, and even destructive quagga and zebra mussels on boats.

Overall, this particular breakthrough provides hope for future dog detection missions and gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “man’s best friend.”

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