LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you lived in Nevada five years ago, you remember what happened on March 17 — the day former Gov. Steve Sisolak closed all non-essential businesses in our state, including resorts on the Strip and downtown, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Overnight, the closures left thousands of workers and independent contractors with no income. Locals were desperately applying for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA — but the checks weren’t coming.
I helped hundreds of our viewers at the time get paid, advocating and calling on our governor and Nevada lawmakers to help with the broken Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation (DETR) system.
Those were the words from freelance photographer Richard Brian Salmeron in an interview I did with him in March 2020.
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I reported on dozens of independent contractors during the pandemic — people like Salmeron, who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance just days after the state launched the portal.
Like tens of thousands of Nevadans, Salmeron got an approval letter, but the money didn’t come fast enough. Trying to get any help from the hotline turned into frustration.
“Every time you’re on hold, you think you’re going to get through, and then they hang up on you, and it’s kind of a defeating moment when the phone system just says ‘goodbye,’” Salmeron told me.
Like many of you, Salmeron wanted answers from then-Gov. Sisolak on what was being done with what he called a “broken unemployment system” unable to handle the massive number of claims during the pandemic.
I followed up with Sisolak, outlining your concerns. Watch the full interview here.
[FULL INTERVIEW] Five years later, former Nevada Gov. Sisolak on state’s COVID response
TRICIA KEAN: Suddenly, there are people with no paychecks and no money coming in, and that was a very scary space to be in.
STEVE SISOLAK: It was tremendously scary. And to make that decision, there were a lot of sleepless nights.
Handling consumer issues for many years, I wanted to do my part during the pandemic, answering desperate Channel 13 viewer emails, messages and social media posts. Some people even told me they felt suicidal with no money.
“I’ve met Sisolak, I’ve taken his pictures, I’ve voted for him… but I feel let down by him right now,” Salmeron said.
Many Nevadans resorted to selling off personal items, maxing out credit cards with negative balances in their bank accounts — not to mention suffering depression by not receiving money from the state.
SISOLAK: We were dealing with tens of thousands of cases. And you get one viewer that’s calling in. And I understand their problem is the most important problem.
KEAN: Well, I got more than one viewer. We were getting hundreds of viewers. I was staying up until 4:30 in the morning answering every viewer because there was such a need. And I just wanted the Thomas & Mack [Center] to open and gift cards to be handed out for people because they were literally dire. Do you know, to this day, governor, I still hear from people who say thank you so much for trying to help people during that time because we were freaking out. Families were so scared.
SISOLAK: Yeah, they were. And I understand why they were scared. I totally get why they’re scared. But the system was never set up to deal with any of that.
SISOLAK: If you think it’s fixed, it’s not fixed.
KEAN: That’s a problem.
SISOLAK: Yeah, it’s definitely a problem. I hope that we’ll never need it like we needed it then. I mean, you never would have anticipated handling the number of claims in a week that you normally would handle in a year. I mean, I was going through staff at DETR. They were quitting. They couldn’t take it anymore. They were getting abused.
With eight state adjudicators working 12 claims a day during the pandemic, it was a slow process to get Nevadans who desperately needed money just to put food on the table.
SISOLAK: Hundreds of millions of dollars have [been] lost to fraudsters as a result of this because we couldn’t get the money into the right hands. The logistics of reaching out to the number of people that needed help; we just don’t have an infrastructure in place to do that. And there wasn’t one. There isn’t one today.
Looking back, Sisolak tells me he was dealt a once-in-a-lifetime situation. It came with making tough decisions that he believes cost him the 2022 election to current Gov. Joe Lombardo.
SISOLAK: We did what we had to do to protect people’s lives. I mean, we lost 12,000 that we could quantify, that we categorize as losing them to COVID. How many more it could be, I don’t know. But I don’t know how many tens of thousands of lives we saved as a result of what we put in place.
KEAN: And that, you feel good about?
SISOLAK: I feel very good about that…I know it cost me the election. It’s not in my mind. And my people told me they’re going in, but I wouldn’t change that.
KEAN: Would you ever run again?
SISOLAK: I don’t know. I get asked all the time. We’ll see. Maybe. Maybe two years.
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LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A string of deadly crashes in and around Pahrump has prompted Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill to push for more safety measures along dark, sidewalk-free roads.
“The worst penalty is death, if you consider that,” McGill said.
The recent deaths include a single-vehicle rollover on State Route 160 during the morning hours of the last Wednesday in January that killed one person and injured another.
Then, into February, two pedestrians were killed in less than three days.
The first was a 7 p.m. crash on Quarter Horse Avenue. Investigators believe a 2006 Jeep Liberty was driving on the street when it hit a pedestrian, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
A few days later, this last Saturday, state troopers responded to a crash just after sundown at Charleston Park Avenue. A sedan hit a pedestrian, who was also pronounced dead at the scene.
Nevada State Police investigators are still investigating both pedestrian cases before more details are released.
McGill said the recent crashes were enough to spur action.
“When the third one came out, I was sitting at home and watching TV. I looked at my wife and I said, ‘We got to do something about this,’” McGill said.
McGill is responding with a reflective vest giveaway, pointing to limited infrastructure as a possible factor. He noted a lack of street lights off State Route 160 and no sidewalks inside the community.
“The only light that you have is the ambient light from houses and cars so it is really dark,” McGill said.
John Treanor of AAA Nevada said poor visibility can quickly turn dangerous for both drivers and pedestrians.
“It is very easy to be confronted with a situation that you cannot see coming because the visibility might be bad,” Treanor said.
Treanor encouraged pedestrians to carry lights and drivers to be prepared if they end up outside their vehicles in dark conditions.
“Having lights on you. Even carrying a flashlight allows something where a driver can see it,” Treanor said. “If you are a driver, make sure you have the right stuff in your car, in case you do get in a situation where you are on the side of the road and now you are in dark. Make sure you have a kit with some reflectors, some lights. Anything the trunk of your car in case you need it.”
McGill said vigilance is important even in daylight.
“Any time of the day, you have got to be vigilant. You have to keep aware of your surroundings if you are a walker or on a bicycle or if you are the driver,” he said.
Authorities also urged caution as more people may pull off roads in rocky areas along the route toward Death Valley National Park during springtime blooms, increasing the need for drivers and pedestrians to stay alert.
A waterfront mansion on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe just sold for $46 million, less than three weeks after hitting the market.
The speedy deal marks a departure from the typical U.S. market.
Nationwide, homes took a median 78 days to land a buyer in January, five more than the same time last year and the 22nd straight month of homes taking longer to sell on a year-over-year basis, according to data from Realtor.com.
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The lavish log cabin-like residence, in Incline Village, listed on Jan. 24 for $47.5 million. It sold 20 days later, on Feb. 13, listing records show.
The more than 7,000-square-foot residence was built in 2014, and has double-height living spaces, walls of windows, beamed ceilings, fireplaces, and plenty of rustic exposed stone and wood, listing images show.
There’s also a gym, a wet bar, a spa, a wine room, an office, two separate game rooms, seven bedrooms and dramatic Lake Tahoe views. Outside, there’s a private sandy beach, multiple decks, a heated driveway and two exterior fireplaces, according to listing information.
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The seller and the buyer are both limited liability companies, according to property records. Both parties were represented by Jeff Brown of Tahoe Mountain Realty, who declined to comment on the deal.
The median home price in Incline Village was $1.595 million as of December, a fall of 3.3% from a year earlier, according to data from Realtor.com. Listings, meanwhile, spent an average of 130 days on the market.
Updated February 26, 2026 – 8:28 pm
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Green Valley’s softball team claimed an 8-6 win at Liberty on Thursday on the first day of high school spring sports competition in Nevada.
Green Valley next hosts Silverado at 3 p.m. Friday. Liberty plays at Bishop Gorman at 3 p.m. Friday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
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