It’s not just a dry heat in Las Vegas — it’s a deadly one.

The punishing triple-digit temperatures of the Mojave Desert take a toll on those who work outdoors, like construction workers, Strip pool attendants and landscapers. And for years, even though hundreds of Nevadans have died from heat-related illnesses, the state hasn’t required companies to protect them.

That might change in 2024.

After a state bill failed in the last legislative session that would have spurred regulations to shield workers from temperatures above 105 degrees, the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration is working on new requirements that would force businesses to set their own rules relative to heat.

Rather than lobby for support in the next session, OSHA will present a proposal to the Nevada Legislative Commission before the end of the year, circumventing the need for multiple committee votes or governor approval.

“We live in Nevada and have all experienced the heat every day in the summertime,” said Victoria Carreón, a state administrator who oversees OSHA. “It’s important to be ready to deal with it and prevent heat illnesses that could be catastrophic for workers.”

Deaths, complaints more than double in Southern Nevada

Perhaps the best indicator of the need for new rules is exhibited by the number of heat complaints that Nevada’s workers filed with OSHA last year.

There were 346 complaints filed in 2023, nearly a 65 percent increase from the amount filed in 2022.

Past Las Vegas Review-Journal reporting found that most complaints are generally from those who work indoors over issues like hot ovens and broken air conditioning. The number of complaints peaks in July, when temperatures are the hottest.

And so-called extreme heat, or abnormally high temperatures, is only worsening across the nation as the world’s carbon emissions change the climate.

An Associated Press analysis found that 2023 was the deadliest year on record across the country when it came to heat-related deaths. Southern Nevada is no different.

The Clark County coroner’s office tallied 307 deaths related to heat last year — a more than 80 percent increase from 2022, according to data obtained by the Review-Journal. A spokeswoman said the county began to investigate deaths that could be heat-related in more detail in 2021.

Dan Burc, a National Weather Service meteorologist in charge of issuing heat warnings in Las Vegas, said at a county press conference in early May that the city hasn’t experienced a record low temperature since June 1999.

Some summer days, temperatures won’t dip below 90 degrees even at the coolest hour, he said.

“You can’t ignore the fact that our climate is changing,” Burc said. “The data shows that we are heating up over time.”

Nevada takes unique approach to worker protections

Though other states have protections that are activated once a certain temperature threshold has been passed, Nevada is taking a different, unique approach.

If passed, every company would evaluate the needs of its workers and submit a heat action plan, said Carreón, the state administrator. This means much of what each company decides would be on its own terms, though OSHA would have the power to hold the company to its promises.

In other states like Texas and Florida, Republican-dominated legislatures and governors have stifled efforts to create mandatory heat protections in local governments, often because of pressure from industry leaders.

However, in Nevada, Carreón said OSHA is working directly with business leaders and trade groups that represent sectors that would be affected.

“Everybody wants to make sure they’re very cognizant that we are in Nevada, and this is a very hot environment,” Carreón said. “The stakeholders involved want to make sure workers are protected.”

Federally, a spokesperson said the Department of Labor is initiating the process to create a national heat standard that would be triggered by temperature thresholds. It likely would mean more breaks when it gets hotter.

The specifics of the national rule are still being decided, but it could add to what’s required of Nevada workplaces beyond a self-decided, company-specific plan. Nevada’s proposal still has more hurdles to pass, including more meetings and a Legislative Commission hearing.

Contact Alan at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.

By Katie Ann McCarver (contact)

Saturday, June 1, 2024 | 2 a.m.

Aviation officials in Las Vegas are praising the passage of a congressional bill that will provide funding for improvement projects at multiple airports in Southern Nevada.

The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, signed by President Joe Biden in May and developed in part by U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., allocates federal funds to a major renovation of Henderson Executive Airport, ultimately financing a third of the $9 million project.

“More than anything, it is a reliever airport for Harry Reid International Airport,” said Rosemary Vassiliadis, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation. “That is so important to us. Clark County owns and operates the five airports here in Southern Nevada, and we manage them as a system. This airport is a major piece of that system so that we could keep on enticing general aviation operations off of Harry Reid into a beautiful facility like this, and it becomes a win-win continuously.”

The terminal building of the south central valley facility — which has not undergone a renovation of this size since it was built nearly two decades ago, officials said — needs to stay improved and offer certain amenities in order to compete in the general-aviation field, Vassiliadis said.

“You saw the numbers in the Super Bowl, you saw the numbers of (Formula One) — F1 is coming back — we will continue having large, mega events here in Clark County and we will be prepared for that,” she said, flanked by renderings of the renovation that show a modernized, more spacious lobby, an elevated white and silver color scheme and more.

Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft noted the facility’s importance to the economy, pointing to $35 million in output from the National Business Aviation Association hosting its convention in Las Vegas as an example. Because of federal assistance, he said, that show will return on an annual basis.

The bill includes a 20% increase in the Airport Improvement Program, which will impact projects not only at Henderson Executive, but also at Harry Reid International and the Boulder City Municipal Airport, Titus’ office said.

“To put that into terms of what exactly that means for us … it puts us truly in a position to compete with so many airports across the country — frankly, who are fighting tooth and nail to get general aviation into their system,” Naft said.

When general aviation moves out of Harry Reid and to a facility like Henderson Executive, he said, it increases the capacity at the former for commercial flights and commercial passengers.

The bill specifically dedicates $2.2 million toward expanding the kitchen facilities at the Henderson airport, which will help it compete with other base facilities, Naft added.

He thanked Titus for her continued support of the facility in the House. Titus is a senior member of the House Aviation Subcommittee.

“Whether it’s through the property tax that comes in through the facility, through the 207 airports that call Henderson Executive homebase — all of whom are paying taxes here in this community that are going toward the schools in our community, that are going towards the roads and the infrastructure — that is incredibly important,” he said. “In addition to using this airport and our airport system as a tool for economic development and diversification of our economy, all of which is incredibly important.”

Aviation is a huge part of how people get to and around Las Vegas, Titus said Friday, and Henderson Executive plays a critical role in the increasingly important market of general aviation.

As events like, potentially, another Super Bowl, the relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas, the Olympics in neighboring California later this decade and more continue to impact visitation to Southern Nevada, the Henderson facility will only play a bigger role, she said.

“It was already a great facility,” said Titus, who emphasized that the FAA reauthorization was a bipartisan effort, on the renovation of Henderson Executive. “And now I think it’s going to be even bigger and better and more accommodating.”

Vassiliadis was unable to give a timeline for the renovation Friday, saying the airport will need to receive the money from the FAA before assessing the design and so on.

There’s a real commitment from the FAA to get the money “out the door,” Titus added, noting that the U.S. Department of Transportation prioritizes moving money efficiently, cooperation among all levels of government and equity.

“So it doesn’t just benefit certain communities, or certain affluent folks, but it’s spread out among all communities,” she said. “And that’s what you see in the FAA, as well as in other transportation fields.”

The bill also includes provisions regarding the use of drones, and expanded rights for travelers with disabilities, Titus said. It calls for better training of airport workers to handle wheelchairs and other assistive devices, for the FAA to conduct efficient and thorough investigation of complaints and more, she said.

“For our disabled travelers, whether they’re coming here for a conference which is building back up since COVID, or they’re coming here as a tourist — we want everybody’s experience to begin the day they walk out the door and be a pleasant one,” she said. “And we have had a disabled community wanting to travel, but not having such good experiences.”

Titus toured Henderson Executive Airport on Friday to see where specific improvements would be made and learn how the facility operates.

Among other changes, the renovation would include a partition to separate dispatch workers from those in customer service, new flooring in the airport restaurant and a thorough upgrade to the pilot’s lounge, which Titus took a moment on Friday to proudly tell some pilots who were eating in the lobby about.

The renovation will create a luxury feel like what passengers could find in some of the nicest resorts in Las Vegas, officials said in the Henderson Executive lobby on Friday, where passengers towed suitcases past, watched planes take off on the expansive tarmac through a near floor-to-ceiling window or were escorted to their aircraft.

“It’s not just a pretty project,” Vassiliadis said. “We’re not just improving and upgrading … the entire terminal, just because. We are doing it to stay in competition with what the major goal is — and, again, the major goal is to attract and entice the smaller aircraft, unscheduled general aviation aircraft, off of Harry Reid International and onto a beautiful facility like this.”

[email protected] / 702-990-8926 / @_katieann13_

Half of Nevadans polled were unable to define antisemitism, a new survey released by the Governor’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust found.

Further, 8 percent of respondents said they believe the numbers of those who died in the Holocaust were exaggerated, with 1 percent of respondents believing the Holocaust is a myth.

Elliot Malin, chairperson of the advisory council, wanted to get a true understanding of the state of Holocaust education throughout Nevada. In order to do so, the council surveyed 1,400 registered voters with the financial support of the Nevada Center for Humanity and Jewish Nevada.

According to the survey’s methodology report, the sample demographics were weighted to “accurately reflect the registered voter population.”

For Malin, staying objective meant excluding high school students from the survey. He feels that high school students are more likely to see things that are “right in front of them, right now” and wanted to see instead how education has served those who are past their high school days.

“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” Malin said of the survey’s findings. “There were some glimmers of hope but ultimately we must do better.”

Only 37 percent of Nevadans surveyed were able to accurately state the number of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. Many who got this wrong gave a number lower than the international best estimate of 6 million.

Though the survey concluded that Holocaust knowledge is low, particularly among younger Nevadans, Malin said that the findings also reveal opportunities to grow.

Part of this growth involves combating an onslaught of misinformation and disinformation. “This isn’t unique to the Holocaust, or to the conflict in the Middle East,” Malin said. His strategy is to welcome conversation.

Malin recalled a day spent protesting in Reno just two weeks after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. He said he held a sign reading “Hamas wants dead Jews.”

“One of the individuals came and talked to me,” Malin said. He remembered responding that he felt the person had valid questions. “We should be asking these questions.”

He then recalled a man yelling at pro-Palestinian protesters, saying bigoted remarks. He said he asked him to stop saying things that were hurtful.

“I recognize the pain that my community is in, but I also have to recognize the pain that their community is in,” he said, emphasizing the importance of centering humanity.

The survey also revealed that 30 percent of respondents had seen or heard of Nazi symbols appearing in their communities. This number neared 40 percent when applied to online communities.

The majority of users reported seeing Holocaust jokes on Telegram, which Malin said he wasn’t necessarily surprised by given the encrypted, often anonymous nature of the platform.

What did surprise him was a large amount of the same content reported on Snapchat. This was “really alarming,” he said. “It’s somebody you know, it’s a friend.”

Moving forward, Malin believes in education through collaboration to try and change some of these statistics.

“Holocaust education is not just history — it’s music, it’s literature. It can be cooking,” he said. “We need to be doing things together.”

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com.