Nevada

In Las Vegas, Kamala Harris sees a chance to improve her odds of winning

Published

2 years ago

August 10, 2024

In Las Vegas, Kamala Harris sees a chance to improve her odds of winning

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is working to make Nevada look like less of a political gamble in November’s election.

The Democratic presidential nominee visits the state on Saturday with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. It’s the final stop of a battleground blitz in which Democrats are showing new energy after President Joe Biden exited the race and Harris replaced him at the top of the ticket. That new enthusiasm has enabled them to boost turnout efforts in swing states such as Nevada and Arizona, which Harris visited Friday.

Magnolia Magat, a 59-year-old restaurant owner in Las Vegas who lives in the neighboring city of Henderson, said she’s now “more hopeful” about the election.

“I am very happy that not only is our candidate a woman, she is Black and she’s also Asian,” said Magat, who is Filipino American. “And it’s not because Harris is a woman that I want to endorse her. It’s because she’s highly capable of running the country.”

As part of the trip, Harris is hoping to build greater support among Latino voters. In 2020, Biden narrowly beat Republican Donald Trump by 2.4 percentage points in Nevada. Trump, the former president, is trying this time to create more support in a state that relies on the hotel, restaurant and entertainment industry by pledging to make workers’ tips tax-free.

But the union representing 60,000 workers in that industry, the Culinary Workers Union, announced Friday night its endorsement of Harris. About 54% of the union’s members are Latino, 55% women and 60% immigrants.

“The path to victory runs through Nevada,” the union said in a statement, “and the Culinary Union will deliver Nevada for President Kamala Harris and Vice President Tim Walz.”

AP VoteCast found in 2020 that 14% of Nevada voters were Hispanic, with Biden winning 54% of their votes. His margin with Hispanic voters was slightly better nationwide, a sign that Democrats cannot take this bloc of voters for granted.

Harris is hoping to drive a wedge with Republicans by focusing on issues such as access to abortion and repairs to the U.S. immigration system. Her message is that Trump killed a bipartisan deal this year to improve security on the southern border and address immigration issues, with Democrats saying he did so in hopes of improving his own political odds.

Because Harris’ portfolio in the Biden administration included the root causes of migration and due to some of her comments before the 2020 election, Republicans have sought to portray her as weak on the southern border and enabling illegal immigration.

At a Thursday news conference, Trump said of Harris, “As a border czar, she’s been the worst border czar in history, in the world history.”

The Republican has proposed mass deportations if he returns to the White House, but AP VoteCast found in 2020 that nearly 7 in 10 Nevada voters said that immigrants living in the United States illegally should be offered the chance to apply for legal status.

Harris and Walz over the past week have also visited the crucial midwestern “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Along with Nevada and Arizona, those five states represent 61 electoral votes that could be essential for reaching the 270 threshold required to win November’s election. Harris had also planned to visit North Carolina and Georgia this past week — between them another 32 electoral votes — but those stops were postponed due to Tropical Storm Debby.

In Nevada’s rural Douglas County near the California border, Gail Scott, 71, serves on the central committee of the local Democratic Party and said she didn’t initially agree with calls for Biden to leave the race. Trump won the county in 2016 and 2020, but trimming his margins there could lower his ability to compete in Nevada.

What to know about the 2024 Election

Scott said it’s impossible to miss the energy that Harris has created among younger voters who could help statewide.

“Young people are embracing Kamala Harris and the enthusiasm and the joy that she’s brought to the campaign,” she said.

Brian Shaw, a Republican from northern Nevada, said Harris’ arrival on the top of the ticket could make it harder for Trump to win because Biden was a “pitiful candidate” and there’s little time to expose the vice president’s “incompetence.” He said he attended Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s rally in Reno on July 30 and found him to be “likable, capable, polished as a politician, but not veneered.” He didn’t have much of an opinion of Walz.

___

Boak reported from Washington. AP writer Scott Sonner contributed to this report from Reno, Nevada.

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Nevada

Nevada’s unwritten rules (and what we wish the unwritten rules were)

Published

10 hours ago

May 29, 2026

Press Room

Nevada’s unwritten rules (and what we wish the unwritten rules were)

There’s a debate over on Reddit right now about how dogs should be kept on leashes around town, on trails, or anywhere in public that’s not a dog park.

I should clarify: When I say “debate,” I mean that several users have created posts about how dogs should be kept on leashes, and almost every response is 100% in agreement.

Go ahead and look at the posts; nobody’s putting together a spirited defense of letting their pets run around licking strangers and pooping on nature. With that kind of general consensus, I’d want to say that leashing our dogs is one of Reno-Sparks’ “unwritten rules.”

Except for two things: One, this rule is very much written (see Chapter 95.220 of the Washoe County Code: “Owners must have animals leashed no more than 6 feet in length and under immediate control at all times.”)

And also: The phrase “unwritten rules” implies that everyone goes along with it without even thinking. But we’ve all interacted with dog owners on local trails, letting their giant furballs knock over toddlers or chase goslings through the wetlands.

“Aw, he’s just a big puppy!” they’ll say, followed up with a halfhearted, “Down, Barnaby.”

Clearly, leashing dogs is not an unwritten rule because it’s constantly being broken. A true unwritten rule for hiking trails would be something that rarely ever gets broken, like “wear pants at all times.” Really, the leash thing is more like a wish list for society, alongside such things as:

Don’t mow before 8 a.m.
Signal your turns and lane changes.
Merge when you see a lane closure ahead, not at the last minute. (Yes, make all your arguments about how last-minute merging saves space. It all amounts to “I’m going to cut ahead of everyone else and pretend that it’s for the greater good.”)
If you’re driving a large vehicle, park at the far end of the lot.
Several more things about driving, actually.

But let’s move on. I’ve been wracking my brain to think of actual “unwritten rules” for Northern Nevada that outsiders might not grasp right away, and I didn’t come up with many. But here goes:

It’s not rude to keep your favorite spots a secret, even from friends and family: Got a favorite local park or Lake Tahoe beach? You’re not even required to tell your own mother about it, because word will get out and everything will be ruined. We value our personal space, and the community is too small to keep anything under wraps.

Side note: You can’t do this with businesses, because you need your burrito spot to stay crowded and busy. If nobody goes to your secret hot springs, it’s not going to suddenly go out of business and turn into a vape shop.

On Tahoe beaches, you can claim one beach towel’s worth of space per person, and that’s it: If word gets out about your favorite beach, you’ll have to start your day battling for a parking spot (bonus unwritten rule: You can’t reserve a parking spot by standing in it.)

The slightly less annoying ― but still difficult ― territory battle will be on the beach itself. Everyone but you will have a pop-up tent, several coolers and some sort of sound system. But societal convention dictates that any group can only claim the square footage of one beach towel per person, and leave ample space to walk between their beach site and the next one over.

Twenty minutes is a long drive in Reno-Sparks, but four hours is completely reasonable if you’re heading out of town: Recent transplants from more urban places like the Bay Area or Las Vegas will drive for 45 minutes to get to the one Target they like best. Around here, that sounds like hell.

On the other hand, driving for several hours to go see ichthyosaur skeletons or attend a Basque festival or go to a Giants game is completely reasonable. I can’t explain why this is. It might have something to do with hatred of stoplights.

Settle in a bit before complaining about outsiders: Yes, we know you just got here, and you want to prove your worthiness by complaining about Californians or Southern Nevadans, because that’s our local sport.

On average, we’re not nearly as closed off as people say; only about one-quarter of Nevadans were actually born here, so most of us know what it’s like to be the new kid. But at least wait until you’ve unloaded the last box from your U-Haul before you start griping about how new arrivals are pricing everyone out.

You, on the other hand ― you, the person reading this article right now! ― know a lot more unwritten rules for Northern Nevada. Either that, or you have ideas on what should be unwritten rules. Send them my way at bmcginness@rgj.com, and we’ll debate all of them next week.

Guys, we’re bringing back Shopko

What lost places in Reno-Sparks should we bring back? That’s the question I posed last week; here’s what you said:

Let’s start with department store ShopKo, which had the highly underrated slogan, “Say hello to a good buy.” We had three ― on South Virginia, Mae Anne and Oddie Boulevard. Lauri Ferguson wrote in to compliment the selection, and noted “their products lasted too.” Sadly, the entire chain disappeared nearly a decade ago, so bringing them back might be the heaviest lift ever.

“Bring back Famous Murphy’s,” wrote E. Pollard. “Can’t believe it ever closed and was then bulldozed and has been an empty dirt lot for more than 25 years.”

For the record, it’s actually been 18 years since it closed and 11 years since it was bulldozed, but the point stands.

“The purpose of the demolition is to make way for a new development being planned at this site,” developers told the RGJ in 2015. Anyway, it’s still an empty lot.

And finally, I had lamented over the lost Century Theaters dome on South Virginia, but Kurt Kinder mentioned one even more venerable, but equally lost: the Granada Theater, which originally opened in 1916, burned down in 1953 and reopened in 1954. It was torn down in 1997 and is now the site of the Palladio.

Brett McGinness is the engagement editor for the Reno Gazette Journal. He’s also the writer of The Reno Memo — a free newsletter about news in the Biggest Little City.

Subscribe to the newsletter right here. Consider supporting the Reno Gazette Journal, too.

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Nevada

Nevada veterans exposed to radiation, toxic chemicals near recognition under new bill

Published

22 hours ago

May 28, 2026

Press Room

Nevada veterans exposed to radiation, toxic chemicals near recognition under new bill

LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada veterans who say they were exposed to radiation and toxic chemicals at the Nevada Test and Training Range are one step closer to getting recognized and help.

Senator Jacky Rosen and Congresswoman Susie Lee are introducing an updated “Forgotten Veterans Act,” now renamed the Sergeant Dave Crete Forgotten Veterans Act, to force the Defense Department to document contamination on the range and identify every service member who served there.

Veterans say years of classified work have kept them from proving their exposure and getting VA benefits, even as they deal with cancer and other serious illnesses.

Under the bill, the Pentagon would have to formally list the range as contaminated, unmask where veterans served the VA, and clear up a path for them and their families to qualify for care and compensation.

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Nevada

City of Reno, RPD leaders mourn Detective

Published

1 day ago

May 28, 2026

Press Room

City of Reno, RPD leaders mourn Detective

The City of Reno and the Reno Police Department are mourning the loss of Detective Thomas Lopey, who served the department for nearly 13 years and was known for his dedication, leadership, and mentorship.

Lopey also served four years in the U.S. Army as an infantry mortarman, deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and later continued his service in the National Guard as a combat engineer.

He began his law enforcement career with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office before joining RPD, where he worked in patrol, the Regional Gang Unit, SWAT, and later became a detective. He also served as president of the Reno Police Protective Association for three years.

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City and police leaders praised Lopey as a committed public servant whose work strengthened both the department and the community. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

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