Nevada
Nevada Republicans Freak Out Over ‘Deplorable’ Statue of a Giant, Naked Trump
A 43-foot effigy of an entirely nude Donald Trump that mysteriously appeared outside Las Vegas over the weekend has been condemned by Nevada Republicans, who slammed the “deplorable” sculpture as “pornographic.” The statue, which weighs 6,000 pounds and is made from foam and rebar, is titled “Crooked and Obscene” and is expected to be brought to other cities as part of a nationwide tour, the anonymous artist behind the project told The Wrap. Local station KSNV reported that the statue would next be brought to other key swing states. The Nevada Republican Party “strongly” condemned the installation, saying in a statement that families driving through Vegas would be “forced to view this offensive marionette, designed intentionally for shock value rather than meaningful dialogue.” But spectators certainly had a lot to say about the statue as it loomed over Interstate 15 on Saturday and Sunday, swinging from a crane. One told KTVX that the statue made him “scared to come to work, because I felt like, what if I’m going to get shot or noosed up just because of the way I look?” Others took it in stride. Special education teacher Alex Lannin told the New York Post that he was “a little worried about [the statue] getting a sunburn, but other than that, I love it.” The sculpture had been dismantled by Monday.
Read it at KTVX
Nevada
World-famous rock climber celebrates unanimously passed ‘EXPLORE Act’
Since moving to Las Vegas eight years ago, rock climber Alex Honnold has become all too familiar with the dangers of scaling Nevada’s high mountains.
Honnold starred in the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo” for his climb of Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan rock wall without ropes or other support. But lately, he’s an advocate for making climbing safer, especially through a piece of legislation signed into law this month by then-President Joe Biden.
“It’s rare for something like the EXPLORE Act to pass unanimously in the House and Senate,” Honnold said Friday, with Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area’s massive, bright hills behind him. “There aren’t that many winning issues, but everybody loves outdoor recreation.”
Honnold, who said he’s climbed the entire north-to-south expanse of Red Rock in 36 hours, joined U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., and other recreation advocates to celebrate Congress’ passage of the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act, a large package of bills targeted at recreation.
Rock climbing protected
Lee co-sponsored two bills underneath the umbrella of the package: the Biking On Long-Distance Trails (BOLT) Act and the Protecting America’s Rock Climbing (PARC) Act, both of which she said have implications for her district, which contains land as far north as Red Rock and as far southeast as Searchlight.
Outdoor recreation is an $8.1 billion industry in Nevada, state estimates show, and Red Rock welcomes about 3 million climbers every year, officials said.
“The EXPLORE Act is the most comprehensive upgrade to federal recreation policy in recent history,” said Elisabeth Johnson, deputy administrator of the Nevada Division of Outdoor Recreation. “This is especially pivotal for Nevada.”
Lee said she noticed a need for the PARC Act when the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service proposed classifying fixed anchors, or the permanent hardware bolted into mountains for climbers to secure themselves, as prohibited in wilderness areas. The law now protects these fixed anchors, of which there are thousands across Southern Nevada.
“This is really about making sure that we continue to build on this incredible resource we have, but also doing it safely,” Lee said.
The BOLT Act will direct the Interior Department to identify, map and promote at least 10 long-distance, outdoor biking trails — usually ones that span multiple states. It’s unclear yet which ones may be identified.
Lee, who is consistently ranked one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and serves as the House Democratic Caucus’ battleground leadership representative, said she’s proud of how well-supported the legislation package was across the aisle.
“In today’s environment, as we all know, bipartisanship — sometimes it’s a little bit difficult to achieve,” Lee said. “But this bill was so important because it really brought together Democrats and Republicans across the country.”
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
Nevada
No. 1 Coronado boys basketball edges Liberty — PHOTOS
Coronado’s boys basketball team, No. 1 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A rankings, held off Liberty for a 62-59 home win Thursday night.
Coronado (10-9, 8-0 5A Southern League League) next hosts Sierra Vista at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Liberty (11-8, 5-2) hosts Foothill at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Reporter Jeff Wollard can be reached at jwollard@reviewjournal.com.
Nevada
Deadliest plane crashes that shaped Nevada’s history and what caused them
American Airlines plane crash investigation underway in DC
Authorities are investigating how two aircraft crashed in mid-air despite normal flight patterns and communications.
On Wednesday, an American Airlines passenger plane and U.S. Army helicopter collided over the Potomac in Washington, D.C. Officials have said there are no survivors among the 67 people on both crafts, making it the deadliest U.S. air crash in the last 25 years.
In Nevada, the deadliest plane crash was in 1964. A four-engine Constellation operated by California’s Paradise Airlines traveling from Oakland crashed in a mountain near Lake Tahoe after two failed attempts to land at the nearby airport.
Here’s a look at notable plane crashes in Nevada history:
Jan. 16, 1942: TWA Flight 3
Hollywood star Carole Lombard, wife of Clark Gable, was on board TWA Flight 3, which crashed shortly after taking off from McCarran Field in Las Vegas.
The crash killed Lombard and 21 other people when the plane crashed into Potosi Mountain southwest of what is now the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
The beacon that could have prevented a collision with the mountainside was turned off because of fears that Japanese warplanes would be poised to attack the Western U.S. during WWII.
Nov. 17, 1955: C-54 crash at Mt. Charleston
During a raging storm in the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas, a U.S. Air Force C-54 was making a routine trip from Burbank, California, to Area 51 in Southern Nevada, where the military was working on the U-2 plane.
Because of the secrecy around the military base, the C-54 crew were never in contact with air traffic control. The plane took a new route that would cut 10 minutes off the total flight time, but was blown off course by the storm.
The plane failed to clear Mt. Charleston by just 50 feet. All 14 crew members aboard died.
Because of the secrecy around Area 51 and the Cold War at the time, the crash and its victims were largely hidden for decades, even from the victims’ families.
A 1998 investigation by hiker Steven Ririe gave closure to families when he confirmed the victims’ deaths and cause. Ririe also brought the investigation to lawmakers, which led to the first national Cold War veterans memorial. The memorial is now at the crash site atop Mt. Charleston.
April 21, 1958: United Air Lines Flight 736
More than five decades ago, a fighter jet from Nellis Airforce Base collided with a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles 21,000 feet above the valley southwest of Las Vegas. It killed the two men aboard the fighter jet and the 47 people on the airline.
The crash occurred when the Air Force student pilot was practicing a maneuver that involved climbing to 28,000 feet and diving almost vertical to “simulate a rapid insertion into enemy airspace.”
The accident became a national example of a need for further air travel precautions in the U.S. and was mentioned specifically by then-President Dwight Eisenhower when signing the Federal Aviation Act, which ordered the creation of what is now the Federal Aviation Administration and many modern flight safety measures.
It is also one of the reasons that military flight practice is no longer permitted above cities or commercial corridors.
March 1, 1964: Paradise Airlines Flight 901A
More than 60 years ago, passengers boarded California’s Paradise Airlines Flight 901A in Oakland for what would be the deadliest flight in Nevada history. The plane made plans to stop in Salinas and San Jose, California, before arriving at the airport in Lake Tahoe. However, after failing to land at Lake Tahoe because of low visibility due to a snow storm, the pilot decided to change course and attempt to land in Reno.
The low visibility coupled with a malfunctioning compass caused the plane to crash into a mountainside one mile south of Genoa Peak in Nevada. Reports say if the plane was 100 feet higher, it would have cleared the pass.
There were no survivors. The 85 people aboard the plane were not found in the snow until the next morning.
Nov. 15, 1964: Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114
A misinterpretation of the approach chart by the plane’s captain likely led to a premature descent during a storm near Las Vegas, which led to Flight 114 crashing. The crash killed all 29 people aboard the passenger aircraft.
That year was the deadliest for Nevada air travel, with 116 fatalities. In addition to the Paradise and Bonanza airline crashes, another accident at Austin on Aug. 26, 1964, killed two forest service staff while they were agricultural spraying.
Aug. 30, 1978: Las Vegas Airlines Flight 44
Las Vegas Airlines Flight 44 crashed during takeoff in a field near what is now Rancho Drive and Cheyenne Avenue in North Las Vegas. The plane was headed for Santa Ana, California, but hit the ground 1,000 feet from the end of the runway.
The crash happened because of a malfunction with a bolt that caused the pilot to be unable to stop the plane from flying nose-up and stalling, reported the Las Vegas Review Journal. All 10 people aboard the plane died.
Jan. 21,1985: Galaxy Airline Flight 203
On Jan. 21, 1985, Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashed into a Reno field at South Virginia Street and Neil Road just after takeoff at 1 a.m. The charter flight was carrying football fans returning to Minneapolis after the Super Bowl in Stanford, California, with 71 passengers and crew on board. Only one person, 17-year-old George Lamson Jr., survived the crash.
The plane went down when the pilot, Allen Heasley, reacted incorrectly to a vibration by ordering an engine power reduction.
Galaxy Grove, a memorial tribute to the passengers and crew of Galaxy Flight 203, was dedicated at Rancho San Rafael Park in 1986 and features a bronze plaque among a grove of pine trees.
Jan. 21 ,1985: Steve Fossett plane crash
Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett’s plane went missing over the Great Basin desert on Sept. 3, 2007.
Fossett, 63, famed for his solo flights around the world in planes and hot air balloons, departed alone in a single-engine, two-seat aerobatic plane about 9 a.m., from a private airstrip on a ranch near Yerington owned by hotel mogul Barron Hilton. He failed to return as scheduled a couple of hours later.
A 7,500-square-mile search went on for several days from Minden-Tahoe Airport in Douglas County, with as many as 14 aircraft from the Civil Air Patrol, the Nevada Air National Guard and Fallon Naval Air Station between Yerington and Bishop, California, all on duty.
Fossett’s plane was not found until a year later on Sept. 29, 2008, by two hikers exploring the area. The likely cause of the crash was “the pilot’s inadvertent encounter with downdrafts that exceeded the climb capability of the airplane,” the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Sept. 16, 2011: P-51 Mustang crashes into crowd at Reno Air Races
Eleven people were killed during the 2011 National Championship Air Races in Reno when Galloping Ghost, a highly modified WWII P-51 Mustang piloted by Jimmy Leeward, nosed-dived into the ground where spectators were sitting. At least 65 more people were seriously injured, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation, though other accounts report more.
“It was a war zone,” Linda Elvin, a survivor who lost her leg in the accident, told the RGJ in 2016.
The 2011 Reno air races crash is deadliest accident at the air races. In addition to Leeward and the spectators, 22 pilots and a wing-walker died in accidents at the air races since the 1970s.
July 17, 2022: Two planes collide at North Las Vegas airport
Donald Goldberg and Carol Ann Scanlon, who were flying a Piper PA-46, were completing a flight when they collided with flight instructor Anthony Chiaramonti and flight student Zachary Rainey above the North Las Vegas Airport in 2022. Chiaramonti and Rainey were conducting takeoffs and landings in a single-engine Cessna at the time.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation determined the crash was likely caused because of the Piper pilot’s “failure to ensure that the airplane was aligned with the correct runway,” reported KTNV. Air traffic control also likely failed to provide timely traffic information to either airplane or recognize the developing conflict which resulted in the tragedy.
Feb. 24, 2023: Care flight crash
A Pilatus PC-12 plane managed by Washoe’s Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority broke apart mid-flight outside Reno during a snow storm on Feb. 24 before crashing near Stagecoach. Five people died in the Care Flight that was on its way to transport a patient to Salt Lake City.
The crash was the fourth National Transportation Safety Board investigation involving a Guardian Flight-owned plane from 2018 to 2023, three of which were fatal and led to 11 deaths.
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