LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Special Olympics Nevada invited community members to make a splash for inclusion at the Vegas Plunge at Cowabunga Bay on Saturday.

Organizers encouraged people to “hop, skip, run, jump, or dive” into the Henderson waterpark to support Special Olympics Nevada’s sports, education, leadership, and athlete health programs. While polar plunges are typically associated with colder climates, the event puts “a Vegas twist on this classic event.”

This year’s theme is “superheroes,” with participants encouraged to wear costumes. All plungers received a Vegas Plunge T-shirt, breakfast, tickets to Cowabunga Bay for the day, and the chance to support Special Olympics Nevada athletes.

The event was hosted by JayBee Beasley and included the fifth annual Rubber Duck Derby presented by Columbia Bank. Hundreds of rubber ducks raced around the lazy river, and attendees had a chance to win items including staycations, sporting events, golf packages, and jewelry.

Liz Volpe is the Developmental Director for Special Olympics Nevada and says the Vegas Plunge is their signature event and, “We create inclusive opportunities for individuals with intellectual needs.”

Proceeds from the Polar Plunge are expected to support year-round sports training and competition for more than 3,978 Special Olympics Nevada athletes statewide.

Organizers said contributions and involvement also help athletes achieve their goals, live healthier lives, and feel included in the community.

Gold sponsors included Greenberg Traurig and The Raiders. Silver sponsors were Columbia Bank and MoneyTree. Bronze sponsors included David and Gail Bowman, Jomsom Staffing Services, and Renewal by Andersen.

A pedestrian was killed in a fatal crash on Interstate 15 just north of Washington Avenue in Las Vegas on Friday night, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

The crash, which happened just before 9:30 p.m. Friday, involved a pickup truck and a pedestrian the Highway Patrol’s trooper Shawn Haggstrom said in an email. The pedestrian, who was identified as a man, was confirmed dead at the scene.

The driver of the pickup truck stayed at the scene and was cooperating with investigators, the Highway Patrol said.

The crash has closed down all travel lanes of the northbound I-15 at Washington. The Interstate 11 ramp to the I-15 is also closed, Haggstrom said. All northbound I-15 traffic was being diverted off at the D Street off-ramp.

It wasn’t known how long the closures would last, Haggstrom said.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com

LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The chief global affairs officer of OpenAI visited the College of Southern Nevada Friday to connect with students and local leaders on the future of artificial intelligence.

Chris Lehane joined lawmakers on stage at CSN, speaking to students about AI’s growing impact.

“Right now, we are in a moment of transition,” Lehane said. “Today in the world, there’s nearly a billion people who use chat on a regular basis. Here in Nevada, it’s almost a million people who use it on a regular basis.”

Lehane said the technology creates economic opportunities by lowering barriers to entry.

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“We need to get these tools into all of your hands, and we need to work to teach you how to use it, because it lowers barriers to entry and produces incredible economic opportunity,” he said.

AI development in Nevada

Lehane said there are about 4,900 developers in Nevada building businesses using AI technology.

CSN began offering an artificial intelligence certificate and degree program last fall to keep up with job market demands.

Throughout the day Friday, OpenAI hosted training sessions designed to help faculty, students and small businesses learn how to use AI tools like ChatGPT. The goal is to grow and scale the partnership between the school and the AI company in the months ahead.

Local author releases AI book

Las Vegas-based author Michael Schrenk has been building computer systems since the 1970s and just wrote a book called “Structured Prompts” to teach people how to speak to AI.

“When most of us start using chat bots, we’re encouraged to use just plain normal English,” Schrenk said. “There are limitations with that. The limitations are that English is very nuanced.”

Schrenk said an economy built on service workers like Las Vegas is less vulnerable to losing jobs to AI.

“Most of the things you do on the Strip or wherever, you’re interacting with a person,” he said. “And in most of those cases, I don’t think it’d be possible to interface… with a machine, nor do I think people would want to… AI can’t clean your hotel room.”

Data center concerns

Schrenk also spoke about AI data centers and the push to build them across the country to service growing demand, including a proposal to build one in Boulder City.

“The reality is that nobody wants a data center in their backyard,” he said. “They’re noisy. They take a lot of power, so they’re going to raise everybody’s utility rates. Plus, they take up a lot of space, but they don’t employ a lot of people.”

Schrenk predicts about half of proposed data centers are already not going to be built, and suspects fewer will be built in the future.