Nevada
Nevada track team opens new $5M RSCVA state-of-art track; 7 more events this winter
RSCVA opens new indoor track and field facility in Reno
RSCVA has opened a brand new world class indoor track and field facility in the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on Dec. 5, 2024.
Reno is now a track and field destination with a state-of-the art track up and running at the Reno Sparks Convention Center.
The new $5.2 million track hosted its first meet Thursday, along with a grand opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting.
The Mondo-manufactured track, made in Italy, meets World Athletics certification standards and should yield some fast times.
It will be home to the Nevada women’s track and field team for indoor meets as well as practices and will also host high school, middle school and adult track and field meets. The Wolf Pack is hosting this week’s Silver State Invitational on the track.
8 meets scheduled for new RSCVA track’s first season
The track is the third of its kind on the West Coast capable of hosting high-level events.
RSCVA President and CEO Mike Larragueta said the process of approving, buying and installing the track was about two and a half years. Larragueta said it is expected to last about 10 years and will easily pay for itself in that time. He said the $5.2 million cost will be recouped within the next two and a half years.
There are three Mondo tracks in the western United States, in addition to Reno, with tracks in Spokane, Washington, and in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
There are eight meets scheduled for the RSCVA track this winter.
“We think that after this first season, the demand is going to be through the roof to come to Reno and experience this newer track,” Larragueta said.
He said the track will generate revenue through room nights, food and beverage spending and other activities. It will help tourism efforts in the usually slower winter months.
The track in Albuquerque has hosted NCAA Indoor Championship meets and U.S. Indoor national meets.
‘Major things’ ahead for Reno-Sparks
Nevada runner Valeria Paez-Rueda raved about the track, saying it provides a cushioned feel along with propelling the runners, which aids their confidence.
Four-time Olympic medalist and NBC Sports Group lead track and field analyst Ato Boldon was on hand Thursday night to emcee the opening ceremony, and he raved about the track. Boldon represented Trinidad and Tobago, earning bronze medals in the 100m and 200m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, as well as silver and bronze in the same events at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
He said the new track is among the best he has seen in his travels around the country.
“I can see a lot of major things coming here. I think it’s a great idea,” Boldon said of the track.
He said not all fast tracks are the same, and that Mondo is constantly refining its building process and the compounds used to make tracks.
“I’ve already had some of my track coach friends remark that it’s very fast and it feels very good,” Boldon said of the RSCVA track. “I expect you’ll hear the same from athletes.”
He said the 4,500-foot elevation — and thinner air — in Northern Nevada will also help runners post fast times on the track.
The track has a 12-degree fixed-bank oval and six 42-inch-wide lanes, as well as an eight-lane sprint track for sprints and hurdles.
The track is designed to meet World Athletics certification, and will be eligible to host a range of competitions, including NCAA, USA Track & Field, AAU and youth meets.
It will be used from December-March each year, then taken apart and stored nearby in the spring and summer.
Nevada
Southern Nevada sees string of shootings, one person killed in 24-hour span
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas Metro Police are investigating multiple shootings that occurred across Southern Nevada within a 24-hour period, including one that turned deadly.
The violence began Thursday evening near Flamingo Road and Linq Lane, when officers attempted to stop a stolen vehicle. The driver sped away, driving into oncoming traffic and nearly causing crashes across the valley.
Crime
Stolen car chase leads to fatal officer-involved shooting, LVMPD investigating
The pursuit ended with 3 suspects fleeing on foot. When one armed suspect refused to drop his weapon, officers opened fire, killing him. The remaining suspects were taken into custody.
Hours later, police responded to a deadly shooting at a business in the northeast valley near Craig Road and Nellis Boulevard. Officers arrived to find a man and a woman suffering from gunshot wounds in the parking lot.
Crime
Police searching for suspect after shooting in northeast valley leaves one dead
The woman was transported to the hospital and is expected to survive. The man died at the scene.
Detectives say the victims had been arguing with another man when he opened fire and fled. Officials are asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating the suspect as the investigation continues.
About 30 minutes after that shooting, Metro officers responded to another shooting near the intersection of Rancho Drive and Lake Mead Boulevard, where they found a man with a gunshot wound to the leg.
Traffic
Police activity blocks off all lanes on eastbound Lake Mead Blvd., Rancho Dr.
He was transported to the hospital and is expected to recover. Detectives are investigating.
Overnight, a fourth shooting shut down Craig Road from Lamont Street to Nellis Boulevard. A victim was found with non-life-threatening injuries, and a suspect was detained.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Nevada
Caltech readies to build world’s most sensitive radio telescope in Nevada
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Caltech researchers are preparing to build a radio telescope that will be the most sensitive ever constructed and survey the sky 100 times faster than any other radio telescope worldwide.
Schmidt Sciences has greenlit construction of the Deep Synoptic Array after the project completed its final design review. The milestone paves the way for construction to begin on the telescope, which is planned for a remote valley in Nevada.
MORE ON FOX5: Conservation groups oppose potential sale of federal lands highlighted in land mapping tool
The array will consist of 1,650 radio dishes, each slightly more than 6 meters in diameter. The array will span an area of about 20 by 16 kilometers. The team plans to build the telescope by 2029, with science operations commencing soon after.
Survey capabilities
“The DSA will survey the entire visible sky several times in its first five years at unprecedented speeds,” said Gregg Hallinan, principal investigator of DSA, professor of astronomy at Caltech, and director of Caltech’s Owens Valley Radio Observatory. “While all other radio telescopes combined have so far found about 20 million radio sources, the DSA will match that in the first day of operations. By the end of its initial survey, it will have discovered about 1 billion new radio sources.”
The telescope will discover radio emission from millions of stars, galaxies, and other cosmic objects. It will address the mysteries of black holes, pulsars and fast radio bursts. It will also probe the physics of dark matter and gravity, and it will measure the structure and expansion of the universe.
“Radio astronomy is about to go from sketch to photograph,” said Vikram Ravi, the co-principal investigator of the DSA and a professor of astronomy at Caltech. “The DSA is looking at a far larger volume of the universe far more often than any other telescope.”
Real-time imaging
The DSA will be capable of making images in real time. The numerous radio dishes will feed into a supercomputer that creates images instantly. The images will be immediately accessible to the worldwide astronomical community.
“Without the radio camera, we would have to store 100 exabytes of data to complete our survey,” Hallinan said. “This would require 5 million hard drives in a multi-billion-dollar facility the size of multiple football fields. The radio camera solves this problem.”
The DSA’s radio camera will convert the raw data to images in real time with the help of an off-site supercomputer built from Graphics Processing Units built by Nvidia. The radio camera images will be given freely to the public with no proprietary period.
“We want the whole world to also have access to the data just as quickly as we do,” said Katie Jameson, the DSA lead project manager.
The DSA will have the ability to detect more than 100,000 intensely powerful flashes of radio light from fast radio bursts and to localize them to their home galaxies. The DSA will also reveal more than 20,000 new pulsars.
“The science that can be done is endless,” Hallinan said. “There will be enough discoveries to occupy every radio astronomer on the planet.”
The DSA is led by Caltech and funded by Schmidt Sciences. It is part of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System. Two pathfinder projects that led to the DSA, the DSA-110 and the OVRO Long Wavelength Array, were funded by the National Science Foundation.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
Nevada
Conservation groups oppose potential sale of federal lands highlighted in land mapping tool
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Conservation groups are pushing back against a new state mapping tool that identifies federal lands potentially available for development in Nevada.
The governor’s office, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management Nevada, unveiled the interactive map this week to make it easier to find federal land that may be available for development throughout the state and in the Las Vegas Valley.
“It is shocking to look at the map and see how many lands could potentially be sold off,” said Olivia Tanager, executive director of the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter.
Tanager said she was surprised at how many federal lands were identified for disposal when she first looked at the map.
“Places like Red Rock and Sloan Canyon in Southern Nevada are what draw people to live in Southern Nevada. We cannot continue to develop right up onto the boundaries or perhaps even in these precious places,” Tanager said.
The conservation group says the mapping tool is the latest effort to treat Nevada’s public lands as a real estate inventory rather than a shared public resource.
“We know that a lot of these areas are environmentally sensitive. We know that there are endangered species on these lands,” Tanager said.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unveils interactive tool mapping federal lands available for possible development, other uses
Housing concerns
Lawmakers have proposed using federal lands to create more affordable housing. Several areas at the edges of the Vegas Valley have been identified for potential development on the mapping tool. Tanager said she does not see that as a viable solution.
“The areas on the outskirts or far outside of existing urban areas are wholly inappropriate for affordable housing. Housing that is located that far away from services will never be truly affordable,” Tanager said. “As folks have to live further and further away from resources like schools and grocery stores, transportation costs go up substantially.”
The conservation group says the valley should fill in open lots and build upward within the existing urban core instead of building outward.
“We know that sprawl and developing on the outskirts of the valley worsens air quality as well from increased transportation,” Tanager said. “We know that sprawl is incredibly water-intensive. The further out you build, the harder it is to recapture that water.”
The Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter says treating federal lands as disposable assets could set a dangerous precedent that accelerates privatization efforts and undermines the principle that public lands should remain in public hands for future generations.
Approximately 85% of Nevada’s total land area is owned by the federal government.
The state says the tool is designed to bolster information sharing about federal lands. The mapping tool is available here.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
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