LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Korean War veterans from Nevada laid a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in a recent honor flight to Washington D.C.
And while at the memorial, they heard some unexpected words from the President of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation, Steve Lee.
“Thank you for all that you did in the defense of South Korea all those decades ago. What you did for a country that you didn’t know and a people you didn’t know, was you saved them, changed their history and you made America better. It is as simple and as profound as that,” said Steve Lee.
“I can’t explain it in words, but it means so much to me that the people think that much of us for what we did. And we thank God that he brought us through it, brought us back to where we can be here today,” said Korean War veteran Matthew Harville.
The group later toured the 9/11 Memorial where a plane hit the Pentagon. There are 184 memorial benches with reflecting pools to remember the people killed on the plane and inside the Pentagon.
“This is the first time I’ve gotten to see the memorial. And it’s very moving. It really is. It brings back memories,” said John Ottery.
Ottery was an Honor Flight guardian on the trip with Honor Flight Southern Nevada. Guardians are paired with a veteran the entire trip.
Ottery was working in D.C. on 9/11 and was supposed to be at the Pentagon for a meeting. But he did not go to the Pentagon because the meeting was canceled.
He says a couple of his friends were also set to be at the meeting, which was not in the area where the plane hit. His friends stayed in the Pentagon and ended up in the same location where the plane struck the Pentagon. Both of Ottery’s friends died, including Navy Lt. Commander Eric Cranford, a helicopter pilot who served two tours in the Persian Gulf. Also killed was Lt. Scott Lamana, who helped monitor the Navy’s global fleet in the Pentagon’s Navy Command Center.
“Good guy, young guy with a family, just kind of starting out. Doing what the Navy asked him to do. Just another day on the job,” said Ottery.
The group also visited the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery along with several other memorials.
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A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
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