Nevada
Southern Nevada 8th grader named a winner in inaugural America's Field Trip contest
LAS VEGAS (KTNV — A Las Vegas Valley student will get to kick off the new school year with the field trip of a lifetime.
I spoke with local 8th grader Amelie, who is one of 75 first place awardees in a new nationwide scholastic contest called “America’s Field Trip.” She’s also the only first place winner from Nevada!
The contest asked students across the country to submit a video of them responding to the question, “What does America mean to you?” It challenged students to think critically about our nation’s journey to becoming a more perfect union.
In her video, Amelie spoke about the need to make public spaces and architecture more welcoming to people from all walks of life, and to encourage more face-to-face connection and conversation. She says people often feel empowered to say hateful things behind the shield of screens and that we need more in-person discussions with our peers to truly understand one another and to be able to empathize.
“If we’re all stuck in our houses being online, anonymous behind our usernames, we can’t really talk about our issues as well as if we’re in a park, maybe connecting over a conversation you can’t just log off of,” Amelie said.
What really stood out to me was when she told me that kids are definitely taking notice of the political polarization our country is dealing with. In fact, she said she’s seeing fellow students actually mimic the behavior of adults in this incredibly volatile political climate and election cycle.
“Do you think the same divisiveness we’re seeing in adults on both sides of the aisle is even trickling down to young people right now?” I asked Amelie.
“Yes of course, even in my school, there was political debate practically about what kids knew, and I noticed there were little spouts of things that might not exactly be too accurate going on in these conversations. And these conversations are ultimately what will shape our political standing,” Amelie responded.
She and the other contest winners were selected by a panel of current and former educators. It was actually an educator in Amelie’s life, Miss Rush, who encouraged her to enter the contest.
If your child may be interested, another America’s Field Trip contest for the 2024-2025 school year will begin around September. You can sign up for updates here.
For winning, Amelie will get to go on a field trip to Washington, D.C. That’ll include a visit to the National Archives, and she tells me she can’t wait to dig into our country’s history. It’s really the perfect place to reflect on what America means to her.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom won’t admit it, but a move by President Donald Trump is especially helpful to drivers in California — and Nevada.
Gasoline prices are pressuring consumers around the country. On Friday, the average U.S. price was $4.55 a gallon. In California, that would be a bargain. The average there was $6.16 a gallon. Nevada’s average was $5.23 a gallon, the result of around 88 percent of the state’s gasoline coming from California.
It might be getting worse — regardless of what happens in Iran.
In recent months, two major California refineries have shut down. That represented a 17 percent reduction in California’s refining capacity. Their closures weren’t caused by the Iran war, but by Gov. Newsom and California’s relentless attacks on fossil fuels.
To make up for the fuel it won’t extract or refine in-state, California depends on imports from foreign countries.
“We are importing 30 percent of our crude oil from the Middle East,” Mike Ariza, a former control board supervisor at the Valero Benicia Refinery, said in an interview. He has been warning the public about California’s potential fuel shortage. “There are not very many ships left on the way that have fuel,” he said last month.
Last week, KCRA-TV in Sacramento reported that “about 2 million barrels of oil are in the process of being unloaded in Long Beach off of the last California-bound tanker that got through the Strait of Hormuz.”
At a California legislative hearing Tuesday, Siva Gunda, the vice chairman of the California Energy Commission, said the state has enough gasoline to accommodate demand for the next six weeks. That’s not a very long time, especially given that it takes weeks or months for oil to travel from the Middle East to California. And that process won’t begin until the Strait of Hormuz reopens.
There is a region, however, with abundant oil available for sale and safe passage — the southeastern United States. Unfortunately, the Jones Act, an antiquated 1920 law, mandates that only U.S.-flagged ships may move cargo between U.S. ports. But only 55 of the more than 7,000 oil tankers worldwide comply with this requirement.
This is where Mr. Trump rode to the rescue. Late last month, the White House announced Mr. Trump would suspend the Jones Act for another 90 days. In March, he originally waived it for 60 days. This will make it easier for California and Nevada to obtain domestic product.
If only Mr. Trump could also suspend the destructive energy policies imposed by Gov. Newsom and California Democrats.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — An adoptable pet is in the spotlight for “Furever Home Friday,” with Amy from the Nevada SPCA featured in a segment highlighting an animal available for adoption today.
The Nevada SPCA encouraged viewers looking to add a pet to their family to consider adopting.
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