Nevada
Wild horses and burros still the subject of awe, inhumane treatment
Driving over the cattle guards that mark the boundaries of the Las Vegas Valley, Southern Nevadans are likely to come across an equine friend or two. Or a herd of them.
Wild horses and burros, considered to be an emblem of the unconquerable American West, have been a permanent fixture of the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert for centuries. They roam Nevada’s sprawling public, federally owned lands, of which the state has the highest percentage in the nation.
Another superlative that belongs to the Silver State is the highest number of wild horses and burros. It’s home to about half of them, with more than 40,000 on federally managed land, according to the most recent estimates from both the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
Largely thought to be descended from horses that Europeans brought to the West in the 16th century, Nevada’s wild horses are the subject of dual fascination and concern. That’s mostly due to how federal agencies round them up with helicopters and the environmental damage such large numbers of them could cause if populations were left untouched.
Nevada’s ‘Wild Horse Annie’ spoke for the mustangs
As mandated by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, both federal land management agencies are required by law to protect and defend these animals.
The law was brought to Congress all because of one Nevada woman: “Wild Horse Annie,” also known as Velma Johnston.
Wild horses were once the subject of abuse by so-called mustangers, who would sell off their meat commercially. After an encounter where she saw a trailer full of bleeding horses on their way to a slaughter plant in the 1950s, Johnston riled up sentiment across the West to do something about it.
Johnston expressed her dissatisfaction with the 1959 Wild Horse Annie Act, a preliminary law that outlawed the poisoning of water holes and hunting wild horses from planes. She said it lacked any real enforcement mechanism.
In response to requirements from federal law, the BLM and Forest Service created their respective wild horse and burro programs to control the number of horses and burros out in the wild in a way that was deemed more humane.
Modern roundups marred by controversy
Because of the roundup and sale of wild horses in Western states, animals sold in federal auctions can be found as far east as Florida.
The BLM divided its land into 83 herd management areas, across which the agency says there should only be 12,811 wild horses and burros. The agency estimated this year that 38,023 of them roam its land. The Forest Service’s program is smaller, with 17 so-called territories, mostly in central Nevada, where only about 2,500 wild horses and burros currently reside, according to the agency’s counts.
Without proper population control, many say these non-native animals disrupt fragile desert ecosystems and food chains.
That leads the BLM to round up mustangs, place them in holding facilities and sell them for $125 each. About 290,000 wild horses and burros have been placed into private care since 1971, the BLM estimates. Over the years, newspaper investigations and watchdog groups have found that at least some horses are sent to slaughterhouses because of the agency’s limited oversight past the adoption period.
Though some have criticized the conditions of holding pens, the agency maintains that they “provide ample space to horses, along with clean feed and water.”
It uses helicopters to circle and capture the horses — a method some advocacy groups have called inhumane. The BLM maintains that its technique leads to the least amount of injury and deaths possible.
Other groups, such as American Wild Horse Conservation, call for the use of porcine zona pellucida, or PZP vaccines, which are administered through darts and make female horses infertile. It piloted such a method within the Virginia Range near Reno in partnership with the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X and @alanhalaly.bsky.social on Bluesky.
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The defending 5A state champion Centennial Bulldogs (7-3) open conference play with a challenging road test Wednesday night when they travel to Henderson to face the Liberty Patriots (10-7) in a Nevada 5A Southern basketball clash.
Coach Karen Weitz’s Bulldogs, seeking their second consecutive state title, will rely on their formidable frontcourt duo of forwards Nation Williams and Inieye Oruh, complemented by standout guard Sanai Branch. They will face a Patriots squad that has shown marked improvement under head coach Lorenzo Jarvis, powered by senior leaders Samantha Chesnut and Kiana Harworth alongside junior standout Neviah Nick.
With Liberty’s home court advantage potentially neutralizing Centennial’s championship pedigree, this early conference matchup could set the tone for both teams’ title aspirations in the competitive 5A Southern division.
Opening tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, January 7 with a live TV broadcast on NFHS Network.
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What: Defending champ Centennial faces resurgent Liberty in 5A Southern showdown
When: Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, January 7
Where: Liberty High School | Henderson, Nevada
Watch live: Watch Centennial vs. Liberty live on the NFHS Network
Nevada
Tahoe man loses $20K at Nevada casino and threatens to bomb facility before arrest, police say
Home prices in Southern Nevada dropped from record highs to end 2025 and less homes sold last year compared with 2024.
Approximately 28,498 existing homes sold in the region last year, which is down almost 9 percent from the 31,305 homes that sold in 2024, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors, which pulls its data from the Multiple Listing Service. This is the lowest number of homes sold in a year in Southern Nevada since 2007 right before the Great Recession.
The median sale price for a house sold in Southern Nevada in December was approximately $470,000, a 3.9 percent drop from November, according to LVR. By the end of December, LVR reported 6,396 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 28.8 percent from one year earlier.
Despite a down year in sales, the local market did end on a high note.
George Kypreos, president of Las Vegas Realtors, said he is optimistic the housing market could turn around this year. The LVR report noted that home sales in Southern Nevada have seen “peaks and valleys” in recent years, generally declining since 2021 when a record 50,010 properties sold.
“Although it was a relatively slow year for home sales, we’re seeing some encouraging signs heading into the new year,” said Kypreos in a statement. “Buyer activity locally and nationally is starting to improve. Home prices have been fairly stable, and mortgage interest rates ended the year lower than they were the previous year. Most trends are pointing to a more balanced housing market in 2026.”
Freddie Mac currently has the average price for a 30-year fixed-term mortgage rate at 6.1 percent. That mortgage rate has not gone below 6 percent since 2022.
The all-time high median home sale price in Southern Nevada was broken multiple times last year, and currently sits at $488,995 which was last set in November while the condo and townhome market has dropped substantially from an all-time high that was set in October of 2024 ($315,000) to $275,000 to end 2025.
Major residential real estate brokerages are mixed as to where the market will head this year as Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com have all put out their 2026 projections, and they expect a similar market to 2025. Mortgage rates aren’t expected to drop enough next year to unlock the country’s housing market, new builds will continue to lag, and prices will remain relatively elevated.
Realtor.com said in its report that it predicts a “steadier” housing market next year and a slight shift to a more balanced market. Redfin’s report says 2026 will be the year of the “great housing reset,” which means the start of a yearslong period of “gradual increases in home sales and normalization of prices as affordability gradually improves.”
Finally, Zillow said the housing market should “warm up” in 2026 with “buyers seeing a bit more breathing room and sellers benefiting from price stability and more consistent demand.”
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
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