The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Wednesday recommended approval of the licensing of a key executive for Hard Rock Las Vegas, the first license of several anticipated as the shuttered Mirage transitions to a new Strip resort.

Vincent Zahn, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Seminole Hard Rock International LLC and its subsidiaries, was recommended for licensing after a half-hour suitability hearing in Carson City.

Final approval of licensing is expected by the Nevada Gaming Commission on Nov. 21.

Zahn, a former Nevada resident who moved to Florida to join Hard Rock, told board members he aspired to be a Wall Street investment banker when he lived in northern New Jersey and attended New York’s Fordham University.

He worked with Merrill Lynch covering gaming industry companies and eventually went to work for Pinnacle Entertainment and Wynn Resorts before being recruited by Hard Rock, which bought The Mirage from MGM Resorts International for $1.07 billion in December 2022.

Hard Rock, owned by the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida, closed The Mirage on July 17, after 34 years in business and announced it would expand the property with a guitar-shaped hotel tower replacing the iconic Mirage volcano.

Zahn said he oversees 120 Hard Rock employees and makes frequent trips to Las Vegas as the transition occurs toward a planned opening in 2027.

“Leading up to the reopening of Hard Rock Las Vegas, we’ll have to go through a pretty comprehensive financing process, so I’ll be visiting the site, the location, taking our potential financial partners through the financing plans and visiting for that, but as part of ongoing operations two to four times a year,” Zahn told board members.

Board members praised Zahn’s background and unanimously recommended licensing to the Gaming Commission.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and Nevada Cancer Coalition (NCC) and its partners are working to educate Nevadans about early detection of this all-too-common cancer that affects thousands of Nevadans every year. Newer, more effective screening has helped some people to find their lung cancer earlier when it’s easier to treat and survive, but the disease remains the #1 cancer killer in Nevada by far. Each year more people will die of lung cancer than of colorectal and breast cancer combined.

Sarah Grocki, community engagement manager, and Cari Herington, NCC’s executive director, stopped by Morning Break to share the ways NCC is helping spread awareness about this deadly disease and the screenings available that many people don’t take advantage of.

Nevada Cancer Coalition is working to get the word out with “Screen Your Lungs” yard signs which can easily replace campaign signs after the election on front lawns and at local businesses. The free signs are available in English or Spanish and are weather resistant to be used year after year.

Annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography, LDCT, has been recommended since 2013 for those at increased risk of lung cancer, replacing the less effective chest x-ray as the preferred method for screening. It’s a relatively new recommendation, however, as compared to other cancer screenings such as the Pap test, colonoscopy, or mammogram, which were recommended screening methods starting in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, respectively.

People ages 50-80 with at least a 20-year pack history of smoking, who currently smoke or who have quit within the past 15 years, are eligible to be screened. A pack year is one pack of cigarettes a day for a year, so 20 pack years would be a pack a day for 20 years or two packs a day for 10 years.

Last year, only about 1.4% of Nevadans eligible to be screened for lung cancer actually got screened. But the chance of surviving lung cancer more than doubles when it’s found in the earliest stage. Anyone who thinks they may be eligible for screening should talk to their healthcare provider about getting screened and ask for a referral.

Learn more about lung cancer screening and check eligibility at SavedByTheScan.org. To request “Screen Your Lungs” yard sign, email Sarah@NevadaCancerCoalition.org.

Copyright 2024 KOLO. All rights reserved.

This piece originally appeared as part of NPR’s live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.

RENO – Abortion is one step closer to being constitutionally protected in Nevada after voters approved a statewide ballot question for the first time, according to the Associated Press. The measure would need to pass again in 2026 to be fully approved.

The proposal would add language to the state constitution guaranteeing the right to an abortion by a qualified health care professional until fetal viability — usually about 24 weeks of pregnancy — and to protect the life of the pregnant person.

Though not constitutionally guaranteed, abortion is already largely protected under Nevada law. In 1990, voters legalized abortions under state law until the 24th week of pregnancy or later if a physician believes it will preserve the pregnant person’s life or health. Dr. Toby F. Frescholtz, a Reno OB-GYN, the protections are still vulnerable without the constitutional measure.

“You may hear that we don’t need this legislation, that Nevada already had sufficient abortion protections, but two and a half years ago, abortion was legal across the country, and now, one in three women of reproductive age live in a state where they cannot access a safe and legal abortion. It’s time to be proactive,” Frescholtz says.

Frescholtz says there are too many stories from other states where abortions are outlawed, leading to delays in care, denied treatments for miscarriages, and victims of sexual assault being forced to give birth.

Nevada is one of ten states where abortion is on the ballot this year.

Republican state Sen. Robin Titus, a rural family medicine doctor who opposes the proposed amendment, says the language is too vague.

“I am very anxious about any health care decisions being in a constitution or through a legislative process. This particular bill was just a political act, and all the scare tactics, all these horrendous things that have truly happened in other states have not happened in Nevada because in 1990 that was codified into law,” Titus says.

Even before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said patients were traveling to Nevada to access abortions from states with stricter rules.