City Cast Las Vegas

Juneteenth, the day Union soldiers took over in Galveston, TX and delivered the news of the Emancipation Proclamation to the last enslaved people on June 19, 1865, is being honored as a federal holiday for the second year since President Biden signed it into law in 2021. Since many people did not learn about the Juneteenth in school, our hosts Vogue and Dayvid offer some historical context and where Nevada stood at the time. Vogue then talks to Dre Whitfield of Juneteenth365 about their work, celebrations in Las Vegas, how the community can continue offering support to Black businesses 365 days a year.You can find more about the work Juneteenth365 does year-round and events this weekend on Instagram at @officialJuneteenth365.Need more news from a trusty neighbor? Make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter at lasvegas.citycast.fm/newsletter! Your neighbors are also on Twitter! Follow us at @CityCastVegas You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719.

Las Vegas is the fastest-warming city in the U.S. — and that's only made worse by the urban heat island effect, caused by dense concentrations of heat-trapping concrete, asphalt, glass, and steel. (Read more about Southern Nevada's extreme heat vulnerability on this site from RTC: Southern Nevada Strong.) The effect isn't evenly distributed: Our neighbors in the center and Eastside of the city see even higher temperatures from older infrastructure and more blacktop.This April, the City of Las Vegas announced a plan to plant 60,000 trees by 2025 to combat the city's extreme heat. In today's episode, the state’s only female Master Arborist and founder of the non-profit Nevada Plants, Lisa Ortega, joins us to discuss why trees are the answer to our heat problems, how this disproportionally affects communities of color, and why we might just be able to dub her the Lorax of Las Vegas.

Three Square’s Restaurant Week is here! For its 15th year, about 200 restaurants have joined Southern Nevada’s only food bank to work towards their goal of a hunger-free community. In Nevada, 1 in 8 residents, and 1 in 6 children, struggle with food insecurity. The pandemic exacerbated this issue, putting the state among the most food-insecure in the nation. Kate Hibbard Gaines, Director of Development at Three Square, joins us to talk about Restaurant Week (June 6 - 17), how they support food-insecure residents, and what’s on the menu that she is looking forward to.You can visit www.restaurantweeklv.org for more information about participating restaurants and www.threesquare.org for how to support their fight against food insecurity in Southern Nevada. And be sure to share your experiences on social media using the hashtag #LVRW!Hungry for more Vegas news? Make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter at lasvegas.citycast.fm/newsletter! Follow us on Twitter at @CityCastVegasWhat are you looking forward to trying during Restaurant Week? Call or text us at 702-514-0719. 

The nationwide formula shortage hit Las Vegas hard: According to the Nevada Independent, we were the number one metro area with a formula deficiency in May. And while production was brought back online this weekend, supplies are expected to remain tight until at least June 20th. Nearly four-fifths of Nevada’s babies rely on formula — why the high demand? UNLV Public Health Professor Gabriela Buccini, who studies maternal health and infant nutrition, chats with lead producer Sonja Cho Swanson about what’s missing in the formula shortage conversation today. We hear about formula marketing strategies, America‘s woefully inadequate maternity leave, and why bodybuilders have created a black market for human breast milk.Do you have opinions on breastfeeding, the formula shortage, or how babies get fed? Leave us a voicemail or send us a text! We’re at 702-514-0719.Or tweet at us! Follow us @CityCastVegasAnd for even more Vegas news, events, and observations, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter at lasvegas.citycast.fm/newsletter

It’s true, the news is out: We have a brand new host joining the team. Please join us in welcoming Vogue Robinson to City Cast Las Vegas! Many of you already know Vogue from her work as a poet, author, mentor, and teaching artist in Las Vegas — but if you don’t, we’re so excited for you to get to know and love her as much as we do. On today’s show, our producers queued up some very-Vegas questions for Dayvid and Vogue to draw from a (metaphorical) hat: Where to find the best ice cream in town, parking strategies when it’s 120F outside, and what Vegas stereotypes are actually (yes!) true.Be sure to head over to Twitter to follow Vogue @Vogue_316 and join us in welcoming her to the team (we’re at @CityCastVegas).If you have questions or a welcome message for Vogue, you can send us a text or leave us a voicemail at 702-514-0719.And last but not least, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter at lasvegas.citycast.fm/newsletter!

Nevada's Secretary of State election isn’t one that typically makes too many headlines—after all, how many of us know what exactly that job entails? But, as the Review-Journal Politics and Government Editor Steve Sebelius reminds us, when it comes to elections integrity, the Secretary of State matters a whole lot: They preside over the state Electoral College, and ensure that the will of the people is carried out during elections.Today, Dayvid and Steve talk about outgoing Secretary Barbara Cegavske’s strikingly nonpartisan tenure, where the candidates lie on the Big Lie spectrum, and why Steve thinks the Secretary of State race is Nevada’s single most important race of 2022—and how democracy itself might be at stake.

Today, we have a special guest episode with Graham MacLennon, host of the podcast Cheftimony. Graham is a lawyer-turned-chef-turned-lawyer once again who brings his inquisitive eye to the food world—and quite often, the Las Vegas food world. Graham is one of those special Las Vegas regulars who not only takes frequent trips here, but has also taken the time to immerse himself in life off the Strip and learn how locals see the food scene here. In this guest episode, Graham shares two excerpts: One from an interview with Josh Crain, Executive Chef of Bouchon Bistro at The Venetian, and another with Laura Tucker, food enthusiast, craft beer lover, and Nevada Senior Deputy Attorney General.You can learn more about Cheftimony and hear more of their excellent episodes at www.cheftimony.com. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter @cheftimony and Instagram @cheftimony.

Last week, ProPublica co-published a stunning investigative piece with The Nevada Independent detailing how a politically-connected COVID testing company called Northshore scored contracts across the state — but, as later investigations revealed, Northshore’s PCR tests were wildly inaccurate (in one instance, they had a 96% false negative rate), sending sick people back out into the community.Today, Dayvid talks with Anjeanette Damon, the journalist who wrote the piece, about what this investigation tells us about Nevada’s pandemic response, our faith in public health officials, and the potential political fallout from the revelations.Get even more Vegas news (and events and more!) in our newsletter at lasvegas.citycast.fm/newsletterAre you on Twitter? We are too! Follow us @CityCastVegas And we love your texts and voicemails — send those our way at 702-514-0719.

Last Thursday, Dapper Companies announced two winners for The Great Las Vegas Coffee Shop Giveaway, Dinette Luncheonette and Winnie & Ethel’s Downtown Diner. The latter of the two will receive a fully built out restaurant with goods and services estimated to be over $950,000 at the historic Huntridge Shopping Center. Winnie & Ethel’s will be a part of the Dapper Companies’ plan to reopen the shopping center and neighboring Huntridge Theater, which have been fixtures in Downtown Las Vegas for over half a century.Like many historic sites that fall into disrepair, the significance can get lost with time, so on today’s episode, our host and Downtown Las Vegas resident Dayvid Figler explains to our producer Layla Muhammad why the Huntridge neighborhood is considered historic. Then, we talk to the owners of Winnie & Ethel’s Downtown Diner, Mallory Gott and Aaron Lee, about their new spot and what they hope to add to the community.Longing for that back-fence neighbor? Sign up for our morning newsletter at lasvegas.citycast.fm/newsletter! Keep up with us on Twitter at @CityCastVegas.Is there something coming to Vegas that excites you? Leave us a voicemail or text us 702-514-0719.

Despite being legal in our state for medical and recreational use since 2016, the Nevada Board of Pharmacy has marijuana classified as a Schedule I substance, the strictest classification for drugs with "no currently accepted medical use," up there with methamphetamine and heroin. So last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (ACLUNV) filed a lawsuit against the state to have marijuana removed from the list of Schedule I drugs. ACLUNV Executive Director Athar Haseebullah explains how Nevadans are still being impacted by the possession of marijuana because of this “loophole” that disproportionately affects communities of color and what they hope to achieve starting with their first major hearing on Monday.