The victim of a homicide at the annual Burning Man art and music festival in Nevada has been identified as a Russian man, authorities said Wednesday.
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said the Washoe Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Vadim Kruglov of Russia. Kruglov’s family has been notified of his death, the sheriff’s office said.
The homicide happened Saturday night between 8 and 9:30 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office. Kruglov was found dead in a pool of blood.
An investigation into the homicide is still underway. The sheriff’s office is seeking any and all information that could lead to the arrest of a suspect. Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Josh Nicholson at 775-273-2641 or jnicholson@pershingcountynv.gov.
Nevada sheriffs are asking the public’s help in identifying a man killed on Saturday in an apparent homicide at the Burning Man festival.
In a statement on Monday, Pershing county sheriff Jerry Allen asked for assistance to identify the man, who was found dead in the futurist encampment of Black Rock City as the festival reaching its climax when an effigy – the eponymous burning man – was set alight.
“We are specifically looking to identify the white male adult decedent who is between the ages of 35 and 40, approximately 6 feet tall and 200 lbs, with short brown hair and facial hair,” Allen said in a statement reported by the Reno Gazette Journal.
The sheriff’s office are looking for any information from people who heard or saw anything between 8 and 9.30pm.
“We are also currently seeking information regarding any suspect identifiers for any person who would commit such a heinous crime against another human being,” Allen said. “At this time, no information is too small to disregard, so do not hesitate to contact my office.”
A murder investigation was launched on Sunday after a man was found “lying in a pool of blood” on Saturday night, police said. That came after a festival-goer alerted a police officer that a man was found “lying on the ground, obviously deceased”.
Part of the site was cordoned off as on-site police began investigating. Organizers with the Burning Man Project said it was cooperating with law enforcement. In a statement, Burning Man officials asked those still on the playa not to interfere with law enforcement.
“The safety and well-being of our community are paramount,” Burning Man said.
Sheriff Allen said “several participants in the immediate area” were interviewed.
“Although this act appears to be a singular crime, all participants should always be vigilant of their surroundings and acquaintances,” Allen warned.
“There is no further information available at this time but it will be released as appropriate to provide for communication, while still preserving the integrity of the complicated investigation of a crime in a city which will be gone by the middle of the week,” he added.
Burning Man has become the site of unexpected attention in recent years. In 2023, it was washed out by strong rain storm that turned the desert to mud, killing one person; this year, a dust storm tore temporary structures away, including one named the “orgy dome”.
The festival has previously experienced deaths, including when a man ran into the fire in 2017.
Last week, Burning Man co-founder John Law made a rude gesture when he was asked to describe the festival, saying it had strayed far from its late stage counter-culture origins in the 1980s.
“We were going to go out to the Black Rock Desert to just go crazy, and, you know, drive 100 miles an hour with the lights out, set bonfires and go up to the hot springs. We didn’t plan on bringing any art with us,” Law said.
But he broke with the festival in 1996 when it grew large and more commercialized.
“It’s a giant party for rich white people,” Law told SF Gate. “They’re selling the idea of freedom, and it’s not free. The whole philosophy, it’s a bunch of crap.” He added that the festival now demands conformity. “The star f–kers started coming around. It’s as clubby in its own way as the Elks or some hunting lodge in Minnesota.”
The federal public defender’s office in Los Angeles filed a motion Friday to disqualify acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, arguing that the Trump administration’s pick to serve as the top federal prosecutor in Southern California is unlawfully occupying his post.
Essayli, a former Riverside County assemblyman, was appointed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi in April, and his term was set to expire in late July unless he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate or a panel of federal judges. But the White House never moved to nominate him to a permanent role, instead opting to use an unprecedented legal maneuver to shift his title to “acting,” extending his term another nine months without any confirmation process.
The federal public defender’s office filed a motion seeking to dismiss an indictment against their client and to disqualify Essayli and attorneys working under him “from participating in criminal prosecutions in this district.”
The defendant, Jaime Ramirez, was indicted on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
In a 63-page motion filed in Ramirez’s case, James Anglin Flynn and Ayah A. Sarsour, deputy federal public defenders, argued that the Trump administration circumvented limitations that Congress has imposed on temporary service in key offices, including U.S. attorneys.
Essayli’s term was supposed to expire on July 29. At that point the White House had not formally nominated him before the U.S. Senate, and local federal judges had taken no action to confirm Essayli, or anyone else, to the position. At the eleventh hour, the White House named Essayli as acting U.S. attorney, allowing him to hold the post for 210 more days without confirmation hearings.
Essayli “was not lawfully acting as the United States Attorney in any capacity” on Aug. 13, when the government obtained the indictment against Ramirez, the deputy federal public defenders wrote in their motion. “And he has no such lawful authority today.”
The U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Justice declined to comment.
In their motion, Flynn and Sarsour pointed out that the Trump administration has used similar strategies to keep political allies in power in U.S. attorney’s offices in New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico and the Northern District of New York. But legal challenges are mounting. Last week, a federal judge ruled that Alina Habba has been illegally occupying her seat in New Jersey since early July, although that order was put on hold pending appeal.
Habba was nominated for the post earlier this year but did not receive Senate or judicial confirmation. Instead, local federal judges chose Desiree Leigh Grace, a veteran Republican prosecutor within the office, to replace Habba. Bondi responded by firing Grace and naming Habba acting U.S. attorney, sparking confusion over who actually held the post and all but paralyzing the federal criminal court system in the Garden State.
On Tuesday, the federal public defender’s office in Nevada filed a motion to do one of two things: dismiss an indictment that acting U.S. Atty. Sigal Chattah brought against one of its clients, or disqualify the U.S. attorney’s office entirely. The 59-page motion specifically challenged Chattah, stating that she is not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney.
Echoing Judge Matthew W. Brann’s ruling on Habba, the Nevada public defenders argued that Chattah was not first an assistant U.S. attorney, as federal law required when the U.S. attorney seat became vacant.
The motion also argues that Chattah was illegally kept in office past the 120-day limit and can’t exercise the powers of the office without Senate confirmation.
“The Court should dismiss the indictment; at a minimum, it should disqualify Ms. Chattah from this prosecution, as well as attorneys operating under her direction; and the judges of this district should exercise their authority to appoint a proper interim U.S. Attorney,” the Nevada motion read.
Last month, in the final days before Chattah’s interim appointment ended, more than 100 retired state and federal judges wrote Nevada’s chief federal district judge to urge him not to appoint her once her term expired. The group said Chattah’s history of “racially charged, violence-tinged, and inflammatory public statements” was disqualifying.
The letter called Chattah’s interim appointment “a troubling pattern by the Trump administration of bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in confirming U.S. Attorneys.”
According to the letter, as of July, Trump had submitted formal nominations for only nine of his administration’s 37 interim appointees.
“If this pattern persists, by late fall, more than one-third of the 93 U.S. Attorneys will have evaded Senate review this year alone,” the letter read. “Yet, the constitutional role of the Senate is vital regarding the appointment of U.S. Attorneys.”
Each of Trump’s controversial picks has demonstrated fealty to the president. Chattah has long upheld Trump’s lie that he actually won the 2020 election. Habba — who once served as Trump’s personal attorney and has no prosecutorial experience — promised to turn New Jersey “red,” breaking with longstanding norms of federal prosecutors eschewing partisan politics. She has also filed criminal charges against two Democratic lawmakers in the state over scuffles with immigration officers at a Newark detention facility.
Since taking office, Essayli has doggedly pursued Trump’s agenda, championing hard-line immigration enforcement in Southern California, often aping the president’s language verbatim at news conferences. His tenure has sparked discord in the office, with dozens of prosecutors quitting in the face of his belligerent, scream-first management style.
A Times investigation last month found that his aggressive pursuit of charges against people protesting immigration enforcement in Southern California has led to weak cases being rejected again and again by grand juries. A number of others have been dismissed.
Even if Trump had formally nominated him to serve a full term as U.S. attorney, it is unlikely he would have ever appeared on the Senate floor. California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, both Democrats, are both opposed to Essayli’s appointment and could have derailed any nomination by withholding what is known as their “blue slip,” or acknowledgment of support for a nominee.
The procedural blockades have drawn Trump’s ire, and the president has challenged Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to do away with honoring the blue slip tradition. Grassley has held firm, but Trump has threatened litigation.
Legal experts called the White House’s move to keep Essayli in office unprecedented last month, and warned it could affect criminal cases.
“These laws have never been used, as far as I can see, to bypass the Senate confirmation process or the judicial one,” Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who now serves as a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told The Times last month. “The most serious consequences are if you’re going to end up with indictments that are not valid because they weren’t signed by a lawful U.S. attorney.”
More than 100 piles of cremated human remains have been discovered in a mass gravesite near Searchlight, Nevada, approximately 50 miles south of Las Vegas, prompting police and authorities to launch an investigation.
Piles of Cremated Remains Reported
According to 8 News Now in Las Vegas, the piles of ashes were discovered on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land along a dirt road. The outlet obtained photos showing small gray piles of ashes scattered across the ground. The BLM stated it is working with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to investigate the cremated remains.
The BLM has confirmed that the ashes are indeed human remains and is actively investigating the discovery. Any uncertainty about the nature of the material was dispelled by the presence of a broken urn found at the site. The tipster captured several photos of the piles of ashes surrounded by cacti, desert brush, and mountains. According to 8 News Now, the remains appeared weathered, and items such as pieces of zip ties and a broken urn were also found at the scene.
Can People Dump Human Ashes on Public Lands In Nevada?
Nevada law does not prohibit individuals from scattering ashes on public land, and there are no restrictions against scattering cremated remains. However, the Bureau of Land Management states that the commercial distribution of cremated remains is not permitted.
According to its website, the BLM manages one out of every ten acres of land in the United States, primarily in the western states. In a 2011 memorandum, the agency stated that commercial entities are not permitted to dispose of cremated remains on BLM-managed land. However, it noted that requests from individuals or families to scatter ashes should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Cremated remains are not classified as a hazardous substance, the memorandum reads. However, the volume of material involved in the commercial distribution of cremated remains could interfere with other land uses and might necessitate designating and regulating the area as an active cemetery. Since the BLM does not manage active cemeteries, this could lead to the disposal of certain public land parcels under appropriate legal authorities.
Las Vegas — Nevada officials revealed Wednesday that personal information may have been compromised in what was described as a “sophisticated ransomware-based cybersecurity attack” that occurred Sunday in which hackers infiltrated government networkers and disrupted essential services statewide.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo had initially said Monday there were no signs personal data was stolen. However, in a news conference Wednesday, Tim Galluzi, Nevada’s state chief information officer, indicated that personal information may have been taken.
“I must disclose that our ongoing forensic investigation has found evidence that indicates some data has been exfiltrated, or moved outside the state network, by the malicious actors,” Galluzi told reporters. “…At this stage we cannot yet identify or classify the specific nature of this data.”
Several state services were brought to a standstill by the cyberattack. Many people showed up at DMV offices across the state for their appointments this week only to learn the agency is closed. State DMV offices were still closed as of Wednesday.
“We want to remind our citizens that this statewide outage is impacting almost every state agency’s operations, and connectivity to impact safety and the health and human services fields needs to take priority over DMV services,” Tonya Laney, director of the Nevada DMV, said at the news conference.
The outage also prevented law enforcement from accessing state DMV records. For a good part of Sunday, the dispatch phone lines for Nevada State Police were down. Emergency and essential operations, such as 911 services, were still available.
Lombardo had announced Monday that all state offices were closed to in-person services until further notice. The breach impacted state systems only, Lombardo said. The attack is under investigation.
Galluzi said “bringing systems back online is a meticulous process” and they “must ensure that threat has been fully eradicated before we reconnect them.”
Cybersecurity experts, meanwhile, say local governments are prime targets for cyberattacks.
“Now they’re hitting government, like the small, not big federal, but state and local community,” Greg Moody, professor of information systems at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told CBS News. “And so that’s been the trend for the past 12 to 18 months.”
An analysis from the software company Comparitech counts 525 ransomware attacks on U.S. government entities since 2018, with an estimated $1.09 billion lost to downtime as a result of those attacks.
Last month, a cyberattack in St. Paul, Minnesota, forced the city to shut parts of its network. Public WiFi and some library services went offline. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated the National Guard’s cyber unit to help restore systems.
And in the fall of 2023, an Iran-linked group breached a piece of computer technology in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, that monitors water pressure. There was no contamination, but it served as a warning shot to critical infrastructure.
“The most likely lessons learned should be reach out to your other state counterparts and share information so other states, other cities, can learn from it and just put their defenses up in advance,” Moody said. “So the same attack doesn’t work against them.”
Andres Gutierrez is a CBS News reporter based in Las Vegas. Most recently a reporter with CBS News Detroit, Andres brings more than a decade of award-winning breaking news reporting and fill-in anchor experience across several markets including Kansas City, Missouri and Dallas, Texas. While covering Detroit, he reported on major national stories, including the mass shooting at Michigan State University, and the historic six-week strike by the United Auto Workers. Gutierrez also played a major role in CBS News and Stations’ in-depth coverage across platforms of the trials of James and Jennifer Crumbley – the first parents in the U.S. to be held criminally responsible for a school shooting committed by their child. Gutierrez graduated from New York University and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
A director of national intelligence who’s shown no great abundance of that quality but, rather, an eagerness to twist and bend facts like a coat hanger, serving whatever cockamamie claim the president burps up.
Because, after all, obeisance and lay-down-your-life loyalty are the main prerequisites for service in the Trump administration, along with the all-important consideration of how one comes across on television.
How else to explain the chief federal prosecutor he’s imposed on Nevada, Sigal Chattah?
Chattah, 50, devoted years to a not-particularly-noteworthy legal career, practicing domestic and international law at her Las Vegas firm and teaching political science for a time at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 2022, Chattah was the Republican nominee for state attorney general, losing rather handily to incumbent Democrat Aaron Ford.
But not before distinguishing herself as a notably reprehensible candidate.
Among other things, Chattah compared Ford to the leader of Hamas and said that her opponent, who happens to be Black, “should be hanging from a f— crane.” (The Israeli-born Chattah told the Las Vegas Review Journal the “smart-ass comment” was a tongue-in-cheek expression derived from her Middle East background.)
A pugnacious poster on social media — another perceived asset in Trump World — Chattah called a Black member of Congress a “hood rat,” a Black female prosecutor “ghetto” and a Black “Saturday Night Live” cast member a “monkey.”
She suggested immigrants — make that “invaders” — and college protesters should be shot and transgenderism should be treated with “meds or commitment to an in-patient facility.”
It’s hardly unusual for a president to pick a member of his party to serve as U.S. attorney, replacing the choice of a previous administration. In fact, even though justice is supposed to be blind and thus, theoretically above political considerations, that’s how the selection process usually works.
But Trump has broken new and treacherous ground by installing not just partisans as federal prosecutors but lackeys — starting with Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi — who’ve shown their allegiance not to fair-minded application of the law but rather delivering on the feral impulses of their White House patron.
Bondi appointed Essayli on an interim basis in early April. His appointment was limited to 120 days; normally within that time he would have been formally nominated and faced confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Knowing the latter was unlikely, the Trump administration executed an end run and named Essayli “acting U.S. attorney,” which gives him an additional 210 days in the job before he faces formal confirmation.
As it happened, the very same day that maneuvering took place, prosecutors moved to dismiss charges in a criminal case involving one of Trump’s political donors.
Coincidence?
The same sleight-of-hand — interim appointment, designation as “acting U.S. attorney” — was used to extend the tenure of Trump sycophants as chief federal prosecutors in New Jersey, New Mexico, upstate New York and, in Chattah’s case, Nevada.
(In a setback for Trump, a federal judge ruled last week that his former personal attorney, Alina Habba, was unlawfully serving as New Jersey’s top prosecutor, though the order was put on hold pending appeal.)
Chattah’s partisanship is plain as a desert squall. In a remarkable breach of protocol and ethics — not to mention the federal law forbidding employees from mixing work and politics — she kept her position as Nevada’s representative on the Republican National Committee even as she served as interim U.S. attorney.
Last month, in the final days before Chattah’s interim appointment ended, more than 100 retired state and federal judges wrote Nevada’s chief federal district judge to object to her continued service. The group said Chattah’s history of “racially charged, violence-tinged, and inflammatory public statements” was disqualifying.
The Trump administration extended her tenure nonetheless.
As part of their unavailing effort, the judges quoted a 1940 speech then-U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert H. Jackson delivered, citing the immense power and responsibility that rests with a U.S. attorney.
“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous,” said Jackson, who went on to serve as one of the Supreme Court’s most distinguished justices. “… The prosecutor can order arrests, present cases to the grand jury in secret session, and on the basis of his one-sided presentation of the facts, can cause the citizen to be indicted and held for trial.
“While the prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of the worst.”
Obviously, Jackson never knew Chattah or other Trump appointees besmirching the halls of justice. But the late justice, buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Frewsburg, N.Y., is doubtless turning somersaults in his grave.
Lin Chin-Tse retired the first 13 batters he faced and allowed just one hit in five innings as Taiwan beat Nevada 7-0 in the Little League World Series championship Sunday, ending a 29-year title drought for the Taiwanese.Taiwan won its first LLWS since 1996, although its 18 titles are the most of any country beside the United States, including five straight from 1977 to 1981.Video above: Little League team chases World Series gloryLin, a 5-foot-8 right hander, also smashed a three-run triple in Taiwan’s five-run fifth. The 12-year-old from Taipei hit more than 80 mph with his fastball multiple times during the tournament, which to batters looks much faster because the plate in this level of baseball is only 46 feet away. His velocity looked much the same on Sunday.Lin’s longest start before Sunday was three innings in Taiwan’s opening game against Mexico. He allowed only one hit in a subsequent victory over Venezuela.Garrett Gallegos broke up the perfect game with a single into left field in the fifth inning but was caught in a double play when Grayson Miranda lined out to second. Nevada was appearing in its first championship game.Offensively, Taiwan capitalized on four wild pitches and a passed ball. Jian Zih-De worked a walk leading off the bottom of the second and later scored when he beat the throw home after the wild pitches.Chen Shi-Rong scored Taiwan’s second run in the bottom of the third when he ran home on a Nevada throwing error to first base.The last international team to win the tournament title was Japan in 2017.
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. —
Lin Chin-Tse retired the first 13 batters he faced and allowed just one hit in five innings as Taiwan beat Nevada 7-0 in the Little League World Series championship Sunday, ending a 29-year title drought for the Taiwanese.
Taiwan won its first LLWS since 1996, although its 18 titles are the most of any country beside the United States, including five straight from 1977 to 1981.
Video above: Little League team chases World Series glory
Lin, a 5-foot-8 right hander, also smashed a three-run triple in Taiwan’s five-run fifth. The 12-year-old from Taipei hit more than 80 mph with his fastball multiple times during the tournament, which to batters looks much faster because the plate in this level of baseball is only 46 feet away. His velocity looked much the same on Sunday.
Lin’s longest start before Sunday was three innings in Taiwan’s opening game against Mexico. He allowed only one hit in a subsequent victory over Venezuela.
Garrett Gallegos broke up the perfect game with a single into left field in the fifth inning but was caught in a double play when Grayson Miranda lined out to second. Nevada was appearing in its first championship game.
Offensively, Taiwan capitalized on four wild pitches and a passed ball. Jian Zih-De worked a walk leading off the bottom of the second and later scored when he beat the throw home after the wild pitches.
Chen Shi-Rong scored Taiwan’s second run in the bottom of the third when he ran home on a Nevada throwing error to first base.
The last international team to win the tournament title was Japan in 2017.
Tourism in Las Vegas is slumping this summer, costing the city billions. That could signal trouble ahead for the U.S. economy. Andres Gutierrez has new details.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tourism in Las Vegas is slumping this summer, with resorts and convention centers reporting fewer visitors compared to last year, especially from abroad, and some officials are blaming the Trump administration’s tariffs and immigration policies for the decline.
The city known for lavish shows, endless buffets and around-the-clock gambling welcomed just under 3.1 million tourists in June, an 11% drop compared to the same month in 2024. There were 13% fewer international travelers, and hotel occupancy fell by about 15%, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Mayor Shelley Berkley said tourism from Canada — Nevada’s largest international market — has dried up from a torrent “to a drip.” Same with Mexico.
“We have a number of very high rollers that come in from Mexico that aren’t so keen on coming in right now. And that seems to be the prevailing attitude internationally,” Berkley told reporters this month.
AP AUDIO: Las Vegas tourism is down. Some blame Trump’s tariffs and immigration crackdown
AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on a drop in tourism in a major U.S. city.
A Trump slump
Ted Pappageorge, head of the powerful Culinary Workers Union, called it the “Trump slump.” He said visits from Southern California, home to a large Latino population, were also drying up because people are afraid of the administration’s immigration crackdown.
“If you tell the rest of the world they’re not welcome, then they won’t come,” Pappageorge said.
The Vegas dip mirrors a national trend. The travel forecasting company Tourism Economics, which in December 2024 anticipated the U.S. would have nearly 9% more international arrivals this year, revised its annual outlook to predict a 9.4% drop. Some of the steepest declines could be from Canada, the company said. Canada was the largest source of visitors to the U.S. in 2024, with more than 20.2 million, according to U.S. government data.
Canadian airline data shows fewer passengers from north of the border are arriving at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Air Canada saw its passenger numbers fall by 33% in June compared to a year earlier, while WestJet had a 31% drop. The low-cost carrier Flair reported a whopping 62% decline.
Travel agents in Canada said there’s been a significant downturn in clients wanting to visit the U.S. overall, and Las Vegas in particular. Wendy Hart, who books trips from Windsor, Ontario, said the reason was “politics, for sure.” She speculated it was a point of “national pride” that people were staying away from the U.S. after President Donald Trump said he wanted to make Canada the 51st state.
“The tariffs are a big thing too. They seem to be contributing to the rising cost of everything,” Hart said.
The sky’s not falling
At the downtown Circa Resort and Casino, international visits have dipped, especially from Canada and Japan, according to owner and CEO Derek Stevens. But the downturn comes after a post-pandemic spike, Stevens said. And while hotel room bookings are slack, gaming numbers, especially for sports betting, are still strong, he said.
“It’s not as if the sky is falling,” he said. Wealthier visitors are still coming, and Circa has introduced inexpensive package deals to lure those with less money to spend.
“There have been many stories written about how the ‘end is near’ in Vegas,” he said. “But Vegas continues to reinvent itself as a destination worth visiting.”
On AAA’s annual top 10 list of top Labor Day destinations, Las Vegas slipped this year to the last spot, from No. 6 in 2024. Seattle and Orlando, Florida — home to Disney World — hold steady in the top two spots, with New York City moving up to third for 2025.
Reports of declining tourism were news to Alison Ferry, who arrived from Donegal, Ireland, to find big crowds at casinos and the Vegas Strip.
“It’s very busy. It has been busy everywhere that we’ve gone. And really, really hot,” Ferry said. She added that she doesn’t pay much attention to U.S. politics.
Recession-proof businesses
Just off the strip, there’s been no slowdown at the Pinball Museum, which showcases games dating back to the 1930s. Manager Jim Arnold said the two-decade-old attraction is recession-proof because it’s one of the few places that offers free parking and admission.
“We’ve decided that our plan is just to ignore inflation and pretend it doesn’t exist,” Arnold said. “So you still take a quarter out of your pocket and put it in a game, and you don’t pay a resort fee or a cancelation fee or any of that jazz.”
But Arnold said he’s not surprised overall tourism might be slowing, citing skyrocketing pricing at high-end restaurants and resorts that “squeezes out the low-end tourist.”
The mayor said the rising cost of food, hotel rooms and attractions also keeps visitors away.
“People are feeling that they’re getting nickeled and dimed, and they’re not getting value for their dollar,” Berkley said. She called on business owners to “see if we can’t make it more affordable” for tourists.
“And that’s all we want. We want them to come and have good time, spend their money, go home,” the mayor said. “Then come back in six months.”
Las Vegas — Army veteran Earvin James Sr. never pictured himself in a Las Vegas food pantry. But with a fixed income and rising grocery prices, he had no choice.
“Because you go to these stores now, a pack of toilet tissue costs you $8, and it used to be $5 for a 12-pack,” James told CBS News. “Everything is going up in this country except helping out the senior citizens.”
Most of the food at the Helping Hands of Vegas Valley food pantry comes from the Three Square food bank, a nonprofit that supplies nearly every major food pantry in Southern Nevada.
“We’re already hearing from our partners that they’re feeling the strain of rising demand, more people coming in the door needing help,” said Beth Martino, president and CEO of Three Square.
President Trump’s recently passed tax and spending plan, the “big, beautiful bill,” significantly changes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
States will pick up much more of the SNAP costs, and there are new, stricter requirements for recipients.
“In a state like Nevada, we have very few options to raise more revenue to meet the financial demands of a program like SNAP and Medicaid,” Martino said. “So the future for a lot of those people is very uncertain.”
The warehouse at Three Square felt the pinch in June when it had to contend with smaller food pallets.
“We were facing a real crisis with not having enough food on our shelves to meet the need,” Martino said.
According to an analysis in May from Three Square, about one in seven residents in Southern Nevada is food insecure, meaning they do not know where their next meal is coming from. This year, child hunger rose to 22% in the region that Three Square serves, up from 18% in 2024, according to nonprofit’s data.
“It was very difficult to ask for assistance,” said Clara Blackwell, a volunteer at Helping Hands.
Blackwell knows the courage it takes to walk into the pantry and ask for help. Her husband, son and granddaughter all died within weeks of each other. On a fixed income, she now volunteers here to help others find what kept her afloat.
“Lately, I’ve seen a lot of people coming here,” Blackwell said. “They have no choice. They have no choice at all. I said, ‘Well, you know what? Come reach out and see what you can get.’”
Andres Gutierrez joined CBS News Detroit in September 2022. He comes from KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, serving as a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Universal officials and creators of Halloween Horror Nights announced on Thursday the company’s first year-round horror experience, Universal Horror Unleashed, will be coming to Las Vegas in 2025.
What You Need To Know
Universal officials and creators of Halloween Horror Nights announced on Thursday that Universal Horror Unleashed, will be coming to Las Vegas in 2025
As Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights event is limited to once a year, guests will soon be able to experience similar frights all year long
The attraction will will feature four haunted houses, four themed immersive areas, and live entertainment
More details on the plans for Universal Horror Unleashed in the months ahead, officials said
As Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights event is limited to once a year, guests will soon be able to experience similar frights all year long.
Universal Horror Unleashed will feature four haunted houses from popular horror movie franchises “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and Blumhouse’s “The Exorcist: Believer.” The experience will contain original stories featuring Universal Monsters and “Scarecrow: The Reaping.” Officials said the attraction will also include four themed immersive areas, featuring live entertainment.
In select locations, guests can enjoy eateries and bars featuring horror-centric food and drink offerings. Guests can also expect a continuously updated experience with seasonal events and exclusive merchandise.
More details on the plans for Universal Horror Unleashed in the months ahead, officials said.
Las Vegas — For nearly a year now, 32-year-old renter Mason Cunha and his realtor have been struggling to find the right home in Las Vegas at the right price.
“It just doesn’t really make sense right now to buy a home with the interest rates where they are, and with the inventory what it is,” Cunha said.
Vice President Kamala Harris has said that if she wins the general election in November, she plans to work with the private sector to build three million new homes and rental units.
Cunha, a Harris supporter, is in favor of the proposal.
“I think it’s going to definitely help, if you were to double or triple or quadruple the inventory,” Cunha said.
Harris is also proposing outlawing price fixing by corporate landlords and giving first-time homebuyers who have paid their rent on time for two years with up to $25,000 in down payment assistance.
“I would want to review what the qualifications are for that,” said 32-year-old Andrew Lum of Las Vegas, a wedding DJ and married father. “Where is that $25,000 coming from?”
Lum sold his home when his family expanded. He now rents a bigger house but he can’t afford to buy. Lum says his life was better when former President Donald Trump was in office.
“In 2020 we were able to buy a home,” Lum said. “We were able to buy it at an interest rate that was possible. We were able to buy it with, you know, minimal down payments.”
Trump’s plan involves reducing mortgage rates by slashing inflation. Trump has also said he would open limited portions of federal lands to allow for new home construction, a plan the Biden administration is already enacting. As an example, one such 20-acre plot in Las Vegas was recently transferred from the federal government to Clark County, and now it has been designated for affordable housing.
According to the Congressional Research Service, 80.1% of the land in Nevada is owned by the federal government.
Trump has also said that that his promised mass deportations will make more housing available. It is an argument that both Lum and Cunha don’t seem to agree with.
“It just seems a little farfetched to me that all the houses are being purchased by immigrants,” Lum said.
“I think everything that Trump says has to be taken with a really aggressive grain of salt because he is known to inflate the truth,” Cunha said.
Carter Evans has served as a Los Angeles-based correspondent for CBS News since February 2013, reporting across all of the network’s platforms. He joined CBS News with nearly 20 years of journalism experience, covering major national and international stories.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada man who was arrested over the weekend with guns at a security checkpoint outside a Donald Trump rally in the southern California desert has filed a lawsuit accusing the sheriff of falsely characterizing his arrest as a thwarted assassination attempt for his own personal gain.
The man, identified as 49-year-old Vem Miller of Las Vegas, had been driving an unregistered black SUV with a “homemade” license plate when he was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Sunday at a news conference.
Miller had a shotgun, loaded handgun, ammunition and several fake passports in his vehicle, Bianco said. Miller was released the same day on $5,000 bail.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada says Bianco lied about the fake passports, and that he “created a narrative so as to be viewed as a ‘heroic’ Sheriff who saved Presidential candidate Trump.” It names as defendants the sheriff, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and a sheriff’s deputy.
A call to the sheriff’s executive office for comment Wednesday was deferred to the department’s communications office, which did not respond to an email. The Associated Press also emailed Miller’s lawyer, Sigal Chattah, for comment.
Security is very tight at Trump rallies following two recent assassination attempts. Last month, a man was indicted on an attempted assassination charge after authorities said he staked out the former president for 12 hours and wrote of his desire to kill him. The Florida arrest came two months after Trump was shot and wounded in the ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Bianco said that Miller also claimed to be a journalist, but that it was unclear if he had the proper credentials. Deputies noticed the interior of the vehicle was “in disarray” and a search uncovered the weapons and ammo, along with multiple passports and driver licenses with different names, Bianco said.
Miller’s lawsuit accuses the sheriff’s department of illegally searching the SUV. It also says that he willingly disclosed to officers at the checkpoint that he had weapons but intended to leave them in the vehicle.
Miller is scheduled to appear in court in January in the weapons case. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine, according to online records.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered the dismissal of a sprawling sex abuse indictment against Nathan Chasing Horse, while leaving open the possibility of charges being refiled in a case that sent shockwaves throughout Indian Country and led to more criminal charges in the U.S. and Canada.
Proceedings in the 18-count criminal case have been at a standstill for more than a year while the former “Dances with Wolves” actor challenged it. The full seven-member court’s decision, issued Thursday, reverses earlier rulings upholding the charges by a three-member panel of the high court and a state judge.
Kristy Holston, the chief deputy public defender representing Chasing Horse, had argued that a definition of grooming presented to the grand jury without expert testimony tainted the state’s case. Holston said prosecutors also failed to provide the grand jury with evidence that could have cast a doubt on the allegations against Chasing Horse, including what she described as inconsistent statements made by one of the victims.
The high court agreed.
“The combination of these two clear errors undermines our confidence in the grand jury proceedings and created intolerable damage to the independent function of the grand jury process,” the court said in its scathing order.
The ruling directs the judge overseeing the case in Clark County District Court to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, meaning charges against Chasing Horse can be refiled. But the order for dismissal won’t take effect immediately, as prosecutors also have the option to ask the high court to reconsider within 25 days.
“The allegations against Chasing Horse are indisputably serious, and we express no opinion about Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence,” the order says.
Holston declined to comment. District Attorney Steve Wolfson, in a statement Thursday, described the court’s decision as “only a minor setback.”
“My office is committed to resurrecting the charges in this case,” Wolfson said, “and we will not rest until we obtain justice on behalf of the victims in this matter.”
Chasing Horse is charged with sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.
The 48-year-old has been in custody since his arrest last January near the North Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with five wives. He is unlikely to be released from custody, even after the high court’s decision, because he faces charges in at least four other jurisdictions, including U.S. District Court in Nevada and on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.
Chasing Horse is best known for portraying Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves.” But in the decades since starring in the Oscar-winning movie, authorities said, he built a reputation as a self-proclaimed medicine man among tribes and traveled around North America to perform healing ceremonies.
He is accused of using that position to gain access to vulnerable girls and women starting in the early 2000s, leading a cult and taking underage wives. Authorities have said one of the wives was offered to Chasing Horse as a “gift” when she was 15, while another “became a wife” after turning 16.
Chasing Horse also is accused of recording sexual assaults and arranging sex with the victims for other men who allegedly paid him.
His legal issues have been unfolding at the same time lawmakers and prosecutors around the U.S. are funneling more resources into cases involving Native women, including human trafficking and murders. Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered the dismissal of a sprawling sex abuse indictment against Nathan Chasing Horse, while leaving open the possibility of charges being refiled in a case that sent shockwaves throughout Indian Country and led to more criminal charges in the U.S. and Canada.
The full seven-member court’s decision, issued Thursday, reverses earlier rulings upholding the charges by a three-member panel of the high court and a state judge. Proceedings in the 18-count criminal case have been at a standstill for more than a year while the former “Dances with Wolves” actor challenged it.
Kristy Holston, the deputy public defender representing Chasing Horse, had argued that some evidence presented to the grand jury, including an improper definition of grooming that was presented without expert testimony, had tainted the state’s case. Holston said prosecutors also failed to provide the grand jury with exculpatory evidence, including inconsistent statements made by one of the victims.
Nathan Chasing Horse, in a Jan. 31, 2023, booking photo
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP
The high court agreed.
“The combination of these two clear errors undermines our confidence in the grand jury proceedings and created intolerable damage to the independent function of the grand jury process,” the court said in its scathing order.
Holston declined to comment further. Prosecutor Stacy Kollins did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The ruling directs the judge overseeing the case in Clark County District Court to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, meaning the charges can be refiled.
“The allegations against Chasing Horse are indisputably serious, and we express no opinion about Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence,” the order says.
Chasing Horse’s lawyer had also had argued that the case should be dismissed because, the former actor said, the sexual encounters were consensual. One of his accusers was younger than 16, the age of consent in Nevada, when the alleged abuse began, authorities said.
The 48-year-old has been in custody since his arrest last January near the North Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with five wives. Inside the home, police found firearms, 41 pounds of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, and a memory card with videos of sexual assaults, CBS News previously reported. Police said that at least two of the women were underage when he married them: One was 15, police said, and another was 16.
Nathan Chasing Horse sits in court in Las Vegas, Monday, April 3, 2023.
Ty O’Neil / AP
Chasing Horse is best known for portraying Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves.” But in the decades since starring in the Oscar-winning movie, authorities said, he built a reputation as self-proclaimed medicine man among tribes and traveled around North America to perform healing ceremonies. An arrest warrant stated that he is believed to be the leader of a cult called “The Circle,” whose followers believe he can communicate with higher powers, CBS News previously reported.
He is accused of using that position to gain access to vulnerable girls and women starting in the early 2000s.
He also faces criminal sexual abuse charges in at least four other jurisdictions, including U.S. District Court in Nevada and on the Fort Perk Indian Reservation in Montana. Tribal leaders voted to ban him from the Montana reservation in 2015, citing alleged trafficking and accusations of drug dealing, spiritual abuse and intimidation of tribal members.
Las Vegas police arrested Chasing Horse in January 2023. The arrest helped law enforcement agencies in two countries corroborate long-standing allegations against the former actor. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that police in southern Alberta have been investigating his possible connection to past sexual assaults.
LAS VEGAS, NV, September 25, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Compassion Center celebrates and champions the Coalition for Patient Rights (CPR) in leading the charge for urgent reforms in Nevada’s medical cannabis laws, advocating for reduced fees, patient cultivation rights, and an overhaul of outdated DUID laws. Join CPR in protecting patient access, promoting fair legislation, and ensuring the safe use of natural, organic cannabis for qualifying patients across the state. Get involved by attending monthly meetings or supporting CPR’s Washington D.C. delegation.
The Compassion Center celebrates and champions the Coalition for Patient Rights (CPR) in urgently calling for reform of Nevada’s medical cannabis laws to protect patient access to safe and affordable medicine, and supports CPR’s Washington D.C. delegation in speaking up on behalf of patient rights. In light of growing concerns surrounding the current regulatory framework, the upcoming DEA rescheduling hearing, and the ongoing lack of understanding about medical cannabis, CPR is advocating for legislation that reduces fees and eliminates barriers to access. Our goal is to ensure that patients’ safety and rights are always protected, while providing law enforcement and regulators with clear, actionable guidelines.
As medical cannabis continues to be recognized as a vital tool in managing a range of chronic conditions, qualifying patients in Nevada face unnecessary financial and procedural hurdles. CPR is urging lawmakers to take swift action to reduce registration fees, and even eliminate the fees altogether for disabled veterans and patients with permanent disabilities, while eliminating the current pre-application qualifications, streamlining patient access, and further eliminating the obstacles that disproportionately affect low-income and vulnerable populations.
Central to this reform is the protection of a patient’s right to grow their own cannabis at home, free from exposure to harmful chemicals and pesticides, plant growth regulators (additives) and irradiation. CPR supports legislation that allows patients to cultivate natural, organic cannabis without the burden of taxation, ensuring they can safely manage their own treatment without any unnecessary interference, undue burdens on their privacy and liberty, without an excessive cost.
Additionally, CPR advocates for a complete overhaul of Nevada’s pro se DUID laws, which are currently preventing medical cannabis patients from legally operating vehicles, boats, or aircraft while using cannabis to alleviate their conditions, making pharmaceuticals the only option for a professional or those supporting a family, which we all know can lead to harmful damage from side-effects. The current law is overly broad and does not account for varying levels of patient tolerance or experience, unfairly penalizing patients who rely on cannabis for chronic relief. CPR supports replacing these outdated laws with proven techniques to identify actual impairment, backed by police officer-worn body camera footage to ensure fairness and transparency.
“With the DEA’s move to hold a hearing on rescheduling cannabis to a CSA schedule III, CPR believes the time has come for Nevada to modernize its approach to medical cannabis and the Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) laws regarding medical cannabis patients,” said Jeff Krajnak, CPR President and President of Pardon Me, Please. “Our laws should protect the patients who rely on this medicine, not punish them for seeking natural relief. Reforming access, protecting home cultivation, and replacing outdated DUI laws with science-backed measures will ensure that patients can live healthier, safer lives without fear of legal repercussions”, said Mr. Jason Greninger, CPR Director of Legislative Advocacy.”
CPR is dedicated to collaborating with legislators, healthcare providers, and patient advocates to ensure that Nevada’s medical cannabis laws align with the needs and rights of its patients. We invite you to attend one of our monthly meetings, held on the last Wednesday of each month, or to consider donating to support a delegation that will testify at the upcoming DEA hearing in Washington D.C. on December 2nd, 2024.
“While we acknowledge the consideration to reschedule cannabis to a Schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) will open up many doors for insurance billing and inpatient integration, we hope to see the plant restored to its original status in the updated U.S. Pharmacopeia as a plant-based medicine under the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) designation” Said Nurse Julie Monteiro, RN, BSK, Senior Vice President of Patient Education. “Additionally, it is critical to prioritize patients, their rights, and the accessibility and affordability of cannabis as the DEA moves forward with rescheduling.” Said James B. Creel, PgM, Board Secretary-Treasurer of Compassion Center, and Patient Advocate representing Coalition For Patient Rights (CPR) as a Research Fellow of Compassion Center’s Center for Incubation & Findings Research (CIFR).
To attend a Monthly CPR Town Hall Meeting, speak on a particular subject or just vent about the high cost of healthcare, please visit: https://coalitionforpatientrights.org/nevada-rsvp/ and a link/ ticket will be sent directly to you so you can attend. It is vital for you to let your voice be heard. We hold both in-person and online meetings regularly to ensure the voice of the people is heard.
To be part of the next meeting, please email Vicki Higgins, Executive Vice President of Legislative Action at: Vicki.Higgins@MyCPR.us to obtain a personal invitation and directions or a link to the meeting. While some meetings are held in person at any one or more NV libraries, community centers and offices, CPR often conducts online-only meetings to ensure that the entire community has unfiltered access and the ability to get involved in the conversation.
The convoluted way college athletes are paid for the use of their name, image and likeness and a dispute between player and coaches over money appears to have cost an undefeated team its quarterback three games into the season.
UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka has decided to sit out the rest of the season over a $100,000 NIL payment that was promised but never paid after he agreed to transfer to the Rebels from Holy Cross last winter, Sluka’s agent told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
“I think there was some kind of breakdown in communication,” Bob Sluka, Matthew’s father, told AP.
Sluka’s decision sent shockwaves throughout major college football, where the old rules of amateurism have fallen, leaving schools and the NCAA grappling with how to regulate the way players can be paid. Just how much regulation is part of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement agreement involving the NCAA and the nation’s top conferences that is before a federal judge in California.
Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, said Sluka was promised $100,000 by a UNLV assistant coach who recruited the quarterback last winter when he agreed to transfer in January.
Both Cromartie and the company that runs UNLV’s NIL collective, which would be responsible for paying school athletes, acknowledge there was no signed agreement between the player and the organization for $100,000.
UNLV issued a statement accusing Sluka’s representative of making “financial demands upon the university and its NIL collective in order to continue playing.”
“UNLV athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law,” the school said. “UNLV does not engage in such activity, nor does it respond to implied threats. UNLV has honored all previously agreed-upon scholarships for Matthew Sluka.”
Bob Sluka and Cromartie insisted Matthew Sluka was not looking for anything more than was promised.
UNLV (3-0) is scheduled to host Fresno State (3-1) in a big Mountain West game on Saturday, with both schools hoping a strong season could put them in consideration for a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Rebels have already beaten two power conference schools but now will proceed without their starting QB.
Sluka’s transfer
Equity Sports represents numerous NFL and college players, including Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes. Bob Sluka told AP his son signed with Equity Sports when Matthew Sluka declared his intent to switch schools and entered the NCAA transfer portal in December.
During a recruiting trip to UNLV with his son, Bob Sluka said a discussion about NIL payments came up with offensive coordinator Brennan Marion and the Slukas informed him those could be had with Equity.
Cromartie said he spoke with the assistant coach by phone and a promise of $100,000 was made but because Sluka was still completing his degree at Holy Cross, the quarterback could not sign a contract with a collective until after he enrolled at UNLV. Sluka did not join the team until preseason practice in August.
Friends of Unilv, the collective that works with UNLV athletes, does not sign deals with athletes until they are enrolled, said Bob Sine, whose company Blueprint Sports oversees and operates that collective and dozens others around the country.
But, Sine said, it is not uncommon for representatives of athletes to open discussions with the collective about NIL opportunities before the athlete is enrolled. Sine said a payment of $3,000 was made to Sluka over the summer, but nothing else.
Things fall apart
“In July, there was no NIL payments. There was no $100,000, I guess you could say zero dollars. He was given a $3,000 relocation fee and that was it,” said Cromartie, who added head coach Barry Odom was not involved in the initial discussions.
Sine said the first time they heard from Cromartie was on Aug. 29 via email, and on Sept. 19 there was another email communication during which the collective offered a potential deal that would pay Sluka $3,000 per month.
Sine said Cromartie was not registered as an agent in Nevada or with the school. They informed him he needed to do that to move forward. Sluka’s father said Cromartie was directed to speak with Odom and director of player development Hunkie Cooper.
Cromartie said he suggested payments of $10,000 a month over the next five months and even $5,000 per month and was declined.
Cromartie said Sluka was offered $3,000 per month by Odom and Cooper in a phone call last week.
“At that point I think Matt felt lied to. At that point he just wanted to stand up for himself,” Cromartie said.
Bob Sluka said his son went to see Odom on Monday before practice and the coach refused to talk to Matthew about the NIL arrangement. Bob Sluka said Matthew returned to the coach’s office after practice, but Odom was gone. Odom declined to speak with reporters following practice Wednesday.
“It’s just the tone that they took. It didn’t have to happen. All you had to do was give Matt a hug and say, ‘Hey, Matt, we’re going to work this out with you,’” said Bob Sluka, who lives in Locust Valley on New York’s Long Island. “You’re letting your starting quarterback walk out the door. And they didn’t care. Did Barry not call the collective and say, ‘Holy crap, I’m losing my kid.’ No, he said, ‘Take it or leave it.’”
NCAA redshirt rules allow players to retain a year of eligibility if they play four or fewer games in a season. Sluka, who played four seasons (2020-23) at Holy Cross, still has one more year of eligibility that he could use at another school next season. NCAA rules do not allow players to play for two schools within the same season.
“I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled,” Matthew Sluka posted on X late Tuesday. “Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program.”
NIL headaches
The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes being compensated for things like endorsement and sponsorship deals in 2021, but had very few detailed rules on how schools can regulate payments beyond saying the compensation cannot come directly from the school.
State laws have created different standards around the country, and college sports leaders, including NCAA President Charlie Baker, have been lobbying Congress for a federal law to help get a handle of an unruly system that lacks transparency. The NCAA settlement of multiple antitrust lawsuits includes a plan for a new revenue-sharing system, which would allow schools to begin making direct NIL payments to athletes as soon as next year.
“The NCAA fully supports college athletes profiting from their NIL, but unfortunately there is little oversight or accountability in the NIL space and far too often promises made to student-athletes are broken,” NCAA senior vice president for external affairs Tim Buckley said in a statement. “Positive changes are underway at the NCAA to deliver more benefits to student-athletes but without clear legal authority granted by the courts or by Congress, the NCAA, conferences and schools have limited authority to regulate third parties involved in NIL transactions.”
The current way this all works has caused headaches for everyone involved.
Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada, who committed to play for Florida out of high school, is suing Gators coach Billy Napier and one of the school’s top boosters after a $14 million NIL deal fell through. Rashada never played for Florida. He was released from his scholarship agreement in 2023, transferred to Arizona State where he played last year and then transferred to Georgia this offseason.
“They’re going to have to figure out a system, just like anything else — make sure contracts are signed, or the language is done the right way,” Mahomes, who has become involved in the NIL collective at Texas Tech, his alma mater, said Wednesday when asked about Sluka’s situation.
What now?
UNLV went 9-5 last season and played for the Mountain West Conference championship, but the quarterback who led that team to the program’s best season in nearly 40 years, Jayden Maiava, transferred to Southern California of the Big Ten.
Sluka was one of the top quarterbacks playing in Division I’s second tier, known as the Football Championship Subdivision. Holy Cross reached the FCS playoffs in 2021 and ’22 with Sluka as the starter.
After a coaching change at Holy Cross — head coach Bob Chesney left to take over at James Madison — Sluka also moved on. after setting a host of school records and rushing for an NCAA Division I quarterback record 330 yards in a loss to Lafayette in 2023. Sluka has completed 21 of 48 passes for 318 yards, six touchdowns and one interception for the Rebels this season. He has also rushed 39 times for 286 yards and a touchdown, helping the Rebels beat Kansas and Houston to go 2-0 against Big 12 teams.
Neither Sluka’s father nor his agent completely ruled out the possibility of a resolution that could have Matthew Sluka back with UNLV, but neither voiced any optimism.
“At the end of the day, $100,000 for a quarterback that’s in a Top 25 program is actually probably on the lower tier,” Cromartie said. “The fact that he hasn’t gotten that or anything in between just speaks to the point he’s getting done unjustly and unfairly.”
___
AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri, and Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
CBS News’ latest polling finds that the 2024 presidential race can go either way. It also found that the number of voters saying the economy is good went up and Vice President Kamala Harris is up four points nationally over former President Donald Trump. CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto discusses the new poll and the race in the seven battleground states.
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BOULDER — When the bully across the road gives you a wedgie on national TV, the neighbors start to worry. Get beat by little brother? The neighbors start to talk.
“I would say (CU Buffs coach) Deion Sanders needs (Saturday) more,” CBS analyst and former NFL lineman Ross Tucker, who’s in the booth for Saturday’s Rocky Mountain Showdown at Fort Collins, told me by phone earlier this week. “The reason why I say that is when things started to go south (in 2023), they really went south. (CU) did not show the ability to really handle and overcome adversity very well.
“So based on how last year went, if you’re a CU fan or if you’re a Deion fan, you see back-to-back losses to Nebraska and to CSU, two of the four teams you beat last year, you’ve got to think about how well they’ll be able to keep the team together and in a good headspace for the rest of the season. … (It’s) not even, ‘Here we go again.’ It’s, ‘These are actually two of the teams we beat last year, so we’re going in the wrong direction.’”
Vice President Kamala Harris has never met Maria Rodriguez. She probably never will. But the Democratic presidential nominee should be worried about Rodriguez, and voters like her.
The single mother of three from Henderson, Nev., is a onetime Democratic voter who frets about the economy (meaning: the price of just about everything) and says she plans to vote for former President Trump.
Rodriguez cast her ballot for Joe Biden four years ago, hoping for better times. But, regardless of what government statisticians might say about the economy, the 36-year-old finds it’s harder to pay the bills today, even though she is working two or three jobs as a nurse and home healthcare worker.
“Going to the market is really hard right now,” Rodriguez said as she pushed a mostly empty cart up an aisle of a Dollar Tree discount store last week. “Sometimes, before, you would go in with 100 bucks and come out with a full cart. It was pretty OK. Now, with 100 bucks, you can get maybe 10 things. It’s living paycheck to paycheck.”
“I was potentially a Democrat,” she said. “But I have changed my way of thinking [because] this country is going downhill.”
Views like Rodriguez’s go a long way in explaining why Nevada, which Democrats have won in the last four presidential races, remains up for grabs in the 2024 election. Harris holds a narrow 0.6% advantage in recent polls, according to an aggregate by Real Clear Politics. That’s a marked improvement for the Democrats, given that Trump led in the high single digits in polls before President Biden left the race in July.
The Silver State is one of seven states thought to hold the key to victory in 2024. And it usually picks the candidate the rest of America favors.In the 28 presidential elections since 1912, the winner of Nevada has won the presidency all but two times. The exceptions occurred in 1976, when Nevada chose Republican Gerald Ford over Democrat Jimmy Carter, and in 2016, when Nevada and its six electoral votes went to Hillary Clinton over Trump.
Trump will count heavily on Nevadans’ discomfort with the economy to help him grind out a victory in a state that most experts expect to be closely contested through the Nov. 5 election.
The former president has a rally scheduled Friday night in Las Vegas. He has anad on Las Vegas television stations that features another former Republican president, Ronald Reagan.
“I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago,” Reagan says in video of his closing 1980 debate against President Carter. “Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago?”
That question might serve Trump well this year, as national and state polls continue to show that the economy remains the top issue for voters. The party in power usually pays the price for such sentiments. In an Emerson College poll in August, 37% of likely Nevada voters surveyed named the economy as the top issue, with the related topic of housing affordability second, named by 15% of those surveyed.
“That large bloc of independent voters makes the state unpredictable,” said Thom Reilly, a former public official in Nevada’s Clark County and now an academic. “They were supporting Trump by 10% in January, and now the polling is all over the map, and they might be in Harris’ camp. I think those voters make it more volatile.”
Frustrating to Democratic stalwarts is the fact that not all voters have been moved by improving economic indicators, with the buying power of “real wages” growing nationally over the last year.
The state’s unemployment rate of 5.5% in August put it higher than the national average of 3.7%, but the Las Vegas metropolitan region’s 4% jobless rate nearly matched the U.S. as a whole. Those figures pale in comparison to the 31% unemployment that devastated the state during the 2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Annual inflation peaked in 2022 at about 9%, and haddeclined to 2.6% for the American West (including Nevada) by this summer, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Prices even dropped in some categories, including dairy, fruits and vegetables.
And although gasoline in Nevada is costing an average of $3.98 per gallon this month, above the national average of $3.27, that represents a substantial drop from the $4.62 one year ago,according to AAA.
The boom-bust cycles that Nevadans know too well — with particularly deep holes during the Great Recession and early in the pandemic — have been particularly painful in the housing market.
Apartment rents jumped dramatically in 2022, with the typical rental rate of $1,805 in the Vegas metro area marking a nearly one-third increase from just two years prior. Only three other metropolitan areas experienced bigger leaps. The median rent today stands at $2,070, so increases have slowed but still leave some people struggling to pay their rent.
::
An intake worker at a senior center in the working-class northwest section of Las Vegas said that her clients have been forced to rely on family members, while others have been evicted and forced to move into their cars. Or onto the streets.
“The rent has gone up since Biden’s been in office. It went up when Trump was in office,” said the worker, who asked to go only by her first name, Karen. “We don’t know where the blame lies.”
She said she hadn’t known much about Harris but liked what she saw at the Democratic National Convention.
“She has a lot of new ideas, things that would help,” including proposals for an expanded child-care tax credit, Karen said.
In interviews with 17 people in Henderson and Las Vegas last week, six said they intended to vote for Harris and five for Trump, while six others weren’t sure they would vote at all. Half of those who haven’t committed said they tended to favor the former president; the other half the current vice president.
Donald Trump was leading in state polls during this Las Vegas rally in June, before President Biden quit. An ad for him on Vegas TV stations shows Ronald Reagan telling voters in 1980 to ask whether they’re better off than they were four years ago.
(John Locher / Associated Press)
Trump backers tended to stress his background as a businessman and to focus on the bottom line. Prices for most things were lower when the Republican was in the White House, so it’s time to bring him back, they said.
Some also seconded Trump’s frequent complaint that immigrants crossing the border illegally from Mexico are harming the U.S. (Border crossings have decreased in recent months.)
Most Harris supporters said they trusted her to make the kind of changes she promised; such as imposing sanctions on retailers and others determined to be engaged in price gouging. Those who like the Democrat said they were sick of the demonizing of immigrants.
Rodriguez, a mother of three, said her parents came from Mexico legally. She complained about those who come without authorization and then get government benefits.
“You have people coming into this country, and basically everything is handed to them,” said Rodriguez, who grew up in Orange County. “To me, I don’t think that’s fair.”
One aisle over at the Henderson Dollar Tree, Monica Silva expressed a different view. She said Trump “is always talking about the Mexican issue.”
She added: “He is always criticizing them and blaming them. And that is not true. That is not the problem in our country.”
Silva, 77, who immigrated more than half a century ago from Chile, sees Harris as someone who will rein in price gouging.
“I think she’s just powerful, and she has the experience as the lawyer, you know?” Silva said. “I think she can get things done, more than most people can.”
Shara Rule, who works for an electric scooter business, doesn’t feel Harris or the Biden White House are to blame for higher prices. And she sees prices coming down.
“Trump is just greedy. He is helping himself,” said Rule, 61. “She’s smart and got a good head on her shoulders. I think she’s going to lead us in the right direction, economically.”
Susan Kendall, a director of medical records for a nursing facility, felt that Trump got more done, while the Democrats mostly talked.
She fondly recalled the “economic impact payment” of $1,200 in COVID-19 relief she got when Trump was still in office.
“That made a big difference for people, and Biden didn’t even try any of that,” said Kendall, 56. (Actually, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan shortly after taking office, sending payments of $1,400 per person to middle-class families.)
“I don’t know exactly what Trump did. But whatever he did, it worked,” Kendall said. “I feel like Trump focuses inside the country and helping people here inside the country and not helping people from the outside.”
The ad featuring Reagan really hit home with her. “I saw it and thought about how things were four years ago,” she said. “I think that will make it easy to make your decision.”
Mandy, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mom, said prices have gotten so high that she no longer grabs all of the snacks and extras she would like in the supermarket.
“I can’t afford that right now,” she said.
“I just think that the country needs to be run like a business,” said Mandy, a two-time Trump voter who declined to give her last name. “Not so much like Biden is running it now. He’s not like a businessman. He’s a politician.”
Shopping for yarn to crochet hats for friends and family, Kathleen Clark said she sees both political camps as misguided in thinking any president can change economic conditions in the short term.
The 66-year-old Clark, a day trader on the stock market, said long-term micro- and macro-economic forces control the economy. She also doesn’t believe campaign promises, like Trump and Harris promising to eliminate taxes on tips. (“They can’t do it,” she said, “until they figure out how to replace that money.”)
Clark also questioned those who say how much they are suffering. She knows from her retail days, she said, that the kids who started back to school in recent weeks were wearing some pretty pricey outfits.
“Those kids are going out there with $600 tennis shoes and backpacks. They got $1,000 on their backs,” she said with a chuckle. “They’re not hurting.”
One of those ubiquitous Nevada independents, Clark said her vote will be guided by one factor that is beyond argument.
“I’m voting for Harris. Why? Strictly because she’s a woman,” she said. “I don’t believe in Biden. I don’t believe in Trump. I don’t believe in any of the rest of it. But it’s about time [for a female president]. There is nothing else.”
