Category Archives: Nevada

Las Vegas teen dies from brain-eating amoeba as experts warn against panic

Posted on by

Investigators believe teen was exposed in warm waters at Lake Mead but epidemiologist says disease is ‘very, very rare’

Experts have said that the death of a teenager in the Las Vegas area from a rare brain-eating amoeba should prompt caution, not panic, among people at freshwater lakes, rivers and springs.

“It gets people’s attention because of the name,” Brian Labus, a former public health epidemiologist, said on Friday of the naturally occurring organism officially called Naegleria fowleri but almost always dubbed the brain-eating amoeba. “But it is a very, very rare disease.”

Continue reading...

There’s lithium in them thar hills – but fears grow over US ‘white gold’ boom

Posted on by

The treasured mineral is critical for electric vehicles and could help slow global heating, but locals worry about the harmful extraction near tribal land

Deep in the parched landscapes of Nevada, there is a stirring boom. The mining of lithium holds the promise of a treasured resource that can help slow disastrous global heating.

Spurred by a growing demand for battery parts essential for electric vehicles, the US’s only major lithium mine, in Silver Peak, a remote outpost situated in desert scrub and nascent Joshua trees a three-hour drive north of Las Vegas, is doubling its production.

Continue reading...

Suspect arrested after Las Vegas Strip stabbing attack kills two and injures six

Posted on by

A man with a large kitchen knife said he wanted to take a picture with showgirls but then started stabbing people, a witness said

An attacker with a large kitchen knife killed two people and wounded six others in stabbings along the Las Vegas Strip before he was arrested on Thursday, police said.

Three people were hospitalized in critical condition and another three were in stable condition, according to Las Vegas police, who said they began receiving 911 calls about the stabbings around 11.40am across the street from the Wynn casino and hotel.

Continue reading...

Las Vegas dolphin attraction closed after third mammal death

Posted on by

Mirage Secret Garden and Habitat temporarily shut after third dolphin fatality in five months

A dolphin habitat at a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip has been temporarily closed after the third mammal death at the attraction in five months.

Officials at the Mirage Secret Garden and Habitat said an 11-year-old bottlenose dolphin named K2 died on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Local official arrested after Las Vegas reporter Jeff German found dead

Posted on by

Robert Telles, Clark county’s public administrator, had been the focus of several investigative stories by German

Four days after the investigative journalist Jeff German was found dead outside his Las Vegas home, police have arrested a local official who had been the focus of German’s reporting, on suspicion of murder, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Robert Telles, an elected official who serves as the Clark county public administrator, was was wheeled out of his home on a stretcher and put into an ambulance about 6pm, just hours after officials had searched Telles’s home, according to the Review Journal.

Continue reading...

Temperatures smash records in US west as brutal heatwave continues

Posted on by

Records broken in Sacramento and Reno, while California close to ordering rolling blackouts to ease strain on power grid

A brutal heatwave enveloping the US west smashed records on Tuesday, as high temperatures and historic energy use strained California’s grid to the brink of its capacity and spurred fire behavior across the state.

Western states are struggling through one of the hottest and longest September heatwaves on record.

Continue reading...

Investigative reporter Jeff German stabbed to death in Las Vegas

Posted on by

Police say killing followed altercation outside journalist’s home and suspect is being pursued

Police were looking for a suspect after a Las Vegas investigative reporter was stabbed to death outside his home, authorities said.

Las Vegas police officers found Jeff German dead with stab wounds around 10.30am on Saturday after authorities received a 911 call, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Continue reading...

Brutal heatwave headed for US west, raising health fears

Posted on by

Parts of California could see 115F heat as several states face potentially record-breaking weather

A brutal, potentially record-breaking heatwave is setting over the US west, the latest in a string of extreme temperature events that’s putting communities on high alert for heat-related illness and death.

Temperatures are expected to hit 115F (46C) in the coming days across parts of southern California, Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley, according to the National Weather Service. In Death Valley, temperatures were forecast to reach more than 120F (49C).

Continue reading...

US issues western water cuts as drought leaves Colorado River near ‘tipping point’

Posted on by

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico affected as federal government steps in after states failed to reach agreement

After western US states failed to reach agreements to reduce water use from the beleaguered Colorado River, the federal government stepped in on Tuesday, issuing cuts that will affect two states and Mexico.

Officials with the Bureau of Reclamation declared a “tier 2” shortage in the river basin as the drought continues to pummel the American west, pushing its largest reservoirs to new lows. The waning water levels, which have left dramatic bathtub rings in reservoirs and unearthed buried bodies and other artifacts, continue to threaten hydroelectric power production, drinking water, and agricultural production.

Continue reading...

Yet more human remains found as drought shrinks Lake Mead reservoir

Posted on by

Fourth set of skeletal remains, as yet unidentified, discovered at Swim Beach in Nevada as lake hits lowest level in 80 years

A fourth set of human remains has been found at the shrinking reservoir of Lake Mead as the drought gripping the western US continues to blaze and sends its water levels plunging.

The fourth set of skeletal remains was found on Saturday at Swim Beach in Nevada, and are now being assessed by the local Clark county coroner. The identity of the body is unknown, nor the manner of death.

Continue reading...

Lake Mead: shrinking waters uncover buried secrets and grisly finds

Posted on by

Sunken boat from second world war and at least three sets of human remains found in largest US reservoir – and more could follow

Drought has a way of revealing things. Receding waters can highlight the precarity of the crucial systems that keep societies functioning and expose hidden ancient cities.

In the case of Lake Mead, America’s largest reservoir, diminishing waters have in recent months uncovered long buried secrets and other mysterious finds: at least three sets of human remains, including a body inside a barrel that could be linked to a mob killing, and a sunken boat dating back to the second world war.

Continue reading...

More human remains found at Lake Mead as water levels shrink

Posted on by

Various grim discoveries have been made at the drought-stricken Nevada reservoir, including a body in a barrel

More human remains have been found as the shrinking shore line of Lake Mead recedes in the face of a brutal drought gripping the western United States.

In a statement, the National Park Service said the unidentified remains were spotted at Swim Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area late on Monday afternoon.

Continue reading...

Back from the depths: shrinking Lake Mead reveals second world war-era boat

Posted on by

The Higgins landing craft, once 185ft below the surface, is now halfway out of the water as drought deepens

A sunken boat dating back to the second world war is the latest object to emerge from a shrinking reservoir that straddles Nevada and Arizona.

The Higgins landing craft that has long been 185ft (56 meters) below the surface is now nearly halfway out of the water at Lake Mead.

Continue reading...

Brand new bang: Lake Tahoe resort scraps July 4 fireworks for drones

Posted on by

Pyrotechnic displays pose a heightened fire risk in a time of intense drought and cause distress to wild animals

Lake Tahoe’s north shore is breaking with tradition and will replace its Fourth of July fireworks celebration with a colorful light display of an entirely different nature.

The tourist town on the Nevada side of the storied lake will offer a night-time drone light show, a display officials at the Incline Village Crystal Bay visitors bureau said carries less danger in a parched landscape primed to burn.

Continue reading...

Second set of human remains found in receding Lake Mead waters

Posted on by

The shrinking reservoir in Las Vegas gave up its second discovery just a week after a barrel was found containing a man’s body

Authorities in Nevada have recovered another set of human remains from Lake Mead as a devastating drought has depleted the massive reservoir outside Las Vegas.

Two sisters paddle boarding in the lake on Saturday spotted the bones, which they initially thought were the remains of a bighorn sheep.

Continue reading...

Drought-starved Lake Mead reveals a decades-old barrel with a body inside

Posted on by

Water levels at the Nevada reservoir have depleted to such a level that officials predict more grim finds in the future

A body inside a barrel was found over the weekend on the the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes one of the largest US reservoirs – and officials predicted the discovery could be just the first of more grim finds.

“I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains,” Las Vegas police Lt Ray Spencer told KLAS-TV on Monday.

Continue reading...

Nevada police allege woman stabbed date in revenge for 2020 killing of Iranian general

Posted on by

The woman told police she attacked the man in retaliation for the US drone strike that killed senior Revolutionary Guards leader Qassem Suleimani

A woman allegedly stabbed a man she had met on a dating website in retaliation for the 2020 death of an Iranian military leader killed in an American drone strike, police say.

Nika Nikoubin, 21, has been charged with attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon and burglary, KLAS-TV reported.

Continue reading...

Las Vegas shooting: 13 wounded and one dead at hookah lounge, police say

Posted on by

Two people reported critically injured in Nevada shooting, which happened early on Saturday morning

Fourteen people were shot before dawn on Saturday at a hookah lounge in Las Vegas. Police said one man died and two people suffered critical injuries.

The shooting happened at about 3.15am and preliminary information indicated there was a party during which two people got into an altercation and exchanged gunfire, striking multiple people, said police captain Dori Koren.

Continue reading...

A woman’s boyfriend was holding her captive. Sticky notes helped her escape

Posted on by

Brandon Toseland has been charged after Las Vegas police discovered the woman and her daughter – and the body of her son

On Tuesday, a 7-year-old girl arrived at her Las Vegas elementary school with a stash of sticky notes in her hand, which she gave to her teacher. The notes, from her mother, were a cry for help.

The woman wrote that she was being held captive by her boyfriend and feared that her 4-year-old son, who she had not seen for weeks, was dead, according to her attorney. After the teacher notified authorities, police went to the home of Brandon Toseland, where they found the body of Mason Dominguez in Toseland’s freezer.

Continue reading...

Very hungry bear ‘Hank the Tank’ is in fact three bears, DNA shows

Posted on by

Officials say a trio of oversized bears is responsible for home invasions that had been blamed on a 500lb black bear dubbed Hank the Tank

DNA evidence has shown that the 500-pound black bear the public had nicknamed Hank the Tank is, in fact, at least three not-so-little bears who have damaged more than 30 properties around Lake Tahoe in recent months.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife on Thursday said it would soon begin trapping bears in the South Lake Tahoe area to tag the animals and collect evidence for genetic analysis. The bears will be released in a “suitable habitat” and the agency said no trapped animals will be euthanised as part of the project.

Continue reading...