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8.5.21
LATEST MASK MANDATE WILL LAST AT LEAST TWO WEEKS A mask mandate in Nevada, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. July 30 in counties with substantial or high transmission of COVID-19, including Clark County, will be in place for at least two weeks, Nevada officials said. Nevada is in lockstep with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which late last month recommended that those vaccinated against COVID-19 should mask up. If the CDC adjusts its recommendations, so will the state, Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office reiterated. The CDC’s reversal comes after research showed that the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus can break through the vaccine, allowing the inoculated to infect others even while asymptomatic, The New York Times reported. Health and science experts maintain that the vaccines are doing what they were designed to do for the overwhelming majority of those vaccinated: prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death. As of July 29, nearly 47% of Nevadans ages 12 and up had been fully vaccinated, while about 57% of the same population faction had initiated vaccination, state numbers show. Nevada officials are evaluating the transmission rates every Tuesday. For a county to relax the mandate, it would have to reduce transmission rates to low or moderate in the CDC scope for two consecutive weeks, officials said. Masking is required in all indoor public spaces, including offices, businesses, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and other venues, officials said. –Ricardo Torres-Cortez
LOVERS & FRIENDS FEST HEADED TO LAS VEGAS STRIP FAUCI PREDICTS MORE PAIN AND SUFFERING AHEAD
Vegas Golden Knights right winger Ryan Reaves (75) celebrates after a playoff win against Montreal June 14 at T-Mobile Arena. After four seasons with the Knights, Reaves was traded to the New York Rangers for a third-round draft pick on July 29. For more on the Knights’ offseason moves, see Page 46. (John Locher/ Associated Press)
AIRPORT COULD BECOME HARRY REID INTERNATIONAL IN SEPTEMBER McCarran International Airport could become Harry Reid International as soon as September, Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom said July 28. The commission unanimously voted in February to rename the county-owned and operated airport for Reid, who spent more than 30 years in Washington, mostly as a senator but also as a U.S. representative. He was Senate majority leader from 2007 to 2015. The renaming removes the name of Democratic U.S. Sen. Pat McCarran, an aviation proponent but also a known racist and antisemite who represented Nevada in the Senate from 1933 to 1954. –Hillary Davis
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Dr. Anthony Fauci warned August 1 that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their shots. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also said he doesn’t foresee additional lockdowns in the U.S. because he believes enough people are vaccinated to avoid a recurrence of last winter. However, he said not enough are inoculated to “crush the outbreak” at this point. Most new infections in the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. So-called breakthrough infections can occur in vaccinated people, and though the vast majority of those cause mild or no symptoms, the research shows they can carry about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots. –Associated Press
1 THINGS THAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK
AMODEI REVEALS CANCER Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., had three surgeries and an outpatient procedure over the past 10 months for cancerous tumors on his kidneys and a cancerous spot in his esophagus, the Republican congressman disclosed July 30.
The Lovers & Friends Festival, which takes its name from a 2004 Lil Jon track that Usher has performed recently during his new Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, is on track for a May 14, 2022, arrival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on the Strip. Both of those artists will be among the headliners. Other big names on the bill for the inaugural R&B and hip-hop music fest presented by Live Nation include Lauryn Hill, Ludacris, TLC, Timbaland, Ciara, Nelly, Ne-Yo, Ashanti, Ja Rule, Trey Songz, Brandy, Monica, Akon, T-Pain, Lil Kim, Sean Paul, Fabolous and Eve. Lovers & Friends is also presented by Snoop Dogg and Bobby Dee. Tickets went on sale on August 2 and quickly sold out. The official website, loversandfriendsfest.com, offers those still interested in passes to sign up for a waitlist. The festival was originally planned for May 9, 2020, in LA, but those plans were abandoned due to the pandemic. –Brock Radke
2 WEEKLY TESTS Starting August 15, Nevada state employees who aren’t fully vaccinated for COVID-19 must take weekly virus tests. Gov. Steve Sisolak announced the new testing policy in a statement July 31 after it was previously reported to be in the works.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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5-Minute Expert: Flying safely and smoothly Cover story: The kids head back to school— what will that feel like? The Strip: RuPaul’s Drag Race Live returns to the Flamingo Noise: Rapper Ekoh kicks off his tour at home in Las Vegas Food & Drink: Nicole Brisson brings Brezza to the Strip
WEEK IN REVIEW WEEK AHEAD News you should know about
Sports: Saying farewell can be tough—especially to the Flower
United States defender Miles Robinson (12) heads the ball past Mexico goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera (1) for a goal in overtime during the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final on August 1 at Allegiant Stadium. It was the only goal of the game. (Steve Marcus)
Vegas Inc: Chatting with UNLV’s College of Hospitality dean
VEGAS INC SEEKS VALLEY’S TOP TECH Vegas Inc and Cox Business are now accepting nominations for the 11th annual Top Tech Awards. These technology leaders keep our community connected, companies functioning and businesses growing. Categories include Education, Government, Health Care, Hotel/Gaming, Nonprofit, Private – Small/ Medium Business, Private – Large Business, Public Business, Startup Business, Cox Innovation Award and Top Tech of the Year. Nominations can be submitted at toptech.awardsplatform.com.
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KING CAELEB
GAMBLING ACCUSATION
PAID PARKING AT MIRACLE MILE
San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane denied allegations his wife made that he bet on NHL games, including against his own team. The NHL said July 31 that it was made aware of social media posts from Anna Kane and plans to conduct a full investigation.
Self-parking is no longer free at the Miracle Mile Shops garage near Planet Hollywood. The cost to park for between one and four hours at the garage is now $12. From four to 24 hours costs $15, and there is no charge for under an hour.
Caeleb Dressel on August 1 became the fifth swimmer in Olympic history to capture five gold medals in a single Games. He capped his Games with a dominant victory in the 50-meter freestyle and a dazzling butterfly leg during a record-breaking 4x100 medley relay.
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L A S V E G A S W E E K LY
8.5.21
CLEAR FOR TAKEOFF
Air travel can be extra-challenging these days. Here’s how best to handle it BY GEOFF CARTER
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hether or not you’re been on a plane recently or plan to be, you’ve probably heard the stories about closed airport restaurants and services, scarcities of rideshare drivers and midair brawls over flaunting mask requirements. But despite those obstacles, we’re flying anyway, visiting with family members we haven’t seen since before lockdown or taking vacations long overdue. So we asked Chris Jones, chief marketing officer with the Clark County Department of Aviation, how such problems can be met head-on—or, better yet, avoided entirely. Here are a few tips to make your upcoming air travel easier, whether you’re flying out of McCarran or coming home from someplace else.
BRING YOUR MASK
EXPECT REDUCED SERVICES McCarran didn’t lay off employees during last year’s shutdown, though a voluntary separation program was offered. “We had about 100 people, out of roughly 1,400 pre-pandemic, that took advantage of that,” Jones says. “There’s also been some natural attrition, people taking jobs out of state, retirement or whatever else, so we were down people, and we were not able to begin hiring until our new fiscal year began on the first of July. So, we actually have some positions open right now that we’re accepting applications for.” That staffing reduction means some airport services aren’t operating at their pre-pandemic levels, translating into slowdowns. (The Transportation Security Administration, a separate entity from the Department of Aviation, is also faced with reduced staffing.) Individual airlines are short on skycaps. And many airport vendors don’t have the employees they need to operate; some of them haven’t even reopened yet. McCarran has held job expos and is refilling its vacancies, but that will take time. Until the airport, its vendors, the airlines and the TSA are back at full staffing strength, Jones suggests simple patience. “The public is coming in with the idea that [traveling] will be exactly what they remember,” Jones says. “It’s not.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gone back and forth on indoor mask-wearing over the course of this wildly optimistic vaccine rollout summer, but the Federal Aviation Administration’s message has been consistent. “Airports have always been under a federal [mask] requirement, which right now runs through September 13,” Jones says. “You have to have a mask on when you’re indoors at the airport. Whether you’re on a plane, on a shuttle bus or if you’re inside the terminal at all, you’re required to wear a mask.” It’s entirely possible the FAA’s mask mandate, which has already been extended once, might be lengthened again in response to the recent surge of Delta variant cases. Long story short: You might need to hold on to those masks until your Thanksgiving trip home, and possibly even longer than that, unless vaccination numbers go up and COVID-19 cases wane.
(Shutterstock/Photo Illustration)
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5-MINUTE EXPERT
ALLOW MORE TIME
Getting to the airport early is always a good idea, but even more so with air travel in such a state of flux. McCarran recently reopened half of its E gates, and it’s steadily ramping up capacity as traffic climbs. (June saw 3.8 million passengers at the airport, roughly twice the volume from January.) But with airlines reducing fares to lure back customers, they’re pulling in a lot of people who don’t usually fly—and that means the airport’s reduced resources will be stretched to their limits. And it could only get worse as convention traffic returns, and out-of-state Raider Nation denizens begin flying in for home games. “In 2019, I could show up 45 minutes before a flight and figure I’d be fine, and for the large part I was; I didn’t miss the flight. I wouldn’t do that now, because I don’t know who’s going to be in line with me and what the delays might be,” Jones says. “And planes are getting really full right now; if you do miss your flight, there’s not a lot of available seats for them to really accommodate you.” His advice is simple: Get to the airport earlier, at least two hours before your flight. That should give you enough time to check bags—remember, skycaps and baggage handlers aren’t at full staffing yet—and to get through the TSA checkpoint. You might need the time; you might not. But is waiting until the last minute worth the trouble of missing a flight? “Last month, I flew out with my kids on a Tuesday night at 10 o’clock. We got through the checkpoint very, very easily, and they were all angry with me: ‘Why did we come so early? We’re just sitting around here,’” Jones says. “And I was like, ‘Because I just don’t know. I mean, even working here, I didn’t know what the line would be like, and I didn’t want to get here and get caught.’”
PLAN AHEAD FOR GROUND TRANSPORTATION AND PARKING Getting into and out of the airport is much more challenging post-pandemic, whether you’re driving you own car or relying on taxicabs and rideshare. “Uber and Lyft drivers haven’t come back in volume,” Jones says, adding that taxi companies have said they’re having a hard time finding drivers, and that the shuttle buses to the offsite rental car center are also short-staffed. That means that a lot more travelers have been driving themselves to McCarran, which creates another problem. “Parking has been filling quite regularly,” Jones says. He recommends calling McCarran’s parking hotline (702-261-5122) before heading to the airport. “When you call it, a person will answer, 24 hours a day; it’s not recorded. … You can have a better idea before you come here where to proceed with your car, as opposed to driving here and finding out at the eleventh hour that you have to go somewhere else to park.”
Christian Sanchez of Orlando, Florida, waits for a Lyft ride at a rideshare pickup area in the Terminal 1 parking garage at McCarran International Airport. (Steve Marcus/Staff)
WATCH THE WEATHER It’s rare, but extreme heat can force cancellations. “The air traffic control tower has different configurations, and by that, I mean which way the aircraft are taking off and landing,” Jones says. “When it’s really hot, the best configuration that we have has less of a flow than some of the other ones that we can use when it’s not quite so hot. If they have to go into that high heat configuration, which lessens the number of planes that can take off and land in an hour, then you do see flights affected—cancellations, diverted flights and things along those lines.”
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8.5.21
THE PERFECT PANTRY
Meal-making will be easier if you have these essentials on hand BY GENEVIE DURANO
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he secret to great cooking is having the right ingredients on hand—and being able to find them easily in your kitchen. An organized, well-stocked pantry will inspire you to create endless meals, from elaborate weekend affairs to quick weeknight dishes, while limiting trips to the grocery store for missing ingredients. The general category of “pantry” encompasses items you keep on hand in the fridge, freezer and dry-goods cupboards. To start, sort through what you already have. Get rid of expired items in the fridge, freezer-burned or unlabeled and unknown packages in the freezer and dried-out bags of anything in the cupboards. If you have cans of pinto beans and tuna fish that you bought in a panic at the start of the pandemic but haven’t yet eaten, put them in a box and donate to a food pantry. When it comes to the pantry, out of sight is out of mind, so put things where you can see them. Slide-out drawers, stacking shelves and lazy Susans help create extra usable space, while clearly labeled baskets and clear containers provide a snapshot of exactly what you have, avoiding duplication. Speaking of labeling, keep a roll of masking tape and a Sharpie front and center. Label everything that goes in the freezer (even though you think you’ll remember it later, without a label, you might not), and mark dates on fridge leftovers. Also keep a notepad on the fridge door to jot things down as you run out of them, making your next trip to the grocery store easier. When you’ve cleared space in your pantry, here’s a list of essentials to build a more efficient one.
CANS & JARS Canned goods are the workhorses of the pantry. With an indefinite shelf life, they can be the starting point for a weeknight meal. Just don’t buy so much of anything you might not end up liking, as canned goods take up precious real estate. ■ Keep on hand: Stocks and broth, tomatoes (diced, whole, sauce or paste), beans, tinned fish like sardines, anchovies and tuna in olive oil, spaghetti sauce.
GRAINS & STARCHES What’s easier than weeknight spaghetti or a one-bowl rice dish? Grains and starches are staples you should have on hand to pair with whatever protein you’re using. ■ Keep on hand: Spaghetti, rice, couscous, quinoa, polenta.
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HOME
NUTS, NUT BUTTERS & SWEETENERS Assuming no one in your household is allergic to nuts, peanut butter and almond butter are sure crowd-pleasers at snack time. For those working from home, a handful of nuts can quell those between-meal hunger pangs. ■ Keep on hand: A variety of nuts (almonds, peanuts, almonds), honey, agave, sweeteners for tea and coffee.
OILS, VINEGARS & SAUCES As essential as spices, and you don’t need a wide selection to dress a salad or make a quick braise. ■ Keep on hand: Extra virgin olive oil, a neutral oil with a high smoke point like avocado or canola, balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, soy sauce.
SPICES & DRIED HERBS Spices are the heart of any meal. On the most basic level, Kosher salt is a must, then get fancy with various kinds of sea salts from all over the world. Keep your spices fresh by buying in small quantities and storing them in airtight glass jars. For a wide selection, check out Sheffield Spice & Tea Co. (sheffieldspices.com). ■ Keep on hand: Garlic salt, curry powder, garlic powder, black peppercorns, cumin, sweet paprika, dried thyme, dried oregano, red pepper flakes.
BAKING INGREDIENTS Dedicate a section just for baking ingredients, whether you’re an avid baker or a dabbler. It will be easy to make things like biscuits or quick crusts for savory meals (think pot pies or quiches), and if the mood strikes for chocolate chip cookies or scones, you won’t need to hunt far for everything you need. ■ Keep on hand: All-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, pure vanilla extract, light and dark brown sugar, rolled oats, semisweet chocolate chips, dried fruit.
FREEZER Label everything that goes in the freezer, or you’ll have to deal with a bunch of UFOs (unidentified frozen objects) later. ■ Keep on hand: Breakfast sausages, various chicken parts, ground beef or turkey, vegetables (spinach, corn, peas), berries and other fruits for smoothies. FRIDGE The same rules apply for the refrigerator as for the cupboards: Don’t crowd the shelves, and be merciless in cleaning out unwanted leftovers and expired items. ■ Keep on hand: Eggs, condiments (mustard, ketchup, mayo, hot sauce), salsa, cheese, milk, cream, butter, fruit preserves.
(Shutterstock/Photo Illustration)
L A S V E G A S W E E K LY
8.5.21
BACK TO SCHOOL
After the strangest of academic years, campuses are set to reopen around town
“I’m happy my senior year will be in person. I missed not seeing friends and not being on campus last year. And I’m excited to have high school sports again.” –Ella, 17, Palo Verde student
“We’re lucky that my husband is home, and we can homeschool. … The pandemic, with online learning and no child care, was such a burden for all parents, but worst for those who could not work at home. It’s horrible to be forced to choose making a living over your kids’ health and safety.” –Peysha Rhone, area parent
“I have three kids [10th, 9th and 3rd grade] all at different schools, so it’s been stressful. Relieved for them to go back to school. They need social interaction, and this was so bad emotionally and socially for these kids.” –Laura Miller Struckman, area parent
“I’m excited to see my peers and be back in the classroom again. It got really boring doing school from home last year.” –Olivia, 17, Palo Verde student
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Temperature check
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Vaccines, masks and other COVID-related answers as school resumes
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BY AMBER SAMPSON COVID-19 remains a moving target. The virus itself is mutating. Health officials’ recommendations are changing. And Southern Nevada’s infection rates are rising. As the Clark County School District prepares to welcome students back on August 9, concerns about safety continue to surface. We consulted Southern Nevada Health District’s chief medical officer, Dr. Cort Lohff, and the research available to us, to learn more. What is the current state of COVID-19 in Nevada? Nevada is seeing what Lohff calls a “resurgence” in cases, due to the highly transmissible delta variant. Hundreds of cases are being recorded every day, with Clark County acting as a hotbed for new infections and deaths at an alarming rate. What percentage of Clark County’s teenage population has been vaccinated? A press time, the Southern Nevada Health District reported that just over 11% of residents 19 years old or younger had been fully vaccinated. Will students need the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to school? Nevada requires kids to receive certain immunizations for school,
but the COVID-19 vaccine is not one of them. The state Board of Health decides which vaccines kids need, but it’s unlikely any mandates around the COVID-19 vaccine will happen until it’s available to every child age group. Pfizer and Moderna are already expanding their vaccine clinical studies to children ages 5-11, according to The New York Times. But Lohff urges parents and caregivers to get vaccinated, even if their kids cannot. “We strongly encourage them to seek out the vaccination if they’re able to,” he says. “That’s ultimately going to be the most effective way of us being able to control this. “I recognize that folks have some reluctance to get themselves vaccinated and may be reluctant to get their child vaccinated as well. But I would encourage them to seek out accurate, evidence-based information about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine from their pediatrician, or from others that may have gotten vaccinated,” Lohff continues, “and to be very skeptical about information that they may hear from other people, or what they may see on TV or online.” How at risk are children outside the current vaccination age range? “Compared to adults,” Lohff says,
“children who are infected with this virus are more likely to be asymptomatic or to have mild illness and less likely to develop severe illness or die.” But that doesn’t mean they can’t spread the virus to others, he warns. So how can we protect the children who can’t be vaccinated yet? “It goes back to the very simple kinds of things that we recommended all along,” Lohff says. “For young kids, teaching them how to properly wash their hands, how to properly cover their cough and sneeze. With a mask, making sure that they really understand how to properly put it on and take it off.” Lohff urges kids 12 and up who have been vaccinated to continue these behaviors, too. The vaccine is effective, but breakthrough infections still occur. Will CCSD students be required to wear masks? Initial plans called for masks to be optional for students from pre-K through third grade and for those in grades 6-12 who had been fully vaccinated. But the Clark County School District announced a policy change on July 27, in response to recommendations from the Southern Nevada Health District, American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Students, regardless
of vaccination status, are now required to wear face masks indoors, unless medical or developmental conditions prohibit it. Masks must also be worn on district school buses. Will teachers, administrators and other staffers be required to wear masks or to be vaccinated to return to campus? All CCSD teachers are required to wear masks in keeping with an employee mask mandate from the Clark County Commission and CCSD’s new mask policy. Those who are vaccinated must submit proof of vaccination via CCSD’s online portal. Those who are not vaccinated must undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. When a student—or teacher—tests positive for COVID-19, what happens to others in their class(es)? Repeated inquiries about this topic were unanswered by CCSD officials at press time, but an email that went out from one area high school stated that, “Any individual in close contact needs to quarantine for 10 days,” and that, “A close contact is someone within 6 feet for a collective 15 minutes.” Given the proximity of seats within local classrooms, students and their parents should brace for the very real possibility of missed days this school year.
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8.5.21
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
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National Teacher of the Year Juliana Urtubey aims to educate in and out of the classroom BY GENEVIE DURANO As students and teachers head back to school on August 9, Juliana Urtubey will have a different mission for the 20212022 school year: attending some 200 events across the country as the reigning National Teacher of the Year. In May, Urtubey made history by becoming the first Nevada educator to win the prestigious award, and the first Latina teacher to receive the honor since 2005. First lady Jill Biden surprised Urtubey with a visit to her classroom at Kermit R. Booker, Sr. Innovative Elementary School to congratulate her, and resorts on the Strip celebrated Urtubey’s achievement by posting her name on marquees. And Urtubey says the excitement hasn’t worn off. “I love teachers and I love hearing teachers’ stories, so I’m at a really unique position to be able to not only share my perspective, but to hear different teachers’ perspectives and do my best to unify all the stories and find common themes, things that unite us and can help us grow. So I’m really excited about it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she tells the Weekly. “There are countless teachers who make an impact every single day in the lives of so many children. And I hope that all those teachers know how much their work matters.” Urtubey, who just finished her 11th year of instruction, teaches pre-K through fifth grade special education at
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Booker. It’s an area, she says, that she feels especially passionate about, driven by her conviction that everyone has strengths and that we all learn and think differently. “I was a fellow with Understood.org, which is a resource hub. They do so many things in addition to just resources. How can we support kids with learning and thinking differences? Because one in five people have learning or thinking differences—if that’s autism or learning disability or attention considerations or behavioral considerations. This is really a big population of our community,” she says. “So how can we ensure that we are not only just providing them with the strategies to be able to have self-determination and self-awareness, but also to learn and thrive in environments? “One of [Understood.org’s] taglines is, ‘Shaping the world for difference,’” she continues. “When we don’t necessarily have a normative idea of what normal learning looks like, what a normal language is or what a normal child looks like, we tend to break that. And we’ve put that to the side. We take each person for who they are, and we meet them where they are. That’s when we’re really creating the space for everybody to thrive.” This celebration of difference sits at the core of Urtubey’s beliefs, not just in her teaching philosophy, but in her life as a whole. She came to the U.S. from Colombia with her parents at age 5, and as a child of immigrants, she feels very strongly about honoring her culture and heritage. She strives to impart the same to her students. “I recognize what a journey it has been for me to protect and maintain and affirm my identity,” Urtubey says. “I feel that many students are so confronted with the expectation [of] assimilation. So many families of colors and first-generation families want their children to be loved and to succeed. And they feel it’s kind of an unspoken understanding that in order to do so, they must really subjugate. I hear families telling their children, ‘Don’t speak Spanish, speak in English so you can practice,’ when research tells us that when children make spaces for their languages, they’ll maintain goals. It’s really important for me, for families to know that it’s important to us as educators, for them, for their
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We take each person for who they are, and we meet them where they are.”
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children, to be able to feel like they can be themselves, that they don’t have to exchange who they are for acceptance or for success at school.” In her role as National Teacher of the Year, Urtubey has committed to a platform that fosters a sense of belonging, one that integrates a child’s school life and home life. “I call it the ‘joys and just’ framework,” she says. “All students really deserve to experience joy in their learning. And joy is more than happiness, it’s more than just smiling and loving what you’re doing. It’s having this really deep sense of belonging to the school environment. And schools can do that by truly affirming who students are, right? So that teacher affirms your languages, your culture, your resilience, of being a first-generation student. “And then the ‘just’ part is that we’re committed to looking at where inequities lie in school systems, and we’re not afraid to speak up and say, hey, we should do it like this, because that way we can bring children forward; we can bring them just as they are without having them take off parts of who they are to succeed in school. And by doing so, we want families to be connected, too. … We see strengths first for families and communities, because we don’t want education to separate our children from their families. We want it to support the families through their education.” Urtubey has a big task ahead fulfilling that mission. It’s a life’s work that’s just beginning to flourish, not unlike the school gardens she has planted with her students, who call themselves the Garden Gnomies. The project has helped them to feel part of the school, Urtubey says, by giving them an opportunity to start something from the beginning and see it come to fruition. They watch seeds grow into fruits and vegetables, which they donate to the community. “I think that it’s really important for children to know that they are valuable in the community and that therefore makes an impact, because it truly does,” Urtubey says.
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College re-education At Southern Nevada’s campuses, online learning is here to stay With classes going online, the 2020-2021 school year marked an inflection point for higher education. And as Southern Nevada’s college students head back to UNLV and local community colleges, they’re returning to campuses that have fundamentally changed. Some professors will be teaching in person, but others will continue with online instruction, exclusively or as part of a hybrid model. Even when we move past the pandemic, colleges might never be the same. The U.S. Department of Education is investing $10 million in a research center that will explore strategies for managing online learning. Some specific goals include building students’ sense of belonging, improving note-taking and creating a best tools and practices resource to address the unique challenges of remote learning. A broader online option can be a boon for students requiring more scheduling flexibility and those who prefer to go at their own pace. Others might feel like they’re missing out on
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a full college experience. “I do like how I am slightly more organized at home when it’s online classes, but being in person is a better experience for me,” says Samantha Kabiling, a UNLV junior majoring in PR and marketing. “I enjoy talking to others about work, classes and anything else. I can still do that online, but it’s not the same going up to them to give them a handshake or hug and talk.” For professors, the transition has been a mixed bag. One CSN professor, who prefers to remain anonymous, enjoys the democratic nature of online classes. Where a regular classroom might be dominated by a handful of students while shier ones slink away in the back of the room, online classes can sometimes encourage more reticent students to fully engage. (Gen Zers, who have never known life without the internet, are apparently also more comfortable experiencing their collegiate lives, like their social lives, online.) Professors are also noting new skill sets emerging. Young, tech-savvy students are
learning to put together multimedia presentations that reflect what they’re learning in real life, not just what they’re learning in textbooks, says a UNLV professor who also prefers not to be identified. Those students are learning to work collaboratively with peers through platforms like Zoom, readying them for workplaces that are also undergoing upheavals in structure, with more employees working remotely. What’s lost in translation with distance learning? That hallowed tradition of a college education, the face-to-face interaction with peers and professors, a free-flowing exchange of ideas in a setting striving to foster inclusivity and creativity. “With communication online, email is the fastest and most effective way to reach your professor, but in-person is also helpful to connect more and have that one-on-one session,” says Angelique Guillermo, a third-year pre-nursing student at UNLV. “I feel like there is more of a connection through in-person meetings than just phone calls or emails or even on Zoom.”
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“I’m very excited that the kids are going back to school after distance learning. My only concern is that my younger one isn’t qualified to get vaccinated. I hope she gets [the vaccine] soon.” –Garima Bhardwaj, area parent
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Faculty member Jenny Farrell gets a massage from massage therapist Kendell Gruendell at the UNLV Student Union building as part of Rebel Reset. (Steve Marcus/staff)
Welcome assistance As UNLV faculty and staff return to campus, Rebel Reset provides services for the transition BY AMBER SAMPSON Shifting tides of the pandemic have left UNLV faculty and staff feeling anxious and uncertain as they transition back to campus. Now, one woman has set out to change that through Rebel Reset, a series of wellness services dedicated to prioritizing their personal health. “When you talk about mental health, when you talk about physical health, a lot of the resources go to students, which they
should,” says Ericka Smith, vice president for human reasons chief people officer at UNLV. “But faculty and staff are often overlooked.” After hearing about her colleague’s hardships during the pandemic, Smith wrote a grant proposal to UNLV’s budget office for the wellness programming that would become Rebel Reset. In it, she outlined that … • It would be an outlet for the anxiety and grief caused by the pandemic. • It would be a well-rounded menu of services targeting mental, physical and emotional health. • It would involve chair massages. “Luckily, everyone loved the chair massages, so that stayed in there,” Smith laughs, “but it extended.” Smith partnered with the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine and its nutritionists to set up healthy cooking courses (and $30 gift cards to buy the ingredients). She worked with the UNLV Student Wellness Center and the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences to offer basketball and cardio kickboxing classes. She secured
instructors to lead trauma recovery yoga. Smith even got approval to offer faculty and staff flexible work policies, a $750 child care grant and a $250 food assistance grant. “We’ve budgeted,” she says, “so it’s available to maybe 50 people. Those are 50 people that we’ll touch and be able to help recover and reset.” And that should help everyone involved with UNLV’s campus, Smith says. “If the faculty and staff are feeling good and feeling appreciated, feeling like they have an outlet for their anxieties, feeling like they have people who care about them or institutions that care, then they will transfer that to the students,” Smith says. Plans to extend Rebel Reset beyond December 31 will depend on funding, but Smith says she’s determined to “continue the spirit” of the program however she can, especially given the positive response she says Rebel Reset has received. “People understand we’re not trying to erase or minimize what they’re going through,” Smith says. “We’re just trying to get them out to help support them as they go through whatever it is.”
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CLOSET RELOAD
Fashion tips for kids shedding their pajama pants
Alt Rebel (Wade Vandervort/staff)
A back-to-school wardrobe is always an exciting opportunity for reinvention, and with a return to in-person learning, everybody has a fresh fashion slate. But how to make the most of it? And how to help kids transition from loungewear to actual clothing? The Weekly has some tips. FOCUS ON COMFORT After a year of loungewear, it might seem difficult to ditch the comfy clothes. The good news? You don’t have to. “Being comfortable has never been more fashionable,” says Taylor Rice, owner of secondhand boutique Alt Rebel (1409 S. Commerce St. #110, alt-rebel.com). While it’s not trendy to wear your actual PJs in public, Rice says baggier styles, such as “wide-leg jeans, oversize T-shirts and extra-large hoodies are cool for all genders.” Additionally, sneakers are on trend for both guys and gals, especially “Jordans, Doc Martens and Converse,” Rice says. BE BOLD Comfort doesn’t have to be bland. “This past year has flooded our social media feeds with people showing their true colors and style,” Rice says. “One thing we have noticed in particular is the bolder, the better.” She encourages readers to go against the grain in order to stand out: “Wear that bold pattern, that statement necklace or those platform sneakers.” RETRO’S IN AGAIN To parents, the ’90s might seem like yesterday. But to the younger generation, the recent past is cool. “As unbelievable as it is, the fashion of the late ’90s and early 2000s have already made a comeback,” Rice says. “Cue baby tees, low-rise flares, logo tees and all the brands of that era—Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Guess and Calvin Klein.”
DENIM FOR DAYS Why mess with a classic? Denim is stylish, sturdy and comfortable. “Everyone is loving the different options in denim and tops, so choices are endless,” says Sean Blanchard at the Good Wolf Lifestyle Co. (1401 S. Commerce St., thegoodwolflv.com). “A couple vintage tees are always great to pair with denim or shorts.” SHOP LOCAL Las Vegas has an ever-growing number of locally owned boutiques. And when you shop locally over a national chain, you’re not only supporting your neighbors, you’ll probably get better service. For younger children, check out Downtown Summerlin’s LoveBug Baby & Kids (lovebugbabyandkids. com); Henderson’s Archer + Jane on Water Street (archerandjane.com); and Tivoli Village’s Matriarch by R+D (thematriarchlife. com). Teens and older kids can shop at locally owned boutiques for adults. “Alt Rebel is for everyone,” Rice says. “We don’t carry children’s sizes, but we do carry small adult clothing, so we have a lot of teen shoppers.” Also take a look at Market in the Alley (marketin thealley.com) and Third & Arrow (third-arrow.com). DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK Putting together a new wardrobe, especially after so much time quarantined at home, can be daunting. But you’re not alone. Think of the store clerk as your best resource. These people love clothes, know their product and understand what goes together to make a good outfit. Another reason to shop local? Some boutique owners double as style consultants, like Las Vegas-based Burnt Boutique (burntboutique. com) founder Nicole Camacho, who will even come to you for a private shopping party.
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“We’re nervous but also excited about the start of a new school year. We trust our teachers and staff to consider the well-being and health of our children from a holistic but also science-based approach.” –Samantha Martines, area parent
LUNCH BELL BY C. MOON REED
Las Vegas mother of three Jessica Woo has rocketed to social media fame by sharing
on the Internet the lunches she makes for her daughters. Her creative and cute bento box videos have earned her 5.4 million followers on TikTok (tiktok.com/@sulheejes-
sica), features on Good Morning America and in the Los Angeles Times, and connec-
Tips from TikTok star and bento box queen Jessica Woo
tions with Disney, Zulily and Paula Abdul. We caught up with Woo for lunch-making advice, which turned out to be surprisingly down-to-earth and doable. Use your leftovers. Why cook twice when you can cook once? Packing leftovers into lunch can be quick, easy and save you money. “I do a lot of dinner leftovers,” Woo says. “You just warm it back up in the mornings, and then you’re ready to go.” Lean on old favorites. When Woo does cook lunch in the morning, she keeps it “simple and easy.” She suggests opting for your well-known go-to recipes “so you’re not scrambling to cook something new in the morning.” Preparation makes it easier. Meal prepping has become so popular, it’s basically a cottage industry. While you
don’t need to go to prepping extremes, the more you can plan in advance, the better mornings will be. “If you prepare yourself for the week, it makes your life a lot easier,” Woo says. Choose the amount of preparation that’s right for you, which could mean anything from menu planning to simply having snacks on hand. Involve the kids. They’ll be the ones eating the lunches, so the more involved they are in the shopping and cooking, the better. Woo suggests taking your kids grocery shopping so that they can help choose what they’ll eat. Keep it quick. Remember, you’re packing a child’s lunch, not auditioning for sous chef
at Joël Robuchon. Woo’s elaborate lunches might look impressive, but she doesn’t spend all day making them. “I don’t like waking up early,” Woo says. “So I try to keep it realistic. And 40 minutes is usually how long it takes for me to make lunches for my oldest two.” Leave a note. One of Woo’s lunch box must-haves isn’t an edible item. With every lunch she makes, Woo leaves a sweet message for her kids. It’s a great way to stay connected with your children while they’re at school and it’s sure to make them feel loved. When Woo makes lunch for herself, she doesn’t write a note, but we think you should!
(Shutterstock)
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HELPING HANDS Communities in Schools’ Tami Hance-Lehr explains how her organization has adapted to the new educational world
BY GENEVIE DURANO
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ith school resuming soon, Communities in Schools, a national dropout-prevention organization that supports 2,900 schools in 26 states, is gearing up to help students navigate a post-remote learning world. The Nevada chapter, the fifth-largest state office, supports 75 schools (53 in Southern Nevada alone), and offers invaluable services for students most in need. The Weekly recently spoke to Community in Schools of Nevada CEO Tami Hance-Lehr about the organization’s role in student success and the importance of bringing the community into the education system.
Tami Hance-Lehr (Steve Marcus/Staff/Photo Illustration)
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THE WEEKLY Q&A
What’s the overall mission for Communities in Schools? We really focus on our Title 1 schools. A Title 1 school means that 60% or more of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch, which means that they live below the poverty level. We put into every single school a full-time, well-trained site coordinator who works at that school each and every day. They work with the principals, administrators and the teachers, and they provide wraparound services and social emotional support. The most effective way we keep our kids in school is through our one-on-one case management. Those site coordinators will case-manage about 10% of the school’s population, from around 65 kids, and they’ll work with them on attendance goals, behavior goals, coursework, academics, social emotional support. We’ll really work with them on a one-on-one basis to help them achieve those goals, and also just keep them motivated in coming to school. How do you identify which students need services? If a teacher has a student that might be having behavior issues in class or comes to class late every day, they could refer them to Communities in
Schools. Students are referred to us through school counselors, through administrators. Also, that site coordinator becomes part of the fabric of the school campus, so they will be in recess duty, they might be in the lunchroom, they may be sitting in on certain classrooms, identifying some of the behaviors of students. And a lot of our students are referred by their friends, or they self-refer.
detergent or even a washer and dryer. The students that are referred to us come to that resource room if maybe they showed up in school and didn’t have their backpack, because maybe the backpack was locked in a house and they had maybe experienced being evicted, and so now all their school supplies are locked up. We’re about removing every single barrier—it might be a tangible barrier, or there are other things going on at home or in their live. We can really work with that student to find out what their situation is, and that’s a really great way for us to start that dialogue.
“A LOT OF OUR STUDENTS ARE GOING THROUGH OR HAVE EXPERIENCED TRAUMA. WE’VE INVESTED IN OUR SITE COORDINATORS TO MAKE SURE THEY HAVE THE TRAINING TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK INTO CLASSROOMS.” –Tami Hance-Lehr
In addition to providing a site coordinator, what other ways do you support students? We have a resource room at every single school that we’re in, and that resource room has all sorts of supplies— backpacks, pencils and pens, new shoes and socks, school uniforms, hygiene items, emergency food. In some cases, we might have laundry
Students returning to class this fall will face a world that’s been markedly changed by an ongoing pandemic. Are you modifying any of the services you provide? We are investing in some additional professional development for our site coordinators, because to your point, what we’ve all gone through— no matter if you had the best of cir-
cumstances or if you didn’t—everyone has a different level of how they are coming out of this. A lot of our students are going through or have experienced trauma. We’ve invested in our site coordinators, to make sure they have the social-emotional training and the trauma-informed care training to be able to go back into classrooms. The other thing that we’ve changed is in the social emotional one-on-one case management area. A student might be OK with their grades and their attendance, but they still might have some social emotional and some mental health issues. And we’re partnering very closely with the Clark County School District on their Lifeline program. We’re working with administrators and counselors and students who might be a red flag or might have raised their hand to say, “I need a little help.” We work very closely with the schools to do that case management—home visits, well checks, we’ll deliver supplies if they can’t pick them up from the resource room. We’ll deliver them directly to their house, which is another way for us to interact with them and see them. So there’s a lot of ways that we’ll continue to do that work we were already doing before the pandemic. We’re doing more of it as we continue into this new world. What are some ways the community can help? We can always use volunteers, people who show up on school campuses, help us with field days or help us with some of the gardens. The other way is to donate supplies to the 53 resource rooms here in Southern Nevada. You can go on our website, CISnevada.org— there’s an Amazon Wish List, or you can donate monetarily. There are a lot of ways to get involved.
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BIG THIS WEEK
JUNGLE CRUISE It’s unlikely most of us are getting out to movie theaters this week because of you-know-what, but this fun, Indiana Jones-style action-adventure film is available on Disney+ for an extra $30— basically the cost of a family matinee. And it’s worth it. Disney+.
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MOUNTAIN FEST AT LEE CANYON
MOKSHA AT SAND DOLLAR LOUNGE
He’s been a standout in nearly every movie in which he’s appeared, from Super Troopers to Luca. He’s dominated on television, both as part of an ensemble (My Boys) and as the star (The Jim Gaffigan Show). He’s a bestselling author, he’s won an Emmy for his CBS Sunday Morning commentaries, and he’s deconstructed the “Hot Pockets” theme to the level of high art. We’re lucky to get this smart, versatile and very, very busy stand-up comic for two nights in a row. August 6 & 7, 8 p.m., $85-$140. Wynn. –Geoff Carter
Summer’s on the wane, with kids returning to schools, and Lee Canyon’s sending it out in style with the return of Mountain Fest. A full day of fun for the family awaits with live music, food trucks and vendor booths. Activities include the Birdies and Beers disc golf tournament and an archery and ax-throwing fundraiser. And the best things are free: the crisp, mountain air and space to spread out. Free admission (beer garden $25-$35), leecanyonlv.com. –Genevie Durano
It’s been 18 months since the Vegas jam masters of Moksha last played a show—February 2, 2020, to be exact—so look for drummer Pat Gray, bassist John Heishman, guitarist Jeremy Parks and keyboardist Brian Triola to let loose with some serious pent-up improv energy during this scheduled four-hour performance. A three-piece horn section will join the core quartet, bringing even more firepower to the party. 10 p.m., no cover, 3355 Spring Mountain Road. –Spencer Patterson
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TRIP HOP SPOTIFY PLAYLIST Feeling a bit anxious? Understandable. Maybe you’d like to chill out with 10 curated hours of “psychedelic beat science,” featuring DJ Shadow, Portishead and more. spoti.fi/3ieBQBf
Mountain Fest 2018 at Lee Canyon (Courtesy Lee Canyon)
OUR PICKS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
SLAM PARTY
JACK HARLOW AT AYU DAYCLUB
NBA SUMMER LEAGUE AT THOMAS & MACK CENTER/COX PAVILION
What’s poppin’? Jack Harlow at Ayu Dayclub, that’s what. The Kentucky-based rapper returns to the outdoor venue at Resorts World for his third appearance as a resident artist there. Expect to hear bangers from debut That’s What They All Say and a possible verse from “Industry Baby,” his latest hit with Lil Nas X. August 6, 10:30 p.m., $50-$150. –Amber Sampson
Las Vegas has been hoops central lately—with the Aces, Big3 and USA Basketball training camps in town—and now it’s time for the annual NBA Summer League to return to Sin City. All 75 games of the 10-day competition on the UNLV campus will be televised on ESPN, and all 30 teams will bring their top prospects to town. August 8-17, times vary, $30-$1,300, unlvtickets.com. –Brock Radke
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THE STRIP RuPaul’s Drag Race Live looks to recapture last year’s opening momentum BY BROCK RADKE
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very Las Vegas Strip show shut down last March, but only one documented the impact of the early days of the pandemic on television. RuPaul’s Drag Race Live, which had just opened in January at the Flamingo Showroom, was barely settling into its production schedule when casinos and theaters started to close to fight the spread of the coronavirus. RuPaul’s Drag Race: Vegas Revue, a VH1 series spinning off the wildly popular RuPaul’s Drag Race TV competition show, was filming the behind-the-scenes exploits of the Flamingo show and ended up capturing the stressful times for the cast and crew as everything ground to a halt. “It was definitely disappointing, [especially] because we had all been touring prior to coming to Las Vegas and we were looking forward to doing the show and staying in one place, finding that consistency and leading a somewhat normal life,” says Asia O’Hara, who hosts the high-energy drag spectacular that will reopen on the Strip on August 5. “Just when we thought we were getting comfortable and could take a deep breath and enjoy the show and our lives, it was shut down and we all went back to our respective cities.” For O’Hara, an entertainer whose career exploded after she placed fourth on the 10th season of the TV version of Drag Race, that meant a whole lot of time back home in Texas and a bit of a vacation from drag in general, at least in the early days of the pandemic. “I really wanted to focus on other things I’ve had sort of sitting in the back of the closet for the past decade, to work on things I never had time to do and fall back in love with old hobbies,” she says. “Later in the summer I started doing the Drive N Drag tour, which was probably the hardest thing I’ve done, drag-wise, but it kept us working and out in front of people, and it made the year seem not as
dismal. It gave us hope.” Since returning to Las Vegas in July for rehearsals and preparation, O’Hara says she has developed a greater appreciation for working “inside an air-conditioned theater as opposed to a parking lot in Los Angeles at 4 p.m.” But above all, she’s ready to pick up where she left off with the show and a life in Vegas. “I’m here with fresh eyes and an open mind and heart and looking forward to getting back into the show but also just seeing other things the entire state of Nevada has to offer,” she says. As the host of Drag Race Live, O’Hara interacts with the audience more than her fellow queens—including Derrick Barry, Kameron Michaels, Yvie Oddly, Naomi Smalls and Vanessa “Vanjie” Matteo—get to. Directed by RuPaul and Jamal Sims and produced by the same World of Wonder team behind the TV show, the Strip stage show hit the ground running as an intriguing and exciting blend of the established Drag Race brand and over-the-top, Vegas-style showmanship. Its audience was even more diverse than you might expect, happily cheering along a booming celebration of music, fashion and drag culture. “It’s a good mix and a healthy mix for us, because a lot of times we’re in front of our own fanbase that loves everything you do regardless of how good it is,” O’Hara says. “Here, we have that die-hard fanbase, and we have some people we have to win over. That takes work, and we only have a 90-minute show to do it. “There’s definitely a learning curve but it’s a nice one that keeps you on your toes,” O’Hara continues. “It’s my job every night to bring these people into our world and show them just what Drag Race means to everyone.”
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RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE LIVE Thursday-Monday, 9:30 p.m., $49-$122. Flamingo, 885-234-7469.
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(Denise Truscello/Courtesy)
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NIGHTS
REVITALIZED IN VEGAS Zedd finds new creative inspiration through his Zouk Group residency BY BROCK RADKE
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t’s the calm before a summer storm. Wearing a colorful, almost tropical shirt and looking utterly relaxed just minutes before he takes the stage at the sunny new Ayu Dayclub, Zedd (aka Anton Zaslavski) sits in a private dining room at Fuhu at Resorts World chatting about his music, his time away from big gigs like this one and his excitement for this new Las Vegas residency. If you saw the splashy Resorts World commercial in which he plays rooftop pinball with a miniature Celine Dion, you know he has a lot to be excited about. But the 31-year-old producer behind dance megahits like “The Middle,” “Stay” and “Clarity” has clearly achieved a different kind of clarity about his career after seeing it stalled by the pandemic. Zedd is already comfortable in his new Vegas home at Ayu (and gearing up for the debut of Zouk Nightclub next door), but above all else, he’s relieved to be entertaining live audiences again and reconnecting with the powerful inspiration that comes from these Vegas performances. On the new residency: “I’ve done residencies in Las Vegas for … probably eight years at this point. This one feels very special, because for the first time I was able to actively be a part of an opening of a club and a hotel. The team here is super-open to feedback,
which is amazing, because sometimes in the past I’ve been with corporations that aren’t willing to change anything from how they envisioned it. Here, it’s the exact opposite. It’s not just about how I feel onstage. I want every guest that comes to have the best experience. Everything has to be perfect. And this team has been incredible, not just waiting for feedback but asking for it. Everyone wants to make this the best place in Vegas.”
ZEDD August 7, 11 a.m., $50-$75. Ayu Dayclub, zoukgrouplv.com.
On Ayu Dayclub: “This is by far my favorite day venue I’ve ever played. There’s something about it not being too big. I have a great view of the crowd, and that stage fits a lot of people, so all my friends can fit. Every time I’ve played here, there’s this big party onstage. That gets me going, knowing everybody is having a good time and the crowd sees more than just me onstage, it’s a bunch of people having a good time. I feel like everybody is more connected here.” On Zouk Nightclub: “Probably half a year ago we came out, went through all the renderings, looked at the lighting, and the same thing at Ayu applies to the nightclub— they are super-open to ideas. The person running the production is someone who used to run the lights for me at Omnia for the last three years and someone I really wanted to work with. This club is going to be insane, and I’m counting the days until I can finally get onstage.”
On the pandemic downtime: “When it was clear we were going to be taking some serious time off, in my mind I was like, oh, my God, I’m going to make an album and a half and be prepared for the whole second chapter of my life. The reality was I was not inspired at all. I couldn’t get myself in the right headspace to create the best album I can. And I realized I was so detached, because being onstage and playing sets is that close connection to reality and life.” On restarting work on his next album: “It was always about taking a step back toward electronic music. My second album, True Colors, was a reminder to the world that, hey, I want to make sure everyone doesn’t expect me to do this [EDM] forever. Then I released an album of singles that was all over the place, genrewise. I got hungry during that time to create more EDM-heavier music, and that is still the goal. The reason that kept me from continuing the project [last year] was because I was completely disconnected from the world where I present that music. I wanted to wait and see how the world is going to be, and now is the time to full-force work on that project with the same direction.”
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Zedd (Megan Blair/Courtesy/Photo Illustration)
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NOISE
BOUNCING BACK BIG Ekoh (Courtesy)
Vegas rapper Ekoh navigates a new record and headlining tour after the pandemic pause
BY AMBER SAMPSON
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t’s Tuesday morning at the local coffee shop where I’m supposed to meet Ekoh, the prolific local rapper. But right now, I can only see Jeff Thompson—and the exhilarated expression on his face as a pony-sized English mastiff wanders out of the restroom. “Don’t worry,” the dog’s owner says, “he doesn’t bite.” The comment is directed more to me than Thompson, who’s already doubled over, petting the muscular dog without concern. “He looks like the dog from The Sandlot—‘The Beast,’” Thompson says, referring to the 1993 film about baseball-playing kids and their massive canine nemesis. This is Thompson as most folks don’t experience him, enjoying a simple moment before his life as Ekoh beckons him back. It’s something the rapper admits he hasn’t done much lately, even since releasing latest LP The D3tour on
July 20. The song “Suicide Squad” is Ekoh’s Still, “it’s a relief to have it out,” he love letter to the DC Universe, while says. “With the last album, I was figur“Firefly” touches on self-doubt and ing a lot of stuff out. With this album, I burnout. “It’s about the pressure of only feel like I arrived at a place where I’ve being as good as the last thing you wrote been heading the whole time. [Fans] see [and] falling out of love with music bethe growth, sonically, and the different cause it’s your job,” he explains. “During things that I’ve tried out and really comthe pandemic, it was worse, because I ing into my own.” didn’t get to interact with EKOH The D3Tour finds Ekoh the people. I didn’t get to see August 8, 7 p.m., making some dramatic you. [But] at least I can be $16-$37. 24 Oxford, new turns. He strays from on this side of it, and I can 702-693-5000. his signature rapid-fire to linktr.ee/ekohmusic. remember what it’s like, and sing on “Dream Eater” and I know that feeling and that “I’m Not Alright,” and he connection and the love of introduces more modern production on the music.” bangers like “Whatdoyoudo?” and “The The rapper reignited his relationEdge.” Thompson credits the growth to ship with fans last month in Coloraa supportive engineer—and to his own do Springs, where he played his first current music rotation. “If my sound show in more than a year. “It just starts to change, it’s because my tastes felt validating, emotionally validatstart to change,” he says. “It’s not that ing. Like they’re still here; they still I’m trying to do sh*t that’s not me.” care.”
That led to a new commitment on his part. “I’m gonna take time with every single person. You see me at a show and you want to talk? We’re talking.” And if a fan tells him his music changed their life? “They’re crying, I’m crying,” he says. Ekoh’s next opportunity to make those connections comes August 8, when he’ll kick off his first-ever U.S. headlining tour at Virgin Hotels’ 24 Oxford, formerly home to Vinyl in the Hard Rock Hotel days. “I was like, we’re either playing there or I’m not playing,” he says, referring to the room as his favorite Vegas venue. As we sip our drinks, Ekoh’s mind is clearly racing, as potential new song topics float by. “There is no off time. Anything could be content,” he says. “That dog could be content.” The cycle never stops. That’s just the nature of The Beast.
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COMEDY
RABID REACTION Comic Kathleen Madigan on returning to the road after months at home
KATHLEEN MADIGAN August 6, 10 p.m., $30-$50. Mirage Theatre, 702-792-7777. (Courtesy)
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ou know how the pandemic lockdowns had most of us feeling antsy? Comedian Kathleen Madigan, who has been on the stand-up-comedy circuit for more than three decades, says she had the opposite reaction. “I haven’t been in the same place for more than two weeks in a row since I was 23, so this was awesome,” she says. “I’m never, ever home, and it was just really a treat to be home for that long. I have no problem with it. I said to my friend, if this is like sliding into retirement, I’m good. I can’t retire yet, but I don’t see a problem with it when it happens. I was never bored.” Lucky for us, Madigan has no plans to hang up her mic anytime soon. Even while homebound, she managed to launch a podcast, Madigan’s Pubcast, on which she riffs about everything from the Taco Bell food shortage to billionaires in space. And now she’s back on the road for her latest tour, Do You Have Any Ranch? After just a few dates on the road, Madigan says she’s already noticed what prolonged social distancing has done to people. “I did Reno, and they were rabid. I mean, the crowd was so rabid I was almost afraid of them,” she says with a laugh. “I was like, oh my God, I’m not even sure I remember my act properly. I think people are just super-excited to be out.” Madigan’s staying power in comedy lies in her observational humor. She touches on topical stuff, sure, but for the most part, she stays away from the fray, even during the politically turbulent but comedy fodder-rich Trump years. “Politics is kind of back to boring, which is what politics should be as far as I’m concerned. It shouldn’t be monster trucks and beer and entertainment, it should be serious, and it should be boring, and it should be people doing things I don’t want to do,” she says. “But I have a running joke that politicians are all too old, which I truly do believe, because my parents are 78. And no, the answer’s no, you’re not going to lead the country. You can barely find your cars; your phones aren’t charged. Until you learn how to charge your phone properly, you can’t be president.” Besides, Madigan’s large Irish-Catholic family—she’s one of seven kids—provides plenty of source material. Her 2016 Netflix special, Bothering Jesus (her fifth stand-up special), includes a hilarious bit about her parents going to the Villages in Florida, a massive retirement community. And while she mines her family for the funny, humor, it turns out, is the Madigan family’s love language. “They’re all funny, and any of them could do what I do. I just thought of it first, I guess,” she says. “I never thought we were funny until my sister married a really unfunny guy. And I was like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t get it.’ And, like, his stories are super-boring. And so after getting to know him well enough, we would just tease him and we’re like, ‘OK this story just went on eight minutes too long. Let me help you.’ You don’t know you’re funny until you meet unfunny people.”
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EYE OF THE STORM Juried Winchester show Emotional Weather puts pandemic art on display BY C. MOON REED
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few months ago, when it seemed like we were about to finally turn a corner on the whole COVID-19 thing, Clark County put out a public call for art reflecting on the pandemic experience. The resulting show, Emotional Weather at Winchester-Dondero Cultural Center Art Gallery, digs into the cross-current of emotions we’ve all felt: fear, frustration, boredom, isolation and, yes, hope. These feelings are expressed through a kaleidoscope of media, including paint, ceramics, charcoal, ink, collage, colored pencil and embroidery. In Grace Letourneau’s acrylic painting “Slipping,” which won Best in Show, a woman is fused with an hourglass. Glowing sand pours from her heart, and she clutches at her chest in a futile attempt to stem the flow of time. Who has not felt such anguish during the past year and a half? In a watercolor illustration by JW Caldwell, a surfer paddles up a giant wave. The text on the painting reads: “The struggle has become strangely comforting.” It’s yet another sentiment we’ve surely all felt. In Holly Lay’s “Quarantine Zine,” a woman waters a houseplant. It’s a pared-down illustration on a flat purple background, and it seems to reflect the way quarantine removed everything from our lives apart from the most basic domestic activities. “I hope viewers see the resilience of the Las Vegas art community in Emotional Weather,” says show juror Alisha
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Kerlin, who also works as the Marjorie Barrick Museum’s executive director. “I also hope they feel the range of emotions displayed in the show.” Clark County’s first juried show since the shutdown drew nearly 140 entries; 43 are included in Emotional Weather. It was curated by Trevor Ganske, who works in Clark County’s Public Art Office. “I was surprised that several themes arose within the entries,” Kerlin says. “There was humor—even the self-deprecating kind.” Kerlin grouped the art by theme, such as time, separation,
distance and screens, avatars, boredom, interiors, text, mood and odd portraits of emotional states. Together, the pieces form a three-dimensional portrait of our collective crisis and response. “I loved that there was a spirit to the show,” Kerlin says. One of the juror’s own works is on display, “right by the door, kinda greeting you as you walk in,” Kerlin says. Titled “More Emotional Weather,” the piece consists of paint on junk mail with rainbow stickers, the title text in pink lettering over an abstract purple storm. It serves as a highly empathetic forecast of what might lie ahead. Sometimes that future can be cozy, and sometimes it can offer emotional breakthroughs, reflected in the exhibit’s two honorable mention recipients. In the oil painting “Mornings,” Daisy Sanchez depicts a family watching the Spanish news together during quarantine. Puzzles, the ultimate
EMOTIONAL WEATHER Through October 8; Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; free. Winchester-Dondero Cultural Center Art Gallery, 702-455-8685.
lockdown accessory, are stacked on the TV stand. Kristin Hough’s “You Realize That You Are Perfect” features an abstracted mountain landscape with the title text bannered across the image. And if this crazy period has taught us anything, let it be that. Additional artists include Adriana Chavez, Matthew Couper, Rachel Elkins, Glynn Galloway, Nancy Good, Martha Hall, Brian Henry, Jennifer Henry, Jeannie Hua, Matthew Katigbak, Judith Klausner, Christopher Mempin, Laura Meyer, Doris Morgan Rueda, Beverly Neas, Melissa Placido, Heidi Rider, Mandolyn Rosen, JK Russ, Chad Scott, DK Sole, DBA Studios, Sonny Tsoi & Yej.
Emotional Weather (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)
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EASY BREEZY
Resorts World’s Brezza will transport guests to the Italian coast
BY GENEVIE DURANO
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hen the newly opened Resorts World announced its restaurant lineup, the list was impressive, just as you’d expect from a $4.3 billion resort. There are 40 food and beverage options, including the Famous Foods Street Eats food hall, an ode to Southeast Asian hawker stalls. But for those who follow the local culinary scene keenly, one name stood out: the return of James Beard Award semifinalist Nicole Brisson, who has two concepts at the property: coastal Italian eatery Brezza and its more casual, soon-to-open sister next door, Bar Zazu. Brezza, at the north end of the section known as the District, benefits from its location within the resort—it’s far enough away from the bustle of the gaming floor to feels like an intimate space while still benefiting from the glamour of it all. The dining area is an open thoroughfare that starts with a few indoor-patio tables, expands into a main dining area—with a gorgeous bar and an open kitchen—and then extends onto a large outdoor patio with olive trees, evoking a Mediterranean vibe. Which brings us to the food, described as modern coastal Italian. “It’s very much what people who have followed me for years know as my food, but we’re taking it in a little bit of a different direction where we have a couple of components that are really driving the menu,” Brisson says. “We have a great handmade pasta section—we’re doing stuffed pasta, garganelli, tagliatelle—and we’re doing some extruded pastas as well, fresh-made ragu, and simple clean, bright preparations.” On a recent visit, the creamy Ricotta Corzetti ($21), with crispy artichokes, basil and tomato basil, contrasted nicely with another pasta dish (not on the regular menu but a special that night)—beef cheek ravioli, drizzled with Aceto Manodori, a 15-year aged balsamic made from trebbiano grapes. But before you even get to the pasta selections, there’s much to rejoice about among the
antipasti, including an heirloom tomato salad with a unique presentation: seasonal pureed tomatoes alongside fresh ones, accompanied by buffalo mozzarella and crostini on a bed of pesto. It captures the taste of summer beautifully. For those with an adventurous palate, the warm lamb’s tongue ($18), with arugula, poached egg and black truffle sherry vinaigrette, is a texture-rich hit of umami. And since this is coastal fare, don’t skip the crudo, particularly the abalone ($19), with rhubarb mignonette and citrus emulsion. Taste it and you’ll imagine the ocean right beyond the patio doors. The same holds true for the Nduja Bay scallops ($35) as a main course or the market fish (a lovely halibut on this evening). Brisson, who famously helmed Carnevino at Palazzo, wields her knowledge of all things carnivorous here. From lamb chops ($75) and pork chops ($48) to dry-aged steaks ($72-$165), the chef offers up some of the best cuts you’ll find anywhere. After all, she learned from the best in business. “You’ll see influences from Dario Cecchini and Fabio Pecchi, Mario Batali [and] Bill Benson, one of the chefs that I first worked for, in upstate New York,” Brisson says. “This really gives me a chance to take all those influences from my entire career and articulate a menu around them and also around seasonal ingredients and well-sourced ingredients.” Brezza’s beverage program is equally thought-out, says managing partner Jason Rocheleau, a veteran of the Mina Group with a background as a sommelier. “We really wanted, out the gate, something really fun and unique,” he says. “Being Brezza, we’re Italian, and we wanted to bring in all different regions and all different styles. The key to our cocktail program is a section of negroni variants. It’s hard to beat the original classic, but we have sparkling negroni, a sour, a mezcal negroni. You’re going to be able to come in and try a little different spin on different ingredients.”
Brezza’s New York strip steak with mascarpone mashed potatoes, heirloom tomato salad, ricotta-stuffed corzetti and olive oil and lemon cake (Wade Vandervort/Staff)
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BREZZA Resorts World, 702-676-6014. Lunch, Monday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; dinner, daily, 5-10 p.m.; brunch, Sunday, 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
THE DOUGH SHOW
Pierogi Village makes the Polish delicacy its mission
The tender texture is essential to this comfort-food favorite, and it’s BY BROCK RADKE tough to find a better version in the Vegas Valley. Grudzinski says East It’s all about the dough. “It’s Coast transplants are much more everything about the pierogi,” familiar with these and other Polish says Pierogi Village owner Margaret culinary delights, including stuffed Grudzinski. “It needs to be soft and cabbage ($6.50) and light. If it’s real doughy hot and cold varieties of and chewy and heavy on borscht ($7). the flour, they just don’t PIEROGI VILLAGE “A lot of people from taste as good. That’s 8540 W. Lake Mead the East Coast know why we make them here Blvd., 725-735-2095. about pierogies, so they every day.” Monday, Wednessee our sign and they Located at Lake Mead day-Saturday, noonalready know,” she says. and Rampart, Pierogi Vil6 p.m.; Sunday, “But people from the lage is a rarity as a Polish noon-5 p.m. West Coast are always restaurant in Las Vegas. asking, what is a pierogi? Grudzinski and her As soon as they try them, they love it. family, who also operate the Polish Deli at Charleston and Jones, opened We always tell them to think about it Pierogi Village in November 2019. as a Polish ravioli.” Its namesake dumpling is, of course, Add the specialty Polish sausage the most popular dish on the menu, ($8.50), flown in from Chicago, available with an array of savory and a bit of sauerkraut on the side fillings including the simple potato next to potato and onion pierogies and cheese and traditional sauerkraut crowned with sour cream, caraand mushroom (both $8), the chef’s melized onions and bacon bits, special duck ($9) or the spinach and and you’ll feel like you’re at home, feta combo ($8). wherever you might be from.
Sauerkraut and potato pierogis with bacon and carmelized onions (Wade Vandervort/Staff)
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THORNY DILEMMA
The Golden Knights have parted ways with Marc-André Fleury. How are fans supposed to feel? BY SPENCER PATTERSON
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he Vegas Golden Knights were voted into existence in 2016, played their first game in 2017 and made the Stanley Cup Finals in 2018, yet it could be said that Las Vegas didn’t truly become a major-league town until July 27, 2021. That’s the day the franchise traded its most beloved player—goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury—to the Chicago Blackhawks. Welcome to the painful world of pro sports, Knights fans. Sure, the organization has sent away popular faces before—choosing not to re-sign James Neal and David Perron after Season 1 and shipping off Nate Schmidt last year, for example—but this felt much different. Fleury not only racked up the most jaw-dropping highlights during the Golden Knights’ first four seasons on the ice, he produced many memorable moments off it, too, from his personable postgame interviews to his appearances throughout the community. And this town loved him for it all, in a way not felt since UNLV’s titlecontending basketball squads of the early 1990s. Though he spent 13 of his 17 years in Pittsburgh, it felt like Fleury became one of us, bonding with his new town the same way so many of us have after arriving, perhaps skeptically, from someplace else. His desire to spend his remaining career here
echoed that bond to the end. So how are Vegas fans supposed to feel now, many of them with well-worn Fleury jerseys hanging in their closets, some with photos of their hero close at hand? Should they move on from the Knights and embrace some other team—perhaps Fleury’s new club, the Blackhawks? Or should they shrug it off, continue supporting the hometown organization and be thankful for the four years they got to cheer on the man? Obviously, that’s a personal decision, one fans must make for themselves. I will say, however, that the Golden Knights’ relentless pursuit of a championship ought to be admired, even
if it also brings tears. Growing up a Phoenix Suns fan in Arizona, I watched that team shuffle the deck almost every offseason to push toward a title. And though it meant pulling a few posters of personal-favorite players off my walls, looking back I can only respect what they did. It might never have resulted in the trophy we all sought, but it kept us in the hunt year after year. If the Knights can do that, it will be awfully tough to criticize. Could VGK personnel have handled things better with Fleury, on a personal level, at the end? Perhaps. None of us was there, so we don’t really know. Could the Knights have received more
in return for a goalkeeper coming off a Vezina-winning campaign? I’m not an NHL GM, but I assume if more was available, the Knights would gladly have taken it. Did Vegas do enough with the $7 million in cap space cleared out by Fleury’s departure to justify it (see sidebar)? Only time will tell, though no matter what happens, we should all agree keeping an expensive goalie on the bench every night isn’t the clearest path to a Stanley Cup. And should Robin Lehner have gone, rather than Fleury? Considering Lehner is six years younger, costs less, has four controllable seasons remaining and produces excellent numbers in his own
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NEW KNIGHTS GET TO KNOW VEGAS’ LATEST ADDITIONS BY JUSTIN EMERSON The Golden Knights were busy last week, using the cap space gained in the Marc-André Fleury trade to shore up their offense, while also securing Fleury’s replacement. The biggest addition was Evgenii Dadonov, a winger who scored 81 goals in a threeyear span a few years ago. Coupled with the surprise return of Mattias Janmark and earlier offseason trades for Nolan Patrick and Brett Howden, the Golden Knights are poised to have perhaps the deepest forward core in team history. “I think this is the best top-nine forwards that our organization has had,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said after the moves. “And I think this is the best group of forwards collectively that our team has had.” But just who are these players? Get to know the newest Golden Knights. ■ Evgenii Dadonov The Russian winger could be the antidote to Vegas’ scoring ills. Despite a down year in Ottawa, in which he scored 13 goals in 55 games—none on the power play—he was a consistent 25-plus-goal scorer the previous three years in Florida. He posted 11 power-play goals two years ago, matched in Golden Knights history only by Erik Haula in 2017-18. Dadonov struggled adjusting to a new system in Ottawa, explaining that being away from his family because of Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions might have played a part in that. He joins a stacked group of wingers in Vegas, where he’ll try to return to his goal-scoring ways and boost a stagnant power play.
(AP/Photo Illustration)
■ Nolan Patrick McCrimmon, the former owner and coach of the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings, is taking a chance on his former junior star. Patrick was taken second by the Flyers in Vegas’ inaugural draft (Cody Glass, for whom Patrick was just traded, went four picks later in that draft), but Patrick has struggled in the NHL, including missing the entire 2019-20 season with migraine issues. Vegas will hope a change of scenery can restore his potential. ■ Laurent Brossoit The Golden Knights will pay their new backup goalkeeper $2.325 million per year—and McCrimmon has indicated the days of one netminder playing 60 or more games in a season were likely over—so don’t expect Brossoit to be limited to a few games per month behind Robin Lehner. He’ll likely play around a third of the games, a role in which he posted a solid .913 save percentage in three years as Winnipeg’s backup.
(NHLI via Getty Images)
right, that’s a tough case to make. But of course, Golden Knights fans will make those cases, and others, in defense of their Flower, and who can really blame them? He was Las Vegas’ first true pro sports icon, and it’s tough to let go. Just understand, being a fan of professional sports means rooting for a business entity, one with real-world financial constraints—in this case the unshakable salary cap imposed upon all NHL teams by the league. Would you really rather root for Fleury in net behind a subpar VGK team, further away from a title, than see the Knights continue chasing the Cup without him? It can be a tough call to make, yet it’s the type every pro sports fan encounters at some point. And as much as it might hurt, for Las Vegans, it’s yet another step toward becoming a sports town in the truest sense of the word.
■ Brett Howden Howden has never quite put it together in three NHL seasons. His point totals weren’t bad (23 and 19) in his first two years, but he cratered to seven last year without providing a major boost defensively. He’s still 23, however, and Vegas has shown a knack for getting the most out of players who previously struggled elsewhere (see: Karlsson, William and Stephenson, Chandler).
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8.5.21 they wanted to stay in the hospitality industry, they started to think about what they had to do to improve themselves and those skill sets. Our master’s program has increased tremendously. We also have an online master’s degree, which has seen a large enrollment increase.
UNLV dean: Pandemic has shown how resilient hospitality industry really is
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BY BRYAN HORWATH he William F. Harrah College of Hospitality is one of UNLV’s most notable programs, credited with developing future leaders in tourism—especially at home on the Strip. While the pandemic slowed tourism worldwide, that was only temporary and the hospitality industry has come roaring back, said Stowe Shoemaker, dean of the college, in an interview with Vegas Inc. In fact, he says, UNLV graduates are in high demand. “Essentially, every hospitality firm is looking for employees. All of our students are getting multiple job offers,” Shoemaker said. “They’re really able now to choose where they want to live and work, and what company they want to work for.” Here’s the rest of our interview, which has been edited for clarity.
kind of put a pause on college. People wanted to see if students would be on campus or just online, so enrollment at universities in general has been down. At UNLV, since we accept students pretty much right up until the start of classes, we’ll likely see a big surge in last-minute enrollment when people begin to realize that 95% of our classes this year will be in person. Are there more returning education students coming into the program since the onset of the pandemic? We’re seeing that there is a lot of interest from people in upping their skill set. If and when people were furloughed, they started thinking about whether they wanted to stay in a given industry. If they decided
With advances in technology, there’s a general thought that there will be fewer hospitality jobs available in the future. Is that the correct way to think about how technology will change the industry in the coming years? When you think about the hospitality industry, you’re not just buying a room to sleep in or food to eat; you’re buying an experience, and experiences are created by people. We use technology to improve the overall experience, but not replace the experience. For example, nobody wants to wait in a long line to check into a hotel, so we’ve used technology to enable people to check-in quickly and go right to their room. Does that mean there’s less desk clerks? Not necessarily. It just means the consumer now has a choice. My wife and I like to talk to a person, because we usually have lots of questions. We’re still going to need people to deliver on those experiences. The hospitality industry goes in cycles, but we always come back. What’s the future of the Las Vegas experience? I’m very bullish on our city. There’s probably no more famous destination in the world than Las Vegas. We’ll have some blips, just like the entire economy will, but at the end of the day, I think COVID-19 has shown that people like to be out and about. They like to do things with their friends and family. We have so many things to do here, and people love that.
What’s new with the College of Hospitality? This school year will be the second that we’ve had our new curriculum in place. We’ve doubled down on hospitality and hospitality operations, and we’ve given students the opportunity for concentrations— which are made up of 15 credits—that are much more detailed than in the past. We’ve started a concentration in the fast-casual segment, which is a very fast-growing area. That’s because of a generous gift from Andrew and Peggy Cherng of Panda Express. We’re also getting ready to launch a concentration in tribal gaming, which is the result of a gift from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, along with a concentration in human resources. What about enrollment? Is there added interest of late on that end? Enrollment across all hospitality programs has been slowing since COVID-19, to be frank. We rationalize that part of that is because many students were online learning and perhaps didn’t have that pressure from guidance counselors and friends about where they were going to go to school. Everybody
Stowe Shoemaker, dean of the UNLV College of Hospitality (Steve Marcus/Staff)
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VegasInc Notes Nevada Builders Alliance CEO Aaron West was elected as the next president of the Governor’s Commission on Professional Standards in Education. A sector of Nevada’s Department West of Education, the commission focuses on governing and regulating the licensure of educational personnel. The statewide Nevada Dental Association welcomed Ed De Andrade as its new president. De Andrade specializes in periodontics and dental implantology and takes great pride in providing his patients De Andrade the best dental care possible at Anthem Periodontics and Dental Implants in Henderson. Alan Hedrick joined Sun Commercial Real Estate with an emphasis on multifamily. With over 10 years of experience, Hedrick brings client relations skills and a grasp of the real estate industry as well as multiple Hedrick investor relationships to Sun. Lexicon Bank president and CEO Stacy Watkins accepted membership into the Nevada Forum of the International Women’s Forum, where she joins a roster of just over 100 women in Nevada. Chartered in 1999, IWF Nevada is committed to championing equality and cultivating the women leaders of tomorrow. The nonprofit CORE welcomed longtime juvenile justice professional Jeff Jones to serve the organization on the CORE 2021 board of trustees. A Las Vegas native, Jones brings nearly three decades Jones of experience in working with local youth and families to CORE. The Nevada Bankers Association announced its newly elected 2021-22 board of directors, including Craig Kirkland, senior vice president of retail banking at Nevada State Bank, as chairman. In addition, 2021-22 NBA officers include: Ken Mundt, chair-elect, Town & Country Bank; BJ North, vice chair, Plumas Bank; Joyce Smith, treasurer, Bank of Nevada; and H. Scott Johnson, secretary, Valley Bank of Nevada. The directors include: Brian Cook, Charles Schwab
Trust Company; Brian Formisano, Well Fargo Bank; David Navarro, Enterprise Bank and Trust; and Al Welch, Bank of America. Sahara Las Vegas appointed Elani Gardner as assistant general manager of the property’s Bazaar Meat by José Andrés. Gardner joins the restaurant’s leadership team with 10 years of experience Gardner within the restaurant and hospitality industry and seven years on the Strip. Additionally, Sahara appointed Stacy King as vice president of human resources. A veteran of the gaming industry and casiKing no landscape, King brings 30 years of experience to the role. Dr. Amanda Gracia joined Activate Healthcare as a family medicine practitioner. Gracia recently completed her residency in family medicine and attained board certification from the Amer- Gracia ican Board of Family Medicine. While at the UNLV Family Medicine program, Gracia served as chief resident, rotating through various areas including UMC, Veterans Memorial and other clinics. Gracia is also a member of the Clark County Medical Society and the American Academy of Family Physicians. With an 80 score on the 2021 Disability Equality Index, Caesars Entertainment was named a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” and, for the seventh consecutive year, was named one of “50 Most CommunityMinded Companies” in 2021 by The Civic 50. Sightline Payments co-founder and executive vice president Omer Sattar was named to Business Insider’s list of 2021 Power Players in Sports Betting. Sattar was recognized for his work to advance cashless payments for the gaming and sports betting industries. Prime Trust named Mike Smith as chief operating officer and appointed several former officials of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to its regulatory and compliance team, including Jeff Tsai, Dana Dobi and Liz Teifer. The new hires reflect the company’s investment to stay on top of regulatory requirements in the evolving crypto space.
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