August 2024

Businesses and HOAs in Southern Nevada are

SAVING WATER and MONEY!

The Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) cash incentive for nonfunctional grass conversion projects is set to decrease next year, so it’s no surprise that businesses and HOA communities across the valley are taking advantage of the current rebates while they can.

Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the rebate for such projects will be reduced to $2 per square foot for the first 10,000 square feet of nonfunctional grass converted to drip-irrigated trees and plants, and $1 per square foot thereafter.

Businesses, HOAs and multifamily properties can still receive the current rebate of $3 per square foot for the first 10,000 square feet of grass converted and $1.50 per square foot thereafter for projects

Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the rebate for such projects will be reduced to $2 per square foot for the first 10,000 square feet of nonfunctional grass

CONVERTED TO DRIP-

IRRIGATED TREES AND PLANTS, and $1 per square foot thereafter.

of the grass managed by homeowner associations starting Jan. 1, 2027.

For Southern Nevada, grass irrigation remains the largest consumptive use of water from the Colorado River, which provides 90 percent of our limited water supplies. Despite last year’s great winter, the river remains in a federally declared shortage condition that reduces Nevada's allocation for the third consecutive year.

Some businesses, HOAs and other nonsingle-family properties across the valley have already taken a major step towards compliance with the law, but there is still a considerable about of useless grass that needs to be removed before the deadline

Once fully implemented, the conservation

Additional information about both Nevada law and the SNWA’s Water Smart Landscapes rebate program is available at snwa.com.

FOOD+DRINK

IN THE KNOW

“My cardiologist suggested I stop listening to the news,” a neighbor told me when I crossed his path during my morning dog walk recently. He’d been having heart palpitations diagnosed as anxiety. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard something like this, but it was especially troubling in the case of this guy, a Desert Companion and State of Nevada fan and reliable source of honest feedback about how we’re doing.

Two days later, on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Rhitu Chatterjee reported that, in an American Psychiatric Association poll, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they were feeling anxious about the election, and some 40 percent said they had “checked out” of political news. Not great for those who pay their bills by doing journalism and/or believe in the news media’s power to safeguard our democracy (guilty on both counts).

But I get it. When it comes to national politics, I’ve gotten in the habit of closing my news apps after getting the essential facts and not opening them again until boots-on-the-ground reporters have had time to do their jobs. It’s my personal opt-out of conspiracy theories, divisive rhetoric, the blame game, and the rest of the cycle.

On the other hand, I crave information about what’s going on, which I experience as the power to positively contribute to dialog and change. This is truest for local stories — even very sad ones, such as Anne Davis’ dispatch from a homeless encampment during July’s record-breaking heat (p. 16). Desert Companion has always been committed to looking unflinchingly at our community’s difficulties, along with celebrating its achievements.

There’s plenty of the latter in this issue; namely, our Best of the City (p. 63). We debated whether we should even do this annual list of favorite cultural events, eats, family outings, and shops during this year. In the end, we decided you needed recommendations for enjoying the best of Southern Nevada more than ever.

There’s something else going on here, too: several pieces that hold two contradictory ideas together in the same space. From Krista Diamond’s thoughtful essay about the make-up graduation for the COVID-struck class of 2020 (p. 11), to writer and podcast host Dayvid Figler’s bittersweet poem about living in Las Vegas (p. 21), to Meg Bernhard’s reflection on the blank-slatedness of City (p. 42 ).

People are complicated, the world is complicated, and so is the news. But if you’re struggling with things that feel out of your control, know you’re not alone. Also know there are butterfly hunters running around Nevada’s wilderness in search of answers to the biodiversity crisis.

And they’d love to tell you their story. It’s on p. 46.

Happy reading, Heidi

CONTRIBUTORS

An essayist and storyteller, Dayvid Figler served as a Las Vegas Municipal Court judge between stints as a defense attorney specializing in capital murder and crimes committed by people with gambling addictions. He currently cohosts the daily podcast, City Cast Las Vegas.

A native of New York City, who has lived in Las Vegas for two decades, Lissa Townsend Rodgers has written for an array of publications and websites including Food & Wine, New York Magazine, Culture Trip and Vegas Seven. Her book, Shameless: Women of the Underworld, a collection of biographies of women in crime, is out on Huntington Press.

Daniel Rothberg is an independent environmental journalist based in Reno, who’s been widely published around the West. He is currently working on a book about water in the Great Basin.

PRESIDENT & CEO Favian Perez

MANAGING EDITOR Heidi Kyser

ART DIRECTOR Scott Lien

ASSISTANT EDITOR Anne Davis

KNPR PRODUCERS AND REPORTERS  Christopher Alvarez, Paul Boger, Mike Prevatt, Joe Schoenmann

NEVADA PUBLIC RADIO EDITORIAL INTERN Maicyn Udani

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ryan Vellinga

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Scott Dickensheets

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Allison Hall, Markus Van’t Hul, Britt Quintana

PROJECT MANAGER

Marlies Daebritz

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Jeff Jacobs

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Josh Bell, Meg Bernhard, Sarah Bun, Sarah Cadorette, Kristen DeSilva, Krista Diamond, Eric Duran-Valle, Dayvid Figler, Alex Hager, Lorraine Blanco Moss, Alec Pridgeon, Oona Robertson, Daniel Rothberg, Jennifer Smith, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Jim Vanas, T.R. Witcher

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Ronda Churchill, Brent Holmes, Jeff Scheid, Donna Victor

CONTACT

EDITORIAL: Heidi Kyser (702) 259-7855 heidi@desertcompanion.com

ART: Scott Lien (702) 258-9895 scott@desertcompanion.com

ADVERTISING: (702) 258-9895 sales@desertcompanion.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Marlies Daebritz (702) 259-7822 marlies@desertcompanion.com

WEBSITE: www.desertcompanion.com

Desert Companion is published bimonthly by Nevada Public Radio, 1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89146. It is available by subscription at desertcompanion.vegas, or as part of Nevada Public Radio membership. It is also distributed free at select locations in the Las Vegas Valley. All photos, artwork, and ad designs printed are the sole property of Desert Companion and may not be duplicated or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The views of Desert Companion contributing writers are not necessarily the views of Desert Companion or Nevada Public Radio. Contact us for back issues, which are available for purchase for $7.95.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

DON HAMRICK chair Chapman Automotive Group

RICHARD I. DREITZER, ESQ. vice chair Fennemore

KATHLEEN M. NYLEN treasurer

FAVIAN PEREZ secretary Nevada Public Radio

DIRECTORS

NEHME E. ABOUZEID LaunchVegas, LLC

STEPHANIE CAPELLAS Carma/Connected

CYNTHIA A. DREIBELBIS Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

MIKE DREITZER Gaming Arts, LLC

ANDREA GOEGLEIN, PH.D ServingSuccess

WILLIAM GROUNDS Burraneer Capital Advisors

FRED J. KEETON Keeton Iconoclast Consulting, LLC

EDWIN C. KINGSLEY, MD Comprehensive Cancer Centers

AMANDA MOORE-SAUNDERS Live Nation

DERIONNE POLLARD, PH.D Nevada State University

ERNEST STOVALL Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino

SCOTT NIELSON Nielson Consulting, LLC

DIRECTORS EMERITI

CYNTHIA ALEXANDER Dickinson Wright, PLLC

SUSAN M. BRENNAN The Brennan Consulting Group, LLC

DAVE CABRAL Business Finance Corp.

LOUIS CASTLE Amazon Games Seattle

PATRICK N. CHAPIN, ESQ. Patrick N. Chapin, Ltd.

ELIZABETH FRETWELL C4ward Strategies, Ltd.

GAVIN ISAACS Consultant

CHRIS MURRAY Avissa Corporation

JERRY NADAL

Luna Entertainment Consulting Services

WILLIAM J. “BILL” NOONAN

William J. Noonan Consulting

ANTHONY J. PEARL Crown Resorts

MARK RICCIARDI, ESQ. Fisher Phillips, LLP

MICKEY ROEMER Roemer Gaming

TIM WONG

Arcata Associates

Earlier this summer, Desert Companion magazine celebrated the 12th annual Focus on Nevada photo contest winners at a gallery showcase held at UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. Our team of judges awarded prizes for the top snaps after filtering through a record number of captivating submissions from all around the Silver State. Our thanks to the winners, participants, sponsors and guests who attended the celebration!

ALL THINGS

EDUCATION

The Wading Game

The class of 2020 finally gets a ‘normal’ graduation. By Vegas standards

BY Krista Diamond

By the slot machines, there is a sign directing the class of 2020 to the pool. It’s 2024, and the graduating class in question is finally old enough to attend their own party, the 2020 Stadium Swim Grad Splash at Circa, a 21-and-older casino and hotel in downtown Las Vegas. The event is intended as a do-over for Clark County School District students who didn’t get to have a high school graduation party during the early days of COVID-19. It is sponsored by Prime Hydration, a beverage cofounded by influencer/aspiring wrestler Logan Paul, and White Claw, a malt beverage I know well and will get to know even better over the next five hours. The casino is cool and dark, and I ride a series of escalators to the promised pool party, which is not for me.

Earlier, Mike Palm, Circa’s vice pres-

ident of operations, told me about the construction of the casino, which took place while the 2020 grads were studying algebra on Zoom and riding bicycles down a deserted Las Vegas Boulevard. “Circa was born out of the pandemic,” Palm said. “The majority of the construction occurred during 2020, and in some ways, it benefited us in that, for that 11-week shutdown, we didn’t have any neighbors to disturb with noise, so we were able to work 24/7.”

Today, there is a Kesha song playing, and at the top of the final escalator there is abundant sunlight, a Class of 2020 stepand-repeat, and friendly women who give me a wristband and a White Claw, my first of the day. It’s noon, and a digital sign at the top of nearby Binion’s Gambling Hall says it’s 103 degrees. Standing in the hot daylight on the rooftop pool deck, I feel

like an offering for a malevolent god, which is a standard Las Vegas day club experience.

Upon first impression, that’s what this graduation party feels like: any other day club. Stadium Swim, as the pool complex at Circa is called, consists of six pools on three levels, all facing a 40-foot-tall screen where multiple athletic events are broadcast simultaneously. The soundtrack is “Pour It Up” by Rihanna, “Shots” by Lil Jon, and other songs that mention Patrón Tequila. There are hotel guests mixed in with party guests — I can tell who is who based on wristband color — and I am trying to locate the feeling of a high school graduation, but my only reference point is my own graduation many years ago in an auditorium in New Hampshire. Here, there is a private “super cabana” that I’m told is the heart of the party, where women in bikinis wear blue graduation caps. There are more graduation caps on lounge chairs and a man in a “Wish You Were Beer” hat sinking the per-

fect beer pong shot. I take another free White Claw and survey the scene.  Most of the 2020 grads seem happy as they pose for selfies, lounge on day beds, and enjoy free drinks, free food, and the promise of $15 off an Uber ride home when the party ends, but there are a few on the outside of the crowd who lean against the wall, looking uncomfortable, dejected even, as they scroll their phones. I recognize their expressions. In the fall of 2021, when Las Vegas really started to reopen, I began teaching at UNLV. We were in person for the first time in a long time, and as I stood in front of the room on that first day, I saw eyes full of grief, anxiety, and in some cases, a blankness that indicated there was nothing left to feel at all. Most of my students had come from Clark County School District; they were these same 2020 grads. In the quiet moments before class started, they often stared straight ahead as if unsure how to talk to each other. Sometimes, anti-mask and anti-vax protestors taunted them outside of

the library. They wrote essays about a spring break that turned into a lost year. Dark bedrooms and virtual classrooms. Cameras off, so it was impossible to tell how anyone was doing, who was even really there. They wrote about family members and friends who got sick and then died, and something else they knew they’d lost: adolescence.

Looking around the party, I can tell that many have found themselves again while others are still searching. I approach a table where two 2020 grads are eating french fries. “How do you feel being here?” I ask.

One leans in, tells me her name is Elizabeth, and asks me if she can be honest.

“Sure,” I say.

“I feel like we got robbed of an actual graduation, which kind of makes me jealous of kids in 2023 and 2024 who got actual graduations,” she says. “We graduated in, like, a school auditorium.” She pauses and considers the scene around us — people in graduation caps tumbling into the water, an endless parade of bikini-clad cocktail servers hoisting trays of cheeseburger sliders overhead — and then she smiles slightly and adds, “But this makes up for it a little bit.”

In a cabana where there are chicken fingers and more White Claws, I talk to David and Xander, who had a small graduation in their high school cafeteria.

“It was really weird because it was at our school,” Xander says. “I saw my older sister graduate at the Orleans casino.”

A Pitbull song plays, the bass shaking the wall beside us. At the poolside casino, people open up wallets, their money wet from the pool.

“It’s nice being here,” David says. “The sense of community is really nice.” I fill a plate with chicken fingers and eat them in the pool. The Binion’s sign says it’s 106 degrees. On the big screen, in between a baseball game and a golf tournament, there is a slideshow of 2020 grads: one in an apartment bathroom wearing a cap and gown, another in a driveway, a backyard, on an empty sidewalk in front of the Bellagio. I swim over

GOOD GRADS

Circa's Stadium Swim hosts the graduating class of 2020.

to two girls on the edge of the pool, holding damp diplomas with the Circa logo on them.

Elise, who is from Mesquite, drove an hour to come to Circa. “This feels like a Vegas graduation,” she says. “This is what I imagined. A party, a pool.”

There is no trace of Wow what a novelty in her voice or in anyone’s voice, and as I open another White Claw, I realize that this is what I’ve been looking for: someone to acknowledge what a uniquely Vegas experience this is. Unique in the way that grocery store slot machines are unique. Unique in the way that seeing an Elvis impersonator at the gym is unique. But uniquely Vegas is only unique to a transplant, a tourist, a parachute journalist. To these Clark County School District students, most born and raised in Las Vegas, there is nothing unique about this graduation party. And that’s the point. This is the party they’ve longed for, not because it is weird and wild in an only in Vegas way, but because it feels like home. They expected a graduation ceremony at the Orleans complete with a drink menu — $21 cocktails for adults, $6 bottled water for everyone else. Graduating in a cafeteria, which might have felt ordinary to high school students elsewhere, was strange and disorienting to them.

In the chicken finger line, Xander had told me, “I think it’s a good party. It’s a nice hot day with a pool and some food.” And at the time, I’d wished for a less matter-of-fact answer. But now I get it.

The party continues. There are more White Claws. There is a DJ imploring the crowd to get loose. One girl tells me she is late for her shift at Caesars, that she is thinking of calling out. Drunk and happy, people stretch out on water couches, a term I just learned that others already knew. Soon, there will be a $10,000 giveaway sponsored by Prime Hydration. There will be champagne showers. Lights will illuminate Fremont Street below, marking the start of another Las Vegas night.

At last, for the class of 2020, something normal. ✦

Giving It a Name

At the nation’s first womenspecific Alzheimer’s center, Lou Ruvo researcher Jessica Caldwell helps women cope with what they already know is there

BY Anne Davis

Almost 70 percent of Americans think about it yearly. It will be the subject of more than $3.8 billion worth of research this year, has catalyzed the creation of public health campaigns stretching back decades, and is a regular fixture in popular media. Yet, for everything we think we know about Alzheimer’s disease, it continues to evade not only cures, but also broad awareness among the group it most affects: women . They comprise two-thirds of all Alzheimer’s patients and are twice as likely to develop the disease than their male counterparts, yet many don’t realize they’re at higher risk. Neuropsychologist Jessica Caldwell works to remedy that as director of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement at Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the first women-specific center of its kind in the nation. Caldwell talked with Desert Companion about why women are at higher risk of memory loss and what they can do to slow or perhaps even prevent it. An edited excerpt of the conversation follows.

Q&A

BIG Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health Neuropsychologist Jessica Caldwell

Your research has focused on menopause’s role in memory loss. You say midlife hormonal changes might be an explanation for the large disparity in Alzheimer’s diagnosis rates for women and men. Why?

When women go through menopause, one of the biggest changes is that we lose estrogen, a hormone that most people think of in the context of fertility, but actually is active throughout our body as well as throughout our brain. One thing estrogen does in the brain is promote protection of neurons or cells, as well as promote plasticity or flexibility and growth of new neural pathways. So, when women go through menopause, we really have to readjust our bodies, as well as our brains, to having less estrogen. There is typically a bit of a dip in memory around that time for many, many women. But for most people, it is just a dip and (then) a recovery in memory. On the other hand, there seem to be women who don’t recover quite as well as others, and these may be the women who are experiencing Alzheimer’s disease risk related to estrogen loss.

Is avoiding that as simple as starting hormone replacement therapy?

Addressing risks related to menopause is a very complex topic. We know that if a woman is long past menopause, she should not start taking hormone replacement. And if a woman is very young when she goes through menopause — say in her 30s — it’s beneficial to take hormone replacement for brain health later on in life. But where the findings are really mixed is right around the time of the average age of menopause, which is around age 52 or 54. It’s unclear whether women should take a hormone replacement treatment, not just for things like hot flashes, but specifically for their brain health.

What can people of all genders do to stave off Alzheimer’s?

Research supports that there are 12 factors that account for about 40 percent of current Alzheimer’s disease cases. These are things like making sure you get enough exercise, not getting diabetes or high blood pressure (and treating them if you do get them), and finishing high school and continuing to stay mentally or intellectually stimulated. All those factors are important. And in addition, there is a number of factors related to better aging: People who get enough sleep age better; people who eat a nutritious diet that’s low in processed foods tend to age better. So, when we think about risk reduction and supporting healthy aging, we want women to think about both this list of things that can account for dementia, as well as the list of things that might actually support best brain health.

What do you tell women who might be at the very beginning stages of this disease and could be afraid of what the future holds?

Oftentimes, what I’m doing is giving a name to a problem that women already know is there. In addition to helping them to understand the cause of their problems, I’m also helping women to understand that there are many things that they can do, even with a disease process in the brain. … In terms of the reality that I know, this is a disease that is highly complex, and every individual will experience it somewhat differently. But there are always things that people and families could do. ✦

MEMBER-PRICED

THINK

HEAR the full interview here.

Agroup of six outreach workers carefully negotiate their way through a dusty field in North Las Vegas, the site of a small homeless encampment. As they approach each tent, they call out a greeting, and the residents, seeing their distinctive neon yellow shirts and hats, emerge from their shelters.

It’s 10 a.m., and the sun has been up for four hours already, marking the start of the ninth consecutive day of 110 degree-plus temperatures in Southern Nevada. Just a few days before, the city broke its all-time high of 117 by three degrees. This day’s forecast won’t be much better — it’s projected to hit 118. At 109, it’s already oppressive. In unshaded areas, like the encampment, the heat radiates from the sun above and the sand below.

The risks of such extreme weather explain why the yellow-shirted team is out. They’re with Help of Southern Nevada, a Vegas-based homeless outreach agency, whose crisis teams venture onto the streets nearly every morning with water and resource lists to distribute to the city’s unhoused.

The organization’s crisis teams director, Louis Lacey, says he’s seeing the impacts of the city’s longer and hotter summers on the unhoused, which commonly manifest themselves as dehydration, heat stroke, and burns. UMC’s burn center reported 23 cases of pavement burns this June — already half of last summer’s total.

“I personally know of a homeless person that fell out, got third degree burns on her leg, and she lost her leg,” Lacey recalls. “That happens. Also, if you are intoxicated

PUBLIC HEALTH

Longer, Hotter, and More Deadly

For the unhoused, this summer’s record-breaking heat comes with insurmountable risks

BY Anne Davis

and you fall out or pass out in the sun, and there’s nobody there to wake you up, you’re going to die.”

Mario Lopes, one of the unhoused individuals Lacey’s team meets on this day’s trip, knows the danger of heat-related illness all too well. Lopes has lived on the streets on and off for 30 years. He used to be a member of the Navy. Now, he says, his summer days are spent trying to stay cool.

“I’m a disabled vet,” Lopes says, “so I’m trained to survive under any condition.”

He’s already had one heat stroke this week, at the beginning of July’s heat wave, which he treated by putting ice under his arms and lying down until it passed. But, with temperatures staying high, he’s worried about having another, since it’s

not uncommon to witness people rapidly succumb to the heat.

“I’ve had a few friends die out here,” he says. “In their tents, not coming out of their tents … It gets really hot, and no one ends up checking on them. And they end up dead.”

Lopes is currently 67 years old and is a member of what Lacey calls Vegas’ “silver tsunami” — a reference to the city’s growing population of people older than 64 who live on the streets. This trend comes with troubling consequences: Since heat tolerance is known to decline with age, Lacey is already seeing extreme weather’s devastating impact on the elderly.

“We had an 81-year-old out there in the heat, laid out in her encampment,” Lacey says. “And the dogs that she had were laid out in the encampment, and they were dead. That was yesterday. And we got her to a shelter and got her some help.”

Lacey’s clients are all part of the nearly 7,000-member unhoused community in Las Vegas, a cohort which has grown by almost 30 percent since 2021, a year after Nevada’s pandemic unemployment rate soared to double the national average at the time. This steadily increasing unhoused population is relying on more resources from the valley’s few dozen local outreach organizations like Help of Southern Nevada.

Another, Caridad Las Vegas, was founded by Merideth Spriggs. She says the extreme heat has changed the way these local services operate. “Places like Catholic Charities or Salvation Army would normally have people go out in the daytime,” Spriggs says, “but (now) what they will allow them to do is sit inside so they can cool down.”

However, Lacey says, it can be a struggle for his aid workers to convince people to accept transport to any of the area’s shelters or cooling stations, because unhoused individuals are hesitant to leave their communities.

“‘My resources are here on this side of town, my familial connections or whatever are on this side of town,’” he says, recalling previous conversations with unhoused clients. “‘I really don’t want to go on that side of town.’”

It all paints a dire, but predictable, portrait: Unhoused people paying an unthinkable price for living in the second-fastest-warming city in America.

Meanwhile, Caridad and Help of Southern Nevada do what they can, which, today, is being out on the streets, passing out supplies in 109 degrees, hoping to save lives. ✦

Monster Track

For seven years, I’ve followed Gila monsters for science. Here’s what I’ve learned

BY Jim Vanas

The desert sun was rising fast on a late spring morning. It would be hot, and the time to locate the Gila monster I was tracking was now. With my radio and antenna, I was looking for a female in Southern Nevada’s typical low, treeless scrub. The beeps from her transmitter grew louder, and finally, I spotted her as she strutted comically forward, gait like a fat bulldog. Her black-forked tongue flickered up and down, tasting the air and ground, searching for food or shelter.

I had no idea how long this female had been on the prowl. She was headed for the shade of a large acacia bush, and as she approached, so did an army of angry house finches. Perched above her, they screamed,

and within a few seconds, I knew why. Two baby finches dropped out of a well-hidden nest to the hot desert floor. They were in the boiling sun, and the Gila was already resting in the shade. The larger of the two baby finches flew off on untested wings just inches above the ground. The adult birds scattered, leaving the helpless second chick to fend for itself.

The baby bird was no bigger than a human infant’s fist and would be a nice-sized meal for the tired lizard. To my surprise, it hopped into the shade and nestled against the Gila. Neither moved for 20 long minutes. Having other monsters to track, I grew impatient and had to leave. I’ll never know what happened in the end.

Small animals are part of the Gila mon-

ster’s unique diet. Called “obligate nest feeders,” they consume the buried eggs of snakes and lizards, as well as those of ground-nesting birds such as doves and quail. They seem to prefer the large, nutritious eggs of desert tortoises, but newborn mammals aren’t immune. A Gila will squeeze into the holes of kangaroo rats and mice, rabbits and ground squirrels, and devour their hapless young. A few large meals may satisfy a lizard’s requirements for an entire year.

If you’re lucky enough to see a Gila monster, you will never forget how beautiful they are. Their skin is bright pink or orange, and ebony black bands encircle the dorsal side of the body and tail. This camouflage works well for them in dappled shade, but the brilliant colors will astound the first-time viewer in open sunlight.

Despite its name, the Gila is not monstrous in size. Averaging 18-20 inches and three to five pounds, it is still the largest lizard native to the United States. Their stout bodies and fat tails give them a formidable air.

Although Gilas inhabit rocky foothills, desert scrub, grasslands, and canyons — ideal outdoor recreation terrain — seasoned hikers and trained biologists rarely see them. When temperatures are too cold or hot, the monsters hide in deep rock shelters, spending more than 90 percent of their lives there.

Yes, the Gila monster is venomous — the only lizard in the country that is — but you’ll never be envenomated unless you try to handle one. Most scientists agree that the Gila uses its venom only in defense. I’ve had them crawl over my shoes and between my legs while standing still, observing and admiring.

Their range in the United States spans southwestern Utah, Southern Nevada, extreme southeastern California, western/ southern Arizona, and southwestern New Mexico. They’re hard to find in Nevada, but if you know where to look, they are common in Arizona.

Decades ago, a biochemist discovered a hormone in the venom and saliva of Gila monsters that helped the lizard regulate sugar levels during hibernation. This hormone was later synthesized and has since been used in medications, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, for treating Type 2 diabetes in humans.

There’s still much to learn about the iconic yet secretive Gila, but this much I know: It deserves all the respect and protection we can afford. ✦

MADE IN NEVADA

Give Our Best

These three shops curate items made by locals for locals

BY Sarah Bun

Sin City abounds with curio and T-shirt shops for tourists. But where do you find the best Las Vegas-themed gifts that are truly local? Here are three spots curating unique items that make the perfect present.

1 AKIN COOPERATIVE

This little gem, in the Arts District, evolved out of Market in the Alley entrepreneur Jen Taler’s pop-up bazaar, where shoppers can support local small businesses. Akin Cooperative provides artisans with a permanent location to showcase their creations, stocking a variety of goods, ranging from body care products to cacti. The boutique also hosts monthly guided wine tastings and workshops, but you don’t have to wait until then to grab a glass of natural wine or a beer to enjoy while you shop. Sip at the bar and check out their impressive list of low intervention wines. akincooperative.com

2 ART BOX BY LIEZL SIOJO

Once a business partner with Tom and Kellie Kroplinski, local mosaic self-portrait artist Liezl Siojo took over Art Box as sole owner in 2021. In Downtown Container Park, it’s an art gallery and gift shop featuring Las Vegas-made fine art and jewelry. Siojo works with more than 90 artists and, this summer, plans to help with an Allegiant Stadium installation project using art created by youth from the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada. Beginning in September, Art Box will host Meet the Artist events on the second Friday of each month, featuring live music and student recitals. instagram.com/art_box_by_ liezl_siojo

3 PAIGE & RYE

After her kids were born, Lauren Tieru wanted to be more involved in their lives and not make work her entire life. She opened Paige & Rye in 2020 at Hualapai and Desert Inn, and named her in-store event space The Grey Room. After a successful multiyear run, this year Tieru closed that location and opened a Downtown Summerlin storefront, where she offers locally created clothing, art, jewelry, and baby and pet products. The Grey Room, tucked in the back, hosts vintage pop-ups, parties, workshops, and serves as a photography studio. Paige & Rye also offers locally pressed juices, popsicles, and sweets. paigeandrye.com

HOW TO BE HERE, BEST

There are no hard and fast rules to successful living in Las Vegas.

But you can find salt-rimmed suggestions.

Like speed limits on our extra wide roads. Like wind and heat advisories. Like recommends for the best pizza in Las Vegas. (You’re wrong.)

Still, if you’re curious… Here is advice on how to be here, best:

1.

1

Get out!

Leave this place.

At least three times a year, for at least three days, each stretch.

Otherwise, you’ll go insane. Feel lost. Think “nothing seems to be working.”

You need to be reminded that Las Vegas, for all its obvious shortcomings, is a place where the living’s actually easy.

Being in a “better” place can confirm that you don’t always need to be in a better place.

Your body wants our comforting pace. Convenience to get stuff you don’t need. A favorite bar that never closes. A chance to do stupid without judgment.

And the longer you stay away, the more tears of joy form when the glow of Las Vegas first comes back into view.

2.

2

Bad habits are OK (occasionally)

Don’t eat yourself up. We all have them.

Feel free to feed your habit, but also wear a bib or a smock if you think you might get sloppy.

Remember to burp the habit, too.

And if the habit wakes you up in the middle of the night, it probably just has gas.

Best to ignore it.

(This is not a metaphor.)

3

3. Find the Good People

The ones who are Las Vegas in the now. The ones who are a hoot. Or smart. Or cynical.

Fun to hang with for coffee or cocktails. Willing to go to the show no one else will. Happy to meet you on the other side of the Strip from where they live.

Hold on to them for dear life. Make them happy whenever you can. Cherish their every quirk and flaw.

And always remember: No matter how hard you try to keep them, they’ll probably leave at some point.

Get over it. Meet new people.

4

4. Avoid Meth

It isn’t worth the penalties for whatever you did while on meth when you get busted, which you will, because you’re on meth.

5.

5

Wake up at 3 a.m.

Once a month and do whatever the hell you want. Trust that it’s available somewhere in the City. Smile.

There’s not a lot of places where this is true.

6 7

6.

Always keep a sweater in your car.

In the summer, inside spaces are uniformly sub-zero.

7.

Remember: We are Not New York

Do not get stuck putting New York’s template of culture on Las Vegas’ quirky platform.

Celebrate Vegas culture. You can find homegrown creativity in all forms.

Sometimes it takes effort.

Totally worth it.

You’ll hear people say the contrary, but we are already a culture town. Suck it!

(Caveat: Naughty hypnotists take one step back, thank you.)

8.

8

Tip all hospitality workers very well

And always take even money when you have blackjack and the dealer shows an ace.

9. Be Skeptical of Advice

9

People who say there are rules in Las Vegas are either too new, or trying to control you.

In a city where a pyramid lives next to a castle, across the street from the Statue of Liberty, down the way from a Roman palace, in sight of the Eiffel tower…

There is nothing you shouldn’t think about doing to leave your mark.

Uniqueness is a bonus, derivative en vogue. Either way, please please please strive to be remarkable.

There’s lots of open spaces left for remarkable.

—Dayvid Figler

THE OTHER STRIP

Pioneer Square

BY Oona Robertson

Prepared to be delighted, my friend Hue and I arrive at Pioneer Square near Chinatown — which I haven’t included in this series yet, because declaring a prefered section of Spring Valley would be like saying out loud I have a favorite cousin. This strip mall, on Decatur between Desert Inn and Spring Mountain,

holds more gems than I have space to write about.

At Moobongri Soondae we sit among the Sunday crowd and eat stone pot bibimbap topped with sesame oil and gochujang, and served alongside six different banchan and daikon soup. A franchise from South Korea via Los Angeles, the restaurant is known for its blood sausage and less

barbeque–centered food. It is supposed to open a second Las Vegas location inside the H Mart we have all been drooling over. Outside the big windows the day pretends not to be hot, the blue sky dotted with cartoon clouds and the cold barley tea erasing our memory of the scalding parking lot.

Outside, we wander past two massage places, the 9 Dragons Fight Shop, which sells combat-sport gear, and Habib’s Tailoring & Leather Repair (see “Best of the City,” p. 63), to the recently opened La Michoacana Ice Cream & Popcorn . Though similar in name and color palette, it’s not to be confused with the 27 other places in Vegas with Michoacan in their name. “We are from Michoacana,” says Nohemi Gonzalez, who owns the shop with her uncle Jose Luis Gonzalez, as she hands us samples of almost everything on the menu. She brims with enthusiasm for the house-made ice cream, multicolored paletas, snack food, and their special esquites with chipotle. La Michoacana is not a franchise but a series of independently owned

shops in the U.S. and Mexico. “Each one has its own thing,” Gonzalez says. “If you see the same name, it’s because it’s the same owner.” We order a cucumber lime agua fresca and banana and mazapán ice creams and sit at a little table basking in Gonzalez’s attention.

At Mom’s Refrigerator, a family run meat market and banchan store with perhaps the best name in Vegas, I walk slowly along the wall of cases, delighted by the selection of kimchi — six flavors plus an entire napa cabbage marinated whole — marinated shellfish, meats, and eggs, and all manner of vegetables in bright chili sauces. It’s not an easy decision, but I choose potato salad, radish kimchi, braised tofu, and a zesty calamansi soda. At the counter I discover they also have a huge menu of hot food: bento boxes, savory pancakes, porridge, street food, and soups, which I vow to come back for.

I recommend checking out all Pioneer Square has to offer, but if you’d like the bounty of Mom’s Refrigerator brought to your own home, like the best of mothers, they deliver. ✦

Brett Fleck does not have an easy job. He manages water for a city in the desert. He has to keep taps flowing while facing a complicated equation: The city is growing — attracting big business and thousands of new residents every year — but its main source of water is shrinking.

Standing on the edge of a sun-baked canal with palm trees lining its banks, Fleck watched water flow into the pipes that supply the Phoenix suburb of Peoria, Arizona.

“We’re really having a complete changeover in how people view the Colorado River from a reliability standpoint,” he said.

The river, which accounts for about 60 percent of the city’s supply, is stretched thin. Its water is used by 40 million people from Wyoming to Mexico. Climate change is shrinking its supply, and the federal government is scrambling to boost depleted reservoirs. The Biden Administration has poured money on the problem, allocating $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for Colorado River projects.

Across the seven U.S. states that use its water, that money has been used to save

DROUGHT

Down South

Las Vegas isn’t the only desert city under scrutiny for its Colorado River water use. Phoenix is betting it can engineer its way out of the problem

BY Alex Hager

water in a number of ways — from patching up leaky canals to paying farmers to pause crop planting. A relatively small chunk of that money has gone to cities, but it’s being welcomed with open arms in the Phoenix metro area.

Peoria’s water department is one of seven in Arizona getting paid by the federal government to leave some of its supplies in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir. In May 2023, the Biden Administration announced it would set aside $157 million for a handful of Arizona cities and one mining company to cut back on their take from the Colorado River.

Following that money and seeing how cities are spending the federal cash reveals a

major trend in Arizona’s water management.

The Biden administration framed the spending effort as “water conservation,” but Arizona’s municipal water leaders aren’t using it to make changes traditionally thought of as conservation. Instead of paying for small tweaks to water use – like encouraging residents to install low-flow showerheads or rip out their thirsty lawns – many are thinking bigger, putting their multimillion-dollar checks towards billion dollar infrastructure projects that are aimed at keeping taps flowing for decades to come.

Basically, cities like Peoria are planning to engineer their way out of the problem.

“When you don’t have that reliability,”

Fleck said, “You have to make additional investments for alternatives, backup supplies, etc. That’s what it really takes to make sense of the world that we live in now.”

MUCH INK HAS been spilled about the future of life in Phoenix. The sprawling metro area – referred to by locals as “The Valley” – is home to about 5 million people. A booming economy and strikingly wide suburban sprawl are pushing its borders further into once-unoccupied dusty expanses in nearly every direction. Meanwhile, climate change has inspired growing skepticism about the long-term sustainability of that growth.

Scorching temperatures, which consistently peak above 110 degrees in the summer, and much-publicized threats to its major sources of water, have accelerated calls in the national media for central Arizona to pump the brakes on expansion.

But on the ground, the people that run water departments in cities and suburbs project optimism.

“We have to plan ahead and say, ‘It’s not enough to have enough water to live this year, this month, two years, or five years,” said Cynthia Campbell, a water management advisor for the City of Phoenix. “We plan for 100, and that’s the way we’ve approached it in Arizona. That, I think, is the secret sauce that keeps us sustainable.”

Campbell described shifting attitudes in Phoenix-area water management. Dwindling water supplies have, for years, forced those cities to do more with less. She explained how Phoenix uses less water now than it did two decades ago, despite significant population growth. The city mostly chalks that up to more efficient water use by homes and businesses, specifically highlighting water that was conserved through more efficient outdoor watering for lawns and plants.

But now, those practices are getting closer to the ceiling in terms of how much water they can save, and new residents keep arriving.

“At some point in time, there does have to be a recognition of the scope of the problem,” Campbell said. “You just can’t conserve your way out of it.”

That mindset has put one word on the lips of many water managers in central Arizona: augmentation.

THE WORD “AUGMENTATION” has different definitions depending on who you ask, but it generally means water departments are focused on adding new water supplies, rather than just using less of the water they already have.

Peoria and Phoenix water leaders highlighted two expensive infrastructure projects that fall into the augmentation category. The first is a massive renovation of a nearby dam that would make its reservoir bigger, allowing cities in the area to store more water during wet winters.

The Bartlett Dam holds back a reservoir about an hour’s drive northeast of Phoenix. Over time, the reservoir has gotten shallower, as sediment in the water settles to the bottom and piles up, reducing the amount of water storage. Bartlett Reservoir and nearby Horseshoe Reservoir have lost a combined 45,000 acre-feet of their total holding capacity. By comparison, Peoria, a city of nearly 200,000 people, gets a total of 35,000 acre-feet of water delivered each year.

Because the reservoirs reach capacity more quickly, water managers have been forced to release excess water instead of storing it for dryer times. A proposed expansion of the dam would make it easier to store that water by making Bartlett Dam about 100 feet taller. Peoria and Phoenix are among 22 cities, tribes and farm districts that are interested in chipping in for the project, which is projected to cost about $1 billion.

Water is released from behind Bartlett Dam in March 2023 after a wet winter. Cities that use water stored behind the dam want to fund a $1 billion expansion of the dam to make sure that extra water can be stored instead of released downstream.

The dam holds back water from the Verde River, part of the broader Salt River watershed, whose supplies are managed separately from the Colorado River. But increasing the amount of stored water from that system could help cities ease up on their Colorado River reliance.

A second idea that falls into the augmentation category represents an entirely different way of “adding” water to the system, and it’s part of a regional trend: cleaning up sewage and making it drinkable again.

Water managers refer to the practice as “advanced water purification,” or “wastewater recycling,” and it’s stirring up a lot of excitement – and big investment – in a number of places that share similar anxieties about shrinking supplies from the Colorado River.

Small cities are eyeing the expensive new technology for the future, and big ones are already putting shovels in dirt.

In Phoenix, the city council greenlit a $300 million construction project to revive a shuttered water treatment plant in the city’s far northern reaches, which officials

said would lay the groundwork for installing equipment to turn wastewater into clean drinking water.

Elsewhere in the Colorado River basin, big cities are forging ahead with the practice. In the Los Angeles Metro area, the main water distributor proposed a $3.4 billion wastewater recycling facility, and has rallied hundreds of millions of dollars in support from out-of-state water agencies that could buy California’s unused Colorado River water if the new facility is a success. In Colorado, the state government passed first-of-its-kind legislation that would make it easier for cities to bring the new water treatment tech online, and some cities say they’re 3-5 years away from building it.

PHOENIX-AREA

WATER

MANAGERS

have to keep a lot of balls in the air at once. The water flowing through their pipes comes from a few sources, each with very different challenges.

The Colorado River, which mostly begins as snowmelt in the faraway Rocky Mountains, comes to the metro via the Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile canal that cuts through the desert. The Salt and Verde Rivers bring snow and runoff from a watershed that covers the colder, higher-altitude parts of Arizona. And one source starts much closer to home: groundwater. That last water source, at least recently, has proven the trickiest to manage. Groundwater use and management have become hot-button political issues in Arizona as experts raise alarm about underground stores of water that are shrinking fast, including some that, once drained, would take generations to refill.

Water experts say all of the most pressing water issues facing Arizona cities – the shrinking Colorado River, the overtaxed underground aquifers, and work to augment existing supplies – are all smaller pieces of a bigger puzzle.

Kathryn Sorensen, a former director of Phoenix’s water department, said Colorado River shortages will probably turn up the pressure on groundwater.

“Our aquifers, while large and plentiful, are also fossil aquifers, so if we pump them out too quickly, then it’s just gone,” said Sorensen, who now researches water policy at Arizona State University. “So these types of things like advanced water purification, augmentation, additional conservation efforts, those all play into avoiding the use of those fossil groundwater supplies.”

Sorensen described the groundwater supplies – and whether or not they’re man-

aged sustainably – as pivotally important to Arizona’s long-term future.

“If we’re going to continue to have the sort of economic opportunities we have here and the quality of life that we have here a few generations from now,” she said, “it’s really of utmost importance that we protect groundwater today.”

GROUNDWATER HAS BECOME the latest issue to help fuel a wave of national attention on the long-term viability of Phoenix as a place for people to live.

Articles with headlines like “How long can the world’s ‘least sustainable’ city survive?” have helped to crystalize nationwide skepticism about central Arizona’s future. In 2023, state officials put a pause on some new subdivisions because they couldn’t draw enough water from underground. The announcement launched a flurry of news coverage. The New York Times framed it as “the beginning of the end” for development around Phoenix.

NO HOLDING BACK

In that article, Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s governor, is quoted as saying, “We are not out of water and we will not be running out of water.”

Hobbs and other leaders in the state have been forced into a bit of a juggling act. Some are trying to advocate for policies that respond to the Phoenix area’s water supply crunch while simultaneously trying to tamp down any fears that the city and suburbs might not be a good place to live and work.

Campbell, who advises Phoenix’s political leaders on water decisions, said she’s confident that people who buy a house or open a business in Phoenix will have water in the future, because those policymakers are feeling a lot of pressure to make sure growth is sustainable.

“They know that the moment there’s a crack in the armor,” she said, “The moment that we have to turn off a tap, every national media outlet will cover it, and it will have a devastating effect on our economy. So there’s not a lot of gambling going on here.”

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH CERTAINLY weighs on the mind of water manager Brett Fleck in Peoria.

The city itself touted its status as one of the nation’s top “boomtowns,” growing by 19% in the five-year stretch between 2016 and 2021. It recently paved the way for a massive, $2 billion microchip operation. Amkor Technology’s 56-acre facility in

Peoria is set to be the nation’s largest semiconductor packaging and test facility, and will likely use a massive amount of water.

“Do I think Arizona can continue to grow sustainably? As long as we continue to make the investments and plan, absolutely,” he said. “The day that we stop making those investments in our sustainability is the day that we probably shouldn’t be growing anymore.”

Fleck said his city is working with Amkor to create a system that brings recycled water to the facility, so the semiconductor operation doesn’t draw from the drinking supply.

At a relatively small water treatment plant on Peoria’s western edge, the city’s water system is getting upgraded in real time and the facility is quickly expanding its footprint.

“This water reclamation facility is really the start of Peoria’s water future,” Fleck said as workers in hard hats crisscrossed the dirt expanse behind him.

Treated water from the plant could see a few fates, Fleck said. It may be pumped into underground storage, sent to the giant new microchip facility, or maybe even purified to drinking standards and sent back into pipes. The latter is probably a decade from reality.

“It’s all based on funding,” Fleck said.

Now that cities around Arizona are seeing the promise of new technology and methods to get more out of their endangered water supplies, the massive cost of those projects stands as the biggest hurdle to their implementation. Fleck said the billions of federal

dollars being sent to remedy the Southwest’s water woes pale in comparison to the tens or hundreds of billions needed to build needed infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, it’s a drop in the bucket,” he said. “However, at least we’re headed in the right direction. So at least we’re making those investments, and we’re recognizing that we need to make those investments to pivot away from our very large reliance on Colorado River supplies.”

Armed with a combination of federal, state, and local money, cities all around the Phoenix area are moving in that direction. Tempe, for example, has similar plans to Peoria and plans to open a water recycling facility by 2027. Nearby Scottsdale hosts one of only three water treatment facilities in the nation that is part of a pilot program for advanced water purification, and is poised to bring it into regular use.

ARIZONA’S CITY LEADERS say they’re doing all they can to fend off anxiety about an uncertain future for water supply. Two big factors, largely out of those cities’ hands, mean that anxiety is justified.

The first is funding. Large-scale, high-tech water projects that come with nine- or ten-figure price tags benefit greatly from federal help. The Biden Administration has spent an amount of money that one water expert called, “the largest investment in drinking water infrastructure and water supply infrastructure that we’ve seen in a generation.”

Water is released from behind the Bartlett Dam in March 2023 after a wet winter.

Future administrations might not be so spendy.

“Federal funding is always a dicey proposition,” said Sorensen, the ASU water researcher. “Relying on annual appropriations, it can be hinky, especially when you have to compete with other very worthy federal priorities.”

The second big cause for uncertainty is the messy, ongoing negotiation process that will result in new rules for sharing the Colorado River. The current rules for divvying up its water expire in 2026, and the people in charge of writing new ones are stuck in a heated standoff.

Those people are negotiators from the seven states that use its water. Despite their differences, they generally agree that climate change has shrunk the amount of water in the river, and states need to cut back on demand accordingly.

Their disagreements, though – sometimes rooted in century-old rivalries between states – mean that it’s not clear exactly how much water, if any, each state should lose.

But every proposed cutback plan, even the one co-signed by Arizona itself, puts more of Arizona’s water on the chopping block than any other state.

That is due to a system called prior appropriation, which serves as the bedrock of Colorado River management. In short, it means that the first person to use water will be the last to lose it in times of shortage. And when it comes to Colorado River use, Arizona sits in a more vulnerable legal position.

The canal that carries water to central Arizona from the Colorado river was authorized in 1968, and the users who depend on its water are first in line to have their water taken away when reservoirs are low.

Sorensen said that fact is a major motivator for Arizona’s water leaders to make sure they manage supplies in a sustainable way.

“We’ve known since 1968 that our water was first to be cut when there wasn’t enough to go around, and that has made us prepare very methodically for those cuts,” Sorensen said. “The pressure has certainly been turned up, but it’s pressure that’s always existed.” ✦

This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. It was produced in partnership with The Water Desk, an independent initiative of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

Join us for a free outdoor event that promotes being a caring neighbor. Attendees engage in community-faced acts of kindness and take part in family-friendly activities. PBS KIDS’ beloved characters Daniel Tiger and Katerina Kittycat will be on stage for guest appearances throughout the day.

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The Vegas Dish

New

spots, locations, chefs, and

tastes to try around the valley

BY Lorraine Blanco Moss

Even before culinary school, I felt the enormous power of food. My key childhood memories centered around big gatherings at the dinner table, where food traditions healed family fractures. As I was growing up in an Asian American and Latino household, my mom and grandma administered herbs for tummy aches, sore gums, and cramps. So, when I heard about the idea behind the upcoming Chamana’s, I was intrigued immediately.

“Our concept is healing,” chef Mariana Alvarado-Garcia says. “We have both, Dan and I, been through our share of ups and downs.” Garcia is known for MasAzul, her charming tortilla company that appears at pop-ups and farmers markets across the valley.

MasAzul gained fans with its nixtamalized corn tortillas made with Mexican heirloom corn. But Garcia long dreamed of opening a brick-and-mortar, even competing on Food Network’s Big Restaurant Bet to try to get it bankrolled. She says she’s “honored and grateful” that chef Dan Krohmer is partnering with her to bring Chamana’s to southwest Las Vegas. The team plans to open the restaurant later this summer in the same plaza as Krohmer’s critically acclaimed Other Mama, at Durango and Twain. Garcia also will serve as corporate chef of all their restaurant operations moving forward. She says, “Las Vegas has been waiting for this. We want to create a community, a holistic approach to cooking and eating. Chamanas are healers. It’s magical and nurturing.” I had a magical night 800 feet above the Strip recently. The Strat’s Top of the World restaurant (thestrat.com) revamped

the valley — three poached eggs swimming in a tomato eggplant sauce and topped with feta crumbles. For a happy ending, try the bougatsa, a flaky traditional Greek dessert with tangy custard and crunchy phyllo crust. The coastal food here is so good, I want to break plates (but please don’t!).

its menu to include, among other things, lobster tacos that made my tastebuds soar. Generous pieces of shellfish are topped with caramelized pineapple salsa and served in a crispy wonton shell. For a tangy finale, the key lime explosion proved perfect. It’s a tart cheesecake bolstered by a delightful coconut graham cracker crust and crowned with Chantilly cream. Give the 28-yearold restaurant another try (I hadn’t been there in decades!), cap off a stellar night by checking out the spectacular view from their open-air observation deck.

For a marvelous morning, gather your brunch babes and head for the most impressive spread in Summerlin. I yearn for Naxos Taverna’s (naxosredrock.com) puffy pita and Mediterranean dips at all hours. You can order the muhammara (roasted red pepper dip) and the beet-citrus tartar spreads at brunch, but I’d add the best shakshuka in

Speaking of Mediterranean flavors, my top Italian restaurant now has a sister spot a few doors down on Water Street in Henderson. I recently stopped in at Azzurra Wine Bar (azzurracucina.com) which shares a space with Public Works Coffee, for early evening snacks and a refreshing wine flight and discovered a sensational sauvignon blanc, the Domaine Girard Sancerre La Garenne. Its citrusy, grassy notes paired well with a whipped ricotta bruschetta. The lemon ricotta with pistachios and hot honey balanced nicely with crispy rustic bread. I found the saltimbocca bombs a bit too doughy, and it took quite a while to get our plates, but with a little time and skilled managers at the helm of both locations, it should soon be a new favorite spot for downtown Henderson food and wine lovers. That’s the Vegas Dish for now. Until we eat again… ✦

AZZURRA WINE BAR

TOP OF THE WORLD

TOP OF THE WORLD

The Meats

We dare you to find a better burger than these 10 in Vegas right now

BY Lissa Townsend Rodgers and Heidi Kyser

BEEF BURGERS - LTR

JOY BURGERS

• Joy Burgers is all about the burger, and that tight focus pays off deliciously. The restaurant itself is small, enlivened by colorful murals and cheerful staff. You can build your own burger or try one of their thoughtfully composed specialties. I recommend the Blue One, which blends blue cheese dressing and crumbles, then contrasts it with bacon sweetness and arugula sharpness; or the Freeway to Hell, with layers of pepper jack cheese, jalapeño pesto, and cayenne habanero dressing for a multi-temperature heat. Burgers are cooked to order; vegan patties and gluten-free buns are also options. $13-25, joyburgerstogo.com

1228 MAIN

• The 1228 Wagyu Burger is what happens when you take the classic American cheeseburger and make every ingredient the best it can be. The patties are double-stacked and cooked juicy, the cheese sharp and creamy, the pickles homemade and, like everything else baked at 1228 Main, the sesame seed-dotted brioche bun is something special. Served alongside thickcut, herb-dusted fries, it’s also available in an Impossible burger variation. 1228mainlv.com

BAR CODE BURGERS

• like a burger, and Bar Code Burgers has all three bases covered.

Its extensive burger selection ranges from traditional renditions such as the Americana burger and Nickel’s smash burger to unexpected sweet-savory combinations — the Blueberry Big BBQ has blueberry barbecue sauce and bacon with crispy onion, while the King is topped with bacon, peanut butter, and caramelized banana. Fries also come in variations — plain, sweet potato, elote, and Buffalo. $16-22, barcodeburgerbar.com

SNAPPY’S

• Snappy’s is a drive-in where you can enjoy a free movie on the big screen as you chow down on your cheeseburger. Movie offerings run from The Wizard of Oz to Blazing Saddles to Barbie. The menu options are limited to single or double Snappyburger (as well as grilled cheese), but it’s a classic griddle burger done right with a thick patty, gooey cheese, and tangy house sauce. They also make a mean strawberry-cherry shaved ice and have a full menu of movie candy, should you want to stick around through the closing credits. $5-13, snappys.fun

STAY TUNED BURGERS

• Inside the Hard Hat Lounge, Stay Tuned Burgers specializes in burgers smashed right before your very eyes — yes, the kitchen is that small. The patties are made from beef, ground and seasoned in-house and single-or double-stacked on a Hawaiian roll, topped with chopped onions and house-made pickles, and drenched in golden cheese sauce. Get a side of crispy tater tots, order one of Hard Hat’s local beers, take a seat in the air-conditioned dim, and enjoy. $9-14, staytunedburgers.com

PETER LUGER STEAK HOUSE

• The legendary Brooklyn steakhouse’s

Luger-burger is ground from the same cuts as their house-aged steaks and is an excellent option if your belly/watch/wallet can’t expand enough to accommodate the full Luger experience. The high-quality beef means that you really don’t need any more topping than a dollop of Luger’s famous tomato-based house sauce. For maximum decadence, get a side of fresh-cut french fries cooked in beef tallow or an enormous schlag-topped ice cream sundae for dessert. $25-41, caesars.com/caesars-palace/restaurants/peter-luger-steak-house

WHATABURGER

• Texas’ beloved burger franchise opened its first Las Vegas outpost: That it’s adjacent to the Waldorf Astoria is the first indication of something a notch above other fast-food joints. The Whataburger can be single, double, or triple — or you can get jalapeño and cheese, or avocado and bacon versions, as well as breakfast burgers with or without hash browns and a standout Texas toast patty melt. A Dr Pepper milkshake may sound ick, but it’s actually an addictively delicious cherry-cream cooler (if you want to spike it, there’s a bar upstairs). For the condiment fetishist, there are more than a dozen options, from spicy ketchup to honey BBQ to salsa verde. Better than In-n-Out? You be the judge. $8-15, whataburger.com

VEGGIE BURGERS - HK

SMASH ME BABY!

• The Southern Nevada outpost of this Los Angeles concept brashly declares itself home to “the best vegan hamburger and fast food in Las Vegas.” I won’t go that far, but the two burgers we tried — the Single Classic and Smashed Mushroom & Swiss — were a decadent mess of sauce, cheese,

menu described them, were a bit too soft to hold it all together. But who’s complaining? Insider tip: This is counter service to-go food only, served from a ghost kitchen housed in a nondescript spot off Industrial. I’ll reserve their calorie-heavy treats for special occasions, but it’s an ideal stop for anyone who eats plant-based and is looking for late-night nosh after a night of drinking Downtown. $10.95-15.95, smashmebaby.com

CHAGAROOT

• We tried fast food-style veggie burgers from North Las Vegas to Enterprise, but we found that the best bang for our buck — by far — was made not with a Beyond or Impossible patty, like the others. Instead, it was made of mushrooms! Yeah, I was skeptical, too. But ChagaRoot’s combo of six different mushrooms processed with seasonings added up to a beefier taste and texture than any of the soy- or gluten-based alternatives. And 22 grams of protein! The Chaga Mac — with crunchy-fresh pickles-lettuce-tomato-onion garnish, classic sauce, and plant-based cheese on a gluten-free bun — placated both my inner child and my adult brain. For those who want something different and aren’t afraid of a spicy kick, the Mexicano Sombrero adds fresh habanero and pasilla peppers, along with other spicy touches. But be warned: that two-pepper rating is for real. $10.50-13.75, restaurant. chagaroot.com

THE MODERN VEGAN

• The Modern Vegan’s burgers are special occasion-worthy, not only because of the price ($60 for the two burgers and fries), but also because they are the plant-based equivalent of fining dining options such as 1228 Main and Peter Luger’s. Every ingredient is the best possible version in its category: artisan, local, gourmet. With each bite of our Great American and Quapo burgers respectively, my dinner date and I were more convinced that this was the best burger we’d ever eaten — meat or no meat. $22, tmvrestaurants.com/menu ✦

Cappuccino for a Cause

Founders

Coffee raises money for pet rescue

BY Sarah Bun

If there’s one thing Brooke Conway Kleven loves more than coffee, it’s her pups, which she adopted from the Vegas Pet Rescue Project (VPRP). Peering away from the camera during our interview, Kleven gets up to check on them. “Sorry about that,” she says, coming back and taking a sip of coffee. “The newest puppy is turning into best friends with our next oldest, so the two of them won’t stop playing, which is probably a good thing, but not when I’m trying to talk.”

Kleven adopted her dog Zola from VPRP last year. She recently fostered another dog, Milo, for the rescue.

“The reason we stick with them is because of what they do. And what they show on social media is actually what they do in reality,” Kleven says, “which is not always the case.” When Zola had canine parvovirus and puppy strangles, a skin disease, the rescue gave the Kleven family all the help they requested, she adds.

says residents are becoming choosier when it comes to parting with their money. “I think you see a big movement nowadays where people are kind of leaning away from these national brands and (are) looking to spend their dollars more to the locally owned businesses,” she says. “That’s what we look forward to being here, to give the community a place to support that is local.”

Founders Coffee launched its charity program several years ago. Originally, it supported a different organization every month, but it evolved to target one cause per year to maximize giving. “Some months we might miss, and (the nonprofit) might only see less than $100 coming to them because the drink wasn’t popular,” Nikora says, “but maybe the next month, we really hit it perfectly and everybody wants that drink and it just sells and sells.”

Tina Hayes, a VPRP volunteer, says she hasn’t noticed an uptick in fostering through the collaboration, but she has seen an increase in foot traffic to their adoption events. “When we do an adoption event, people say, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re the rescue we heard about, so we wanted to come and see who you had available,’” Hayes says. “Who knows — from that, it could spring into an adoption

You might not spot the connection between Kleven’s coffee and her dogs. But there is one.

Founders Coffee runs a community charity program, donating to a chosen non-profit a dollar from each drink of the month it sells. In November 2023, it chose VPRP. Each month, the coffee shop sponsors and features a different dog for adoption.

For the drink of the month, Founders Coffee partner Bronwen Nikora says, they craft a unique coffee, tea, or lemonade drink that offers customers something new and, hopefully, delightful.

While there are dozens of coffee shops in Southern Nevada, some of which are chain-store locations sneaking in from other states, Nikora

Founded in 2017, VPRP takes in owner-surrendered pets and assists local animal shelters by rescuing dogs, cats, and pigs that have a limited chance of being adopted. At VPRP, people interested in pets can either foster or adopt. With adoption, pet parents get a two-week trial with the animal to determine whether

Hayes joined the rescue in the spring of 2018; you might have seen her in the local media highlighting animals for adoption. She also transports animals to the vet, handles adoption paperwork, and ensures foster families have pet medication, bedding, and food.

VPRP’s goal is to work with the community and Metro to crack down on the backyard breeders, Hayes says, because they contribute to animal neglect, abuse, and an increase in abandoned animals in the community.

At Founders Coffee, the goal is more modest: helping pets find their forever home. Nikora says that when customers order the drink of the month, “they feel like they’ve got their coffee, and they’ve supported the community for that day and given back while indulging in their coffee habits." ✦

Alain Ducasse

BY Lissa Townsend Rodgers

After five decades at a job, most people are ready to retire, or at least slow down. Legendary chef Alain Ducasse, on the other hand, takes on new projects every year while insisting that he’s not actually working. “I’m fortunate enough to do only what I’m interested in,” he says. His passions have included three dozen restaurants around the globe, hotels, cookbooks, and chocolate factories. Ducasse took a few moments from his worldwide schedule to answer a few questions for Desert Companion. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity

Many great chefs have developed their skills and careers in your kitchens. What do you look for in a young chef?

The culinary technique isn’t an issue; in my brigades, chefs de partie or junior souschefs already have an excellent technical

level. What makes the difference is all the rest: the ability to lead a team, the interest for the cultural dimension of food, the creativity, the adaptability to various work contexts … soft skills are really key. They are exactly the ones I look for to choose the head chefs of my restaurants.

This summer, as part of the 50 Best Restaurants Awards, you held a dinner at your Las Vegas restaurant Rivea, bringing together two chefs from your restaurants. These kinds of pop-ups and collaborations are becoming more common. How do they benefit diners and chefs?

These four-hands events are extremely exciting for both food lovers and chefs. For the former, it’s an opportunity to expand their food experience. At a global level, the entire culinary scene is made of such encounters, influences, and exchanges. And for the latter, it’s a way of enlarging their experience, not only by working with their fellow chefs, but also by discovering a new venue, a new ambiance.

Rivea combines French and Italian techniques and dishes. Is there something about French training or cuisine that makes it especially adaptable to fusion dining?

What is crucial is the incredibly large array of techniques that French cuisine has fine-tuned — during centuries. (Whether you’re) in Europe, in the Americas, in Africa or in Asia, you can always start with local ingredients and use French techniques to elaborate excellent recipes. Which leads us to the second point: “Fusion” does not interest me. Most of the time, fusion is synonymous with confusion. What is exciting and promising is to see chefs in countries that are emerging on the global culinary scene who use French techniques to prepare recipes which are part of their cultural, traditional heritage. They don’t betray their cultural roots: they make them blossom. ✦

Forgotten Moments

The dim sum menu at Fontainebleau’s Washing Potato is full of enticing small plates — scallop shumai, wasabi prawns, black sesame mochi — and property beverage director Juyoung Kang has created a menu of unique cocktails to match it. The Forgotten Moments is an almost ethereal libation, and not just because of its foamy, pastel-cloud appearance. Belvedere vodka, Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur and pineapple juice combine in a smooth, sweet base. Then, a blend of heavy cream and egg white are whipped into a scrumptious froth. A spot of soda water adds lift for a drink that balances delicately on the tongue, then floats to your head — not so much with a buzz as like a bubble.

— Lissa Townsend Rodgers

COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH

AT WASHING POTATO

AUG. 10-11

>>> One can imagine the frustration of most fathers trying to enjoy a day off in front of the TV, only to be pulled and prodded by their children to go out and play. But the family in Bluey’s Big Play is Australian, so the dad figure is very aw-shucks about the disruption. And that tracks with the whole ethos of Bluey, the upbeat children’s television show that’s become an international phenomenon. The show’s stage production is coming to Las Vegas, its characters represented by large-scale puppets and its immersive elements more in line with a Strip show than a traditional play. A great way to introduce your children to the big stage. Sat, 11a, 2p, 6p, Sun, 11a, 2p; $29-127; Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center; thesmithcenter.com

ART

From Grain to Pixel: Contemporary Chinese Photography THROUGH OCT. 6

>>> Photography has been a pivotal forum for Chinese expression since the 1976 cultural revolution in China. The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art gives this phenomenon some attention with its current exhibition, which displays 37 works by 14 Chinese artists. And those works cover a wide range of historical and cultural ground, in black-and-white and color, on print and digitally, from literal depictions to avant-garde treatments. In what is still the unlikeliest of Strip resort attractions, here’s an

even unlikelier show that swerves around the city’s escapist tendencies and celebrates the changing reality of people halfway around the world.

10a-6p; $15-18; Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art; bellagio.com/bgfa

FAMILY

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's

Life for Me

AUG. 10

>>>Synchronized swimming displays and diving feats in Las Vegas have pretty much been limited to aquatic Strip production shows such as Le Rêve and O. But the City of Las Vegas thought families might enjoy the type of show that was once the domain of American amusement parks, especially as the

He’s one of eight people listed in the 1870 census for the Las Vegas area, and he’s recognized as the first Black landowner in the valley. Howell also owned a freight business, and he was a gold prospector and rancher as well. We talk a lot about the people who built Las Vegas, but we don’t talk enough about John Howell. Fortunately, Southern Nevada Water District’s Nathan Harper will rectify that in this presentation about the life and legacy of a true pioneer. 6:30p; free; Clark County Museum; clarkcountynv.gov

ART OOPS!

AUG. 23SEPT. 20

Summer Olympics — the most notable way to witness synchronized swimming and diving — winds down. Show your kids the real thing, and hit the dollar store for eye patches and hook hands; this show’s pirate-themed. Sat, 5:30p; free; Pavilion Center Pool; lasvegasnevada. gov/residents/events

LITERATURE & IDEAS

John Howell

AUG. 15

>>> Anyone who's visited the Springs Preserve (or is up on their local history) has learned about the site’s earliest significance as Springs Rancho. And John Howell, formerly of North Carolina, owned half that development.

>>> We hold art on display to high standards — we’ve made the trek to see it, it’s taking up valuable space in a museum or gallery or public space, so it better be good, right? Core Contemporary’s second edition of its OOPS! exhibit explores the imperfect. What if an artist’s work didn’t go as planned? Emerging artists get to show when and how it went awry, and maybe when their artistic practice became transitional. As co-curator and artist Bailey Anderson puts it, “Without technical failures, conceptual risks, failed relationships, or professional setbacks, there would be no point at all.” 12p-6p; Tue-Fri; free; Core Contemporary, corecontemporary.com

ART

Miguel Rodriguez: And Another One THROUGH

AUG. 24

>>> Upon entering Sahara West’s huge studio gallery, you’re immediately greeted by giant

letters spelling out “EVERYTHING.” That about sums up Miguel Rodriguez’s expansive exhibit, though it’s the only thing he’s spelling out. Visitors are invited to apply their own sentiments and perspectives to Rodriguez’s collection of sculptures and paintings. The representations in And Another One may be personal — Rodriguez says the works are largely informed from his “lived experience,” and his fascination with science, current events, and pop culture — but they express enough ambiguity for their onlookers to find their own connections.

From two group pieces featuring four hippos on wheels, squaring off like in a popular children’s game, to a giant black-heart wall piece, to a bust leaking what looks like lava through every facial orifice (title: “Everything is Fine, Just Fine”), And Another One is

playful and colorful and occasionally sardonic, which might be the perfect tone for our suburban art spaces.

10a-8p Mon-Thu, 10a-6p Fri-Sun; free; Sahara West Library; thelibrarydistrict.org/ locations/sw/

STAGE

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play

SEPT. 11-21

>>> There are many levels of inspiration, appropriation, and satire in Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play , which is fitting for a play with The Simpsons at its center. The post-apocalypse production starts with a campfire discussion about episode two from season five, “Cape Feare.” Eventually, the same group performs the episode live as part of their pop culture-centric theater troupe; decades later, others perform a more severe version of the episode

MUSIC

A Big Beautiful Block Party

SEPT. 27-28

>>> The Life is Beautiful festival is in a rebuilding phase, as Rolling Stone has assumed full ownership of the downtown festival. Instead of taking the year off entirely — it’s planning to revive the traditional event next year — the media company has decided to draw upon its influence in the music world and put together a smaller and much different festival experience not only to hold us over, but also to expand its event program. This two-evening “block party” is actually taking place at the event center-slash-parking lot adjoining the Plaza hotel-casino and will only have two stages. Headliners Justice, Peggy Gou, and LCD Soundsystem give this new event some indie cred, while also threatening to bring Downtown the biggest dance party of the fall. Fri-Sat, 5p; $229-399; Core Arena at the Plaza; lifeisbeautiful.com

THEATER

The House on Watch Hill

SEPT. 27-NOV. 3

>>> Ever go through one of those haunted house attractions during Halloween and think, “Meh, I could make a scarier one?” The young horror enthusiasts of The House on Watch Hill must have, because they set a goal to build “the greatest neighborhood haunted house” ever. And they do — succeeding maybe too well. Vegas Theatre Company executive artistic director Daz Weller helms the world premiere of the latest Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor musical, an 1980s-soaked fantasia that oughta get you in the mood for the spooky season. Mon-Sat, 7p, Sun, 5p (days/dates vary); $25-40; Vegas Theatre Company; theatre.vegas

in a Simpsonsesque theater, where we see how the titular miser — and the relevance of electricity — figure into the production (and the production-within-the-production). If this all seems familiar, Troy Heard and Cockroach Theatre Company staged the play in 2015. But even if you were there, Mr. Burns is a well-layered work that demands a revisit. Prices and times unavailable at press time; Judy Bayley Theatre; unlv. edu/nct/season-info

LITERATURE & IDEAS

Maryam Ala Amjadi

SEPT. 25

>>> Black Mountain Institute’s City of Asylum — which allows

persecuted writers to take refuge in an academic environment — has included three fellows from Iran, easily the most represented country in the program. The third of these fellows, Maryam Ala Amjadi, is a poet, translator, researcher, and journalist. So, we imagine she’s got a lot to say to UNLV professor and novelist Doug Unger during their conversation early this fall. Ala Amjadi will also read from her work, which has been translated in more than 10 languages. Come see why she’s so widely published — and widely revered. Noon; free; UNLV Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, room 101; blackmountaininstitute. org

SEE MORE events, and submit your own for inclusion in The Guide online.

Laughing, Gasping, Upset, Excited

For this Freakling Brothers heir, seeing audiences react to his horror films is even more fun than making them

BY Josh Bell

JT Mollner has horror in his blood. The Las Vegas native is the son of Duke Mollner, founder of the Freakling Brothers haunted house attraction, which has become a Vegas Halloween institution. Mollner has been instrumental in the operation and expansion of Freakling Brothers, and he’s also carved out an impressive filmmaking career for himself.

He released his debut feature, Outlaws and Angels, in 2016, and his new film, Strange Darling, premiered to critical and audience acclaim at Fantastic Fest in 2023. It’s a twisty horror-tinged thriller starring Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Barbara Hershey, and Ed Begley Jr. Mollner also recently completed a screenplay for the forthcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Long Walk, to be directed by Francis

Lawrence (The Hunger Games). With Strange Darling set for wide release in theaters on August 23, Mollner spoke to Desert Companion about his creative process and his Las Vegas ties. An edited excerpt follows.

How did the idea for Strange Darling come about?

I started envisioning this image of this woman running through the woods in distress. I couldn’t get it out of my head. As I was going about my day and doing things over the course of a few weeks, I started seeing more detail in this image. I was like, I’ve got to write something about this final girl. It was a really interesting thing, because I imagined the story out of sequence. This movie kind of starts where most horror films and stories of these final girls end. So, I was like,

UPCOMING EVENTS

GRIOGAIR IN CONCERT

SEPTEMBER 14

JAZZ CONCERT

SEPTEMBER 21

HENDERSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LIVE TO FILM

SEPTEMBER 28

HENDERSON HOT ROD DAYS

OCTOBER 4 & 5

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT

OCTOBER 8

AKI MATSURI JAPANESE FESTIVAL

OCTOBER 12

INDIGENOUS AMERICAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL

NOVEMBER 10

SHOP SMALL

NOVEMBER 30

WINTERFEST TREE LIGHTING AND PARADE

DECEMBER 5 & 6

VIEW ALL THE EVENTS!

what more is there to her? And what can we show that we haven’t seen in these other films? Once the full picture was realized, it was one of those crazy and really satisfying experiences where I knew exactly how it was going to end. I knew exactly how each scene was going to go. All I had to do was sit down and type it.

What was it like for you experiencing the movie with an audience in person?

There’s really been nothing like it for me. It’s been so rewarding. It just feels like it’s the perfect film to play in front of an audience in a theater. People react audibly together when certain things happen in the movie. It’s been really exciting to hear people go along for the ride. They’re laughing, and they’re gasping, and they’re upset, and then they’re excited. It’s been unparalleled, the experience of being able to watch it with audiences. I can’t wait to do it some more.

Are you still hoping to make a feature film in Vegas?

I do have something that I’d love to shoot in Vegas. I have something that I’ve written for Vegas. A lot of it actually takes place out on Lake Mead. But it all depends. You sort of choose five or six things hopefully that you would enjoy making, and then whichever one you’re lucky enough to get made gets made. I’d love to be back in Vegas doing something at some point, because I know the town so well, and I grew up there.

Are you coming to Vegas for Freakling Brothers this year?

Absolutely. We had a very successful couple of years after COVID. We had our best seasons ever, actually, from a commercial standpoint. People were coming from all over the world. Then last year, because of some development on the property, we lost our location. We scrambled, and we finally found a new location, but we didn’t have time to get the proper permits. So, we had to close up shop. It was very financially damaging for the company. It threw us into debt. It’s put us in a precarious place, but I’m determined to get us back open again this year. ✦

BOOKS

Noblest Neon

Two authors write from the heart about Nevada's iconic signs

BY T.R. Witcher

The new edition of Neon Nevada is a love letter to neon, which you might expect — authors Sheila Swan and Peter Laufer bought their first neon sign, a heart, as a Valentine’s Day present some 50 years ago. But their photo book is also a love letter to Nevada, which you might not expect. As Swan and Laufer traverse the Silver State in search of neon signs, they take us from Reno to Elko (the first known neon sign, at the People’s Market, was photographed here in 1918), Pahrump to Laughlin, Wendover to Hawthorne, Beatty to Jackpot. The result is a kaleidoscopic celebration of the mark neon has left on us.

Swan and Lauder, we learn, first set out across Nevada in the 1970s, “saving” neon signs by documenting them with a Pentax Spotmatic camera loaded with Ektachrome 400. They returned in the early ’90s; the first edition of their book was published in 1994. A subsequent trip in 2010 led to a second edition in 2011. This new edition — “one more look and one more book” — is based on their travels in 2022. The book details the couple’s “nocturnal treasure hunt” for signs, and they describe a motherlode: cowboys and cowgirls, wagon wheels and crosses, bison and palm trees, martini glasses, cards and dice, flamingos and slot machines, even ladies of the night. Their recollections of their early trips play out like urgent search and rescue operations. Neon has always been at the mercy of predators: pigeons, wind, rocks,

snow, water, vandals — to say nothing of the high cost of repair and maintenance. But neon’s biggest enemy over the years has been simple neglect, a belief that the signs — once they had passed out of vogue — were essentially worthless, mere advertising, not art, built to celebrate a young, restless nation on the go; built to be abandoned.

But times have changed, and this latest trip feels like a valedictory lap. Many signs have been lost, but many more, it seems, have been saved.

The real star of Neon Nevada is the photographs. We often think of neon in its Vegas Strip regalia of lights and colors, infinite possibilities. The gorgeous photos, by contrast, isolate the neon signs, generally pitching them in front of inky black backgrounds, so that “each photograph captured the pure essence of a sign” — often taken from the roof of their VW camper, with one of the pair holding onto the ankles of the other.

Above all, the book reminds us that neon lives. It dazzles and soothes us. It is the ecstatic center of the action and the marker of last resorts — wayward motels on the edge of nowhere, places you go when you’ve already blown your last shot and just don’t know it. But these solitary lanterns, lighting up a street or corner in a town in the middle of the emptiness, embody some kind of hope. The pair capture this in their description of a giant cowboy sign in Wendover: “Wendover Will emerged high on the horizon, a dapper oldtime cowboy with his kerchief and six-gun, waving his enormous mechanical arm and pointing to the last gambling house before the Utah border. He’s the stuff of a neon cowgirl’s dream.”

In Swan and Laufer’s hands, neon moves beyond nostalgia or hipster trendiness. It is a timeless present — gases trapped in vacuumed-sealed glass tubes and charged with 15,000 volts of electricity. Alive. ✦

Neon Nevada

Skyhorse Publishing $40, 132 Pages

Polerizing Talent

Amélie Kone, who got her start in Las Vegas, has reached rare heights for a pole dancer

BY Jennifer Smith

At Super Bowl LVIII, pole dance artists lined up next to Usher, showing off some serious acrobatics. One of them was wellknown in the Las Vegas community — and this was far from her first high-profile gig.

Amélie Kone is a pole dancer who continues to dominate in the world of professional aerial arts. She describes herself as extremely competitive. An athletic child, she practiced gymnastics from a young age and ran track and field as a teenager in Avignon, France.

“That’s why I have the stamina to be able to train this much every day,” she says, “to redo my combos over and over, and to make them perfect.”

Kone arrived in the United States in 2017 on a student visa and almost immediately began working at Pole Fitness Studio after a private lesson with owner Fawnia Mondey. “I wanted to prepare myself for my pole journey, because I know how I work, and I was trying to accomplish my dreams,” she says.

Kone keeps a busy schedule. She often trains five to six hours a day: an hour-long warmup, conditioning, two to three hours of technique work, and post-session stretching make up the bulk of her training. She also attends conditioning and flexibility classes when they’re available. Coaches, including Kevin Demaro and Jennifer Schofer, help her develop routines.

“I’m using the techniques from all of the amazing coaches I’ve been learning from all these years,” Kone explains, “so I’m really targeting what I need.”

Among Kone’s first teachers, Jenyne Butterfly has been with her throughout her pole-dancing career, even working with her as the main choreographer at Super Bowl LVIII. A seasoned artist herself, Butterfly has performed with Cirque du Soleil and other international companies for 25 years. She says Kone’s determination drives her success.

“I’ve never seen anyone with her level of commitment,” Butterfly says. “She’s completely dedicated. (Amélie) eats, sleeps, and breathes pole.”

Kone teaches at Vertica Las Vegas and performs at Drai’s Nightclub. She says the concept for that set and that audience was a gamble with a high payoff.

Perhaps her favorite job is working as a dance double on “P-Valley,” a Starz network original show. Kone says that the level of treatment on set is remarkable, from onset accommodations to transportation to Atlanta for shoots.

“As a pole dancer, I feel respected,” she says. “They give me the time I need to stretch and prepare, because I’m doing some of the most extreme moves.”

Despite the competitive market, Kone rarely auditions for her roles, she says. Choreographers and casting agents reach out to her through her Instagram account, where she has roughly 140,000 followers.

“It’s rewarding,” she says. “I see why I show up every day, all these years. It’s a unique feeling. I feel powerful, I feel strong. It’s the love of my life.”

Kone is currently working on developing her “grace, coordination, and musicality” to expand her repertoire beyond pure technical skill. Her hope is to dance on tour with other worldwide artists. Through it all, she maintains a level of appreciation and gratitude that matches her skill set.

“She has already achieved so much success, and it won’t stop,” Butterfly says. “She’s such a beautiful person, inside and out.” ✦

IA City Inhabited

If all the footprints in Michael Heizer’s master land artwork get erased, was anyone ever really there?

BY Meg Bernhard

n 1970, the year Michael Heizer started building City in Lincoln County, the region recorded 9.6 inches of average annual precipitation. It seemed like a normal water year for the Great Basin Desert, perhaps slightly lower than average. But over the course of the 50 years Heizer spent on his monumental piece of land art, that number would decline, to a low of 5.64 inches in 2020. Winter fat, a low, gray shrub that feeds many creatures throughout the region’s valleys, died off, and so did the jackrabbits, deer, and the mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes, which ate the rabbits and deer.

“What it really hurt was the wildlife,” said Ed Higbee, the local driver shepherding a group of us to City,

in the remote Garden Valley, on an afternoon in early May. He was still waiting for the deer population to bounce back.

I’d been warned not to feature Ed prominently in my coverage of City, since he’s become a staple character for journalists who make the trek out to rural central Nevada to see Heizer’s behemoth. But Ed felt essential to City, as did Kris Vagner, editor of the Reno-based publication Double Scoop and a fellow visitor, who offered me homemade cold brew immediately after I arrived at the quaint clapboard office of the Triple Aught Foundation, the nonprofit that oversees the artwork, in Alamo. I wanted to visit City because I’d never seen a work of land art before, and I wanted to know how this particular

ART

piece related to its environment, the high desert. To survive in the high desert, you need plenty of water, and protection from the heat, sun, wind, and cold. Ideally, you’re not out there alone. Ed and Kris were providing these things, and so they seemed like part of the art, because what was land art without its context? Or so I’d been led to believe. In reality, the experience of City started hours before my colleague and I arrived in Alamo. As the meticulous itinerary from the Triple Aught Foundation suggested, City began the moment we left Las Vegas, and continued as we drove north past the Speedway and Nellis Air Force Base, the large solar project Eagle Shadow Mountain, and past the Coyote Springs golf club, where, earlier this year, the Nevada Supreme Court blocked the development of a master-planned community that threatened the region’s groundwater and the endangered

Moapa dace. Sites of extraction haunted the whole drive.

A little after 2:30 p.m., six of us gathered our hats and jackets and piled into the Foundation’s white Chevy Tahoe. The afternoon was warm and bright, but the weather in Garden Valley could be capricious, especially as clouds rolled in, Ed warned us. He steered us northwest, unraveling the history of the region as he drove. His ancestors, who, like most people in town, were Mormon, came to the Pahranagat Valley from Utah in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. “Their lifestyle was wiping out the ranges,” he said. “Too many cattle, too many horses. So, they had to spread out. And they found this valley with all this water.” (The Nuwuvi had already been there.)

On the day we visited, there was a lot of water — in the springs, the lakes. Certainly more water than in recent years: In 2023, Lincoln County registered 14.98 inches of precipitation, a needed relief from the decades-long megadrought. We drove past the Whipple Ranch and the LDS Church Ranch and the Cannon Ranch, down the dirt road that marked the start of Great Basin National Monument, through sagebrush foothills dotted with blooming, gnarled juniper, across a red rock canyon, and into a great valley. The colors were magnificent: soft blue and mint green, ochre, cream. The sky was boundless. Five antelopes chased the car from a half a mile away.

We approached Heizer’s ranch. I wondered out loud how much water City had required for construction and upkeep; workers, we’d been told, raked away footprints from City’s path after each visit, and, in a story that published last year, a New Yorker writer had reported seeing a cloud of dust in the sky before he arrived. I wanted to know much water City needed for dust suppression. Another writer pointed to an irrigated field on the property — probably alfalfa. Heizer did keep cattle on the ranch, and the field, the writer said, would use a lot more water.

Local ranchers suffered during the recent drought, Ed told us; cattle had little to graze. Later, I learned that in 2014, a ranching family surnamed Filippini herded their cattle on public lands near Battle Mountain, despite federal mandates restricting grazing. They also took drought subsidies, while, at the same time, denying the existence of a drought.

WHAT IS A CITY? We walked over dirt and pebble paths, trying to make sense of the brown and gray, the dust and stone, ledges

and slopes, concrete and mounds, the depressions that Heizer created. The sweet smell of musky sage perfumed the air, and I spun around, trying to commit the jagged mountains and shifting sky to memory. The valley floor stretched out toward mountains to the north and south, and the land turned golden under the late afternoon sunlight, glistening as though a mirage.

Visitors are welcome to take in City as they please, so long as they don’t climb on the slopes and mounds — and climbing was tempting — but we chose to remain as a group, I think, because the place was so massive. It was nice to have company, and walking together imbued our three hours at City , a length of time that felt impossible to fill, with a sense of quest. As we walked, we tried to give language to what we saw, though we quickly gave up and instead tried to find words to describe how we felt. I’d avoided reading much about it ahead of time, but I knew the usual praise and criticism: incomprehensible and mystical, or hubristic and built on stolen land. Should I be mad? Should I be awed? I wanted to figure out how I felt, too. A city usually has roads, buildings, houses, and buses. This city had complexes, One and Two, megastructures defined by their enormity and defiance of gravity. Both looked like meso-American worship sites, like monuments to what human power could accomplish, meant to long outlast their creator.

In a 2004 paper, anthropologist Andrew Irving named various types of cities: “the discursive city, the mythical city, the physical city,” and others. He added, too, a list from anthropologist Setha Low: “the ethnic city, divided city, gendered city … ” No matter the type though, all cities have one thing in common: People, and lots of them. “Thus,” Irving wrote, “the city does not exist in an individual’s mind or ‘out there’ as an objective physical landscape but as a collective entity that gathers people’s emotions and memories, mixes them with architecture and elicits distinctive practices and ways of being. Or put another way the city is not simply architecture alone, but a curious melding of ‘flesh and stone.’”

I removed my jacket, put it back on, donned my sunglasses, took them off. I smeared sunscreen on my face. Chugged my water. Learned about my companions, all Nevada journalists tasked with writing about the place. We were making City a city simply by inhabiting it with our bodies.

And I could not forget the fact of my body. I was at times too hot, too cold, wind-bitten, sunburnt. Tired. Thirsty. Dry. Aware of a soft ache in my legs, which by the end of the day, would carry me five miles. There was a porta potty hidden behind a mound at the edge of the installation, but when I had to pee, I walked out toward the soft edges of City, where concrete met sage. I spotted a few evening lilies in bloom, and quietly thanked the botanist who’d taught me to identify them. A pair of birds, which I couldn’t identify, flitted through the brush, and darted off toward the horizon. I looked at the snow melting off peaks in the Grant Range. The immensity of the valley was overwhelming. I wished I could walk farther into the brush, to escape the city for the outdoors. In his book Basin and Range , John McPhee wrote about the region where City is located: “Supreme over all is silence. Discounting the cry of the occasional bird, the wailing of a pack of coyotes, silence — a great spatial silence — is pure in the Basin and Range. It is a soundless immensity with mountains in it. You stand, as we do now,

and look up at a high mountain front, and turn your head and look 50 miles down the valley, and there is utter silence.”

A LONG TIME ago, an asteroid slammed into what was then a shallow ocean near Alamo. A tsunami upended the order of things, ripping up rocks, balling up molten limestone, fossilizing forms of ancient sea sponges and algae. Some 360 million years later, the United States Atomic Energy Commission dropped bombs on desert basins, and in St. George, Utah, farmers noticed that their sheep were burned and bleeding, or born with defects. Across the region, people started developing cancer.

A national monument designation decreed in 2015 protects the Garden Valley from oil drilling and mining, but valleys all around Nevada are littered with lithium and silver and gold claims. In Southern Nevada, a bill introduced by U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto would permit large stretches of land from Las Vegas to Primm to be filled with suburbs, straining groundwater and threatening endangered desert tortoise habitat.

Why be mad at City, a writer in our group asked, when you could be mad at Starbucks?

A couple of months before I visited City, I told a friend about Heizer's Double Negative I’d never seen it, just photos, including those of Justin Favela’s Family Fiesta, a cookout that took place in and above the land art. But I knew that Heizer had dynamited more than 200,000 tons of sandstone and rhyolite to cut a trench into Mormon Mesa, near Overton. (Mormon Mesa, I remembered, had once been the site of a planned solar installation, but Overton residents got the plan killed in 2021.) My friend couldn’t understand the point of Double Negative; why break something when you didn’t have to? When he saw photos of City, he commented that it looked like flood channels in Las Vegas. He was a practical person, a climber who worked in rockfall mitigation. His job, unlike Heizer’s, was to keep rocks in place.

I wondered what he would feel if he saw City. While I was on my own visit, he was probably hanging by ropes off the side of a collapsed slope in California, stabilizing it against future landslides. It wasn’t too dissimilar from building City, I thought.

BY THE LAST hour of our trip, I was hovering at the edges, making an inventory of creatures and plants that had quietly inched their way onto the aseptic grounds of the monument. On a path where none of us had yet walked, I saw a single footprint. It was a snag in the system. A grounds worker had forgotten to smooth it over. At Complex Two, I was delighted to see a light dusting of bird poop in a corner (apparently a raven nested nearby). This felt like the truth of a city: We can build houses and sidewalks and freeways and airports, we can dig and destroy, and we can take, but no matter how hard we try to stamp out evidence of what came before us, humans are deeply intertwined with the natural world.

The sky turned fiery pink, and back at the Chevy Tahoe, Kris made me the best chicken salad sandwich I’ve ever eaten. In a few weeks, I’d hike through a salt marsh and swim at a wild beach. Even though Las Vegas would record its hottest day ever in July, and Lake Mead was still too low, and wildfires would break out across California, New Mexico, and Arizona earlier than they usually did, and hurricane season was starting earlier, too, in May I could take solace in how wonderful it was to be alive and outside in the desert. The morning after I saw City, I woke up parched and chapped. My body was a memory of our trip to Garden Valley, even though no trace of me was left there. ✦

WING SPOTTING

A pair of lepidopterists chases butterflies and finds clues to overall habitat health

By Daniel Rothberg

We live in a world of skippers and blues, swallowtails and whites, crescents, commas, and checkerspots. Nature and evolution have splattered some butterflies with glitter, left some a clover green and given others the pattern of a retro lampshade.

To spot them, it helps to have a guide. “Commas follow the creek,” Cynthia Scholl says. “The skipper is smart and wily. The silvery blue is bumbling.”

Scholl and her husband, Kevin Burls, are lepidopterists, trained to study the hidden personalities of butterflies. Every time we hop out of the car, the pair grabs fine mesh fishing nets so when a butterfly spurts past us, they are ready to spring up and dash toward it, swinging side to side — and up and down — in the air (there is a skill to it). “A nokomis!” Scholl shouts. “I think that was a mourning cloak,” Burls says, before darting after it.

As this recent ride-along taught me, going out in the field involves a lot of running back and forth, though not simply for the fun of it. Burls and Scholl’s sprints across roads and into meadows are in service of collecting more information about our distant invertebrate relatives. They are here with an important mission: to better understand the biodiversity of an insect order that faces threats in Nevada and across the globe.

THE EASTERN SLOPE of the Great Basin’s Sweetwater Range towers above us, hiding the extent of the Sierra Nevada to the west. There are scores of butterflies in these mountains, as the terrain changes with the elevation gain. On this day in May, Scholl and Burls want to search for butterflies that have not been spotted here in a long time,

species such as the Edith’s checkerspot.

Butterfly populations in the western U.S. have declined over the past four decades. The causes are legion, but many point to humans: pesticides, habitat loss, and a changing climate. It’s an issue facing terrestrial insects across the globe. They are the beetles, grasshoppers, ants, and bees, the nymphs and the flies that make up the core of many food chains.

Compared to butterflies, “wasps and flies are the underdogs,” forgotten, small creatures often regarded as invisible until they become nuisances. If many people are oblivious of butterflies, classifying everything as a monarch, even more are blind to other insects. “I’m okay putting Kevin and me on that spectrum, too,” Scholl says.

She is the associate director of Nevada Bugs and Butterflies, and Burls is a biologist for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Through their jobs and in their free time, they’ve dedicated their life to observing what is left of these species and raising awareness for their protection. That involves education — bringing people (like me) into the field, for instance. Another element is observation, surveying the places butterflies go and whether they return each year.

When we start the day, I’m skeptical we will see much. I know from experience and from talking to biologist friends that field days are notoriously hit or miss. I prepare for the worst. Also, butterflies are so small, and they feel like rare occurrences to me. As Scholl and Burls’ truck moves past western Nevada alfalfa fields, and we start to traverse the foothills of the Sweetwaters, my assumption is quickly proven wrong. If you are strategic about where you look, butterflies are everywhere.

Instead of searching for butterflies directly, Scholl and Burls use proxies. They look for the plants that butterfly species rely upon. Flower nectar is their drink of choice, and so we look for that. It’s an unyielding search, so much so that the presence of the right flowers and nectar dictates all our stops throughout the day, including where we eat lunch. They select the meadow where we eat because it holds a clover known as habitat for the Duskywing butterfly.

“The plant is everything for the butterfly,” Burls says.

We’re talking about the ethics of physical butterfly collection in the age of photography, when Scholl leaps out of her chair and grabs her instruments. “There’s a blue,” she says, as a butterfly floats by aimlessly. It’s a beautiful species, even if it’s not the Duskywing we hope to see.

Scholl and Burls use detailed paper guidebooks to compare species traits and patterns. Their taxonomic conclusions often come down to precise observations, similar to how a radiologist might see something you would never notice in an X-ray. The whole thing seems daunting, and I start to wonder how anyone can pack so much of this information into their brain.

I ask Burls, and he says, “The best thing you can do to remember a name is look at it in real life.” He tells me to trust him, that the experience of seeing a butterfly “locks itself in.”

WINGING IT

Biologist

Cynthia Scholl holds a Mylitta Crescentdetritus in her hands.

NEVADA MIGHT SEEM an unlikely place to devote your life to searching for butterflies. But as with so many things about this state, the perception of lack could not be further from the truth. Where many see vacant land, Scholl and Burls see a state that is sixth in the nation for its endemic species, with more than 300 species of flora or fauna that exist in only one place on the planet. For butterfly diversity, Nevada ranks eighth in the nation. There are at least 200 unique species of butterfly in the state — a mirror of the state’s geographic diversity.

The basin and range pattern that crosses the state has created isolated mountain ranges varying in habitat as you move from lower to higher elevation. Butterfly diversity requires plant diversity, which requires water to ensure the plants thrive. But it also helps to have “ecotones,” transitional spaces where different ecosystems collide. It’s one reason there are about 20 species in the Spring Mountains, including the endangered Mount Charleston blue butterfly near Lee Canyon.

“When you have elevational differences, you get these ecotones in a matter of two or three miles over 1,000 feet,” Burls says. “We end up going to foothills of mountains for lots of butterflies.”

Scholl and Burls’ work to make butterflies more visible is important because species like them often fly under the radar. We aren’t the only ones blind to the insects flying around us; so are the laws meant to protect wildlife. Across the country, wildlife agencies lack adequate authority to protect insects, according to The New York Times, leaving bugs and butterflies in a legal black hole.

Nevada’s agencies are among them, although blindness to insects’ risks is starting to change. Earlier this year, the state’s Department of Wildlife included terrestrial invertebrates in its wildlife action plan for the first time. It listed 66 invertebrates at risk, including 42 butterflies.

Still, there remain gaps in the state’s authority to act. Matt Forister, a UNR

biology professor who focuses on insects, says entomologists historically resisted regulations, especially for butterflies. There was a perception that insects could not be managed like vertebrate wildlife. But he sees that beginning to shift.

“Many of the younger folks in the insect world now realize that we’ve got to start figuring out some things to do, and they are not going to be as simple as ‘You can’t kill some species,’” he says. “It’s more like we need better habitat protections. We need better pesticide regulations in particular. And we also will end up needing to list more species as a tool for protecting [them].”

BURLS IS FROM Ohio originally and met Scholl, who grew up in Reno, at UNR. It was, appropriately enough, during Forister’s plant and insect interaction class. It’s not hard to see how they hit it off. They test each other’s taxonomic hypotheses, and both share the same awe of butterflies’ adaptation to everything from salt brush canyons to the edges of alkaline lake beds — even sand dunes.

“Those are hardscrabble places to make a living,” Burls says. “And the folks that live here know that, and so, I think that should and does speak to them — that these are animals that are making a living in an extreme environment, and we are all part of that environment.”

As the afternoon sun blares down, we’ve seen almost 15 species at least of butterfly, stopping at different waypoints along the Sweetwater Range. We have yet to see any of the rare butterflies we’re trying to find. Some of them have not been spotted in many years, and I ask how they determine when a species has been extirpated from an area. It’s a tough and sobering question, and it’s an equally tough call to make.

Then everyone stops. Scholl sees what looks to be an Edith’s checkerspot. My heartbeat races a little; their enthusiasm and the long day of pursuit has rubbed off on me. Until that moment, I didn’t realize how invested I’d become in seeing a rare butterfly for this area.

The butterfly was perched on a plant with small white flowers, waving its wings and oblivious to our presence. Scholl crouched down with her camera to take a few photos, and I did the same (this is how they would verify it). I took some video, too, as it bounced from flower to flower, opening and closing its wings, showing off and hiding its patterns. I stayed to watch, even after Scholl and Burls had moved on. Maybe Burls was right, that the experience of seeing first-hand “locks itself in.”

The next day, I emailed Burls to send him the video, and he replied that they were now not sure we had seen an Edith’s checkerspot after all. I felt deflated but held onto hope. When I checked in a few weeks later, it was the first question I asked: Did they verify it?

It turns out what we saw was the Variable checkerspot. They figured this out from few small signs: The Variable has white stripes on its abdomen, and Edith’s does not. Edith’s also has two red bands on its hind wing, which the Variable does not have.

“I’m sad we didn’t find it,” Scholl says. “But I think you got a sense of what it’s like. There’s the species that you know right away. There’s the ones that you need to think about and ask an expert to see what they think.”

I ask how many more times they’ll go back and keep looking for it, and Burls replies, “I will go back to that spot every year until I find it. I would really like to know if it’s there or not.” ✦

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HELP ON THE WAY

Nevada needs home health workers. They say they need better pay and working conditions

By Christopher Alvarez

Acitrus smell permeates the air as local homecare worker

Irma Luz Lopez — Malu Lopez for short — makes the weekly supply of homemade orange juice for her client, Diane Wohlman.

“Diane, should I make all of them today?,” Lopez asks. Her client replies, “Pretty much, maybe leave a couple.”

Wohlman, 61, lives in a cozy condo complex in southeast Las Vegas. The living room décor is fancier than your average home. A large silver flower vase sits on the coffee table, a vine of silk leaves snakes around a silver-framed mirror, and a white fur blanket lays on the sofa.

Wohlman’s cats, Baby and Coco, were too scared to come out — for which my allergies made me grateful. But besides them, Wohlman lives alone. Dressed in a green and purple, flower-patterned sundress, she waits patiently in her wheelchair for her orange juice.

From trips to the nail salon, to going out for ice cream, to squeezing fresh orange juice, Lopez does things for Wohlman that far exceed caregiving. She makes life easier … and even provides emotional support. Wohlman finds Lopez’s services invaluable. But homecare workers might describe themselves as under valued … not by their clients, but by the state.

WOHLMAN HAS BEEN Lopez’s client for more than six months and sees her 12 hours a week. Lopez was hired following a stroke

that affected the left side of Wohlman’s body. She says it has affected her ability to do everyday things.

“Well, I use a walker,” she says. “I can walk, but I’m just doing it right now just to be safe, because a couple of weeks ago, I fell. It affected my left side of my body, my left hand, my left shoulder, and my left leg. So, it’s like I’m just learning how to peel potatoes again, and chop vegetables and that. So, I needed help, with meal prep and stuff.”

Wohlman used to work in the convention industry. But since the stroke, she is considered disabled and can’t work. The hospital that admitted her got her to apply for Medicaid, and through a review process, it was suggested she receive a homecare worker to assist her.

“The big thing was me taking a shower,” she says. “Everybody was scared that, they didn’t want me doing that alone without somebody here. So, that’s very helpful. (Lopez) does help with my hair, putting lotion

on me. It’s whatever I need. I just mentally make a list of what do I want to get done today? And so, I just know, okay, don’t worry about it, Malu is coming today. So, she’ll take care of it.”

Lopez is 58, and she says she’s been a home healthcare giver with local agency Absolute Home Health Care for more than five years. In black scrubs, contrasting her straight blond hair, she smiles and says home care is something that came naturally: “I came from Mexico 28 years ago. I decided to become a home healthcare giver because I’ve been doing this my whole life. I can’t even remember when I started taking care of others. But once I was blessed with my residence and Social Security, I decided to do it fully.”

Lopez has a bubbly way of talking and a warm smile that she flashes every opportunity she gets. It’s hard for others not to feel happy when they’re around her. But why does caregiving make her happy? She explains, “This is not a real job.

HEAR MORE on KNPR’s State of Nevada.

This is … this is heaven. For me, going and visit people is a blessing. You know, I’m doing what like it most … When I discovered that it’s in my nature to serve, I was happy. So, it’s not something that I’m suffering to do. I love it!”

Wohlman chimes in, “I think she just comes to see my cats.”

But, as much as Lopez enjoys her job, there’ve been some challenges — pay and working hours being the biggest. The State of Nevada approved a raise for homecare workers that took effect in January, and Lopez now earns $16 an hour. It’s a significant increase from the $12 she used to get paid, but she says it’s still not enough.

“At the beginning, I had only two hours here, three hours there, and it was constantly fighting to not always be behind the bills or behind the rent,” she says. “I had to do a lot of things to … survive. But now I feel blessed, because at least with $16, it’s a better living. But still, I always try to have another job in this industry, because at $16, if I were working only the eight hours a day … you do the math. At the end, who can pay a decent rent with that?”

ON THE JOB

According to the think tank Economic Policy Institute, a Nevada resident who lives alone and has no children would need to make more than $21 an hour just to live comfortably.

The industry also needs more homecare workers. In an ideal routine, a worker can focus on only two clients at a time, but Malu sees three. This can lead to reduced times with each client.

“I would love to spend more time because I can see the results even for myself,” Lopez says. “But unfortunately, we don’t have enough hours. Because even with the commute, it’s almost one hour to come and one hour to go home, because I live far away. But I would love to have my client have more hours in her recovery.”

In other words, advocates say, this year’s raises were a good start. But they’d like to see more worker concerns like Lopez’s addressed. Nevada lawmakers and union activists are hoping to do just that.

ON MAY 30, dozens of unionized homecare workers gathered at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas to hear about potential legislative and union-backed plans in the pipeline for them.  Several Nevada dignitaries were also invited to speak at the event organized by

the Service Employees International Union Local 1107, the largest healthcare union in the state. It has more than 20,000 members, and Malu is one of them.

Dawn Ralenkotter is another. She’s in union leadership, and a homecare worker herself. She says she wants to fight for her peers: “I’m here to help fight for all, all the homecare workers, not just myself. But I do my footwork and ... I help go to the legislature and speak to legislators. We do phone banking, postcard mailers, and just whatever we can do.”

Union lobbying played a big part in getting the Nevada Legislature to approve the state’s first homecare employment standards board as well as the January raises. But activists say their work isn’t finished.

Among those at the Springs Preserve event were Nevada state senators Dina Neal and Rochelle Nguyen. With union support, Neal and Nguyen are looking to raise the minimum wage for homecare workers another $4 to $20 per hour. They also want to increase the number of hours workers can spend with clients, improve training, and make the homecare employment standards board permanent.

And, they say, increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate from $25 to $30 an hour is key to paying homecare workers more, because Medicaid is a major source of the funding private agencies need to pay their workers.

Neal says balancing profit and paying workers a living wage can be challenging for businesses, but necessary. “We need to have a conversation about what is the balance between work and business, because at the end of the day, the worker that you have coming in every day to work for you — you need them to be able to perform. How is it that they can give you their best selves, their best mental space in the job when they’re worried about whether or not there’s going to be an eviction notice when they come home? And I think that argument is prevalent just because businesses do want to take care of their workers,” she says.

Neal and Nguyen, who are up for reelection this November, hope to introduce these measures in the 2025 state legislative session. They stress the urgency of taking care of Nevada’s homecare worker crisis as soon as possible. It’s more than just campaign rhetoric. In a 2023 report, the American Association of Retired Persons ranked Nevada as the sixth-worst in the nation for homecare worker access, quality, and support.

All these factors add up to an environment that doesn’t exactly motivate people to join the homecare industry. On the contrary, it’s motivated some to leave the profession altogether. In 2020, the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities reported that one in two homecare workers leave the job within a year of taking it.

Senator Nguyen says fixing retention is a top priority for her, adding, “It’s not easy work. It’s emotionally difficult. It can be physically difficult. And so, trying to retain them, I think having better training, having more increased wages — all those kinds of supportive services can lead to, to make sure that we have a robust workforce in this area.”

Complicating matters, Nevada’s senior population is growing faster than in the rest of the U.S. A 2023 report from the state’s Aging and Disability Services Division shows that, from 2011 to 2019, Nevada’s 65-and-older population grew by 46 percent compared to that of the U.S. overall, at 30 percent. And that rate of growth is expected to keep increasing through 2030.

With the population aging rapidly, will Nevada have enough homecare workers to meet demand in the future?  The 2020 Guinn Center report found that Nevada’s homecare workforce is growing at a slower rate than the national average.

The state currently has more than 13,000 homecare workers for a population of 3.2 million and would need to hire more than 5,000 additional workers by 2026 to keep up with demand.

SO, WHAT WOULD happen if homecare workers such as Lopez didn’t start making a living wage, or spend as much time as needed with their clients? What happens if the state’s homecare crisis in general doesn’t get solved? Wohlman doesn’t want to find out.

“With all of this with my stroke, I count my blessings every day. I realize how much the good Lord has done for me, and he sent me Malu. So, I’m so grateful. I mean, I don’t want to get emotional,” she says, choking up, “but … it is hard. Because you need people. So, this is a very important service, you know, that someone’s coming in checking on me, making sure I’m okay. And, you know that I’m surviving, that I’m thriving. So, it’s very important.”

Perhaps thinking about those who don’t qualify for the service, she adds, “Check on your elderly neighbors. They may not be doing okay. They may need some help.” ✦

Home health care worker

Malu Lopez (left) visits with Diane Wohlman, who is one of her clients.

IT’S ALL CONNECTED

From single trees to transportation policy and beyond, climate change demands a variety of urgent responses

By Sarah Cadorette

“ They’re living beings that come and go,” Lisa Ortega says, swaying slightly, full of kinetic energy. “And they’re misunderstood. They just can’t be the only answer.”

She’s talking about trees, of course. Ortega is the executive director of Nevada Plants, a tree-planting nonprofit she founded in 2021. While environmentalists have long been stereotyped as “treehuggers,” we’ve come to learn that simple acts, such as planting trees, are part of a much broader network of solutions to a more complex set of problems. The conversation now also includes how to transform urban development, infrastructure, transportation, residential energy use, and social behaviors in order to shift society toward a more sustainable energy future. Ortega understands this.

“We’re a tree-planting organization, but now we have a bigger mission, especially with the urban heat islands,” she says.

Urban heat islands (UHIs), one of climate change’s most palpable effects, are areas in which man-made infrastructure absorbs and re-emits the sun’s heat, creating temperatures that are on average one to seven degrees Environment

higher than in outlying areas. While climate change is a global problem, Nevada residents feel some of the effects more acutely. “Las Vegas has the largest heat-island effect in the country,” says Dr. Joanne Leovy, a volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

A focus of Nevada Plants is to alleviate the effects of UHIs on residential property. Ortega shares a story about a resident who asked for a tree to be planted outside of her three-year-old son’s south-facing window. In addition to cooling his room, it allowed him to have more fun.

“She cried because it was the beginning of outdoor space that her kid could have to play,” Ortega says. “We get stuck inside because, in low canopy areas, kids don’t have shade to play in.” To date, Nevada Plants has planted and provided follow-up care to over 1,700 trees at private residences and in community spaces.

Phillip Zawarus, an associate professor at UNLV’s School of Architecture, studies UHIs and development in Southern Nevada.

“People perceive UHIs as those daytime high temperatures,” Zawarus says, “but it’s actually about how we’re reducing those temperatures at night. When you replace natural materials that have a lower retention of heat with materials that don’t cool down at night, it’s only going to compound. That’s why we get such drastic high temperatures, because there’s no time for the material to cool down.” But changing the ratio of hard, impervious building materials versus eco-friendly materials in the rapid development of Southern Nevada is only part of the solution, he says.

“We also have to protect our carbon sinks, our natural ecologies that are there to absorb the CO2 in the air,” Zawarus says. Desert soil is effective at this, but too much of it is being subsumed by “really wide roads and expansive parking lots.”

As consumers move away from brick-and-mortar stores, a few cities across the country have decreased or eliminated parking requirements, including Nashville, Tennessee, and

“Las Vegas has the largest heatisland effect in the country.”

—Joanne Leovy, Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Anchorage, Alaska. Buffalo, New York, was the first U.S. city to eliminate minimum parking requirements on new development in 2017, which has allowed for the revitalization of underused commercial spaces, historical sites, and vacant parcels. However, this might be an uphill battle in Las Vegas, where many of us consider convenient parking a vital quality-of-life issue.

The effects of climate change, including the impact of UHIs, are not distributed equally across Southern Nevada. “Low-income neighborhoods are in the hottest parts of the valley,” says Leovy, who is also a family practice doctor, “and they’re already populated with people who have barriers to health. ... It increases the chances of heart attacks and respiratory problems.”

Mercedes McKinley, a former Nevada state coordinator with Moms Clean Air Force, knows the impacts of environmental injustice firsthand. She grew up next to a busy highway and intersection in East Las Vegas, which she believes contributed to her mother’s breast cancer and Alzheimer’s, and her father’s fatal COVID infection. Once she had her own child, she moved to Henderson for the cleaner air quality. Her rent tripled, she says, but it’s worth it.

“In East (and North) Las Vegas, the asthma rate is 11.1 percent,” McKinley says. “Here, it’s 9.5 percent. The national average is 7.7 percent. We are still higher than the average because of our transportation sector.”

DROUGHT, FLASH FLOODS, water shortages, increased heat — those are some of the local effects of climate change, as enumerated by George Cavros, the Nevada clean energy manager and senior attorney for Western Resource Advocates. He credits Clark County for taking steps to address some of them. “They developed an inventory to identify where carbon is coming from regionally, engaged the community on solutions, and developed pathways to implementing those solutions.”

The Clark County Regional Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report, covering 2019 and published

in 2021, found that the biggest single source of emissions was electricity use in buildings, at 33.2 percent of total regional emissions, with commercial buildings accounting for 52 percent of that number. The next largest source was gasoline consumption by “on-road transportation,” which includes both local and visiting vehicles, at 19.6 percent. That’s followed by “landfilled waste” at 12.4 percent. (A caveat: The metrics used by the county emphasize electricity as a greenhouse gas source, while most other estimations, and nearly every source interviewed for this piece, identify transportation as the biggest culprit. However, there’s no single methodology for determining emissions, let alone those of an individual city or county.)

Last year’s Clark County Community Sustainability & Climate Action Plan includes ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals and dozens of solutions that local residents can advocate, including: investing in increased and equitable access to public transportation, passing legislation to develop renewable sources of energy, diverting waste from landfills, and using a “program stacking” financial model that reduces the costs of transitioning to sustainable energy for homeowners and developers.

DESPITE THE SIZE of the problem, there are actions that individuals, institutions, corporations, and governments can take to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. So part of the question for local activists is what the most urgent and effective methods are to address climate change — a question for which they often have different answers.

For her part, Leovy eschews the idea of individual action.

“I’ve been really concerned about climate change for a decade,” she says. “We did desert landscaping, installed solar panels, hung out our clothes to dry, all that stuff. And you come to realize that that’s not addressing the core of the problem, which is social and political.” Part of the reason she joined Citizens’ Climate Lobby, she says, is because

the group focuses on nationwide policy solutions. “This isn’t about an individual carbon footprint; it’s about how we as a country become leaders in a new carbon future.”

Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Moms Clean Air Force focus on policy change at the federal level, though both groups organize locally. One issue that McKinley used to focus on in her work with Moms Clean Air Force was “calling out Southwest Gas and the greenwashing they do in our communities.” That’s true across the energy sector, Cavros says: Regardless of the goals that governments or institutions set for themselves, if they rely on energy produced by utilities that use fossil fuels, they’re never going to completely eliminate their GHG emissions.

For its part, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada has set an ambitious goal to transition its buses to clean energy. By 2050, all of its buses will produce zero emissions — “pending available funding,” says Andrew Kjellman, the senior director of its Metropolitan Planning Organization. That’s a sizable task — among RTC’s fleet of 415 fixed-route buses and 437 paratransit buses, only two now run on hydrogen and four on battery-electric; six down, 846 to go. While the Federal Transit Administration will reimburse most of the upfront costs of purchasing these buses, federal funds come with “buy American” requirements. According to Kjellman, there are two main suppliers of clean energy buses in the United States, which are both dealing with supply chain issues. That means it can take years for an order of buses to be fulfilled. In addition, the RTC, like many transit agencies, is facing a fiscal cliff caused by the end of COVID-era subsidies and rising expenses because of inflation. It needs to obtain funding from local sources that would allow them to maintain these clean energy vehicles. Still, the RTC says, it’s on track to meet its 2050 transition goals. Meanwhile, the agency is addressing climate issues by redesigning bus shelters to shield riders from the heat, and encouraging carpooling,

ride-share matching, and alternative types of commutes. Working with municipalities, the RTC is trying to build “complete streets” — in both new and existing neighborhoods — which are roads lined with trees and that have bike lanes and speed limits, making all forms of transportation other than driving “comfortable, appealing, and safe.” And the agency has an internal department, Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation, or FAST, that manages traffic signals and flow to decrease a driver’s time idling in congestion or at a stoplight. Ideally, the last resort is “adding lanes and interchanges,” Kjellman says. “You may solve for increased emissions in the near term, but through induced demand, you may end up increasing traffic.”

FOR INDIVIDUALS LOOKING to make a difference, especially homeowners, many local and federal initiatives support the switch to more sustainable, green energy.

One of Nevada’s unique strengths in combating climate change is the abundance of solar energy. Installing solar hot water heaters and solar panels not only reduces your carbon emissions, but it also means you’re using an energy source that is not subject to politics or sudden price hikes. Noting that gas bills have doubled and tripled, McKinley asks, “Why do we depend on a natural resource that’s so volatile?” As Zawarus points out, installing solar on your property may be better for the environment than massive solar farms, which have a large impact on utility lines and often block large parcels of the desert soil that could be helpful in carbon sequestration. Under the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, Nevada is eligible for $48 million in funding for the Home Efficiency Rebates Program, and another nearly $48 million for the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates Program. According to Cavros, the former program provides up to $8,000 for low-income families for “whole-home energy-efficiency upgrades,” while the latter program will provide rebates of $8,000-

$14,000 per family for switching out gas appliances for electrical ones. (Applications for both programs are set to open in early 2025.) Homeowners can also reach out to Nevada Plants to request shade and fruit trees.

One suggestion that all of these advocates agree on is the need for bold, meaningful leadership by government officials.

Clark County, Cavros says, stepped in where the state government has failed. Under Gov. Joe Lombardo, he says, the state has actually gone backward, removing the state climate plan enacted in 2020 and withdrawing from the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors advancing state-led climate actions. In a letter to the Alliance, Lombardo said its goals are at odds with Nevada’s energy objectives, which are “focused on developing and maintaining a diverse energy supply portfolio and utilizing a balanced approach to electric and natural gas energy supply and transportation fuels that emphasizes affordability and reliability for consumers.”

“If you don’t have strong executive leadership, the utilities will fill that void, and that often means more fossil fuels, which increases costs and health risks to citizens,” Cavros says.

“We’ve operated as a society for far too long without taking in the consequences of our actions.”

Mercedes McKinley

At this point in Southern Nevada, climate change is an inescapable reality that needs urgent solutions. Indeed, no matter what one’s politics are, there is a scientific consensus about the causes of global warming and what needs to be done: Invest in alternative energy and sustainable transportation; maintain diverse, healthy ecosystems; and curtail “fast” consumerism, which perpetuates waste in landfills (much of this waste emits methane, which the Environmental Protection Agency says is 28 times better than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere).

As McKinley puts it, “We’ve operated as a society for far too long without taking in the consequences of our actions.” ✦

Sea Dragons in the Desert

Nevada’s state fossil lures scientists from around the world with its mysteries and offers clues to Earth’s next phase

BY Alec Pridgeon

Illustration: Gabriel Ugueto / courtesy of Natural History Museum of Utah

Hidden deep in the uninhabited mountains of western Nevada are secrets of evolution that have lain buried for 250 million years, drawing scientists from as close as Reno and as far away as Germany. They travel in four-wheel drives over open range and potholed roads hauling the tools of their trade, ranging from gas-powered jackhammers to dental picks and artist brushes, just to dig under a blazing sun, often in triple-digit temperatures.

Some became obsessed in elementary school or junior high; among recent generations, their fate was sealed with the release of the book and movie, Jurassic Park UNR’s Paula Noble and Martin Sander of the University of Bonn, Germany, were already card-carrying paleontologists before “Life finds a way” was on everyone’s lips. They — and others like them — were annoyed by scientific errors in the movie.

They’re here to find evidence of the life and disappearance of some of the first giant animals to inhabit the globe: ichthyosaurs. Studying extinct life forms of any kind or era is the point of paleontology. What’s so attractive about ichthyosaurs in particular? “Today’s whales evolved from land-living mammals along the same line as the ichthyosaurs from land-living reptiles much earlier,” Sanders says. “By comparing the two groups, we find out what is specific about us mammals compared to other animals and what is the effect of adapting to a special lifestyle.”

And adaptation is on scientists’ minds. Fossils tell the stories of not only the animals that came before us, but the causes of Earth’s past five mass extinctions. As the globe heats up and species begin to disappear at an accelerated rate, the race is on to understand where we might be headed. Perhaps the ichthyosaur can help.

AT THE END OF THE PERMIAN PERIOD, there was only a supercontinent named Pangaea surrounded by one ocean, Panthalassa. California and most of Nevada were completely submerged, Sander says. As the future continents began to separate, plate movements pulled Earth’s crust apart, opening gigantic fissures that spewed lava up to 9,000 feet thick

in some places. Thus began the world’s worst disaster movie, which lasted several hundred thousand years. The eruptions released four greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorine, methane — that combined to produce hellish global warming, clouds of acid rain, and dust that colored the skies a perpetual gray or orange, blotting out the sun. Most plants, insects, and arachnids simply perished, as did the amphibians, proto-reptiles, and proto-mammals that fed on them. As carbon dioxide permeated the oceans, it formed carbonic acid, known to corrode coral reefs and prevent calcification by shellfish and other marine organisms. Oceans overheated and were starved of oxygen, decimating whole food chains and ecosystems. By the beginning of the next period, the Triassic, an estimated 90 percent of life on Earth had disappeared. It was the worst of the planet’s five mass extinctions, easily surpassing the effects of the cataclysmic asteroid or comet impact off the Yucatan Peninsula that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs some 66 million years ago.

What happened next, beginning about 251 million years ago, points to that famous Jurassic Park line uttered by character Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum). As lava flows slowly ceased and the environment became

more amenable to life, the few surviving plants and animals began to flourish and evolve. The oceans cooled. Oxygen levels increased. The first mammals, crocodiles, lizards, and dinosaurs appeared. It was as if Earth had been reborn.

Over the next few million years, proto-reptiles that had found safety near shorelines returned to the sea, much like the mammalian ancestors of whales, filling the niches in the food web left by extinct sharks and other marine organisms. The identity of those proto-reptiles is largely unknown, according to Sander. One of the earliest, from China, was named Chaohusaurus, which Professor Ryosuke Motani of UC Davis likened to a “lizard with flippers.” Limbs evolved into paddles, first used for propulsion but later only for steering. Ancestral ichthyosaurs had evolved.

THE ICHTHYOSAUR RESEMBLED a cross between a shark and a dolphin. It had a long snout, dinner plate-sized eyes, nostrils below the eyes on the snout, a pair of fins at both front and rear, and a long, streamlined body. Some species also had dorsal fins, although it’s difficult to determine, because they were not composed of bone and therefore rarely fossilized. A few species were either toothless or nearly so and sucked up

This photo from the Natural History Museum of Utah shows the scale of a fossilized Ichthyosaur tooth in hand.

their prey, but most had either conical, pointed teeth for eating fish and squid or cutting teeth to prey on smaller marine reptiles. Some even had grinding teeth to crush spiral-shelled cephalopods, called ammonites, which looked like chambered nautiluses but were more closely related to squids and octopuses.

As the Triassic marched on, for the next 50 million years, so did the size and diversity of ichthyosaurs around the world, fueled by a plentiful food supply. They were the apex predators, much like Tyrannosaurus rex and its relatives in the Cretaceous Period. The earliest large one discovered was Cymbospondylus, up to 40 feet long, in Nevada’s Humboldt Range. University of Bonn’s Sander later found one that stretched to 55 feet in the Augusta Mountains of Nevada. It lacked a dorsal fin and wriggled side to side like a sea snake or eel, propelled by its tail fin. Chinese scientists discovered two specimens of Himalayasaurus, 67 feet long with formidable, pointed teeth, not far from a base camp on Mt. Everest in Tibet. Two jawbones of the aptly named Ichthyotitan were discovered on the beaches of Somerset, England, in 2016 and 2020. It was massive, an estimated 82 feet long, as big as the average blue whale. By the time ichthyosaurs went extinct about 90 million years ago, at least 150 described species had prowled the waters of Panthalassa, says Neil Kelley, a profes-

sor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University. One of those was Nevada’s state fossil, Shonisaurus popularis, which, along with other species, has made Nevada a global hot spot for ichthyosaur research since the mid-1800s.

BRITISH-BORN MARY ANNING was the first to discover the bones of ichthyosaurs while walking along the coast of Dorset in southwest England when she was 12 years old. Some 50 years later, in 1863, prospectors across the Atlantic discovered silver in the Shoshone Mountains of Nye and Lander counties, Nevada. It spurred an influx of miners and the establishment of Berlin, a town named by German miners. At its peak in 1898, Berlin numbered 250-300 residents, including “miners, woodcutters, charcoal makers, a doctor, nurse, forest ranger, and a prostitute,” Nevada State Parks says on its website. By 1911, when it became a ghost town, three miles of tunnels had been excavated in nearby Union Canyon. Among the silver and gold ore that miners in the area chiseled out were bones that they used for dog bowls and ashtrays, says Jeff Morris, a ranger at present-day Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. It wasn’t until 1928 that Stanford University professor Siemon Muller recognized that these Berlin fossils were the vertebrae of giant ichthyosaurs. Meanwhile, specimens from the Humboldt and New Pass Ranges had

been sent to professor Joseph Leidy, a University of Pennsylvania paleontologist who named a new genus based on them, Cymbospondylus, in 1868. They would later inspire the Alexander-Merriam expeditions.

Annie Alexander was the Hawaii-born heiress of a sugar cane plantation who developed a passion for paleontology in her early 30s. In 1901, she was riveted by a lecture of John Merriam, a University of California paleontologist famous for his fossil work at the La Brea Tar Pits in present day Los Angeles. Alexander decided to organize, fund, and participate in Merriam’s fossil-hunting expeditions in Oregon, California, and Nevada. Their work in the Humboldt Range in Nevada’s Pershing and Churchill counties yielded 25 superb specimens of Triassic ichthyosaurs in 1905.

Alexander later founded the University of California Museum of Paleontology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, for which she hand picked Charles Camp, chair of UC Berkeley’s paleontology department, as her successor. In the mid-1950s, Camp and Merriam excavated between 37 and 40 giant ichthyosaurs up to 50 feet long from the Luning Formation of the Shoshone Mountains, dating from 237-227 million years ago. Vanderbilt’s Kelley says the exact number of individuals is hard to pin down because “most of the fossils we find are isolated

Vanderbilt University professor Neil Kelley (left) examines a rock sample at an excavation site.

At right, a 1905 photo of paleontologist Annie Alexander in the Humboldt Range, Nevada.

bones and not complete skeletons.”

Camp named the species Shonisaurus popularis in work published posthumously in 1976 with a more detailed description in 1980.The generic name refers to the Shoshone Mountains where they were discovered, and the species epithet means “of the people," in reference to the many who helped excavate the bones.

The Nevada Legislature designated ichthyosaurs as the state fossil in 1977, a designation it amended in 1989 to specify the Shonisaurus popularis. It was a “smart move,” Sander says. “There are now so many more new and exciting ichthyosaur fossils, since the state proclamation, that Nevada is well on its way to be one of the top sites for ichthyosaurs globally.”

In 1957, Camp and Fallon anthropologist-paleontologist Margaret Wheat successfully lobbied the state government to designate 1,245 (now 1,520) acres around Berlin as the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. Since then, excavations have continued in the Luning Formation of the Shoshone Mountains, the Augusta Mountains, and the New Pass, Pilot, and Humboldt ranges, bringing new species of ichthyosaurs to light. Some sites are extremely remote. Sander says he spent

three seasons just locating access routes to canyons in the Augustas, where “almost anything we find is something new!”

PALEONTOLOGISTS ARE DRIVEN by the mysteries of the species they study — how and why did they become extinct? One mystery of Nevada’s ichthyosaurs is why so many of their skeletons in the Luning Formation are grouped together. The Visitor’s Quarry at Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park contains bones of at least seven Shonisaurus individuals, but bones from dozens of other ichthyosaurs are in two other quarries.

Camp argued that these groupings resulted from mass stranding and death on mud flats as waters receded. Another theory is that local ammonites were infected with blooms of red-tide algae, and when the ichthyosaurs ate the ammonites they were poisoned. A third theory was proposed by an international team of researchers led by Kelley, which included Noble, chair of UNR’s Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering. Their scans and tests of the sites over eight years ruled out the other two theories, for which there was no evidence. They wondered: Could this have been a site where ichthyosaurs migrated as a group

feeding grounds to calmer, safer, and warmer waters at mid-latitudes to calve. And soon, there would be evidence. After Camp died, blocks of bones from Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park eventually ended up at the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas. Staff shortages and curatorial lack of familiarity with ichthyosaurs had prevented rigorous study of those fossils until 2018. That’s when Noble’s former undergraduate student, Paige dePolo, took time out from her master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh to visit the museum and catalog the bones. The next-to-last block she examined was labeled “ammonites.” Among those nautilus-like shells of the ammonites was

Clockwise from above: an ichthyosaur skull excavated from Augusta Mountains, Nevada; Martin Sander, professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bonn, Germany; Shonisaurus fossil vertebrae at BerlinIchthyosaur State Park, Nevada; Paige dePolo with fossil Shonisaurus fin

a tiny vertebra of an embryo Shonisaurus. The birthing theory to explain the bone groupings in the Berlin-Ichthyosaur quarries had found some support at last!

But that still didn’t explain why they’d died out. The Triassic period had been one of rebirth and introduction of ancestors of modern mammals, reptiles, and birds. By its end about 201 million years ago, ichthyosaurs were the largest predators in the ocean. But just as the Triassic began, so would it end. Pangaea continued to fracture, with magma upwellings and volcanic activity releasing unimaginable amounts of carbon dioxide and toxic gas to produce a runaway greenhouse effect. Once again, the ocean became acidic and depleted of oxygen, this time killing off most ichthyosaurs and all of the giant ones.

This mass extinction was not as annihilating as the end-Permian 50 million years earlier; still, 75 percent of life was wiped out on the doorstep of the Jurassic period. Coral reefs completely disappeared. Temperatures soared to 140 degrees on land and 104 degrees in the ocean, according to a 2012 article in Science. It took millions of years for life to recover. For comparison, the hottest land temperature recorded in modern times was 134 degrees at Death Valley in 1913; early this year it reached 126 near New Delhi, India. Last year, the ocean temperature hit 101.1 degrees near Key Largo, Florida.

Organisms that somehow survived the Permian period included turtles,

crocodiles, and smaller mammals. Giant ichthyosaurs such as Shonisaurus died out, but smaller species survived and remained smaller, a phenomenon that biologists call the Lilliput Effect. Ichthyosaurs never regained their huge sizes through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when dinosaurs such as T. rex ruled the land and giant mosasaurs and sharks replaced ichthyosaurs as the apex predators.

Most paleontologists agree that ich thyosaurs as a group became extinct about 90 million years ago in the mid dle of the Cretaceous, some 36 million years before the asteroid struck. The reasons why aren’t as clear. UNR’s Noble mentions predation by larger marine animals, competition for resources, and climate change. University of Utah geology professor Randy Irmis believes possible causes were, once again, oxygen-depleted waters, shallow oceans, volcanic eruptions, or a combination of them. He says, “The rate of carbon dioxide release now is double what it was 200 million years ago, even if the volume isn’t as large. So, we study the Triassic in part because it helps us better understand how ecosystems recover from one mass extinction, their lead up to the next mass extinction, what adapts and survives versus what goes extinct.”

the exhibit, visitors will be able to virtually traverse Nevada’s mountain ranges and see 20 fossils excavated between 1868 and 2022 before encountering a life-sized, virtually animated ichthyosaur that responds to movement. They can also see the 6.5-foot(!) skull of University of Bonn professor Martin Sander’s discovery, Cymbospondylus youngorum, from Nevada’s Augusta Mountains.

This information can be useful to the bigger picture today. Asked if we have already entered the sixth mass extinction, the University of Bonn’s Sander replies somberly, “That is the consensus among biologists and paleontologists. Life will survive, but we will not.”

Far be it from scientists to give up, however. An exhibit opening in September at the Nevada State Museum — with elements specifically targeting children — is designed to deepen visitors’ understanding of Earth’s history and its marine animals. It’s also meant to make us more aware of climate change and what we can do to reverse current trends.

From Earth’s mass extinctions over the last 440-plus million years, scientists have learned how fragile terrestrial and ocean life are, because of global cooling and warming. But we humans don’t have to end up like ichthyosaurs. If there is anything positive about the current threats, it is that they are almost all caused by us, and we have the technology to reverse course — given the willpower. ✦

Fun fact: Cymbospondylus youngorum was the first giant animal to inhabit the globe and is named after Tom and Bonda Young, inventors of Icky (for “ichthyosaur”) IPA beer at their Great Basin Brewing Company in Reno and Sparks. The species is named after the Youngs in recognition both of fundraisers they held at the brewery to support Sander’s expedition and their transporting the whole skeleton encased in plaster from the Augustas to Los Angeles County’s Natural History Museum in the company’s beer truck.

Also at the exhibition, two new ichthyosaur species will make their debut. There will be exhibits dedicated to fossil hunters Mary Anning and Annie Alexander, in conjunction with a children’s book about Alexander and her discoveries. Children will also be able to enjoy the collection of vintage toy dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, as well as depictions of extinct marine creatures created by artists in collaboration with scientists.

For more information visit lasvegasmuseum.org.

CINDERELLA

Choreography by Ben Stevenson, O.B.E. October 18-20, 2024

THE NUTCRACKER

Choreography by James Canfield December 14-27, 2024

PETER PAN

Choreography by Trey McIntyre April 19-27, 2025

ALL THAT JAZZ

Rubies by George Balanchine N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz by Jerome Robbins And a World Premiere February 1 & 2, 2025

NBT DANCE LAB May 15-18, 2025

The Resident Ballet Company of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts 2024-25 SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS ON SALE NOW

Roy Kaiser, Artistic Director

100-PLUS SHOPS, FOOD SPOTS, ACTIVITIES, HANGOUTS, AND PEOPLE

... THAT PUT THE ‘GREAT’ IN GREATER LAS VEGAS

Arts & Entertainment

Best Neighborhood Art Gallery Sahara West Library

Peccole Ranch’s cultural epicenter is the no-brainer selection here. It housed the Las Vegas Art Museum until 2009; the library district art department subsequently made good use of those three airy rooms that invite many of the branch’s patrons, many who probably don’t regularly visit contemporary art facilities. It’s a space where sculptures just might come alive, where paintings stand out, and where local artists are afforded a large and stately exhibit.

– Mike Prevatt lvccld.org/gallery-exhibits

Best

Artist You Probably Don’t Know But Should

Bobbie Ann Howell

Cutting shapes in paper sounds like a kids craft project — unless Howell is holding the X-Acto. In a town slavishly devoted to spectacle, her precise, intricate, cut-paper works, which evoke nature, the elements, and landscape (“things vital for life,” Howell says), have a beguiling sotto voce presence. The obvious patience required to make them speaks to an aesthetic of slowness, close attention, care, and beauty — more things vital for life. See for yourself: She’ll exhibit new pieces in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in December.

– Scott Dickensheets

Best Public Art to Prompt Your Imagination

Dream Machine by Wayne Littlejohn

Too bad this piece languishes in a park by the airport. We’d wager that most passing drivers barely register its enigmatic beauty. But get close, really engage. Depending on your frame of mind, its spiraling mushroom shape might allude to the dark technologies unleashed by nearby atomic testing — or to a prehistoric jellyfish from the sea that once covered this land. Or, with its War of the Worlds aspect, perhaps it’s a signal from that part of our psyche that conjures alien worlds. Choose your own adventure. – SD clarkcountynv.gov

Sweet Spot

Most cooking shows are just time-clocked competition punctuated by personal adversity soundbites. For something a bit more savory, the web series Melody Sweets’ Sweet Spot blends cooking,

comedy, costumes, and cheesecake — the pinup kind — into appetizing bites. Sweets, the original Green Fairy in Absinthe, mixes up treats like ruby chocolate pistachio cannoli or peanut butter banana bourbon cake while juggling guests from mafiosi to zombies, Elvis impersonators to the Virgin Mary herself. – Lissa Townsend Rodgers sweetsspottv.com

Best Show to Get Cooking in the Kitchen, but Not With Food Melody Sweets’

SAHARA WEST LIBRARY

MELODY SWEETS’ SWEET SPOT

Best Impresario Miss Behave

The cliché of Vegas showrooms and cruise ships is that they’re for the safest, dullest of entertainment, but the career of Miss Behave, aka Amy Saunders, proves the opposite. Saunders broke into Vegas with her Miss Behave Game Show at the former Bally’s, then moved Downtown to create Mavericks sexy, silly, subversive variety show. Versions of her game show now ride the high seas on Virgin Voyages, and this fall she’ll open a bigger, better version of Miss Behave’s Mavericks at the Plaza, with an ever-changing roster of circus and comedy, burlesque and the bizarre. – LTR mavericksdtlv.com

Best Safe Space for Violence PrideStyle Pro Wrestling

You’re probably familiar with WWE, AEW, but don’t overlook the local PrideStyle, inclusive pro wrestling with two rules: no bigots and all bangers. The local talent is explosive, the storylines are

exciting, and the action is up close and personal. Begun in 2021, the monthly event takes place in various downtown locations. – Kristen DeSilva instagram.com/pridestylepro

Best Nevadan in Need of a Biopic

Hank Greenspun

In the 1960s, Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, released a book about his life, Where I Stand. If you read it, you might think it’s fiction. Moving to Las Vegas after stellar service in World War II, Greenspun worked as Bugsy Siegel’s PR man, ran guns to the recently founded State of Israel, and started the valley’s first TV station. The Watergate burglars admitted they planned to raid his office safe for a political document. He was one of the first to deride the red-baiting Sen. Joseph McCarthy — as well as his supporter, Nevada Sen. Pat McCarran. Greenspun played a role in ending segregation on the Strip. In 1979, he traveled to the Middle East with President Jimmy Carter to help broker peace between Egypt and Israel. Somewhere in there, he published a newspaper, wired the valley for cable, and founded a local real estate empire. A 2008

documentary didn’t do the man justice. A big life demands a big movie. – Joe Schoenmann

Best Grassroots Spoken-Word Organization Poetry Promise

Kept alive by former Clark County poet laureates, namely Bruce Isaacson and Vogue Robinson, Poetry Promise began as an award supporting student work and, in the past decade, has grown into an active, full-fledged arts nonprofit. Responsible for bringing several poet laureates from around the country to Las Vegas for readings — including two U.S. ones, Ada Limón and Joy Harjo, that I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing while they’re here — the organization also runs multiple school and community programs, from live slams to the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. My word! Literally. – Heidi Kyser poetrypromise.org

Best Place to Hear Words Segue Terrace at The Beverly Theater

Sure, a few factors have to align in order for this venue, where The Writer’s Block presents many of its readings, to max out its charm: the weather, Sixth Street traffic,

BEST DAY EVER (Northwest)

Start your Northwest Best Day Ever with a fancy latte and a BYOAB (build your own acai bowl) at Better Days (instagram.com/betterdayscaffe); weather permitting, enjoy the breezy patio. Then it’s time for a 2.7-mile stroll around Lone Mountain, taking in the ultimate vista of Las Vegas. Stop into Dragon Castle Books (dragon-castle-books.square. ) to let your imagination wander among its many shelves. Getting hungry? Head to Namu Korean Tapas & BBQ (namutapas.com) for a unique lunch, then take a date or friend to get creative at Vibes DIY Studio (vibesdiystudio.com), where you can paint or learn how to tuft a stylish rug. Finish your day with dinner and drinks at Nittaya’s Secret Kitchen nittayassecretkitchen.com), which offers two locations of the best Thai food in the northwest. —KDS

MISS BEHAVE

the treeful of yakkity birds across the way. But when it all works, the outdoor setting and The Beverly’s architectural rizz combine for a relaxed, cosmopolitan vibe ideal for a literary experience. Yet the city remains distantly present, reminding us that literature functions in our world, not apart from it. – SD thebeverlytheater.com/lit

Best Big Fish in a Small Literary Pond

Nicholas Russell

Desert Companion readers already know this guy’s byline, and a growing number of readers beyond this city are becoming familiar with it, too. He’s written sharp, admirably clear-eyed, sometimes brutally candid journalism, criticism, pop cultural analysis, and dispatches from Vegas for publications across the intellectual spectrum — from the brainy (The Baffler, for whom he dismantled the myth of Tony Hsieh) to the saucy (Defector, Vice) to the straight-up literary (The Believer, McSweeney’s) and many, many more. – SD nicholasrussell.me

Best Excuse to Jump Back in a Mosh Pit Twist Off!

Formerly known as White Noise, pop punk trio Twist Off is good enough to risk a fractured bone or two.

They are coming off a new album in 2023 and a performance at this year’s Punk Rock Bowling, and their fast-paced anthems against authority demand explosive two-stepping. If you enjoy bands such as Green Day or Turnstile, check them out. – Eric Duran-Valle instagram.com/twistofflv

Best Strip Music Bookings Brooklyn Bowl

As venues on the Boulevard bend toward exclusive engagements and residencies, Brooklyn Bowl remains dedicated to touring acts — especially those beyond the mainstream. That’s been the programming ethos of the concert-hall-with-bowling-facility since its 2014 opening. From the punk and metal that’s always thrived here, to the live electronic acts countering the megaclub DJs, to the ascendant hip-hop acts rarely present elsewhere, to

BEST DAY EVER (Arts

the improvisational outfits often booked during the weekend stands of bigger jam bands, Brooklyn Bowl remains the Strip’s go-to for musical alternatives. – MP brooklynbowl.com/las-vegas

Best LGBTQ+ Spot

The Phoenix

Whatever your go-to LGBTQ+ spot is missing, the Phoenix has it. A patio? Dance floor? Golden Knights watch parties? A patronage that truly spans the queer spectrum, with a fair helping of straight allies to boot? The only LGBTQ+ bar west of I-15 has all of that and more. The Phoenix occupies a unique space between the

District/Winchester)

An Arts District/Winchester Best Day Ever begins with coffee and a pastry from Colombian bakery Pasabocas (pasabocasbakery.com) in the Commercial Center, then a stroll around the storefronts to see if the Sci-Fi Center (thescificenter.com) or Avantpop Books (avantpopbooks.com) have anything you can’t live without. Later head east of the Strip to grab tacos and a beer at Bajamar (bajamarstyle.com) before checking out the theater at Majestic Repertory (majesticrepertory.com/ or music at Swan Dive (swandivelv.com). Afterward, discuss what you just saw over a cocktail at Liquid Diet (instagram.com/liquid.diet.dtlv) or a cone at Cream Me (icecreamlv.com). —LTR

community’s nightclubs and bars, where parties truly feel like parties — especially when they’re themed — but the off-peak hours are relaxed and comfortable. Consider this your queer third place. – MP thephoenixlv.com

Best Off-Strip Music Booker Jonathan Parker, AREA 15

When AREA 15 first opened, many were confused by its unique mix of activities. Turns out, that variety may be its secret sauce. Parker, AREA 15’s entertainment marketing director, books some of the hottest tickets in off-Strip entertainment from across the musical spectrum. From well-known to underground artists, raves, and dance nights, AREA 15 is a safe bet for nightlife seekers staying off the Boulevard. – Maicyn Udani instagram.com/106andpark_r

BROOKLYN BOWL

THE PHOENIX

THE SPHERE

Best New Strip Splurge Sphere

Joël Robuchon. Louis Vuitton. Nightclub bottle service. Those are the #goals of so many locals with major FOMO (and major wallets). The Sphere can now be added to that list. U2 was required attendance among rock fans when it played the 20,000-capacity venue, despite $300-and-up secondhand tickets. And families across the valley have made an outing of Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard From Earth, forking over $94-$279 a head. Is it worth it? Ask the hundreds of thousands still dropping Benjamins — and their jaws. – MP thesphere.com

Best Venue in Need of a Steady Promoter The AMP at Craig Ranch

Regional Park

Heat has long been the scapegoat for our dearth of outdoor theaters, yet, somehow,

even-hotter Phoenix fills two successful amphitheaters. The 10,000-capacity AMP may not threaten the Hollywood Bowl for best-in-the-West status, but it’s a solid, expansive, well-designed space that could absorb any number of tours that solely play amphitheaters — and usually skip Las Vegas. It’s high time a well-resourced promoter revived the AMP’s calendar. – MP cityofnorthlasvegas.com

Best

Theatrical Provocateur

Vegas Theatre Company

It’s been a good era for theater fans in Las Vegas lately, with a handful of local companies producing consistently noteworthy work. Vegas Theater Company in particular has been on its A-game, both with its own productions and its many collaborations. It’s wowed lately with rousing, socially trenchant works, from a staging of the cerebral Tony winner Topdog Underdog to the winking farce of POTUS. And then there was Abandon,

its gasp-filled take on the Marquis de Sade that enjoyed two runs. – MP theatre.vegas

Best Way to See Great Stage Drama on a Budget

A Public Fit readings

Many theater companies are raising their prices. Understandable, in the current environment of high rents and low arts subsidies. If you’re cash-strapped and drama-hungry, then check out

A Public Fit’s staged reading schedule. For zero dollars , you can see a talented ensemble perform a high-level work — the latest example, “The Pavilion,” was penned by Craig Wright, whose writing credits include “Six Feet Under” — with everything but the costumes and scenery. (And sometimes, they wear costumes.) Maybe you can save enough to buy a ticket for another APF production! – HK apublicfit.org

NOT THE BEST

An arts district that artists can’t afford

The closure in July of Priscilla Fowler Fine Arts on Main Street — the kind of gallery you’d expect to see in something called the Arts District — is a grim reminder of gentrification’s logic: You only need to call it an Arts District to give it a cachet worthy of the steep rent hikes that helped doom Fowler. Actual artists are strictly optional, and on their own. Okay, sure, it seems like city officials are trying to make progress on this — the city website says it’s studying “the feasibility of creating affordable artist live/work housing” in the area — but check the date on that document: January 9, 2024. Decades late and millions of dollars short. I mean, people were advocating this ages ago, to no avail. Where was the official buy-in then, when it could’ve made a difference? — SD

Food & Drink

Best Nonprofit Dance Studio

Culture Shock

Las Vegas

For over 20 years, this dance org has not only trained future dancers but also created a community through art and diversity. It offers affordable classes (no small consideration, as a trip to any dance supply store will remind you) ranging from beginner to advanced for all age groups and with esteemed choreographers as instructors. – MU cultureshocklasvegas.org

Best Coffee and Study Spot (tie)

Grouchy John’s Coffee

Don’t you hate going to a café to get a little studying done only to find poor, overpriced latte? Grouchy John’s Coffee is the opposite of that experience. Not only can you smell its delicious coffee a mile away, you’ll immediately feel invited in by the mellow, funky ambiance. The menu at his Henderson gem is affordable, and the store provides student

discounts, making this a perfect study spot. – MU grouchyjohns.com

and

&

Desert Wind Coffee Roasters

The beans are great, the iced mocha is incredible, and the atmosphere is perfect for studying or working. Unlike coffee joints that turn up the music to push you out faster,

Desert Wind welcomes extended conversation, with owner Pam Mason often joining in. – JS desertwindcoffee.com

Best Bespoke Powdered Tea Urban Matcha

Matcha lovers, you’ve met your match. Enter Urban Matcha, an adorable Chinatown café that can fulfill even the craziest matcha obsession. The store sources its powder from the finest tea farms in Japan, so every sip bursts on your tongue with that grassy, slightly bitter flavor. It’s an unmatched matcha experience.

– Lorraine Blanco Moss matchalv.com

Most

Beautiful Dining Room

La Fontaine

This room is a little Miami art deco, a little Golden Age Hollywood, and a little

classic Vegas showgirl, with mauve tones, gilt-edged curves, and flattering lighting that could turn a jet-lagged grandmother into a MGM starlet. It’s the perfect setting for chef Laëtitia Rouabah’s menu of elegant French classics. Every dish is outstanding, and be sure to save room for the strawberry soufflé — airy, theatrical, and absolutely scrumptious, it’s like the room on a plate. – LTR fontainebleaulasvegas.com

Best

Happy Hour

With A View Boom Bang Fine Foods & Cocktails

Elia Aboumrad, a Top Chef alum, and her team did a fine job with Boom Bang Fine Foods & Cocktails — and that goes for their happy hour, too. Once you’ve taken in the panoramic look-around, settle onto a plush stool and

LA FONTAINE

GROUCHY JOHN’S COFFEE

URBAN MATCHA

indulge in cocktails and food served on an elegant placemat. It’s a small bites menu, so order everything, then turn your gaze to the tranquil view outside. – Sarah Bun boombang.restaurant

Best Place for a Scallywag to Drink Up Stray Pirate

Stray Pirate, a fun tiki bar that leans heavily into a nautical theme, brings you to a realm where midcentury leisure collides with Queen Anne’s Revenge. “Porthole windows” feature video loops of fish swimming underwater, and netting on the ceiling makes you feel like you’re aboard an 18th-century booze cruise. – EDV straypirate.com

Best Holiday Decorations Silver Stamp

Silver Stamp is deservedly recognized as one of the best beer bars around, but you have to have visited during Halloween or Christmas to truly understand this honor. The devil is in the details for this downtown hot spot during October, with grue-

some, custom-made animatronics, limited-edition merchandise, and delightfully horrible things in every corner. In December, the bar transforms into a cozy wonderland St. Nick would happily drink in. – KDS instagram.com/silverstamplv

Best Brewery Worth the Trek

North 5th Brewing

For those of you limiting your beerventures to the Arts District, it’s truly been your loss, as quality breweries and draft/bottle hangs have popped up in all corners of the valley. North 5th Brewing sits in an industrial North Las Vegas neighborhood, but inside it’s one of the most welcoming beer spots in town. Owners/siblings Amanda and Matt Payan go the distance in matching your preferences with one or more of their delicious brews, and their charm rubs off on their patrons. – MP north5thbrewingco.com

Best Spot for Mixed Drinks and Spun Records SEVEN:45

Tucked away in the Arts District, the microlounge SEVEN:45 — reminiscent of listening bars in Japan — is far removed from a typical night out in Sin City. A password at the door unlocks the audiophile experience, in which every moment is crafted with an appreciation for the art of sound. Open your ears to R&B records in high fidelity and vibe to vinyl DJ sets every Sunday. – Briana Joseph seven45lv.com

Best Summer Treat Sul & Beans

For a cold wake-up from this nightmare we call summer, hit

Sul & Beans for a Korean dessert called bingsoo. This milk-based shaved ice with endless toppings, including fruits, matcha, and condensed milk, will make you forget the heat exists. Bring a friend because a bowl is large enough for two. – MU sulandbeans.com

Best

Modern Classic

Milpa

This comes with a warning: After Milpa you’ll never want to eat Mexican food any-

where else. This three-yearold restaurant in Spring Valley, led by chef DJ Flores, is a casual café with a short but perfected menu that relies on high-quality, sustainable ingredients. (Indeed, the name of the restaurant refers to “an agricultural system practiced by Indigenous communities.”) Enjoy flavor-punching tacos in blue corn tortillas, some of the best birria in town, and a breakfast menu to salivate over. – KDS instagram.com/milpa_lv

STRAY PIRATE

MILPA

Best Place to Overfill on Hot Pot

U Shabu

U Shabu makes the overwhelming variety of all-you-can-eat a good thing. This restaurant has combined the self-serve style of a traditional Vegas buffet with the specialties of Japanese hot pot. With a seemingly endless display of meats, seafood, vegetables, sauces, and sides, you won’t have to worry about a lack of options. – MU ushabulv.com

Best

Night-Out Tacos

Taqueria Casa Del Sabor

Nothing completes a night of dancing and drinks better than a street taco at 2 in the morning. Once a hidden gem, Taqueria Casa del Sabor has seen tremendous growth in popularity in the last year — prices, too. But that shouldn’t stop you. Casa del Sabor isn’t just a restaurant, it’s an experience, all of the tacos like biting into corn pockets of savory comfort. Try the salsa roja if you like the heat. – MU casadelsaborlv.com

Best Place for a Noon Wine Tasting Wineaux

It doesn’t have to be 5 o’clock for you to be an oenophile at UnCommons’ desert chic Wineaux. For us, the early afternoon experience includes bougie bites like hamachi tuna and caviar curated by James Beard Award-winning chef Shawn McClain, paired with

vino chosen by master sommelier Nick Hetzel, as the knowledgeable staff regales you with stories of the soil and the grape’s legacy. – LBM wineauxlv.com

Best Place to Have Your Burrito and Eat BBQ, Too BBQ Mexicana

Did you know the awesome OG chefs of the classic Border

Grill restaurants own a Mexican food-barbecue mashup? You can find BBQ Mexicana at Allegiant Stadium, Mandalay Bay, T-Mobile Arena, and the Las Vegas Ballpark — and now at Sunset and Durango. The smoked-brisket burrito is elite, a marvelous mix of slow-smoked meat, crispy potatoes, cilantro coleslaw, cheese, red rice, and signature

TAQUERIA CASA DEL SABOR

WINEAUX

Most

Food-Sensitive Eats

Power Soul Cafe

barbecue sauce. We’re also addicted to the house-made chile de arbol salsa; spread it on everything for a meal that’s todo bien. – LBM bbqmexicana.com

Foodies love to rip on people who need special diets, but celiac disease is no joke, and gluten intolerance isn’t a walk in Sunset Park. With most fast-food and franchise spots offering few gluten-free options, restaurateur Dina Mitchell saw a need. Enter Power Soul Cafe, which not only is a dedicated GF eatery, focusing on quick-service foods and smoothies, but its website helps you eliminate other potential troubling ingredients or adhere to other menus, like vegan and keto. With three locations opening within a half year,

Power Soul Cafe has already struck a chord. – MP powersoulcafe.com

Best Place to Take Out-ofTown Guests for Drinks

Legacy Club

Las Vegas has a lot of street-level sparkle, but sometimes it’s best appreciated from 60 stories up, where Circa’s Legacy Club offers a near-360 degree view. Settle into the plush armchairs or by a firepit on the balcony and catch up over a well-crafted cocktail. Or just relax and let the skyline do the talking. The central location offers plenty of post-libation options, too. – LTR circalasvegas.com/drinkdine/legacy-club

NOT THE BEST Overbearing street vendor regulations

You’re familiar with the colorful umbrellas adorning carts where you can buy Mexican street corn or chili-flavored fruit. For decades, sidewalk vendors have operated under the radar, often near parks or schools, constantly moving to avoid police while making an honest living. The state law that passed last year aims to bring these vendors out of the shadows by requiring local jurisdictions to regulate sidewalk vending. At first bite, it seems like a sweet opportunity. However, the required startup paperwork in some local jurisdictions can total a whopping $1,250, plus annual fees more than $500. Additionally, vendors can’t operate within 1,500 feet of a resort hotel, 500 feet of a park or school, or 150 feet of another vendor or restaurant (yeah, you read that right). If the goal is to legitimize sidewalk vending, then maybe we shouldn’t make it so hard for these micro-businesses? If the goal is to eliminate competition with small brick-and-mortar food establishments — who do, after all, do have exponentially higher costs — then … it’s working.

— Christopher Alvarez

As a chef and a fanatic food lover, here’s my Chinatown Best Day Ever. Morning: Brunch at Palette Tea Lounge (palettelv.com) for the pinnacle of delectable dim sum in Las Vegas. The roasted Peking duck set is great for a group; the presentation is beautiful, and the skin is chicharron crispy. And I can’t get enough of the supreme soy tiger prawns, an indulgent bite of seafood umami. Afternoon: The decadent corn dogs are worth the wait at CrunCheese Korean Hot Dog (cruncheeseusa.com). I can’t vouch for their nutritional value, but I can tell you they’re sinfully delicious. The ultimate guilty pleasure is the potato mozza — a chunk of cheese dipped in batter, rolled in diced potatoes, then deep fried. Don’t tell your cardiologist. Evening: First, I’d stop at ShangHai Taste and get two orders of the sheng jian (pan fried soup dumplings), one of my favorite dishes in all of Chinatown Vegas. Then I’d go to Xiao Long Dumplings (xiaolongdumplings.com) in Chinatown Plaza. Try the cream cheese and pork soup dumplings; they’re like a cheeseburger and soup in one moist bite. Pop a few into your mouth to end your Chinatown best day ever. — LBM

LEGACY CLUB

Family & Leisure

Best Fifth-Generation Sourdough Starter Yukon Pizza

It took multiple generations of fermentation and cultivation to achieve the craveable sourdough wood-fired pizza you can devour at Yukon Pizza. Owner/pizzaiolo Alex White became a world pizza champion this year using a family dough starter that’s been passed down for 125 years. There isn’t a substandard slice here, but our favorite is the Y-Train, a New York-style cheese with zesty tomato sauce, mozzarella, provolone, and roasted garlic oil. – LBM yukonpizza.com

Best Drive-In

With a Burger Snappy’s

Snappy’s solves the age-old dilemma: Should you eat a burger or see a movie at the drive-in? Aside from burgers, fries, and grilled cheese, this drive-in restaurant also offers normal movie snacks such as popcorn and slushies. With weekly films ranging from Disney to sci-fi, this joint found a creative way to keep drive-ins alive. – MU snappys.fun

Best

Haptic Movie Thrill

4DX at Regal Red Rock

Sure, merely sitting for a film is a fine experience, but wouldn’t it be great to feel like you’re inside the action? This 4DX experience, which costs $23 per ticket, includes moving seats, misting water, and strobing lights. It’ll feel like you’re being attacked by the monster onscreen. Keep

an eye out for action-packed releases this fall. – KDS regmovies.com/theatres/ regal-red-rock-0659

Best Chuck E. Cheese for Grown Ups

Rex Center Vegas

For families or groups that can’t decide what they’d like to do all day, this joint is

practically heaven-sent. It’s got 18 holes of dinosaur-themed mini golf, black-light laser tag, 10 climbing walls, and an impressive indoor go-kart track with eco-friendly electric cars. Did we mention there’s also food?  – Anne Davis rexcentervegas.com

Best Bar for Blistering Thumbs

Player 1

Think about the best games you’ll find at your average bar. Cornhole? Video poker? Pinball, if you’re lucky? At Player 1, a nominal entry fee gets you unlimited access to a variety of arcade games, ranging from ’80s classics to exciting novelties. Thirsty? The bar offers pop culture-themed drinks served by bartenders in cosplay. – EDV player1vegas.com

Best Horror Movie Simulation

The Basement

Part puzzle, part horror, The Basement is immersive entertainment that tests your intellect. In just 45 minutes, you must figure out how to escape Edward Tandy’s cannibalistic trap. Beware: Live actors amp up the scare factor. – MU basementescaperoom.com

FLOYD LAMB PARK

REX CENTER

Best Place to Catch a Fish in the Shade

Floyd Lamb Park

This 680-acre hideaway in the far northwest has been a local favorite for decades, providing top-notch birding, walking, biking, and riding. It also has a popular fishing hole. You must have a license to fish, but you’ll be able to catch anything from rainbow trout to catfish to the occasional bluegill. Check the Nevada Department of Wildlife website for the latest stock report. – KDS lasvegasnevada.gov

Best Place to Join in a New Sports Craze Sunset Park Pickleball

Complex

Don’t let the goofy name fool you: Pickleball is no laughing matter, especially in Las Vegas, home of the Las Vegas Night Owls pro pickleball team. (!) Just look at the proliferation of local complex-

es. Sunset Park’s stands out for its size (24 courts) and flexibility (eight of those courts are reserved, another eight are open play). The complex is clean, spacious, and easy to access, making it an ideal choice for the uninitiated and veteran pickleballers alike. – AD clarkcountynv.gov

Best Family Sports Night Out Las Vegas Aces

My husband and I have had Aces season tickets for three years running now, and we’re late to the game compared to the fans sitting in seats around ours. They come with so much institutional knowledge, it’s like watching an adrenaline-filled competition in a classroom. Of course, one section doesn’t represent an entire arena, but our neighbors don’t drink or swear (though they can get spicy with the refs), they bring their kids, and they rise for the lineup and stay till the buzzer. At every game! The tickets are affordable, the atmosphere is electric, and I can’t think of a better way for a sports lover to spend an evening. – HK aces.wnba.com

Best Outdoor Family Events Venue Water Street Plaza

In a valley with no shortage of outdoor venues, Water Street Plaza is noteworthy for its proximity to some of Henderson’s most delish restaurants, a moving veterans memorial wall, and the pleasantly refrigerated America First Center. The venue hosts diverse entertainment year-round: sports watch parties, Henderson Hot Rod Days, family concerts, and the perennial favorite Shakespeare on the Plaza. – AD cityofhenderson.com

Best Recreational Meetup Women Who Explore

Recreation enthusiasts have no shortage of groups they should welcome into the outdoors if they want to right historic wrongs. Fortunately for them, many of these groups also have their own club for finding strength in numbers; Indigenous Women Hike and Outdoor Afro are a couple of examples. Another is Women Who Explore, a Facebook group whose latest post, as I write this, is a meme reading,

“It’s raining, it’s pouring, let’s go exploring.” That pretty much says it all. – HK

Best Place to Work Out Your Problems The Refuge

Climbers of any level can find sanctuary at The Refuge and be immediately adopted into the community. If you fall, someone will be there for you on the crash pad. There are never-ending problems to solve with weekly wall changes and a rotating wall. Plus, you can enjoy amenities such as hangboards, strength training equipment, yoga classes, and occasional bouldering competitions. – BJ refugeclimbing.com

Best Hidden-Gem Hike Northshore Summit Trail at Lake Mead

Lake Mead is a well-kept secret among hikers, maybe because it’s too hot to go there May-September, navigational equipment/ skills are required for many of the trails, and entering the National Recreation Area requires either a fee or a national parks pass. If you can clear those barriers, then you will find a multitude of treks at varying degrees of difficulty, and with spectacular payoffs. Start with this moderate one-mile out-andback to see what I mean.

A 200-foot ascent leads to an overlook of the Muddy Mountains, Bowl of Fire, and Bitter Spring Valley in all their red-rock glory. Warning: You may find yourself inspired enough to buy that parks pass on the way home. – HK nps.gov/thingstodo/hike-thenorthshore-summit-trail.htm

LAS VEGAS ACES

Best Animal Interaction The Las Vegas Farm

Feeding the friendly beasts at The Las Vegas Farm is a great Vegas-overdose antidote. This little sanctuary in North Las Vegas houses previously neglected cows, pigs, horses, and more. Cats and peacocks roam the grounds. And there’s a market with fresh produce, homemade goods, and hay to feed the animals. Don’t let this farm’s miniature size distract you from its rustic charm. – MU thelasvegasfarm.com

Best Place to Birdwatch

Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve

There’s more to Southern Nevada’s bird population than pigeons, road runners, and the occasional Gambel’s quail. Turns out we have 270 species of fowl here, many of which can be seen by camping out at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. Local and migratory birds galore fill the

140-acre refuge, congregating around the tranquil ponds and lush undergrowth. Bring binoculars. – AD cityofhenderson.com

Best Place to Unleash Your Inner Paleontologist Dino Safari:

A Walk Thru Adventure

Dino Safari is the ultimate hands-on dino museum, where, true to its name, visitors get to walk through an immersive animatronic exhibit and interactive play area. It’s educational, not too pricey, and a nice family-friendly diversion on the Strip. – AD dinosafari.com

Best Sensory-Inclusive Outing

Discovery Children’s Museum

The Discovery Children’s Museum has been helping shape growing minds and hone fine motor skills for more than three decades.

Energy science, the physics of water, eco-friendly infrastructure — these might sound like challenging topics to kid-ify, but the museum makes it all fun and graspable for the littles. – AD discoverykidslv.org

Best Indoor Place to See the Stars

Dale Etheridge Planetarium

You don’t have to be a sci-fi fan or an astrophysicist to enjoy the Dale Etheridge Planetarium at CSN. It’s your best gateway to the cosmos and a hub for entertainment. Remember the partial eclipse? It had that covered with special glasses and solar-filtered telescopes, plus a NASA ambassador to answer questions. But the real star is the 66-seat theater housed under a 30-foot dome; every visit is an immersive adventure. – SB csn.edu

The Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort

The Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park is easy to miss or mistake for someplace else if you’re not familiar with it. Once inside, you’re stepping on a piece of early-settlement history (one original structure remains, while the rest are reconstructions). After touring the Visitor Center, walk the grounds and feel the energy of Las Vegas’ past. – SB parks.nv.gov

Best Historical Getaway

DISCOVERY CHILDREN’S MUSEUM

THE OLD LAS VEGAS MORMON FORT

DINO SAFARI

Shops & Services

Best Head Space Tea Scalp Hair Spa

What’s more blissful than an outstanding scalp massage?

At Tea Spa, you put on a comfy robe, lay in a massage chair, and get covered in warm blankets as a hair specialist cleanses your hair, applies a mask, and gently kneads your noggin. It’s a glorious treat for your head and your headspace. – LBM teaspalv.com

Best Barber to Make Your Pinterest Board a Reality

Louis Nguyen

Vegas has a lot of barbers, and trimming down the fluff to find the best one is worse than trying to find the Pinterest photo I showed my last barber. So, Desert Companion reader, as I flip my Fabio-like flow, I reveal the secret to my luscious locks, Louis Nguyen. This recent resident of the Vegas valley is an independent barber in the southwest side of town that can make that longtime Pinterest board of haircuts you wish you had into a Pinterest board of haircuts you can have. – Ryan Vellinga instagram.com/ louisthebarber_

Best

Non-Toxic Mobile Nail Salon

Nails Envie

Since the closure of Detox Salon — the city’s first place to get hair and nails done without harsh chemicals — my mani-pedi go-to has been Nails Envie. Founder Karen Aguirre recently moved out of state, but instead of closing the business, she expanded, continuing to run it from Florida, while having trusted contractors do mobile service in Las Vegas. The icing on the cake: Competitive prices. – HK nailsenvie.com

Best Place to Get Your Feathers Trimmed Habib’s Tailoring

& Leather

An important part of any good ’fit is, well, the fit, and Habib is a master. He’ll make sure a business suit has that prime cut, and put a little more point in a pencil skirt. But he’s also an accomplished hand at more Vegas-style alterations: getting the matching tuxedos of a Motown tribute act on point, re-hemming a beaded gown before an awards ceremony, and, of course, last-minute weddings. – LTR

BEST DAY EVER (Southwest)

Best Shop for Working Cowpokes El Vaquero Country Store

When you’re in need of Western attire, your mind may drift toward a certain outlet that rhymes with Hoot Harn. But what if you could find a selection of boots, hats, and more at an affordable price and stock up on animal feed at the same time? Okay, maybe not everyone will need a horse bridle or lariat. But a new hat is always in order. Saddle up! – EDV elvaquerofeedstore.com

Best Place to Get Retro The Red Kat Vintage

This Main Street thrift shop is home to an outrageous collection of retro clothes, ranging from ’50s pinup to ’80s rock, and everything in between. The front section includes funky accessories and clothing that will express your appreciation of the old days. In the back, find a massive collection of vintage denim, T-shirts, and more, for any gender. You’ll be hard-pressed to find another collection like this in town. – KDS theredkatlv.com

Jumpstart your Southwest Best Day Ever with a smoked brisket hash at Mama Bird (mamabirdsk.com). Then walk it off with a 30-minute trek around Exploration Peak Park (clarkcountynv.gov). From there, grab a pick-me-up at Cane Juice Bar & Café (canejuicebar.com); I suggest the original sugarcane juice. For lunch, if they’re there, say hello to owners Bryce Krausman and chef Dalton Wilson at DW Bistro (dwbistro.com) Their salmon bowl, Jamaican curry, and Jamaican carrot cake are “off the hook,” as Guy Fieri would say. After, walk around IKEA (ikea.com) before heading to dinner at Black Sheep (blacksheepvegas. com), where chef Jamie Tran’s multiflavored, salmon skin tacos pop in the mouth like firecrackers. Around the corner, unwind at Bel-Aire Backyard’s outdoor pool at Durango Resort (durangoresort.com), where locals receive complimentary entry during Recess Fridays from 4-10 p.m. – SB

TEA SCALP HAIR SPA

Best Place to Become a Plant Parent

Iron Rose Plants & Vintage

Find the help you need, black-thumbed plant dreamers! This vintage-themed shop in downtown Boulder City has incredible plant variety, with care options that cater to both beginners and experts. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful. You just might walk out as a brand-new leaf baby. – MU instagram.com/ironroseplantshop

Most

Thrifty Furniture

ReStore

Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, a nonprofit home furnishing store, isn’t your typical place to shop for furniture. Okay, yes, the items they stock near the entrance resemble what you might find at a dollar store. Go deeper. The showstopper is the furniture in the showroom. Your support helps the organization build homes for families, no matter how big or small your purchase. – SB lasvegashabitat.org/restore

Best Place to Get the Creeps

Cemetery Pulp

Step into this tomb for your fix of oddities. Crystals, candles, skulls, and seemingly haunted antiques cover the tables. Comic books, trading cards, and tabletop games fill the shelves. Uranium glassware glows under black-lit cabinets, preserved specimens float in jars, and a village of taxidermied rodents and birds can be found throughout. But this is more than a little shop of horrors. Cemetery Pulp

BEST DAY EVER (Henderson)

hosts game nights, live music, markets, and workshops. – BJ cemeterypulp.com

Best Japanese Gift Shop Tokyo Discount

This family-owned business sells all things Japanese, from Sanrio plushies, anime action figures, fun snacks, and more Japanese knickknacks. They make great gifts for loved ones and friends, or collectible items to keep for yourself. – MU tokyodiscountvegas.com

Your Henderson Best Day Ever begins early at Breakfast Junkies (breakfastjunkiesnv.com), near the Inspirada neighborhood. Carb up, people — Hendo sprawls across 118 square miles, and we’re going tip to tail. After breakfast, drive past the nearby Raiders HQ in hopes of seeing Mark Davis’ barber entering the facility, bowl in hand. Then brace yourself for plenty of live tweeting during an easy, lovely hike at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve (cityofhenderson.com). (Biology note: If you see an owl, hide your Tootsie Roll Pops.) A short drive away is your cool-down, a walkabout of the Ethel M Chocolate Factory and Botanical Cactus Garden (ethelm.com). Your candy purchases will tide you over during the longish trek to Lake Las Vegas, where the manmade lake offers both a pleasant setting for lunch at Mimi’ and Coco’ Bistro (mimiandcocollv.com), and a conversation prompt about wise water use. Next: The Clark County Museum (clarkcountynv.gov), one of Henderson’s hidden-ish gems, offers a selfie wonderland of exhibits, train cars, old mining gear, and a street of preserved houses. Wrap up on Water Street, where rapid modernization is helping the city shed its “Hendertucky” stigma. After dinner at the foodie-approved Azzurra Cucina Italiana (azzurracucina.com), burn your last energy reserves grooving to live music at the Gold Mine Tavern (goldminetavern.com), much gussied-up from its dive-bar days. – SD

IRON ROSE PLANTS & VINTAGE

CEMETERY PULP

Best Complementary Grocery Store

International Marketplace

If you’ve noticed paltry ethnic offerings, at your grocery store, a jaunt to International Marketplace will be a revelation. You’ll find food products from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere. You can buy legit hummus mix; gleefully fill your cupboard with British and Chinese teas; choose from 15 ponzu sauces; and shop for meat, produce, and beverage items unavailable in any Summerlin supermarket. Bonus: Don’t sleep on the low-priced kitchen wares. – MP impfoods.co

Best

Place to Read Other People’s Books

Las Vegas Books

Bookish old-timers lament the days when this valley was flush with used bookstores, but even medium-timers knew a plenitude we can’t imagine now. Thankfully, a few booksellers keep the dream alive, chief among them this

Eastern Avenue store. The selection is huge, organized, updated, and well-curated; it doesn’t feel like a random book dump. – SD facebook.com/ LasVegasBooks

Best

Curation

of Physical Media The Analog Dope Store

The footprint of this bookstore and record shop is modest, but every item has been carefully selected. The shelves hold an array of literature on diverse topics — from sociopolitical issues and the histories of Indigenous and enslaved peoples to poetry and coffee table books. And there is a recognizable effort to highlight BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors and artists. – BJ analogdope.com

Best Biannual Yard Sale Paradise Palms

This perfectly preserved neighborhood east of the Strip is the best place to admire mid-century modern construction — but it’s also full of goodies during its annual

NOT THE BEST

Paid parking on the Strip

community yard sale. From Eames chairs to teak tables, solid brass knickknacks, and everything else mid-mod, you can find just about any vintage household item here. Get there when it starts, as these items are in high demand. – KDS facebook.com/paradisepalms lasvegashabitat.org/restore

Best

Small

Business Boost Market in the Alley

Vegas is crawling with small businesses, so many that you might have trouble finding one for the shopping you want to do. So visit Market in the Alley. This rotating event collects handfuls of vendors all in one night to sell and display their products, including baked goods, art, clothing, and jewelry. – MU marketinthealley.com

Best Dispensary for the Stoner on the Go

Rise

When dispensaries began opening in our state, part of the shopping experience was chatting with a budtender and getting familiar with the new

Only five casinos on the Strip offer free parking today. MGM Resorts started the parking fee practice in 2016. Here’s MGM’s somewhat amorphous rate description: 0-24 hours: $18 weekdays; $23 Friday-Sunday. Valet is more. First three hours for locals is free — except during special events. Locals already hate driving to the Strip — shouldn’t the reward for making it there be free parking? Then again, casinos are raking in record profits, so don’t expect them to give us a break. – JS

market. Seven years later, most folks know what they want. Rise lets customers peruse stock and order product on a tablet, then step up to the counter for a speedy transaction. Staff is on hand and helpful, but the vibe is get and go. Multiple locations and locals’ discounts make shopping even easier. – LTR risecannabis.com

Best Place to Visit the Next Time Your Streaming Subscription Increases

Record City

Give yourself a good chunk of time for a trip to Record City. It’s easy to lose yourself in this maze of physical media: CDs, LPs, cassettes, DVDs, Blu-Ray, VHS tapes, and a massive assortment of LaserDiscs. Jumpstart a collection of music and movies that will outlive your streaming services. – BJ recordcityonline.com

MARKET IN THE ALLEY

SEE THE STARS!

BY Kristen DeSilva

Next time you’re in Las Vegas at night, look up and count how many stars you can see. Ten, 20, maybe 30 if you’re on the outskirts. Well, how about spotting thousands — including the Milky Way — with the naked eye? Tourism officials consider Tonopah a top stargazing destination in the Southwest, due to its practically nonexistent light pollution and distance from … well, anywhere else.

The small town along U.S. 95 in western Nevada is known for its ghosts, as you will see in this episode of “Outdoor Nevada,” where host Connor Fields visits the famous Mizpah Hotel and explores Nevada’s local brewing scene. After you’ve gotten the chills in the haunted hotel and enjoyed a cold one, head out after dark to Tonopah Stargazing Park.

If you’re familiar with stargazing, then you’ll appreciate this park’s cement pads for telescopes, guaranteed to provide the ultimate view of space. But you don’t necessarily need fancy equipment to experience the spectacular skies out here; you can just look up. Or, you can do what I’ve done, which is ask for a peek into someone else’s telescope — the stargazer community is mighty friendly. ✦

Site:  Clair Blackburn Memorial Stargazing Park

Getting there:

From Las Vegas, drive about 193 miles north on U.S. 95. Then, ignore Google Maps. Turn by Tonopah High School and follow the road until it turns to dirt. Go straight until you arrive at the park.

Distance: From Las Vegas, three hours. From Tonopah, just a few minutes.

Equipment

Needed:

A high-clearance vehicle will help on the dirt road. You don’t need anything to see

the stars out here, but if you have a nice camera and/or a telescope, definitely don’t leave those at home.

Pro tip: The Tonopah Clear Sky Chart has a bit of a learning curve for inexperienced stargazers, but familiarity with it facilitates the best views.

‘Outdoor Nevada’

Tonopah, Nevada

SEE THIS episode of “Outdoor Nevada,” by Vegas PBS.

Start the school year off right! Teachers from the Clark County School District are available for FREE homework help and tutoring at these listed library branches during the 2024-2025 school year. This drop-in service is available to help students complete their homework or provide some extra instruction in a variety of subjects.

Tutoring is available September 5, 2024 – May 2, 2025 Monday through Thursday 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. No appointment needed

Wellness

Immunizations Behavioral

Wound

MEDICAL P R O FILES

STEINBERG DIAGNOSTIC MEDICAL IMAGING

SDMI is dedicated to expanding patient access to state-ofthe-art medical imaging technology

We are excited to announce that our office at 800 Shadow Lane, situated in the heart of the Las Vegas Medical District, has recently introduced the third Canon Cartesion Digital PET/CT Scanner in Nevada. Following our successful implementations at the SDMI Anthem and Northwest locations, we are proud to be the state’s exclusive provider of this cutting-edge technology.

The new Digital PET/CT is crucial for diagnosing various illnesses, from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. The all-digital PET/CT decreases scan times and enhances signal-to-noise ratios.

HERE’S WHY IT’S A GAME-CHANGER:

• Half the Dose: ensures significantly lower doses of radiopharmaceuticals.

• Half the Time: Designed with patient comfort in mind, it shortens scan times.

• Twice the Resolution: It provides 8x volume resolution for superior image quality.

In addition to this milestone, we’re thrilled to announce our debut as the first in the U.S. to install the Aquilion Serve SP CT scanner. This groundbreaking technology is revolutionizing medical imaging at our Nellis and Galleria locations in Las Vegas.

Lastly, we have added a new addition to our Anthem office a new 1.5T MRI.

At SDMI, our commitment to innovation ensures that our patients receive the highest standard of care. Experience the future of medical imaging today.

NEVADA CARDIOLOGY ASSOCIATES

Founded in 1990, Nevada Cardiology Associates addresses the growing cardiovascular needs of Southern Nevada residents through innovative and comprehensive care. Our team of highly qualified cardiologists, all Fellows of the American College of Cardiology, bring expertise in preventive cardiology, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, and more. Known for our compassion, clear communication, and prompt service, we consistently deliver personalized care. Voted as “Top Doctors” by patients and peers, we accept most insurance, including Medicare, ensuring accessible cardiovascular care for all.

TENAYA WAY

3150 N TENAYA WAY #460, LAS VEGAS, NV 89128 702.233.1000

SOUTH MARYLAND PARKWAY

3201 S MARYLAND PKWY SUITE 400, LAS VEGAS, NV 89109

702.796.7150

SOUTH RAINBOW BLVD

5380 S. RAINBOW BLVD SUITE 308, LAS VEGAS, NV 89118 702.463.8988

SUMMERLIN

10105 BANBURRY CROSS DR. SUITE 130, LAS VEGAS, NV 89144 PET SCAN IMAGING AVAILABLE NEVADACARDIOLOGY.COM

ERIK SIRULNICK, MD, FACC

CARMEL MOAZEZ, MD

PATRICK HSU, MD, FACC

FOAD MOAZEZ, MD, FACC, FACP

TARIQ MARROUSH, MD, FACC

NAVID KAZEMI, MD, FACC, FSCAI

ROBERT BAKER, MD, FACC

VANESSA GASTWIRTH, MD, FACC

RICHARD CHEN, MD, FACC

SAM GREEN, MD, FACC

SOME OF THE TREATED CONDITIONS

• RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

• LUPUS

• OSTEOARTHRITIS

• PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS

• ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS

• GOUT

• SJOGREN’S SYNDROME

• VASCULITIS

ADVANCED RHEUMATOLOGY

ASSOCIATES OF NEVADA

861 CORONADO CENTER DRIVE, SUITE 220, HENDERSON, NV 89052

PHONE: 702.984.3776

WWW.ADVANCEDRHEUMATOLOGYNV.COM

DR. DODJI V. MODJINOU

ADVANCED RHEUMATOLOGY ASSOCIATES OF NEVADA

COMPETENCY, COMPASSION, INTEGRITY

Life with a chronic condition can be challenging, but the team at Advanced Rheumatology Associates of Nevada is here to help…We believe in more than just managing symptoms. It is our mission to provide the optimum in caring for patients with rheumatic conditions, utilizing evidenced-based practices to quickly diagnose, advise and treat a host of chronic conditions. Our practice is dedicated to a patient-centric approach to care. We evaluate a patient’s physical and emotional needs, utilizing a holistic approach to a variety of rheumatic conditions, including all members of the team to support and complement what is offered medically. As a convenience to our patients, ARAN also offers inhouse infusion treatments including biologics for rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.

Dedicated to your health, ARAN accepts most major insurances including Medicare and Medicaid as well as cashpay patients on a limited basis. Please note that our office requires a referral from your PCP or other practitioner involved in your care. Languages spoken in our office are English, French, Spanish and various West African languages.

At ARAN, you’ll be under the care of Dr. Modjinou, a board-certified rheumatologist who completed a sought-after fellowship at the New York University/Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City. We invite you to join us on your journey to wellness and become part of the ARAN family where competency, compassion and integrity are our core values.

DR. CARLOS LETELIER

THE CENTER FOR ORAL SURGERY OF LAS VEGAS

Dr. Carlos Letelier has a passion for dental and medical excellence that’s exemplified through his distinguished background and his education credentials. His dentistry studies began in Chile where he earned his DDS degree. He then went to Boston, where he enrolled in Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a DMD degree.

After that, Dr. Letelier went on to complete his surgical residency and graduate from UCLA Medical School with both an MD and an OMFS degree. In addition to becoming board certified in both oral and maxillofacial and cosmetic surgery, Dr. Letelier has taught in the OMFS residency program at Fresno University Medical Center. His expertise covers a broad range of oral surgery, from wisdom tooth extraction and dental implants to facial and dental trauma. He is a trusted oral surgeon in Las Vegas, NV as he’s highly regarded for his treatment of patients with severe bone loss and missing teeth. Even today, Dr. Letelier continues to expand his knowledge by participating in specialty courses throughout the world. Additionally, he is a highly sought-after lecturer by his colleagues throughout the USA and other global locations.

THE CENTER FOR ORAL SURGERY OF LAS VEGAS 10115 W TWAIN AVE. SUITE 100, LAS VEGAS, NV 89147

702.367.6666

DR. GREGORY SCHNEIDER

ROSEMAN MEDICAL GROUP

Gregory Schneider, MD, joined Roseman University in 2022 as the medical director for Roseman Medical Group (RMG) and as the Associate Dean for Clinical Education. His primary responsibilities involve developing the clinical aspects of the College of Medicine curriculum, including clinical skills and population health. Dr. Schneider was at the Florida International University (FIU) Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami. There, his medical student teaching focused on clinical skills, ethics, and the social factors involved in health, in addition to practicing family medicine in underserved neighborhoods.

In over 20 years of teaching, he has taught undergraduate literature, philosophy, math, and science, earning tenure at a small liberal arts college; directed medical school courses from medical ethics to literature and medicine to community medicine; and trained family medicine residents in both inpatient and outpatient care. He has his Master of Liberal Arts degree at Southern Methodist University and a Professional Certificate in Screenwriting at the University of California-Los Angeles.

During every stage of his career, he has published on topics ranging from the doctor-patient relationship to strategies for addressing patients’ social needs and has received numerous teaching awards, from small group teaching to large group teaching to student mentorship. He was twice honored with the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award from the Gold Humanism Honor Society and in 2020 was selected Exemplary FullTime Educator of the Year by the Florida Academy of Family Physicians.

When returning to full-time academic medicine at FIU, he saw patients

at underserved clinics in South Florida and helped oversee a medical student home visit program where students assessed patients’ social needs and connected them with medical and social services.

He enjoyed providing care for the un- and under-insured and being a part of courses that exposed students to the social, cultural, and economic factors that influence health. In many ways, his career has come full circle, as he joins the team founding a new medical school here at Roseman that will be committed to serving the local community.

RMG provides high-value, compassionate, and patient-centered care. RMG’s dedicated team of primary care providers offers a wide range of care for adults in order to maintain health, treat illness, and manage chronic diseases. RMG offers adult and geriatric medicine, wellness and preventative visits, immunizations, chronic disease management, and behavioral health service, and often, same-day appointments.

ROSEMAN MEDICAL GROUP

GREGORY SCHNEIDER, MD, MLA

MEDICAL DIRECTOR

5380 S. RAINBOW BLVD, SUITE 120, LAS VEGAS, NV 89118

702.463.4040

ROSEMANMEDICALGROUP.COM

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MYRON'S AT THE SMITH CENTER

Join us for 2 shows September 13-14 in Myron’s at The Smith Center as conguero Poncho Sanchez stirs up a fiery stew of jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and Soul American sources. Sanchez’s deeply personal reimagining of the jazz canon, as well as his own spirited original compositions, affirm his place at the forefront of Latin Jazz’s trailblazers.

TheSmithCenter.com

2024 JAGUAR F-PACE, A SPORTS CAR FOR FIVE.

It’s the refined way F-PACE delivers its athletic performance that really impresses. The 8-speed Automatic Transmission is incredibly responsive, smooth and efficient. And when Dynamic Mode1 is selected in JaguarDrive Control, the acceleration and gear shift points become sharper and more responsive. Also, with Configurable Dynamics1 onboard, you can set up the dynamics so that engine response, gearbox shift points and steering all suit your driving style. Visit Jaguar Las Vegas for a test drive today..

702.579.0400

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Brighton Hospice

COMFORT, DIGNITY AND CARE

Our mission at Brighton Hospice is to provide the best physical, emotional, and spiritual care for our patients and families. We raise the hospice industry standard as our team of professionals works closely across multiple disciplines to create and deliver the best patient care. Brighton recognizes that those faced with a life-limiting illness should focus on living, while we enhance their quality of life. If you or someone you know could benefit from our help, call us today for more information and a complementary assessment.

8925 W Russell Rd #240, Las Vegas, NV 89148

702-790-4013

www.brightonhospice.com

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The valley’s best physicians, as chosen by their peers

DOCTORS

WITH OVER 30 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE researching, reviewing, and selecting Top Doctors, Castle Connolly is a trusted and credible healthcare research and information company. Our mission is to help people find the best healthcare by connecting patients with best-in-class healthcare providers.

Castle Connolly's physician-led team of researchers follows a rigorous screening process to select top doctors on both the national and regional levels. Its online nomination process is open to all licensed physicians in America who are able to nominate physicians in any medical specialty and in any part of the country, as well as indicate whether the nominated physician(s) is, in their opinion, among the best in their region in their medical specialty or among the best in the nation in their medical specialty. Then, Castle Connolly’s research team thoroughly vets each physician’s professional qualifications, education, hospital and faculty appointments, research leadership, professional reputation, disciplinary history and if available, outcomes data. Additionally, a physician’s interpersonal skills such as listening and communicating effectively, demonstrating empathy, and instilling

trust and confidence, are also considered in the review process. The Castle Connolly Doctor Directory is the largest network of peer-nominated physicians in the nation.

In addition to Top Doctors, Castle Connolly’s research team also identifies Rising Stars, early career doctors who are emerging leaders in the medical community.

Physicians selected for inclusion in this magazine's "Top Doctors" and “Rising Stars” feature may also appear online at www.castleconnolly.com, or in conjunction with other Castle Connolly Top Doctors databases online and/or in print.

Castle Connolly is part of Everyday Health Group, a recognized leader in patient and provider education, attracting an engaged audience of over 74 million health consumers and over 890,000 U.S. practicing physicians and clinicians to its premier health and wellness digital properties. Our mission is to drive better clinical and health outcomes through decision-making informed by highly relevant information, data, and analytics. We empower healthcare providers and consumers with trusted content and services delivered through Everyday Health Group’s world-class brands.

Medical specialties are listed alphabetically. Doctors are listed alphabetically beneath those specialty areas, with subspecialties below that. Note that some physicians may require referrals.

✚ ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY

Bob K. Miyake, MD

Allergy Partners of Las Vegas, 6080 South Fort Apache Road, Suite 110, 702.766.3891

Special Expertise: Asthma

A. Sean McKnight, MD

Allergy Partners of Nevada, 2485 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.212.5889

Special Expertise: Allergy, Asthma

Ricardo Vinuya, MD

Optum Allergy, 6190 South Fort Apache Road, 702.724.8844

Special Expertise: Pediatric Allergy & Immunology

Sandy Yip, MD

Southern Nevada Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 2821 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.735.1556

Special Expertise:

Allergy-Adult & Pediatric Food Allergy, Skin Allergies

Victor A. Estrada, MD

Southern Nevada Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 2821 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.735.1556

Special Expertise:

Allergy-Adult & Pediatric, Food Allergy, Skin Allergies

David H. Tottori, MD

Tottori Allergy & Asthma Associates, 4000 East Charleston Boulevard, Suite 100, 702.240.4233

Special Expertise: Asthma & Allergy, Food Allergy

✚

CARDIAC ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY

Niuton Koide, MD

Las Vegas Heart Associates, 2880 North Tenaya Way, Suite 100, 702.962.2200

Special Expertise: Arrhythmias

Foad Moazez, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 460, 702.233.1000

Special Expertise: Arrhythmias, Pacemakers/ Defibrillators

Robert Lewis Baker, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3201 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 400, 702.796.7150

Special Expertise:

Sudden Death Prevention, Radiofrequency Ablation

Arjun V. Gururaj, MD

Nevada Heart & Vascular Center, 401 North Buffalo Drive, Suite 100, 702.227.3422

Special Expertise: Arrhythmias, Catheter Ablation, Atrial Fibrillation

✚ CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Berge J. Dadourian, MD

Ameli-Dadourian Heart Center, 400 South Rampart Boulevard, Suite 240, 702.906.1100

Special Expertise: Peripheral Vascular Disease, Interventional Cardiology

Sean S. Ameli, MD

Ameli-Dadourian Heart Center, 400 South Rampart Boulevard, Suite 240, 702.906.1100

Special Expertise:

Cholesterol/ Lipid Disorders, EchocardiographyTransesophageal

Thomas L. Lambert, MD

Cardiology Specialists of Nevada, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 135, 702.598.3999

Special Expertise: Interventional Cardiology, Heart Failure

Vanessa Gastwirth, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 460, 702.233.1000

Samuel E. Green, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 460, 702.233.1000

Special Expertise: Nuclear Cardiology, EchocardiographyTransesophageal

Patrick C. Hsu, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 460, 702.233.1000

Richard Chen, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3201 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 400, 702.796.7150

Special Expertise: Coronary Artery Disease, Interventional Cardiology, EchocardiographyTransesophageal

Keshav Chander, MD

Smart Heart Care, 8970 West Tropicana Avenue, Suite 6, 702.473.5333

Special Expertise: Cardiac CT Angiography, Echocardiography

✚ CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY

Debora A. Barney, MD

Center for Emotional Health, 6284 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 110, 702.257.0140

Special Expertise: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Depression, Mood Disorders, Psychopharmacology, ADD/ADHD, Eating Disorders

✚ CHILD NEUROLOGY

Monica M. Chacon, MD Neurology Center of Nevada, 2380 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 120, 702.247.9994

Special Expertise: Neurophysiology, Epilepsy

✚ COLON & RECTAL SURGERY

Calvin D. Lyons, MD Colon and Rectal Clinic of Las Vegas, 1330 East Pebble Road, Suite 115, 702.878.8998

Special Expertise: Anorectal Disorders, Colon & Rectal Cancer

Ovunc Bardakcioglu, MD

UNLV Medicine, Department of Surgery, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 160 702.671.5150

Special Expertise: Minimally Invasive Surgery, Colon & Rectal Cancer, Hemorrhoids, Robotic Surgery

✚ DERMATOLOGY

Candace Thornton Spann, MD, Couture Dermatology & Plastic Surgery, 9950 West Flamingo Road, 702.998.9001

Special Expertise: Hair Loss in Women, Acne, Botox, Cosmetic Dermatology

Michael G. Bryan, MD Las Vegas Skin & Cancer Clinics, 400 North Stephanie Street, Suite 400, 702.933.0225

Special Expertise: Hair & Nail Disorders Mohs Surgery

Robert B. Strimling, MD

Strimling Dermatology, Laser & Vein Institute, 10105 Banburry Cross Drive, Suite 350, 702.243.6400

Special Expertise: Mohs Surgery Laser Surgery Varicose Veins

Lionel J. Handler, MD

Strimling Dermatology, Laser & Vein Institute, 10105 Banburry Cross Drive, Suite 350,

702.243.6400

Special Expertise: Pediatric Dermatology, Laser Surgery

Miriam Bettencourt, MD Thomas Dermatology, 2871 Saint Rose Parkway, Suite 130, 702.430.5333

Special Expertise: Melanoma, Mohs Surgery

Matthew Hand, MD Thomas Dermatology, 6170 North Durango Drive, Suite 140, 702.430.5333

Special Expertise: Mohs Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery

Victoria G. Farley, MD

Vivida Dermatology, 2110 East Flamingo Road, Suite 213, 702.255.6647

Special Expertise: Cosmetic Dermatology, Dermatologic Surgery, Psoriasis

Douglas Fife, MD

Vivida Dermatology, 6460 Medical Center Street, Suite 200 and 350, 702.255.6647

Special Expertise: Mohs Surgery

Mac L. Machan, MD Vivida Dermatology, 6460 Medical Center Street, Suite 200 and 350, 702.255.6647

Special Expertise: Mohs Surgery Reconstructive Surgery

✚ DEVELOPMENTALBEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS

Mario J. Gaspar de Alba, MD

Grant A Gift Autism Foundation - Ackerman Center, 630 South Rancho Drive, Suite A, 702.998.9505

Special Expertise: Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADD/ADHD

✚ DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY

Lisa K. Wong, MD Desert Radiology, 2020 Palomino Lane, Suite 100, 702.759.8600

Special Expertise: Pediatric Radiology

Dianne Mazzu, MD

Desert Radiology, 2020 Palomino Lane, Suite 100, 702.759.8600

Special Expertise: Body Imaging Mammography CT Scan

Alan Weissman, MD

Desert Radiology, 2020 Palomino Lane, Suite 100, 702.759.8600

Special Expertise: Cancer Imaging Musculoskeletal Imaging

Rajneesh Agrawal, MD

Desert Radiology, 2020 Palomino Lane, Suite 100, 702.759.8600

Special Expertise: Neuroradiology Interventional Radiology

Galen B. Hewell, MD

Red Rock Radiology, 7130 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 101, 702.527.8945

✚ ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES & METABOLISM

Brian A. Berelowitz, MD 653 North Town Center Drive, 702.804.9486

Special Expertise: Diabetes

W. Reid Litchfield, MD

Desert Endocrinology, 2415 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.434.8400

Special Expertise: Diabetes, Thyroid Disorders

Quang T. Nguyen, DO Las Vegas Endocrinology, 229 North Pecos Road, Suite 100, 702.605.5750

Special Expertise: Hypertension, Metabolic Syndrome

Omid O. Rad Pour, MD Palm Medical Group, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 306, 702.696.7256

Special Expertise: Diabetes, Metabolic Disorders

Maryam Rivaz, MD Palm Medical Group, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 306, 702.696.7256

Amber Champion, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Endocrinology, 1707 West

Charleston Boulevard, Suite 290 702.671.6469

Special Expertise: Diabetes, Thyroid Disorders

Kenneth Izuora, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Endocrinology, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 290 702.660.8658

Special Expertise: Diabetes

✚ FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY/ OTOLARYNGOLOGY

Sina Nasri-Chenijani, MD 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 340, 702.804.4729

Special Expertise:

Head & Neck Surgery, Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Thyroid & Parathyroid Surgery

Robert J. Troell, MD Beauty By Design, 53754 Apache Road, Suite 101, 702.242.6488

Special Expertise: Facial Plastic Surgery Eyelid Surgery/ Blepharoplasty, Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery

✚ FAMILY MEDICINE

Lisa Haworth, MD

2482 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 110, 702.719.6003

Special Expertise: Concierge Medicine

Shari Klein, DO 8571 West Lake Mead Boulevard, Suite 100, 702.545.0283

Special Expertise: Concierge Medicine

Sungwook S. Kim, MD

Brighton Family Medicine, 1720 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 140, 702.566.5445

Michael Gunter, MD

Canyon Trails Family Practice, 7455 West Washington Avenue, Suite 445, 702.804.5138

Special Expertise:

Primary Care Sports Medicine, Concierge Medicine

Lara Wenner, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 1302 West Craig Road, Suite A, 702.473.8380

Special Expertise: Geriatric Medicine

Sunita B. Kalra, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 9077 South Pecos Road, Suite 3800, 702.947.1940

Barry Nahin, MD

Nahin Concierge Care, 8960 West Tropicana Avenue, Suite 100, 702.385.9505

Special Expertise: Concierge Medicine

Darren Rahaman, MD

Nevada Health Centers, 1799 Mount Mariah Drive, 702.383.1961

Jenny C. Ha, MD

Siena Hills Primary Care, 2789 Sunridge Heights Parkway, Suite 100, 702.614.0850

Special Expertise: Telemedicine

Kimberly Adams, MD

Total Wellness Family Medicine, 5225 South Durango Drive, 702.476.0434

Special Expertise: HIV/AIDS, Adolescent Medicine, Chronic Illness, Preventive Medicine

✚ GASTROENTEROLOGY

Tarek Ammar, MD

Comprehensive Digestive Institute of Nevada, 9260 West Sunset Road, Suite 306, 702.483.4483

Special Expertise: Endoscopic Ultrasound, Pancreatic & Biliary Disease, Digestive Disorders

Christian Diaz Stone, MD

Comprehensive Digestive Institute of Nevada, 9260 West Sunset Road, Suite 306, 702.483.4483

Special Expertise: Inflammatory Bowel, Disease/Crohn's, Colitis, Colon & Rectal Cancer

David Quan Shih, MD/PhD

Comprehensive Digestive Institute of Nevada, 9260 West Sunset Road, Suite 306, 702.483.4483

Special Expertise:

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), Barrett's Esophagus, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Colon Cancer Screening

Gary Chen, MD

Comprehensive Digestive Institute of Nevada, 9260 West Sunset Road, Suite 306, 702.483.4483

Special Expertise: Digestive Disorders, Barrett's Esophagus, Colonoscopy

Andrew I. Kim, MD

Comprehensive Digestive Institute of Nevada, 9260 West Sunset Road, Suite 306, 702.483.4483

Special Expertise: Colonoscopy & Polypectomy, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), Swallowing Disorders

Nikhil Karanth, MD

Digestive Associates, 866 Seven Hills Drive, Suite 104, 702.633.0207

Special Expertise: Liver Disease, Endoscopy

Gregory M. Kwok, MD

Gastroenterology

Associates, 6950 South Cimarron Road, Suite 200, 702.796.0231

Special Expertise: Gastrointestinal Functional Disorders, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

Frank J. Nemec, MD

Gastroenterology

Associates, 6950 South Cimarron Road, Suite 200, 702 796 0231

Special Expertise: Gastrointestinal Functional Disorders

Digestive Disorders

Brent R. Burnette, MD

Gastroenterology

Associates, 6950 South Cimarron Road, Suite 200, 702.796.0231

Special Expertise: Gastrointestinal Disorders

Vishal Gandotra, MD

Vegas Gastroenterology, 5701 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 201, 702.750.0313

Special Expertise: Colonoscopy, Endoscopy

✚

GERIATRIC MEDICINE

Esteban Hennings, MD Humanitas Primary Care, 3201 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 512, 702.685.7700

✚ HAND SURGERY

Andrew J. Bronstein, MD Bronstein Hand Center, 10135 West Twain Avenue, Suite 100, 702.458.4263

Special Expertise: Wrist Reconstruction, Elbow Surgery, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Arthritis, Arthroscopic Surgery, Fractures-Complex, Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, Hand & Wrist Injuries

Olivia J. Wang, MD Bronstein Hand Center, 10135 West Twain Avenue, Suite 100, 702.458.4263

Special Expertise: Hand & Wrist Surgery, Sports Injuries

Walter J. Song, MD

Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Shoulder Surgery, Rotator Cuff Surgery, Hand & Elbow Nerve Disorders, Elbow Fractures/Dislocations

James Vahey, MD

Hand Center of Nevada, 8585 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 100, 702.798.8585

Special Expertise: Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery

David Fadell, DO Hand Surgery Specialists of Nevada, 9321 West Sunset Road, 702.645.7800

Special Expertise: Trauma, Arthritis, Shoulder Surgery, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Daniel T. Kokmeyer, MD Hand Surgery Specialists of Nevada, 9321 West Sunset Road, 702.645.7800

Special Expertise: Hand & Upper Extremity, Surgery, Trauma, Sports Injuries, Joint Replacement

Kevin R. Golshani, MD Nevada Orthopedic & Spine Center, 1505 Wigwam Parkway, 702.878.0393

Special Expertise: Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery

✚ INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Brian J. Lipman, MD 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 407, 702.909.7170

Special Expertise: HIV/AIDS, Pneumonia

Kathleen Wairimu, MD Infection Doctors, 2810 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 48, 702.343.7610

Chukwudum Uche, MD, Infectious Disease Associates & Travel Medicine Clinic, 5770 South Durango Drive, Suite 105, 702.737.0740

Special Expertise: HIV, Hepatitis

Ronald A. Shockley, MD Infectious Disease Partners, 3483 South Eastern Avenue, Floor 2, 702.309.2311

Special Expertise: HIV/AIDS

Fadi El-Salibi, MD, Infectious Diseases of Southern Nevada, 825 North Gibson Road, Suite 311, 702.776.8300

Special Expertise: HIV/AIDS

✚ INTERNAL MEDICINE

Russell N. Neibaur, MD Concierge Care Physicians, 2450 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 150, 702.990.0622

Raji Venkat, MD

Dignity Health Medical Group, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 101, 702.616.5801

Steven P. Winkler, MD

Dignity Health Medical Group, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 402, 702.617.8684

Special Expertise: Concierge Medicine

Rama Harouni, MD

Harouni Concierge Care, 8960 West Tropicana Avenue, Suite 100, 702.385.9505

Special Expertise: Preventive Medicine, Concierge Medicine

John S. Hou, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 4275 Burnham Avenue, Suite 255, 702.369.0088

Marija Krstic, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 4275 Burnham Avenue, Suite 255, 702.369.0088

Afi Y. Bruce, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 4275 Burnham Avenue, Suite 255, 702.369.0088

Bashab Banerji, MD Internal Medicine Clinic, 5731 South Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, 702.740.5311

Special Expertise: Asthma, Pulmonary Disease, Diabetes Management, Emphysema, Hypertension

Candice H. Tung, MD

Jerry Schwartz & Associates, 7395 South Pecos Road, Suite 102, 702.737.8657

Special Expertise: Concierge Medicine, Diabetes

Mohammed Najmi, MD Primary and Senior Care, 7170 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 110, 702.463.3333

Special Expertise: Chronic Illness, Eating Disorders

Sandhya Wahi Gururaj, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 230, 702.671.5060

Special Expertise: Preventive Medicine, Hypertension

John A. Varras, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 230, 702.671.5060

Special Expertise: Weight Management, Diabetes, Preventive Medicine

Aditi Singh, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 230, 702.671.5060

Henry H. Wang, MD

Wang Medical, 1346 South Decatur Boulevard, 702.889.8355

✚ INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY

James A. Lally, MD Heart Center of Nevada, 700 Shadow Lane, Suite 240, 702.384.0022

Special Expertise: Arrhythmias

John B. Bedotto, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 320, 702.534.5464

Janmejay J. Patel, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 320, 702.534.5464

Navid Kazemi, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 460, 702.233.1000

Special Expertise: Arrhythmias, Coronary Artery Disease

Tariq S. Marroush, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 460, 702.233.1000

Jawad G. Kiani, MD

Nevada Cardiology Associates, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 460, 702.233.1000

Special Expertise: Transcatheter Aortic Valve. Replacement (TAVR), Coronary Angioplasty/ Stents, Atrial Septal Defect, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Cres P. Miranda, MD

Nevada Heart & Vascular Center, 401 North Buffalo Drive, Suite 100, 702.227.3422

Special Expertise: Coronary Angioplasty/ Stents, Preventive Cardiology

Sanjay Malhotra, MD

Nevada Heart & Vascular Center, 4275 Burnham Avenue, Suite 100, 702.227.3422

Dalia Hawwass, MD

Nevada Heart & Vascular Center, 4275 Burnham Avenue, Suite 100, 702.227.3422

✚ MATERNAL & FETAL MEDICINE

Sean M. Keeler, MD

Desert Perinatal Associates, 5761 South Fort Apache Road, 702.341.6610

Special Expertise: Premature Labor

Mary L. Khine-Stickler, MD

Desert Perinatal Associates, 5761 South Fort Apache Road, 702.341.6610

Stephen M. Wold, MD

High Risk Pregnancy Center, 2011 Pinto Lane, Suite 200, 702.382.3200

Special Expertise: High-Risk Pregnancy

Brian K. Iriye, MD

High Risk Pregnancy Center, 2011 Pinto Lane, Suite 200, 702.382.3200

Special Expertise: Prenatal Diagnosis, Ultrasound, Multiple Gestation, High-Risk Pregnancy

Manijeh Kamyar, MD

High Risk Pregnancy Center, 2011 Pinto Lane, Suite 200, 702.382.3200

Special Expertise: High-Risk Pregnancy

Wilson H. Huang, MD

High Risk Pregnancy Center, 880 Seven Hills Drive, Suite 260, 702.382.3200

Special Expertise: Prematurity/Low Birth Weight Infants, Ultrasound

✚ MEDICAL ONCOLOGY

Ann M. Wierman, MD 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 200, 702.749.3700

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Lymphoma, Hematology

Rupesh J. Parikh, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 108, 702.952.3444

Special Expertise: Hematology

Khoi M. Dao, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 108, 702.952.3444

Special Expertise: Hematologic Malignancies, Colon Cancer

Regan Holdridge, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 1505 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 130, 702.856.1400

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Hematology

Anthony V. Nguyen, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 1505 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 130, 702.856.1400

Special Expertise: Gastrointestinal Cancer, Lung Cancer, Hematology

Stephani Christensen, MD Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 1505 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 130, 702.856.1400

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Hematology

Ramalingam

Ratnasabapathy, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 2460 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, 702.822.2000

Special Expertise: Hematology

Muhammad S. Ghani, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 2460 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, 702.822.2000

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Bone Marrow Transplant, Lung Cancer, Hematology

Restituto Tibayan, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 2460 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, 702.822.2000

Special Expertise: Hematology

H. Keshava-Prasad, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 3730 South Eastern Avenue, 702.952.3400

Special Expertise: Leukemia & Lymphoma, Lung Cancer

Edwin Kingsley, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 3730 South Eastern Avenue, 702.952.3400

Special Expertise: Hematologic Malignancies

Fadi S. Braiteh, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 3730 South Eastern Avenue, 702.952.3400

Special Expertise: Gastrointestinal Cancer, Lung Cancer, Colon & Rectal Cancer, Castleman Disease

Liawaty Ho, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 3730 South Eastern Avenue, 702.952.3400

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer

Henry Igid, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 402, 702.243.7200

Special Expertise: Anemia, Multiple Myeloma, Lung Cancer,

Wolfram E. Samlowski, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.952.1251

Special Expertise: Melanoma, Sarcoma, Merkel Cell Carcinoma, Skin Cancer

Oscar B. Goodman, MD/PhD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.952.1251

Special Expertise: Genitourinary Cancer, Prostate Cancer

Hamidreza Sanatinia, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.952.1251

Special Expertise: Hematology

Karen S. Jacks, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.952.1251

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Gynecologic Cancers

Vikas Gupta, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.952.1251

Special Expertise: Hematology

Clark S. Jean, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada Northwest, 7445 Peak Drive, 702.952.2140

Special Expertise: Hematologic Malignancies, Leukemia & Lymphoma

Anuradha Thummala, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada Northwest, 7445 Peak Drive, 702.952.2140

Steven W. Yates, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 3131 La Canada Street, Suite 140, 702.735.7154

Russell Gollard, MD

Optum Cancer Care, 2300 West Charleston Boulevard, 702.724.8787

Special Expertise: Hematology

✚ NEONATAL-PERINATAL MEDICINE

Elmer S. David, MD

A Las Vegas Medical Group, 4043 East Sunset Road, 702.733.0744

Special Expertise: Neonatal Nutrition

✚ NEPHROLOGY

Jay K. Chu, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Bindu Khanna, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Special Expertise: Fluid/Electrolyte Balance, Glomerulonephritis

Vincent Yang, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Special Expertise: Diabetes, Hypertension, Kidney Stones

Chidi C. Okafor, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Special Expertise: Hypertension, Dialysis Care

Adin Boldur, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Special Expertise: Hypertension, Kidney Failure

Syed I. Shah, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Special Expertise: Transplant Medicine-Kidney

Lawrence M. Lehrner, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Special Expertise: Chronic Kidney Disease

Deepak Nandikanti, MD

Kidney Specialists of Southern Nevada, 1294 South Jones Boulevard, 702.877.1887

Dijana Jefic, MD

Las Vegas Kidney & Hypertension Specialists, 229 North Pecos Road, Suite 120, 702.629.7510

Samuel A. Kantor, MD

Nevada Kidney Disease & Hypertension Centers, 1581 Mount Mariah Drive, Suite 150, 702.851.7766

Special Expertise: Kidney Disease

Marwan Takieddine, MD

Nevada Kidney Disease & Hypertension Centers, 2450 Fire Mesa Street, Suite 110, 702.732.1586

Special Expertise: Hypertension, Cholesterol/Lipid Disorders

Radhika R. Janga, MD

Nevada Kidney Disease & Hypertension Centers, 5815 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 110, 702.732.1586

✚ NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY

Jason E. Garber, MD

Las Vegas Neurosurgical Institute, 3012 South Durango Drive, 702.835.0088

Special Expertise: Spinal Surgery, Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery, Peripheral Nerve Surgery

Michael E. Seiff, MD

The Spine & Brain Institute, 8530 West Sunset Road, Suite 250, 702.851.0792

Special Expertise: Brain & Spinal Surgery, Chiari Malformations

Derek A. Duke, MD

The Spine & Brain Institute, 861 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 200, 702.896.0940

Special Expertise: Brain & Spinal Surgery, Spinal Surgery

✚ NEUROLOGY

Lydia B. Estanislao, MD 4206 West Charleston Boulevard, 702.331.6709

Charles Bernick, MD

Cleveland Clinic, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, 888 West Bonneville Avenue, 702.483.6000

Special Expertise: Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease

Dylan P. Wint, MD

Cleveland Clinic, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, 888 West Bonneville Avenue, 702.483.6000

Special Expertise: Neurodegenerative Disorders, NeuroPsychiatry, Behavioral Neurology

Le Hua, MD

Cleveland Clinic, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, 888 West Bonneville Avenue, 702.483.6000

Special Expertise: Multiple Sclerosis, Neuro-Immunology

Zoltan Mari, MD

Cleveland Clinic, Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, 888 West Bonneville Avenue, 702.483.6000

Special Expertise: Movement Disorders, Parkinson’s Disease

Shanker N. Dixit, MD Neurology Center of Las Vegas, 2480 Professional Court, 702.405.7100

Special Expertise: Clinical Neurophysiology, Stroke, Headache, Cerebrovascular Disease

Christopher Milford, MD Neurology Clinics of Nevada, 1621 East Flamingo Road, Suite 16A, 702.956.0996

Special Expertise: Clinical Neurophysiology, Electromyography (EMG)

Abraham J. Nagy, MD Nevada Headache Institute, 400 South Rampart Boulevard, Suite 295, 702.432.3224

Special Expertise: Headache

✚ NUCLEAR MEDICINE

Bharat Reddy Mocherla, MD Las Vegas Medical Research, 8530 West Sunset Road, Suite 300, 702.750.0222

Special Expertise: PET Imaging, CT Scan

✚ OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY

Jacob Skinner, MD

Complete Care ObGYN, 1528 West Warm Springs Road, Suite 100, 702.213.5601

Special Expertise: Obstetrics Only

Kevin Hsiung, MD

Complete Care ObGYN, 1528 West Warm Springs Road, Suite 100, 702.213.5601

Special Expertise: Menstrual Disorders, Pregnancy

Golnaz R. Alemi, MD

Dr. Nader and Associates OB/GYN, 1815 East Lake Mead Boulevard, Suite 215, 702.818.1919

®

IS OUR PASSION Your Heart Health

For more than five decades, Valley Hospital Medical Center has offered quality cardiovascular care to the Las Vegas area. We are equipped to treat many heart-related issues, including heart attack, stroke and more.

Our heart care includes:

• Cardioversions

• Coronary artery disease care

• Pacemaker and AICD implants

• Thrombectomies

• Transesophageal echocardiograms

• Vascular procedures

Donna M. Miller, MD For Women OB/GYN, 861 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 131, 725.777.0414

Special Expertise: High-Risk Pregnancy, Pap Smear Abnormalities

Philip G. McLemore, MD My OBGYN, 6850 North Durango Drive, Suite 401, 702.463.2981

Special Expertise: Women’s Health, Pregnancy

Staci L. McHale, MD New Beginnings OB-GYN, 8850 West Sunset Road, Suite 110, 702.740.0500

Special Expertise: High-Risk Pregnancy

Nadia A. Gomez, MD UNLV Medicine, Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic, 3196 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 303, 702.660.8658

Special Expertise: Minimally Invasive Surgery, Robotic Surgery, Pain-Pelvic, Endometriosis

Edmond E. Pack, MD

Women’s Health Associates of Southern Nevada, 2580 Saint Rose Parkway, Suite 140, 702.862.8862

Special Expertise: Minimally Invasive Surgery, Endometriosis, Robotic Surgery

Amit Garg, MD

Women’s Health Associates of Southern Nevada, 2580 Saint Rose Parkway, Suite 140, 702.862.8862

Special Expertise: Menstrual Disorders, Pregnancy

Tammy Reynolds, MD

Women’s Health Associates of Southern Nevada, 2880 North Tenaya Way, Suite 420, 702.255.2022

Special Expertise: Gynecologic Surgery

John V. Martin, MD

Women’s Health Associates of Southern Nevada, 2880 North Tenaya Way, Suite 420, 702.255.2022

Special Expertise: Pregnancy

Jeffrey Hart, MD

Center For Sight, 5871 West Craig Road, 702.724.2020

Mark W. Doubrava, MD

Eye Care for Nevada, The Lakes Business Park, 9011 West Sahara Avenue, Suite 101, 702.794.2020

Special Expertise: LASIK-Refractive Surgery, Cataract Surgery, Cornea Transplant

Grace S. Shin, MD

Ideal EyeCare, 6028 South Fort Apache Road, Suite 101, 702.896.2020

Special Expertise: Pediatric Ophthalmology, Cataract Surgery, Macular Disease/Degeneration

Matthew Swanic, MD

Las Vegas Eye Institute, 9555 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 260, 702.816.2525

Special Expertise: Cataract Surgery, Corneal Disease, LASIK-Refractive Surgery, Uveitis

C. Edward Yee, MD

Las Vegas Ophthalmology, 5052 South Jones Boulevard, Suite 175, 702.362.3937

Special Expertise: Corneal Disease & Surgery, LASIKRefractive Surgery

Charles M. Calvo, MD

Meadows Eye Physicians & Surgeons, 1820 East Desert Inn Road, 702.358.0472

Special Expertise: Retinal Disorders

Matthew Pezda, MD

Meadows Eye Physicians & Surgeons, 2749 Sunridge Heights Parkway, 702.358.0472

Special Expertise:

Diabetic Eye Disease/Retinopathy, Macular Disease/Degeneration, Retinal Vascular Diseases,

Surjeet Singh, MD

Nevada Eye Physicians, 1505 Wigwam Parkway, 702.896.6043

Special Expertise: Cataract Surgery, LASIK-Refractive Surgery

Helga F. Pizio, MD

New Eyes, 2020 Wellness Way, Suite 402, 702.485.5000

Special Expertise: Cataract Surgery

Ksenia A. Stafeeva, MD

New Eyes, 2020 Wellness Way, Suite 402, 702.485.5000

Special Expertise: Corneal Disease, Cornea & Refractive Surgery

Emily Schorr, MD

New Eyes, 2020 Wellness Way, Suite 402, 702.485.5000

Special Expertise: Cornea Transplant

Rodney Hollifield, MD

Retina Consultants of Nevada, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 518, 702.369.0200

Special Expertise: Retina/Vitreous Surgery

The road to better starts here.

Searching for a higher level of healthcare in Las Vegas? At ArchWell Health, you’ll enjoy a community of caring that’s totally focused on you and your needs as an older adult. Plus, we’re:

• Right in your neighborhood

• Ready to see you today

• On a first-name basis with our members

Jason Craig Wickens, MD

Retina Consultants of Nevada, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 518, 702.369.0200

Special Expertise: Retina/Vitreous Surgery, Macular Degeneration

Meher Yepremyan, MD

Retina Consultants of Nevada, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 518, 702.369.0200

Special Expertise: Retinal Disorders, Retina/ Vitreous Surgery

Judy C. Liu, MD

Retina Consultants of Nevada, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 518, 702.369.0200

Special Expertise: Retinal Disorders, Macular Degeneration, Retinal Vascular Diseases, Uveitis, Retinal Detachment

Timothy Perozek, MD

See Right Now, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 212, 702.982.1360

Special Expertise: Glaucoma, Diabetic Eye Disease/Retinopathy

Adam J. Rovit, MD

Shepherd Eye Center, 2475 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, 702.731.2088

Steven N. Montgomery, MD

Shepherd Eye Center, 3575 PecosMcLeod Interconnect, 702.731.2088

Joyce H. Cassen, MD/PhD

Shepherd Eye Center, 3575 PecosMcLeod Interconnect, 702.731.2088

Special Expertise: Glaucoma

Carolyn Ann Cruvant, MD Shepherd Eye Center, 3575 PecosMcLeod Interconnect, 702.731.2088

Robert B. Taylor, MD Shepherd Eye Center, 6850 North Durango Drive, Suite 404, 702.731.2088

Tushina A. Reddy, MD

Shepherd Eye Center, 6850 North Durango Drive, Suite 404, 702.731.2088

Ravindranath Reddy, MD

Shepherd Eye Center, 6850 North Durango Drive, Suite 404, 702.731.2088

Special Expertise: Eyelid Surgery/ Blepharoplasty

Brian Alder, MD

Shepherd Eye Center, 6850 North Durango Drive, Suite 404, 702.731.2088

Special Expertise: Corneal Disease

Raymond Theodosis, MD

Shepherd Eye Center, 6850 North Durango Drive, Suite 404, 702.731.2088

Janet Lee, MD

Shepherd Eye Center, 6850 North Durango Drive, Suite 404, 702.731.2088

Special Expertise: Glaucoma

William N. May, MD

Wellish Vision Institute, 10424 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 100, 702.733.2020

Special Expertise: Cataract Surgery, Dry Eye Syndrome, Cornea & External Eye Disease, Laser Refractive Surgery, Telemedicine

Tigran Kostanyan, MD

Wellish Vision Institute, 10424 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 100, 702.733.2020

Special Expertise: Glaucoma, Cataract Surgery, Dry Eye Syndrome, Diabetic Eye Disease/Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration, Optic Nerve Disorders

Kent L. Wellish, MD

Wellish Vision Institute, 2110 East Flamingo Road, Suite 210, 702.733.2020

Special Expertise: Corneal Disease & Surgery, LASIK-Refractive Surgery, Dry Eye Syndrome, Glaucoma, PRK-Refractive Surgery, Cornea Transplant, Telemedicine

Eissa Hanna, MD

Wellish Vision Institute, 2555 Box Canyon Drive, 702.733.2020

Special Expertise: Cataract-Complex, Intraocular Lens

Ethan Wonchon Lin, MD Westwood Eye, 5380 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 108, 702.570.2820

Special Expertise: Cataract Surgery, Corneal Disease & Transplant

✚ ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY

Bernard C. Ong, MD 8551 West Lake Mead Boulevard, Suite 251, 702.796.7979

Special Expertise: Joint Replacement, Sports Medicine, Knee Reconstruction, Arthroscopic Surgery, Rotator Cuff Surgery

Randall E. Yee, DO

Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, 7195 Advanced Way, 702.740.5327

Special Expertise: Arthroscopic Surgery, Cartilage Damage & Transplant

Timothy James Trainor, MD

Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, 7195 Advanced Way, 702.740.5327

Special Expertise: Arthroscopic Surgery, Shoulder & Knee Surgery, Fractures

Deirdre D. Ryan, MD Children’s Bone & Spine Surgery, 1525 East Windmill Lane, Suite 201, 702.434.6920

Special Expertise: Neuromuscular Disorders, Trauma

Jason H. Nielson, MD

Children’s Bone & Spine Surgery, 1525 East Windmill Lane, Suite 201, 702.434.6920

Special Expertise: Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Pediatric Sports Medicine, Arthroscopic Surgery-Hip

David G. Stewart, MD Cure 4 The Kids Foundation, 1 Breakthrough Way, 702.732.1493

Special Expertise: Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Scoliosis

Andrew Cash, MD Desert Institute of Spine Care, 9339 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.630.3472

Special Expertise: Spinal Surgery, Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery

Michael Miao, MD

Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.4088

Special Expertise: Arthroscopic SurgeryShoulder, Arthroscopic Surgery-Knee, Reconstructive Surgery

Troy S. Watson, MD Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.4088

Special Expertise: Foot & Ankle Surgery

Archie C. Perry, MD

Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Spinal Surgery-Pediatric & Adult, Spinal Surgery-Low Back, Spinal DisordersDegenerative, Spinal Deformity, Scoliosis, Sports Medicine

Lawrence R. Huff, MD Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Shoulder SurgeryComplex, Shoulder Replacement, Elbow Replacement, Elbow Injuries, Rotator Cuff Surgery, Trauma, Fractures

Roger A. Fontes, MD Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Knee & Shoulder Surgery, Knee & Shoulder Pain, Joint Replacement, Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery

Richard S. Woodworth, MD Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.4088

Special Expertise:

Hip & Knee Surgery, Joint Replacement, Sports Injuries

Kyle J. Hancock, MD Desert Orthopaedic Center, 8402 West Centennial Parkway, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Sports Medicine, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Arthroscopic SurgeryShoulder, Arthroscopic Surgery-Knee, Elbow Injuries

Chad M. Hanson, MD Desert Orthopaedic Center, 8689 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 105, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Arthroscopic Surgery, Shoulder & Knee Injuries, Elbow Surgery

Michael D. Thomas, MD Nevada Orthopedic & Spine Center, 7455 West Washington Avenue, Suite 160, 702.258.3773

Special Expertise: Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, Scoliosis

Steven R. Hoer, MD Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson, 10561 Jeffreys Street, Suite 230, 702.565.6565

Special Expertise: Joint Replacement, Shoulder Surgery, Hip Surgery

Carl B. Wallis, MD Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson, 10561 Jeffreys Street, Suite 230, 702.565.6565

Special Expertise: Joint Reconstruction

Roman Sibel, MD Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Institute, 3175 Saint Rose Parkway, Suite 320, 702.997.9833

Special Expertise: Foot & Ankle Deformities, Charcot Foot, Diabetic Leg/Foot, Reconstructive Surgery

STEPHANI CHRISTENSEN, MD Medical Oncology

REGAN HOLDRIDGE, MD Medical Oncology HENRY P. IGID, MD Medical Oncology

ANDREW M. COHEN, MD Radiation Oncology

DAN L. CURTIS, MD Radiation Oncology

SOUZAN EL-EID, MD, FACS Surgery

KAREN S. JACKS, MD Medical Oncology

WOLFRAM SAMLOWSKI, MD, FACP Medical Oncology

CLARK S. JEAN, MD Medical Oncology

HAMIDREZA SANATINIA, MD Medical Oncology

MARGARET A. TERHAR, MD, FACS Surgery NISARG CHANGAWALA, MD, MPH Pulmonary Disease

to 2024’s Top Doctors

Comprehensive Cancer Centers would like to congratulate all of Desert Companion’s 2024 Top Doctors, including the 34 physicians from our practice who are being honored. You come from different specialties and practices, but together you are changing the landscape of healthcare in our community. Your commitment to a higher standard is cultivating a healthier Southern Nevada.

KHOI DAO, MD Medical Oncology

EDWIN C. KINGSLEY, MD Medical Oncology

FARZANEH FARZIN, MD Radiation Oncology

MUHAMMAD S. GHANI, MD Medical Oncology

ANTHONY V. NGUYEN, MD Medical Oncology

ANU THUMMALA, MD Medical Oncology

RAUL T. MEOZ, MD, FACR Radiation Oncology

H. KESHAVA PRASAD, MD, FRCP, FRCPath Medical Oncology

MICHAEL T. SINOPOLI, MD Radiation Oncology W. ANDREW WANG, MD Radiation Oncology

VIKAS GUPTA, MD Medical Oncology LIAWATY HO, MD Medical Oncology

RUPESH J. PARIKH, MD Medical Oncology

RESTY TIBAYAN, MD Medical Oncology

JOHN (JACK) COLLIER, MD, FCCP, DABSM Pulmonary Disease

GEORGE S. TU, MD, FCCP, DABSM Pulmonary Disease

JOHN J. WOJCIK, MD, FCCP, DABSM Pulmonary Disease

MATTHEW SCHWARTZ, MD Radiation Oncology

OSCAR B. GOODMAN, JR., MD, PhD Medical Oncology RAM RATNASABAPATHY, MD Medical Oncology

MICHAEL J. ANDERSON, MD Radiation Oncology

FADI BRAITEH, MD Medical Oncology

Joseph Yu, MD

Total Sports Medicine & Orthopedics, 10105 Banburry Cross Drive, Suite 445, 702.475.4390

Special Expertise: Sports Medicine, Joint Replacement, Cartilage Damage, Rotator Cuff Surgery

Erik N. Kubiak, MD University Medical Center, Orthopedic & Spine Institute, 2231 West Charleston Boulevard, 702.383.2663

Special Expertise: Reconstructive Surgery

✚ OTOLARYNGOLOGY

Walter W. Schroeder, MD Ear, Nose & Throat Consultants of Nevada, 3195 Saint Rose Parkway, Suite 210, 702.792.6700

Special Expertise:

Head & Neck Surgery, Nasal Surgery

Sean David Palacios, MD Nevada Ear & Sinus Institute, 3692 East Sunset Road, 702.735.7668

Special Expertise: Neurotology, Hearing & Balance Disorders, Sinus Disorders/Surgery

Randall T. Weingarten, MD Southern Nevada ENT, 10410 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 110, 702.617.9599

Special Expertise: Head & Neck Surgery, Thyroid & Parathyroid Surgery

Robert C. Wang, MD UNLV Medicine, Ear Nose and Throat Clinic, 5320 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 250, 702.671.6480

Special Expertise: Head & Neck Surgery

Matthew Ng, MD UNLV Medicine, Ear

Nose and Throat Clinic, 5320 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 250, 702.671.6480

Special Expertise: Neurotology, Skull Base Surgery, Acoustic Neuroma/Schwannoma

Jo-Lawrence Bigcas, MD

UNLV Medicine, Ear

Nose and Throat Clinic, 5320 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 250, 702.671.6480

Special Expertise: Head & Neck Cancer & Surgery, Skull Base Surgery

✚ PAIN MEDICINE

S. Andrew Park, MD Desert Orthopaedic Center, 8402 West Centennial Parkway, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Non-Opioid Pain Management, PainInterventional Techniques, Spinal Cord Stimulation

Ho Viet Dzung, MD

Innovative Pain Care Center, 9920 West Cheyenne Avenue, Suite 110, 702.684.7246

Special Expertise: Pain-Back & Neck

Daniel L. Burkhead, MD

Innovative Pain Care Center, 9920 West Cheyenne Avenue, Suite 110, 702.684.7246

Special Expertise: Pain-Chronic, PainInterventional Techniques

Andrew M. Hall, MD

Relevium Pain Specialists, 6064 South Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, 702.940.8007

Special Expertise: Interventional Pain Management

Katherine D. Travnicek, MD

Relevium Pain Specialists, 7435 West Azure Drive, Suite 190, 702.940.8007

Special Expertise: Pain Management

Anthony Ruggeroli, MD

Ruggeroli & Helmi Pain Specialists, 9159 West Flamingo Road, Suite 100, 702.307.7700

Special Expertise: Pain-Musculoskeletal, Pain-Interventional Techniques

✚ PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGY

William N. Evans, MD

Children’s Heart Center

Nevada, 3131 La Canada Street, Suite 230, 702.732.1290

Gary A. Mayman, MD

Children’s Heart Center

Nevada, 3131 La Canada Street, Suite 230, 702.732.1290

Special Expertise: Fetal Echocardiography

Alvaro Galindo, MD

Children’s Heart Center Nevada, 3131 La Canada Street, Suite 230, 702.732.1290

Special Expertise: Interventional Cardiology, Cardiac Catheterization

Ruben J. Acherman, MD

Children’s Heart Center Nevada, 3131 La Canada Street, Suite 230, 702.732.1290

Special Expertise: Neonatal Cardiology, Arrhythmias

William J. Castillo, MD

Children’s Heart Center Nevada, 3131 La Canada Street, Suite 230, 702.732.1290

Special Expertise: Fetal Cardiology, Echocardiography

Abraham Rothman, MD

Children’s Heart Center Nevada, 3131 La Canada Street, Suite 230, 702.732.1290

Special Expertise: Interventional Cardiology

✚ PEDIATRIC GASTROENTEROLOGY

Howard I. Baron, MD

Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition Associates, 3196 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 309, 702.791.0477

Special Expertise: Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Elizabeth Mileti, DO

Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition Associates, 3196 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 309, 702.791.0477

Rebecca L. Scherr, MD

UNLV Medicine, Pediatric Clinic, 1524 Pinto Lane, Floor 3, 702.944.2828

Special Expertise: Nutrition

✚ PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES

David Di John, MD UNLV Medicine, Pediatric Clinic, 1524 Pinto Lane, Floor 3, 702.944.2828

Special Expertise: Vaccines, Travel Medicine

✚ PEDIATRIC NEPHROLOGY

Michael O. Aigbe, MD Children’s Nephrology Clinic, 7271 West Sahara Avenue, Suite 110, 702.639.1700

Special Expertise: Kidney Disease, Kidney Failure

✚ PEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY

Craig T. Nakamura, MD Children’s Lung Specialists, 3196 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 209, 702.598.4411

Special Expertise: Asthma, Lung Disease, Cystic Fibrosis

David P. Parks, MD UNLV Medicine, Pediatric Clinic, 1524 Pinto Lane, Floor 3, 702.944.2828

Special Expertise: Lung Disease, Cystic Fibrosis

✚ PEDIATRIC SURGERY

Nicholas F. Fiore, MD Pediatric Surgery Associates, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 412, 702.233.8101

Michael Scheidler, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Pediatric Surgery, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 110, 702.650.2500

Special Expertise: Trauma

✚ PEDIATRIC UROLOGY

James C. Plaire, MD

Children’s Urology Associates, 6670 South Tenaya Way, Suite 180, 702.369.4999

Special Expertise: Undescended Testis, Incontinence

Jessica T. Casey, MD Children’s Urology Associates, 6670 South Tenaya Way, Suite 180, 702.369.4999

Special Expertise: Reconstructive Surgery, Hypospadias, Robotic Surgery

Clare Close, MD

Close Pediatric Urology, 2653 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.220.4006

Special Expertise: Congenital AnomaliesGenitourinary, Fetal Urology

Andrew H. Hwang, MD Las Vegas Pediatric Urology, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 407, 702.728.5686

Special Expertise: Transplant-Kidney

✚ PEDIATRICS

Nudrat Nauman, MD Advanced Pediatrics, 8551 West Lake Mead Boulevard, Suite 180, 702.750.1230

Catherine C. Smitha, MD Anthem Hills Pediatrics, 5320 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 172, 702.566.2400

Special Expertise: Preventive Medicine

Ineada B. Okafor, MD Anthem Hills Pediatrics, 871 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 141, 702.566.2400

Special Expertise: Preventive Medicine

Kim M. LaMotte-Malone, MD Anthem Hills Pediatrics, 871 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 141, 702.566.2400

TOP DOCTORS ARE OUR SPECIALTY

When looking for the TOP DOCTORS in education, look no further than the faculty of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.

When looking for the TOP DOCTORS in healthcare, look no further than the practitioners of UNLV Health, a multi-specialty academic medical practice. Both are transforming healthcare in Southern Nevada.

Congratulations to our faculty physicians on being recognized as a Top Doctor in Las Vegas!

Ovunc Bardakcioglu, MD

Richard Baynosa, MD

Jennifer Baynosa, MD

Jo-Lawrence Bigcas, MD

Amber Champion, MD

David Di John, MD

Nadia Gomez, MD

Kenneth Izuora, MD

Daniel Kirgan, MD

Deborah Kuhls, MD

John Menezes, MD

Alison Netski, MD

Beverly Neyland, MD

Matthew Ng, MD

David Parks, MD

Fatehali Peera, MD

Michael Scheidler, MD

Rebecca Scherr, MD

Dodds Simangan, DO

Aditi Singh, MD

Charles St. Hill, MD

John Varras, MD

Sandhya Wahi Gururaj, MD

Robert Wang, MD

To learn more about the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV and how

Natasa Mihic, MD

Anthem Hills Pediatrics, 871 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 141, 702.566.2400

Douglas H. Barlow, MD

Anthem Hills Pediatrics, 871 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 141, 702.566.2400

Huynh-Truong P. Vu, MD

Anthem Pediatrics, 2510 West Horizon Ridge, Suite 130, 702.263.7800

Special Expertise: Preventive Medicine

Pamela Greenspon, MD

Desert Valley Pediatrics, 10105 Banburry Cross, Suite 370, 702.260.4525

Special Expertise: Nutrition, Newborn Care

Henry Ky, MD

Desert Valley Pediatrics, 10105 Banburry Cross, Suite 370, 702.260.4525

Rabbi Zia, MD

Desert Valley Pediatrics, 10105 Banburry Cross, Suite 370, 702.260.4525

Thanya C. Lee, MD

Henderson Pediatrics, 1490 West Sunset Road, Suite 150, 702.566.0333

Special Expertise: Pediatric Care

Marcy A. Kulic, MD Henderson Pediatrics, 1490 West Sunset Road, Suite 150, 702.566.0333

Special Expertise: Pediatric Care

John Lepore, DO Kidfixers Pediatrics, 10105 Banburry Cross Drive, Suite 170, 702.765.5437

Zubin Amarsi, MD

Kids 360 Pediatrics, 3140 South Rainbow Boulevard, Suite 403, 725.433.8505

Ryan M. Nishihara, MD Meadows Pediatrics, 9030 West Cheyenne Avenue, Suite 120, 702.436.7337

Special Expertise: Adolescent Medicine

Kami Larsen, MD

Nevada Health Centers, 400 Palo Verde Drive, 702.636.5400

Vicki Hom, MD

Oshiro Pediatrics, 4570 Eastern Avenue, Suite 21, 702.733.6033

Special Expertise: Pediatric Care, Preventive Medicine

Andrew C. Oshiro, MD

Oshiro Pediatrics, 4570 Eastern Avenue, Suite 21, 702.733.6033

Special Expertise: Pediatric Care, Preventive Medicine

Blair Duddy, MD Southwest Medical Associates, 2704 North Tenaya Way, Suite 1500, 702.877.5199

Special Expertise: Diabetes, Nutrition

Margaret Hwang, MD Southwest Medical Associates, 2704 North Tenaya Way, Suite 1500, 702.877.5199

Khursheeda Pathan, MD Southwest Medical Associates, 420 North Nellis Boulevard, Suite A6, 702.877.5199

Heath H. Hodapp, MD

St. Rose Pediatrics, 2350 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, 702.564.8556

Diane S. Goebel, MD

St. Rose Pediatrics, 8980 West Cheyenne Avenue, 702.564.8556

Wesley Robertson, MD

Sunshine Valley Pediatrics, 9091 West Post Road, 702.363.3000

Laura H. Weidenfeld, MD Sunshine Valley Pediatrics, 9091 West Post Road, 702.363.3000

Beverly A. Neyland, MD UNLV Medicine, Pediatric Clinic, 1524 Pinto Lane, Floor 3, 702.944.2828

Fatehali G. Peera, MD

UNLV Medicine, Pediatric Clinic, 1524 Pinto Lane, Floor 3, 702.944.2828

Dodds P. Simangan, DO

UNLV Medicine, Pediatric Clinic, 1524 Pinto Lane, Floor 3, 702.944.2828

James A. Bakerink, MD

Wee Care Pediatrics, 4785 South Durango Drive, Suite 101, 702.889.8444

Special Expertise: Newborn Care, Preventive Medicine, ADD/ADHD, Vaccines

✚ PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION

Andrew B. Kim, DO

Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.4088

Special Expertise: Musculoskeletal Injuries, Musculoskeletal Disorders

Bevins K. Chue, MD

Rehabilitation Specialists of Henderson, 1669 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.386.1041

Special Expertise: Hospital Medicine, Arthritis, Neuromuscular Disorders

Nianjun Tang, MD

Relevium Pain Specialists, 6064 South Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, 702.940.8007

Special Expertise: Pain Management

✚ PLASTIC SURGERY

Stephen M. Miller, MD 8435 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 100, 702.369.1001

Special Expertise: Cosmetic Surgery-Face & Breast, Liposuction & Body Contouring

Hayley Brown, MD

Desert Hills Plastic Surgery Center, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 406, 702.260.7707

Special Expertise: Breast Cosmetic Surgery

Samuel Sohn, MD

Hankins & Sohn Plastic Surgery Associates, 60 North Pecos Road, 702.948.7595

Special Expertise: Cosmetic Surgery-Breast, Body Contouring after Weight Loss, Botox

W. Tracy Hankins, MD

Hankins & Sohn Plastic Surgery Associates, 60 North Pecos Road, 702.948.7595

Special Expertise: Cosmetic Surgery-Face & Breast, Liposuction & Body Contouring

Jeffrey J. Roth, MD

Las Vegas Plastic Surgery, 6140 South Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, 702.450.0777

Special Expertise: Botox, Breast Augmentation, CoolSculpting, Cosmetic Surgery-Face & Body, Cosmetic Surgery, Abdominoplasty, Blepharoplasty, Facelift

John J. Minoli, MD

Minoli Plastic Surgery, 5735 South Fort Apache Road, Suite B, 702.459.3223

Special Expertise: Facial Plastic Surgery, Rhinoplasty, Botox

Michael C. Edwards, MD

Plastic Surgery Vegas, 8530 West Sunset Road, Suite 130, 702.822.2100

Special Expertise: Breast Reconstruction & Augmentation

Terrence B. Higgins, MD Plastic Surgery Vegas, 8530 West Sunset Road, Suite 130, 702.822.2100

Special Expertise: Microsurgery

Andrew G. Silver, MD Plastic Surgery Vegas, 8530 West Sunset Road, Suite 130, 702.822.2100

Christopher R. Costa, MD Platinum Plastic Surgery, 5824 South Durango Drive, Suite 110, 702.331.1178

Special Expertise: Facelift, Rhinoplasty, Brow Lift, Neck Lift, Botox

Brandon Reynolds, MD

Reynolds Plastic Surgery, 5550 Painted Mirage Road, Suite 217, 702.410.9800

Special Expertise: Breast Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery, Breast Reduction, Skin Cancer Reconstruction

Lane Smith, MD Smith Plastic Surgery, 7650 West Sahara Avenue, 702.838.2455

Special Expertise: Breast Augmentation, Facelift, CoolSculpting, Cosmetic SurgeryBody, Abdominoplasty, Rhinoplasty

Arthur M. Cambeiro, MD SurgiSpa, 2370 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 130, 702.566.8300

Special Expertise: Facelift, Liposuction & Body Contouring, Breast Augmentation, Gynecomastia, Labiaplasty, Kybella, Botox, Rhinoplasty

John M. Menezes, MD UNLV Medicine, Plastic Surgery Clinic, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 190, 702.671.5110

Special Expertise: Craniofacial Surgery, Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery

Richard C. Baynosa, MD UNLV Medicine, Plastic Surgery Clinic, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 190, 702.671.5110

Special Expertise: Breast Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery

Joshua J. Goldman, MD Vegas Plastic Surgery Institute, 341 North Buffalo Drive, Suite B, 702.727.8500

Special Expertise: Breast Reconstruction, Limb Surgery/ Reconstruction, TraumaReconstructive Plastic Surgery

Christopher Khorsandi, MD VIP Plastic Surgery, 2779 Sunridge Heights Parkway, Suite 100, 702.608.1318

Special Expertise: Cosmetic Surgery, Breast Augmentation

✚ PSYCHIATRY

Alison Netski, MD

UNLV Medicine, Mojave Counseling, 6375 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite A-100, 702.253.0818

Special Expertise: Psychosomatic Disorders, Geriatric Psychiatry, Psychiatry in Physical Illness

✚ PULMONARY DISEASE

John B. Collier, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 125, 702.869.0855

Special Expertise: Critical Care, Lung Disease

George S. Tu, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 3150 North Tenaya Way, Suite 125, 702.869.0855

Special Expertise: Sleep Disorders/Apnea, Emphysema

Nisarg Changawala, MD

Lung Center of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 312, 702.737.5864

Special Expertise: Emphysema, Lung Cancer

John J. Wojcik, MD

Lung Center of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 312, 702.737.5864

Special Expertise: Lung Cancer, Critical Care

Joaquim Tavares, MD

United Critical Care, 6040 South Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, 702.476.4900

Special Expertise: Asthma, Emphysema, Lung Cancer

✚ RADIATION ONCOLOGY

Michael J. Anderson, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 108, 702.952.3399

Special Expertise: Head & Neck Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT)

Matthew W. Schwartz, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 108, 702.952.3444

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT), Prostate Cancer

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Farzaneh Farzin, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 3730 South Eastern Avenue, 702.952.3366

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT)

Dan Lee Curtis, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 655 North Town Center Drive, 702.233.2200

Special Expertise: Prostate Cancer, Brachytherapy, Skin Cancer

Raul T. Meoz, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.952.1251

Special Expertise: Brachytherapy, Stereotactic Radiosurgery

Wei-Gang A. Wang, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 100, 702.952.1251

Andrew M. Cohen, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada Northwest, 7445 Peak Drive, 702.952.2140

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT)

Michael T. Sinopoli, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada Northwest, 7445 Peak Drive, 702.952.2140

Special Expertise: Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, Stereotactic Radiosurgery

Paul Treadwell, MD GenesisCare, 2851 North Tenaya Way, Suite 100, 702.243.3340

Special Expertise: Pediatric Cancers, Breast Cancer, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

✚ REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY/ INFERTILITY

Bruce S. Shapiro, MD/PhD Fertility Center of Las Vegas, 5365 South Durango Drive, Suite 100, 702.254.1777

Special Expertise: Infertility-IVF

Jeffrey Fisch, MD

Green Valley Fertility Partners, 2510 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 201, 702.722.2229

Special Expertise: Infertility-IVF, Menstrual Disorders

Cindy M. Duke, MD/PhD Nevada Fertility Institute, 8530 West Sunset Road, Suite 310, 702.936.8710

Special Expertise: Women’s Health, Women’s Health in Developing Countries, Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF),

✚ RHEUMATOLOGY

Dodji Modjinou, MD Advanced Rheumatology Associates of Nevada, 861 Coronado Center Drive, Suite 220, 702.984.3776

Special Expertise: Arthritis, Autoimmune Disease

Elham Taherian, MD

Dignity Health Medical Group, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 203, 702.616.5801

Special Expertise: Arthritis, Autoimmune Disease

Ewa Olech, MD Ewa Olech Rheumatology Consultants, 7200 Cathedral Rock Drive, Suite 110, 702.489.4838

Special Expertise: Rheumatoid Arthritis

Johnson C. Kay, DO Southwest Medical Eastern Healthcare Center, 4475 South Eastern, Suite 2400, 702.877.5199

Special Expertise: Autoimmune Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjogren’s Syndrome

✚ SPORTS MEDICINE

Jessica R. Zarndt, DO Desert Orthopaedic Center, 2800 East Desert Inn Road, Suite 100, 702.731.1616

Special Expertise: Primary Care Sports Medicine, Sports Medicine-Women

Brian A. Davis, MD

Intermountain Healthcare, 9280 West Sunset Road, Suite 426, 702.968.3240

Special Expertise: Sports Injuries, PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma)

✚ SURGERY

Timothy W. Tollestrup, MD 3035 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 120, 702.666.0463

Special Expertise: Peripheral Nerve Surgery

Francis W. Teng, MD

Advanced Surgical Care, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 200, 702.838.5888

Special Expertise: Bariatric/Obesity Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Robotic Surgery

Margaret A. Terhar, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 1505 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 130, 702.856.1400

Special Expertise: Breast Disease, Breast Surgery

Souzan El-Eid, MD

Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 402, 702.243.7200

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer & Surgery, Surgical Oncology

Lee M. Reese, MD

Desert West Surgery, 7200 Cathedral Rock Drive, Suite 250, 702.383.4040

Special Expertise: Robotic Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Breast Cancer,

James D. Curry, MD

Desert West Surgery, 7200 Cathedral Rock Drive, Suite 250, 702.383.4040

Special Expertise: Robotic Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Colon & Rectal Surgery

Peter A. Caravella, MD

Las Vegas Surgical Associates, 8930 West Sunset Road, Suite 300, 702.258.7788

Special Expertise: Vascular Surgery

Sean D. Dort, MD

Southern Nevada Surgery Specialists, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 310, 702.914.2420

Fikre A. Mengistu, MD

Southern Nevada Surgery Specialists, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 310, 702.914.2420

Allan David MacIntyre, DO Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, Burn and Reconstructive Center, 3186 South Maryland Parkway, 702.961.7552

Special Expertise: Burn Care, Wound Care

James Dee Atkinson, MD

Surgical Weight Control Center, 2850 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.313.8446

Special Expertise: Bariatric/Obesity Surgery, Laparoscopic SurgeryAdvanced

Darren W. Soong, MD

Surgical Weight Control Center, 2850 West Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, 702.313.8446

Special Expertise: Bariatric/Obesity Surgery, Laparoscopic SurgeryAdvanced

Charles R. St. Hill, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Surgery, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 160, 702.671.5150

Special Expertise: Surgical Oncology, Gallbladder Surgery

Deborah Ann Kuhls, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Surgery, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 160, 702.671.5150

Special Expertise: Trauma, Critical Care

Jennifer Baynosa, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Surgery, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 160, 702.671.5150

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer & Surgery

Irwin B. Simon, MD Vegas Valley Vein Institute, 2450 West Horizon Ridge

Parkway, Suite 100, 702.341.7608

Special Expertise: Minimally Invasive Vascular Surgery, Vein Disorders, Hair Restoration/ Transplant

✚ SURGICAL ONCOLOGY

Daniel Kirgan, MD UNLV Medicine, Department of Surgery, 1707 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 160, 702.671.5150

Special Expertise: Breast Cancer & Surgery, Melanoma, Pancreatic & Biliary Surgery

✚ THORACIC & CARDIAC SURGERY

Neel V. Dhudshia, MD Dignity Health Medical Group, 10001 South Eastern Avenue, Suite 201, 702.616.5700

Special Expertise: Cardiothoracic Surgery

Michael G. Wood, MD Dignity Health Medical Group, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Clinic, 7190 South Cimarron Road, 702.675.3240

Special Expertise: Cardiac Surgery-Adult, Heart Valve Surgery, Heart Valve Surgery-Mitral,

✚ UROGYNECOLOGY/ FEMALE PELVIC MEDICINE & RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY

Geoffrey C. Hsieh, MD Women’s Cancer Center of Nevada, 700 Shadow Lane, Suite 370, 702.693.6870

Special Expertise: Urogynecology, Pelvic Reconstruction, Pelvic Organ Prolapse Repair, Minimally Invasive Surgery

✚ UROLOGY

Sheldon J. Freedman, MD 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 308, 702.732.0282

Special Expertise: Erectile Dysfunction, VasectomyNo Scalpel, Prostate Cancer

O. Alex Lesani, MD

Las Vegas Urology, 7150 West Sunset Road, Suite 201, 702.316.1616

Special Expertise: Reconstructive Surgery, Robotic Surgery

Lawrence H. Newman, MD

Las Vegas Urology, 7150 West Sunset Road, Suite 201, 702.316.1616

Special Expertise: Bladder Surgery, Prostate Benign Disease (BPH), Kidney Stones, Prostate Cancer

Vijay Goli, MD

Las Vegas Urology, 7150 West Sunset Road, Suite 201, 702.316.1616

Special Expertise: Kidney Stones, IncontinenceMale & Female, Prostate Cancer-Cryosurgery

Joseph V. Candela, MD

Las Vegas Urology, 7500 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 200, 702.316.1616

Special Expertise: Urology-Female, Urologic Cancer

Michael P. Verni, MD Urology Center, 653 North Town Center Drive, Suite 302, 702.212.3428

Special Expertise: Pediatric Urology, Endourology

Jason Zommick, MD Urology Specialists of Nevada, 58 North Pecos Road, 702.877.0814

Special Expertise: Prostate Benign Disease (BPH), Vasectomy & Vasectomy Reversal

✚ VASCULAR & INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY

Aaron Peterson, MD Red Rock Radiology, Endovascular Clinic, 7130 Smoke Ranch Road, Suite 101, 702.304.8135

✚ VASCULAR SURGERY

Bruce Hirschfeld, MD

General Vascular Specialists, 7200 West Cathedral Rock Drive, Suite 130, 702.228.8600

Special Expertise: Endovascular Surgery, Varicose Veins

Health HAPPENS HERE

Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center

6900 N. Durango Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89149 | 702-835-9700

Desert View Hospital

An affiliate of The Valley Health System

360 S. Lola Lane, Pahrump, NV 89048 | 775-751-7500

Henderson Hospital

1050 W. Galleria Drive, Henderson, NV 89011 | 702-963-7000

Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center

5400 S. Rainbow Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89118 | 702-853-3000

Summerlin Hospital Medical Center

657 N. Town Center Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89144 | 702-233-7000

Valley Health Specialty Hospital

An extension of Spring Valley Hospital

8656 W. Patrick Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89148 | 775-751-7500

Valley Hospital Medical Center

620 Shadow Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89106 | 702-388-4000

West Henderson Hospital Opening late 2024

1155 Raiders Way, Henderson, NV 89052

COMPREHENSIVE CARE IN NORTHWEST LAS VEGAS

Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center is a 339-bed facility that is part of The Valley Health System in the Las Vegas area. Opened in 2008, our eight-story, 35,400 square foot building is home to many medical services, including cardiology, emergency services and maternity care.

Recognized for Heart and Stroke Care

In recognition of our efforts to foster better outcomes for heart and stroke patients, Centennial Hills Hospital has earned advanced certification as a Primary Heart Attack Center and Primary Stroke Center from the American Heart Association® and American Stroke Association®

Emergency Services

To provide quality care when you need it most, we offer 24/7 emergency services at multiple locations. In addition to our hospital emergency room, we also have our two freestanding emergency departments, ER at Valley Vista and ER at West Craig Road, both services of Centennial Hills Hospital.

The Women’s Center

In addition to providing gynecologic care and gynecologic surgery, the Women’s Center pays special attention to new moms. Our maternity services include labor, delivery and recovery rooms, antepartum and postpartum care, a newborn nursery and a Level III NICU.

6900 N. Durango Drive | Las Vegas, NV 89149

COMMITTED TO ADVANCED CARE AND PATIENT SAFETY

Henderson Hospital has been providing high-quality healthcare since its opening eight years ago. The 254,000 square foot, 303-bed acute care hospital features all private rooms and a comprehensive complement of services ranging from emergency care, including two freestanding emergency departments, to cardiology and advanced surgical specialties.

A Message from the CEO

Hospital CEO and Managing Director

Sam Kaufman, a longtime resident of Henderson, said, “I’m proud of the care and services that are available in my hometown. We remain focused on safety and we’re especially honored to have recently earned our twelfth consecutive “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization committed to healthcare quality and safety.”

Specialty Services

Henderson Hospital brings advanced care and specialized services to area residents, including:

• Emergency services

• Cardiology

• Orthopedics

• Spine services

• Gastroenterology

• Neurosurgery

• Stroke and neurology

• Maternity care, including ante- and postpartum care and a Level III NICU

Caring for People

While delivering comprehensive services, the physicians, nurses and staff never lose sight of the fact that we take care of people. Making patients and their family members feel comfortable while they are at the hospital is important to help ensure the most positive patient experience and best outcomes.

“Henderson Hospital was recently recognized as a Top 100 Hospital® from Fortune and Premiere’s PINC AITM™ division for demonstrating lower inpatient mortality rates with fewer readmissions and complications.”

- Sam Kaufman, CEO and Managing Director Henderson Hospital

HIGH-QUALITY CARE FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

In southwest Las Vegas, Spring Valley Hospital is known for delivering awardwinning, high-quality care to patients of all ages. Since 2003, we have offered advanced healthcare in a comfortable environment with a personal touch. Along with a 364-bed tertiary care hospital offering advanced cardiovascular and neurological procedures, Spring Valley Hospital also has a freestanding emergency department, a specialty hospital for orthopedic and acute inpatient rehabilitation, an ambulatory surgery center and an outpatient wound care and hyperbaric center under its license.

Specialists in Hearts, Brains and Babies

The care providers at Spring Valley Hospital are equipped to treat a broad range of healthcare conditions, including:

• Aortic heart procedures

• Brain aneurysm treatment

• Heart implants for irregular heart rhythms

• Heart surgery

Primary Care Offices

• Maternity care for high-risk mothers and babies, including a level III neonatal intensive care unit

• Neurosurgery

• Stroke interventions

• Surgical care, including general, oncologic, orthopedic and weight-loss procedures

Additionally, Spring Valley Hospital’s campus is home to several affiliated primary care offices that are currently accepting new patients. Please visit valleyhealthphysicians.com to view their locations, specialties and contact information.

“I’m proud that our comprehensive range of services continues to expand to meet the needs of area residents and visitors. We remain focused on technological investments and specialized treatments, especially for heart and brain care.”

- Claude Wise, CEO, Spring Valley Hospital

5400 South Rainbow Boulevard Las Vegas, NV 89118

COMPREHENSIVE HEALTHCARE FOR ALL AGES

As one of the largest hospitals in Southern Nevada, Summerlin Hospital Medical Center offers emergency care, advanced cardiovascular care, women’s health services, maternity care, a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a children’s medical center, surgical services, oncology care for adults and children, outpatient therapy services for adults and children and specialty programs in stroke, chest pain, advanced wound care and hyperbaric medicine and cardiac rehabilitation.

Advanced Cardiac, Maternity and Oncology Care

Along with advanced certifications as a Primary Heart Attack Center and Primary Stroke Center, Summerlin Hospital offers cardiac surgery, cardiac catheterization services, a structural heart program, an electrophysiology lab, a cardiovascular care unit and an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program.

The Birthplace at Summerlin Hospital features an antepartum unit for high-risk mothers, labor and delivery, post-partum care, a

Level III neonatal intensive care unit, breastfeeding support and extensive pre- and post-childbirth classes, workshops and fitness programs.

Oncology surgery and inpatient care is available for both adults and children.

Specialty Care for Kids

For infants through teens, Summerlin Hospital offers a separate pediatric emergency department, general pediatric services, pediatric intensive care units, pediatric surgery, oncology care and outpatient therapy.

“Our advanced, comprehensive services are possible because of our outstanding group of dedicated employees, physicians and volunteers who share a passion for excellence. Their commitment to our patients and families, their coworkers and our community is the key to our success.”

- Rob Freymuller, CEO, Summerlin Hospital Medical Center

657 N. Town Center Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89144

LAS VEGAS’S FIRST AND ONLY ORTHOPEDIC AND INPATIENT REHAB FACILITY

Valley Health Specialty Hospital, an extension of Spring Valley Hospital, provides care for adults with orthopedic pain, injuries and debilitating medical conditions. We offer specialty orthopedic surgery, including minimally invasive procedures whenever possible; inpatient rehab for people recovering from stroke and other conditions; and outpatient therapy, including physical, occupational and speech therapy.

Orthopedic Surgery

Orthopedic surgeons use advanced techniques and technology to diagnose and treat injuries and disorders related to bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves. Services include hip and knee replacement; fracture care; arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder, elbow, knee and ankle; hand surgery; and sports medicine.

We employ a concept called Rapid Recovery* to get patients up and moving within a few hours of surgery and discharged the same day. If not, they receive individual therapy and are discharged the next morning. We also offer a Joint Camp prior to surgery to show patients what to expect from their upcoming procedure.

Inpatient Acute Rehab

Our 56-bed inpatient rehab unit offers specialized care for debilitating injuries and illnesses, such as stroke, neurological disorders and spinal cord injuries. The team also treats amputees and those suffering major trauma and other disabling conditions.

Our program includes physical, occupational and speech therapy based on the patient’s specific needs. Specialized services in neurological spinal and orthopedic therapy are available. An in-hospital rehab

center offers patients several benefits, including a seamless transition from acute care to the therapy setting at the hospital.

Outpatient Physical Therapy

The Outpatient Center at Valley Health Specialty Hospital helps patients recover after suffering an injury at work or playing sports, or while they are recovering from major injury or illness.

PROVIDING CARE TO LAS VEGAS SINCE 1972

Located in the Las Vegas Medical District, Valley Hospital has been serving residents and visitors of the Las Vegas Strip for more than 50 years. We continuously enhance programs, services and the delivery of care to promote positive outcomes and a better patient experience.

As a teaching hospital with graduate medical education, a new pharmacy residency program and over 600 multidisciplinary clerkships and internships offered annually, we focus on the use of evidence-based medicine and the importance of following clinical pathways that research has shown to be effective with most patients.

Innovation, Dedication, Compassion

Valley Hospital offers advanced cardiovascular and neurological care, minimally invasive surgery, acute rehabilitation and wound care. We have achieved advanced certification as a Primary Heart Attack Center and Primary Stroke Center by the American Heart Association® and American Stroke Association®. The facility is also recognized as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by DNV.

Emergency Services

In addition to the main hospital, we offer 24/7 emergency care at Elite Medical Center, ER at Desert Springs and ER at North Las Vegas, all of which are extensions of Valley Hospital.

“We are committed to providing you with clear information about our hospital, the care you will receive and the services and amenities that are available. During your hospitalization, you should expect our hospital staff to provide you with the highest quality healthcare and outstanding customer service.”

- Collin McLaughlin, CEO, Valley Hospital Medical Center

Opening

LATE 2024

In late 2024, West Henderson Hospital, located at Raiders Way and St. Rose Parkway, will open its doors to care for the community. Chris Loftus, CEO, a resident of Henderson, said construction is in its final stages.

Our Services

• Emergency services available 24/7

• Cardiology, including two cardiac catheterization labs, an electrophysiology lab and dedicated cardiovascular-thoracic surgical suites

• Stroke and neurology, including an interventional radiology lab

• Orthopedics, including surgery and physical and occupational therapy

• Surgical services: general, bariatric, orthopedic and spine, urologic, gynecologic

• Endoscopy suites for gastroenterology procedures

• Advanced imaging, including CT and MRI

Serving OUR Community

“We are excited to begin caring for our neighbors and friends,” said Loftus. “We want every patient to know they are the most important person on their healthcare team, and we have incredibly talented physicians and staff to care for them during their stay.”

“There are many aspects to providing excellent patient care,” said Loftus. “Our goal is to make everyone who enters our hospital feel safe and secure while receiving excellent care that improves their health and quality of life.”

“The community of Henderson is growing rapidly, and we are growing with it. We are extremely dedicated to supporting the community we live in with high-quality healthcare.”

- Chris Loftus, CEO, West Henderson Hospital

1155 Raiders Way Henderson, NV 89052

The NEWEST HOSPITAL in Southern Nevada

They’re more than game changers –they’re life changers

We proudly acknowledge our 2024 Top Docs honorees, trusted by patients and admired by colleagues. With a reputation for going above and beyond, these members of our dedicated Optum family inspire all of us to change lives for the better.

optum.com/nevada

Russell Gollard, MD

Medical Oncology

Optum Cancer Care

Margaret Hwang, MD

Pediatrics

Southwest Medical, part of Optum

Ricardo Vinuya, MD

Allergy & Immunology

Optum Allergy

Khursheeda Pathan, MD

Pediatrics

Southwest Medical, part of Optum

Blair Duddy, MD

Pediatrics

Southwest Medical, part of Optum

Jason Zommick, MD

Urology

Urology Specialists of Nevada

©2024 Optum, Inc. All rights reserved. The company does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in health programs and activities. We provide free services to help you communicate with us. Such as, letters in other languages or large print. Or, you can ask for an interpreter. To ask for help, please call 1-702-877-5088. ATENCIÓN: Si habla español (Spanish), hay servicios de asistencia de idiomas, sin cargo, a su disposición. Llame al 1-702-877-5088. (Chinese), 1-702-877-5088

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