City Cast Las Vegas

This week in extremely 2025 content, county workers began a sweep of a homeless encampment in a wash near Flamingo & Maryland — but are also employing robots to scout out some of the more dangerous sections of the tunnels, where toxic fumes could put workers and the unhoused at risk. These "clean-ups" have long been a flashpoint for neighbors and advocates, so what's the bigger picture? Co-host Sarah Lohman talks with writer (and former Hey Las Vegas newsletter editor) Scott Dickensheets and Nevada Current editor April Corbin Girnus to discuss. They also talk about all the bills killed in this year's legislative session, and what it means when Bahama Breeze closes its doors for good. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 23rd episode: Southern Nevada Water Authority Barter Beer + Mall The Rita Deanin Abbey Art Museum is offering 50% off tickets to City Cast Las Vegas listeners! Visit rdamuseum.org/tickets and use the code CITYCASTLV at checkout. Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

It's May, which means that graduation season, summer visitors, and family reunions are in full swing — so where can you go out to eat with a giant crowd in Las Vegas? Co-host Dayvid Figler puts food influencer Phil Tzeng (AKA Las Vegas Fill) to the test with a series of tricky group dining scenarios, from dietary preferences to splitting the bill. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 22nd episode: Southern Nevada Water Authority Barter Beer + Mall Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

For a quarter century, schoolchildren across the valley have been learning about desert conservation from Mojave Max, our city's beloved tortoise mascot. But what if the Mojave Max program was actually … bad for the desert? Today on City Cast Las Vegas, co-host Dayvid Figler talks with Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin Director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Patrick has some serious beef with Mojave Max, and it all starts, he says, with how the program was funded by the real estate developers who destroyed Mojave Max's habitat. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 21st episode: Southern Nevada Water Authority Barter Beer + Mall Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

While the speakeasy trend has waxed and waned in other cities, Las Vegas keeps the spirit of the secret bar with Prohibition-era cocktails alive in at least a dozen busy venues — but are they even really speakeasies anymore? Are we over the gimmick? And as it turns out, our frontier city didn't have to do much hiding during Prohibition … so did we actually even have speakeasies at all? Co-hosts Dayvid Figler and Sarah Lohman, a culinary historian, sit down with newsletter editor and bar enthusiast Rob Kachelriess to discuss. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 20th episode: Southern Nevada Water Authority Barter Beer + Mall Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

The GOP is making good on President Trump's spur-of-the-moment campaign promise to Nevadans by including a "no taxes on tips" provision in their budget bill — but it comes with a few strings attached. Co-host Dayvid Figler sits down with Nevada Independent reporter Gabby Birenbaum to discuss how the provision will impact Southern Nevada and our unique tipping culture. If you enjoyed today's interview with Barter Beer + Mall's GM, Steve Sansonetti, learn more here. Learn more about the other sponsors of this May 19th episode: Southern Nevada Water Authority Barter Beer + Mall Get tickets to our live episode recording at the RDA Museum on 5/22 HERE Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

Two hotels on the Strip, the Luxor and Treasure Island, are getting sued after guests claimed they were "massacred" by bed bugs and left with scars. So, how bad can bed bug bites really get, and is this a frivolous lawsuit? Co-hosts Sarah Lohman and Dayvid Figler are joined by Nevada Current reporter Michael MJ Lyle to talk bed bugs. They also tackle the recent safety upgrades in RTC buses and transit centers, and the doctors from UNLV School of Medicine's inaugural class who are opting to stay in Las Vegas. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 16th episode: Babbel - Get up to 60% off at Babbel.com/CITYCAST Prolonlife.com/city - Use this link for 15% off Get tickets to our live episode recording at the RDA Museum on 5/22 HERE Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

A TikTok influencer was recently trolled after ⁠posting a video⁠ of herself raving over a simple raw tomato at LPM in the Cosmo (she called it "iconic"). But did she maybe have a point? Co-host Sarah Lohman sits down with executive producer Sonja Cho Swanson and newsletter editor Rob Kachelriess (who has tried the tomato in question) to discuss this and other viral food scandals in Las Vegas, from Nachogate to the cotton candy burrito — and which ones actually deserve our outrage. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 15th episode: ⁠Babbel⁠ - Get up to 60% off at Babbel.com/CITYCAST ⁠Prolonlife.com/city ⁠- Use this link for 15% off Get tickets to our live episode recording at the RDA Museum on 5/22 ⁠HERE⁠ Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on ⁠Instagram⁠, or email us at ⁠lasvegas@citycast.fm⁠. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter,⁠ Hey Las Vegas.⁠ Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at⁠ citycast.fm/advertise⁠.

Another summer, another Lake Mead update: And this year, it's not looking great. Our snowpack gains this winter were pretty dismal, and the National Weather Service recently even lowered their projections for Lake Powell, whose upstream levels affect Lake Mead's. In light of all this, we're bringing back a conversation that co-host Dayvid Figler had with UNLV hydrology professor David Kreamer. The creation of Lake Mead was not without its costs — so was it worth it? And what happens if we use Lake Mead up? Learn more about the sponsors of this May 14th episode: Babbel - Get up to 60% off at Babbel.com/CITYCAST Prolonlife.com/city - Use this link for 15% off Get tickets to our live episode recording at the RDA Museum on 5/22 HERE Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas.Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

City Cast Las Vegas co-host Sarah Lohman is coming up on four years of living in Las Vegas — so can she call herself a real Las Vegas local yet, or what? To help answer this question, she talks with co-host Dayvid Figler, lifelong Las Vegan, and artist Brent Holmes, who's clocked 24 years in this town, about the "merit badges" you have to earn before you can call yourself a real Las Vegan (and yes, surviving three summers here counts as one). Learn more about the sponsors of this May 13th episode: Babbel - Get up to 60% off at Babbel.com/CITYCAST Prolonlife.com/city - Use this link for 15% off Get tickets to our live episode recording at the RDA Museum on 5/22 HERE Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

Northern Nevada U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei sparked backlash last week with a last-minute public lands amendment to a budget package — and that's because for three decades now, a special law called SNPLMA has sent a portion of federal land sales right back to Nevada's coffers. But Amodei's amendment would instead direct those funds straight to the U.S. Treasury, with nothing for Nevada. Co-host Dayvid Figler talks with Kristee Watson, executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, about the controversy and what it could mean for the future of Southern Nevada’s landscape. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 12th  episode: Babbel - Get up to 60% off at Babbel.com/CITYCAST Prolonlife.com/city - Use this link for 15% off Get tickets to our live episode recording at the Rita Deanin Abbey Art Museum on 5/22 HERE Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.