It's been more than three months since Brightline West held an official groundbreaking for a 218-mile electric high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga. The April 22 event was ceremonial, but celebratory with appearances by Gov. Joe Lombardo, Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig. The sentiment of “it’s really happening this time” was shared eagerly by the politicians and business executives in attendance, but questions remain about one of the most ambitious transportation projects in American history.

When UNLV Professor Daniel Bubb heard the alarms on Dec. 6, his first instinct was to go to the study room and get the students to safety. “It was instinctive, just to make sure that my students were safe. I honestly didn’t think of myself,” Bubb told the Review-Journal.

As Nevada gears up for the next few years of its lithium boom, a new study is calling attention to what’s most at stake — water. Lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries, is considered a critical mineral for the transition away from fossil fuels to more green sources of energy. Only one lithium mine is fully operational in the country, in the Silver Peak mountain range of Nevada’s Esmeralda County.

Not so long ago, the Sunshine State of Florida was the ultimate battleground. It was considered all but impossible to win the White House without pocketing that swing state and its 30 electoral college votes, and campaigns went to great lengths to do so.

Ultra-processed foods are gaining in popularity all over the world, particularly in North America. Some estimates show the North American diet consists of more than half of the calories in the form of ultra-processed foods.  What are they?  Ultra-processed foods have been created to replace fresh meals through a series of industrial processes such as hydrolysis, hydrogenation, extrusion, molding, milling, frying, the addition of flavors, the supplementation of emulsifiers, and the add-on of coloring agents.

The researchers found that compared to women without breast cancer and depression, those who only had breast cancer or depression were 1.45 times or 1.43 times more likely to die, respectively. However, compared to those without breast cancer and depression, the risk of death more than tripled for women with both breast cancer and depression.

Nevadans in November will vote on a ballot question aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution, and will chose among slates of candidates who either tout their long-standing support of reproductive rights, or who are softening their previous—and more radical—positions on abortion.

The epicenter of the UNLV tragedy will reopen eight months after a deadly shooting forced its closure, bringing new security features and old tensions to the building.