The Daily Rundown - May 21, 2026
🪶 Environmental advocates sued the Trump administration on May 13, arguing federal wildlife officials are years behind on deciding whether the pygmy rabbit should receive protections under the Endangered Species Act. The tiny rabbit — small enough to fit in the palm of your hand — lives in sagebrush habitat across eight Western states: Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, California, Oregon and Washington.
Conservation groups say that habitat is increasingly threatened by wildfire, invasive grasses, oil-and-gas development and climate change. Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, said the lawsuit is about more than a single species. “When pygmy rabbits are in trouble, it's because the habitat is at risk,” Anderson said. “And in this case, we know that the sagebrush sea is shrinking every year due to development, fires, invasive species, et cetera.”
The lawsuit stems from a petition conservation groups filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2023 seeking to list the pygmy rabbit under the Endangered Species Act. In early 2024, the agency found the petition presented substantial scientific evidence suggesting federal protections for the species may be warranted. That triggered a legal deadline for the service to make a final determination by March 2024. Hear the full story by the Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel here.
🔔 The Clark County School District is celebrating May 21st as the final day of classes for the two students enrolled at Goodsprings Elementary School, south of Las Vegas. It’s also the final day for staff since the school is closing for good due to low enrollment. The celebration will include a bell-ringing and flag ceremony, a tradition at the school for several decades, and a campus tour.
School board Vice President Irene Bustamante Adams and CCSD Superintendent Jhone Ebert are among those scheduled to attend. The event is not open to the public. Goodsprings Elementary School opened in 1913 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Students in Kindergarten through fifth grade living in the Goodsprings area will attend Sandy Valley Elementary School beginning next year.
💊 A new pilot program could bring a steady stream of generic drugs to some small hospitals in the Mountain West. Dozens of independent, rural hospitals in Montana, Nevada and Wyoming are eligible. The Helmsley Charitable Trust is funding the program through Civica Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Civica, a nonprofit generic drug company. Hospitals that opt in will have access to a consistent supply of drugs at wholesale prices, without having to buy in bulk like larger hospitals.
Walter Panzirer, a trustee at the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said small hospitals currently face big price swings and drug shortages in everything from sterile water to morphine. This can be bad for patients, who may have to have surgeries rescheduled or cancelled, and it can hurt hospitals’ bottom line. According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 146 rural hospitals closed or stopped providing inpatient services nationwide between 2005 and 2023.
That’s in part because of the hospitals’ “smaller size, lower occupancy rates, and greater vulnerability to economic fluctuations than urban hospitals,” says the USDA. The goal of the new collaboration is to eliminate at least one financial barrier for rural providers. The pilot is starting in nine states. In the Mountain West, Montana has 54 hospitals that are eligible, followed by 23 in Wyoming and 14 in Nevada.
The goal is to expand nationwide after running the pilot project for three years. Interested hospitals can reach out to Civica now to opt into the program. Read the full story by the Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach here.
🧳 Visit Las Vegas has debuted a new tourism campaign, which they’re calling “Pack for Las Vegas.” The six, 15-second ads debuted the week of May 18th, and celebrate the pre-trip rituals visitors undertake before arriving in Las Vegas. Visit Las Vegas officials say it’s meant to call-back to the “What Happens Here, Stays Here” slogan, which ran for more than two decades.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority recently replaced the popular slogan with “Welcome to Fabulous” last September. The ad campaign comes as Las Vegas tourism numbers lag. Overall traffic though Harry Reid was down more than 4% in March as compared to the same month last year, according to airport officials.
🎡 The Electric Daisy Carnival will expand to 12 days next year. That includes a second weekend festival, along with daily events in between the two bigger gatherings at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Insomniac, the festival’s promoter, says having two weekends will allow a reduced capacity inside the Speedway and lower ticket prices.
“EDC Dusk” will take place May 14-16, 2027, with “EDC Dawn” the following weekend on May 21-23. Tickets for the event go on sale this Friday, May 22. This year’s EDC, the event’s 30th anniversary, concluded over the weekend on May 17.
Part of these stories are taken from KNPR's daily newscast segment. To hear more daily updates like these, tune in to 88.9 KNPR FM.
