Nevada has the second highest rate of uninsured children in the country — more than 100,000 boys and girls. Yet despite the availability of public health programs to cover kids, only half of those who qualify enroll say state health officials.

VIDEO: Nevada Second Worst for Uninsured Children

Doctor Tamina McMillan with Nevada Health Centers speaks her patient’s language, literally and figuratively. Like the population she serves, McMillan grew up without regular access to health care. Now from the other side of the exam table, she recognizes the challenges faced by the uninsured.

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Las Vegas fell 20 places to #47 in a sustainability index published by the website SustainLane.com. The ranking measures a number of categories such as street congestion, air and water quality, and green building (LEED certification). According to the index, Las Vegas ranks high in energy and climate change policy, green building and low natural disaster risk. Our issues with our tight water supply, metro street congestion, and air quality overwhelmed the positives and pushed us towards the bottom of the list.

The top five cities included Portland, San Francisco,  Seattle, Chicago, and New York City. Among other desert cities, we ranked ahead only of Mesa, AZ (#50), with Albuquerque leading the list at #18.

A new survey says that Las Vegas is among the top 40 best cities in which to live. Best Life Magazine ranks Las Vegas as the number 32, behind number 31 — Reno. Researchers used a variety of criteria for the study of 257 cities, including information from the FBI and the U.S. Census Bureau. Honolulu ranks as the top city to live in. Clarksville, Tennessee ranks at the bottom of the list.

Any parent of a teen driver worries about them on the roads, but a new study shows that teens driving on Las Vegas roads face even more dangers. The study was done over a seven year period by Allstate Insurance Company, and during that time more than 300 teens were killed on our roads.

The study ranks Las Vegas as 15th out of the 50 most dangerous places for teen drivers. Nationwide, traffic crashes are the number one killer of teens from the ages of 15 to 20. AAA attributes the growing number of deaths in Las Vegas to the growing population, and they say parent involvement is a big part of prevention.

“Teens don’t have to be in big SUV’s that are hard to maneuver. These are the most inexperienced drivers on the road, so the simpler the better when it comes to educating teens. Picking the right car is one of the right answers,” said Michael Geeser with AAA.

Once teens get their license, many want their own car or to take the family car. AAA recommends that parents make sure their teen is driving a vehicle they can handle and the family SUV may be too much car for their experience level.

AAA also recommends that parents draw up a paper outlining what rules they expect new drivers to abide by, so teens know exactly what limits are placed on them as new drivers.

The study called San Francisco the safest city for teens while the Tampa area in Florida was deemed the worst place for teen drivers.

Las Vegas was named as the nation’s #1 adventure town in which to play and live by National Geographic in its September issue. The decision was based on affordability and being close to outdoor activities. The article mentions local mountain biking, hiking and rock climbing as well as the fact it only takes a half-day’s drive to get to lush forests, snowy slopes and the Pacific ocean. What do you think makes Las Vegas a great adventure city?

You can read the entire story here.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District is reporting today that over the past two weeks, its customers used 574 million gallons less water compared to the same two week period last year. We have the recent rain to thank for the drop in consumption (and all of you who turned off your irrigation systems during the rains). Even with the rain, July’s total was below number, as measured by the National Weather Service. For the month, we officially received .29 inches of rain, .15 below the norm of .44 inches