#5. Las Vegas Boy Dies After Getting Stranded in Death Valley

This was the most read story on LasVegasNOW in 2009.

11-year-old Carlos Sanchez and his mother got their Jeep stuck in early August in Death Valley. They ran out of food and water and Carlos died.

The story was posted on LasVegasNOW and then picked up by several other news outlets including the Drudge Report.

#4. I-Team: Former Weatherman Accused of Stalking

The tale of former weatherman John Fredericks was the most read (and watched) I-Team story of 2009. Fredericks was accused leaving several voicemails for a woman he had briefly dated.

Chief Investigative Reporter George Knapp obtained the voicemail recordings and the story ran on November 10, 2009. It was picked up by news aggregators like Fark and seemed to spread like wildfire.

#3. Las Vegas Strip Club Bust Results in 13 Arrests

In July, Las Vegas police raided the Deja Vu strip club and arrested 13 dancers for allegedly soliciting prostitution. Police released their mugshots and LasVegasNOW posted them on the photos section.

In total, the 13 mugshots have been viewed more than 116,000 times. One mugshot in particular remains one of the most viewed photos on LasVegasNOW, only trumped by a few photos of the great 2008 snowstorm.

#2. CityCenter’s ARIA Resort & Casino Opens Tonight

The opening of CityCenter was the most re-Tweeted LasVegasNOW story of the year. CityCenter opened in several stages during the month of December. We’ve been watching the skyline change as CityCenter’s massive buildings just kept getting bigger. Thank goodness it finally opened.

Check out this time lapse video of construction.

#1. Woman Yells Heil Hitler To Jewish Man at Las Vegas Town Hall

This is the piece of video that almost wasn’t.

8 News Now Photojournalist Chris Benka attended a health care town hall meeting in August. After the meeting, people broke off into segments and debated the health care issue amongst themselves. While Chris (and a couple of other media outlets) was interviewing a Jewish man about his country’s health care plan, a woman shouted “Heil Hitler.” A bit of a firestorm broke out and Chris was able to record the whole incident.

But we work in the news business and an officer involved shooting sent Chris and Reporter Jonathan Martinez rushing across town to get that story on the 11 p.m. news. The town hall meeting story was cut down to a more brief version for the newscast and the “Heil Hitler” exchange never aired.

But a couple of days later, the raw video was posted on LasVegasNOW and to our YouTube account. In no time, the video was picked up by national media outlets including the Huffington Post, Think Progress and the YouTube homepage.

But without Chris Benka saying, “I have an amazing piece of video that belongs on the website,” it would have never been seen.

Experts point to alcohol, gambling and the overall 24-hour environment filled with dancers, showgirls and brothels as likely contributors to the high rate across the state, including Reno — once known as the “Divorce Capital of the World.”

Frank Lin is a divorce attorney in Las Vegas whose firm Lin & Associates uses the phone number 702-DIVORCE. He says there’s “a lot of temptation, so to speak, because it’s constantly in front of you.”

  (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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.

“They have a tendency to wait, withhold or delay treatment because of the fear of getting a bill. So when I see them, a lot times things that could’ve been taken care of easily has grown into this big, huge mountain,” she said.

Roughly half of McMillan’s pediatric patients at the Nevada Health Center’s clinic in North Las Vegas do not have health insurance despite the availability of coverage through Nevada Check Up for the working poor and Medicaid for the most need.

To increase those numbers, along with her diagnosis, McMillan offers applications for both. “That removes the barrier in terms of saying, ‘Well, you need to apply.’ They actually have the application in hand and it’s up to them to fill it out or turn it in or not. You make it a little bit easier,” she said.

State health officials estimate only half of eligible children enroll due in large part to a lack of outreach.

Nancy Whitman with Nevada Covering Kids and Families suggests 70,000 kids in Clark County alone qualify for taxpayer-funded coverage, yet their parents don’t know to apply. “If nobody’s doing outreach, nobody’s sharing that information, parents don’t have a clue that anything even exists for their children,” she said.

Whitman’s non-profit network helps families to navigate the system and to complete the often complicated enrollment forms free of charge. Before the recession, few of its clients had incomes low enough to qualify for Medicaid. Now Whitman notes a shift as the working poor has become the unemployed.

Enrollment in Nevada Check Up is down while Medicaid has exceeded its projections by some 9,000 patients. In this economy, kids who used to qualify for Check Up are now poor enough for Medicaid.

Back at the clinic, McMillan averages fewer patients. In this economy, she says even doctor visits are a luxury. But those who do seek her services get a healthy dose of quality care from a doctor who speaks their language.

The economic downturn could lead to higher rates of crime, divorce, alcohol and drug abuse, depression and suicide. In part, Las Vegas ranked in 7th place due to its suicide rate. Mike Murphy, coroner for Clark County, told Businessweek.com that he has noticed an increase in economy-related suicides. He also said a lot of people come to Las Vegas looking to start over and then things don’t work out. Click here to read the full story.

Las Vegas topped a list of America’s Emptiest Cities by Forbes Magazine, but some in Las Vegas say the designation is not accurate at all.

To read the full story, click here.