RJ reporter Spencer Levering’s most memorable articles of 2025

Here are five of Las Vegas Review-Journal breaking news reporter Spencer Levering’s most memorable articles from this year:

‘Not going anywhere’: Mosquitoes thrive in valley, gain pesticide immunity

A growing nuisance in the Las Vegas valley are mosquitoes, pesky insects that can pose a serious public health hazard. Although 2025 did not see record-breaking reported cases of West Nile virus, a common illness that mosquitoes can transmit, UNLV researchers Louisa Messenger and Trishan Wickramasinghe said the local mosquito population is developing resistance to pesticides.

Without a holistic government abatement program, mosquitoes will likely continue to thrive in the valley and more obscure vector-borne diseases could reach Clark County, Messenger said.

“It really doesn’t take very much for you to have a small little outbreak here in Vegas, because we have the vector. We just need a person to traffic the pathogen through the airport,” Messenger said.

Storm-damaged school with 7 students reopens

Nestled beyond rows of quaint cabins on Mount Charleston, Lundy Elementary School has been the subject of local scrutiny after a 2023 tropical storm ravaged its campus.

People living on the mountain northwest of Las Vegas said the school served as an indispensable community hub, while critics argued the $7.8 million price point to repair the school was steep given it educates only seven students.

Nevertheless, Mount Charleston residents celebrated the school’s reopening at a ribbon cutting in August and marveled at the raised parking lot and new flood channel.

“It’s great because it’s a lot of one-on-one learning,” said Kymberly Caroleo, the mother of a Lundy kindergartener. Having the school open, she said, is “definitely a stress relief.”

CCSD is introducing AI into classrooms. Will it be here to stay?

Artificial intelligence is creeping into nearly every industry, and education is no exception. The Clark County School District began trialing AI in classrooms this year, giving select teachers and students access to the technology for specific educational purposes.

Richard Bryan Elementary School Principal Brandi Mora said her teachers have been using the technology to improve lesson plans and had plans in November to introduce AI to students through lessons aimed at how to use it responsibly.

“Teaching is so time-consuming, and to do it right and to do it well, you have to invest a lot of time outside of the school day,” Mora said. “When they were introduced to AI … it’s been a game changer.”

With Superintendent Jhone Ebert appearing interested in expanding AI’s classroom utility, it will be seen how or if it brings a new era in education.

Longtime banker and education philanthropist Selma Bartlett dies

When a school district names one of its schools after someone, it means their work had a significant local effect. Selma Bartlett, who died in September at 97, was no exception.

The Henderson resident was credited with breaking the glass ceiling in banking and issuing loans that grew Henderson into the second-largest city in Nevada. As a philanthropist, Bartlett made investments into local education by establishing an engineering scholarship at UNLV.

Though she didn’t have any children herself, Bartlett Elementary School Principal Brodie Christian said she made every kid her own.

“She was short on stature, but she was larger than life,” Christian said.

Windstorm leaves retirement community without power

A windstorm that tore through the valley in early July left 155 people in a retirement community without electricity, forcing the community’s staff members to scramble to accommodate their elderly residents.

Without electricity and air conditioning, residents at Holiday Montara Meadows, on East Tropicana Avenue at South Mojave Road sat waiting in their rooms and the darkened lobby as staff ushered them into buses where they could cool down and charge their electronics.

“It’s really kind of terrible because I don’t think I’m alone in the fact that I was totally unprepared,” said Ann DeVere, 83.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.