Tag: las vegas

30 years of discovery: Uncovering the truth about UFOs and beyond at NIDS

Thirty years ago, a distinguished group formally met for the first time in Las Vegas to advise the newly formed National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS).

Known as the NIDS Science Advisory Board, this organization set the standard for future UFO/UAP and unusual phenomena investigations.

Below is a sample of statements, articles, and interviews from 8 News Now with members of this committee:

Physicist Dr. Eric Davis sent us a statement on the impact of NIDS on the anniversary of the first Science Advisory Board Meeting:

“The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) in Las Vegas, NV was the first professional scientific research institute in the United States that was devoted to the exploration and investigation of UAP and other anomalous phenomena during 1995-2004. 

NIDS had four world-class Ph.D. scientists on staff, a world-class Science Advisory Board comprised of 17 experts in academia, medicine, industry, the US Dept. of Energy, U.S. Navy nuclear engineering, and former Apollo astronauts, a wet laboratory, a library, and support staff that were generously funded for over 9 years by Robert T. and Diane Bigelow of the Bigelow Companies in Las Vegas.

NIDS accomplished much more to understand anomalous phenomena than the legacy volunteer UFO organizations ever did.  Just three years later, NIDS was reborn as the short-lived Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) which conducted classified UAP research and investigations under contract to the Defense Intelligence Agency during 2007-2011 for a project called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP).

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Illegal Biolabs In Vegas & California Linked To Chinese National With Alleged Military-Civil Fusion Ties

Federal and local authorities are investigating suspected illegal biological laboratories in Las Vegas and California’s Central Valley linked to a Chinese national accused by Congressional investigators of ties to a PRC military-civil fusion enterprise, who spent a decade operating what Canadian courts found was a systematic technology-theft operation from British Columbia before fleeing south with a $330 million fraud judgment against him.

The FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department executed search warrants over the weekend at two residences connected to Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu, a 62-year-old Chinese citizen already under federal indictment for operating an illegal biolab in Reedley, California that contained labeled samples of at least 20 infectious agents including HIV, tuberculosis, and what the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party described as “the deadliest known form of malaria.”

Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill confirmed Monday that investigators recovered over 1,000 samples of biological material “consistent in appearance” with items found in the California facility.

“This can’t keep happening,” Congressman Kevin Kiley said after the Las Vegas raid, calling for immediate hearings on bipartisan legislation he introduced with Representatives Costa and David Valadao. “The illegal bio lab just raided in Las Vegas was operated by the same LLC and Chinese nationals as the one discovered in Reedley.”

In the Reedley case, investigators discovered nearly 1,000 bioengineered laboratory mice, infectious agents including E. Coli, malaria, various chemicals, medical waste, blood, tissue, serum, body fluid samples, and illegal pregnancy tests, Congressman Jim Costa noted, citing the Select Committee’s review.

Property records show both the Reedley warehouse and the Las Vegas homes are owned by the same limited-liability company whose officers include Zhu and his business partner Zhaoyan Wang, both Chinese citizens facing federal trial in April 2026 on charges of distributing hundreds of thousands of misbranded COVID-19 and other testing kits.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party’s investigation frames Zhu as a Chinese citizen from Canada “associated with PRC-government linked companies” and with direct ties to state enterprises and military-civil fusion networks.

Photos from their review show freezers packed with numerous small bottles and sample containers holding what the caption identifies as blood and other fluids, plus sealed bags labeled with apparent drug shorthand (for example “MDMA,” “Coca,” and “Met”), suggesting the freezers were being used to store both biological materials and suspected narcotics-related items.

The report states that in the early 2000s, Zhu served as vice chairman of Henan Pioneer Aide Biological Engineering Company Limited, a PRC state-controlled enterprise whose corporate ownership structure the Committee mapped to show interlacing with state-linked financing channels running through China Development Bank and its affiliated funds, the National Council for Social Security Fund, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

The report explicitly flags Chinese military exposure, noting that beneficial owners operated through passthrough joint-venture companies including Henan Investment Group Company Limited, which the Committee describes as “involved in military-civil fusion.”

The Select Committee documented that Zhu’s work in cattle genetics connected to strategic PRC priorities.

As Zhu stated in documents obtained from the Reedley Biolab, “the Company is looking to seize the opportunity to develop the operational platform for the rapid growth in the Chinese dairy industry, fulfilling [PRC] Premier [and CCP Politburo Member] Wen Jiabao’s wish to ‘provide every Chinese, especially children, sufficient milk every day.’”

At that time, China faced a pressing milk crisis.

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FBI and Metro Police Raid Illegal Bio Lab in Las Vegas

The FBI and Metro Police raided an illegal biological lab in Las Vegas on Saturday morning.

The bio lab in Vegas is possibly linked to another illegal lab under investigation in Fresno, California, where authorities found deadly viruses such as HIV, Covid and Ebola.

As TGP’s Brian Lupo reported back in July 2023, – An illegal bio lab was discovered in a believed-to-be vacant building in Reedley, California in Fresno County.

City code enforcement stumbled upon the building in December 2022 when they discovered a garden hose running up into the building through a hole in the wall. In March 2023, they obtained a warrant to inspect the property, and in April, the Fresno County Department of Public Health ordered an inspection of the facility.

Investigators inspected the building that contained the lab in July 2023 and found a room used to make COVID-19 tests and pregnancy tests. They also found over 35 freezers and refrigeration units that contained “thousands of bodily fluids, serums, tissues, and other medical items.”

The lab contained refrigerators full of deadly viruses and genetically engineered mice to transmit the deadly viruses to humans!

The man connected to the bio lab in Fresno is in federal custody.

KLAS reported:

A suspected biological laboratory raided by Metro police and the FBI may be connected to a similar incident in California, where officials found infectious agents such as HIV and malaria, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.

Police and the FBI searched the home on Saturday, Jan. 31, finding a “possible biological laboratory,” including “refrigerators with vials containing unknown liquids,” police said.

Shortly before 6 a.m., a Metro SWAT team served a search warrant at the home on Sugar Springs Drive near Washington Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard to search for a possible “biological laboratory” inside the home. A second location was also searched, but no lab was located.

An LLC tied to the home’s county records matches the name of a company that is part of an ongoing federal case in California involving a biological laboratory there. In that case, a Chinese citizen faces federal charges for allegedly manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices, according to federal prosecutors.

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Las Vegas man gets probation for killing girlfriend’s 1-year-old: ‘He had no voice’

A man convicted of killing his girlfriend’s one-year-old child will avoid prison time after prosecutors noted issues with evidence that could have resulted in a not-guilty verdict.

In 2024, a Clark County grand jury voted to indict Christian Rabino, 29, on first-degree murder and child abuse for the death of Kai Tesoro, who was 17 months old at the time of his death. Police identified Rabino as Kai’s mother’s boyfriend.

Last November, Rabino entered an Alford plea to a charge of voluntary manslaughter, records said. Through an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges prosecutors may have enough evidence to lead a jury to convict them, but at no time do they admit guilt.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to a sentence of probation. The voluntary manslaughter charge itself carries a sentence of 1-10 years, documents said, but the plea deal negated any prison time.

In court Tuesday, Clark County District Court Judge Jacqueline Bluth, a former prosecutor who worked on child homicides, noted prosecutors’ issues heading toward trial and her disappointment with the terms of the deal.

“The state believed it had some evidentiary issues if we had gone to trial,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Dena Rinetti said in court. “In these cases, typically there are no eyewitnesses, and so you’re relying upon caregivers to give the most accurate information.”

Rinetti highlighted potential issues at trial, including concerns about witness statements to police and unexplained older injuries discovered during autopsy.

“This was a rare negotiation for me as well in this type of case,” Rinetti said. “I take these cases very, very seriously, but I also have to live with the facts of the case and what I can prove at trial.”

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Tucker Carlson Takes a Deep Dive Into Unanswered Questions About the 2017 Las Vegas Massacre

Tucker Carlson spoke with journalist and podcast host Ian Carroll this week for a lengthy talk about the deadly 2017 Las Vegas shooting, covering the slew of unanswered questions that remain about the nation’s deadliest mass shooting.

The duo also touched on mysteries surrounding the official narrative about the Charlie Kirk assassination.

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New Year’s Eve Conspiracy Theories? Government Agency Issues Statement On Low-Flying Helicopters Spotted Over Las Vegas

In anticipation of the potential spread of conspiracy theories, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has alerted the public to its plans to fly DOE helicopters over the Las Vegas Strip, as it plans to search for nuclear radiation leading up to this year’s New Year’s Eve celebration.

Part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST), the Aerial Measuring System (AMS) will monitor the strip and surrounding areas for signs of background radiation that could point to a potential threat to the over 400,000 visitors expected to crowd the street during the annual holiday gathering.

“NNSA is making the public aware of the upcoming flights so citizens who see the low-flying aircraft are not alarmed,” the agency explained in June.

DOE Helicopters Create Radiation Map to Spot Anomalies

In a statement detailing the operation, the agency said that the flights, which began on Monday, will continue through Wednesday night’s New Year’s Eve celebrations. During each flight, the agency’s equipment-packed helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft fly directly over the 4.2-mile-long stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, often referred to as “The Strip.”

“The public may see a Leonardo AW-139 helicopter, which is equipped with radiation-sensing technology,” the agency previously explained, adding that the helicopter will fly at “relatively low levels.”

During the Wednesday evening New Year’s Eve event known as “America’s Party,” Las Vegas authorities will close down The Strip to all vehicle traffic. At its peak, authorities will be responsible for the safety of hundreds of thousands of people as they watch an eight-minute-long firework show and an extended LED drone show.

According to the agency’s website, the DOE helicopters fly in a grid-like pattern at low altitudes of 150 to 300 feet and at an average speed of 80 miles per hour. The agency also noted that all flights of the DOE helicopters are conducted during daylight hours “to identify any unexpected radiation sources that might pose a threat during the event.”

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Trump-Hating Illinois Governor JB Pritzker Raises Eyebrows With His Explanation On How He ‘Won’ Over $1 MILLION Playing Blackjack On Just ONE Trip to Las Vegas

One of President Trump’s biggest political adversaries stunned the political world after revealing that he won an unusual amount of money gambling in Las Vegas last year.

As The New York Times reported, Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker released his 2024 tax returns on Wednesday as rumors circulate about him as a 2028 presidential candidate.

The returns revealed that Pritzker and his wife reported $10.7 million in adjusted gross income. But the biggest shock was the fact that he won $1.4 million playing blackjack in Las Vegas in just one trip.

Such an amount is surprising, especially considering Pritzker is not a professional gambler.

Pritzker, though, told reporters Thursday that there was nothing nefarious and that it was just his lucky night at the casino.

“I went on vacation with my wife, with some friends, I was incredibly lucky,” a smiling Pritzer claimed at a press conference. “You have to be in order to end up ahead in a casino anywhere.”

“I like to play cards. I founded a charitable poker match here in Chicago called the Chicago Poker Challenge that has raised millions of dollars for the Holocaust museum,” he said in an apparent attempt to tone down any accusations of cheating.

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LA to Vegas high speed train now predicted to cost $21 BILLION, as critics warn final sum will be far higher

The price tag for the much-anticipated high-speed train between Southern California and Las Vegas has soared to $21.5 billion with warnings the number could keep rising. 

The 218-mile railway will take passengers from Las Vegas to Southern California in just two hours, with a Metrolink connecting them to Los Angeles Union Station.

At speeds of up to 200 mph, Brightline West hopes that its project will promote a ‘car-free, care-free lifestyle’.

Earlier this year, Brightline West reported that the railway’s construction would cost $16 billion, double the initially projection. 

But rising costs due to labor shortages, material cost inflation, and competition from other infrastructure projects has driven the cost up even further, according to Desert Sun. 

To make up for the difference, the company has requested a $6 billion federal loan through the US Department of Transportation.

The company issued $2.5 billion in private activity bonds in February, which requires it to secure the necessary loan by November. 

But if they can’t secure it, they may end up paying even more and be forced to repay investors early. 

Initially, the railway was supposed to open in 2027, in time for the Summer Olympics in LA the following year, but the date has been pushed back to 2029. 

Brightline West ceremonially broke ground on the project in April 2024 and preliminary construction has begun. 

The all-electric trains will be built along the Interstate 15 median with new stations in Apple Valley and Hesperia.

The final stop in Rancho Cucamonga, California will connect passengers to LA on a pre-existing Metro line. 

Brightline West claims taking the high-speed rail will be two times faster than the driving time which can take up to five hours. 

They also boast that they will create more than 10,000 job during construction and 800 permanent operations and maintenance jobs.

It’s also environmentally friendly and is projected to save 325,000 metric tons of CO2 each year.

According to their website: ‘Brightline is the only private provider of modern, eco-friendly, intercity passenger rail service in America.’

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Sin City’s shame: As tourists abandon Las Vegas, 1,500 forgotten ‘Mole People’ are left behind in rat-infested tunnels below the Strip

Tourists may have deserted the gambling capital of the world but the number of homeless has skyrocketed. Among them are the ‘Mole People’ who dwell in the decaying tunnels below the Las Vegas Strip. 

A petite blonde-haired woman in a red sundress, who goes by Natasha, emerges from her home under the Sahara Hotel and Casino on a sweltering late September day.

She is just one of an estimated 1,500 people, many of whom are drug, alcohol or gambling addicts, who live underneath the glittering Strip in a vast 600-mile system of storm drain tunnels built in the early 1990s.

At first glance she could be mistaken for an average tourist in town to play blackjack or see a show.

It’s not until she makes her way through the piles of garbage, including discarded shoes, a broken stroller, used syringes, old pizza boxes, dirty blankets, torn-open pillows, and leftover bags of junk food, and comes closer that you can see she’s missing a front tooth and has sores all over her legs that are a telltale sign of fentanyl abuse.

Natasha, from Anchorage, Alaska, admits she’s high but is also lucid enough to explain her situation and describe life in the tunnels because, she says, many who live alongside her cannot. 

She has been underground on and off for two years.

‘When I first came on the Strip – I’ve been here for a year – I was living in a truck,’ she told Daily Mail.

‘Then my boyfriend died [of an overdose] and so I’ve been down here off and on for weeks. I never knew how bad the whole [homeless] situation was here.

‘People are sleeping in alleyways and living by dumpsters or they’re in shelters. The people in the tunnels don’t want to stop using drugs. It makes them happy. 

‘They can’t do that with a normal lifestyle or any place where they have to follow rules.’

Since 2022, homelessness in Las Vegas (and the wider Southern Nevada/Clark County area) has risen sharply, according to federal Point-in-Time counts.

In 2022, there were just over 6,000 people counted as homeless on a single night. By 2023 that number grew to 6,566, and by 2024 it had jumped to about 7,906 — an increase of 20 percent in one year and about 36 percent over two years.

By contrast, Vegas has seen a sharp decline in tourism through 2025, with visitor numbers down more than 11 percent year-over-year in June and about 7 percent for the first half of the year. 

Analysts say rising prices – bottled water can cost as much as $12 or $14 in hotels along the Strip and resort fees, parking and food costs have increased exponentially – along with weaker foreign currencies and a slump in international visitors have caused Vegas to be a city currently down on its luck. 

International tourism has suffered the steepest drop: visitors were down by more than 13 percent in June alone.

Homeless people in Vegas do not have to live in the tunnels. They have the option of going to what locals call The Courtyard, the primary hub for unhoused people in the city.

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Las Vegas church outrages neighbors as congregation parks SIX HUNDRED cars on lawns and driveways

Las Vegas residents were left outraged as congregants at an Ethiopian orthodox church continue to illegally park their vehicles on lawns and driveways.

Neighbors of the Hamere Noah Kidane Mihret and Saint Michael Ethiopian Church told KLAS they have repeatedly reached out to Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft and used the Fixit app as they were instructed, but nothing has changed in years.

‘We document that and we provide that proof and we have found that there’s no follow up,’ said Daria Wu, who gathered her fellow neighbors to discuss the issues they have faced during the services at the church.

These include a spike in speeding cars, vehicles running the stop signs and illegally parked cars.

‘It’s not great to sometimes have your driveway blocked by someone else’s car,’ Wu noted, as a recent morning ceremony brought more than 600 vehicles, most of which were parked illegally in front of county ‘no parking’ signs.

The swath of illegally-parked vehicles extended more than a mile, completely blocking some off some roads. 

Church members have claimed the hundreds of illegally parked vehicles only come once a year, though residents say it is much more frequently that they are dealing with the issue.

A congregant also reportedly admitted that the parking jobs were illegal according to the signs, but was not an issue because the county has not enforced ‘no parking’ rules.

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