What’s happening in Vegas?
Make Me Smart
Marketplace
4.6 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Latin Grammys threw a party in Las Vegas last night. But this year, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has had a chilling effect on the Latin entertainment industry. Mountain West News Bureau reporter Yvette Fernandez joins Kimberly from Las Vegas to share her reporting, including how the city is handling a lengthy tourism slump. Plus, we’ll play a round of Half Full/Half Empty!
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- "Latinx Files: Recapping the Latin Grammys" from The Los Angeles Times
- "Immigration crackdown, visa issues spark issues for Latin music festivals" from Marketplace
- "New Statistics Underscore Las Vegas' Prolonged Tourism Slump" from Travel Pulse
- "Healthcare costs continue to be at the heart of the government shut down as costs will still increase" from KNPR
- "He has a soulful voice, a No. 1 hit and he's not real. Meet AI star Breaking Rust" from USA Today
- "The death of the penny is leaving businesses stuck in the middle" from Marketplace
- "The growing business of disconnecting" Marketplace
- "Holiday catalogs are making a comeback" Marketplace
- Test your news knowledge with Marketplace’s new weekly quiz
We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email [email protected].
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where none of us is as smart as all of us. I'm Kimberly Adams, and thank you to everyone who's joining us for our weekly Friday happy hour, economics on tap, whether you're listening on the podcast or joining us for |
| 0:21.8 | the YouTube live stream. Very glad to have you with us this Friday. And because it's Friday, |
| 0:27.8 | it means that we have a special guest. And joining me today is Yvette Fernandez, who is a regional |
| 0:33.9 | reporter for the Mountain West News Bureau based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Welcome to the show, |
| 0:39.7 | Yvette. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Well, thanks so much for coming on. |
| 0:44.8 | We are going to talk about what's happening in Vegas that may or may not stay in Vegas. I'm sorry, |
| 0:49.7 | I couldn't resist the joke. The Latin Grammys were last night. The city has been having a bit of a |
| 0:55.8 | tourism slump. But first of all, let's talk drinks. Yvette, what do you have? Well, you know, |
| 1:01.5 | I'm having a mocktail. You know, mocktails are so big here right now, mostly just for the calorie |
| 1:07.0 | count is why I'm doing it. But here, you know, there's so many bars and restaurants and whatever that have mixologists |
| 1:14.7 | who try to one up each other and they create these specialty beverages. |
| 1:18.2 | So I figure, oh, I'm going to make my own specialty beverage. |
| 1:20.6 | That just made this. |
| 1:21.7 | That's so pretty. |
| 1:24.0 | Pretty? |
| 1:24.5 | What is that? |
| 1:25.9 | An add a fraction of the cost, too, child. Let me tell you. |
| 1:28.3 | Tell me all about it. |
| 1:29.3 | What's in it? |
| 1:31.3 | You know, it's, again, my own invention, I just kind of, I'm calling it like a sangria spritzer. |
| 1:36.3 | It's really just a mocktail, you know, wine with just, you know, some tonic water and that kind of a thing. |
| 1:46.6 | But it looks good. |
... |
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