Touchdown, Raiders!

Excited Las Vegans threw around the term “big league city” when Southern Nevada landed an NHL expansion franchise last year. So what do you call it now that the Oakland Raiders are officially poised to move here?

The NHL is an exciting league that has prospered for a century thanks to a particularly devoted fan base. But hockey remains a niche sport beyond many casual fans, particularly in warm-weather regions.

The NFL, meanwhile is … well, the NFL. A hulking behemoth of a league, a league that appeals to virtually every demographic and is almost single-handedly keeping broadcast television relevant thanks to the massive popularity of its live events.

On Thursday, Raiders owner Mark Davis filed paperwork with the NFL office, formally signaling his intention to move his franchise from Oakland to Las Vegas. The development has been in the works for months, but it was nevertheless a significant step.

The Review-Journal’s Jon Saraceno reports that the owners will likely take up the matter in late March when they meet in Phoenix. The Raiders need the support of at least 24 of the league’s 32 owners to pull off the relocation.

The region’s movers and shakers put the usual promotional bells and whistles on Thursday’s news. But beyond the hype and congratulatory rhetoric, an NFL franchise would represent a true milestone in the evolution of Southern Nevada — and could potentially change the landscape of American sports, particularly when it comes to sports wagering.

The game’s not over until it’s over, of course. But Las Vegas has driven deep inside the red zone, on the verge of a very big score.

Thanks for the Jan. 15 article “Bare Bones.” More than 10,000 fossils have been found in and around the Upper Las Vegas Wash, some within the newly created Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument and others in the adjacent Ice Age Park (a 300-acre state park adjacent to the monument).

Gov. Brian Sandoval, the Legislature, the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, the Clark County Commission, the Paiute Indians and Nellis Air Force Base all approved of designating the area as The Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument.

For more than 10 years, local citizens Harry and Helen Mortenson, Thalia Dondero, Jill DeStefano, Sandy Croteau, Don White and many others worked to protect the area by having it designated a national monument.

When properly developed, the monument and the park will attract many new visitors. The Las Vegas Natural History Museum under Marilyn Gillespie’s able leadership, and other groups such as The Protectors of Tule Springs and The Ice Age Park Foundation, are all working together with the BLM and the Park Service to create a first-rate national monument right here in Las Vegas.

Happily, your article demonstrates that in addition to athletics and gaming there is local interest in academics and the work of UNLV professors Steve Rowland and Josh Bonde, to name a couple of our local paleontologists. Thanks again.

Americans should be celebrating the latest national monuments honoring the fight for civil rights designated by President Barack Obama this past Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Our nation’s history is complex — to say the least. But our diverse history is rarely shared with present generations.

Commemorating historical places — such as the Freedom Riders, Birmingham Civil Rights and Reconstruction Era national monuments — ensures that our complex history is shared with present and future generations so that they learn about the stories, history and contributions of all Americans.

Until the designation of the Reconstruction Era National Monument, the story of the Reconstruction Era had not been told in the more than 400 National Park Service holdings. This period of time between the Civil War and the Jim Crow era is hardly ever mentioned in our history books, yet it is an important time period where great social justice victories were had. Education, land ownership and elected office became a reality for many freed slaves. Sharing these victories brings

In response to your Wednesday editorial about California’s high-speed rail project:

Why not have a highspeed, maglev train for Nevada only? This technology is not new. It has been in commercial use in Europe and Japan for nearly half a century.

People come from all over the world to ride the High Roller on the Strip. Wouldn’t you think that people would come to ride at ground level at super high speeds? The train would run between Las Vegas and Reno and — just think — it would be the only one in the Western Hemisphere.

The Desert Express proposal is nothing more than warmed-over old technology, at best. And why shackle us to California with all of its taxes and red tape?

Once the maglev is in operation here in Nevada, the rest of the country will be clamoring for the system and they will have to come to Nevada to get it.

Plant the seeds here in Nevada. Nevada can be a leader in the 21st century.