Nevada’s most heartwarming news stories of 2025

From a historic World Series win for Las Vegas Little League to national recognition for a Northern Nevada student, these Silver State news stories from 2025 will warm your heart. 

It was a rough year in Nevada and nationwide; the kind of year where just about every news story you read is more tragic, worrisome, or heartwrenching than the last. But hey, look on the bright side. It wasn’t all bad.

This story covers some of the good news to come out of Nevada in 2025. The heartwarming news. The kind of news that feels like a mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows or a hug from your mom.

In celebration of wrapping up this year and in hopes of spreading kindness and positivity in 2026, here are some of the Silver State’s most heartwarming news stories of 2025.

We are the champions

Let’s start with this heartwarming news story about youth baseball—a grand slam for Las Vegas. A local baseball team stepped up to the plate this summer, clinching a coveted spot in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Though the Summerlin South Little League team ultimately fell to the Asia-Pacific region’s Chinese Taipei team, the boys returned to Las Vegas with their heads held high as U.S. champions–a historic achievement for a local team.

Aug. 27, the team was thrown a parade along Park Centre Drive at Downtown Summerlin. Emceed by Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter, the parade was filled with cheers and fanfare like local professional sports mascots, marching bands, cheerleaders, and dance teams. After the parade, the players, coaches, and families were recognized at the Las Vegas Aviators game at Las Vegas Ballpark.

The players, who are part of the Mountain Region, also had the opportunity to light the Al Davis Memorial Torch before kickoff at a Las Vegas Raiders game in September.

Bucket list, complete

Beat cancer? Check. Dream seats at a Vegas Golden Knights game? Check. Only one item left on 83-year-old Sherry Hernandez’s bucket list: a puck or stick from the city’s hometown hockey team.

As KTNV reported in October, the Knights came through for the Stage 4 colon cancer survivor following a game at T-Mobile Arena, gifting her not only a puck, but also player Jack Eichel’s stick. Check and mate!

Nevada is friend-zoned

Nevada doesn’t always fare well when ranked on national lists. (For instance, we were ranked 45 out of 50 on WalletHub’s August 2025 list of best places to live). But a 2025 analysis by Journeyscape shines a more heartwarming light on the Silver State. According to a report by the travel website, Nevada is ranked the fifth friendliest state in the nation, based on metrics including visitor sentiment, overseas tourism numbers, LGBTQ+ equality, and overall happiness.

Incidentally, while WalletHub’s list ranked Nevada low for states to live in, it did rank us No. 3 for having fun and No. 1 for nightlife. On a similar note, the University of Nevada, Reno was named among the nation’s best institutions by U.S. News & World Report in September. The Best Colleges ranking of more than 1,700 colleges and universities puts UNR at an impressive No. 192 (up 12 spots from last year).

Bye-bye, doctor debt

A non-profit Latino engagement group has quietly canceled $133 million in medical debt for 128,000 people in Washoe and Clark counties.

Somos Votantes Education Fund purchased and erased the debt last month through its new program, Seeds of Relief, a collaboration with the nonprofit organization Undue Medical Debt. No doubt that news of this debt relief is warming many hearts.

What’s cool at school

Here are some of the many heartwarming stories about caring Nevadans who donated to local students and schools this year.

In February, 24 classrooms at Manuel J. Cortez Elementary School, Ruben P. Diaz Elementary School, Ann Lynch Elementary School, and Mario C. & Joanne Monaco Middle School received a donation of 24 “Classroom in a Box” supplies worth $500 each from The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, in partnership with the Public Education Foundation (PEF) and Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada (CIS). The boxes, personally autographed by Shaquille O’Neal, contain essential supplies for teachers and students.

During Nevada Reading Week in March, the community helped raise $32,000 to add books to the library at Matt Kelly Elementary School through Channel 13’s “If You Give a Child a Book…” campaign.

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Aces, mascot BUCKET$, Special Olympics Nevada, and Channel 13 surprised more than 100 third graders at Harley Harmon Elementary School in September by hosting an inclusive field day. The event, intended to foster friendship and teamwork, included basketball drills, fitness games, and other activities.

Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort donated $15,000 to Robert Mitchell Elementary School in Sparks in October and $15,000 to Vaughn Middle School in Reno in November as part of its GSR Cares program.

Nevada Gold Mines donated $501,000 to Communities In Schools of Nevada (CIS) in November to support programming for 21,000 students across 17 elementary, middle, and high schools in Clark, Elko, Humboldt, and Washoe Counties.

And Google announced this week it would contribute $100,000 to Communities in Schools of Nevada (CIS Nevada), a statewide organization that helps students graduate, reduces chronic absenteeism, and provides resources for success.

A new page for the Historic Westside

Residents of the Historic Westside neighborhood in Las Vegas welcomed a sprawling, revitalized public library on Dec. 9. The 41,178-square-foot property on N. Martin Luther King Boulevard has tons of books, a recording studio, an event center for live arts, cultural, and heritage-based performances, an innovation lab with 3D printers, a business center, a computer center, and private study rooms.

The library will serve as a community hub for the area’s children, grandchildren, and future generations.

Oh, Christmas tree

Christmas came early for one Nevada student whose writing skills earned him a trip to the nation’s capital for the Christmas tree lighting.

Virginia City fourth grader Grady Armstrong won the chance to go to Washington, D.C. earlier this month to read his winning essay about Nevada’s public lands during the lighting of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. Armstrong, son of North Tahoe Fire Division Chief/Fire Marshal Brent Armstrong, was the winner of a statewide essay contest for fourth graders.

The 53-foot red fir, nicknamed “Silver Belle,” was cut down near Mt. Rose at Lake Tahoe, traveling to the nation’s capitol from the Silver State’s Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, but not before making an appearance during the Nevada Day Parade on Nov. 1. Additional stops along its 3,700 miles journey included Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kentucky.

This is the first time the Capitol Tree has come from Nevada. Blessed by the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California before cutting, the 50-year-old fir was decorated with thousands of handmade ornaments crafted by Nevadans.