Premiums for ObamaCare-eligible health insurance plans are soaring this year, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. The study, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that the lowest priced of the so-called gold plans that cover 80 percent of medical expenses for a 40-year-old non-smoker increased 19 percent nationally this year and 25 percent in … [Read more...]
No Solution for Wild Horse Overpopulation in Budget
The wild horse can has been kicked down the road yet again. Congress could not possibly find a way in its 2,232-page, $1.3 trillion budget that President Trump signed a couple of weeks ago to do anything whatsoever about the overpopulation of wild horses. The Interior Department’s FY2019 budget at one time included this language: “The 2019 budget continues to propose the e … [Read more...]
Flying Machines in Pieces on the Ground
NEWS THAT AIN’T NEWS. YET. Here’s a roundup of big stuff that will break after I upload this on Monday, past deadline as always. (Sorry, boss, as always.) PIZEN SWITCH SWATTED. If there was ever any doubt that Terri Keyser-Cooper has long been and remains the best civil rights lawyer in Nevada, last Thursday’s shutout at the Reno federal courthouse sealed the deal. U.S. Di … [Read more...]
Nevada Court Rightly Upholds Public Right to Know
The Nevada Supreme Court has made it clear that public officials cannot skirt the state public records law by using privately owned electronic devices to conduct the public’s business. This past week the court unanimously overturned a lower court ruling that rejected a request for records from Lyon County commissioners because those records were not stored on devices owned b … [Read more...]
Wildlife Panel Drops Unwise Weapons Restriction
At its March meeting the the commissioners on the Nevada Board of Wildlife wisely tabled a proposed regulation that would have required hunters to obtain permission of the occupant of a dwelling before discharging a weapon within a certain distance. The board was responding to reported instances of hunters engaging in unsafe practices near residences, but such a rule would … [Read more...]
Latest Wind Turbine Project Is a Bad Idea
Less than a year after backers of a proposed wind turbine farm near Searchlight threw in the towel after failing to convince a federal judge their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was accurate, an even bigger project just 10 miles to the west has started the environmental review process. A week ago a notice was published in the Federal Register by the Bureau of Land … [Read more...]
PERS Should Stop Trying to Hide Public Records
The Public Employees’ Retirement System should stop wasting taxpayer money and release the records of Nevada public employee retiree payments as the courts previously ordered them to do. The Reno Gazette-Journal sued for these records in 2013 and won in the state Supreme Court, which found the records are clearly covered under the state public records law. The records were r … [Read more...]
How Schools Must Handle Diverse Gender Identities
In 2017 Nevada legislators passed a bill requiring schools in the state to establish policies for “addressing the rights and needs of persons with diverse gender identities or expressions.” A month ago the state Department of Education published a draft spelling out changes to the Nevada Administrative Code to comply with the law. As written, the policy requires all school pe … [Read more...]