THUMBS DOWN to Washoe County officials for giving casinos a tax break going back to 2009.
We always knew casinos had an edge over gamblers, but we didn’t know that advantage extended into the counting room at the county administration building.
Last week, county officials acknowledged that they had been significantly under-collecting gaming taxes from casinos because of a miscalculation over a seven-year period. The result: a loss of about $4.8 million in revenue to local government entities, including about $368,000 to the city of Sparks.
THUMBS UP to the county official who looked at the books and noticed that casinos only paid a fraction of what they owed and that the sharp decline couldn’t possibly be pinned on the recession. We wonder if the watchful employee will be seeking a raise in the near future.
THUMBS DOWN to political correctness run amok. Did you know that the student leaders at Truckee Meadows Community College have declared the school’s mascot to be gender neutral? “Wizard the Lizard” will now be called by his or her name (make that its) name or simply as “the lizard.” While we certainly condemn discrimination on the basis of gender, we aren’t convinced that “gender-neutral” pronouns are a significant problem.
THUMBS UP to all the organizations in the area that offer free or low-cost activities, especially those for children.
The Sparks Tribune dropped by one of the activities this weekend at the Sparks Library, where children read to dogs.
The Paws 2 Read program uses trained therapy dogs. The dogs and their trainers visit libraries where the dogs help children read aloud. Because they sit quietly and don’t judge, the dogs are good listeners. We can learn a lot from our canine friends, especially now that the presidential campaign is heating up.
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