The Lincoln Country Record reported that the popular swimming hole at the Ash Springs hot springs north of Alamo was shut down because of possible safety hazards. Someone had noticed a child playing near a wall of rocks that looked as if it might collapse any moment and a local law enforcement officer brought it to the attention of the Bureau of Land Management. Victoria … [Read more...]

Once again Nevada has earned a worst-in-the-nation ranking. An analysis of 2016 payroll data by Key Policy Data found Nevada’s state and local public employees are the least productive in the country, according to a news account by Watchdog.org. Though researcher J. Scott Moody found that Nevada’s state and local governments employed only 11.7 people per every 100 workers … [Read more...]

No matter how the current trial of four defendants in the April 2014 standoff between armed protesters and Bureau of Land Management agents trying to confiscate Cliven Bundy’s cattle turns out — conviction, acquittal, mistrial, dismissal of charges — the case will stand as an historic example of how sweeping secrecy can cast doubt on whether justice is being served. This … [Read more...]

Christmas is coming and you’re still scratching your head over just what to get for that special Nevada friend or family member. How about a gift that will keep giving for years to come — a book, specifically a book about Nevada and/or the West? A couple of the newest additions to this narrow genre are David Philipps’ “Wild Horse Country” and Range magazine’s “The Good, the … [Read more...]

For the sake of the citizens of the 4th Congressional District of Nevada, it is time for Ruben Kihuen to resign. As if the allegations of sexual harassment of a staffer during the 2016 campaign weren’t bad enough, Kihuen has turned himself into a pariah in the already minority Democratic Party by basically calling his party leaders liars. His effectiveness for his … [Read more...]

Part two or two In his newly published book, “Wild Horse Country,” writer David Philipps offers his suggestion for what to do about the overpopulation of wild horses in the West, which are overgrazing the open range: “The solution is mountain lions.” Realizing that this will leave horse-huggers aghast and cause cattle and sheep ranchers to gasp, Philipps forges ahead, … [Read more...]

Isn’t it nice to know your tax dollars have been used to payoff employees of Congress who have been subjected to civil rights, labor, and workplace safety and health law violations — presumably including sexual harassment? Under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 congressional staffers are covered by those laws and their employers are no longer exempt. In most … [Read more...]

What should be done about wild horses? Colorado-based writer David Philipps attempts to answer that question in his 316-page book “Wild Horse Country,” published in October. The book sweeps across a span of time and landscape as vast as the range of the wild horse, delving into views and suggestions from horse-huggers and horse-disparagers alike, turning more than a few … [Read more...]