Frankly, it sounds like a self-contradictory argument. Or circuitous at best. Until the 1960s, it was largely agreed that public employees could not also serve in the Nevada Legislature. This was because the Separation of Powers Clause in the state Constitution stated that no one who exercised power in one branch of state government — legislative, executive or judicial — … [Read more...]
Western congressmen seek monument size reductions
Recently the 17 members of the Congressional Western Caucus — which includes Nevada’s Rep. Mark Amodei — took Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke up on his request for feedback on what to do about all the national monuments created in the past two decades, sending him a letter with specific recommendations about 27 of those monuments. These recommendations called for vastly … [Read more...]
Police should not seize property without a conviction
President Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a reputation as a law-and-order guy, but the plan he announced this past week to step up civil asset forfeiture efforts skirts the law and jeopardizes order. The plan is to reverse an Obama administration policy that restricted how often federal agencies would accept property — cash, vehicles, homes, airplanes — seized by … [Read more...]
Another public pension warning flag raised
Researchers at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University have published their annual “Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition,” and Nevada ranked a respectable 14th among the states in overall fiscal health and accountability. The study ranked each state based on short- and long-term debt and other obligations, such as unfunded pensions. The unfunded pension debt is … [Read more...]
Bundy case judge trying to prevent jury nullification
The retrial of four defendants in the 2014 Bunkerville standoff at the Bundy ranch got underway this past week in Las Vegas, and this time the prosecution and the judge seem determined to avoid another mistrial due to a hung jury by eviscerating defense arguments. Federal Judge Gloria Navarro granted a prosecution motion to bar presentation of evidence “supporting jury … [Read more...]
The deal that never should have been
In all the second-guessing and navel gazing over the Faraday Future flop, no one is bringing up the real reason that the deal should never have been made in the first place. Yes, it was an ill-conceived idea for gullible Nevada lawmakers in a special session in 2015 on blind faith alone to agree to dole out $215 million in tax abatements and credits to entice Faraday Future … [Read more...]
Repeal ObamaCare and let states handle health insurance
The bad news for those who live in Clark, Carson City and Nye counties is that companies offering ObamaCare-compliant health insurance policies have requested 38 percent premium increases in 2018. The good news for those in the rest of Nevada is that their ObamaCare premiums will not be going up because there are no companies offering such policies. In pulling out of those … [Read more...]
How to make use of those Yucca Mountain tunnels
Sometimes things just naturally come full circle. For decades Nevada’s former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid constantly pounded on two themes: Blocking nuclear waste from being stored in Yucca Mountain in Nye County and pressing for more and more solar panels to be thrown up on thousands of acres of public land and on rooftops across the state. When Congress designated Yucca … [Read more...]