Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt has been taking a page from his grandfather’s playbook in recent weeks touring various communities in the state with some of his staff and conducting townhall meetings with concerned citizens in what he calls “AG for a Day.” He says the idea is a homage to grandfather Paul Laxalt’s practice of touring the state with his cabinet and staff … [Read more...]
Fight to Replace Reid in Senate Becoming a Proxy War
Be careful with whom you pick a fight. They might fight back with some heavy artillery. For years Harry Reid has been obsessively ranting and mewling about the wealthy Koch brothers, Charles and David, for deigning to spend their own money to express their free speech rights. He has pejoratively mentioned the brothers from the well of the Senate more than 130 times. He … [Read more...]
BLM Sage Grouse Guidelines will Bury Land Users in Paperwork
The Bureau of Land Management this past week issued eight guideline memos instructing federal land managers in 11 Western states as to how they are to carry out policies intended to protect greater sage grouse — a move that threatens to bury ranchers, miners, oil and gas explorers and construction companies under a mountain of paperwork and impose lengthy delays, while doing … [Read more...]
Nevada High School Grads Scored Worst in Nation on ACT Test
This past week the administrators of the ACT test confirmed what we suspected a month ago when preliminary data were released, Nevada high school students are dead last in the nation in college preparedness. Nevada students eked out a mere 17.7 points out of a possible 36 points, compared to a nationwide average score of 20.8. Nevada’s score plummeted from the previous … [Read more...]
Officials Fear New EPA Rules Could Cripple Mining Operations
There is growing fear among officials across the West that in the waning days of the Obama administration his Environmental Protection Agency may enact regulations that could cost the hard rock mining industry billions of dollars, jeopardizing jobs and entire communities. Earlier this year, the EPA, as is its wont, settled a lawsuit from a passel of self-styled environmental … [Read more...]
Which Senate Candidate is Correct on Handling Social Security?
The race to replace Harry Reid in the Senate is one of the most closely watched and highly contested elections in the nation this year. The most recent poll has Republican Rep. Joe Heck leading Reid’s hand-picked Democratic opponent, former state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, by 3 points — 38 percent to 35 percent with the substantial remainder undecided. More … [Read more...]
It is Long Past Time to Patch the Broken Public Employee Retirement System
“You know my rule, Andy,” says a grifter in an O. Henry tale, “that in all my illegitimate inroads against the legal letter of the law the article sold must be existent, visible, producible. In that way and by a careful study of city ordinances and train schedules I have kept out of all trouble with the police that a five dollar bill and a cigar could not square.” This … [Read more...]
Education Saving Account Opposition Fails to Persuade
Nevada’s Supreme Court justices heard arguments in two different cases this past week on whether to uphold the state’s education savings account (ESA) program as constitutional. Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general who defended the law on behalf of the Nevada attorney general, opened the first hearing, the case of Schwartz v. Lopez, by noting, “Nevada’s system for … [Read more...]