Gibbons impeachment urged

RENO -- An editorial in the student newspaper at the University of Nevada, Reno is calling for the impeachment of Gov. Jim Gibbons.

The editorial in Tuesday's Nevada Sagebrush said Gibbons' budget proposal to cut higher education spending by $427 million is "nothing short of misconduct."

In his State of the State speech last week, the first-term Republican governor said he would seek no new taxes to deal with the state's financial crisis.

Gibbons is proposing 6 percent pay cuts for state employees, roughly 50 percent cuts for the state's two universities in Reno and Las Vegas, and shifts of some property taxes from local governments to the state.

Gibbons spokesman Dan Burns said Wednesday that "newspaper people are free to say whatever they want." But Burns added that students opposed to the cuts need to focus on university system regents and on state legislators.

"Let's not forget that the budget process has just started," Burns said.