Will a few minutes extra sleep make a difference?
Editorials
Nevada has spent only three-quarters of its allocation.
United States can get what it needs without military force.
Today we celebrate a great man.
Some of the country’s most pressing problems have a simple solution — build more.
The importance of city politics was on display Wednesday at Las Vegas City Hall, the day after local voters again blew off municipal elections.
Many a relatively recent arrival to Las Vegas is heard whining that their adopted state in “last in everything.” Ignore for the moment the fact that they’re often wrong — Nevada is now near the national median in both tax collections (more’s the pity) and tax-funded school spending, for example.
Southern Nevada governments need leadership and sacrifice from their elected stewards, especially in fiscal matters. The valley’s economy is vulnerable, families are hurting, businesses are struggling and the public sector, across the board, still has more money going out than coming in.
Nevada voters approved medical marijuana at the polls, placing it in the state constitution more than 12 years ago and instructing: “The Legislature shall provide by law for … appropriate methods for supply of the plant to patients authorized to use it.”
The mind struggles to come up with a more jaw-dropping exercise in hypocrisy than when leaders of both the Democratic and Republican caucuses testified late last month in Carson City favor of Assembly Bill 407, legislation supposedly intended to prevent the seating of lawmakers who don’t live in the districts they represent.
The Clark County School District claims it has not a single tax dollar to spare. Yet it wastes precious resources trying to keep public records private. Its latest losing effort: refusing to provide teacher email addresses to the Nevada Policy Research Institute.
The Nevada Legislature last week took up three measures relating to self-defense rights, including a bill that would allow public school and university system employees with concealed-weapon permits to carry their guns at work.
Elected Democrats see themselves as champions of health care policy that improves patient access to treatment while keeping medical costs down. Yet they continually push for legislation that would accomplish precisely the opposite.
Rejoice, discouraged voters. If you think voting is a waste of time, and your ballot can’t possibly make a difference in any race, you can prove precisely the opposite Tuesday.
The case for booting Steven Brooks from the Assembly was air-tight and iron-clad more than a month ago. Yet state lawmakers, in trying to demonstrate due diligence and avoid a rush to judgment, did nearly everything possible to diminish the credibility of the unprecedented expulsion.