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Concerns about oversight cloud enthusiasm for $250M investment in affordable housing
Lawmakers on the Interim Finance Committee on Thursday universally acknowledged the need to address Nevada’s affordable housing shortage, but several committee members, from both sides of the aisle, expressed concerns that a $250 million investment will not have legislative oversight. Nevertheless, the committee, which approves state spending when the full Legislature is not in regular […]
Thanks, Tesla? Nevada praised for transparency of economic development programs
A nonpartisan watchdog group is praising Nevada in a new report for increasing transparency around its economic development programs but notes that “there is still a lot of room to grow.” Good Jobs First on Tuesday released a ‘report card’ grading how transparent states’ public subsidy programs are. They considered variables such as whether economic […]
Creating new voter database system, state aims to ‘do it right,’ not cheaply
Nevada’s plan to implement a top-down voter registration system is not on track to meet its January 2024 deadline, a top elections official suggested Friday. In 2021, state legislators passed a bill requiring the Secretary of State to establish and maintain a centralized database for voter registration information. Currently, voter information is collected and maintained […]
Switch to electric vehicles could save billions of dollars and hundreds of lives in Nevada, says report
A widespread transition to electric vehicles could save nearly 700 lives and $7.5 billion in public health spending in Nevada between 2020 and 2050, according to a new report by the American Lung Association. The ALA report attempts to calculate the benefits of a national shift to 100% sale of zero-emission passenger cars and light-duty […]
One-third of Nevada workers are paid less than $15 per hour
More than a third of all Nevada workers are making less than $15 per hour, according to a new report by Oxfam America. The vast majority of these workers are adults, many of them are parents with children to support. The analysis, which uses U.S. Census Bureau data and advocates for raising the federal minimum […]
What role does transportation play in charter school inequity? A lot, argues one charter
When David Blodgett and other founders of Nevada Prep began recruiting prospective students to their charter school, they didn’t know where exactly their physical building would be, but they made parents a promise: We will get your kids there. The charter school, which enrolls students in kindergarten through eighth grade, decided early on that it […]
Here’s what ‘a modest yet adequate standard of living’ costs in Nevada
A two-parent, two-child family in the Las Vegas metropolitan area would need to bring in $81,813 a year ($6,818 per month) to sustain a “modest yet adequate standard of living,” according to an updated analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, an adult with no children would need $35,367 annually ($2,947 per month) to feel […]
With voucher debate on horizon, a look at private schools in Southern Nevada
The debate on educational voucher programs is poised for a comeback in Nevada this year, following the filing of two proposed ballot measures that would establish one by 2025. Those efforts are already facing legal challenges from the same opponents that successfully fought a similar voucher program passed by a Republican-controlled legislature in 2015. But […]
Report tracks ongoing surge of white supremacist propaganda in nation, Nevada
Dissemination of white supremacist propaganda remained historically high nationwide in 2021, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League. In Nevada, numbers dropped from a massive spike in 2020 but remain elevated over earlier years. According to the ADL, 4,851 incidents of white supremacist propaganda dissemination were reported across the country in 2021, compared […]
Anti-abortion group looks to revive state’s defunct parental notification law
Nevada has been heralded by abortion rights advocates for having enshrined state protections for abortion, but there are still ample battlegrounds available for fights over reproductive rights. Case in point: Nevada’s on-the-books but unenforceable 1985 statute regarding parental notification before a minor has an abortion, which may be revisited and decided by the state Legislature […]
State of the State: Benefitting from federal relief money, ‘holding the line’ elsewhere
In a rare state of the state speech delivered during a non-legislative year, first-term Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak on Wednesday announced the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars, but he was quick to assure Nevadans the spending spree wouldn’t come out of their pocketbooks. Traditionally, the state of the state speech marks the release […]
State launches resource center for beleaguered child care industry
For Anitra Lott, it started with her grandson. Someone needed to watch him during the day, so she stepped up, as family often does. But then friends of the family began approaching her and saying they were having trouble finding child care. They asked if she could help them out too. Lott saw the potential […]