November 25, 2018

Governor-elect Steve Sisolak announces engagement

Pardon the delay, but since this wasn't previously reported on DU I wanted to post the news.


November 13, 2018


LAS VEGAS — Nevada Governor-elect Steve Sisolak is now engaged to be married.

The Democrat's campaign on Monday announced the engagement to his girlfriend of more than five years, Kathy Ong.

Ong is a financial consultant in Las Vegas.

Sisolak and Ong met at their local gym. Details of the wedding were not released.

Sisolak is the chairman of the Clark County Commission, which oversees the world-famous Las Vegas Strip and surrounding areas. He is set to become the state's first Democratic governor in two decades after defeating Republican and state attorney general Adam Laxalt last week.

Read more: https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/government/nevadas-governor-elect-sisolak-announces-engagement/

November 25, 2018

LSU - Texas A&M game going into 6th Overtime

They finished regulation tied at 31. The score after five overtimes is 58-58.

November 24, 2018

Cancela to introduce bill to decriminalize abortion, change informed consent law in upcoming legis-

State Sen. Yvanna Cancela is planning to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session to decriminalize abortion in Nevada nearly half a century after the state enacted a law allowing it in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

The legislation, nicknamed the “Trust Nevada Women Act” and backed by the national abortion rights group NARAL, would remove criminal penalties for abortions, make changes to the state’s abortion informed consent law, and repeal the state’s parental notification statue, which was found unconstitutional in 1991. The proposal comes amid fears from supporters of abortion rights that a newly conservative-leaning Supreme Court might overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that created a nationwide right to abortion.

Cancela, in a statement to The Nevada Independent, described the bill as an effort to “clean up” the state’s “antiquated statutes” on abortion.

“There is no reason Nevada should still have laws on the books that criminally penalize a woman who receives an abortion. Last week, voters sent a clear message when they overwhelmingly elected pro-choice candidates to represent their interests in Carson City,” Cancela said. “… Our state has a history of protecting a woman’s right to choose and we will continue to protect reproductive freedoms for Nevada’s women in the upcoming legislative session.”

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/cancela-to-introduce-bill-to-decriminalize-abortion-change-informed-consent-law-in-upcoming-legislative-session

November 24, 2018

Nevada lawmakers get taste of San Francisco's marijuana consumption lounges

Catching a whiff of marijuana is nothing unusual in San Francisco.

But on Monday, a cadre of Nevada legislators was wide-eyed as they watched people pay to smoke openly in the counterculture capital of the world. A handful of highly regulated lounges there are the first places in the country where public marijuana consumption is explicitly legal, and it’s a concept they hope to emulate in Nevada.

“More than ever, I just really want to get this thing going,” said Democratic state Sen. and Clark County Commissioner-elect Tick Segerblom, who helped spearhead the fact-finding trip. “When it comes to Vegas, our experience is going to be, from my perspective, so much grander than what they’re talking about, that we need to just get it out there and learn.”

Nevada voters legalized recreational marijuana sales in 2016, but the initiative bans public consumption, meaning a private home is essentially the only place people can legally use the products they buy. It’s an even bigger conundrum for tourists — hotels with gambling on the premises have given cannabis a clear cold shoulder, in part because of concerns raised by state gaming regulators.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nevada-lawmakers-get-taste-of-san-franciscos-marijuana-consumption-lounges

November 24, 2018

Quiros, EB-5 fraud scandal 'mastermind,' gets $200K Vermont tax refund check

Ariel Quiros, the former Jay Peak owner accused of masterminding a fraud involving hundreds of millions of dollars, just received a $200,000 tax refund from the state of Vermont, according to court records.

It’s unclear how much, if any, of those funds Quiros will pocket. At least half, or $100,000, will go to the receivership currently overseeing the Northeast Kingdom ski resort.

The other $100,000, according to the filing, is expected to be used by Quiros to pay his mounting legal bills and other costs to defend himself against the investor fraud allegations.

The $200,000 check, according to the recent filing, is from the state Department of Taxes as a result of the “overpayment of state income taxes on behalf of Mr. Quiros and his wife” in 2015, a year before state and federal regulators brought investor fraud lawsuits against him.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2018/11/21/quiros-eb-5-fraud-scandal-mastermind-gets-200k-vermont-tax-refund-check/

November 24, 2018

Newly released video footage shows altercation between Utah Senate Republican and House Democrat

A newly released video showing an altercation between a Senate Republican and the top Democrat in the Utah House seems heated but not out of control — with bystanders seemingly unaware that a confrontation was happening just feet away from them.

Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, lodged a criminal complaint against Rep. Brian King after the altercation, which happened in a hallway in the Senate Building at the Utah Capitol last month. Both have argued the footage would prove their version of events was correct.

The 42-second video, released by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office to The Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday through an open records request, shows Thatcher emerge from a hallway in the Senate Building and put his hand on King’s shoulder. King then grabs and pulls Thatcher toward a wall and the Republican pushes back. No audio is available, but they appear to engage in a brief conversation before walking off in the same direction.

King hasn’t denied making physical contact with Thatcher after an argument he said was about the minority leader supporting Thatcher’s opponent in November’s election. But he has said the allegations were “significantly exaggerated.”

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/11/21/newly-released-video/

November 24, 2018

Right-wing groups urge U.S. Supreme Court to accept appeal challenging Utah election law

Several right-wing politicians and groups are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a last-ditch appeal from the Utah Republican Party seeking to overturn a 2014 state election law that allows candidates to qualify for the ballot through the caucus-convention system and/or by collecting signatures.

In friend-of-the-court briefs, they argue that the law, called SB54, infringes on the party’s constitutional right of association by not allowing it to select nominees as it chooses.

Among others, those filing briefs include the Eagle Forum; 19 current and former members of the Utah Legislature, including some who voted for SB54; Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with Reps. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and Raul Labrador, R-Idaho; and a group of minor parties.

SB54 was a compromise to stop a ballot initiative that seemed poised to scrap the traditional caucus-convention system and replace it with a direct primary. Count My Vote, which pushed the initiative, said the caucus system tends to give extremists in parties extra power and helps nominate people outside the political mainstream.

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/11/21/right-wing-groups-urge-us/

November 24, 2018

Utah's Medicaid administrators are optimistic the program will be ready for full expansion in April

A majority of Utah voters approved Proposition 3 this month, meaning the Medicaid expansion initiative will take legal effect in December.

But the actual deadline for the state to have an operational, fully expanded program is April 1, giving the Utah Department of Health and Medicaid administrators a tight deadline to prepare for an influx of tens of thousands of enrollees.

“That’s a really tight time frame for us,” said Nathan Checketts, the state’s Medicaid director. “There are a lot of operational lifts we have to get done to hit that.”

Checketts said the Utah Department of Health kept tabs on polling, which showed Proposition 3 carrying majority support ahead of the election. And some preliminary steps were taken before the vote, Checketts said, to put the program in a position to begin expansion if and when the initiative succeeded.

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/11/22/utahs-medicaid/

November 24, 2018

Rep.-elect McAdams says he wants to get to work on DACA, could vote for a GOP speaker over Pelosi

Rep.-elect Ben McAdams, D-Utah, has pledged to oppose Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s bid for another term as speaker of the House.

But with no alternative Democrat running yet to challenge Pelosi, D-Calif., does that mean McAdams would cross the aisle and support a Republican speaker?

“I guess we’ll have to see who is running,” McAdams said.

During a Wednesday interview with The Salt Lake Tribune’s “Trib Talk" podcast, McAdams said he intends to vote for someone as speaker rather than vote “present” — or abstaining — as some Pelosi critics are expected to do. But McAdams declined, or was unable, to specify who would carry his support during the upcoming leadership votes.

“It’s important to take a stand,” he said. “The Democratic Party wants to be the party of new ideas and inclusiveness. And I think it’s time to make way for new leaders.”

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/11/23/rep-elect-ben-mcadams/

November 23, 2018

Kyrsten Sinema hands out turkeys for Thanksgiving to families in Phoenix

U.S. Sen.-elect Kyrsten Sinema spent the morning before Thanksgiving handing out turkeys to families in Phoenix.

Sinema, an Arizona Democrat who earlier this month defeated Republican candidate Martha McSally in a mud-slinging race that saw outside groups pour in millions of dollars for TV ads, handed out turkeys to a steady stream of people at Desert Mission Food Bank.

"This is one of my favorite places to come and every time our team has an opportunity to give back to our community, I find myself drawn to the Sunnyslope community," Sinema said during a news conference before the event.

Around 23 years ago, Sinema was a social worker at Sunnyslope Elementary School, just down the road from Desert Mission. She helped launch a program with Desert Mission that allowed children to take food home on the weekends so they would have enough food to make it to the next Monday, she said.

Read more: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2018/11/21/kyrsten-sinema-hands-out-turkeys-thanksgiving-desert-mission-food-bank/2080086002/