TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalNevada lawmakers say the death penalty is a 'colossal waste of money'
Nevada lawmakers want to abolish the death penalty because of concerns over costs, sparking opposition from prosecutors and some victims' families.
Nevada is among 32 states that allow death as a sentencing option. But no inmate has been executed since 2006 and none likely will be any time soon as the state struggles to replenish its supply of execution drugs.
Assemblyman James Ohrenschall and state Sen. Tick Segerblom, both Democrats, proposed Assembly Bill 237 in late February. The bill would end capital punishment and leave life without the possibility of parole as the state’s strongest punishment.
“We believe the death penalty isn’t effective, it isn’t a deterrent,” Segerblom said. “It’s a colossal waste of money, and more importantly, no one is ever going to be executed given the delays from appeals and other things.
Read more: http://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/28/nevada-lawmakers-say-death-penalty-colossal-waste-money/99754106/
BLM's new Black Rock Desert manager quits after two months
The Bureau of Land Management's Winnemucca District manager position is open, again.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management hired a former U.S. Department of Defense official, Justin Drew, as the new Winnemucca District manager in February. As of Monday, Drew is "no longer with the BLM," according to BLM Winnemucca District spokeswoman Terah Masalm.
On Tuesday, Nevada BLM spokesman Stephen Clutter said that Drew resigned from his position, though he could not discuss the nature of his resignation because it was a personnel matter.
Associate District Manager Michael Toombs will fill the position in the interim. It is unclear whether there are plans to fill the position permanently in the near future, and whether the BLM would pull from the pool of applicants that were in the running in January.
Read more: http://www.rgj.com/story/life/arts/burning-man/2017/03/29/blms-new-black-rock-desert-manager-leaves-after-two-months-job/99783018/
Sharron Angle plans challenge for Nevada House seat
RENO — A conservative activist and onetime candidate for U.S. Senate is again seeking congressional office in Nevada.
Sharron Angle announced this week she is running for the 2nd Congressional District in 2018.
Angle has run for federal office three times before to no avail, including a bid in the northern Nevada district currently held by Republican Rep. Mark Amodei.
She shot to national attention when she attempted to unseat Nevada Democrat and then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010.
Read more: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/mar/21/sharron-angle-plans-challenge-for-nevada-house-sea/
Democrat brings felony charges against 2 who secretly filmed Planned Parenthood
LOS ANGELES — Two anti-abortion activists who secretly recorded Planned Parenthood conversations about fetal tissue must each face more than a dozen felony charges.
California's new Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed 15 counts apiece Tuesday against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center of Medical Progress, saying the videos showing discussions of fetal tissue were made without the consent of the people in them in violation of state law.
Becerra, a longtime Congressional Democrat who took over the investigation in January, said in a statement that the state "will not tolerate the criminal recording of conversations."
The charges come eight months after similar charges against the pair were dropped in Texas.
Read more: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/mar/29/democrat-brings-felony-charges-against-2-who-secre/
Drought, demand push Nevada toward stricter well water limit
CARSON CITY — With groundwater drying up across arid Nevada, the state's top water official asked lawmakers on Tuesday to limit new wells drilled at rural homes in the state's most parched regions to a quarter of the water that existing wells can tap.
State Engineer Jason King said one in five domestic wells are in areas where his office has approved more water rights than there is water available. Many were at risk of total depletion before this year's record rainfall in Northern Nevada.
"I know we've got a great water year going this year, but a few years down the road those same wells that were dry will be dry again," said Sen. Pete Goicoechea, a Republican representing the central Nevada town of Eureka.
The 50,000 private-home wells currently approved across Nevada are crucial to daily life outside city water systems, and people want to drill more of them. But when the wells run low, King's office restricts their use — starting with the newest wells.
Read more: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/mar/29/drought-demand-push-nevada-toward-stricter-well-wa/
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn dragged into Las Vegas gamblers insider trading trial
Carl Icahn, a billionaire investor and an unpaid adviser to President Donald Trump, has been pulled into a high-profile insider trading trial taking place in federal court in Manhattan.
The Las Vegas sports gambling kingpin William T. Walters is charged with using nonpublic information while trading shares of Dean Foods, one of the country’s largest dairy processors. The case has already brought down the former chairman of Dean Foods and drawn in the professional golfer Phil Mickelson.
Now prosecutors are pressing the judge to permit new evidence of potentially improper trading in shares of Clorox by Walters. The prosecutors allege that Walters could have made profitable trades in Clorox stock in 2011 based on tips he might have received from Icahn, his friend.
Walters is on trial in federal court in one of the biggest criminal insider trading cases in years. He has been charged with pocketing profits and avoiding losses of more than $40 million in shares of Dean Foods. He stands accused of securing inside information from Thomas C. Davis, then the chairman of Dean Foods, who is now a key cooperating witness in the case.
Read more: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/mar/28/billionaire-investor-carl-ichan-draged-into-las-ve/
With NFL stadium on the way, attention turns to I-15 upgrades
Now that the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas has been approved, focus is shifting to what needs to be done for the $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium to be complete for the 2020 season.
As important as any aspect is the access to the proposed stadium site on Russell Road west of Interstate 15. The Nevada Department of Transportation is in the initial stages of road projects that have already been planned to address traffic growth on the Interstate 15 corridor over the next 20 years.
“NDOT is drafting the scope of work for environmental clearance and preliminary engineering for the I-15-Tropicana interchange reconstruction and the direct-connect HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) ramps proposed at Hacienda and Harmon,” said Rudy Malfabon, NDOT director. “A request for proposal will be issued in a few months for that scope of work.”
A 2016 study by CH2M estimated the costs for the improvements to be $899 million, but that number is subject to change.
Read more: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/mar/29/with-nfl-stadium-on-the-way-attention-turns-to-i-1/
War with Nevada Democrats has many Roberson bills left hanging
CARSON CITY — It’s good to be the king. Or, in the case of the Nevada Legislature, the majority.
Just ask Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson. The Henderson Republican has introduced 17 bills this session, seven under his name and 10 as minority leader.
The issues in the measures range from voter ID to appointing the members of the Clark County School Board.
Except for Senate Bill 334, which addresses misconduct by dentists, not one of his new measures has been scheduled for a hearing.
Read more: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/war-nevada-democrats-has-many-roberson-bills-left-hanging
Las Vegas Democrat wants fairness rules in place for pregnant Nevada women
CARSON CITY — A bill requiring employers to accommodate pregnant workers and authorizes the Nevada Equal Rights Commission to investigate complaints was heard Monday by a Senate Committee.
Sponsored by state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, Senate Bill 253 creates the Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act. It is similar to the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act and would apply to businesses with 15 or more employees, as well as state and local governments.
The bill, heard by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Labor and Energy, makes it unlawful for employers to refuse to provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees and applicants for a condition related to pregnancy or childbirth.
Cannizzaro and other supporters, including labor organizations and women advocacy groups, said the intent is to protect women, especially those who are often the main wage earners in a family.
Read more: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/las-vegas-democrat-wants-fairness-rules-place-pregnant-nevada
Nevada Democrats will not hear education savings accounts bill
CARSON CITY — Senate Democrats will not consider a Republican bill to resurrect education savings accounts, Majority Leader Aaron Ford told reporters Friday.
“No,” the Las Vegas Democrat said when asked if Senate Bill 359, sponsored by Senate Co-Minority Whip Scott Hammond, R-Las Vegas, would get a hearing.
Hammond’s bill, introduced Monday, would appropriate $60 million for the program that Gov. Brian Sandoval included in his budget proposal. It would also cap enrollment in the program at 5 percent of the average daily enrollment of pupils in a school district in any given school year.
Education savings accounts were a Republican priority in 2015, when the GOP controlled both the Senate and the Assembly. The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the law allowing the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for private school, but it said the program cannot be funded from an account reserved for public schools.
Read more: http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/nevada-democrats-will-not-hear-esa-bill
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,089
