The Nevada Legislature turned into bizarre drama on Wednesday, with Assemblyman Steven Brooks trying to sneak in and out of the building — wearing a hooded sweatshirt and hobbling with a cane — and apparently engaging the protection of the Las Vegas Constable’s office.
About 3 p.m. Saturday, State Sen. Kelvin Atkinson received a chilling telephone call. Assemblyman Steven Brooks, a fellow North Las Vegas Democrat, was driving around in his car with a gun, “and he is looking to harm” the top member of the Assembly, Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Atkinson was told, according to documents obtained by the Sun. Brooks wanted “to do in” Kirkpatrick, Atkinson told police.
Assemblyman Steven Brooks said he was “not afraid to die” and was “willing to have a shootout with the police,” his relatives told officers before the North Las Vegas Democrat was arrested for threatening the Democratic leader.
Nevada officials approved $87.6 million in tax incentives to create nearly 2,900 jobs in the past two years, according to data obtained by the Las Vegas Sun. That’s about $30,000 in forgone tax revenue per job.
Gov. Brian Sandoval has done his best to avoid a combative legislative session. But that doesn’t mean his agenda he detailed in his State of the State address will be embraced by Democrats in the Legislature.
Gov. Brian Sandoval proposed a mostly status quo budget today that keeps up with an expected flood of Nevadans getting health care through the state and has small, targeted bumps in funding for early education initiatives.
Democratic leaders said achieving “funding equity” is their top priority. That means ditching the decades-old funding formula that favors Northern and rural Nevada and diverting more money to Southern Nevada.
The decision to invest $600,000 in state tax dollars in Take-Two Interactive, which produces the video game "Grand Theft Auto," raises the question of whether social issues should be part of deciding which companies should earn tax incentives.
A sense is developing in Carson City that lawmakers will hold the line on the budget this session, opting for a tax reform discussion now but delaying any real action for two years when Gov. Brian Sandoval may be in his second and final term.
Saying it will save Nevada money in the short-run despite posing a long-term burden on the state’s general fund budget, Gov. Brian Sandoval announced today he will expand Medicaid for more low-income Nevadans.
The Nevada State Education Association and its labor union partners argued the Nevada Supreme Court should overturn the lower court's decision to declare the margins tax initiative petition invalid.
Sure, the losing side typically engages in a bit of soul-searching following a major election, but the 2012 election seems to have sent Nevada politics skittering off into Bizarro World. Suddenly, a Tea Party group is acting like Democrats and a leading Democrat is acting like a Republican.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, is sponsoring legislation that would require the state to issue a driver’s privilege card to undocumented immigrants and other Nevadans who don’t want to jump through the stricter identification hoops for a true driver’s license.
A bevy of Republicans in Congress created quite a stir last week when they announced they would be willing to ditch a once sacrosanct pledge never to raise taxes. The announcement is a step toward a compromise to avoid the fiscal cliff. “When you’re $16 trillion in debt, the only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming Greece,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said on ABC’s "This Week."
The 14 freshman legislators arriving in Carson City for the first time last week had a packed three-day schedule. Here’s a handy real-world guide to reading between the lines of advice legislative leaders gave, as well as a bit of unsolicited insight into the process.
Secretary of State Ross Miller filed a civil complaint alleging Americans for Prosperity violated Nevada’s campaign finance laws in a case that could force the national conservative group to reveal its donors for the first time.
Since taking office, Secretary of State Ross Miller has declared Nevada’s electoral system to be safe enough from fraud that a voter identification system shouldn’t be a priority. On Tuesday, he took a step back from that line, proposing a hybrid photo ID system to help protect the integrity of future elections.
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson spent an awful lot of money on trying to get Republicans elected to the White House and the U.S. Senate this year. In political parlance, Adelson and his team lost. Democrat Barack Obama is installed for a second term, and Democrats expanded their majority in the Senate. In business parlance, that’s a poor return on investment. By most calculations, Adelson became the largest Republican donor this year.
The Democrats’ storied turnout machine lived up to its reputation last week, delivering victories to President Barack Obama, Congressman-elect Steven Horsford and enough Democratic legislative candidates to keep the party in control of the state Legislature. But, with the help of a deeply flawed opponent, one Republican managed to best the machine.
Rest easy, Nevada. We’re still a battleground state. By the last count compiled by The Washington Post, $54 million was spent on Nevada airwaves to influence the presidential election here this year — that’s about $53 per vote cast here.
Nevada’s status in the presidential race this year perhaps could be more aptly described as a “firewall” than a “battleground.” That fact was evident in the way both Obama and Romney fit Nevada into their overall electoral vote strategy.
U.S. Sen. Dean Heller is in a bit of an awkward position as a Republican who has spent years in Congress staking out a conservative position. By his own admission, Heller is relying on Barack Obama voters to hand him a re-election victory.
Republican vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan briefly touched down in Reno today, delivering one last stump speech to energize voters on the eve of the election.
After months of registering voters, recruiting volunteers, knocking on doors, placing phone calls, cheering on debate performances, pushing voters to early voting polls and chanting at rallies, the ground troops in the presidential campaigns have reached the home stretch.
Investigators arrested a Southern Nevada woman for allegedly trying to vote twice at two different early voting locations. Roxanne Rubin was taken into custody as she arrived for work at the Riviera hotel-casino, investigators said.
After months of nominal support for his party’s presidential nominee, Gov. Brian Sandoval will use the closing days of the campaign to cut a television ad for Mitt Romney.
Privately, some Republicans have kept up a steady drumbeat of questioning on why Gov. Brian Sandoval hasn’t done more to campaign for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney culminates his two-day Nevada campaign swing in Reno today with a speech aimed at driving early voters to the polls in the key battleground county of this battleground state.
The Nevada attorney general is reviewing whether Americans for Prosperity broke state campaign finance laws earlier this year, but that doesn’t mean the conservative group is going to sit out the election.
One of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s top political advisers is predicting Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney will lose Nevada this year. Pete Ernaut said Nevada’s split-ticket voters will likely side with President Barack Obama and Republican Sen. Dean Heller.
Nevada’s two-week early-voting period began Saturday, giving voters an opportunity to squeeze in voting amid grocery runs and giving campaigns the opportunity to finally launch their vaunted turnout efforts.
Vice president will speak in Las Vegas on Thursday
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012
Vice President Joe Biden launched a two-day campaign swing through Nevada on Wednesday with a singular mission: motivate supporters to hit the early voting booths in this critical battleground state.
The presidential debate on Tuesday finally delved into more of the issues Nevadans have been talking about: Jobs, immigration, even gun control. And Nevadans reacted strongly on Twitter
Republican congressional candidate Danny Tarkanian’s brother, George Tarkanian, filed bankruptcy this summer after investing with his brother in a failed real estate deal that has resulted in a $17 million judgment against the family.
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid today accused Republican congressional candidate Danny Tarkanian of trying to gloss over significant financial troubles that could force him to file bankruptcy either before or after the Nov. 6 election.
In a case that may force a national conservative political organization to reveal its donors, Nevada Secretary State Ross Miller is seeking to prosecute Americans for Prosperity for violating state campaign finance laws.
A crowd of boisterous supporters is gathering on the UNR quad for first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign speech today. The first lady is expected to rally more than a thousand supporters in Reno.
Little new came from the first face-off between Republican Dean Heller and his Democratic rival Shelley Berkley in their U.S. Senate contest. Speaking from a Reno public television studio, both candidates recycled lines from their caustic TV ads and campaign trail-worn stump speeches.
Washoe County Registrar Dan Burk said today his office has been inundated by hundreds of faulty voter registration forms with errors ranging from an illegible name to the listing of fake or non-existent addresses.
President Barack Obama’s decision to spend three days preparing for the campaign’s first debate in Henderson wasn’t made on a whim. Nor will he let the extended stay in a one of the most important states to his re-election effort go by without some retail politicking.
In a concerted effort aimed at closing the gender gap, Ann Romney capped a parade of women speakers at a rally here today who sought to vouch for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s sincerity, devotion to equal treatment of women in the workplace and compassion for those in need.