Republicans

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Add it up and some of them have to die.
There is not enough time for the Legislature to hear every bill, but that has not stopped Republicans from accusing Democrats of ignoring Republican bills.

CARSON CITY – Add it up and some of them have to die.
There is not enough time for the Legislature to hear every bill, but that has not stopped Republicans from accusing Democrats of ignoring Republican bills.
The partisan sniping comes as legislators are scrambling to save their bills from extinction of bills as a legislative deadline looms.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Two bills relating to illegal immigrants sparked heated debate in an Assembly committee this morning.
One from Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, would impose penalties and restrictions on illegal immigrants in a way similar to a controversial Arizona law enacted this past year.

CARSON CITY – Two bills relating to illegal immigrants sparked heated debate in an Assembly committee this morning.
One from Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, would impose penalties and restrictions on illegal immigrants in a way similar to a controversial Arizona law enacted this past year.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval’s first veto has sparked a fight over who, exactly, has the support of the people.
Sandoval today vetoed a bill from Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, that would have allowed school districts to use debt reserves for school renovation.
Sandoval is counting on that same pot of money to fund school district operating costs.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval’s first veto has sparked a fight over who, exactly, has the support of the people.
Sandoval today vetoed a bill from Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, that would have allowed school districts to use debt reserves for school renovation.
Sandoval is counting on that same pot of money to fund school district operating costs.
Both the Republican governor and the Democratic Assemblywoman are pointing fingers accusing the other of being irresponsible.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
SUN VALLEY, NEVADA – When Sara Weatherford teaches at Sun Valley Elementary, she says frequent power outages and rattling pipes interrupt her lessons.
The 52-year-old school is a hodgepodge of a half dozen buildings erected intermittently over the past five decades. Noise bleeds through the walls between classrooms, making it difficult to concentrate, she says.

By Mike Clifford / Public News Service
Nevadans will soon have a new place they can turn to learn about consumer experiences with products found harmful because of defects, and where they can file their own safety alerts, as well.

The new Consumer Product Safety Commission website, www.SaferProducts.gov is now online and taking consumer complaints - and those complaints will be searchable in a couple of weeks.

By Elizabeth Crum / Nevada News Bureau
Mississippi’s sixty-third governor today visited Nevada, a state which has been called “the Mississippi of the west”* because of its largely unskilled workforce and poor public education system.

By Andrew Doughman /Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – In what could be the largest rally ever held at the Legislature, more than 1,000 students, parents, teachers and activists are expected today to protest education budget cuts.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Legislators would have to attend legislator school under a bill from Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas.
Assembly Bill 260 would make it mandatory for all new legislators to attend classes before the official start of the legislative session.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today signed the first two public policy bills of the 2011 legislative session.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – When it comes to redistricting this year, the line from the Assembly Republicans goes like this: the “fair” process is unfair.
They say the process resulted in gerrymandering in 2001, when the boundaries of political districts were last redrawn.

By Elizabeth Crum / Nevada News Bureau
Politico reports that Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki has formally endorsed Rep. Dean Heller and will “take time” to consider a run for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District. Quote:

Politico reports that Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki has formally endorsed Rep. Dean Heller and will “take time” to consider a run for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District. Quote:

By Elizabeth Crum / Nevada News Bureau
During a brief interview with Congressman Dean Heller a few moments ago, Heller laughingly called his U.S. Senate run “the worst kept secret in Nevada” and said that for the past many months his team “had anticipated we would be running against Ensign in the primary.”

During a brief interview with Congressman Dean Heller a few moments ago, Heller laughingly called his U.S. Senate run “the worst kept secret in Nevada” and said that for the past many months his team “had anticipated we would be running against Ensign in the primary.”

Courtesy of GrandViewOutdoors.com
Republican governors and members of Congress vowed Tuesday to fight an Obama administration plan to make millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West eligible for federal wilderness protection. The GOP officials said the plan would circumvent Congress's authority and could be used to declare a vast swath of public land off-limits to oil-and-gas drilling.

According to Nevada News Bureau, Republican Mark Amodei will announce soon that he is running for the Congressional District 2 seat currently held by Rep. Dean Heller.

The speculation is that Heller will make a run for the U.S. Senate seat held by John Ensign, who announced earlier this week he would not seek reelection to avoid an ugly campaign after his well-publicized sex scandal.

The always fun game of political musical chairs has begun following this morning’s news (brought to you right here) that Congressman Dean Heller has told multiple sources he will indeed be running to become Nevada’s next junior Senator.
Two sources confirm that former state senator and current Republican state party chairman, Mark Amodei, will resign and announce a run for NV-2 once Dean Heller formally announces for Senate, which is expected to occur as early as next week.

Two reliable sources have confirmed that Congressman Dean Heller said this week he is definitely committed to running in the U.S. Senate race. Heller’s office would not confirm the news this morning when contacted.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Democratic legislative leaders today questioned a comment from the Sandoval administration that two job creation bills they are pursuing will be vetoed for creating a hole in the governor’s recommended state general fund budget.

CARSON CITY – A state lawmaker testified today that the federal government’s unfunded mandates on issues such as clean air, clean water and flood zones are imposing costs on Nevada taxpayers without authority or justification.

I watched from the gallery as Sen. Harry Reid called for an end to legal prostitution in his speech to the Nevada Legislature yesterday.

This part of the speech got wide coverage all over the world, overshadowing everything else he said. But there is one thing you should know. This was all an act, political theater that will have no effect on anything. So for all you folks riled up by this issue, just settle down and enjoy the show.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – State senator Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, has had enough of percentages.
Just the numbers, please, was his basic request at a Senate Finance committee meeting this past week as various state agencies delivered their budget reports.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A coffee shop across the street from the Legislature announces “let the games begin.”
With the Legislature in session for less than two weeks, Democratic legislators seem to be playing the game well.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Business leaders from several large technology companies said today that Nevada lacks the skilled workforce necessary for them to locate in Nevada over the long-term.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The Republican minority leadership in the Senate and the Assembly has called on critics of GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget to trade their “rhetoric for a plan.”

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
A Florida judge ruled today that a key provision of President Barack Obama’s health care reform law is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, a Ronald Reagan appointee serving in Pensacola, Fla., ruled in favor of the 26 states that argued the law’s provision that imposes penalties on people who don’t purchase health insurance is unconstitutional.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
RENO – When Gov. Brian Sandoval’s staff reduced funding for the Sierra Regional Center in the governor’s proposed budget, he may not have known what that would mean to the Stangelands.