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CARSON CITY – A panel of key gaming figures and state officials will begin meeting next month to consider the impact of Internet gaming and other technological advances on Nevada’s major industry.

Gov. Brian Sandoval announced his five appointments to the Gaming Policy Committee yesterday. The full 11-member committee has not met since 1984. Sandoval will serve as chairman.

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto will chair the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Statewide Team meeting on Thursday, January 12 at 9:30 a.m. at the Best Western Plus Airport Plaza in Reno.

The group, who is meeting for the first time, is comprised of prosecutors, police, domestic violence service providers, treatment providers and community and faith leaders.

The fatality reviews will create a greater understanding of the tragedies associated with domestic violence and will lead to the implementation of preventative interventions.

CARSON CITY – A state panel today supported a request from the Department of Taxation for $260,000 to hire a team of auditors to track cigarette sales to protect a $40 million a year payment to Nevada from the nation’s major tobacco companies.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Policy Research Institute’s Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation has just filed an opposition brief maintaining that Sen. Mo Denis’ resignation from his executive-branch job does not moot Pojunis v. State of Nevada, et al., because of several well-established exceptions to the “mootness doctrine.”

Daniel Lane Holley, 39, has been found guilty of Assaulting a Police Officer stemming from a September 30, 2011 domestic disturbance at Holley’s west side Carson City residence.

Carson City Sheriff’s deputies were called to Holley’s residence at approximately 5:30 p.m. on September 30, 2011, after a neighbor called 9-1-1 to report a loud disturbance coming from the house. Holley was gone when deputies arrived, but his girlfriend reported that Holley was very intoxicated and had been causing a disturbance at the house and in front of their infant child.

CARSON CITY – A legal firm retained by the state Department of Transportation to defend against a contractor dispute over construction of a section of the Carson City bypass has racked up $6 million in fees so far and the costs could still go higher.

Gov. Brian Sandoval today expressed concern about the amount of legal fees in the case involving a $40 million claim by Utah-based Ames Construction, which built the first phase of the U.S. 395 bypass in the capital that opened in February of 2006.

The Homewood Mountain Resort project, which cleared the strictest of environmental hurdles at Lake Tahoe, is now being sued by a consortium of groups including the Sierra Club who, among other things, wish to stop promised environmental improvements, job creation and economic revitalization to the ailing west shore Sierra community.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, which oversees development and environmental protection at Lake Tahoe, was told it was being sued on Thursday because of its recent approval of the Homewood Mountain Resort Ski Area Master Plan project.
EarthJustice, on behalf of the Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore, lists both TRPA and Placer County as defendants in the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court of Eastern California. Absent from the suit is the League to Save Lake Tahoe, which implied that it likely wouldn't sue when the project was unanimously approved last month by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Governing Board.

CARSON CITY – Republican state Senator Michael Roberson said today he expects the GOP to retake control of the Senate in the 2012 general election, citing the quality of candidates recruited for two key Clark County races.

His optimism was countered by Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, who said he is confident Democrats will maintain control of the Senate come Nov. 7.

JAN 4 - (RENO, NV) – A four month investigation by the Northern Nevada Drug Task Force (NNDTF) has led to the arrest of 8 individuals accused of operating a drug trafficking organization responsible for the regular distribution of methamphetamine in Northern Nevada.

In August of 2011, NNDTF Task Force Officers and Agents initiated an investigation into a mid-level group of suspected methamphetamine dealers suspected of delivering and distributing multiple pounds of methamphetamine throughout the Reno/Sparks area on a monthly basis.

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is warning Nevadans who may be participating in last minute holiday shopping to be aware of identity theft, charitable donation scams, and text message scams.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced today a lawsuit against Lender Processing Services, Inc., DOCX, LLC, LPS Default Solutions, Inc. and other subsidiaries of LPS (collectively known “LPS”) for engaging in deceptive practices against Nevada consumers.

The state's Interim Finance Committee questioned Corrections Director Greg Cox over contradictory plans for running the license plate shop at the Nevada State Prison once the facility closes down. The original plan was for the shop to stay where it is and be run by minimum security inmates. But Cox had also been looking at moving the plant to either the Northern Nevada Correctional Center on the south side of Carson City, or to High Desert State Prison near Las Vegas. He said they didn't currently have the money to make that move.

The IFC also got the final $521,904 bill for the special election to fill Nevada's Second Congressional District seat after Gov. Brian Sandoval appointed Dean Heller to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Ensign.

The IFC also approved funding for 20 of the 30 new positions for the Department of Motor Vehicles approved by the 2011 Legislature. The new positions are supposed to help cut the wait time at DMV offices, which have increased since 85 positions were eliminated due to budget cuts.

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A coalition of organizations is urging the Attorney General's office to reject a multi-state settlement with the banking industry over allegations of widespread falsifying loan documents and other wrongdoing in the wake of the mortgage foreclosure crisis. New York and California have already signaled that they will not sign onto the agreement, and the Attorneys General of Nevada and California recently announced that they will work together to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by the banks.

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The Carson City Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with the Nevada Small Business Development Center at UNR to work together to operate the city's Business Resource Innovation Center, under the leadership of its new director Michael Salogga.

Attorneys General Kamala D. Harris of California and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada today announced that their states have entered into a joint investigation alliance designed to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in the mortgage industry.

By forging this alliance, California and Nevada will combine investigative resources, including litigation strategies, information, and evidence gathered through their respective ongoing investigations, assisting each state as it pursues independent prosecutions.

The Office of the Nevada Attorney General announced today that complaints have been filed against three more notaries in the State’s ongoing massive robo-signing investigation. Meghan Shaw, Jennifer Lowe and Joseph Noel have all been charged with notarization of the signature of a person not in their presence.

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced today that a settlement agreement has been reached with Registered Agent, Inc. regarding advertisements sent by mail to corporations in order to deceptively change registered agents.

Tracy Lawrence, the notary public who blew the whistle on a massive foreclosure fraud scheme, was found dead in her Las Vegas home on Nov. 28, MSNBC reported.

Earlier this month, Lawrence came forward and admitted to the Nevada Attorney General's Office that she notarized 25,000 fraudulent documents for Lender Processing Services, a Florida company used by most major banks to process home repossessions. The documents were filed with the Clark County Recorder's Office between 2005 and 2008, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Veterans In Politics International, Inc. presents the Veterans Valentines Ball and Gala, hosted by the Plaza Hotel and Casino, 1 South Main Street, Las Vegas, Nevada 89101
Guests will be received by: Crowned members of the Miss Nevada Organization including Miss Nevada 2011 Alana LeeMrs. Clark County United States 2012 Melissa Jeanne Arias
— Opening Ceremonies to be performed by Nellis Honor Guard
— National Anthem will be performed by Miss Vanessa Bayot
— Masters of Ceremonies are Miss Rowena Richards of Shine Foundation, and Mr. Les Krifaton of Fox 5

The Office of the Nevada Attorney General announced today that Tracy Lawrence, 43, a local notary, has pled guilty to one count of notarizing the signature of an individual not in her presence, a gross misdemeanor in violation of NRS 240.155.

Notary fraud carries a potential jail sentence of one year and/or a fine of up to $2,000.

Director Clint Eastwood's film about J. Edgar Hoover, currently showing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City, shows the real creator of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with all of the faults and strengths clearly shown.The movie, "J. Edgar," follows the man from his early days with the U.S. attorney general's office to his days as ruler of a giant bureaucracy of lawyers and police.

RENO - A 70-year-old California man who lost an eye after a racing plane crashed into spectators in Reno has filed a personal injury lawsuit.Attorney David Casey in San Diego said Wednesday the civ...

Not much behind the paywall this morning that we haven't already covered:

• There will be a ceremony to honor veterans at 9 a.m. today at Carson Middle School.
• Secretary of State Ross Miller is asking the Attorney General to pursue former Assemblyman Wendell Williams for the $9,500 he owes the state for campaign law violations. Williams, who served 18 years in the Nevada State Assembly, failed to file campaign contribution and expense reports in 2002.
• Learn how to make pine nut biscotti.

Secretary of State Ross Miller asked the attorney general's office Tuesday to go after former Assemblyman Wendell Williams for not paying fines imposed because of campaign law violations. "Mr. Wil...

Secretary of State Ross Miller asked the attorney general's office Tuesday to go after former Assemblyman Wendell Williams for not paying fines imposed because of campaign law violations. "Mr. Wil...

The comedy caper movie "Tower Heist" playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineplex in Carson City has an all-star cast, a decent script and solid direction that keeps the bull wheels turning and the laughs coming. Ben Stiller as Josh Kovacs shares the lead with Eddie Murphy as a professional crook Slide.

CARSON CITY – Attorneys for the Nevada Republican Party today filed a brief with the Nevada Supreme Court opposing Secretary of State Ross Miller’s emergency petition seeking to intervene on the question of the authority of the courts to decide the state’s political boundaries instead of the Legislature.

CARSON CITY – Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto has joined with her Utah counterpart Mark Shurtleff  in asking the U.S. Senate to take up consideration of Rich Cordray’s nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Carson City District Attorney Neil Rombardo says an anti-gang symposium held last week at Stateline was "an amazing success."The fourth annual Northern Nevada Gang Symposium was held last Thursday ...

CARSON CITY – The three special masters appointed by Carson City District Judge James Todd Russell to redraw Nevada’s political boundaries wasted no time on the charge, filing their report and proposed maps with the court today.

CARSON CITY – Ten months after a legislative audit first raised serious questions about current and former state employees working as contractors for state agencies, the Board of Examiners earlier this week approved administrative changes to prevent future abuses.

CARSON CITY – The business of drawing new political boundaries will now get under way by three court-appointed special masters following two days of public hearings on what Nevada’s legislative and congressional districts should look like for the next decade.
The clock is ticking.