attorney

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A proposed amendment to the Nevada constitution to allow a future Legislature to create a school voucher program so parents could get state funding to send their children to private schools, including religious schools, was heard by a Senate panel today.

CARSON CITY – A major campaign finance reform bill that would require most candidates to file their contribution and expense reports electronically narrowly passed out of an Assembly panel today on an 8-7 vote.
The bill would also move filing deadlines up to give voters more time to review the political donation and expense information before casting their ballots.

CARSON CITY – A major campaign finance reform bill that would require most candidates to file their contribution and expense reports electronically narrowly passed out of an Assembly panel today on an 8-7 vote.
The bill would also move filing deadlines up to give voters more time to review the political donation and expense information before casting their ballots.

Alameda attorney E. Clement Shute, Jr., was appointed today by California Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr. to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board.

Shute is a founding partner of Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP where he has represented numerous environmental organizations, including the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, since 1980, according to the governor's office.

Previously, Shute was a deputy and assistant attorney general for the California Attorney General’s Office from 1964 to 1980 and was in charge of the Environment and Consumer Protection Section from 1975 to 1980.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A simplified campaign finance reform bill that would require most candidates to file their contribution and expense reports electronically was given a generally favorable reception today during an Assembly Committee hearing.

Press Release — It only takes a moment for an injury to happen – a fall, a quick look at the cell phone while driving, a medication mix-up, leaving a child to answer the phone. But it only takes a moment to protect against injuries and make our community a safer place.

The Nevada Public Health Association, a partnership of local public health professionals, along with other community and University groups, is hosting a series of free events for National Public Health Week, April 4-10, in the theme, “Safety is no Accident: Live Injury-Free.”

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.

Plenty of good snow up there, but if you're in the mood for a fine crime thriller you could certainly enjoy "The Lincoln Lawyer," currently playing at the Casino Fandango Galaxy multiplex in Carson City.

The cast is solid, with craggy Matthew McConaughey as criminal lawyer Mickey Heller, who runs his law practice from the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car driven by a former client who is working off his legal fees.

LAS VEGAS – The ability to carry a firearm on Nevada’s college campuses could have prevented her brutal rape, says a victim who will testify before the Senate Government Affairs Committee tomorrow in Carson City.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s General Counsel Nicole Rinke resigned from her post today, according to an agency news release.

“We are grateful for Nicole’s four years of extraordinary service to TRPA and the Lake Tahoe Basin.” said Norma Santiago, TRPA Governing Board Chair, “On behalf of the Board, I’d like to thank Nicole for the energy and expertise she brought to the General Counsel position during a time in the Agency’s history when legal challenges are becoming more frequent and complex.”

(U.S. Department of Justice Press Release)
WASHINGTON – Teresa Kelly, a former operations supervisor in Colonial Bank’s Mortgage Warehouse Lending Division (MWLD), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit bank, wire and securities fraud for her role in a fraud scheme that contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW).

Colonial Bank had a branch on Stewart Street in Carson City, that now sits vacant.

Here in the home of the politically audacious, Rory Reid has tested the bounds of boldness and possibly crossed into the land of the unethical. (Whether or not the campaign contribution law Rory thwarted should be on the books - many think it should not – is a topic for another day.)

The Carson City Board of Supervisors this week will consider whether to hire a special deputy district attorney to represent the public works department after a construction firm contracted to do $1.9 million in work has claimed overriding costs of $1.7 million.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Freshman Republican state Sen. Michael Roberson got a lot of people’s attention last week when he engaged in a brief but spirited line of questioning at a Judiciary Committee hearing with mining industry lobbyists.

A settlement agreement with the U.S Department of Justice over the handling of its English Language Learner program will be discussed Tuesday when the Carson City School District board meets.

Carson City attorney Wally Earhart will portray President Lincoln and deliver the Comstock Historical Lecture at the revival of Virginia City's Bonanza Days on March 5.

He will be joined by the Comstock Civil War Re-enactors who will assist in hosting the dinner in character. The Marshall Mint will premiere the first strike of its new Big Bonanza commemorative silver coin at the event.

CARSON CITY – For the past nearly two decades, the Nevada Legislature’s Senate Judiciary Committee has been run by a lawmaker who was also an attorney in private life.
The committee, which hears a variety of bills dealing with civil and criminal law, is seen by many as one of the more important legislative panels and one where some legal expertise is considered to have value.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – For Gov. Brian Sandoval, every penny counts as he tries to balance a two-year state budget with drastically reduced tax revenues.
At the Board of Examiners meeting today, Sandoval was able to eliminate a new vehicle purchase worth about $40,000 for the state dignitary protection program by finding a suitable vehicle in the state motor pool to fit the bill.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – They have names like the Landscape Architecture Board, the Nevada Arts Council and the Commission on Mineral Resources, and there are more than 180 of them functioning within Nevada state government.

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.

CARSON CITY – It’s a rare occurrence that a governor calls a federal law “unconstitutional” one minute and advocates implementing that same law a minute later.

But that’s what happened earlier this week when Gov. Brian Sandoval called for Nevada to move forward with creating the Nevada Health Insurance Exchange, one of the mandates under the Obama administration’s 2010 health care bill.

The Bill Raggio State Senate seat sweepstakes is over, and former Assemblyman and U.S. Attorney Greg Brower has been selected by the Washoe County Commissioners take his place.

Brower was a member of the Assembly until he lost in the 2002 Republican Primary to Sharron Angle.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
The Washoe County Commission today selected former state Assemblyman and U.S. Attorney Greg Brower to replace retired GOP state Sen. Bill Raggio in the 2011 session of the Nevada Legislature.

A number of leaders from around Northern Nevada, including officials from Lyon County and Carson City, attended the summit earlier this month that highlighted the impact of marijuana use.

The summit held in Las Vegas on Jan. 13-14, featured a dynamic group of local and national experts that presented the latest research and data on marijuana and its impact on community, the environment, enforcement, business and economy, treatment, and legislation.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s Colorado River Commission is one of the state agencies cited in a recent legislative audit as paying some of the highest salaries to former state employees working as contractors, the Nevada News Bureau has learned.
Information obtained as a result of a public records request shows two former state employees, James Davenport and Sara Price, both attorneys, have collectively earned over half a million dollars in salaries as contractors for the agency over the past three and a half years.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Secretary of State Ross Miller today appointed Scott F. Gilles as deputy elections officer. He steps into the role after his predecessor, Matt Griffin, resigned this past December to return to private practice.

Carl Kuhl, a state Parole and Probation employee of six years, has created a plan that he claims will eliminate Nevada's budget deficit within two years.

In a news release issued on Tuesday, Kuhl said his plan not only will reduce the budget deficit but also help repair Nevada's economy at the same time. It is a pretty big claim, he admits, coming from an Accounting Assistant I, an entry level position.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – It didn’t take long for Gov. Brian Sandoval to encounter controversy in his new job.
At his first Board of Examiners meeting as governor today, Sandoval had to deal with a vendor dispute over a massive $177 million Medicaid contract.

The city attorneys for the city of Sparks have a unique audience for an upcoming case: the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court agreed last Friday to decide if states can forbid elected officials from voting when they may have a conflict of interest. The case involves a Sparks city councilman, Michael A. Carrigan, who is represented by the city.

In an apparent move to increase the transparency of his administration, Gov. Brian Sandoval released today the annual salaries of his staff. His 17 staff positions, one of which is vacant, consume about $1 million of the governor’s executive budget.
His highest paid employee, Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert, will earn $124,988 this year. The lowest paid, Celia Magana, is an administrative assistant in Las Vegas earning $29,984.