funding

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada state Sen. Joe Hardy today introduced a bill to require the transportation department to develop a privately-financed toll road as a bypass around Boulder City.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval will propose a change to the retirement system for new state employees that would reduce their current pension benefits by one half and cut the long-term liability for taxpayers by the same amount, his chief of staff said today.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today elaborated on the details of a bill he is proposing to establish a school voucher system in Nevada.
The proposal would allow parents to receive a state-funded, per pupil subsidy to opt out of public schools in favor of private schools, including religious schools.
The stipend, or voucher, would help families pay expenses at the private schools.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada residents bear the second lowest state and local tax burden of any state at 7.5 percent, behind only Alaska at 6.3 percent, according to a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation.

RENO, Nev. – A new, rapid blood test that could lead to early diagnosis and potentially save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people stricken with fungal meningitis, a leading cause of AIDS-related deaths in developing countries, is getting closer to market with a recent collaboration between the University of Nevada, Reno and Immuno-Mycologics (IMMY) in Oklahoma.

The CARD Nevada Autism Conference is hosted by the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), one of the world’s largest and most experienced organizations effectively treating children with autism, Asperger’s syndrome and related disorders.

Sen. Harry Reid spoke at a joint session of the Nevada Legislature this morning, asking legislators not to cut education, and to have "an adult conversation" about outlawing prostitution.

The call for ending legal brothels was met by a a cool reception from the legislators who gave it only a smattering of applause followed by an uneasy silence. In the gallery was BunnyRanch owner Dennis Hof and some of his working girls.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Ted McAleer says he’s got a silver bullet for creating jobs in the Silver State.

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.

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.

After a marathon meeting today, the Carson City Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to allow staff to begin negotiations on agreements to develop the City Center/Nugget Project.

But the project may face hurdles getting final approval, as two of those voting yes expressed concerns about the project.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A state Senate resolution telling Congress to respect Nevada’s right to govern itself under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is expected to get a hearing, the chief sponsor said today.

By Andrew Doughman/ Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – In certain circles, nothing raises the collective blood pressure like talk of ARRA and the federal stimulus bill.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Barack Obama signed into law two years ago has channeled $800 billion to the states in an attempt to jolt the economy to life.

By GrandViewOutdoors.com
A federal agency has announced $23 million to protect grasslands in Wyoming, Colorado and Montana for sage grouse, a chicken-sized bird whose males are known for flashy mating displays.

It would be offered as matching funds, with state, local and tribal governments or non-government agencies providing the other $23 million.

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.

A Nevada program designed to help parents with early childhood development is under threat of having much of its funding yanked, the Las Vegas Sun reports.
Scores of young mothers in Las Vegas and Carson City accompanied by noisy children pleaded today for the state to save the Family To Family program that has helped them deal with problems of early childhood. Click here to read the story.

LAS VEGAS – The presidents of Nevada’s colleges and universities said the governor’s budget cuts would put their institutions on a starvation diet.
They argued that past budget cuts severely slimmed their institutions, meaning additional funding reductions would threaten their core academic mission.

Dayton Intermediate School’s newly developing school garden will boast two large sculptures by internationally known sculptor Mischell Riley.

Riley, who is well known for work such as the 3-story high bronze lion at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, has donated two of her pieces to enhance the school’s garden landscape.

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
CARSON CITY – The state may save more money by spending rather than cutting.
Advocates for mental health funding advanced that seemingly nonsensical argument in a plea to save the state’s mental health courts, which are designed to rehabilitate mentally-ill criminal offenders.

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
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.

RENO — A new streamlined system to enable University of Nevada, Reno and Desert Research Institute (DRI) faculty to begin start-up companies and seek entrepreneurial partnerships is part of a new plan launched this month.

The idea, now a part of the university's Technology Transfer Office, is based primarily on a new standard license agreement, the “NSHE Express,” available to faculty-based start-up companies.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
A prominent education official has called for tax increases to offset the proposed higher education budget cuts in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada fares well among the states in a new report that includes unfunded public pension liabilities as part of overall state debt.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – While several state lawmakers say they are seeking changes to the popular Millennium Scholarship for Nevada’s academically successful high school graduates, no one yet is pushing for income eligibility restrictions to ensure the program’s continued viability.

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.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Third-graders who cannot read at a third-grade level would not advance to fourth grade under a proposal from Gov. Brian Sandoval.
The assertion rests on common-sense logic, and Sandoval has been promoting his idea since he was on the campaign trail.

CARSON CITY — Sen. Barbara Cegavske accused Democratic legislators of rudeness during today’s budget hearing.
Following confusions yesterday regarding the depth of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed cuts, the Clark County Republican wanted to “apologize” on behalf of the committee to the governor’s Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert.

CARSON CITY – State officials said today they are pleased that Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed continuing the Guinn Millennium Scholarship program in his budget, including a one-time infusion of $10 million from the general fund to keep it solvent through 2016.
“I was pleased to see that,” said Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, in a budget hearing today.