An escalating conflict between the city%u2019s dominant, homegrown casino company and the state%u2019s most aggressive, successful labor organization has emerged from the shadows of resorts to the brightness of the public square, threatening to force politicians to take sides and to inflict collateral damage on others inside and outside Nevada.
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If you cover politics long enough, especially in Nevada, everything new will seem old.

Elected officials who would require powerful spectacles to be upgraded to myopic. Gaming hegemons who demand genuflection from all strata of elected officialdom. And, of course, Las Vegas mayors named Goodman.
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I would like to know why Carson Tahoe Hospital & Clinic goes through Doctors & P.A.'s like people drink water?

Back when I used to write staff editorials for "the newspaper" some years ago, there was a requirement that you had to actually know something about the subject matter before you started writing.

After reading this editorial about the DREAM Act, I can see this standard no longer applies.

People can have different opinions, but not different facts. This editorial fails to accurately describe what the DREAM Act is, and instead suggests it would give amnesty to every illegal alien in the country.

The Nevada Republican Party ended 2011 on a nationally embarrassing note, capitulating to a New Hampshire secretary of state (!) and the Republican National Committee, thus relegating its presidential caucus to irrelevancy. Less than a week into 2012, the prospects for a resurgence are as bleak as Gov. Brian Sandoval's odds of being on a presidential ticket.
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Every parent should recognize the childish antics of House Republicans on the payroll tax cut extension controversy.

When my nine-year-old doesn't want to do something, a familiar pattern emerges.

First comes the outright refusal. "No, I don't want to," she will say. It's almost always the most truthful part of the whole exchange.

When she sees that doesn't work, then she backpedals to find some other reason to support her position. "I can't do it now because I'm doing (something else)."

A few hundred prisoners get transferred to other facilities from the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, one of the oldest in the West. Most of the employees have found work at those other correctional facilities, though as many as 13 guards -- who won't or can't move the 100 miles to the nearest similar facility, in Lovelock -- may be laid off, qualifying them for unemployment come January.

What's the big deal?...

The thought hit me while covering U.S. Senate candidate Shelley Berkley's visit to Reno last week to tour the devastation of the Caughlin Fire: This Berkley vs. Dean Heller Senate race is a battle for political survival.

The long, nurtured political careers of Heller (GOP, Carson City) and Berkley (Democrat, Las Vegas) are on the chopping block. Can't figure out what options would exist for the loser, unless one wants to go back to the Assembly or Board of Regents and claw back up. There is a scent of desperation here, a clear case of all-or-nothing.

On its face, the Nevada Policy Research Institute lawsuit against state Sen. Mo Denis and the state is ludicrous.

The notion that somehow Denis' duties repairing computers for the Public Utilities Commission somehow conflicts with his legislative duties is far-fetched. He has no power in the executive branch with that — let me think of a word — ministerial job, so why sue him over it?

Film buffs will recall the terror with which the young Vito Corleone’s friends talked of The Black Hand, an invisible but palpable organization whose wrath was universally feared.

Far be it from me to suggest Godfather Harry Reid helms a criminal enterprise as Don Fanucci did in “The Godfather: Part II.” But recent events only reconfirm that the Senate majority leader’s unseen hand controls all within the Democratic Party with a ruthlessness and efficiency that La Cosa Nostra would envy, striking terror into all Democrats within his domain.

Occupy Wall Street began their two-week march from Nov. 9-23 to Washington, D.C. to tell Congress' Deficit Super Committee that the Occupy movement is against any extension of the Bush tax cuts. An extension of those cuts, which are due to expire in 2012, as well as reducing the tax rate on the highest bracket from 35 percent to 28 percent is being suggested as part of possible negotiations in creating the deficit reduction package which has a deadline of Nov. 23.

I applaud President Barack Obama for his most recent trip to Las Vegas to announce a mortgage relief package. It is too bad that the TARP funds were not used several years ago to accomplish exactly...

Well, it seems that some of the new people in Congress still don't get it. They think they were sent to Washington, D.C., to balance the budget even if it means denying or reducing benefits for our...

The -'s "Silver Dollar" and "Wooden Nickel" feature recognizes positive achievements from the capital region and, when warranted, points out others that missed the mark.SILVER DOLLAR: To NV EnerCop...

Justice was served last Tuesday when a Reno jury found 45-year-old John Gillane guilty of attempted murder and related charges for opening fire at a Reno Walmart on Nevada Day 2010, wounding three ...

Our public schools must change. We must rethink how teachers teach and students learn.Charter schools hold much promise for reinventing public school. Blended distance learning (a mix of online ins...

When I read last month that the Nevada Appeal planned to start charging readers to access their web content, a tune began playing in my head: "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

Since the first step of their paywall (as we in the industry refer to paid access systems) was erected on Wednesday, traffic for Carson Now shot up 50 percent. I expect that to grow even more when the first free trial period ends and they begin asking readers for their credit cards.

Well it sure didn't take legislative Republicans long after the redistricting maps were released - subject to final Nevada Supreme Court review and approval - to circle up the ol' firing squad and ...

--Letters to the editor Nov. 3November, 2 2011 11:35 pm MST...

In the mid-1980s, a group of physicians running a weight-loss program for Kaiser Permanente noted a strange occurrence: Those patients successfully losing weight were those most likely to drop out....

--Letters to the editor Nov. 1November, 8 2011 6:14 pm MST...

In 1933, the Nevada Legislature adopted "Home Means Nevada" as the official state song. Bertha Raffetto of Reno wrote the song to honor the state. As Nevada celebrates its 147th birthday on Monday,...

Not until it got dark! That was the trick-or-treating rule my mother set down every year. She didn't want me to embarrass her by interrupting families still having dinner.I hated the rule. Tommy Gi...

Nice to have governor whovalues educationWe were pleased that Gov. Sandoval attended the dedication of Sierra Lutheran High School on Oct. 16. The governor took time on a Sunday afternoon to attend...