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Note: As we do near the end of every year, each writer on the staff took a little time to highlight some of their work from the year and say whatever they wanted to say about it.
April Corbin Girnus
Whenever someone asks me what I write about at the Nevada Current, I often say “state policy and politics — preferably in that order.” Occasionally, people follow up with, “yo that’s a pretty vague/boring answer.” When that happens, I typically respond by saying that I prefer to write about taxes (who isn’t paying them), labor (who is exploiting it), and public education (who’s trying to privatize everything).
My favorite stories from this past year fell largely into those categories:
In September, I wrote about a 2021 employee misclassification bill that appears to be rotting in legal purgatory. The law was designed to curb the use of under-the-table workers, gig workers, and other temporary labor on construction sites. But it appears everyone is content with letting the law languish under an injunction that barred it from going into effect. The ongoing saga of 2021’s AB227 raises an important question: What good is a law if nobody cares to enforce it?
In June, I wrote about differing interpretations of a prevailing wage law, which charter schools believe doesn’t apply to them but others believe absolutely should.
The grey areas of Nevada’s employee misclassification and the prevailing wage laws likely need to be addressed through future legislation, and I’m happy the Current can provide an entry point into the issues for any lawmaker brave enough to take on the uphill battle of advocating for workers over businesses.
Speaking of potential legislative battles and corporations…
In August, I stumbled across a presentation by Philip Morris International to state lawmakers. The tobacco giant appears poised to ask the legislature to tax one of their products at a lower rate than traditional cigarettes because their product is safer and they pinky-promise on their mother’s graves that they won’t be marketing to non-smokers.
In March, I highlighted concerns raised by University Medical Center and Culinary Health Fund about the negative impact of private equity firms and their “endless pursuit of profits over patients.” It’s an issue that impacts myriad industries, not just healthcare, and watchdogs believe Nevada is particularly vulnerable to its exploits.
Despite writing what felt like a gazillion of them, only one election-related story this year makes my personal favorites: The explainer on the ranked choice/open primaries ballot question. It wasn’t exactly the election reform people wanted, but it was the one that voters had the power to implement. But they didn’t. And now we must all twiddle our thumbs and pray to Harry Reid’s ghost that the Nevada Democrats and the first-term Republican governor will voluntarily open their primaries up.
Finally, a reminder: Las Vegas is among a minority of large U.S. cities whose property tax system does not favor homeowners over commercial property owners.
Dana Gentry
I have an affinity for cycles – the pattern of the seasons, the reassurance that spring pollen will give way to scorching sidewalks, that Saturday and Sunday wait at the end of each week to cast off the last and refresh for the next.
News is cyclical. There’s the day-in-and-out grind of meeting deadlines, but more importantly, there’s a beginning, middle and end (or something approximating finality) to each story.
Choosing favorites is a task I annually bemoan. So I will spare both of us and just choose the cyclical stories – those that began or ended in 2024, or in the words of Carli Simon, are “coming around again.”
Medical director of Nevada prisons not licensed as a physician in the state
In January, we reported that former MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren and the Nevada Gaming Control Board knew back in 2019 of allegations that Scott Sibella, president of MGM Grand at the time, was catering to individuals with questionable sources of income. The story came on the heels of Sibella’s plea deal with federal authorities out of California for failing to report a large transaction from an illegal sports bookmaker while at MGM. Sibella left MGM in 2019 and moved on to open Resorts World, which along with MGM, became the focus of a federal investigation into money laundering. MGM cut a deal and paid a $7.4 million fine. Resorts World has yet to be charged by the feds, is reportedly negotiating a deal, and has yet to learn the price of its penance.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board eventually got in the game. This month, Sibella agreed to be sidelined by the state, perhaps temporarily, for his acts or lack thereof at both casinos. And who should ride to the rescue of Resorts World, which still has to deal with the state? None other than Murren. Irony alert. He now may hold the key to MGM’s dreams of Dubai in his hands. Talk about full-circle.
In February, we reported the man in charge of medical care for the thousands of state prison inmates didn’t have a license in Nevada to be a doctor, a requisite for the job. Because this is Nevada, rather than getting charged with a felony for practicing without one, he got licensed. Now, he’s getting even, say the people who cooperated with the Attorney General’s investigation.
It was a year for cat ladies, at the national and local level. In February, a group of determined feline friends set out to persuade the Henderson City Council to allow trapping, neutering, and release of stray and feral cats – a feat I doubted they’d accomplished. Earlier this month, the council voted unanimously to give it a try for at least a year. Chalk up one for the cat ladies.
Jeniffer Solis
It’s been an interesting year for the environment in Nevada. In May, wildlife managers in the state announced the first possible wolf pack sighting in Nevada in over 100 years! Until that turned out to be a pack of rather large coyotes instead. Very sad.
While Nevada didn’t get more wolves, it did get a permanent heat stress standard in November to protect the safety and health of indoor and outdoor workers. Readers, after four years of waiting, I know y’all were grateful for that one. Thank you for the emails.
More will need to be done to protect Nevada residents from record-breaking heat, of course. North America had its third-warmest November on record this year, a tad better than last year when North America saw the second warmest on record. That’s encouraging! Unfortunately, North America also saw the warmest first eleven months of the year on record. That’s not as encouraging.
Rural officials tell NV lawmakers they can’t keep up with flood of proposed energy projects
Nevada has contributed more than most to the renewable energy transition, that’s for sure, but the state has also done next to nothing to help resident’s adapt to the new sweltering temperatures we’re seeing across the state.
Clark County alone reported more than 400 heat-related deaths this year, 100 more than last year. A hundred more.
Las Vegas recorded its hottest temperature ever — 120 degrees F— on July 7, 2024. That same day, the youngest person in Clark County to die of a heat stroke was a 27-year-old man, according to the Clark County coroner. The second hottest day ever recorded in Las Vegas — 119 degrees F — happened two days later, where the youngest person to die of heat stroke was a 28-year-old man.
Readers, please know that a lot can be done to stop the increase of heat related illnesses and death.
We could start with trees and shade for one. We could do more to conserve water in rural Nevada for another. We could keep track of exactly who is getting their power shut off during killer heat waves. So forth, and so on.
Lucky for us, the Legislature is meeting this year. See you all in Carson City.
Michael Lyle
When I first listened to the 911 call leading up to Elizabeth Cannon’s death, I struggled with what I heard and if/how I wanted to report it. A few months earlier, I was able to talk with Cannon’s brother, who had lost touch with his sister over the years and was still struggling with her death. Cannon was unhoused when she died, one of the 333 unhoused people who died in 2023.
What does death look like for those experiencing homelessness in Southern Nevada?
In writing “What does death look like for those experiencing homelessness in Southern Nevada?” I really wanted to take a deeper dive into the data and show the people behind the numbers. My fear in writing this was that the story would exploit Cannon’s death. My hope was to provide some humanity to the numbers. And maybe with that humanity I could invite people to wrestle with the sad reality of how unhoused folks die.
The summer of 2024 was brutal. The heat was deadly. Not everyone navigates the rising temperatures the same. Instead of air conditioning, High Desert State Prison uses swamp coolers that have struggled to keep up as summers grow more intense. I was able to go inside and hear directly from those incarcerated about living in those conditions. Prison director works to mitigate heat, but advocates, incarcerated say efforts falling short
I’ve covered the various aspects of the criminal legal system over the years. I’ve reported on state legislation around justice reforms and the bail system as well as the aftermath of people killed by law enforcement. For many of these stories, I’ve been able to talk with Jovan Jackson, a local organizer. Jackson is formerly incarcerated and has been able to bring his lived experience to his work. This year, he won a seat in the Nevada Assembly. Could a formerly incarcerated lawmaker reshape justice policy in the NV Legislature?
Hugh Jackson
It was with dread that I began to look back on my columns this year.
I anticipated a stream of warnings that Trump’s tariffs and tantrums were not going to bring down the price of a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, laced with weary acknowledgments of the pointlessness of saying so, hostility to facts being a hallmark of the all–important tear-it-down vote.
And there was an awful lot of that, which nobody wants to revisit, especially me.
But to my surprise, I did write a few things over the year that (I submit) hold up.
A few days before the game kicked off in Las Vegas in February, I observed the “Super Bowl is the crowning achievement of Nevada economic policy,” and wished policymakers would have spent the last several years working on policies to create a more broadly shared prosperity instead.
Headline-hunting Lombardo mistakes urban sprawl for affordable housing policy
Easily attracted to flashy gimmickry instead of productive policy, watch for Nevada lawmakers of both parties and the governor unite in 2025 to funnel billions worth of public subsidies to giant film corporations instead of spending money on Nevada and Nevadans.
While campaigning and during his first legislative session as governor, Joe Lombardo’s position on housing policy, in as much as he had one, went something like this: Should your family have a place to live ? Let the market decide!
But early this year the Lombardo palm went to the Lombardo forehead in recognition that the public, a group that includes voters, care rather quite a lot about housing. So he attempted to stake out a more public-facing position on the issue. Unfortunately, as I tried to explain, the governor mistakes urban sprawl for affordable housing policy.
A couple other things…
Remember that time earlier this century when Nevada was ground zero for a financial crisis launched by wild-eyed deregulation of segments of the financial services industry? You’d think Nevada members of Congress would be especially wary of an exotic and wholly speculative investment instrument that already claims a rich history of corruption and fraud.
Alas, the crypto industry now controls Congress (Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto excepted, as of this writing, anyway).
And speaking of the state’s congressional delegation, this year, as every year, it reaffirmed a bipartisan conviction that Nevada should remain a mining colony.
Good luck