Las Vegas Review-Journal - Steve Sebelius Slash Politics

CARSON CITY -- The Assembly Judiciary Committee today voted to advance Senate Bill 243 -- the bill that would require everyone arrested for a felony to submit a DNA sample. The bill now goes to the Assembly floor.A similar bill was rejected during the 2011 session, despite compelling testimony

Elaine Wynn warned us before she began her remarks to the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce today that she was still getting used to her role as president of the Nevada State Board of Education.The philanthropist reminded the sizable luncheon crowd in a Rio ballroom that she is

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid said today Nevada has neglected its mental health system for years, and it's up to the state Legislature to fix the problem."If the state Legislature doesn't do something to address this problem, they're all to blame," Reid said at a lunchtime meeting with staffers of the

The state's Department of Health and Human Resources today reported that it has identified 10 patients who may have been discharged improperly between June 2008 and March 2013, four more than have previously been acknowledged.A new accounting was released after Gov. Brian Sandoval announced this morning that people had

The debates over campaign reform bills usually degenerate into the silly, as lawmakers search for any possible reason to avoid increasing transparency or giving up the perks of incumbency.Such was the debate over Senate Bill 49, the secretary of state's omnibus campaign reform bill. The bill -- ridiculously, in

[caption id="attachment_6865" align="alignright" width="193" caption="The Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital"][/caption]Increasing his efforts to get control of the still-simmering patient-dumping scandal at the Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital, Gov. Brian Sandoval announced today that some staff members involved would lose their jobs.The governor's office

How did I possibly miss this classic The Daily Show episode from Tuesday, contrasting American and Australian gun control efforts? The segment features of the show's best correspondents -- John Oliver -- interviewing Australian officials about a gun control program Down Under, and a sit-down with the former chief spokesman

Gov. Brian Sandoval -- perhaps realizing that the burgeoning scandal over a handful of cases of "patient dumping" has the potential to do him political harm -- today released a statement saying he's been on top of things from the beginning, and that the problem is being addressed.Here's the text

Nevada's Democrats have been paying fairly close attention to the patient-dumping investigation published recently in the Sacramento Bee, as well as a follow-on editorial. But it's not for the obvious reason -- the outrageous idea sending a mentally ill man on a long bus ride to a community

When Assemblyman Joe Hogan, D-Las Vegas, first introduced Assembly Bill 141, a bill to ban mandatory "tip pools" at all Nevada businesses, I had mixed feelings.I was glad that somebody in official Nevada finally had the gumption to stand up and say the "tip pooling" policy that Steve Wynn

Editor's note: This post has been altered from its original version to correct an error. CARSON CITY -- It was probably inevitable that Assemblyman Joe Hogan's bill to legalize marijuana outright would die. The Las Vegas Democrat said today the bill will die without getting a vote in the Assembly's

CARSON CITY -- State Sen. Justin Jones, D-Las Vegas, today led the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in approving two bills aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of mentally ill people, encouraging his fellow lawmakers to stand up against a vocal gun lobby trying to kill both

CARSON CITY -- A package of ethics and campaign finance reforms won approval from a Senate committee today, including a provision that would require lawmakers to annually tally how much money they have in their campaign accounts.That long-sought reform was part of a host of reforms contained in Senate

CARSON CITY -- Police agencies in Southern Nevada are one step closer to getting additional money to hire more cops, after the Assembly Taxation Committee voted nearly unanimously to approve a compromise sales tax plan.Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce, D-Las Vegas, was the lone vote against an amended version of Assembly Bill

CARSON CITY -- The effort to repeal Nevada's constitutional ban on gay marriage took a sudden turn this morning, with an amendment that would make clear Nevada grants and accepts all legal marriages -- gay or straight.Senate Joint Resolution 13 in its original form would simply have deleted