Nevada
‘Administrative errors and confusion’: Governor calls on lawmakers to speed up election certification process
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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Election reform is on the table as Nevada finally certified the 2024 election results Tuesday. Certifying the election is part of a long process that leads to the electoral college confirming the results next month. But changes could be coming to the way the state counts its votes in future elections.
No more waiting on Nevada.
That seems to be Governor Joe Lombardo’s goal after the Silver State took its time counting those votes.
Now we know why, according to Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar.
“First, let me start by addressing the obvious. It has been a challenging election cycle,” Secretary Aguilar said.
Those challenges played out on a national stage, as Nevada was one of the last states to be called. Now the governor is calling for change after the Nevada Supreme Court certified the general election saying in a statement, “The time it takes to count ballots and finalize our elections in Nevada is simply unacceptable. Nevadans deserve timely election results, and all ballots should be received by election day.”
That’s what the governor wants in the future. That’s not what’s happening now.
Especially since mail-in voting proved to be the most popular way to cast a ballot this year as 45% of Nevadans mailed it in, 37% voted early, and 18% voted on election day.
Mail-in ballots that are postmarked on or before the day of the election and received by the fourth day after election day are accepted and processed.
That led to a backlog of votes to count.
Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar seems open to changing things up for next time. “We have a responsibility to start to build that capacity to ensure we are processing mail ballots in a way that gives us the opportunity to provide the results as close to election night as possible,” Aguilar said.
Since Secretary Aguilar doesn’t want states waiting on Nevada anymore, he suggested a few changes.
“We are all determined to make improvements and suggest legislative steps to ensure our elections remain free and fair, with a focus on continuously improving the voter experience,” Secretary Aguilar said.
But Aguilar admits there were some snafus that led to delayed results among a lot of first-time election officials.
“They continue to deal with the rapid turnover of staff, in an increasingly complex requirement. Those requirements and turnover led to administrative errors and confusion,” Secretary Aguilar said.
Governor Lombardo says ballot issues should be immediately addressed in the next legislative session. That begins in February 2025.
Copyright 2024 KVVU. All rights reserved.
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Nevada
Pokes Head to Silver State Tuesday for Tilt with Nevada
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LARAMIE — The Wyoming Cowboys hit the road and head to the Silver State for a battle with Nevada on Tuesday evening in an 8 p.m. MT start on the Mountain West Network.
The two teams met in late December with the Cowboys coming away with a 66-63 victory inside the Arena-Auditorium.
Fans can watch and listen to the contest, as well as follow stats on GoWyo.com. The game will be broadcast live on radio over the 26 affiliate stations of the Cowboy Sports Network, as Keith Kelly will be on the call alongside Kevin McKinney.
About The Teams
Wyoming heads into the contest with a 12-16 overall record after falling to San Jose State by a score of 82-73 on Saturday.
Big man Scottie Ebube (Cultural conduct) and forward Matija Belic (ankle) didn’t play against the Spartans. Their availability against the Wolf Pack is currently unknown.
The Pokes are 5-12 in conference play this season. UW is shooting 44.4 percent from the field with opponent shooting 44.5 percent. Wyoming is shooting 35.3 percent from the arc with opponents at 33 percent.
Wyoming has won the battle on the glass in back-to-back games for the first time in conference play. UW is +2.0 on the boards this season and are grabbing 34.8 rebounds per game.
The Wolf Pack head into the contest with a 15-12 overall record and a 7-9 mark in conference play after falling to Boise State 70-69 on Saturday in Reno.
An excellent shooting team, Nevada is shooting 48.4 percent from the field for second in the MW and top-30 in the nation. Nevada shoots 36.9 percent from behind the arc this season and make 6.4 per game. Opponents shoot 43.4 percent and are shooting 36.1 percent from behind the arc.
The Cowboys are led by Obi Agbim at 18 points per game for third in the conference. He is shooting 47 percent from behind the arc to lead the league and rank third in the nation. He leads the team with 3.4 assists per game to rank No. 12 in the MW.
Jordan Nesbitt added has eight double-doubles on the season for third in the conference. He adds 8.8 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per night to lead the team and rank fourth in the MW, as he recorded 10 boards against Air Force.
Kobe Newton adds 7.1 points per game and has made 39 threes for the season. Dontaie Allen adds 7.5 points per game and is second on the team at 9.5 points per game in conference play.
The Nevada offense features on the top big men in the MW in Nick Davidson at 16.3 points per game. He also adds 6.2 rebounds per game to lead the team. He is shooting 52 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc.
Kobe Sanders adds 14.7 points per game on the season and has 121 assists.
About The Series
The Cowboys and Wolf Pack will meet for the 33rd time on Tuesday. The Pokes are 22-10 all-time against Nevada and won the first meeting this season by a score of 66-63 on Dec. 28 in Laramie.
Up Next
Wyoming returns home for Senior Night on Saturday, hosting San Diego State for a 6 p.m. start in a contest on CBS Sports Network.
University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
The rules are simple: What was the player’s impact while in Laramie? That means NFL stats, draft status or any other accolade earned outside of UW is irrelevant when it comes to this list.
This isn’t a one-man job. This task called for a panel of experts. Joining 7220’s Cody Tucker are Robert Gagliardi, Jared Newland, Ryan Thorburn, and Kevin McKinney.
We all compiled our own list of 50 and let computer averages do the work. Think BCS — only we hope this catalog is fairer.
Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com
– University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
Nevada
Federal Layoffs Strike Nevada: Great Basin National Park Rangers among the cuts
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BAKER (NV) — Recent layoffs at Great Basin National Park have raised concerns within the small town of Baker. Located about 290 miles north of Las Vegas, it is the gateway community to our state’s only national park.
The park is known for its unique features including Nevada’s only glacier, some of the world’s oldest trees and a notable cave network. The park receives approximately 140,000 visitors per year and about 50,000 people visit Lehman Caves annually.
Breaking Down the Downsize:
As of Feb. 14th, Great Basin has five fewer employees to run operations that oversee the park’s unique features than it did just over a week ago.
Two former rangers shared their experiences with me anonymously, describing their termination as shocking and painful. They reported the notice was via email— they had just one hour to vacate and would receive no severance.
“When I gave up my badge, it felt like I was ripping on a piece of my heart,” said one of the individuals, “[It’s] a state of shock, a state of disbelief, really, that this is what people wanted.”
I felt hurt. Yeah, working here, this is my first job in the Park Service, and it’s something that I dreamed about as a kid.
This comes as the White House — in partnership with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — works to downsize a handful of federal agencies.
1,000 National Park Service probationary employees have been reportedly laid off at this point, although there are indications summer seasonal hiring is still on tap. For federal positions, new hires or the newly promoted typically have a 12-month probationary period.
The move left one former ranger with questions:
“Who is Elon Musk? Who is he to do this? Who does he answer to, where are his checks and balances? And what can we, and by we, I mean our representatives and we the people, what can we do to ensure that this is not an overreach, that it’s not unconstitutional?”
“We had an overall reduction of about 20 percent of staff. For the visitor services, that number was 50 percent and for custodial services, that was 50 percent. So the immediate impact is that we had to cancel a number of cave tours that weekend immediately following,” they continued.
A Ripple Effect:
“I just worry about that, the public safety angle. In general, there is no professional fire department out here. There is no professional ambulance service. It’s volunteer, and now the valley is left with one EMT who cannot operate the ambulance on their own,” said the former ranger.
One Baker business owner I spoke with said she’s concerned that the cuts will impact the broader community.
“This is really an amazing community of rangers. This is where they chose to live and chose to work, and now, through a stroke of a pen, they don’t have that,” said Liz Woolsey, who runs the Bristlecone General Store and Stargazer Inn.
Businesses that are here in Baker certainly rely on tourism and travelers, so we are unsure what that’s going to look like this season. So that’s an unknown and that’s unsettling when your business really relies on that.
Park advocates say the permanent staff cuts may force national parks to cut operating hours and could impact public safety and resource protection.
Nevada
NEVADA VIEWS: Time for common-sense immigration reform
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The United States has long been a beacon of hope for immigrants seeking opportunity and a chance to chase their own American dream. America has always been a welcoming nation to those who embrace freedom and the responsibilities that come with it.
But we also have a responsibility to balance defending our borders, our values and our way of life with welcoming those who wish to join us. Those responsibilities are not mutually exclusive.
It is time to have an honest conversation without fearmongering or name calling, and it is time to separate those who seek solutions from those who benefit from chaos. You see, comprehensive immigration reform is something the Latin Chamber of Commerce has been advocating for years.
I recently had a deep discussion with Gov. Joe Lombardo. He made it clear that he absolutely supports deporting immigrants here illegally who have committed violent crimes on American soil. He supports deporting those here illegally who committed violent crimes prior to coming to America. Who among us would disagree? While we know that it’s not the majority, it is the fundamental responsibility of our government to keep us safe. That includes the small-business community.
Those advocating for open border policies are making a growing problem worse. Those entering our country must be vetted quickly and effectively so that we may expedite the legal immigration process and immediately capture, return or incarcerate violent criminals before they cross our borders.
Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., must come together to work through important issues involving undocumented immigrants who are already here embracing America and all that comes with it. Decades of a broken immigration system, leaky border and fluctuating policies have created an entire population of people who have been chasing the American dream, following American laws, paying American taxes and working to make our communities stronger, safer and more prosperous. It seems equally unrealistic and unconscionable that those who have embraced our system and our values would be punished for a problem created by politicians unwilling to solve our larger border issues.
America must secure its borders first to protect this nation and its people from those who would do us harm. We must remove any dangerous criminals here illegally. And then we must come together as Americans to fix the broken legal immigration system that has caused so much pain for so many people.
While priority No. 1 must be fixing the border crisis, the “deferred action for childhood arrival” and “temporary protective status” programs cannot be ignored. Presidents of both parties have used these programs to protect long-term immigrants who are living and working in this country. We know that standing up for Dreamers has strong bipartisan support, and the TPS program was created by Congress, supported by both Republicans and Democrats. Acting to extend TPS protections and grant new TPS designations for countries that clearly qualify will keep immigrants from being sent back to extremely dangerous conditions while ensuring they can work and contribute here.
Let’s bring transparency and efficiency to our legal immigration process so we can celebrate the workers, small-business owners and entrepreneurs. In Nevada, there are more than 6,300 TPS holders and 10,500 DACA recipients who pay taxes and strengthen our economy. I speak every day with immigrants who are opening restaurants and stores, working in hospitality and driving critical industries. Our state depends on these people, and without DACA and TPS recipients, Nevada’s economy would suffer.
American exceptionalism is not just an idea, it is the definition of who we are. It is time that exceptionalism is used to solve a border crisis and fix an immigration system that has not worked for a very long time.
Peter Guzman is president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, NV.
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