Nevada

After scrapping Sisolak’s climate plan, Lombardo releases his own

Published

5 months ago

August 9, 2024

After scrapping Sisolak’s climate plan, Lombardo releases his own

Almost two years after Gov. Joe Lombardo scrapped his Democratic predecessor’s statewide plan to address climate change, he released a shorter version this week that emphasizes Nevada’s mining industry and promotes clean energy.

The 33-page “Climate Innovation Plan” focuses on Nevada’s production of minerals needed to transition away from fossil fuels and the removal of federal red tape for clean energy projects. It’s much different from former Gov. Steve Sisolak’s 255-page plan, no longer available on the internet, that set clearer carbon emission reduction goals.

In a statement released online, Lombardo said the document addresses Nevada’s changing climate in a way that considers the economy and national security.

“By harnessing clean energy, improving energy efficiency, and fostering economic growth, we’re establishing Nevada as a leader in climate solutions,” Lombardo said. “By addressing these environmental challenges locally, we’re able to strengthen the future of our state for generations to come.”

The plan has drawn the ire of Nevada Democrats and some environmentalists who say it lacks a clear vision for combating climate change in what climate scientists say is the nation’s driest state with the two fastest-warming cities.

Lombardo also pulled Nevada from the multi-state U.S. Climate Alliance last July. Nevada’s state climatologist, Tom Albright, said he wasn’t consulted in the planning process.

The governor’s spokeswoman declined to make him available for an interview but said in a statement that the plan focused on “reducing carbon emissions without providing an unrealistic timeline for reduction.” Environmental stewardship isn’t a partisan issue, she added.

Gemma Smith, an Arizona State University public policy professor, said Nevada having a climate change mitigation plan at all is a positive. While cities and counties can put forth goals at the local level — like the All-In Clark County Plan — some issues require a statewide lens, such as policy encouraging the use of electric vehicles, she said.

But including no distinct data is to the new plan’s detriment, Smith said, especially when compared with Sisolak’s more comprehensive plan.

“It’s quite difficult to evaluate the new Nevada climate plan from a scientific or a policy perspective because it doesn’t really outline specific metrics or goals,” Smith said. “Still, there needs to be some sort of unifying vision.”

Sisolak said he had not yet read the new plan in full.

“It’s a step back from what we did,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday. “We wanted something that could be measured and quantified, but he decided to go in a different direction.”

Assembly Minority Leader Philip P.K. O’Neill, R-Carson City, said in a brief phone interview that Lombardo’s plan corrects Sisolak’s lofty plan — a clear overreach of government, in his view.

“This brings things back into reality,” he said. “It’s attainable and realistic.”

How do these plans compare?

Aside from helping clean energy projects go live faster and advocating for Nevada to produce important minerals such as lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries, Lombardo’s plan discusses managing wildfire threats and the agriculture industry’s efforts to sequester carbon, where carbon dioxide is stored in soil.

After listing seven goals, Lombardo’s plan lists dozens of initiatives already in motion, including various grants and ongoing programs like PFAS monitoring in the state’s water, efforts to establish more electric vehicle charging stations, and Nevada’s role in continued Colorado River negotiations.

It mentions Nevada’s contract with NZero, a green tech company that a ProPublica investigation found secured millions in government contracts without delivering carbon emission data it had promised.

Sisolak’s plan more heavily relied on citing available science and community engagement, consulting more than 1,500 people across the state via listening sessions.

The document notably spoke of how Nevada would work to implement Senate Bill 254, which set carbon emission reduction goals: 28 percent by 2025, 45 percent by 2030, and net-zero — or near-zero — by 2050.

Criticism and praise

Some Democratic legislators like Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch and Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager took to social media to express their disappointment in the plan, which they think takes credit for some of the work put in motion under the Sisolak administration.

“If one of my students submitted an essay like this ‘climate plan,’ I would give it back to be rewritten,” wrote La Rue Hatch, a public schoolteacher in Washoe County who serves on the Legislature’s Joint Interim Natural Resources Committee. “Even my students know that taking credit for the work of others and offering vague statements with zero evidence to support them is not good enough.”

Attempts to reach the three Republican members of the committee Thursday were unsuccessful.

Doing everything in Nevada’s power to shorten timelines for new mining and energy projects on public land is important to the state’s much hotter future, O’Neill said.

It’s the same environmentalists who take green energy companies to court that are calling for emissions to be reduced, he said.

“Then they’ll turn around and say, ‘Hey, we need green energy,’” O’Neill said. “You can’t have it both ways.”

The Nevada Clean Energy Fund did not respond to a request for comment about the governor’s push to fast-track mining and clean energy. A Nevada Mining Association spokeswoman said the group’s president, Amanda Hilton, was not available to comment Thursday.

Environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and the Nevada Conservation League weighed in on the plan, characterizing it as one without an accountability function.

“We’re gutted to see Governor Lombardo publish his alleged ‘Climate Innovation Plan’ without consultation or collaboration from the everyday people he represents, community organizations and conservation leaders in Nevada,” said Christi Cabrera-Georgeson, the Nevada Conservation League’s deputy director.

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.

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Nevada

Real-money 5-card draw poker app launches in Nevada, more gaming news

Published

1 hour ago

January 7, 2025

Press Room

Real-money 5-card draw poker app launches in Nevada, more gaming news

JETT/Terrible’s Gaming announced the launch of Terrible’s Mobile Gaming, a new real-money five-card draw poker app available in Nevada, according to a press release.

The multi-player game includes features such as Royal Flush bonuses of up to $4,500 and four-of-a-kind payouts up to $175. To celebrate the app’s launch, Terrible’s Mobile Gaming is offering a deposit match of up to $500 each week.

Terrible’s Mobile Gaming is available for download on iOS and Android devices.

“JETT/Terrible’s Gaming and the Terrible’s brand in general have been making life more convenient for Nevadans for over 65 years,” said Tim Herbst, president of JETT Gaming & Terrible Herbst Inc. in a statement. “Now, we are excited to bring that same level of convenience to mobile gaming—delivering the excitement of Multi-Player 5 Card Draw Poker directly to our customers, wherever they are, and within the palm of their hand.”

The app is available in collaboration with Real Gaming, the igaming platform co-founded by South Point casino-hotel owner Michael Gaughan and tech entrepreneur Lawrence Vaughan.

“Nevada players know that both the JETT Gaming and Terrible’s Gaming brands mean convenience, and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered,” Vaughan said in the news release.

Culinary Local 226 ratifies Fontainebleau Las Vegas labor contract

Members of Culinary Union Local 226 recently voted to ratify a labor contract with Fontainebleau Las Vegas. According to the union, 99.6 percent voted in favor of the labor deal.

The new contract covers nearly 3,300 non-gaming employees at the Fontainebleau casino-hotel, located at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. It is the first labor contract with the new resort, which opened in December 2023.

According to previous reports, the Culinary workers’ contract is for slightly less than five years, timed to match the span of the citywide contracts agreed to at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 with other Strip operators.

The deal with Fontainebleau comes as Culinary Local 226 workers at the off-Strip Virgin casino-hotel have been striking for more than seven weeks. The union rejected the casino-hotel’s invitation to arbitration in late December.

Sports wagering

Two U.S. states that haven’t legalized sports wagering are making efforts to win approval in 2025.

Oklahoma state Sen. Dave Rader has introduced legislation in the Sooner state to modify the state’s compact with tribal casinos there to allow betting on sports. The bill’s first reading is scheduled Feb. 3.

Under Rader’s proposal, tribes would be required to pay the state 5 percent of the first $5 million in gross gaming revenue, 6 percent of the next $5 million and 7 percent for any revenue over $10 million as a fee.

A bill introduced in Oklahoma last year never made it out of committee.

In Minnesota, state Sen. Matt Klein said he will reintroduce a bill that failed to win approval last year early in that state’s legislative session. The session opens Jan. 14 in St. Paul.

Bill opponents have blocked passage because of fears of gambling addiction and family bankruptcies. Klein said his legislation has protections that would make it the safest sports-betting law in the country.

Washington D.C. and 38 U.S. states have legalized sports wagering and Missouri is establishing rules and regulations to begin this year.

Raising the age limit

New Hampshire lawmakers will consider raising the minimum age to place a sports bet from 18 to 21 under a bill that is expected to be reviewed Wednesday by the state’s House Ways and Means Committee.

New Hampshire is one of seven states and Washington D.C. that set the minimum gambling age at 18 and most neighboring states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, and New York — have 21 as their minimum age.

If signed into law, the bill would likely take effect in mid-2026. Lawmakers will take into consideration the possible loss of $640,000 a year in gaming revenue with the age increase.

DraftKings is the only online sports-betting option in the state.

Macao

Gross gaming revenue in Macao totaled $28.3 billion (U.S.) in 2024, a 23.9 percent increase over 2023, the special administrative region’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reported last week.

December revenue of $2.3 billion was off 2 percent from a year ago and was the first month in 2024 to have less monthly revenue than in the previous year.

October was the strongest month of the year with revenue of $2.6 billion.

By comparison, Nevada’s October gaming revenue total was $1.286 billion.

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Nevada

51-year-old North Las Vegas man dies in Red Rock Canyon crash

Published

9 hours ago

January 7, 2025

Press Room

51-year-old North Las Vegas man dies in Red Rock Canyon crash

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Nevada State Police said a 51-year-old North Las Vegas man died in a crash at Red Rock Canyon.

The crash happened Thursday, Jan. 2 at 2:25 p.m. near Red Rock Canyon and Fossil Ridge roads.

Police say Shawn Raymond Pierson drove too fast during a curve and drove left of center into the eastbound travel lane as traffic approached.

Pierson struck a broken paddle marker base and overturned. Police say he died at the scene.

The investigation is being conducted by the Nevada State Police Highway Patrol – Traffic Homicide Unit.

2025 Year to date: The Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Region 1 (Southern Command) has investigated 1 fatal crashes resulting in 1 fatalities.

2025 fatalities details preliminary and may change/be updated based on final investigation.

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Nevada

Missing teen who vanished after family dispute believed to be found dead in desert

Published

17 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

Missing teen who vanished after family dispute believed to be found dead in desert

A body found in the Nevada desert is believed to be a teenager who went missing last week after a family dispute.

Police in the city of Henderson said in a statement that the body matches the description of 17-year-old Jennaleah “Jenna” Hin.

Hin was reported missing on December 30, 2024, after she left the home in Henderson following a family issue.

“It’s just a normal family dispute, you know, that teenagers have with their parents. Nothing out of the ordinary,” Mark Speer, Red Rock Search & Rescue commander said.

She said something to the effect of, “You don’t have to worry about me anymore,” according to Speer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Hin did not have a phone or money on her the night she disappeared, her family said (Henderson Police)

Hin did not have a phone or money on her the night she disappeared, her family members said, according to CBS affiliate KLAS.

On Sunday, Henderson police responded to an area of the desert just east of Desert Sunflower Circle and Spanish Needle Street around 10:42 a.m. after a K-9 unit was alerted to her scent, officials said. They discovered a “deceased female” who they say matches the description of Hin.

According to their “preliminary investigations, there does not appear to be signs of foul play,” police said.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office will release official identification of the body, pending notification of next of kin.

A cause of death has not been revealed.

The discovery of the body comes just two days after her mother pleaded for the public’s help in finding the teen at a press conference on Friday.

“Jenna, wherever you are or whoever you’re with, I just want you to come home,” Hin’s mother, Jennifer Swanson, said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I want you safe. We love you so much — please come home.”

On Sunday afternoon, her mother shared a photo of Hin on her Facebook page, writing “Jenna, I love you… Where are you, who are you with, who has you, please come home…”

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