Nevada
Dams in quake-prone Nevada are vulnerable. Near Tahoe, the state is shoring one up – Carson Now
By Amy Alonzo — Dwarfed by drought, the warming climate and other, more immediate environmental threats, earthquakes aren’t at the forefront of most Nevadans’ minds.
But through the mid-20th century, Nevada was known as an earthquake state. While the state has experienced few sizable quakes since then, recent temblors have caught the attention of those who monitor earthquakes.
On Dec. 5, waves of water in the cave that houses rare Devil’s Hole pupfish in Death Valley National Park sloshed nearly 2 feet high after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of California.
Just four days later, a 5.8 magnitude quake struck on an unnamed fault between Yerington and Silver Springs, shaking Northern Nevada and sending objects flying in some buildings.
Neither of the earthquakes resulted in any substantial damage — the California earthquake was too far offshore, while the Nevada quake had its epicenter in a remote area — but they are reminders that seismic activity could result in significant damage to the state’s aging infrastructure. It’s why state officials are proactively shoring up some of Nevada’s oldest earthen dams that, if shaken to the point of breaking, could cause water supply contamination for tens of thousands of people and deadly floods.
Earthquake magnitude is measured on a scale of 1 to 10, with damage starting to be visible around magnitude 5; by magnitude 6, buildings could see structural damage requiring repairs. Nevada experiences about one magnitude 6 earthquake per year, said Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, but almost always in a remote portion of the state.
If a magnitude 6 or greater earthquake were to occur in Las Vegas, Reno or another densely populated portion of the state, “there’s going to be a lot [of] impact,” Rowe said.
In the case of the recent earthquakes with epicenters in Yerington and off California’s coast, urban areas such as Reno were “pretty lucky,” Rowe said. “If either one had happened in a city, it would have been bad news.”
Inspections around the epicenter of the Lyon County earthquake revealed cracks in irrigation ditches and collapses on the banks of the Walker River but no damage to roads or bridges.
The quake was also a reminder to officials of the state’s seismic history and the need to beef up some of the hundreds of dams across Nevada, most constructed in the days before statewide engineering standards and made of dirt and other natural materials.
Damage from earthquakes is “definitely a concern,” said Keith Conrad, chief of dam safety at Nevada’s Division of Water Resources.
The state recently received federal funds to upgrade the dam at Marlette Lake, one of the oldest dams in the state. Marlette Lake perches on the rim between the Lake Tahoe Basin and Carson City, a popular mountain biking and hiking destination renowned for its fall colors and views down to Lake Tahoe. Its reservoir, restrained by an earthen dam estimated to be more than 150 years old, serves as the water source for multiple Northern Nevada counties and cities.
The state purchased the lake and its surrounding land in 1963, but now its aging infrastructure, combined with its location in an area of high seismic activity, makes it a “high hazard dam.” Annual inspections of the dam indicate a “high probability” of a breach if an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude or greater were to occur. If it breached, it could easily flood State Route 28, which runs between the dam and Lake Tahoe, and, with a sewage pipe running beneath the highway, damage to the highway could release sewage and debris into Lake Tahoe.
The seismic retrofit being done at Marlette should cover a lot of vulnerabilities that could affect the lake, caused by earthquakes or other events, Rowe said.
“If they know that dam is vulnerable, I’m really glad they’re doing preventative work,” she said. “It’s going to be way less expensive than if the dam failed.”
High hazard dams and federal emergency declarations
In 1915, the state experienced its largest earthquake, a 7.3 shaker near Winnemucca.
But there has been little high-magnitude shaking in urban areas since 1960, the exception being a magnitude 6 earthquake in the Wells area in 2008. But earthquake faults are still being discovered across the state (the Yerington-area quake occurred near no known faults) and there is still serious potential for earthquakes, especially in western Nevada.
In Lake Tahoe, there are multiple major fault lines that run beneath the lake, Rowe said, and the area is considered at high risk for earthquakes. While the state has been relatively free of any large quakes during the last few decades, Nevada has had the third most frequent number of large earthquakes in the last 150 years.
Lake Tahoe was created by seismic activity — earthquake faulting caused a portion of the mountains to drop, creating a giant bowl, and volcanic deposits dammed the bowl on its north side.
About 5,000 years ago, Lake Tahoe’s west shore experienced an earthquake large enough to produce a tsunami — and a tsunami-producing fault in the basin is overdue for an earthquake, scientists said more than a decade ago at an annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Earthquakes occur every 3,000 to 4,000 years along the West Tahoe Fault that runs from beneath the lake up to the Echo Summit area. That fault last saw a major quake 4,500 years ago. The Incline Fault, located in the northeast portion of the lake, saw a quake of roughly magnitude 7 about 575 years ago.
During earthquakes, concern first focuses on injury and loss of life, said Rowe. But after that, effects to basic services and communications are of utmost concern, she said.
“The resilience of a community relies on the resilience of the water supply and the food supply,” she said. “It can take days or weeks to restore those kinds of services.”
It’s that focus on infrastructure that prompted the state to apply for a $10 million federal grant to upgrade Marlette Lake Dam to reduce the risk of a dam breach during an earthquake. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agreed the dam, listed as “high hazard,” warrants the work and issued the funding.
Nevada’s Division of Water Resources, the department Conrad staffs, oversees about 660 dams across the state; additional dams, such as those operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Indian Affairs, do not fall under the division’s purview.
Few are concrete or rock masonry dams — most are earth embankment dams. Many of them are part of stormwater detention basins in Las Vegas or are small, privately owned structures used for irrigation in rural portions of the state (nearly half of the state’s dams are privately owned) but some are larger and in areas that could have substantial downstream effects if they failed, such as the dam at Marlette Lake.
The dams are categorized into “low,” “significant” and “high” hazard by how catastrophic their failure would be on downstream residents and infrastructure. While failure of low hazard dams are unlikely to have any substantial economic effects or cause death, failure of significant hazard dams are likely to cause substantial economic effects; failure of a high hazard dam is likely to lead to death.
Nearly a quarter of state-monitored dams, primarily in the Reno/Tahoe and Las Vegas areas, are considered “high hazard.” (The designation does not reflect the safety or condition of the dam.)
Nevada didn’t start regulating dams until 1955; “anything prior to that, we don’t know a whole lot about these dams, and chances are they were never engineered,” Conrad said. When it comes to Marlette Lake’s dam, built nearly a century before the state started regulating dams, “Who knows what techniques they used to build it. There’s a big old question mark on that portion of the dam.”
But the general state of dams within Nevada is pretty poor, Conrad said.
A 2018 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers ranked Nevada’s dams with a lowly grade of “D+” or “Poor: At Risk.”
A separate report issued by the National Inventory of Dams in 2023 echoed the 2018 findings, with the condition of the bulk of the dams included in the report listed as “fair” or “poor.”
“It’s hard to say exactly what the likelihood of failure is,” Conrad said.
In 2003, the state began drafting emergency action plans for all high and significant hazard-rated dams in the state.
“We are kind of ahead of the curve” compared with some other states, Conrad said.
Those plans have been activated occasionally, Conrad said, such as earlier this year at Angel Lake near Wells when cracks were found in the roughly 150-year-old dam. The seeping cracks created sinkholes on top of the dam, complicating repairs.
There has never been a federal emergency declaration in Nevada because of a dam failure in the state, but Nevada has seen multiple dam failures throughout the years.
The earliest documented dam failure in Nevada occurred in 1876, when an irrigation dam across the Humboldt River 22 miles east of Battle Mountain failed, releasing a large volume of water through the canyon and flooding several downstream ranches.
In 1955, an intense December storm dropped between 10 inches and 13 inches of rain in Northern Nevada, causing flooding along the Walker, Carson and Truckee rivers. Derby Dam on the Truckee River failed, and Hobart Dam outside Carson City failed and released water that severely damaged U.S. Route 395. Nearly $4 million in damages (roughly $44.2 million in 2022 dollars) was incurred and one person died.
Hobart Reservoir, also part of the Marlette Lake Water System, is next on the state’s list of dams to be repaired with federal funds, Conrad said.
— This story is used with permission of The Nevada Independent. Go here for updates to this and other Nevada Independent stories.
Related
The fourth time proved to be the charm for the Sky Pointe boys volleyball team.
After losing in the Class 4A state semifinals each of the last three seasons, the Eagles have made it to the final game for the first time as a member of the 4A classification.
Sky Pointe, the Sky League’s No. 1 seed, swept Desert League champion Mojave in three sets 25-22, 25-15, 25-19 Monday night at Sky Pointe in a 4A state semifinal.
“This is a team that everybody kind of underestimated. Physically we’re undersized, not a ton of our players play for big club (teams), but at the end of the day, we’re a brotherhood,” Sky Pointe coach Emma Sproule said. “This is a solid (group) of 14 (players) who work really hard day in and day out.”
Sky Pointe (21-13) will play Desert Oasis — a 27-25, 25-22, 25-16 winner over Liberty in the other state semifinal Monday — at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Sunrise Mountain High School for the 4A title.
“It feels fantastic because the last three years we made it to the semifinals. Every time, we lost in the semifinals,” Sky Pointe junior middle blocker Brad Rappleye said. “But now we finally broke the curse and made it through.”
Sky Pointe won the 2018 3A title and was the 3A runner-up in 2019. The Eagles lost in five sets last year to eventual state champion Basic in the semifinals.
On Monday, things were shaping up to be another tightly contested contest between the two league champions during a back-and-forth first set. The Eagles pulled through for the opening set win behind three consecutive kills from Tucker Jenkins to secure the set win.
Sproule said she saw the confidence of winning the first set radiate toward the rest of the match for her players.
“We told them (at the start of the year), ‘We just need you guys to be sponges and absorb all that we’re going to give you,” Sproule said. “It’s going to be a lot of information and there’s going to be a time when you need to apply it and tonight was the time to apply it.
“I’m really proud of the team that showed up tonight. The team that won was well deserved.”
Sky Pointe went on a 7-1 run in the middle of the second set to build its lead and roll to the set win. In the third set, Mojave didn’t go away, but the Eagles capitalized on several Mojave (28-10) service errors and completed the sweep in front of a packed home gym.
“We played as a team,” junior starting libero Dallas Hashimoto said. “We rarely have games where we’re all really in sync like that. It just felt really good it played out like that.”
Jenkins had 10 kills for Sky Pointe and Rappleye, who was named the 4A Sky League player of the year, added eight kills and three blocks. Kaleb Law led Mojave with 10 kills.
Sky Pointe defeated Mojave in five sets in the regular season on March 9, and the Rattlers had a two-set win in a tournament on March 28.
No. 1M Desert Oasis 3, No. 1L Liberty 0: At Desert Oasis, Jacob Wienke racked up 11 kills, eight digs and four blocks as the Diamondbacks (22-9) rolled to a 27-25, 25-22, 25-16 semifinal victory over the Patriots (20-11) after prevailing in an extended opening set.
Jaiden Alarcon added 14 assists and seven digs for Desert Oasis, and teammate Carson Lampkin had 15 digs. Desert Oasis won the 2022 4A title in its only apperance in a boys volleyball title game.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X. Review-Journal reporter Jeff Wollard contributed to this report.
Nevada’s has 5 venomous snakes; what to do if you’re bitten
Learn the proper steps to take if bitten by a rattlesnake. Stay safe on the trails!
Hikers in Northern Nevada may encounter rattlesnakes, though the snakes typically avoid people. Of the five venomous rattlesnake species found in Nevada, only one is commonly found in Northern Nevada.
However, rattlesnake encounters do still happen and hikers should know how to react if they come across the venomous snakes when on the trail.
Here’s a guide to what snakes are venomous throughout Nevada, how to spot them and what to do if you are bitten.
How do I spot a rattlesnake?
Rattlesnakes in North America typically have thick bodies, arrow-shaped heads and a rattle at the end of their tails that they shake when threatened. Five kinds of rattlesnakes are found in Nevada, mostly in the southern and central areas of the state. However, one species ranges across the Silver State — and it’s the one Northern Nevadans are most likely to encounter on a hike.
Great Basin rattlesnake
The Great Basin rattlesnake is the most common venomous snake in Northern Nevada and is found statewide. These snakes typically live in grassy, shrubby and rocky areas.
They are typically light brown with darker spots running down the center of their back. Their spots can come in shades of brown, gray, olive and yellow, according to the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
Sidewinder
Sidewinders are typically found in sandy terrain within areas of dense vegetation, where animal burrows provide shelter. They are also sometimes found in areas with sparse vegetation, like sandy washes. Sidewinders are found in Southern and Central Nevada in parts of Clark, Esmeralda, Nye and Lincoln counties.
You can identify a sidewinder by the raised scales above its eyes, which resemble small horns on its triangular head. It is a heavy-bodied pit viper with a light brown body and darker markings that help it blend into the sandy desert habitat. Sidewinders move with a distinctive side-to-side, S-shaped motion and have a rattle at the end of their tails.
Mohave green rattlesnake
Similar to sidewinders, these snakes prefer southern and central Nevada. They’re typically found in Nye, Esmeralda, Lincoln and Clark counties. Mojave greens are desert dwellers and favor areas with sparse vegetation.
They can be found in pre-existing animal burrows during the winter months.
You can identify a Mojave green rattlesnake by its characteristic olive scales and the brown/tan diamond pattern that runs down its back. NDOW said the Mojave green can look like a diamondback, but its diamond pattern is more rounded, and the white stripes near its tail are also wider than the black ones.
Southwestern speckled rattlesnake
Southwestern speckled rattlesnakes are found only in a small region of southeastern Nevada in the Las Vegas Valley. This elusive species prefers canyons and rocky mountain areas in Clark County near the Colorado River.
The snake also has diamond markings, but they are less distinct because of its speckled pattern. It’s a large rattlesnake that can range in color from pale gray to dark brown. Its tail has alternating light and dark rings.
Western diamondback rattlesnake
The Western diamondback rattlesnake lives in the Mojave Desert at the southern tip of Nevada. It is the largest rattlesnake in the Silver State.
It has a light-colored body with diamond-shaped spots along its back. The diamond pattern is outlined in white and black. It also has alternating black and white bands on its tail.
What do you do if a venomous snake bites you?
If you get bitten by a venomous snake, immediately call 911 and head to the nearest emergency room. Most hospitals have antivenom drugs and can advise you on how to proceed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, do not use a tourniquet, cut the wound or try to suck out the venom — these methods can make the situation worse.
What do you do if a snake bites your dog?
Similarly to what you would do for yourself, call emergency veterinary services for your dog and immediately take it to the vet.
What do I do if I come across a rattlesnake while hiking?
If you come across a rattlesnake while on a hike, avoid it. Walk around it without stepping over it, and if possible, use surrounding rocks or clear ground to pass safely. NDOW recommends wearing long pants and avoiding thick brush while hiking.
If you’re hiking with a dog, keep them on a 6-foot leash and don’t allow them to put their heads into burrows, NDOW advised.
Nevada
‘I just believe in Michele.’ Undaunted as ever, Fiore plans return to Pahrump bench – The Nevada Independent
PAHRUMP — Michele Fiore has been banned from her courtroom for nearly two years. But that isn’t stopping the Pahrump Justice of the Peace from running for the position she was appointed to in 2022.
Several mornings a week, she and her campaign manager, Brittany Jenkins, stop at the Smith’s grocery store in Pahrump to pick up boxes of freshly baked donuts or bagels and deliver them to a variety of businesses, including private school offices and nonprofit organizations, along with her campaign flyers. In some places, she gladly removes the election material because it’s not allowed.
The Nevada Independent accompanied her one recent morning as she dropped off baked goods to Cutting Edge Designs, which handled her campaign signs; Nye County Armory, her “favorite” firearms manufacturer; Nye Valley Ready Mix and the Calvada Meadows Airport.
Just before noon, Fiore walked into a lunch meeting of the Nye County Republican Club at the Pahrump Nugget Hotel and Casino with the last boxes of baked goods, where she was warmly greeted by candidates for other offices and the club’s leadership. Her table included several members of her campaign staff who planned to head out into the neighborhoods to canvass for votes following the event.
“We have paid walkers who go out into neighborhoods,” Fiore said in an interview. “If someone isn’t home and we miss them, we’ll go back. If someone has a question or wants to meet me, we drive right over. I’m always available. It takes energy and it takes hard work.”
It’s all the traditional trappings of an ordinary, small-town judicial campaign. But Michele Fiore is no ordinary candidate.
Occasionally dubbed “Lady Trump” and a fixture in headlines over the last decade, her career as a judge seemed to be over after her 2024 conviction on federal wire fraud charges for using $70,000 she raised from donors that was to be designated for a fallen Las Vegas police officer’s memorial. The indictment said she used the money for her own personal gain, including her rent, plastic surgery and her daughter’s wedding.
She was facing 20 years in federal prison on each count.
However, a life preserver in the form of an April 2025 pardon from President Donald Trump — who gave no reason for the pardon — allowed her to jump-start a 2026 re-election effort.
Despite the pardon, Fiore remains suspended with pay by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. Her suspension was upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court last month, and the commission filed a formal statement of charges against her several weeks later.
Fiore, 55, is undaunted.
The goal of the former two-term Republican Assembly member and one-term Las Vegas City Council member is to receive more than 50 percent of the vote next month, which, according to Nevada law, would allow her to avoid a run-off in November.
Though she is not a licensed attorney, Nevada does not require it for rural justices of the peace in counties with fewer than 100,000 residents. She faces three challengers: retired towing company owner Michael Foley, who was appointed by the Nye County Commission more than a year ago to serve as Fiore’s temporary replacement, occupational therapist Scott Oakley and Richard Hamilton, who could not be reached for comment.
Fiore said she hopes a solid primary win will send a message to the discipline commission and the Supreme Court’s justices to end the investigation and provide a path back onto the bench, where she hears cases involving misdemeanors, small claims, traffic violations, evictions and civil matters under $15,000.
“I’m the hardest-working candidate you will meet,” said Fiore of what has become her full-time job.
“I’ve been suppressed for four years now,” she continued. “Judicial discipline is interfering with an election. As a public figure and as an elected figure, there’s no one I can sue. They have absolute immunity.”
Could a victory by Fiore in June affect or even end the disciplinary matters? UNLV history professor Michael Green referenced the Broadway musical Hamilton when asked.
“I’d like to be in the room where it happens, because it is going to be a difficult decision for them,” Green said in an interview. “On the one hand, she does not act judicially in the least. I know there have been cases where judges have done some things that led to them being disciplined or even removed. In this case, she was convicted and the pardon does not erase that fact.”
Green added neither the discipline commission nor the Nevada Supreme Court could be influenced by voters.
“I don’t think the people on those commissions, who either are elected or have electoral ambitions, really care what the voters of Pahrump think,” Green said. “It’s not going to affect them either way. But does this mean Fiore then goes after them?”
Jeremy Gelman, an associate professor of political science at UNR, suggested Trump’s pardon shouldn’t weigh into the commission’s decision-making process.
“The commission’s purpose is to investigate judicial misconduct, and they focus on issues when somebody is a judge,” Gelman said. “That is what is written into the [Nevada Revised Statutes]. I think it’s speculative about what the commission is doing.”
A colorful past
On her campaign website, Fiore said courts “must remain independent from political pressure, media influence, and special interests.” She vowed to never “rule based on headlines, intimidation, or outside noise, only on facts, evidence, and the law.”
Fiore reported in April that she raised nearly $125,000 in campaign contributions through the first three months of 2026, largely thanks to a $95,000 loan she made to her campaign. She reported spending $109,000, the bulk of which went toward campaign materials and consultants. She had an ending balance of just over $3,000, but suggested the next report, due in July, will reflect additional fundraising efforts.
She believes residents she has met during her four years in the community, 60 miles west of Las Vegas, have tuned out the noise and will turn out to propel her to an election victory.
“When Michele came here to run for judge, we hopped on her train,” said Pahrump resident Yolanda Magley, who moved from Michigan with her husband, Daniel, a few years ago. The couple is often seen wearing Fiore’s red campaign T-shirts and has trained volunteers to walk door to door. They gladly chat with anyone in Pahrump about their favorite candidate.
“I believe in her truth. I feel she’s been railroaded, and sometimes people always want to believe the bad,” she said. “They never see the good. I just believe in Michele.”
Fiore’s bright red campaign signs are omnipresent throughout Pahrump — in front yards, at area businesses and along roadways. Highway 160, which cuts through the center of Pahrump, is dotted with large billboards with Fiore’s image and a statement that “President Donald Trump stood with Fiore.”
“As a judge, there is no politics in my courtroom. Just the person,” Fiore said. “It’s very telling when I have so many people who come through our courtroom. Their party affiliation doesn’t matter. It matters how they are treated.”
Pahrump’s voters are reliably red, with 14,000 registered Republicans and 12,000 nonpartisan voters outnumbering the county’s 5,000 Democrats.
Fiore isn’t taking the numbers for granted. She’s trying to earn support from all sides of the political landscape.
Christopher Salute, a director at Great Basin College’s Pahrump Valley Center, said he has found common ground with Fiore, although he considers himself “a Democrat by nature.” Salute said he admires her loyalty and her spirit.
“When people ask me about her, I say we’re friends,” Salute said. “She’s a loyal person and she fights really hard. Every time I speak to somebody about her, they say that she does her job really well. The world was pretty OK before we started dividing.”
An unorthodox campaign
Fresh off her narrow loss in the 2022 treasurer’s race, Fiore was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in December 2022 out of a pool of 18 applicants by the Nye County Commission following the death of Justice of the Peace Kent Jasperson.
Following her appointment, she won a primary election in June 2024, gaining more than 50 percent of the vote to fulfill the remaining years of the judicial post.
But the term didn’t last long.
She was indicted a month later on the federal charges.
During the trial, several witnesses testified that Fiore had pledged to use their donations to fund the statue for Alyn Beck, a Metro police officer killed in the line of duty in 2014. Witnesses said they were never contacted about the money no longer being needed, and that they were not fully reimbursed.
Included in the evidence was a letter from Fiore in October 2019 — which prosecutors said came after she was aware the statue would not need a funding source — seeking donations and pledging that 100 percent would be used to fund the statue.
Following the pardon, Fiore began producing and paying a local television station to air a 14-part series called The Fiore Files – Breaking the Narrative, which is also being rolled out on YouTube. Episodes feature Fiore talking directly to the camera in long monologues, settling scores, attacking the media and claiming that the entire trial was a setup.
“I’m not going to be silent anymore,” she says in one episode. “I’m fighting for my life, and you need to know the truth.”
The series has rallied her loyal supporters.
“Why would she put herself on a TV news channel and do each one of those segments if she was guilty, right?” asked Yolanda’s husband, Daniel Magley. “Michele’s always willing to talk to anybody. You can’t just believe all the garbage.”
The court case and judicial discipline matters have lingered over some voters.
“I like to hear both sides of what someone has to say,” said Mary Peden, a kindergarten teacher at Community Christian Academy, whose son had appeared in a case in front of Fiore. She said he was treated fairly.
Later, Peden watched several episodes of the television series.
“I contacted her, and she said she wanted to meet,” Peden said. “I know how higher-ups can come down on someone. I believe in her, I plan to vote for her. I have her sign in my front yard.”
Others in her shadow
At least two of Fiore’s opponents aren’t scared away by her all-out blitz to retain her seat, which pays $85,500 a year.
Foley, 63, who earns $479.45 per day when he sits as a pro-tem judge according to Nye County, said he enjoys the work. The county commission reappoints him monthly.
He moved to Pahrump two decades ago to get away from the cold winters and the high cost of living in Massachusetts. He first ran for the position in the early 2000s because he thought the job was interesting. He lost the election, but impressed commission members and other judges.
Foley became a pro-tem judge in 2007, sitting intermittently over the years when a judge was away. He attended classes at the National Judicial College in Reno to better understand the role.
After Jasperson died in August 2022, Foley occasionally served as a pro tem until Fiore was appointed. He had applied for the seat. Foley ran against her in 2024, finishing a distant second.
Following her conviction, Foley became the permanent pro-tem judge in January 2025. He said he hasn’t spoken to Fiore since taking over.
“I’m kind of persona non grata,” Foley said, adding that he couldn’t comment about her legal matters because of judicial rules. “I think she was upset I got into the race.”
Foley said in late April he was hoping to have signs throughout Pahrump by the end of the month, but they came back from the printer “with my name misspelled.” The signs are being reprinted and Foley is paying campaign expenses out of his own pocket.
“I don’t ask for any money at all. I’m self-funding,” he said. “With the economy the way it is right now, I know money is a little tight. One person wanted to donate. I appreciated it, but said, ‘Your money is better in your pocket.’”
Foley takes his role seriously and does his homework on each case.
“There’s always something to learn,” he said. “Every single day here, I learn something new.”
Oakley, 54, who grew up in Las Vegas and moved to Pahrump more than a decade ago, has only seen a courtroom through his experiences and certifications as a licensed therapist in multiple fields, including marriage and family counseling.
He said the local governments don’t do enough for their residents in the areas of mental health, drug and alcohol addiction and domestic violence.
“Pahrump and Nye County have no hospitals for mental health, no hospitals for addiction. People overdose here all the time,” said Oakley, who has worked with the court system to help evaluate defendants. However, he said the protocols in the court system and the jail are lacking, which doesn’t allow him or other counselors to make a proper assessment.
“The judges can use my assessments and recommendations to help these people get treatment,” Oakley said. He added that, as a judge, his background would make him better equipped to oversee the process.
“The most important thing that we have to do is identify what we can do as a community, to allow ourselves to get the people the proper help,” he said.
Like Foley, Oakley has begun to place signage around Pahrump to boost his name recognition. He raised $3,370 for his campaign as of April 15, with a $2,500 loan from his wife.
Hamilton, who has raised and spent nothing on the race, could not be reached for comment.
‘A beautiful thank-you note’
In an interview, Fiore called the investigation that led up to the fraud conviction “a weaponization of government and people. They might not like that term or words.”
However, she was convicted by the jury of six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Fiore provided the White House with an “18-page social history” detailing the case. She declined to provide a copy to The Indy.
“To get my pardon, we had to prove the crimes of the FBI and the DOJ (Department of Justice). That’s not an easy task,” Fiore said. “I didn’t call the president on his cell, which I could have done, and ask him to pardon me.”
Fiore claimed the former head of the pardons office “buried the application.” She never spoke with Trump about the pardon but said she sent the president “a beautiful thank-you letter.”
Fiore said she has been writing her autobiography, which she plans to self-publish with her re-election being the final chapter.
If re-elected, she said she plans to serve just one six-year term and attend law school during that time, hopefully attending classes remotely online and in person at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law. She wants to eventually open her own criminal defense practice.
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