NZero just joined Solyndra in the green energy hall of shame.

In 2021, Nevada elected officials heralded NZero, which was then named Ledger8760. The company said it would help governments track their carbon emissions in real time. Reno and Washoe County officials and even then-Gov. Steve Sisolak held a news conference to announce their partnership with the company.

“This is how we fight climate change and protect our state,” Gov. Sisolak said.

“We get to be the city, the county and the state that lead the way into a new day and a new era,” Bob Lucey, then chair of the Washoe County Commission.

Nope. Instead, they became the latest — but surely not the last — politicians duped by well-connected lobbyists selling green-tinged snake oil. As a recent ProPublica investigation exposed, the company didn’t deliver what it promised despite scoring government contracts worth $5.7 million.

“Their software didn’t do what they said it was going to do,” Robin Yochum, a former programs manager at the Governor’s Office of Energy, told ProPublica.

One problem was that NZero struggled to get information from utilities, such as NV Energy and Southwest Gas. The information it did provide was dated. These are the types of hurdles officials should have ironed out before handing the company lucrative contracts.

“I did not recall the program providing us with any more detailed information above what we already generate ourselves,” the energy manager for state public works wrote in a 2023 email.

But NZero had a secret weapon. Among its founders were powerful lobbyists, such as Josh Griffin. Its leadership included lobbyists who successfully worked for Uber, Tesla and the NFL’s Raiders.

With relationships like that, the results hardly mattered. Yvanna Cancela, then-working as Mr. Sisolak’s chief of staff, investigated ways to get the company a “$5 million contract without a competitive process,” ProPublica reported. When Ms. Yochum objected, she said she was told, ‘We have to do this. The governor’s office wants to do it, we are going to do it.’ ”

It gets worse. It’s unlikely real-time emissions data is the best use of funding. In 2009, the state came up with a list of 2,000 energy efficiency projects. More than a decade later, many of them haven’t been funded and completed.

If politicians want to reduce carbon emissions, that’s where they should have put the funding that went to NZero.

But as this story shows, the greenest thing about green energy is often the money raked in by the politically well connected.

Stagecoach robbers don’t look like they used to.

A trio of alleged Nevada bandits are behind bars after an armed robbery — including one with a frightening full-face tattoo that could cower the wildest desperado in the West.

The suspects were busted Saturday in Stagecoach — a community in western Nevada, not the Old West’s preferred means of travel and trade — after a man was robbed at gunpoint by two other men at a house off Apache Drive.

Cops arrived at the home but the armed suspects barricaded themselves inside, and a four-hour standoff ensued, according to the Lyon County Sheriff’s office.

Eventually, police determined that five people were involved in the robbery, and after obtaining a search warrant were able to safely enter the home.

Three suspects were removed — including the face-tattooed Wynn Kiven Satterlee II, 26, who has a prior felony conviction.

She was charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery with a deadly weapon, and ex-felon in possession of a firearm.

Suspects Candace Ashley Hughes, 34, and Hailey Marie Grow, 24, were also charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery with a deadly weapon.

They all remain held on bail.

The two other suspects believed to be involved in the robbery are at large.

Democrats from across the country will meet in Chicago this week to rally around Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — just a few weeks after the Democratic Party’s ticket turned upside down following President Joe Biden’s exit from the race.

The Silver State’s delegates will travel to Chicago for the four-day convention, where they are expected to formally nominate the Harris-Walz ticket for the November election.

A lot of the schedule remains unfinalized, according to convention officials, who couldn’t confirm any specific speakers as of Friday. Current and past presidents are expected to participate in the programming, according to convention officials.

“Convention is our opportunity to tell our story directly to the American people, further introduce our Democratic nominees, and grow the broad and diverse Harris-Walz coalition to defeat Donald Trump” said Emily Soong, a convention spokesperson, in a statement. “We look forward to sharing more information about our full convention program with the public.”

Here’s what we can expect to come out of the convention.

1. A greater awareness of Nevada’s importance in the election

Nevada — a critical battleground state whose six electoral votes could be the determining factor in determining the next presidency — will be of importance at the convention.

Nevada was the first battleground state Harris visited in 2024 and was the first early primary battleground state to unanimously pledge its delegates to Harris once Biden exited the race, according to the state Democratic party.

At the Nevada’s First in the West State Convention in May, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said Nevada is setting the stage for what it means to organize and deliver results.

“This state is going to be key in making sure we secure a victory in November,” Harrison said, according to a statement from the Nevada State Democratic Party.

Every morning of the convention, Nevada’s Democratic delegates will hold a breakfast that will feature well-known Democratic leaders who will speak to the state’s delegates, according to Nevada State Democratic Party Chairwoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno. Those speakers include Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

“Seems like everyone and their mama wants to come and talk to the Nevada delegation,” Monroe-Moreno said.

Nevada is incredibly important, said Democratic Rep. Susie Lee on Wednesday. She pointed to polling from the Cook Political Report that shows Nevada is the one swing state where Trump is still ahead.

“We got a lot of work to do,” Lee said. “We certainly know that we win elections when we motivate and organize and turn people out, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

2. High energy

Since Biden dropped from the race and Harris launched her campaign around three weeks ago, Nevada Democrats have seen renewed energy — with thousands turning out to Harris and Walz’s Las Vegas rally last week — and the convention will be no different.

Conventiongoers are expected to be fired up, Monroe-Moreno said.

“It’s not just Democrats, and I think that’s what’s really exciting to me,” Monroe-Moreno said. “It’s people that were looking for something different, looking for hope, looking for a different vision. And they see that in the Harris-Walz ticket.”

Democrats will seek to use the convention to build on the momentum Harris’ campaign is experiencing and work to turn that momentum into votes in November.

3. Highlight of diversity

Like Nevada’s congressional delegation and its legislative makeup, the Democratic national delegation will be represented by a female majority, according to Democratic Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, who spoke at a delegate send-off event Thursday.

“This female majority is excited,” she said.

Monroe-Moreno, who was the first Black woman to be elected to serve as chair of the state Democratic party, said she will be joined by other Black women who also became the first chairs of their state parties. There will be a Black Political Excellence Event to honor those women on Thursday afternoon, Monroe-Moreno said.

“When you look at who we are, Nevada’s delegation is like a microcosm of who we are as America,” Monroe-Moreno said. “We are one of the most diverse delegations because we are one of the most diverse states in the nation. It’s representative of who we are, and every voice matters and is, we’re active in this community, but nationwide.”

4. A clearer party platform

Harris and Walz are expected to highlight the party’s policies and platform and compare it with the policies of the Trump-Vance ticket, according to Monroe-Moreno.

The chairwoman said Democrats will talk about issues that matter to people, such as clean energy and the climate.

“Nevada is home to the two fastest-rising heat places in America — Las Vegas and Reno — so families were talking about it,” Monroe-Moreno said on Thursday. “So we have folks coming in to talk about what we can do better to bring that down ourselves, you know. But what is that legislation that we need, both at the state level and at the federal level?”

Ahead of the convention in July, the DNC released its draft of the 2024 platform that includes plans to continue the Biden-Harris’ administration’s work, from continuing to lower drug prices and working to seize fentanyl at the border.

4. Future leaders
of the Democratic Party

While the convention organizers couldn’t specify any speakers, past conventions have seen rising stars in the party appear on stage.

Monroe-Moreno said the first time the country saw Barack Obama speak was at a convention, before his presidency.

“The next Barack, the next Kamala, the next Joe Biden might be on the stage that America doesn’t know yet,” she said. “They may be known in their community, in their city and their state, but they’ll be on the larger stage, to see the future of what this party is and the great diversity of who we are as a party.”

Contact Jessica Hill at
jehill@reviewjournal.com.
Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.