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Nevada misses out on millions in federal grant money as EV charger program suspended

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Nevada misses out on millions in federal grant money as EV charger program suspended


LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A lot of funding changes are happening rapidly at the federal level since President Donald Trump took office less than a month ago. That includes the suspension of a national program to help build out America’s EV charger network. Nevada was supposed to get $38 million under the National Electrical Vehicle (NEVI) Program but didn’t give out any of that grant money to business owners as other states already did and now that money is off the table.

“Usually, there will be like a lot of cars waiting. Sometimes people see people are not in their cars, they’ll go and try to pull their plug out,” explained Ivy White while waiting to charge up her car at an EV charger station in Henderson.

“You have to get up extra early just to be able to get to the charger before other people do,” shared another driver who did not want to appear on camera. There is such a need for more chargers in Nevada, people have gotten into fights over them.

“I’ve been here where they had to call the cops one time because two couples got into it,” White recounted. White says she sometime tries to come in the middle of the night to avoid waiting for other drivers to charge up.

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“What’s the longest that you’ve waited for a charger?,” FOX5’s Kim Passoth questioned.

“Give or take about like two hours,” White responded. In November 2021, the Biden Administration allocated $5 billion for the NEVI Program. Each state was allocated a cut of the money to provide grants to small businesses that wanted to get into the business of EV charging especially in rural areas off interstates and highways.

Ryan McKinnon with EV advocacy group Charge Ahead Partnership says the current number of charging stations is not enough to serve EV drivers across the country and especially in Nevada. McKinnon claims Nevada dragged their feet giving out the NEVI grant money putting the state even further behind when it comes to the number of EV chargers.

“Nevada has had a really problematic approach towards NEVI this entire time. Right now, you have lots of states all over the country, have a lot of Nevada’s neighbors that have already opened up NEVI funded charging stations…The way other states did it, they set up an application process giving a gas station on the corner or off an interstate exit and you wanted to get into this marketplace, you can apply for funds. You can get a grant,” McKinnon stated.

“That’s lousy. That’s very lousy…Like if I try to go up north, it’s even more like sparse,” White contended hearing millions of federal dollars that could have been used to build charges in Nevada is now suspended.

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FOX5 reached out to the Nevada Department of Transporation who was in charge of distributing the $38 million in federal grant money in Nevada before the NEVI Program was suspended. They shared this statement:

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has apportioned funds for Nevada under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, but these funds operate as reimbursements, meaning they are not distributed upfront. While some states opted to distribute NEVI funds as grants to EV manufacturers, Nevada chose a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to ensure a transparent, competitive approach aligned with the state’s infrastructure priorities. Nevada had a Request for Proposals ready to be released when the federal government paused the program, placing the process on hold pending further federal guidance.

Nevada also faced unique challenges in rolling out NEVI funds, particularly in rural areas where sufficient energy capacity is not readily available to support new EV chargers. Throughout this process, NDOT has prioritized responsible stewardship of public funds, ensuring compliance with evolving federal guidance while working to maximize the program’s long-term impact.

The NEVI program has specific power and connectivity requirements, which required careful coordination with stakeholders, including NV Energy, to ensure proposed charging locations met federal standards. NDOT explored multiple pathways to deploy NEVI funds before finalizing the RFP, balancing the need for speed with the responsibility to ensure projects would be eligible for reimbursement.

About five percent of all vehicles in Nevada are electric ranking the state as eighth in highest percentage of EV’s on the road. However, there are only about four charging stations per 100 EV’s ranking Nevada 43rd for EV chargers.

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Court OK’s counting late-arriving mail ballots in Nevada, 29 other states

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Court OK’s counting late-arriving mail ballots in Nevada, 29 other states


LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada’s laws allowing the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive up to four days after Election Day — so long as they are postmarked by that date — is constitutional under a Monday ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 ruling, justices upheld a challenge to a Mississippi law that’s similar to Nevada’s statute. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court’s three liberal members, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson, to uphold the law.

Conservatives Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The ruling affects 30 states, all of which allow some ballots received after Election Day to be counted. That includes Nevada, which allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted up to four days later, and ballots without a postmark to be received and counted up to three days later.

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Plaintiffs in the case — including the Republican National Committee and the Mississippi Republican Party — had contended that federal laws referring to “elections” mean both the casting and counting of ballots, which they said must occur on Election Day.

“The federal election-day statutes do not preempt Mississippi’s law because the defining element of an ‘election’ has always been the electorate’s choice of candidate,” the case summary reads. “And a related federal statute — the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act — confirms that while federal law dictates when ballots must be cast, state law governs when they must be received.”

In Nevada, critics have contended that late-arriving ballots erode confidence in elections, because they delay learning final election results for days and, in some close races, can change the outcome.

Gov. Joe Lombardo has called the weeklong wait for final, unofficial results “a national embarrassment.”

Plaintiffs in the case made similar arguments, but were turned away by the court: “Finally, plaintiffs policy arguments about election integrity and voter confidence are properly addressed to legislatures, not courts,” the case summary reads.

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Several attempts to require ballots to be received by Election Day have been introduced in Nevada’s Legislature, but none have been successful in the Democratically controlled body.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has argued that the overwhelming majority of ballots are in and counted by Election Day, and only the closest races may be changed by late-arriving ballots. He’s advocated for more resources for county clerks and voter registrars to be able to count mail ballots more quickly.

Under the ruling, nothing will change for Nevada voters going to the polls in four months to vote in the November election. But officials still encourage voters to send in their mail ballots early, or to put them in drop boxes at voting centers during early voting or on Election Day.

Supreme Court upholds late-arriving mail ballots in Mississippi

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One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County

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One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada Highway Patrol responded to a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near mile marker 94 Sunday evening.

The crash was reported at 6:43 p.m. on June 28.

MORE ON FOX5: Driver sustains life-threatening injuries in Las Vegas multi-vehicle crash

A passenger sedan and a pickup truck were involved in the crash. One vehicle was traveling southbound, lost control, crossed through the median, and struck the other vehicle head-on in the northbound travel lane.

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One adult male died at the scene. Two people were transported by ground ambulance, and two others were transported by life flight to a local hospital.

Road closures

All northbound I-15 travel lanes were closed at mile marker 94, but have since opened as of Sunday night.

Nevada Highway Patrol said further information will be provided following the preliminary investigation.

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Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires

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Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires












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