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Clark County working to address barriers to placing foster youth in homes
Clark County is attempting to boost its recruitment efforts to find homes for roughly 3,000 children in foster care, but still faces obstacles finding enough people to participate. Jill Marano, the director of family services at Clark County, updated Clark County commissioners on Tuesday on efforts to attract more foster homes and restructure how the […]
Nevada Legal Services offering tenant help Wednesdays at NLV Justice Court
As the numbers of evictions have increased throughout Southern Nevada, Nevada Legal Services has started offering free assistance to tenants inside the North Las Vegas Justice Court. Lawyers from Nevada Legal Services, which assists low-income residents on a variety of legal matters, are scheduled to be at the court Wednesday mornings to help tenants fill […]
New affordable housing units funded from ARPA dollars still at least 18 months away
The thousands of new affordable housing units Nevada is funding through the American Rescue Plan Act are still, at best, 18 months away from being available for rent, but developers say they are on track and working as fast as they can to help alleviate a housing crisis. Nevada in October awarded $250 million in […]
A day at North Las Vegas eviction court shows aftermath of eviction protections expiring
During Tuesday’s slate of eviction proceedings, North Las Vegas Judge Belinda T. Harris asked landlords the same two questions: How much does the tenant owe? Are they voluntarily accepting rental assistance? It’s been nearly two months since the expiration of a statewide protection pausing evictions if rental assistance applications were pending. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo […]
Lack of funding, mental health resources hinder groups working with youth experiencing homelessness
Whether it’s an 18-month wait to get resources for youth with developmental disabilities or a lack of investment in homeless prevention services, groups working with youth experiencing homelessness say they face substantial barriers helping vulnerable children. Providers and nonprofits outlined some of their struggles when it comes to meeting the mental health needs of the […]
CCSD fights for students … not to see videos, public records surrounding violent arrest
In the more than five months since a video circulated on social media showed school police officers arresting several Black teenage boys, slamming one to the ground, the Clark County School District has refused to release associated records and body worn camera footage. The lack of transparency around the incident, including any records about the […]
Workers at another Southern Nevada Starbucks vote to unionize
The third Starbucks location in Southern Nevada voted Thursday to unionize, joining a growing effort among employees of larger companies to organize around better working conditions. Workers voted 24-3 to make the store, located in North Las Vegas off Lake Mead Boulevard and McDaniel Street, to become part of a union. More than 330 Starbucks […]
Nevada’s minimum wage ekes up to $11.25 July 1, will top out at $12 next year
Some Nevadans will get a slight raise July 1 as the state sees its minimum wage increase from $10.50 to $11.25 an adjustment still well below the amount needed to afford average prices of rent and child care. Nevada lawmakers in 2019 passed legislation to gradually increase the minimum wage each year until hitting $12 […]
Ombudsman, visitation protections among prison reform legislative victories
After years of fighting corrections officials for more transparency and pushing back against harsher prison policies, advocacy groups say they saw more advancement toward significant prison reforms during the legislative session than in previous sessions. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has signed several bills lauded by prison advocacy groups, including legislation that ends medical copays, reigns […]
Lombardo kills tenant protections, eviction reforms despite warnings of homeless crisis
In a Friday night dump, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed the overwhelming bulk of legislation that would have expanded tenant protections, made changes to eviction proceedings and authorized more tools to address the housing crisis. Lombardo killed a record-breaking 75 bills that, in addition to housing bills social service groups said would prevent an eviction […]
State lawmakers order up study of largest part of criminal justice system: Misdemeanors
More than 60% of criminal filings in Nevada are for misdemeanor offenses, the Fines and Fees Justice Center told state lawmakers in June. Despite being the overwhelming majority of crimes processed in the legal system, there is scant data on what the most common misdemeanors are and how municipalities enforce them. “It’s a giant system […]
In contrast to red state anti-LGBTQ push, NV’s Republican governor signs 2 trans protection bills
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo recently signed two bills enhancing protections for transgender and gender nonconforming people at a time when Republican-led states have been passing record numbers of anti-LGBTQ legislation. Lombardo also vetoed a bill that protected providers offering gender-affirming care. One bill signed Monday prevents insurance companies from discriminating against trans people on the […]