Las Vegas CityLife: President-elect Obama's Interior Department nominee is familiar with issues facing the American West, and that's good for Nevada, says PLAN's Launce Rake.

Reno News & Review: Washington state group works with PLAN and other groups nationwide to block the nuclear industry's environmentally destructive practices.

Pushback Network: PLAN rallies hundreds for a sensible response to Nevada's budget crisis.

Las Vegas Sun: Launce Rake urges progressives to get involved with PLAN's nonpartisan agenda.

Reno Gazette-Journal: Nevadans will fight for functional funding for government, says PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson.

NewsCarsonCity.com: PLAN organizes opposition to budget cuts with Capitol rally. 

Nevada Appeal: Hundreds of protestors attend PLAN rally against budget cuts.

KOLO-TV: Protestors at PLAN-organized rally outnumbered budget-cutting legislators 5-to-1.

Public News Service:  PLAN blasts Gov. Gibbons for "no tax" stance while catastrophic budget shortfall threatens state.

Clark County: PLAN's Launce Rake joins businesswoman and PLAN supporter Jenna Morton, Sierra Club activist Jane Feldman and Nuclear Waste Task Force Director Judy Treichel in a discussion about the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. 

Nov. 19, 2008

To listen to the two-part Podcast, click here.

Ely Times:  PLAN is one of 23 organizations asking the federal Interior Department to resist political pressure to approve the "Water Grab" planned by Las Vegas water agencies.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Columnist Geoff Schumacher quotes PLAN's Launce Rake explaining that Las Vegas' water agencies are more interested in marketing than science.

Reno Gazette-Journal: The debate over immigration issues will mostly be in Washington, not Carson City, in the coming year, notes PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson. 

Reno Gazette-Journal: A voter-approved Washoe County initiative will lead to more predictability in the planning process, PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says.

Friends of the Earth: PLAN joins national conservation groups to demand hearings on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste train route. (The hearings were subsequently scheduled for Dec. 4.) 

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says scrutiny of Nevada's funding situation is warranted because the system is deeply flawed. 

Reno Gazette-Journal: Washoe County voters overwhelmingly support measure calling for water resources to be a factor in land-use planning, PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson notes. 

KOLO-TV:  Washoe County local governments have to comply with a voter-approved measure tying growth plans to available water, explains PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson.

Community Values Vote: Blog chronicles PLAN and Center for Community Change, volunteers combined effort to get the vote out.  

Community Values Vote: National blog features PLAN's nonpartisan work in the Silver State.

Las Vegas Sun: A new wave of activists, especially young people and Hispanics, could transform the political landscape, says PLAN's Launce Rake. 

Public News Service: PLAN organizers Beverly Rodriguez and Rosa Molina say that Hispanics are a sought-after voting bloc in the 2008 election.

Inter-Press Service News Agency: Naturalized citizens, including Hispanics, could play a crucial role in the 2008 election, PLAN's Juan Roman and Launce Rake point out. 

Las Vegas CityLife: PLAN's Launce Rake warns that challenges to legitimate voters could cause chaos in the election process. 

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN and Families USA warn that as the economy deteriorates, the already-high number of children without health insurance will rise. 

Reno KTVN Channel 2: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says Washoe County's regional plan needs to consider the amount of water available for growth. 

Las Vegas CityLife: PLAN is working with allies to ensure people do not lose the right to vote. 

Las Vegas CityLife: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says the squeeze on working families is getting worse and worse. 

Las Vegas CityLife: PLAN's Launce Rake notes that while Nevada Energy tries to saddle Nevada with expensive and polluting coal-fired electric plants, they are simultaneously cutting services. 

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says we need comprehensive reform of the immigration process.

YouTube: The emerging face of Nevada and America appears in this video of PLAN's early voting rally, which shows the participation of more than 150 new citizens, new young voters, and a diverse array of ethnicities and backgrounds. 

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says people have been waiting for years for a sensible sustainable growth measure. 

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says the term "anchor babies" unfairly characterizes the children of immigrants.

Reno Gazette-Journal: Reno newspaper's photo gallery of PLAN's get-out-the-vote rally.

Review-Journal: PLAN and national groups are coordinating a media campaign against the proposed Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump. 

KRNV-Channel 4: PLAN Organizer Beverly Rodriguez stresses the importance of the vote in this presidential election. 

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says everyone should hope legitimate voters can and will vote. 

Public News Service: PLAN's Launce Rake says the Wall Street bailout might not do a lot for folks at home.  

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN say mining needs to pay its fair share in taxes.  

Channel 4 KRNV: Jan Gilbert, PLAN's Northern Nevada Coordinator, says Nevada's tax laws need a thorough overhaul. 

Reno News & Review: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson discusses why the fight against the Yucca Mountain dump must continue. 

PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson talks about voting with some remarkably tolerant and patient young people.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5a49ajtML8 

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says people need to speak louder against state budget calls. 

KRNV Channel 4: PLAN affiliate Sunrise Sustainable Resources shows off green alternative energy options at Reno trade show.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson compares Alaska's tax on natural resources to Nevada's mining tax - and finds Alasaka's is better for the people.

"HOW many bubbles are there in a bar of soap?" the voting official asked. That was the question posed to Wenton White when he was trying to register to vote in Alabama. In the early '60s. As a young black man.
"And with all the stumbling blocks I've come across here in Nevada, it made me feel like I was back in the old South," says White, 69, now retired and living in Las Vegas. But it's not Jim Crow that's been keeping White from the polls for years. Rather, it's a decades-old felony conviction for stealing from a liquor store, a fuzzy state law and a tangle of red tape.
Las Vegas CityLIfe: PLAN's Launce Rake says ambiguities in the law have left some looking to restore their right to vote in limbo.

Aug. 26, 2008

Half of Nevada residents would support restrictions on their water use to help stretch the region's shrinking supply in the face of climate change, according to a Review-Journal opinion poll. Fewer than one third of Nevadans polled said they would oppose new restrictions on water use, while 19 percent of respondents were undecided.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says people are willing to save more water. 

Aug. 20, 2008

... on the lawsuit that finds Northern Nevada ranchers battling the efforts of Clark County interests to divert water to this part of the state and whether the Southern Nevada Water Authority should be granted access to water in rural Nevada to sustain development in the Las Vegas valley.

KNPR State of Nevada: PLAN's Launce Rake joins rancher Kenna Lochner and environmental law professor Brett Birdsong to discuss legal efforts to block the Water Grab.

Aug. 19, 2008

Those receiving state welfare checks will be losing that money if they don’t work towards self sufficiency. There are an estimated 300 families who receive an average grant of $342 a month who will be affected by the regulation that has been adopted by the state Division of Welfare and Supportive Services. It will save about $1 million a year.

Las Vegas Sun: Northern Nevada Coordinator Jan Gilbert says children will be hurt by the policy.

Aug. 15, 2008

Lawmakers approved more than $75 million in budget cuts on Thursday — enough to get the state through the rest of this fiscal year — even though they fretted over the damage it will cause to Health and Human Services programs.

Nevada Appeal: PLAN Northern Nevada Coordinator Jan Gilbert noted that low-income people pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the rich in Nevada.

Aug. 15, 2008

Get ready, Las Vegas. Expect more scolding.

Prepare to hear yet again from the critics who sneer that our precious town has no business building itself in the middle of a parched desert. It’s too hot, too dry ...This might be their answer: trucking ice from Canada and shipping spring water from New Zealand to create a drinking establishment made entirely with frozen aqua — the bar, the seats, even a wedding chapel — and kept so cold that patrons must don parkas and mittens to go inside.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says the big problem with the "ice bar" is the energy it uses, not the water.

Aug. 13, 2008

Conservationists and American Indian tribes have served a 60-day notice to stop state and federal authorities from allowing Las Vegas officials to disrupt and potentially gravely harm a culturally and environmentally important creek in rural Nevada.

The Ely Times: PLAN's Launce Rake discusses the latest threat to the Great Basin's water - in this case, surface water - posed by the Las Vegas water wholesaler.
 

Aug. 9, 2008

Maria Ester Padilla sat in a room, filling out forms and preparing to do her civic duty.

She walked up to the computer and, assisted by a translator, picked out who she was voting for in the primaries.

Once she submitted her ballot, she'd done it. She'd voted for the first time.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN assists new citizens in voting for the first time.

Aug. 9, 2008

A plan to pipe groundwater to Las Vegas from eastern Nevada has drawn its first legal challenge since state regulators began approving portions of the project last year.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says opponents to the "water grab" will use every tool to protect rural Nevada.

Aug. 11, 2008

Las Vegas, NV – The clock is ticking for an estimated 20,000 Nevadans who have paid their debts to society and have a chance to regain their right to vote, in time for the upcoming presidential election. Under a new state law, most people who have served their time for non-violent offenses can file papers to get a voter registration card.

Public News Service: PLAN is working to restore the rights of Nevada citizens to vote.

Aug. 7, 2008 

DESPITE little evidence yet to back up their claims and conflicting answers from government spokesmen, a group of Las Vegas activists says lingering institutional racism, federal myopia and politics spurred a decision in June to ban civic groups from registering new citizens to vote at the federal courthouse downtown.

Las Vegas CityLife: PLAN-Las Vegas staffers Emmily Bristol and Launce Rake discuss decision to bar nonprofit groups from voter registration at the federal building. 

Aug. 8, 2008

Rather than file a lawsuit to block a ballot question calling for sustainable growth in Washoe County, elected officials Thursday extended an olive branch to the leaders of the movement.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says it is a good sign that local officials are willing to talk to sustainable-growth advocates.

Aug. 1, 2008

Las personas quienes hayan perdido su derecho a votar en el estado de Nevada pueden restaurarlo recibiendo ayuda legal de la Alianza Progresiva de Liderazgo de Nevada, PLAN por sus siglas en inglés.

El Mundo/Las Vegas: PLAN’s effort to restore the right to vote to disenfranchised people in Nevada is featured in this Spanish-language publication.

July 29, 2008

Nevada has already seen more than $1 billion in cuts to the state budget -- $1 of every $7 --in 2008 and faces at least one more punishing round of cuts over the next year. We have lost vital funding for education and critical human services. This catastrophe has demonstrated the inherent problem in depending on our two most volatile revenue sources, gaming and sales taxes, for more than 60 percent of our state funding. When the economy declines, Nevada is hit very hard.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Northern Nevada Coordinator Jan Gilbert says the state's tax structure needs fundamental reform.

July 24, 2008

Regional officials will decide Aug. 7 whether to ask a judge to block a Washoe County citizens growth initiative from appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson said the move shows that local elected officials are desperate to block sustainable-growth measures.

July 23, 2008 

On this edition of Nevada Newsline, we'll be talking about the plan to pump water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas and other water importation projects around the state.

KUNR: Nevada Newsline talks to PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson about the wisdom of exporting rural water to fuel urban growth.

July 16, 2008 

The foreclosure crisis. The shaky national economy. The shaky local economy. The state budget crisis. The steady climb of gas above $4 a gallon—great in a town built for driving. Hot enough for you this year? Obviously, we’ve got a lot on our minds as is, in this calm before (we hope) the next storm of explosive Las Vegas growth. But let’s not forget that the fate of Las Vegas is dependent on water. And water has made the news a lot in 2008.

Las Vegas Weekly: PLAN's Launce Rake points out that Southern Nevada officials believe growth is more important the livelihoods, economies and environment of rural Nevada.

July 17, 2008

Republicans, Democrats and other groups are no longer able to transform newly minted citizens into voters at the U.S. courthouse downtown. Since the George Federal Building opened in 2000, a changing cast of private organizations, as well as the two major parties, had set up voter registration tables on the first floor after each swearing-in ceremony for new citizens. But a recent dust-up at the courthouse over who should be allowed to do the task resulted last month in the banning of everyone but the Clark County Election Department.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says the ban targeting PLAN's voter-registration efforts is unfair.

July 10, 2008

The letter startled Isaiah Cage. Twenty years after he’d been convicted of drug trafficking, and 17 since he had been released from prison, he was holding in his hand a single sheet of paper from the Clark County Election Department accusing him of a felony for trying to vote.

“In conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Department we have discovered that you registered to vote even though you are a convicted felon … it was a gross misdemeanor to willfully give false information on a voter registration application. By re-registering, the same violation would now constitute a felony …”

July 9, 2008

CARSON CITY – State Engineer Tracy Taylor is granting the Southern Nevada Water Authority additional permission to draw 6.1 billion gallons of water from eastern Nevada a year for use in the growing Las Vegas area. The authority sought 11.1 billion gallons but Scott Huntley, a spokesman for the authority, said it was “very pleased” with the ruling.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says decision is a "mixed bag," but water drawdown will hurt region already reeling from sustained drought.

July 7, 2008

The Southern Nevada Water Authority would like to exclude ranchers, tribal leaders, conservationists, and local governments from Nevada and Utah from upcoming meetings concerning the Great Southern Water Grab at a conference scheduled for July 15th. 

Blue Sage Views: Blog notes that PLAN and allied groups are working to overcome SNWA efforts to bar interested parties from upcoming hearing.

June 29, 2008

The unquiet images of artist Rosemary Feit Covey will surround a downtown building next weekend to help open lines of communication about social justice in Northern Nevada. Rosemary Feit Covey's "The O Project," a mural of faces with mouths wide open crying out to be heard in the world, will enclose the PLAN -- Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada -- offices at 821 Riverside Drive.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN promotes art project as part of social justice discussion.

June 27, 2008

Voices for a Sustainable Washoe County, an organization behind a citizen-led initiative petition requiring land-use planning to consider available water recourses, turned in 28,388 signatures to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters Office Friday morning, in hopes to qualify and appear on Nevada’s November 2008 ballot.

Sparks Tribune: PLAN and allies promised and delivered far more than the 18,000 signatures needed to get a sustainable-growth measure on the the November ballot - overturning the decision by Washoe County Commissioners who ordered the citizens to "go home and watch Oprah"  three months ago when they asked the commission to put it on the ballot.

June 29, 2008

RENO – A citizen initiative designed to limit sprawl around Reno appears headed for the November ballot. Supporters on Friday turned in petitions with more than 28,000 signatures — about 10,000 more than the 18,093 signatures required to qualify the measure for the ballot.

AP via Sparks Tribune:  PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson warns that developers will fight hard against sensible, sustainable planning.

June 29, 2008 

Leaders in an effort for the growth initiative recently sat down to at the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada's offices to answer some questions on what their initiative would do. 

Reno Gazette Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson explains the needs for a Washoe County initiative to plan for sustainable growth.

June 25, 2008 

Thursday night, Gov. Jim Gibbons will address the people of the state of Nevada, setting the stage for this weekend's special session. The governor is expected to promote a 21-point plan for helping Nevada out of its budget crisis. The latest estimates put the state deficit at nearly $1.2 billion.

KVBC News 3 - Las Vegas: PLAN's Launce Rake says more cuts will affect essential services.

June 25, 2008

Valerie Soto on Wednesday offered up her 3-year-old daughter, Yvette Diaz, as an example of who would be hurt by further state budget cuts.

"She has autism," Soto told about 75 people gathered under the blistering afternoon sun at the Sawyer Building. "Previous cuts delayed services for special needs kids. Additional cuts would have devastating effects and hurt the most vulnerable."

Soto joined members of several advocacy groups representing children, families and seniors for a 20-minute rally held to send a message to Gov. Jim Gibbons and state legislators.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN's Launce Rake says Nevada's elected officials need to fund essential services.

June 25, 2008

PLAN and allies rallied to let the Governor and Legislators know that we have cut to the bone - now it's time to find additional revenue to fund critical programs.

Click on the YouTube video here.

June 20, 2008

The National Congress of American Indians has approved a resolution opposing a controversial project to pump water from western Utah and eastern Nevada deserts to Las Vegas.

The congress, comprised of Native American tribes nationwide, contends the plan would lower Great Basin groundwater tables, dry up springs and wells that sustain those lands and irreparably harm plants, animals and people.

Deseret News: PLAN's Launce Rake says the Las Vegas Water Grab is all wet. 

June 19, 2008

Vicki LoSasso spent several years as a Nevada state employee and benefited from the state health plan. Then she broke off on her own to work as a freelance artist. She encountered a problem she had not anticipated.

“But a year ago, when I had to go to the market as an individual seeking health insurance for the first time, I became uninsurable to one company and only partially insurable to two others,” she said. “In Nevada, I was told by my agent, these three insurers are the only options available to someone seeking an individual health plan.”

RN&R: PLAN Field Organizer Joe Edson points out that Nevada health insurance companies can yank insurance, raise premiums and engage in other skullduggery at will.

Arizona, California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania are among states that must slash spending or raise taxes to straighten out their finances.

USAToday: PLAN's Launce Rake says it is not clear how Nevada will balance books and fund needs.

June 4, 2008 

PLAN's Cinthia Zermeno, whose work is funded with a grant from environmental group 1Sky, spoke June 4 at a press conference hosted by the NRDC for the national group's La Onda Verde outreach effort to Hispanics on the climate crisis. The press conference preceeded a concert by Spanish-language indie rock duo Joy Y Jesse. 

Watch the video here!

Reno growth advocates meet with City officials

A diverse panel of Reno city leaders and sustainable growth advocates discussed the future of development in northern Nevada.

Bob Fulkerson, the director of The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, has helped gather more than half of the 23 thousand signatures required for two sustainable growth measures to qualify on the November ballot.

 Channel 4 KRNV.com; PLAN director Bob Fulkerson represented sensible growth advocates at a meeting with city officials to discuss northern Nevada development and the initiative petitions to limit leap frog growth and the overuse of water resources.

May 22, 2008

For months, advocates of tying growth in this region to the available water have claimed that local government officials are planning for a population of more than a million people, which is generally considered well outside what water supplies will sustain.

Reno News & Review: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson notes local officials have publicly discussed plans for more than 1 million people in Washoe County, despite politically motivated disavowals.

May 20, 2008

Brian Baxter is Executive Director of the Reno based gay support organization A Rainbow Place and he expects many same sex couples from Nevada will go to California to get married, but once they return to the Silver State, neither the state nor the federal government will recognize the union. 

KUNR: PLAN Field Organizer Joe Edson supports California Supreme Court decision allowing same gender marriage and urges gay Nevadans to support the growing national significance of recognized same gender marriages by getting married in the Golden State even if the marriage will not be recognized in the Silver State.

May 9, 2008

The Regional Planning Governing Board on Thursday approved plans to educate the public about water and growth issues in the Truckee Meadows to counter a resident's drive for signatures for ballot questions on annexations and water importation.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson argued against a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to benefit developers.

May 8, 2008 

The Washoe County (NV) Regional Planning Governing Board is meeting today to discuss a public relations campaign against a citizen initiative for sustainable growth. Their water plan projects a maximum of 528,456 homes with up to 1.2 million people as the region's "ultimate size" but the Board concedes that there is only enough water for half of those homes.

Blue Sage Views: PLAN works for sustainable growth in Washoe County, while organizer Beverly Rodriguez says Rep. Dean Heller has better things to do than push his "English-only" voting bill.

May 7, 2008

Nevada's business owners have hardened their stance against fresh taxes in recent months, a poll shows... The results reveal greater resistance to corporate taxes than a Review-Journal survey found in December, and they point to a looming battle between business advocates and those looking to stanch $914 million in cuts to Nevada's two-year operating budget.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN's Launce Rake says businesses have legitimate concerns about Nevada's tax system, but we all have a stake in making a community that works.

May 7, 2008 

It's best not to dwell on the idea too much, but about 90 percent of our drinking water comes from the same place our toilet water ends up. Clark County Water Reclamation District officials hope customers will think about that when they start receiving higher bills later this year.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN's Launce Rake says existing residents should not pay for sprawl developments miles from the urban center.

April 24, 2008

Earth Day began with a sunny but finger-numbing 39 degrees and ended only about 10 degrees higher in a blustery wind. The weather—rarely a collaborative partner at Reno Earth Day celebrations in Idlewild Park—didn’t deter the roughly 5,000 people who came for the April 20 event.

Reno News & Review: PLAN gathers petition signatures for Washoe County growth initiatives.

April 23, 2008

In 1985, Steve Francis, then the majority leader of the Nevada Assembly, co-sponsored legislation that offers insight into his environmental track record. Francis, serving the second of two terms in the Assembly, joined other Republicans to push a bill that would have eliminated the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a joint California-Nevada commission charged with the stewardship of Lake Tahoe.

April 18, 2008

Tax Day would seem to be an appropriate time to inject some bottom-line reality into the long-running debate over whether or not immigrants in the United States "pay their own way" as taxpayers.   As with nearly all aspects of the immigration debate, the controversy over how immigrants impact the public treasury is far too often dominated by emotionally charged rhetoric rather than hard facts. 

Arab American News: PLAN's 2007 study on the positive economic impacts of immigration cited in online news service story.

April 14, 2008

Nevada’s invisible workers are causing trouble for the state. After dozens of interviews, the Sun concluded in an April 6 story that 60 percent to 80 percent of the Las Vegas Valley’s residential construction workers are illegal immigrants. Tens of thousands of these immigrants who have lost construction jobs are no longer feeding money into the economy. Many are leaving Las Vegas.

April 14, 2008

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says media attention works for conservationists, too.

April 11, 2008 

Reno City Council has agreed to ask Washoe County and Sparks officials to join a task force to determine how Spring Mountain at Winnemucca Ranch should be governed. Councilman Dave Aiazzi, who proposed the task force, also wants to invite Voters for Sensible Growth leaders to the group. The group has been fighting the project for three years.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says the invitation to join the task force indicates growth skeptics have gotten the attention of policy makers.

April 10, 2008

A momentous announcement made news the other day, and no one thought to throw a party.

Nevada’s population growth, it said, slowed in 2007 from 4.1 percent per year to 3.6 percent. This is a small victory, but in desperate times, you find solace where you can.

Reno News & Review: PLAN leads effort to block leapfrog development.

April 5, 2008

Whether growth was termed "smart," "sustainable" or "green," residents at a Friday meeting expressed their concerns that Reno is growing too quickly and using up too many natural resources, especially water.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says Reno's population growth is outstripping the water supply. 

April 8, 2008

There will be a special screening and panel discussion Wednesday of "Unnatural Causes," a PBS series examining America's racial and socioeconomic inequities in health care.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN hosts screening of groundbreaking documentary in Reno.

April 8, 2008

In a region increasingly plagued by drought and water shortages, conserving water has become not only a virtue but the standard.

How to get Clark County water users to live up to that standard isn’t entirely clear.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says conservation pricing can help save water, a critical desert resource.

April 7, 2008

Gov. Jim Gibbons last week came out all in favor of the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s pipeline project that aims to pump rural groundwater down to thirsty Las Vegas. In a Thursday speech to the Perspective 2008 crowd, Gibbons said Nevada must invest in the in-state groundwater project, and that we must decrease our dependence on the Colorado River as the main source of water for Las Vegas.

Then, in a news conference later that day, Gibbons added that he would not oppose the pipeline project, and that it is “part of the solution” for Southern Nevada.

Now, this was news primarily because Gibbons had previously declared exactly the opposite, and more than once.

Various Things and Stuff blog: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson notes that the governor has been inconsistent in his public statements on the Southern Nevada Water Grab.

April 3, 2008

Gov. Jim Gibbons and other anti-tax crusaders have long asserted that Nevada’s budget shortfall will not require real spending cuts. Rather, the deficit will merely cut into the 16.8 percent spending increase passed by the Legislature and signed by Gibbons in 2007. A Sun analysis shows that argument collapsing, however, under the weight of population growth, inflation and new revenue shortfall projections of $900 million.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says we have to open up the discussion on new, stable revenue sources to fund essential human services.

April 1, 2008

Local government representatives from Western Nevada told lawmakers Monday they should have sufficient water to accommodate planned growth. But others said Reno and Sparks are pushing more development than available water can support.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says local governments are pushing for more growth than the region's water supplies can support. 

April 1, 2008

Nevadans react to the news that the state may see a nearly $900 million budget shortfall by mid-2009.

Reno Gazette-Journal: Jan Gilbert, PLAN Northern Nevada coordinator, warns that cuts to human services will be a double hit because Nevada will lose federal matching dollars.

February 29, 2008

Poor people have less say at the polls in Nevada than in most of the nation — and public assistance offices appear to be partly to blame, according to a recently released report.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says it is relatively easy to find people eager to register. Why aren't government agencies able to find them as the law requires?

March 21, 2008

A new study estimates that five working-age Nevadans die each week because they lack health care coverage. We take a look at how state leaders are responding to the report and what they're doing about it. 

KNPR/KUNR State of the Nation: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says avoidable deaths are just that - avoidable.

March 21, 2008

More than five people die prematurely in Nevada each week because they lack health insurance, according to a report Thursday by a health advocacy group. Families USA concluded that at least 290 people in Nevada between the ages of 25 and 64 died in 2006 because of a lack of coverage. Uninsured adults are three times more likely to delay seeking medical care. They are diagnosed with disease at a more advanced stage, which is difficult and costly to treat, the group said.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says deaths from lack of insurance are not necessary.

As the West dries up, water managers, politicians and environmental groups alike are searching for an option — any option — to create water. Recently, desalination has been the popular answer. Even the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has said the technology is no silver bullet, is considering desalting despite its many challenges.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says desalination is an achievable technology - if we have the political will to do it.

Sandy McGill lives in Rancho Haven, a hamlet of perhaps 110 people on the western boundary of Washoe County north of Red Rock. Its bucolic setting is part of its appeal to her. So she’s alarmed by plans of local developers to get an island of land 16 miles north of Reno annexed to the city, putting Rancho Haven between two blocs of urban congestion.

Reno News & Review: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says residents have turned to the initiative process as a last resort to battle out-of-control sprawl.

Blue Sage Views: Nevada blogger posts PLAN news release on potential hits from Medicaid rule changes.

The heady revenue-generating prospects of $1,000/oz gold prices are not only attracting institutional investors, but advocates of higher mining tax revenues, both internationally and within the United States.

Mineweb: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says the time has come for the hardrock mining industry to contribute more to the Silver State.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson announces the kickoff of the initiatives to manage out-of-control growth in Washoe County.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says mining needs to do more for Nevada than take resources out of state.

Reno Gazette-Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson says Reno needs real planning, not a "scheme" to grease leapfrog development.

Reno Gazette Journal: PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson tells Washoe County Commissioners to let the residents of Washoe County have a voice in growth and development of the county. 

Water gave birth to the town, and then buried it. Now years of drought combined with the thirst of a burgeoning Las Vegas Valley have forced Lake Mead to give up all of St. Thomas’ silted remains, revealing a past that serves as a cautionary tale.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake warns that the fate of other Southwest cultures should remind us to live in a sustainable way today.

Public News Service: PLAN's Launce Rake says the government needs to shut down environmentally hazardous activities at the Nevada Test Site.
 

If the new rates are approved, Las Vegas Valley ratepayers would effectively subsidize the improvements, raising concerns that developers will flock to the rural areas to take advantage of the new sewer rates and connection fees.

Las Vegas Sun: PLAN's Launce Rake says existing residents shouldn't pay for developers' profits from growth.

Tony Lesperance, a Paradise Valley rancher and former Elko County commissioner, was a vocal member of the Jarbidge Shovel Brigade that, back in 2000, marched down the tiny northeastern Nevada town's Main Street in defiance of the federal government, according to reports at the time.

Review-Journal: PLAN's Launce Rake says conservationists have concerns about Gov. Jim Gibbon's new appointment.

AP: Launce Rake's quotes expressing concern about the new Ag Commissioner are included in the Associated Press story.

Las Vegas CityLife: PLAN's Launce Rake says the science is showing that the proposed pumping of rural groundwater to support urban growth is a dangerous idea.  

That's the gist of a 2004 study commissioned by the Southern Nevada Water Authority that asked: What would happen if we stopped or even slowed growth? The study concluded that even a minor slowdown could ravage the valley's economy. The report says the slowdown would begin in the construction industry, sparking a trickle-down to all industries, creating mass unemployment and poverty and forcing businesses to close.

PLAN's Launce Rake speaks about the impact of growth, and pro-growth public policy, on the Las Vegas community.  

PLAN's Launce Rake discusses the governor's statement of opposition to the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans to use rural water to fuel Las Vegas' urban growth. 

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN's Launce Rake says the price increases need to hit the high-volume users, not limited income people who use minimal amounts.
 

The initiative also would require a public vote before water could be imported from outside the county, adding that rule to the regional plan.

Reno Gazette-Journal: Bob Fulkerson, PLAN Executive Director, says it is time regional growth plans are based on sustainable resources.

Blue Sage News: Progressive blog picks up PLAN release on threats to Lake Mead. 

But don't mistake that for widespread support for the project.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority's pipeline network still faces loud opposition from rural residents and environmental activists.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: PLAN's Launce Rake voices concerns about the impacts of the SNWA's efforts to use rural water to fuel urban growth.

Bob Fulkerson discusses the sorry state of Nevada's tax system.

PLAN Executive Director Bob Fulkerson comments on the impact of money on politics.