Would serve high-school youth eager to become proficient in English and earn diplomas
By
Karen Gray
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
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LAS VEGAS — In a state where thousands of public school English-language-learner students fall out of the system every year, a charter school dedicated to those students’ English acquisition, credit retrieval and graduation would seem sure to thrive.
But for one such charter school in Nevada, New America School-Las Vegas, board members aren’t focused on how to grow or expand the school.
Instead, the question of the day is: “How do we keep from shutting our doors — even before they open?”
It’s Nevada’s challenge with English-language-learner students that led a group of concerned community members to propose a charter high school with a unique mission. Its focus: Clark County students at risk of not graduating, or who have already dropped out of school.
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Would be conditional on California legislature agreeing to Nevada's conditions
By
Steven Miller
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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LAS VEGAS — A high-stakes amendment intended to keep Nevada in the controversial bi-state Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) was proposed today by Gov. Brian Sandoval, Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick and State Sen. James Settelmeyer.
All three, during the 2011 Nevada Legislature, had supported Senate Bill 271, the bill to take Nevada out of the TRPA Compact unless California agreed to change the terms governing the agency’s control over Lake Tahoe planning.
Sen. Settelmeyer was a primary author of the legislation, and Speaker Kirkpatrick had — notwithstanding criticism from “green” groups — supported it. Gov. Sandoval, once the bill had been approved by both legislative chambers, had signed it.
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Senate majority leader ignored Constitution’s origination clause
By
Steven Miller
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
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LAS VEGAS — The last time Obamacare was challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court, it barely survived.
Only because Chief Justice John Roberts creatively re-construed the law’s unconstitutional penalties as constitutional “taxes” was a 5-to-4 Court majority able to form and save the gargantuan law, officially known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA).
Even then, a key provision of the law — denying states federal Medicaid subsidies if they did not agree to expand that program — still went down, substantially complicating prospects for PPACA’s success.
Now another significant legal challenge is bearing down upon the law, and right at the heart of that court case are decisions made four years ago by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
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