Two Judges in Clark County Eighth District Court, Michael Villani and Rob Bare, ruled this week that the Mesquite Citizen Journal is indeed a newspaper and therefore covered by the News Media Shield Law (NMSL). Both Judges also ruled that Barbara Ellestad, editor and publisher of the MCJ is in fact a news reporter who is also covered by the NMSL. In January a third Judge, Abbi Silver deferred a ruling in her court to Judge Bare.
In December, T. Augustus Claus, public defender attorney for former Virgin Valley Water District General Manager Michael Winters, filed six subpoenas against the MCJ and Ellestad asking for all documents, reporter notes, audio and video recordings, published and unpublished articles, and all computer records from 2000 to the present associated with the VVWD. He filed four amended subpoenas in January additionally asking for Ellestad’s phone records and conversations she may have had with investigators or anyone at the Water District. Continue reading at MCJ