What Happened Here: Facing a brighter, though hazy, future, Nevada grapples with vaccines, variants and the road to recovery

Welcome to the 46th installment of “Coronavirus Contextualized.” For more than a year now, we have brought you the latest COVID-19 numbers in Nevada, including COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and provided context to them on a near-weekly basis through this series.

Members of the Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee voted along party-lines to approve AB126 on Thursday, the bill from Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson to end Nevada’s presidential caucus and replace it with a primary election that would leapfrog other states to the front of the nominating calendar.

A legislative committee unanimously passed a bill that would create a state fund to house proceeds from opioid settlements, such as those against prominent pharmaceutical companies accused of helping fuel the opioid crisis.

Clark County students rallied on Wednesday outside of the district administrative building demanding changes to police presence at schools, ending the use of pepper spray on students and putting more funding toward mental health resources.

Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas) told members of the Assembly Government Affairs Committee that her bill AB408, which would have required county commissions to adopt ordinances requiring online travel booking companies to pay a greater share of taxes, was being amended to become an interim study. She told lawmakers that she wants to take more time to understand the bill’s implications.

"This is not a question about choosing between living and dying," Assemblyman Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas) told members of the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee during a Wednesday hearing. "This bill is about having control, and a choice at the moment of dying."

More than half of elementary students — 56 percent — have returned to school campuses, according to school district data, but that percentage shrinks considerably for the upper grades. Districtwide, only 36 percent of students in middle and high school chose the in-person hybrid model.

SB352 aims to eliminate barriers that prevent paraprofessionals — support staff who often work with students as classroom aides or tutors — from becoming licensed educators. The bill, which is sponsored by the Senate Education Committee, would allow paraprofessionals to continue working while student teaching.

That axiom is a favorite of energy efficiency advocates, who say the concept of not only increasing electric supply but also decreasing demand through better insulation, more efficient air conditioners or heating systems, and other projects will help reduce strain on the state’s electric grid and help consumers save money on their power bills.