Editor’s note: Seven days. Never enough hours.

Stacks of paperwork at the office and piles of laundry at home. It’s a never-ending cycle, which makes it difficult to stay on top of the endless news nuggets flowing from the White House, state capital, local government, and business community. We get it — and we’re in the news business.

Enter “About Last Week.” This is our way of bringing news-hungry but time-strapped readers up to speed on happenings that may have flown under the radar. Our promise: We’ll keep it brief. Our hope: You’ll read (or skim) and keep checking back every Monday.

So, without further ado, here are some noteworthy things that happened in Nevada last week.

Report highlights a vastly uneven playing field for kids of different racial, ethnic groups

A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows continued wide disparities in children’s academic performance, development and future prospects based on their race.

“The data make it clear: for children of color, a person’s race is a leading barrier to success in the United States,” said Nonet Sykes, the Casey Foundation’s director of racial and ethnic equity and inclusion. “It is critically urgent that we ensure they grow up with access to the support and resources needed to thrive.”

In Nevada, the gap is not only wide, but the overall achievement for all racial and ethnic groups is relatively low compared to other states. Sylvia Lazos of Educate Nevada Now said at a press conference on Wednesday that the system isn’t racist, but the people it’s most often failing are people of color.

Within each racial or ethnic group and state, the report authors looked at a dozen key indicators of whether children are set up for a successful future, including babies born at normal birthweight, children ages 3 to 5 enrolled in school, 4th graders who scored at or above proficient in reading, high school students graduating on time, females ages 15 to 19 who delay childbearing until adulthood, young adults ages 19 to 26 who are in school or working, children who live in two-parent families and children who live in low-poverty areas.

The report’s scale runs from 0 to 1000, with 1000 offering young people the best hope for success. The lowest-ranking subgroup in the country was American Indian children in South Dakota, with an index score of 220. The highest-ranking subgroup in the country was Asian children in New Jersey, with a score of 918.

Nevada’s index scores were:

• African American: 282 (ranked 40 out of 44 states with sufficient data)
• Latino: 377 (tied for 46th out of 49)
• American Indian: 452 (ranked 15 out of 26 states with data)
• White: 646 (ranked 40 out of 50)
• Asian: 682 (ranked 34 of 43 states with data)

The Nevada-based Children’s Advocacy Alliance organization issued eight recommendations for improvement alongside the report, including increasing child care subsidies for low-income families (only 3 percent of eligible families are receiving them), updating Nevada’s education funding formula and requiring certain employers to offer paid sick leave.

— Michelle Rindels

State moving forward with implementation of insulin transparency law

In the wake of a court decision last week, officials with the state Department of Health and Human Services are moving forward with the implementation of a newly-enacted law aimed at increasing transparency with how prices of certain drugs to treat diabetes are set.

The department originally planned to publish a list of which “essential diabetes drugs” will be regulated under the law by October 15 to give the Division of Insurance time to carry out the portion of the law relating to insurers. Under the law, insurance companies are required to notify consumers which essential diabetes drugs have been removed from their plan’s approved list of drugs, or formulary, during the open enrollment period.

Department officials say the list will now be published on Tuesday (Nov. 1) and that the department will be publishing draft regulations concerning other sections of the law requiring manufacturers and middlemen in the drug pricing process known as pharmacy benefit managers to disclose pricing information of essential diabetes drugs under certain circumstances sometimes after that.

The department has also registered more than 2,000 pharmaceutical sales representatives from more than 120 drug companies in line with another section of the bill requiring those representatives to annually report the details of their interactions with doctors, including any gifts or samples handed out.

— Megan Messerly

Southern Hills breaks ground on psychiatric center

Amid a severe shortage of mental health care providers in Nevada, Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center broke ground on a new, 80-bed psychiatric center on Thursday.

The behavioral health center, which will span 43,350 feet and cost $26 million, will utilize new patient tracking and safety systems including real-time location systems, laser curtains in the adolescent unit between beds, alarms on top of doors and other technology. The facility will treat patients as young as 13 years of age.

The center will offer 40 adult beds, 20 adolescent beds and 20 geriatric beds and include four outdoor recreation areas for psychiatric patients. The hospital’s graduate medical education program will offer a psychiatric residency in 2018, when the new facility is expected to open.

— Megan Messerly

Shake-up at the lieutenant governor's office

With nearly a year left in his term and management of a key energy commission on the horizon, Lieutenant Gov. Mark Hutchison is reshuffling his staff.

Hutchison’s chief of staff, Ryan Cherry, is expected to depart the office as of Nov. 1 to take a position with Republican political consultant Scott Bensing, a former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cherry has worked for Hutchison since 2014, and previously spent four years working for Sen. Dean Heller.

The new chief of staff will be Jack St. Martin, who previously headed the conservative group Americans for Prosperity's Nevada offices and Engage Nevada,  an independent nonprofit with the goal of registering more conservative voters in the state.

Cherry's replacement as the lead facilitator on the governor's  Energy Choice Commission will be Matt Morris, who spent most of 2017 as Gov. Brian Sandoval’s legislative director. Morris began working for Sandoval in 2014 and previously served as a research assistant and speechwriter for Heller.

Hutchison has also recently brought on a new communications director — Ashley Losoya, a former television news anchor in California and Texas.

Hutchison announced in August that he doesn’t plan to run for re-election. Republican state Senate leader Michael Roberson and Democratic former state treasurer Kate Marshall have both announced intentions to run for the office.

— Riley Snyder

The Indy Rewind:

From determining where Nevada gubernatorial candidates stand on the question of a major energy ballot question to concerns about the shortened timeline for Obamacare’s open enrollment period, here’s what Nevada Independent reporters covered last week.

• Facing shortened timeline, Nevada's exchange, brokers gear up for Obamacare open enrollment
• Sands executive reveals less-than-public reason for company's support of major energy ballot question amid uncertainty over measuring costs, benefits
• Indy Fact Check: Rosen's vote against Republican-led budget doesn't clearly equal vote against tax cuts
• Dispatches from Washington: Delegates highlight everything from the budget bill to the sage grouse
• Indy Congressional Tracker: House passes budget resolution; Democratic delegates sign onto Medicaid buy-in bill
• School trustees pump brakes on proposal that would have allowed outsourcing custodial services
• AG's office declines to weigh in on question of whether pot lounges are legal
• With local and national controversies raging, Nevada lawmakers beefed up sexual harassment policies
• Gubernatorial candidates largely plan to back 2018 energy deregulation ballot question
• Laxalt dedicates $600K from pharma settlement to Vegas shooting police overtime costs
• In wake of 'Sprinklecare,' Nevada congressional Democrats back federal Medicaid buy-in legislation
• Clark County superintendent to school trustee: You're no longer welcome on district property
• The Indy Explains: Republicans' effort to rewrite the tax code

Update 9:04 a.m.  to correct that Jack St. Martin will be Lieutenant Gov. Mark Hutchison's new chief of staff, not Matt Morris.