About Last Week: UNLV medical school courting several hefty donations, graduation rates climb statewide, Nevada tax revenue on the upswing

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.

UNLV officials say they’re close to fundraising breakthrough on medical school

UNLV officials say they’ve been working closely with potential donors and believe they’ll soon have a breakthrough in funding for the proposed medical school building.

Nevada lawmakers on the Interim Finance Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to release $25 million in state funds toward the $250 million project. They had approved such an expenditure during the legislative session pending a matching $25 million gift, which has come through from an anonymous donor.

University President Len Jessup said the school has 12 prospects “in active cultivation” and is still working with the anonymous donor. Two donors say they want to donate $25 million each, and two others say they want to donate at a much higher level than $25 million, although those commitments aren’t in writing yet.

“There’s a good burst that’s about to come through the pipeline relatively soon,” Jessup said. “There’s been a good reaction in the community as you might expect.”

The UNLV Medical School’s first group of students started classes in July. Officials with the Nevada Department of Public Works said they wanted to start planning the building immediately — the process is expected to take two years and builders are trying to manage rapid construction cost inflation.

The success of the fundraising campaign, which is expected to take four years, may affect the scope of the project. The ideal building, UNLV officials said, is a 9-story, self-contained, 320,000-square-foot facility located on the school’s 9-acre land parcel near University Medical Center.

UNLV officials want to avoid a situation where they plan a smaller building because of lackluster fundraising and are unable to create the “dense” complex on the prime real estate they have.

— Michelle Rindels

Nevada tax collections rebounded from recession more than most other states

Nevada is bringing in 16.9 percent more tax revenue than it was at its pre-recession peak in 2006, and is one of only eight states to experience growth of more than 15 percent in that period, according to a new analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

That puts the state’s collections well ahead of the 50-state average, which is 5.7 percent growth since the pre-recession zenith. That relatively low number is putting a strain on other states — the report indicated that more states than at any other time since the end of the recession struggled with mid-year budget gaps in the last fiscal year.

Slow tax revenue growth can make it difficult for a state to balance its budget. Even if raw growth is happening, it may not be happening fast enough to cover higher expenditures driven by population growth, changes in Medicaid cost and enrollment numbers and maintenance needs.

Report authors noted that Nevada has raised taxes since the recession, notably through Gov. Brian Sandoval’s 2015 tax package that created the Commerce Tax on large businesses. States enacted more tax hikes than cuts during fiscal years 2016 and 2017, after two years of doing the reverse, according to data from the National Association of State Budget Officers.

The analysis noted that state tax revenue — like the economy itself has rebounded from the recession “slowly and unevenly.” State collections are hampered by weak growth in wages and consumer spending, and less spending is captured by existing taxes as more people move toward services and online purchases that are less frequently taxed.

— Michelle Rindels

Unemployment rate steady, but with growing labor pool, don’t expect dramatic changes

A state economist says Nevada’s unemployment rate is kept from dropping too much by a growing population of residents re-entering the workforce.

Nevada’s jobless rate was 4.9 percent in September, down half a percentage point from the same time last year. The raw number of unemployed people in Nevada is down 13,500 from one year ago, and the labor force has grown by 17,200 in that time period.

Economist Bill Anderson of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation says the growing labor force prevents too much improvement in the jobless rate. But there are other bright spots — September brought the lowest number of initial claims for unemployment insurance in Nevada since 1998.

— Michelle Rindels

Democrats accuse Heller of violating ethics rules in fundraising email

The Nevada State Democratic Party has accused Republican Sen. Dean Heller of violating ethics rules by sending out a fundraising email that highlighted his position on the influential Senate Finance Committee.

The party filed a complaint on Tuesday with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, citing a Heller campaign email that noted his place on the tax writing committee and asked recipients to donate to “support our tax plan.” They say that constitutes Heller soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for official actions on tax legislation.

In a statement, Democratic Party Chairman William McCurdy accused Heller of violating federal law and being “a self-serving career politician who will gladly use his public office for his own personal gain.”

Heller’s campaign didn’t respond to a message from The Nevada Independent seeking comment on the accusation. A campaign spokesman told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday that he was unaware of the complaint and declined to comment, according to the newspaper.

— Michelle Rindels

More high school seniors receive diplomas across the state

Graduation rates in Clark and Washoe counties increased by roughly 7 percentage points since last year, according to preliminary data from the Nevada Department of Education.

The Washoe County School District edged out its urban counterpart in Southern Nevada, with a graduation rate of 83.79 percent. That’s an increase of 7.15 percentage points. The Clark County School District, meanwhile, graduated 82.71 percent of high school seniors — a 7.83 percentage-point increase.

Overall, the state’s graduation rate for the class of 2017 is shaping up to hit 80.55 percent — a 7 percentage-point increase over the prior year. If those numbers pan out, it will be the highest state graduation rate on record. The department will release the official rates in December, along with a breakdown by schools and demographic subgroups.

“While these graduation rates won’t be official until December, this is great news and the strongest indicator yet that Nevada is the fastest improving state in the nation,” state Superintendent Steve Canavero said in a statement. “Completing high school and ensuring our students are on college and career pathways are essential for Nevada’s future economic viability.”

But the real test for graduation rates will come two years from now when new end-of-course examinations come into play. Students were required to take the examinations this year, but they didn’t count toward graduation. The Class of 2019 will be the first group of students who must receiving a passing score on the examinations to earn a high school diploma.

— Jackie Valley

Indy Rewind

The Nevada Independent sent a reporter up to Reno last week to see what Illinois Congressman John Shimkus had to say about Yucca Mountain. Shimkus is shepherding a bill through the U.S. House of Representatives that would help revive the long-stalled nuclear waste project. Read that story and others from last week:

Disclosure: NV Energy has donated to The Nevada Independent. You can see a full list of donors here.