It must have sounded like a good idea at the time.

People should notice something about the dual picture LeBron James sent out Wednesday showing police officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on soon-to-be deceased George Floyd’s neck and Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem. The look on Chauvin’s face says it all: He seems to think he can do this with impunity.

At least a thousand people are shot and killed by the police each year. George Floyd, who died after Derek Chauvin held his knee on George’s neck for nine minutes, wasn’t one of them. Philando Castile, on the other hand, was. He was killed — not murdered, technically, since the police officer responsible for killing him was acquitted — only seven miles away.

When you work in the criminal justice system, you unfortunately see a lot of injustice. This is sort of the point – without wrongs that need to be righted, there would be no need for such a system in the first place. Or any government at all, for that matter.

With the coronavirus pandemic death toll topping 100,000 nationwide and Nevada’s economy a shambles, Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced Phase 2 of the reeling state’s reopening plan. Casinos are scheduled to get back to business starting June 4. It’s hard to know exactly how to feel about it.

The continuing arguments against Nevada’s pandemic-forced, vote-by-mail system lack merit. There are enough bad things in the world to worry about right now without manufactured terror.

In the fight to stop the Las Vegas Pipeline there have been many strange alliances. There were farmers and ranchers working with big-city environmentalists, rural county governments mobilizing in lockstep with tribal officials, and faith groups working alongside scientists.

On May 15, the curios and keepsakes nearly shook off their shelves in the trailer Judy LaFountain shares with her mother in Luning. The largest earthquake to hit Nevada in 66 years announced itself before dawn in the tiny outpost in rural Mineral County.

There is a lot to complain about in a two party system – only two choices in major elections when we know there are so many better human beings in the district/city/county/state/nation. But the advantage is that, unlike in European-style parliamentary systems, governing coalitions must be built in advance, which means you know what coalition you’re voting for.

There’s an old meme that floats around particularly anti-authoritarian circles from time to time about how 40 percent of police officers don’t beat their spouses — 40 percent of police officers are reported for beating their spouses. The implication (admittedly based on statistics from three decades ago, so please consume with a generous pinch of salt) is that the actual number is much higher.

Nevada needs to think urgently about what the future should look like, and not in the kind of reactive way that a crisis tends to cause, but in a way that looks hungrily at working our way through the current crisis to the innovations that will bring us a bright future. How do we do that? To bring the state out of the worst economic challenge in its history, action has to be taken on infrastructure; it is the only option.

Our federal representatives are currently debating another COVID-19 relief package. One of the major points of disagreement with this bill is whether (and at what price) the federal government should bailout state and local governments. Many congressional Republicans oppose such aid, but their resistance is both misplaced and outdated.

Turns out shutting everything down was the easy part. Events in East Asia are demonstrating that effective testing and tracing is better than doing nothing, both in terms of keeping economies open and keeping people out of the hospital, but it’s still no substitute for a cure or a vaccine.

I have never been a particularly religious person. Back when I was young and knew everything, I considered myself anti-religious, confusing the churches themselves with the politicians who merely used the rhetoric of religion to hector or control or even just win elections.

Like many Las Vegas natives of a certain age, Karen Livingston can remember where the pavement once ended and the dirt roads began. When she talks about shopping at Vegas Village and the Penney’s on Fremont Street, her voice fills with a sense of nostalgia.

I’ve had the privilege to feel guilty this quarantine season. Because of my college degree and two masters degrees, I can work from home, continue to have health insurance, and toilet paper and hand sanitizer aren’t that hard to come by. In fact, almost everyone I know still has a job, is up to date on bill payments and can safely order groceries from Amazon.

The Department of Homeland Security recently moved to declare migrant farmworkers—including those who are legally undocumented—essential critical infrastructure workers. Many employers have drafted letters for migrant farmworkers to carry in their wallets in case they are accused of violating shelter-in-place orders, hoping that this will give them some protection.

Municipalities across Nevada are facing crippling budget projections after the economic shutdown to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal aid that has flowed from Washington cannot be used to offset revenue loss.