But Nevada has largely avoided that issue — quick calls on election night are a result of the state’s relatively strict deadlines for mail and absentee ballots and because of the popularity of early voting in the state, Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Wayne Thorley said in an interview with The Nevada Independent. Thorley said being able to call races relatively quickly helped solidify the integrity of election results and cut down on misinformation that festers when ballot counting continues indefinitely.

A proposed Trump administration rule that could put immigrants who receive public benefits at risk of losing legal status is having a “chilling effect” on those seeking to purchase health insurance on the state’s exchange, the exchange’s executive director said this week.

Ford discussed his plans to try enacting a stalled voter-approved gun background check law — which could involve a lawsuit in federal court — and to defend the state’s marijuana industry against any potential federal crackdown. He also said it was likely the state could get involved in various legal challenges throughout the country, including defending the Affordable Care Act from a Texas-backed lawsuit that Laxalt declined to engage with.

The project is expected to create 50 permanent jobs over five years with an average annual wage of $65,000. It’s also expected to yield a capital investment of $300 million and create more than 3,000 temporary construction jobs by the time it opens in late 2020.

Initial estimates of state tax revenue for the two-year budget cycle are between $8.8 and $8.9 billion, below the $9.5 billion in state agency budget requests but at the very minimum equal to Gov. Brian Sandoval’s $8.1 billion two-year budget approved in 2017. The final projection, which can be changed substantially, will be approved at the forum’s December meeting, giving Gov.-elect Steve Sisolak and legislative leaders a starting point on which to build their two-year budget.

Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt has largely stayed out of a fray about whether to give students more recourse if they’re subject to a predatory lender, even as hundreds of Nevada students who attended shuttered for-profit colleges have unresolved claims for debt relief and as attorneys general in other states have filed several lawsuits trying to boost borrower protections.

According to an audit report presented to an interim legislative panel, the state’s Division of Public and Behavioral Health likely lost up to $1.5 million in possible overpayments because of overbilling from providers of so-called community-based living arrangement homes for people with mental illnesses — and lost another $600,000 because of a discrepancy in rates paid for similar services.

Nearly a third of the 3.5 million people who visited a Nevada state park last year didn’t pay required entrance fees, according to a new state audit, which translates into an estimated $1.2 million in uncollected revenue for the state. The audit of the Division of State Parks, which was presented to an interim legislative audit committee on Monday, estimated that hundreds of thousands of Nevada park-goers skip out on required day-use fees of the state’s 28 parks and suggested several ways to improve compliance.

Eight days into early voting and ten days before Election Day, the festival celebrating Nevada’s admission to the union in 1864, was a technically apolitical event with deep political undertones. The Nevada Independent photojournalist David Calvert captured the annual event in pictures.

As Sandoval’s term winds down, the oil painting will take its place among those of other governors gone before him. The ceremony, held Thursday afternoon, was also a chance to reminisce about his eight years at the helm of a state that suffered worse than most through the depth of the 2008 economic recession.

Much of the governor’s calendar this year is dominated by the three international trade missions he’s taken through 2018, and in various trips and work with the National Governor’s Association. But he also scheduled meetings and phone calls on major energy announcements, the ouster of UNLV President Len Jessup, a controversial federal designation in Storey County and attended at least four events for a Nevada Supreme Court justice.

Gov. Brian Sandoval says money projected to come from a growing economy in the next two years is already spoken for, and gubernatorial candidates who are going to propose new spending will either have to raise taxes or “make some pretty massive cuts.”

A California-based political advertising firm running the campaign for a major energy ballot question backed by the Las Vegas Sands and Switch made an unusual half-million dollar contribution to a political action committee run by the Clark County teachers’ union. Left Hook Communications reported making a $500,000 contribution to the “Nevada Leads” PAC on Oct. 10, according to the PAC’s most recent campaign finance report. Nevada Leads is the political PAC of the Clark County Education Association (CCEA), and has run numerous ads attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt and boosting Democratic candidate Steve Sisolak.

State auditors on Wednesday recommended to members of the Executive Audit Branch Committee — composed of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and controller — that the office should use Oregon’s process for verifying signatures for recall petitions, which it said had more safeguards and a higher chance of statistical validity. Auditors said the office’s current method “may not ensure accurate recall petition sufficiency determinations.”

Nevada voters will weigh in on Question 2 in the 2018 election. What is the "Pink Tax," and how would the ballot question affect the price of feminine hygiene products — and the amount of tax revenue flowing into government coffers — if approved? Check out our video explainer.

Election Day is expected to come without a major rite of passage for candidates to such a consequential race, and especially one polling within the margin of error. It will be the first time since at least 1986 that there hasn’t been a debate in a competitive Nevada gubernatorial race.

Research has shown that breastfeeding reduces the risk of a range of chronic diseases in infants, and the surgeon general estimates that families who breastfeed save $1,200 to $1,500 in formula costs in the first year of a baby’s life. Both Congress and the Nevada Legislature have taken steps to better meet the needs of breastfeeding mothers, although gaps persist.

The longer stays, coupled with a 6 percent increase in overall admissions, are contributing to a prison population that’s 7 percent higher than a decade ago and growing while nationwide state prison rates are dropping.