Details from the 2019 contribution and expenses reports, due on Jan. 15, detailed how much legislative incumbents and candidates raised over the last calendar year and painted a more hopeful picture for Republicans in several "swing" Assembly races, with a more mixed view in competitive state Senate seats.

Regulators have not budged on their bright line. But the casino sector has still left its mark on the cannabis industry — its veterans are filling out the leadership teams of marijuana companies, and its regulatory regime is the model that the state hopes to emulate for cannabis.

After receiving approval from the Clark County Commission last month, officials with the county's assessor's office have officially appealed a decision by a state tax board to reduce personal property taxes owed by the former SLS Las Vegas last year to $0, under regulations allowing property taxes to be reduced if the assessed value is less than the actual cash value paid for the property.

Presidential campaign expenditure reports aren't known for being glitzy. There are trips to Office Depot and Costco for supplies, furniture from IKEA, quick lunches at Panera Bread, rental cars, flights, staff salaries and office rent. But when your campaign comes to Las Vegas, those reports suddenly get a lot more interesting.

At an IndyTalks forum hosted at the Grand Sierra Resort on Wednesday, Nevada Independent editor Jon Ralston questioned Washoe County School District Board of Trustees President Katy Simon Holland and interim Superintendent Kristen McNeil on issues facing the school district, from the termination of former superintendent Traci Davis last summer to plans to reduce class sizes and its relationship with local charter schools.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg capped off a daylong swing through Reno on Saturday by becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to file paperwork to participate in Nevada's caucuses.

Those meetings and others held between Sisolak with high-powered lobbyists, legislators with major pending bills, federal government officials and a slew of well-known business leaders were revealed in a public records request submitted by The Nevada Independent for the governor's calendar through the legislative session.

The PUC's quick discussion and 2-1 vote on Wednesday to deny NV Energy's request to reconsider an earlier PUC order granting the casino's request to depart the utility is perhaps the last nail in an effort by NV Energy to coax, delay or dispute efforts by nearly a dozen large companies to leave utility service.

In a joint statement sent Tuesday, NV Energy and Station Casinos announced they had reached an agreement on fully bundled electric service and that the casino company — which owns multiple properties in the Las Vegas area including Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa, Palace Station and Green Valley Ranch — would withdraw its application before the state's Public Utilities Commission to depart from utility electric service and purchase power from another provider.

The two companies have agreed to a fully bundled energy service, leading South Point to withdraw its application with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada that would have allowed the casino company to buy electric power from another provider.

In a joint hearing Thursday held by the Assembly and Senate Growth and Infrastructure Committees on SB547, bill sponsor Democratic Sen. Chris Brooks made the case for the bill as a needed upgrade for the state's so-called 704B law, created in 2001 as a way for businesses with a large electric load to leave NV Energy's electric service and purchase power from another provider.

The two entities made the announcement in a joint press release sent Wednesday, ending the LVCVA's flirtation with leaving the utility to purchase power from another electric provider and keeping another large customer within the utility's folds.

Introduced by Democratic Sen. Chris Brooks on Wednesday, SB5XX would substantially alter the state's so-called 704B law for the first time since it was created in 2001, adding numerous new restrictions and requirements — including a new licensing structure, additional payments and more requirements for a departure — for businesses that already have or are in the process of departing NV Energy's electric service.

In a joint press release sent late Monday, the two companies announced they had reached a "long-term energy supply agreement" and have "recommitted" to a partnership — signaling an end to the constant sniping and internecine warfare between the two corporate giants that had in many ways defined the state's energy landscape for the last five years.

In a letter sent to members of the Public Utilities Commission on Monday, attorneys for the Reno-based casino company wrote that they would be withdrawing their application to depart NV Energy's electric service and purchase electric power from a new provider, ending a nearly five-month process and ensuring the company stays a customer of NV Energy.

The 3,027-room Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel and casino filed an application with state energy regulators last week to leave NV Energy's electric service and to purchase power on the open market; the third such business or entity to do so in 2019.

Applications filed this month show that both the LVCVA and a planned hydrogen fuel plant built by Air Liquide are seeking to leave the state's primary electric utility, the first two of 2019 and the latest in a growing line of businesses that have filed to leave the utility as a full-service customer.

Potential competition coming from more than $1 billion of Indian casino development in Northern California isn't causing Reno gaming operator David Farahi to lose any sleep. If he ran a casino in Sacramento, however, Farahi says he would have concerns.

Even state lawmakers and elected office-holders who won't be back on the ballot for two more years at the earliest continued to bring in large campaign contributions in the last two months of 2018, according to campaign finance reports required to be filed with the secretary of state on Tuesday. The reports span Nov. 2 to Dec. 31.

Gov. Steve Sisolak raised at least $1 million after he was elected, including $100,000 from one casino mogul, and leant himself $250,000 just before his victory over Adam Laxalt, a new campaign filing reveals.