The appointment of former Republican state Sen. James Settelmeyer as director of the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) spurred questions this week over whether the appointment might clash with the Nevada Constitution.

González's path to politics started when, as a student at UNLV, she became an advocate for victims of domestic violence and stalking, helping start a 24-hour hotline for peer-to-peer support.

As proposed, implementing furloughs and merit pay freezes for the state's 18,000 employees would save the state a combined $66 million ($51.7 million from state workers and $14.3 million from merit pay freezes), a sizable portion of the governor's plan to meet the $1.2 billion shortfall in the state budget.

The proposed cuts play out like a reversal of the past three sessions, when a state recovering from the recession added and expanded a long list of "categorical" programs meant to provide extra support to students with extra needs.

At least one legislator has lost their re-election bid, while several caucus-backed candidates remained locked in close contests as mail-in ballots continue to be counted in the wake of Tuesday's election.

By the time Nevada's caucus rolls around, several Democratic presidential candidates will have been campaigning for a full year and some of their staffers on the ground in the Silver State will have been here nearly as long.

Democratic Assemblywoman Heidi Swank announced Wednesday that she plans to leave the Legislature at the end of her term and will not seek re-election in her Las Vegas district.

Documents obtained through two public records requests offer new insight into the relationship between business and government at an industrial park that lured companies with incentives and support from the state. The letter comes amid new scrutiny of those practices. Last month, The Nevada Independent detailed how the industrial park's public water district, which wants to use eminent domain to build the pipeline project, blurred the line between a government and private utility for decades.

State officials have determined that Assemblywoman Heidi Swank is ineligible to lead Nevada's newly formed outdoor recreation office, despite announcing the lawmaker's appointment last month.

This week's edition of Indy Environment looks at the first presidential candidate to tour the Anaconda Copper Mine, litigation around the Southern Nevada Water Authority's pipeline project and the closure of the West's largest coal plant.

Swank, a four-term legislator who chaired the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining committee in the 2017 and 2019 legislative sessions, was announced on Monday as the new administrator of the state's Division of Outdoor Recreation, created in the 2019 legislative session as a way to promote recreation businesses and promote conservation efforts.

A few weeks ago, we joined dozens of Nevadans in Reno for a first-of-its-kind summit on one of the most devastating problems affecting our state: the fires devastating our rangelands and impacting our communities. As we sat in that room with firefighters, ranchers, conservationists, scientists, power company executives, representatives of government agencies, and others, we were encouraged to see how many partners from all over the state are committed to keeping our communities safe and working with us to undertake prevention efforts and help affected communities rebuild.

About a dozen seats in the Legislature will have no incumbent in the race in the 2020 election, setting the stage for some fierce competition when candidates formally file to run in March, according to an analysis from The Nevada Independent.

Lobbyists, pastors, a little league coach and dozens of employees of payday lending companies packed hearing rooms Wednesday for a hearing on SB201, which would create a database to track information on high-interest (more than 40 percent) short-term loans that includes amounts, fees assessed on borrowers, default rates and all interest charged on loans.

Although the concepts and battle lines are similar to those seen in the 2017 Legislature, a new wrinkle is present; whispers of a future ballot question and campaign to cap interest rates in the state if sufficient progress isn't achieved through the 120-day legislative session.

Several Democratic lawmakers are working on proposals to ban bump stocks — a firearm accessory that mimics automatic weapons fire, used in the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas — as well as creating penalties for leaving a firearm accessible to children and allowing municipalities to set their own regulations on guns. But it's still unclear whether lawmakers will move to address Sisolak's campaign promises to ban assault rifles and silencers.

In an effort to address increasingly extreme wildfire activity, Republican Sen. Pete Goicoechea and Democratic Assemblywoman Heidi Swank plan to empanel a working group to study the issue and recommend ways to fight runaway blazes.

Democratic Assemblywoman Heidi Swank and a left-leaning PAC are launching an organized campaign asking voters to oppose Las Vegas City Council candidate and former Rep. Ruben Kihuen, after he was formally censured by House Ethics officials over credible allegations of sexual misconduct by multiple women.