Nye - Gateway to Nevada's Rurals » Nevada

Sharron Angle’s Fundraising Surge

Featheriver — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:44:52 +0000

Republican Sharron Angle reported raising $2.3 million since late May for her campaign against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, an amount that nearly equaled what Reid has banked since April, so reports the Las Vegas Sun.

Senator Harry Reid is spending nearly $1 million a month — that’s more than he’s taking in.

Reid has a balance of about $9 million in the bank. Angle has about $1.8 million on hand.

Reid will need to raise an average of more than $44,000 a day to reach his goal of $25 million.

Let Them Eat Cake?

Featheriver — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:51:28 +0000

Republican opposition in Congress has stalled legislation that would extend much-needed benefits to unemployed workers.

There are more than 14.5 million people out of work and another 2.5 million who are discouraged and have given up looking for work, according to the Labor Department.

As we have noted before, some conservatives stunningly argue that benefits keep people from looking for work.

Nevada leads the nation in the percentage of people unemplyed at 14 percent. There are 120,000 Nevadans out of work, and that doesn’t include those who have given up looking.

Despite arguments to the contrary, this isn’t about people being spoiled or lazy. There aren’t jobs available. This is about ideology: The right-wing crowd doesn’t like government, and they are willing to let millions of Americans suffer to get their way. That is tragic.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

I wonder how many of those unemployed, who need this extension of unemployment benefits, are unemployed Republicans?I also wonder how those unemployed Republicans are going to vote come November?

Mule Lick Nevada

Featheriver — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:59:10 +0000

I get a kick out of the Mule Lick, Nevada Facebook page. The Chamber of Commerce just installed a new sign on Mercury Highway at the John Wayne Bobbitt Cutoff.

Wonder where that is.

Nevada second in nation for loan delinquencies

Featheriver — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:50:08 +0000

Nevada continued to rank second in the nation in May for elevated levels of home loan delinquencies and foreclosures.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

Nye: America’s Worst Run County

Featheriver — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:42:36 +0000

Gawker calls it America’s Worst-Run County: Nye County, Nevada.

Citing the Wall Street Journal, Gawker says it has the entire sordid tale of the management case study that is Nye County.

Looks like everyone and his dog is getting their fill of Pahrump and Nye County, Nevada.

Pahrump, Nye County Makes the Wall Street Journal

Featheriver — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:36:00 +0000

Sheriff Tony DeMeo DA Bob Beckett

It isn’t every day that Pahrump and Nye County makes the Wall Street Journal. The headline in the Journal issue of July 6 heralds “High Noon in Pahrump, Nev.: Sheriff Arrests the District Attorney.” The sub headline reads “The D.A. Chooses Not to File Charges Against Himself, Investigates His Nemesis.”

The article begins “Like a scene from a Western movie, the two top lawmen here are settling their scores in public.” Forging onward the Journal reports the D.A. appointed a special prosecutor “to investigate possible abuses of power by the sheriff’s office and other public officials.” The special prosecutor filed felony charges against deputy sheriff, David Boruchowitz, for arresting Beckett.

The Journal article proceeds to explain the arrest of District Attorney Robert Beckett by Sheriff Tony DeMeo’s deputy for allegedly “misusing public funds.” Then it points out that “…the D.A., refuses to charge himself.”

“[A]fter he (Boruchowitz) was summoned to lock himself in the corrugated metal county jail, he sent out a press release with his own mug shot announcing he had been arrested. A judge later rejected the charges, contending Mr. Beckett didn’t have the power to appoint a special prosecutor. So Mr. Beckett refilled the charges himself.”

The Journal then describes Nye County as “twice the size of New Hampshire…Most of the county is so desolate that for years the military conducted atomic testing here.…Its sparse local economy includes a gold mine and a dairy farm, as well as seven brothels whose fees finance the county’s ambulance services.” Pahrump gets its mention as being 45 minutes from Las Vegas and the “local government struggled to keep up with the proliferation of houses and mini-malls strewn across the desert.”

The Journal characterizes the beef between DeMeo and Beckett this way. “Mr. DeMeo complains that his department arrests people who never get prosecuted. Mr. Beckett contends that some of the sheriff’s cases aren’t solid.”

“I’ve often said they need a mother to stop the fighting,” said Mr. Beckett’s wife, JoDee Beckett. “It’s like two little boys.”

Noting the cases against Beckett and Boruchowitz “got bogged down” because the other legal figures had some connection to the “two suspects,” the two district court judges and justice of the peace recused themselves. The Nevada Attorney General can’t get involved because one of its lawyers is running for district attorney (that would refer to Brian Kunzi.)

One defense attorney is quoted as writing in a legal filing “A review of the Internet reveals that Nye County is the laughing stock of the known universe.” The Journal also notes, “Public officials in Nye County have frequently have been accused of misconduct” citing two bribery cases, an arrest of a former county commissioner for alleged securities fraud, and attempts to recall public officials in 2009.

“Chief Deputy District Attorney Kirk Vitto said he’s concerned ‘the sideshow will take over the circus.’”

The Journal’s article has received a number of comments to its article. Michael McBride of Sydney, Australia writes “This is the U.S. legal system at its best. The legal systems across the country are in no better shape, somewhere else there would have been a back room deal and back scratching with nobody being charged.”

“Sounds more like a Dukes of Hazzard episode,” wrote Mark Holdgrafer. “Is this a Monty Python skit?” asked Denise Pace. Three hundred thirty-one (331) Facebook users expressed that they “like” the WSJ story.

TPM Muckraker refers to the matter as “an intractable boondoggle for the poor desert county where they live.” “Damn. I was hoping for an actual ten paces turn & fire duel,” wrote Acewrap to the TPM coverage. Even MSNBC gets in the coverage of Nye County.

Las Vegas Hospitals

Featheriver — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:52:55 +0000

NYE—GATEWAY TO NEVADA’S RURALS

By Jack Wood

Las Vegas’ Hospitals

Picking up from last week’s column—the vascular surgeon in Las Vegas was finally able to get me scheduled for the angioplasty medical procedure at Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas.

There was no consultation of my consent for the hospital designated by the surgeon for the procedure. Just as well, like most, I really didn’t know much about one hospital as compared to another. I had previously been in Summerlin Hospital overnight some months earlier. I had also undergone another medical procedure at a third hospital, the name of which I cannot recall.

Besides, you either trust your doctor’s judgment or you don’t. Besides, once you are in the medical system you are essentially subject to abide by its schedule, not your own.

The article in the Las Vegas Sun, which prompts this column, didn’t come out until my medical procedure was over. I read it with considerable interest. The Sun had undertaken a two-year investigation into the conditions of hospital care in Las Vegas. They obtained and examined 2.9 million hospital patient records.

“Revealed are the dangers patients have unknowingly encountered as they enter delivery rooms, surgical suites and intensive care units, including thousands of cases of injury, death and deadly infection associated with stays in Las Vegas hospitals” the Sun reports. “A recent study found that Nevada hospitals have the worst rate in the nation of readmissions in the nation, meaning discharged patients needed to return within 30 days to hospitals for additional care.”

Further, the Sun reports, “But the public has not known the scope of the problems, even though the state has been gathering patient data since 1986. The data, gathered primarily for cost-control purposes, are based on individual hospital billing records that state law mandates be collected for the purpose of analysis.”

Nevada hospitals have controlled the release of the information to the public, resulting in “hospital patients having no way of knowing how frequently harmful outcomes occur where they receive their most sensitive health care.”

Such transparency is new and novel in Nevada. As Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley posed the issue, “Do you have the right to know about the quality of care you’re receiving? I think you do,” she said. “When you buy a car, you can go to Consumer Reports. Isn’t someone’s life worth more than his car? I would think so.”

Makes sense to me. The Sun’s analysis is contained in a revealing table of “preventable harm to patients that occurred at Las Vegas Hospitals” in 2008 and 2009. They found that 969 preventable cases of harm to patients had occurred.

The hospitals examined include Centennial Hills, Desert Springs, Mountain View, North Vista, Saint Rose-Rose de Lima, Saint Rose – San Martin, Saint Rose – Siena, Southern Hills, Spring Valley, Summerlin, Sunrise, UMC and Valley.

In summary it was found there were 21 instances of a foreign object retained after surgery. Seventy-nine (79) state III and IV pressure ulcers occurred. There were 248 falls and trauma. 13 manifestations of poor glycemic control; 57 catheter associated UTI; 475 vascular catheter-associated infections; 15 surgical site infections; and 61 deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism. In all there were 969 instances of preventable harm to patients over the 2008-2009 time frame.

The hospital locations where each of these events occurred in the Sun’s report are:

Centennial Hills…………. 21

Desert Springs………….. 44

Mountain View…………. 81

North Vista………………. 41

St Rose-Rose de Lima…. 53

St Rose-San Martin……. 64

St Rose-Siena…………… 159

Southern Hills…………… 40

Spring Valley…………….. 49

Summerlin……………….. 51

Sunrise……………………. 185

UMC………………………. 119

Valley…………………….. 62

Total:……………………… 969

So, where do you think you might want to go next time you, a family member or friend have to go to a hospital? Centennial Hills? Sunrise? Good luck with your decision.

You are welcome to read more about this and other matters on the Nye-Gateway to Nevada’s Rurals blog at http://nyegateway.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Featheriver.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

Butch Borasky wins election in card draw

Featheriver — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:54:28 +0000

This is a video showing Butch Borasky and Carl Moore, competing candidates in the June 8 primary election, drawing cards to decide who won their tied election votes in Nye County, Nevada, for Nye County Commissioner – District IV.

Only in Nevada

Featheriver — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:48:12 +0000

In the primary election held last month (June) two candidates ended up in a tie in their contest to be the Republican candidate for election to the office of Commissioner of Nye County, Nevada for District 4.

[Photo of Mr. Borasky] at left taken by Horace Langford of the Pahrump Valley Times.]

I live in District 4.

Following a recount of votes the election between Carl Moore and Butch Borasky was decided by a draw if cards from a deck of cards. High card to win.

Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino shuffled the deck of cards seven times, fanned them out on the table and Moore and Borasky each drew a card.

Borasky drew a Queen of clubs; Moore a 10. Borasky was declared the winner. He will now run against Sandra Darby, a Libertarian, in the November general election.

My congratulations to Butch Borasky. Mr. Borasky set up my residence here in Pahrump when we moved here from California some 7+ years ago.

[Source: Mercury News]

Nevada to get $102.8 million for foreclosure prevention

Featheriver — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:40:37 +0000

Nevada will receive $102.8 million as part of a program to help residents who are trying to avoid foreclosure on their homes.

Nevada is among five states that will receive funds from the program, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Nevada will receive the largest amount per resident.

Think Sharron Angle could pull this off for Nevada? Fat chance.

“I’ve been working hard to help stabilize Nevada’s housing market and provide resources for Nevadans who are struggling to keep their homes,” Reid said in a prepared statement this morning. “I told President Obama and Secretaries Donovan and Geithner that Nevada needs help and I thank them for responding. Now it’s up to banks and credit unions to step up to the plate so that this $100 million will have the maximum benefit for homeowners to reduce principal amounts and provide lien relief.”

The $102.8 million for Nevada is set to be used in this way:

· Nevada will create a mortgage modification program using a combination of forgiveness and forbearance with a goal of reducing principal to less than 115 percent of loan-to-value and lowering payments to 31 percent of debt-to-income.

· The state will also offer assistance to reduce/eliminate second liens with earned forgiveness over a three-year term.

· The state will provide allowances for appraisal and transaction fees, moving fees, a legal allowance for up to three months,and a combination of incentives for borrowers and servicers to facilitate short sales.

Senator Harry Reid

Now, as Senator Reid points out,

“Now it’s up to banks and credit unions to step up to the plate so that this $100 million will have the maximum benefit for homeowners to reduce principal amounts and provide lien relief.”

“Among those who qualify for this help are borrowers who are unemployed, homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages and Nevadans struggling with second liens,” Rep. Shelley Berkley said in a statement. Rep. Dina Titus called it “a critical step forward that will make much-needed funds available to help families stay in their homes.”

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]