Editorials

As Nevada continues digging out from the Great Recession, there have been some encouraging signs over the past couple of weeks. On July 11, the Review-Journal’s Alexander Corey reported that Nevada got out of the basement on CNBC’s annual report on the best states for business, jumping from a dismal No. 47 up to a bit more respectable No. 29. That news came on the heels of a July 8 report from the Review-Journal’s Wesley Juhl that Thumbtack.com — a website catering to small-business professionals and customers — rated the Silver State 14th in its annual small business survey.

The government’s budget deficit will drop by almost $100 billion this year — from $680 billion to $583 billion. The deficit is the lowest it’s been since President Obama took office, and $66 billion less than the administration predicted earlier this year when it released its budget.

If money alone could really solve all the problems in K-12 education, students in Nevada and nationwide would be among the best and brightest in the world. But as reported last week by the Review-Journal’s Whip Villarreal, an extensive study by the Nevada Policy Research Institute showed that cash isn’t king, while also making 33 recommendations that could improve public education in the Silver State without further hitting taxpayers.

Determined killers, deranged gunmen and terrorist threats have forced local emergency responders to rethink their approach — and their safety — in active-shooter and multiple-casualty scenarios.

Secret wait lists, delays in care, shoddy treatment and needless patient deaths. How much bigger can the already-humongous Veterans Affairs mess get?

The news coming from Lake Mead was disconcerting, though not surprising: its water level continues to fall. As reported Friday by the Review-Journal’s Henry Brean, the lake declined to a record low of 1,081.82 feet above sea level late Wednesday night, a depth not seen since 1937, when Hoover Dam was completed and Colorado River water steadily rose behind it. Lake Mead will continue to shrink for several weeks.

The investigation into IRS targeting of conservative groups is dragging on like a Las Vegas summer. Not because, as the Obama administration and Democrats charge, this is a “phony scandal,” and certainly not for lack of proof, as more evidence turns up almost every day. Rather, it’s the agency’s complete lack of cooperation — to the point of lawlessness — particularly from tea party-targeting ringleader Lois Lerner.

Remember when the environmental lobby was totally on board with natural gas, and even the hydraulic fracturing required to bring more of it to market? It was only five years ago. Ronald Bailey, writing for Reason.com, noted that in an August 2009 article for the Energy Future Coalition, arch-liberals Timothy Wirth and John Podesta proclaimed shale gas “a bridge fuel to a 21st-century energy economy that relies on efficiency, renewable sources and low-carbon fossil fuels such as natural gas.”

If Nevada were really trying to catch up to other states, if it were really serious about creating an environment for future prosperity and opportunity, then Question 3 on November’s ballot would seek to cut taxes, not raise them.

Harry Reid is the da Vinci of distraction. The moment any scandal, policy failure or political defeat crashes down on him — and there have been plenty the past few years — the Senate majority leader unleashes outrageous rhetoric that’s better suited for a sandbox than what once passed for the world’s greatest deliberative body. Worse, the Nevada Democrat has become especially fond of slinging race cards just to crank up the outrage.