Editorials

The Clark County Shooting Complex has been operating for more than three years. That makes the complex a relatively new business, and new businesses need time to gain an economic foothold under the best of circumstances, let alone the terrible conditions that have persisted in Southern Nevada for the past five years.

Fans of science-fiction films are familiar with the plot: An advanced race descends upon Earth with promises of a rewarding partnership and improved standard of living, only to be revealed as ravenous intergalactic parasites who intend to consume the planet’s resources before moving on to the next naive, easily exploited world.

A majority of states and the federal government have “cooling off” periods to prevent ex-officials from immediately peddling their influence as lobbyists.

One of the things that distinguishes public employment from the private sector: The public is your boss, and your boss is entitled to know how much you’re paid.

Do Nevada voters want a nearly full-time Legislature? Lawmakers certainly think so. The 2013 session has seen state legislators continue their push for more power, more money and more time to pass more laws and exert more control over our lives.

President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy was supposed to be the “Arab Spring.” But this naive embrace of mob rule hasn’t worked out very well.

If you think the patient dumping scandal at the state’s Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital has no effect on your health care, guess again.

Plenty of Nevadans rolled their eyes in response to casino magnate Steve Wynn’s closed-door conversations with leading legislators and with Gov. Brian Sandoval on Wednesday in Carson City — meetings at which he reportedly warned the economics of Nevada’s gaming industry are “not healthy,” and that future growth of the big players here will thus occur in other markets.

Years of urgent work by Nevada entrepreneurs, elected officials and gaming regulators paid off Tuesday when UltimatePoker.com opened for business, becoming the country’s first legal, regulated, real-money online poker website.

When more than 400 people die in a building collapse — as happened in Bangladesh last week on a nice sunny day, absent any earthquake or tidal wave — some police action is appropriate. It’s hard not to assume the builders and owners didn’t take some shortcuts in reckless disregard of human life and safety. And any government building inspector who signed off on the work should be in for some close questioning, as well.