For my last couple of columns, I had the genius idea to investigate a suicide at the jail and spend some time at the Regional Justice Center, soaking in the sadness of ruined lives. Fun way to close it out.
The traditional metaphor for the justice system is a scale, signifying the strength of each side’s argument or the imperative to balance justice with mercy. The more accurate metaphor is a machine, a grinding, sometimes rickety machine, lubricated by plea deals, that ostensibly applies justice to people — dumping some into the local jail, others to the High Desert State Prison and releasing a few back on the street or into a supervision program such as probation. Very few of the presumed innocent are found innocent.
Dillon Hill was 25, caught shoplifting for the third time in just a few months. Once a bright and promising UNLV student, he was selling the stolen goods to buy heroin.
St. Rose is not the only local hospital improperly moving patients to the taxpayer-supported UMC, which is running a deficit this year of about $30 million. Several others were found to have “inappropriately transferred” patients there.
Sun photographer Sam Morris showed great courage when he captured graphic images of the melee that broke out at the Chivas vs. Club America soccer match last week at Sam Boyd Stadium.
A few months ago, Tom Cunningham got into a brief argument with a man in a parked truck in one of the most run-down areas of Las Vegas, near the corner of Main Street and Washington Avenue. Cunningham says he regrets it more than anything he’s ever done.
Since 2010, the worst types of violent crimes, including homicides and assaults with weapons, have been on the decline here. Buried within the data, however, is a troubling fact.
State Sen. Richard "Tick" Segerblom looks like a rumpled philosophy professor, his sun-bleached hair suggesting a sailboat summer sabbatical, icy cocktail in hand, one-liner holstered. Democrats should run him for governor against Brian Sandoval in 2014.
On Sunday, I expressed disappointment that the Legislature didn't make more progress on mental health issues. In fairness, I want to lay out what the Sandoval administration feels it accomplished during the recently completed legislative session.
In what seemed like a rare stroke of legislative competence, Nevada lawmakers passed a bill this year allowing the establishment of licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. Now, however, the measure's future is in doubt.
I just left an embargoed press briefing on the governor's budget. "Embargo" in the media world means we can't reveal what was said until an appointed time, in this case, 6 p.m., when the governor makes his State of the State speech.
