Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

Lawmakers eye county dough: They’re likely to raid property taxes to help fill budget hole (Las Vegas Sun, 4/30)

This is a raid-the-kids-piggy-bank sort of thing. It means that Clark County, relatively stable until now, will soon be in the same desperate straits as the state.

The only REAL solution to the budget crisis is raising new taxes, but that's still politically unacceptable, so raiding other entities is the fallback.

KLAS-TV: Court Overload

Clark County Court System Clogged with More Cases

"It is a major problem. Down at the family court campus right now judges can only hear their cases four days a week because we don't have enough courtrooms for the amount of judges there. Down at district court we get e-mails all the time 'can you help us find a courtroom, can you help us find space to hear this matter, to hear this trial?'"

The overload may be bad, but at least one pressure is being relieved: population growth. If population growth turns negative, as it seems to be doing, then caseloads probably aren't going to get much bigger than they are now.

N.Y. Times: Children In Peril

Children are being hit hard by the current economic downturn (Op-Ed)...

Children in Peril

Official statistics are not yet readily available, but there is little doubt that poverty and family homelessness are rising, that the quality of public education in many communities is deteriorating and that legions of children are losing access to health care as their parents join the vastly expanding ranks of the unemployed.

L.V. Sun: Anti-Tagging Message to Youth

Taking the anti-tagging message to youth (Las Vegas Sun)

Total rubbish! Such programs are completely and utterly useless in changing youth behavior!

In response to what officials call a scourge of graffiti tagging, the city wants students to know that writing or painting graffiti is a crime, and that they should be working to beautify their communities instead of defacing them.

As part of Graffiti Awareness Month, the City Council and the Southern Nevada Graffiti Coalition are sponsoring trips in April to nine elementary and middle schools for “signing ceremonies.”

During these services, police and city officials will talk about what graffiti is, why it’s a crime and how gaining permission is the difference between art and graffiti. Students will then be asked to sign a banner, which pledges that they will work to improve their community and not to commit the crime of graffiti.

L.V. Sun: New Court Executive Officer

Six questions for Ed Friedland, Clark County Court executive officer (Las Vegas Sun)

At 35, Ed Friedland is one of the youngest administrators on the county payroll. As court executive officer, he runs both District Court and Las Vegas Justice Court. Friedland, a former executive deputy commissioner for the New York Division of Human Rights, sat down with the Sun to discuss the challenges of the job he has held since August.

N.Y. Times: Too Old for Foster Care

Too Old for Foster Care, and Facing the Recession in New York

Even in boom times, young people who become too old for the foster-care system often struggle to make it on their own, lacking families, job skills or adequate educations. Now, the recession has made the challenges of life after foster care even more formidable, especially for those seeking federal housing vouchers, which are contingent on having an income.