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.

KLAS-TV: Nevada No. 1 in Deadbeat Parents

Nevada Number 1 in Deadbeat Parents
(KLAS-TV, 3/15)

Nevada ranks last in the nation for collecting child support, and now the economy is making it tough for parents, even ones who want to pay, to afford it. ...

Clark County Deputy District Attorney Teresa Lowry agrees, more could and needs to be done to improve Nevada's child support enforcement record. With more than 87,000 cases in Clark County alone, the system is severely overloaded.

KLAS-TV: Metro Youth Program

Metro Sees Success in Youth Program (KLAS-TV, 2/25)

Metro's Police Athletic League has succeeded in steering some students away from gangs. Now they're going for another goal for the youth program.

Officers work closely with these students and many now want to go into law enforcement. But as mentors, officers wanted to show there are a lot of options out there, regardless of where you come from.

"A lot of the kids love sports, so we kind of use that as a carrot to get them in and get them tutoring and get them help in school," said Melissa Lardomita with the PAL program.

PAL has lured about 300 students into gyms, getting them off the streets and on the right track.

It's kind of obvious that the more stable adult attention you give to kids, the more they are going to be diverted from drugs, gangs and crime. These programs tend to work while the "scared straight" programs don't.

The only problem is that there is never enough adult attention to go around. In America, youth programs have always taken a back seat to pure enforcement, and with budgets being cut, that's only going to get worse.

Head of Child Haven Sacked

KLAS-TV: Head of Child Haven Removed (1/6)

I have known Lou Palma for several years and regard him as decent and dedicated. To get fired by the County (vs. merely demoted), the offense has to be pretty significant. I can't imagine a mere accounting lapse would be enough. There must be something else going on (perhaps some other political issue or dissatisfaction with his work performance).

Here is the newspaper story the following day...

Review-Journal: Fired head of children's shelter critical of audit (1/8)