Public education
Helping high schools

Nevada business can have a big impact on day-by-day classroom dynamics

By Steven Miller
BusinessNevada

Nevada employers — like business people around the country — frequently express dismay over the poor quality of present-day high school graduates.

And while the Silver State business community energetically attempts to help out, engaging in all sorts of activities to support public education, most often, unfortunately, it’s to little apparent effect.

Nevertheless, there may be a remarkably simple and cost-effective way that Nevada employers can begin having a significantly positive impact on the day-by-day dynamics in the state’s high schools.

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The public purse
Time proves criticisms
of McCarran PLA sound

Projects late and over budget

Editorial
BusinessNevada

When Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker wrote his letter to the editor in February 2003, he was clearly steaming.

“I wish I could say that I was shocked by the factual inaccuracies” in two Las Vegas Review-Journal articles, complained Walker. “Unfortunately, in my 23 years of experience, I have often seen the media ignore facts in a gleeful rush to criticize local government.”

What so upset the director of McCarran International Airport? A pair of R-J articles — one in the business section, followed by an editorial a couple of days later.

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Real estate
Home-loan fraud jumps

Downturn reveals sharp rise in cases

By Brian Wargo
InBusiness Las Vegas

A slowdown in the Las Vegas Valley housing market is starting to uncover a growing number of mortgage fraud cases.

Investigators for the FBI, state Mortgage Lending Division and local law enforcement said complaints of mortgage fraud are picking up and will undoubtedly increase as the number of properties entering foreclosure continues to rise.

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Legislature 2007
Construction defects major issue in 2007

Legislation needs to clarify
groupings in class action

Construction Zone

Mark Twain was right – and he may have been thinking of Nevada’s state legislature when he wrote: "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session."

For Nevada’s construction industry, the 2007 legislative session may prove that sarcastic observation to be the literal truth.

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Demographics
Clark County population
to double in 20 years

LV Business Press

Clark County The Nevada State Demographer's Office released its projections Monday for the period through 2026. Clark County can expect another 1.5 million people, according to the latest numbers. Overall, Nevada is projected to grow by more than 1.8 million or 74 percent during the same period.

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Metro
Jerry Airola:
Problem solver?

Much of the public has lost
faith in Las Vegas Metro

By David Himmel
Liberty Watch

If you took a kindergarten class from any understaffed, overcrowded classroom of the Clark County School District and asked each kid what he or she wanted to be once grown up, you might get a few who shout, "Policeman!"

There has always been a fascination with being a police officer. The role is one linked to being a hero - nabbing bad guys, protecting the innocent.

But in reality, the job is mundane and hardly glamorous at all. There are mountains of paperwork, routine traffic stops and endless hours working public events.

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Bureaucracy
Water utility draws flak over Truckee River fund

Agency, without authority, charges users to fund environmentalists

By Jeff DeLong
Reno Gazette-Journal

A charge included on water bills to raise money for Truckee River projects is the focus of increasing criticism in a dispute that appears to be headed for the Legislature.

The fund, established by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority in 2004, is a "de facto tax" that improperly draws money from ratepayers without their permission, said Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert, R-Reno.

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Excellence
What it takes to be great

Research now shows that the lack of natural talent is irrelevant to great success. The secret? Painful and demanding practice and hard work

By Geoffrey Colvin
Fortune Magazine

What makes Tiger Woods great? What made Berkshire Hathaway (Charts) Chairman Warren Buffett the world's premier investor? We think we know: Each was a natural who came into the world with a gift for doing exactly what he ended up doing. As Buffett told Fortune not long ago, he was "wired at birth to allocate capital." It's a one-in-a-million thing. You've got it - or you don't

Well, folks, it's not so simple. For one thing, you do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don't exist. (Sorry, Warren.) You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that's demanding and painful.

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