Category: Blog

President Donald Trump has pardoned Michele Fiore. That’s right — she will now escape consequences for her federal conviction on six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was scheduled to be sentenced on May 14.

Fiore allegedly diverted monies received for her Las Vegas city council campaign, political action committee and her charity. She was accused of lying on her campaign finance reports.

Fiore has maintained her innocence and claimed she was singled out by the so-called “deep state” for her support of Donald Trump and Cliven Bundy. As you may recall, she stood by Bundy during his standoff with the federal government in our area in 2014, and his subsequent trial and acquittal.

Here is the order for a full and unconditional pardon.

According to a recent Washington Post article (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/04/18/immigrant-detention-overcrowding-trump-crackdown/ by Douglas MacMillan), at a crowded Miami detention center, some immigrants are being held in conference rooms with no toilets. The Cibola County prison in New Mexico doesn’t have enough chairs for all the immigrant detainees to eat their meals at a table. And at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, some immigrant women have been forced to sleep on thin mats on the concrete floor because all the beds in the female holding unit are taken.

The Trump administration’s efforts to boost deportations has increased the number of immigrant detainees so quickly that the government is failing to provide basic necessities, including beds and medical care, for some of them. Nearly half the people currently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection have no criminal charges, federal data show, yet some are being held in conditions that would be unacceptable in high-security prisons. At the same time, the administration has eliminated two oversight bodies that ensured that facilities met health and safety requirements. Also, many of the facilities are nearly at or over their contracted capacities.

In other ICE-cold actions, the Department of Homeland Security denied Mahmoud Khalil permission to attend the birth of his first child, who was delivered at a New York hospital on Monday, according to the New York Times.

Instead, Mr. Khalil experienced the birth by telephone from Jena, La., more than 1,000 miles from the hospital where his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, gave birth to a son. It is unclear when he will be able to see the baby.

Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident who was a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the Columbia University campus, has been detained in Louisiana for more than a month. On Sunday morning, shortly after Dr. Abdalla went into labor, Mr. Khalil’s lawyers requested a two-week furlough so that he could attend the birth. Less than an hour after they made their request, Melissa Harper, the director of the New Orleans field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, denied it.

Here in Nevada, the Nevada Immigrant Coalition (NIC) reports that there has been a surge in immigration enforcement activities in Las Vegas, with reports of ICE agents (working with other federal law enforcement agencies such as FBI, ATF, and/or US Marshals, among others) often operating in plainclothes and unmarked vehicles.

These actions have occurred at parks, markets, residences, and on the street sometimes during school drop-offs and pick-ups.

”While the full number of individuals detained is still unknown, the impact is clear: Families are being separated without warning and children are being ripped from their loved ones. Our community is living in fear and innocent people are being deported without accountability or justice. These attacks go beyond immigration. This is part of a broader, coordinated effort by this administration to silence dissent – criminalizing advocacy, threatening nonprofits, and targeting communities that dare to speak out. An attack on immigrants is an attack on all of us,” said Bethany Khan, spokeswoman for the Culinary Union and member of the Nevada Immigrant Coalition.

Martha Menéndez, a Nevada immigration attorney and also a member of the Nevada Immigrant Coalition said, “The biggest fear right now in the community is that folks don’t actually know which agencies are being deputized to act as ICE officers and detain Nevadans on ICE orders. Due process is under attack every day, but that doesn’t mean our rights don’t exist – they do, and we strongly encourage people to assert them. Everyone, regardless of status, should be prepared. If you are a legal permanent resident, carry your valid green card. If you have a valid work permit or a court document that shows you have deferred action or another type of protection, carry a copy of it with you. If you’re a U.S. citizen and are worried about being profiled, carry proof of your citizenship, such as a copy of your passport or passport card. Avoid carrying IDs, a passport, or a voter card from another country, as those can be used against you in immigration proceedings. Most importantly, remember that you have the right to remain silent and the right to speak to a lawyer. You do not have to answer questions about where you were born or your immigration status until you’ve spoken to an attorney. Stay alert and stay safe.”

Locally, I have not heard of any activities in Mesquite or Moapa Valley. I have asked Erika Castro of NIC by email about this but have not yet received a reply. If you know of any incidents in either place, please post a comment to this blog describing them.

Whether or not you see this happening, it is, and it’s wrong. Consider asking your representatives to try to intervene.

The Nevada Legislature’s upcoming deadlines help establish a timetable for its short 120-day schedule. Tuesday’s deadline (April 22) requires most bills to pass out of their originating house in the bicameral Legislature.

A previous deadline, April 11, for bills to be passed by their originating legislative committee, was the first indication of which bills would survive.

Of several hundred pieces of legislation, 281 failed to meet the Legislature’s first committee passage deadline, according to data provided by the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

Between the first deadline and the one coming on April 22nd, dozens of bills have already moved through the deadlines. To name a few, AB81 would move Nevada to Standard Time and remove Daylight Savings time. AB217 is a prohibition on immigration enforcement officers entering schools unless they have a search warrant. SB451 would attempt to extend an existing Clark County property tax that funds about 800 Las Vegas police officer positions.

Several bills moving through the Legislature are identical or similar to proposals rejected by Gov. Joe Lombardo in 2023 when he set a record with 75 vetoes. They include an effort to legalize medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults and another measure to criminalize creating a fake slate of presidential electors. Both passed out of their original houses.

A number of bills likely won’t see action in the coming days because of their special exempted status. According to the Legislative Counsel Bureau, 188 bills and resolutions have received exemptions from Legislative leadership — a waiver that can be applied to bills that make large appropriations or otherwise would affect the state’s revenue.

Other priority bills for Democrats, including legislation strengthening gun control and renter protections and establishing free school lunches, were targeted in the Republican governor’s last batch of vetoes. Many are exempt from Tuesday’s deadline or had yet to make it to the full Assembly or Senate for a floor vote as of Friday afternoon.

These include some of the most consequential bills of the session, including Lombardo’s priority legislation. Only two of the Republican governor’s five omnibus bills on health care, education, crime, housing and economic development have been introduced: Assembly Bill 540, addressing housing “attainability,” and Senate Bill 457, which focuses on crime and public safety reform. The latter has not had a hearing.

Budgeting Headwinds

Bills with a significant fiscal impact or other effect on the state’s general fund may have a more difficult path forward in the Legislature as lawmakers worry about possible funding cuts, either from the Trump administration’s large-scale effort to reduce the size of the federal government, or from revenue declines resulting from an uncertain economic outlook.

One strategy for legislative leaders could be to let bills with hefty price tags fail at deadlines or wait until the findings of the Economic Forum, a state-mandated economic forecast produced in December to inform the governor’s recommended budget, then produced again as the final official revenue estimate used to formulate the biennial budget. That forecast for the state’s 2025-27 budget will be released on May 1.

The Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance, the two legislative committees closest to the budget process, dominated the past week with joint budget meetings, reconciling agency and the governor’s requests with what’s possible. Danielle Monroe-Moreno, Chair of the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee, and fellow Las Vegas Democrat Marilyn Dondero Loop, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, delivered sobering news on Monday, according to local news reports.

President Donald Trump has upended the U.S. economy with his trade war, levying tariffs on Mexico and Canada, countries that are home to a large percentage of Las Vegas’ international visitors. Trump has since expanded that to a 10% blanket tariff on most U.S. imports and a 145% tariff on China in what he says is an effort to bring back American manufacturing.

The global tension and reports of increasingly aggressive U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have decreased international travel while the strain on American wallets due to higher prices has sent consumer confidence spiraling. Due to its reliance on tourist dollars, Nevada’s economy is particularly sensitive to national and international economic downturns. That’s why the May 1 revenue estimate is critically important to the state government’s budgeting process.

By Wednesday or Thursday, we should know what bills will have a chance to become law. 

In an astounding display of contempt for the rule of law, President Donald Trump hosted Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office today said Kilmar Albrego Garcia and others who have imprisoned there by the U.S. government will not be coming back to the United States.

Furthermore, the Trump administration again stonewalled U.S. District Court, Judge Paula Xinis who ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the United States, backed up by the United States Supreme Court 9 to 0 ruling last week. The government said there was an “administrative error” and Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador, yet refuse to bring him back.

On March 15, more than 250 Venezuelan and El Salvador men were sent to El Salvador’s CECOT (Terrorism Confinement Center) under the the 1798 Alien Enemies Act because the government said they were gang members of Tren de Agua or MS-13, although none of these men were offered due process or any ability to prove they were not gang members. Now there appears to be no opportunity for any of these men to be released from this foreign prison as our government claims that these are now under the jurisdiction of El Salvador and Bukele made it clear these prisoners were not being released.

And you will find this amazing, Trump indicated that American citizens (“homegrowns”) could meet the same fate.

For a full explanation of what happened in the Oval Office today, watch this post from Meidas Touch. You should be chilled by this — which seems to be the point.

FYI On April 11, 2025 there was a deadline that removed bills that didn’t get a hearing. None of these bills were removed.

AB540 Nevada Attainable Housing Account- Governor Lombardo

The bill states the following: Nevada Attainable Housing Account and setting up of  money in accounts  requiring,  with certain  exceptions, an  eligible  entity  to  provide  or  secure certain matching funds as a condition of receiving money from the account; exempting any attainable housing project from provisions of law relating to public works and the payment of prevailing wages; requiring the Administrator of the Housing Division of the Department of  Business  and  Industry to adopt an allocation plan for attainable housing; creating and setting forth the duties of the Nevada Attainable Housing  Council;  authorizing  the Division to establish programs for the reporting of rental payments to credit reporting agencies; providing that attainable housing projects that receive financial assistance from the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank  are not subject to prevailing wage requirements; revising provisions  governing  the  sale, lease or conveyance of certain real property by the governing body of a county or city; requiring  the  governing  body of a county or city to adopt certain expedited processes relating the attainable housing; revising the definition of certain tiers of affordable housing. The bill provides that the provisions of law that require the payment of prevailing wages to skilled labor apply to any contract for construction work on a qualified project if all or part of the costs of the qualified project are paid for using a loan or other financial assistance from the bank.  

This bill provides an exception so that the requirement to pay prevailing wages  do not apply to any contract for construction work on a qualified project relating  to attainable housing if the qualified borrower demonstrates that the qualified project addresses a need for critical infrastructure in an area with a shortage of attainable housing. The bill also authorizes the bank to give a preference for approval to such a  qualified project if the qualified borrower, contractor and subcontractors agree to pay prevailing wages.

Nevada State AFL-CIO opposed the bill stating “When we talk about bridging the Nevada housing gap, there are two sides to that bridge.One side is housing supply. The other is wages sufficient to afford the housing available in your community. When the government exempts public dollars from prevailing wages, they drive down wages for the whole region, which hurts working families. When construction workers on affordable housing projects can’t afford housing themselves because they are being underpaid, the housing gap only gets wider. Solving the problem requires addressing both sides of the gap. Southern Nevada Desert Pines and Northern Nevada Carville Park Apartments are shining examples of how affordable housing should be developed, providing more than 1600 units of housing. The AFL-CIO, and its 150,000-plus members, strongly oppose AB540.

AB 81 Stop the Clock Assemblymember Hatch 

The State of Nevada exempts itself from being required to change to Daylight Saving Time. This would mean that the State would stay on Standard Time for the entire year. This would start July 1,2026. When the country started doing this more than 50 years ago,we were all on Standard time but we added Daylight Saving Time so that is the only one we can remove. This bill passed out with three nays.

AB73 Introduced, Communications relating to elections and Synthetic Media Cisco Aguilera, Secretary of State

Any communication made in support of or opposition to a candidate, group of candidates, or political party or that solicits contributions for the same, that which includes any form of synthetic media in the communication must disclose the communication in a clear and conspicuous manner. The bill states as an example, This (image/video/audio) has been manipulated. If a civil penalty is imposed for a violation of the requirements, the amount to the violation can not exceed $50,000 of each violation.

AB343 Introduced, Hospital Pricing of Goods and Services Assembly member Yeager

This bill requires hospitals to publish pricing for certain goods and services.In 2019 President Trump signed an Executive Order for this issue. Biden  issued an update to the order in 2022. Then on 2/2025 President Trump added an enforcement clause. Some of Nevada hospitals are compliant but this has been a slow process. This bill codifies similar requirements into Nevada Law. The bill requires the hospital to also publish and update annually a list of standard charges for all items and services they provide.

Mesquite City Council meeting 4/08/25 by Linda Perkowski

Ceremonial Matters – Building Safety, National public works and National Public Safety.

Telecommunicators week. Acting Chief Fails gave a presentation on how grateful we are to have those dedicated people that answer 911 calls everyday on peoples worst days. He also included our Animal Control employees and volunteers.

Public Comments – Comments were made regarding the City Managers racial slurs and comments. It seems like they are just sweeping that under the rug with a written warning from the City Mayor.

Consent Agenda – aside from the regular budget, paid bills and purchase orders there was discussion about a block grant of $254,249.00 for use on the Woodbury All Wheels Skate Park Project. This final allotment has been delayed and they are just waiting for it to go through the payment process which has slowed down a bit.

Special Items – 3.1 Presentation of Mesquite Public Arts Commission 5 year plan. Presented a five year plan to the Council. They are proceeding with trying to create a butterfly pollination area within the arts district.

The new mural on the Jimmy Hughes building in front of the Mesquite Theater is finished and very impressive.

3.2 – Presentation from George and Mindy Creamer for the purchase of 9 acres of City owned property for a strip mall at 1220 Hardy Way. I believe this is the same parcel that the pickle ball courts were presented a few weeks ago. It seems like the public is more supportive of the pickleball courts.

3.3 – Presentation from Richard Weldin on the purchase of 44.97 acres of City Owned Property near the camel refuge. He owns the adjacent property and would like to preserve the area with a rv park or something that the community could enjoy. This area is restrictive in terms of what can be built there due to it being in a flood area. Public seemed to support this plan.

3.4 and 3.5 – These were two different presentations given for the same 15 acre parcel of City owned property adjacent to the Hospital. The Hospital wants to purchase this for expansion of services and so does the Commonwealth Development Corporation for the low income Senior Housing.

The Hospital claims they did not know that the Senior Housing project was planned, however they had the first right of refusal which they let expire and have no claim to the parcel.

The Council approved the Senior Housing Development and encouraged both parties to see if they could come up with plan to allow the hospital to purchase a small portion of the parcel that is attached to another city owned parcel, however significant grading would need to be done because that parcel is on an elevated parcel of property.

4 – Appraisal for the 44.97 Acres discussed in item three were presented and the City voted that it is in the best interest of Mesquite to sell the parcel.

5 – No council or department reports.

6 – Introduction of Bills.

6.1 – Consideration of allowing changes to Mesquite Municipal Code Chapter 10 “Signs” The entire code will be rewritten to make it simple and allow small businesses some latitude with that regard. The preliminary language was discussed and will be presented in its final form at a future meeting.

7.1 Consideration of an extension of time of 24 months for “The Retreat at Mesquite” No public comments – passed.

7.2 Consideration of Police Chief residency requirement – Discussion was heard about making it a requirement for the Chief of Police to live within Mesquite City limits. Some public comment though we should grandfather clause the requirement. That was not received well and the bill passed to require COM Police Chief to live in Mesquite City Limits.

7.3 & 7.4 Public Right of Way on Canyon Crest from Canyon Crest LLC and L&B Holdings no public comment, passed.

7.5 – Consideration of Resolution adopting Contract between COM & Regional Transportation Commision of Southern Nevada for Canyon Crest Boulevard and Horizon Boulevard Roadway Improvements – no public comment – passed.

7.6 Consideration and approval of Interlocal Contract between COM and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada for the Mesquite Boulevard and Sandhill Boulevard Old Mill and Overlay Project. – no public comment – passed.

8.0 Public Comments – Ann Bley gave a report on the indivisible protest on April 5th and thanked the police for their presence and our protection.

On Saturday, April 5, I attended the “Hands Off” rally in Mesquite and I want to brag about it.

Just over 200 people gathered along the bridge on Grapevine Drive. People were carrying hand made signs on the issues that were important to them. We were all just having fun and talking about the issues and how we disagree with the actions of this administration.  Everyone was peaceful and we were glad to make our voices heard.

Officers of the Mesquite Police Department ensured there was no disruption to traffic control and to keep us all safe.

Enjoy the pictures that I and others took. It was a beautiful day for a rally.