Look closer to home for meaningful politicking

IF you’re looking for politics that matter, forget Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Look at what just happened in Carson City.

Before the legislative session started, I told you Nevada’s legislative leaders would have a much bigger impact on your life than President Donald Trump. Here are four things that happened in the 2017 session that directly affect you.

Property tax increase.

Tax reform and/or tax-cutting efforts have stalled in Washington, but taxes were a hot topic in Carson City. Democrats want to raise your taxes. Thanks to the firm opposition of Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, R-henderson, and Senate Republicans, Democrats’ efforts to immediately increase your property taxes failed. But every Democrat plus Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-reno, voted for SJR14, a constitutional amendment that would increase property taxes by resetting the value of a home upon sale. Currently, the taxable value of a home depreciates every year after your home is built for 50 years.

Legislators must approve SJR14 in the exact same form in 2019 to send it to voters in 2020. If you’re a political junkie, don’t watch congressional hearings on TV. Get involved by asking every legislative candidate you meet whether they support raising property taxes and whether they’ll vote for SJR14 when it comes before lawmakers again in 2019.

Law enforcement. The internal workings of the FBI have made cable news headlines for weeks, but you’re more likely to interact with Nevada law enforcement officers. Per SB176, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, D-las Vegas, all Nevada law enforcement officers who routinely interact with the public will now wear body cameras.

Speech ban. The Beltway media love to hyperventilate that the election of Donald Trump as president is a threat to freedom of the press, but it’s here in Nevada where Democrats and some Republicans, including Gov. Brian Sandoval and Roberson, joined together to ban

JOECKS

going and hit a pole. The driver tried to get out as it moved, leaving behind a trail of blood and her hair.

“I don’t know if he tried to pull her back in the car, but the door was open,” Mcgrath said.

The three people shot were unarmed, Mcgrath said. The gunman — described as a short, stocky black man — ran from the scene. As of Tuesday afternoon, police said he was not in custody.

The Clark County coroner’s office will name the woman and man killed once relatives have been notified.

On Feb. 15, 18-year-old Larenzo

Hardison was shot in the right eye at an apartment on the 4000 block of Silver Dollar Avenue. He died the next day. Police later arrested 25-year-old Ericka Winn on a murder charge.

In another nearby homicide, a man shot and killed his neighbor, later identified as 39-year-old Jose Luis Vasquez, the morning of May 16 at 2880 S. Decatur Blvd., near Pennwood Avenue. Police said the shooter might have been acting in self-defense.

“We’ve had some problems down here,” Mcgrath said.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_ shoro on Twitter.