Revenues down

Nevada gaming revenues lagged in May, particularly on the Strip. The Gaming Control Board revealed Thursday that state casinos won $958 million that month, which was down 5 percent from the same period in 2015.

The Strip’s take was off a whopping 12 percent and is now down 3.8 percent for the first five months of the year. Overall, state gambling winnings have declined 1.1 percent in 2016.

All this means less tax revenue for Carson City. The Associated Press reports that the state collected $52 million in tax money thanks to the May numbers, but that’s 17 percent below the revenue take in May 2015.

Meanwhile, state Department of Taxation numbers show that through April, the general fund portion of the sales and use taxes was about 1.72 percent below the estimates built into the fiscal year 2016 budget. While a handful of other revenues are exceeding estimates, many are not.

For instance, through the April period of fiscal 2016, the department reports, the cigarette tax is 17.16 percent below projections, the liquor tax is off 4.8 percent and the live entertainment tax has come up 44.3 percent short.

The Nevada economy has made remarkable strides in the past seven years, bouncing back from the torrent of job losses and foreclosures that plagued the state — and particularly Southern Nevada — during the Great Recession. The future appears bright.

But clearly we’ve not yet reached the point where state lawmakers can again craft budgets under the assumption that gaming, sales and other taxes will continue to pour in at greater and greater numbers each year.

In his June 24 commentary, “Warning labels making Americans stupider,” John Stossel laments that there are so many warnings on consumer products that he “rarely bothers to read” them anymore.

But Mr. Stossel should look at the bright side. The presence of warnings on products “empowers” him with a choice he otherwise would not have: He can either read the warnings or ignore them at his peril.

Despite Mr. Stossel’s protestations, warnings (including seemingly unnecessary ones) are intended primarily to help prevent injuries and illnesses to those using consumer products. In turn, warnings secondarily help minimize product liability lawsuits against manufacturers.

Instead of ridiculing warnings, Mr. Stossel might consider that not everyone has his degree of education nor almost 70 years of life lessons that might make warnings on some products seem unnecessary.

For that reason, it is particularly irresponsible for Mr. Stossel to ridicule a warning on a child’s toy. However obvious the danger may be to a seasoned adult such as Mr. Stossel, such warnings could help educate and prevent injury to a lessexperienced youngster playing with the toy.

The FBI defines “mass shooting” as any incident in which at least four people are murdered with a gun. Everytown for Gun Safety conducted a comprehensive analysis of every mass shooting between January 2009 and July 2015, through FBI and media reports.

The group found that 71 percent (94 of 133 incidents) took place wholly in private residences. Of the 38 incidents in public spaces, at least 21 took place wholly or in part where concealed guns could be lawfully carried. No more than 17 of the shootings (13 percent) took place in public spaces that were so-called “gunfree zones.”

By the way, have you noticed that there was an armed security guard at the club in Orlando? How does that work out for you, radical gun lovers?

In response to the June 24 story by the ReviewJournal’s Alexander S. Corey, “Supreme Court tie vote blocks Obama immigration plan”:

Let’s tell the truth about what Mr. Obama and Democrats are trying to do. They are trying to add another 20 million registered Democrat voters. Mr. Corey’s last paragraph says it all when he quotes someone here illegally who says he’s “out there registering people to vote.”

Our government is divided into three branches: executive, judicial and legislative. The Constitution clearly spells out the powers of each branch. Mr. Obama broke the law by issuing executive orders overstepping his authority. If he were a Republican president, and Democrats had control of the House and Senate, he would have been impeached.

This is a country of laws. And if we the people don’t stand up for all of the laws, we will have chaos and revolution.

In response to your Wednesday story, “Finances among reasons for Ralston’s firing”:

Jon Ralston is not “the new guy in town” and wasn’t when Vegas PBS hired him. Station officials knew exactly who they were getting and how he worked.

I watched Mr. Ralston interview three Democratic candidates recently. They all must have the same script writer and financial supporter. They knew nothing about the candidate they were trying to defeat, but they could all could say ugly things about him. Their script was either incomplete or they didn’t read it all.

When Mr. Ralston asked them about a bill their opponent had introduced and passed with bipartisan support, they were clueless. They are not intelligent people. They are puppets.

It’s important that you learn about and listen to all the candidates. Be very careful whom you vote for. Jon Ralston did his job.

Station General Manager Tom Axtell should be fired, because he is not telling the people the truth. I hope Jon Ralston stays in our state, and keeps stirring the pot.