Free Republic

Next week, Senate Republicans could pass Obamacare repeal with a simple 51-vote majority as part of the long-term highway bill, according to Sen. Mike Lee. The Utah Republican laid out the argument in a press release after party leaders set the sequencing of votes: "The first Obamacare vote on Sunday will have a 60 vote threshold, and Democrats will likely block it," Lee continued. "But thanks to the sequencing of the votes we just locked in, Republicans will have the opportunity resurrect that Obamacare amendment later on in the process, and put it back before the Senate in a manner...

A 132-year-old rifle discovered on a remote rocky outcrop in the heart of the Grand Basin National Park in Nevada is still a mystery as researchers try to find more answers. The Winchester rifle, which was found unloaded in November, has been shipped to the Cody Firearms Museum in Wyoming where it is temporarily on display among 7,000 other guns. Museum workers said there are no records showing who owned the rifle and that its lifter was removed making it able to only fire a single shot at once, according to Fox News.

A 130-year-old rifle found in the Nevada desert last year is fully loaded with mystery—and some of the questions surrounding it might never be answered. The Winchester 1873 rifle was discovered in the Great Basin National Park leaning against a juniper tree in November. But the strange discovery has triggered more questions than answers.

Donald Trump has been losing friends fast since he called Mexican immigrants “rapists” at his campaign kickoff in June: Television networks, a department store and a mattress company have all “fired” the bronze-haired developer. Amid the defections, though, one Trump buddy is standing by his man: Trump confidante Michael Cohen has been nearly as visible as Trump himself in recent days, defending his boss before increasingly frustrated CNN talking heads. On July 11, Cohen told CNN weekend host Michael Smerconish that Trump “has a great relationship with Latinos.” On July 12, Cohen asked CNN “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter, “Why...

One America News Network, “OAN”, a credible source for 24/7 national and international news, released today its most recent 2016 Republican and Democratic Presidential Polling Results for Nevada conducted by Gravis Marketing. The results show that GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump has a commanding lead of 27.7%, with recently announced Presidential Candidate Scott Walker in second with 15%. In third is Ben Carson with 7.8% with Jeb Bush a point behind at 6.8%. Marco Rubio rounds out the top five with 5.4%. Undecided voters remain high at just over 20%.

Aside from picking office holders, Nevada voters next year will have the opportunity to help keep guns out of the wrong hands. Granted, we can’t always identify “the wrong hands” because many crimes are committed in the passion of the moment by first-time gun-wielders who might not fit the profile of a gunman-in-waiting. But as a society, we at least can try to weed out those people who, on the face of it, shouldn’t be allowed to carry a weapon. It’s an obvious group: felons, domestic abusers and the mentally ill who have been identified by the state as having...

Tony Hsieh could buy a private island if he wanted to. The Zappos CEO has a reported net worth of $840 million. But Hsieh chooses to live in a Las Vegas trailer park he owns, according to a recent profile in The New York Times. The trailer park is "crammed with shiny silver Airstreams that are rented out to visiting computer coders," according to David Gelles at The Times. Hsieh lives in a trailer in the community he calls "Llamapolis" with his pet alpaca. The trailer park is part of Hsieh's $350 million investment into making Las Vegas a metropolitan...

Parents of private school students don’t want to put their children in public school for 100 days to be eligible for Nevada’s new voucher program. That was the general consensus of four hours of public comment at a Friday hearing on the new law. Parents urged lawmakers to figure out another way to determine eligibility for the program, which currently requires students be enrolled at a public school for 100 days before their parents can receive money. SB302, passed by legislators this year, says families can receive around $5,000 each year per student to use on things like private school...

Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and an announced candidate for the Republican nomination for president, will speak to a town hall gathering in Carson City on Friday. Bush, son of former president George H.W. Bush and younger brother of George W. Bush, will be at the Silver State Charter School, 900 Mallory Way, at 9:15 a.m.

Miss Oklahoma, Olivia Jordan, was crowned the 64th Miss USA on Sunday night but that wasn’t the most entertaining part of the night. Rather it was a very interesting answer from Miss Nevada, Brittany McGowan, during the Q&A portion of the pageant. McGowan -- who had already tripped over her dress during the evening gown competition -- was asked by a judge what she would do to improve race relations in the United States. She appeared taken aback by the question but still tried to reply saying: “What I would do to improve race relations in the U.S. is get...

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — He’s got a golden building with a five-star hotel right off Las Vegas Boulevard with his last name emblazoned across its top—but no casino inside since his fellow billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn has for years blocked his access to a gambling license here—and 2016 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is stealing the show here at the annual Freedom Fest conference. “I think that for years we’ve been clamoring for politicians to tell us the truth, and what happened is he said some things that can very well be unpopular and perhaps it was a bit...

With Nevada Rep. Joe Heck declaring his intention to run for the soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat once Harry Reid retires, the Republican Party finally feels like they’ve got a candidate in the Silver state who can fill that position. That is, however, if he can win Nevada’s crucial Latino vote. Heck – a House member, physician and brigadier general in the Army Reserve – has been touted by the GOP as a Latino-friendly candidate who has won three Las Vegas-area congressional elections thanks in large part to his moderate tone toward immigration reform. During the Senate race, observers say that Heck...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/02/hagar-ted-cruz-advantage-wooing-adelson/29655093/

BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — A box van packed with fireworks exploded and burned to the ground on a Southern California freeway Thursday, clogging the main road between Los Angeles and Las Vegas at the beginning of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The Chevrolet van caught fire shortly before 1:30 p.m. Thursday on southbound Interstate 15 near the Nevada border, briefly closing southbound lanes for nearly an hour and backing up traffic several miles into Nevada, said California Highway Patrol Officer Ryan Camara. No one was injured.

LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) – Teachers who work for the Clark County School District may not get a pay raise in the upcoming school year. They are not happy about it and they are making sure the district hears them loud and clear. Teachers say they feel under valued at a time when the district is offering a sign-on bonus to new teachers of up to five thousand dollars. They say the district should focus on retention, rather than recruitment. "My stomach just dropped. It was just another punch to the stomach," said Elizabeth Harris.

The Trump Hotel Collection, a string of luxury hotel properties tied to business magnate and now Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, appears to be the latest victim of a credit card breach, according to data shared by several U.S.-based banks. Contacted regarding reports from sources at several banks who traced a pattern of fraudulent debit and credit card charges to accounts that had all been used at Trump hotels, the company declined multiple requests for comment. But sources in the financial industry say they have little doubt that Trump properties in several U.S. locations — including Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas,...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) met rancher Cliven Bundy on Monday, along with several dozen supporters and land rights activists during a presidential campaign swing through Nevada. The Associated Press reported the two met at a stop northeast of Las Vegas, where Paul fielded questions on public land control, a major issue in the state, where much land is owned by the federal government. "I think almost all land use issues and animal issues, endangered species issues, ought to be handled at the state level," Paul told the AP. "I think that the government shouldn't interfere with state decisions, so if...

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said the United States is the “only advanced country” where public “mass violence” occurs, and more gun control is needed now to keep Charleston-like attacks from happening again. Reid’s announcement that public “mass violence” does not happen in other advanced countries echoed a similar claim by Obama in which he referenced Charleston by claiming “that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”

Hillary Clinton has relaunched her campaign on Roosevelt Island with a 4,687-word speech. But it's not clear whether she and her husband, Bill Clinton, can win four presidential elections as Franklin D. Roosevelt did. Negative news for Clinton's prospects comes in the latest Quinnipiac polls in the key mega-states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In each of them, she leads or ties Republican opponents, though in many cases not by statistically significant margins. But she also is running under 50 percent of the vote in every pairing, averaging 47 percent against six different Republicans in Florida, 44 percent against seven...