Mining regulation
After decades-long fight, Nevada lawmakers raise mining tax

By Sam Metz May. 31, 2021 11:27 PM EDT
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — In a state that produces more gold than all but four countries, lawmakers voted to reform how the state taxes the mining industry,...

Negotiations revive education debates in Nevada statehouse

By Sam Metz May. 31, 2021 08:39 PM EDT
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A mining tax proposal introduced in the Nevada statehouse has revived longstanding debates about charter schools and tax credits that...

President Joe Biden delivers a speech on infrastructure spending at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Biden plan would spend $16B to clean up old mines, oil wells

By Matthew Daly Apr. 01, 2021 12:08 AM EDT

Nevada teachers and the Nevada State Education Association hold a rally demanding more funding outside of the state Legislature in Carson City, Nev., Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. As the state struggles to balance its budget amid the pandemic, teachers and their unions want lawmakers to find new revenue streams to fund education and are backing a proposal to raise taxes on the mining industry. (Bob Conrad/This Is Reno via AP, Pool)
Teachers lobby at Nevada statehouse for higher mining taxes

By Sam Metz Feb. 15, 2021 07:43 PM EST

FILE - This undated file photo shows Barrick Goldstrike Mines' Betze-Post open pit near Carlin, Nev. A Nevada judge has rejected an effort by rural counties to big mining interests to block a move in the state Legislature to raise taxes on mining companies. Judge James Wilson in Carson City declined Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, to rule on what he called a legislative matter while the process is still underway. (Adella Harding/The Daily Free Press via AP, File)
Judge rejects lawsuit to block Nevada mining tax proposals

By Ken Ritter And Sam Metz Jan. 28, 2021 06:36 PM EST

FILE - In this July 8, 2020, file photo is the Nevada Assembly meeting on the first day of the 31st Special Session of the Nevada Legislature in Carson City, Nev. Republicans recaptured three seats in Nevada’s state Assembly and one in the state Senate, ensuring Democrats lose the veto-proof majority they would need to approve new taxes unilaterally. Republican Andy Matthews, former Assemblyman Richard McArthur and former Assemblywoman Jill Dickman won flipped battleground Assembly districts and will be seated in the Legislature when it reconvenes in 2021 to address the coronavirus pandemic, redistricting, the state budget and the prospect of increasing taxes on mining businesses. (David Calvert via AP, Pool, File)
Nevada GOP thwarts Democrats' statehouse supermajority hopes

By Sam Metz Nov. 14, 2020 12:57 PM EST

FILE - This Feb. 9, 2016, file photo is the Hull-Rust Mahoning Mine viewed from the overlook in Hibbing, Minn. The Trump administration is seeking to fast-track mining projects and could offer grants and loans to help companies pay for equipment, administration officials said Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, as they offered details on a plan that critics said could spoil rivers and lakes in Minnesota, Idaho and elsewhere with mining pollution. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
Trump pushes mining with order, but effects are uncertain

By Matthew Brown And Steve Karnowski Oct. 01, 2020 06:20 PM EDT

Nevada passes cuts to health care, education amid pandemic

By Sam Metz Jul. 19, 2020 05:55 PM EDT
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Legislature approved immense cuts to the state's health and education budgets on Sunday in an effort to rebalance the state...

Lawmakers go back to the drawing board on mining taxes

Jul. 18, 2020 10:09 PM EDT
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers revived a proposal Saturday to collect an additional $54 million in mining tax revenue per year to avoid making...

Signs reading "Don't Raise our Taxes," sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, stand in the grass outside the Nevada Legislature in Carson City, Nev., Thursday, July 16, 2020. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent via AP, Pool)
Mining tax proposal falls 1 vote short in special session

By Sam Metz Jul. 17, 2020 05:26 AM EDT

Facing deficits, Nevada moves to collect mining taxes early

Jul. 16, 2020 09:01 PM EDT
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — As they look for ways to stem a projected $1.2 billion budget shortfall, Nevada lawmakers passed a bill to require mining businesses...

Supporters of President Donald Trump march on the sidewalk up Carson Street behind Black Lives Matter protesters outside the Nevada Legislature on the fourth day of the 31st Special Session in Carson City, Nev., Saturday, July 11, 2020. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent via AP, Pool)
Nevada Legislature pumps brakes after COVID-19 case reported

By Sam Metz Jul. 11, 2020 08:37 PM EDT

People wearing face masks queue at a South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to collect their government grant in Cape Town South Africa, Monday, May 11, 2020. South Africa's Western Cape province, which includes the city of Cape Town, has emerged as the country's coronavirus hotspot, accounting for more than half of the nation's confirmed cases, which have gone above 10,000.(AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)
Cape Town and its province are South Africa's virus hotspot

By Mogomotsi Magome May. 11, 2020 09:59 AM EDT

FILE - This Sept.16, 2015 aerial file photo shows land cleared by "settlers" who Miskito indigenous leaders accuse of seizing by force lands long considered communal property and clear-cutting tropical forest for cattle ranching in Murubila, Nicaragua. Nicaragua’s government has not only failed to enforce laws that protect its indigenous peoples and their communal lands, but is actively promoting illegal land grabs and granting concessions to mining and timber companies, according to a report released Wednesday, April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
Report: Nicaragua government failing to protect indigenous

By Christopher Sherman Apr. 29, 2020 10:21 AM EDT