Dana Gentry

Blog Post Archive

Justice for All?: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008; Anya Shapiro Duke is a survivor. She escaped her native Russia on foot during the Nazi invasion but she never thought the real fight of her life would consume what should be her golden years.
Above the law?: Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008; TV ads for Judge Donald Mosley portray the longest-serving jurist on the bench in Nevada as a no-nonsense, tough-on-crime kind of guy. But Mosley's critics contend the judge sometimes behaves as if he's above the law.
Sarah spends: Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008; O.K. Technically it was the Republican National Committee that did the big spending at Saks and Neimans, but Sarah Palin could have said no.
High Court Debate: Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008
Feds, D.A. rebuffed HOA members: Monday, Sept. 29, 2008; The woman who brought her suspicions about collusion on her homeowners association board to the attention of the FBI says she didn't get far. Wanda Murray tells Jon on tonight's program that the feds deemed the issue a civil matter and had no interest. Ditto for the District Attorney, where Murray says she and her neighbors failed to get past the secretary.
Ready to Rumble -: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008; My long absence from this space can be attributed to the most Herculean of tasks - coordinating the schedules of candidates we'd like to see debate on Face to Face. And now, the fruits of my labor:
No apologies: Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008; Governor Jim Gibbons says he has an apology coming, now that a two-member panel of the Ethics Commission found no evidence to compel a full hearing into charges Gibbons used his office to gain a tax break. At a news conference following the hearing, Gibbons said it's the obligation of we scoundrels in the media to tell how what he called the Democratic party's politically motivated complaint fell flat. But as former Elko assessor Joe Aguirre confirms tonight on Face to Face, the person who outed Gibbons' tax break to the media was a Republican County Commissioner in Elko named Sheri Eklund-Brown. Gibbons seemed genuinely surprised when I asked him at the news conference about the treason within his party. My efforts to reach Eklund-Brown for an interview fell as flat as the Democrat's complaint.
Palin's Priority: Parenting or Politics?: Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008; Barack Obama may have declared candidates' personal lives (especially concerning their children) off limits, but the media didn't get the memo.
Conscientious Objectors: Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008
Plumping up the bottom line: Monday, Aug. 25, 2008; Times are tough, even for plastic surgeons. Disposable income isn't as disposable as it once was, and that has plastic surgeons searching for ways, other than augmenting breast size, to augment income.
They Shoot Horses?: Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008
Incumbents refuse debates: Monday, Aug. 11, 2008; District Judge Donald Mosley and Family Division Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio are hoping to stay out of the spotlight until after the primary, if not the general election. Both refused to debate their opponents today on Face to Face.
Ralston on the Right?: Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008
Arbitration filed against Trump LV: Thursday, July 31, 2008
Rimer attorneys talk: Tuesday, July 29, 2008; Colleen and Stan Rimer valued devout church attendance, but returned home most Sundays to escape to their master bedroom loft for a nap, leaving their children (including medically fragile 4-year-old Jason) to fend for themselves.
Uninformed Electorate?: Monday, July 28, 2008; The best reason for term limits is an uninformed electorate. The worst reason for term limits is an uninformed electorate.
Facts or Law? Take your pick: Tuesday, July 22, 2008; You've heard the one about arguing the facts or the law - whichever is on your side. The principle is illustrated clearly on tonight's program by Governor Jim Gibbons' attorney in the Elko affair, John E. Marvel.
Missionary positions: Thursday, July 17, 2008; I will never view Mormon missionaries in quite the same way after a gander at the young men featured in the "Mormons Exposed: Men on a Mission" calendar.
No Stupid Questions: Tuesday, July 15, 2008; It's one of the basic rules of journalism: there are no stupid questions. So this morning when Jon suggested he begin the interview with Elko Assessor Joe Aguirre by asking if the governor ever personally lobbied him for a property tax break, it was stupid of me to suggest it was a stupid question. How could a governor personally ask an official for a tax break?
Show Me the Checks: Monday, July 14, 2008; Governor Jim Gibbons may be challenged as a chief executive but give him credit for knowing how to whack thousands from his own property tax bill.
Eyes Wide Shut: Thursday, July 10, 2008; Oldtimers remember Commercial Center as a place for wholesome pursuits - picking up a birthday cake in the bakery at Vegas Village, or some hardware (hammers and nails, not computer components) at Von Tobel's, skating the couples' song at the Ice Palace or devouring a pastrami on rye at Commercial Deli.
Could authorities have prevented deaths?: Tuesday, July 1, 2008; The fact that developmentally disabled 4-year-old Jason Rimer's absence went undetected for 17 hours before he was found dead in the family SUV is evidence of the neglect that brought the Rimer family into contact with Child Protective Services 21 times, five of them during Jason's short life. The case is eerily similar to that of 2-year-old Adacelli Snyder, a toddler whose cerebral palsy rendered her totally dependent on her mother, who is now serving prison time for the neglect that led to Adacelli's slow death from starvation. Like Jason, Adacelli was no stranger to CPS.
Gibbons: Officer and Gentleman?: Monday, June 30, 2008; Intrepid Las Vegas Sun reporter Cy Ryan gleaned from the governor what could be his wackiest comment yet - the one about how witnessing childbirth is bound to kill the romance in any friendship.
Sig speaks: Monday, June 23, 2008; Sig Rogich, the man who helped get Jim Gibbons elected to the state's highest office, remains steadfast in his defense of the governor's ability to right the sinking ship that is his administration.
AG: Hepatitis Probe Findings Startling: Thursday, June 12, 2008; Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, who is investigating allegations of Medicaid fraud at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, stopped short on today's program of saying charges will be filed but called the findings so far "startling."
Divorce Gibbons Style: Tuesday, June 10, 2008; Nevadans are a forgiving lot. They suspended disbelief long enough to elect Jim Gibbons just weeks after the Chrissy Mazzeo affair. They may have even forgiven the governor for walking out on his 22-year-long marriage. And some could have looked the other way as Gibbons cavorts with not one, but two, married women while his divorce winds through the courts.
Bedroom communities to suffer?: Monday, June 9, 2008; Just how bad is the local economy? On today's program banking guru Bill Martin says the current downturn is the most pervasive he's seen, hitting consumers from so many angles.
Consultants: No second term for Gibbons: Wednesday, June 4, 2008; Personally, I'm enjoying Jim Gibbons' tenure as governor. Anyone required to conjure up compelling TV topics five days a week recognizes the perks of having a guy like Gibbons at the state's helm. You already know the litany - from Nannygate to Trouble with Trepp to Marital Mayhem in the Mansion - we've gotten plenty of mileage out of the governor during his brief service.
Elko editor - Sacrificial Lamb?: Thursday, May 29, 2008; We hoped to bring viewers a phone interview today with Doug McMurdo, one of the associate editors responsible for writing the editorial in the Elko Daily Free Press about Jim Gibbons' alleged affair. When I phoned McMurdo from the control room he said he'd just been called in to his boss and had to sign an offiicial reprimand for the first time in his career. McMurdo apparently said too much in another interview, though he says his superiors declined to elaborate on what got him in hot water. Now, he says he's not sure he'll have a job by the end of the day. And we didn't get the interview.
No trace of prison babies: Wednesday, May 28, 2008; Department of Corrections Director Howard Skolnik is a likable man, not because he sometimes gives me clearance to interview prisoners but because he's the kind of public official who knows when he doesn't have a good answer and admits it. Such was the case today on our program about Nevada's practice, until recently, of turning over babies born to prisoners to anyone the mother requests, with no regard for the surrogate's suitabiilty. The lack of protocol landed a baby born to a Nevada prisoner in the hands of a Wisconsin woman suspected of selling drugs and manufacturing pornography.
Medical Mafia?: Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Ralston or O’Reilly?: Friday, May 23, 2008
Woodbury: Blindsided by Miller: Thursday, May 22, 2008; We learned just before this morning's taping with County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury that Secretary of State Ross Miller is officially challenging Woodbury's candidacy, as well as a handful of others, including two school board members who vowed this week on Face to Face to fight back.
Band-aid beats amputation: Wednesday, May 21, 2008; So what if the solution arrived at by the state's ex-facto lawmakers (the gaming industry, or in this case, part of it) and Nevada's ex-facto leader (Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley) is merely a band-aid? Doesn't a band-aid beat amputating the state's budget?
Is this political?: Tuesday, May 20, 2008; That's what one school board trustee asked Jon after today's program on the squabble over which candidates the Secretary of State may attempt to throw off the ballot for exceeding Nevada's voter-imposed term limits. At issue are seemingly contradictory interpretations of seemingly contradictory passages from former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa's 1996 opinion:
Heck Returns Home: Wednesday, May 14, 2008; Once in a while, but not often enough, we bring our viewers Face to Face with the courageous men and women of the military. Like many, we've grown weary of the war during the last five years, but we never tire of, nor can we keep a dry eye while hearing stories of the sacrifice and selflessness of those who put themselves in harm's way.
Should She Stay or Should She Go?: Monday, May 12, 2008; Hillary Clinton's man in Nevada, Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, and Barack Obama's campaign operative, Billy Vassiliadis, ponder whether the Democratic party can heal after an historic, energizing, yet divisive presidential primary race.
Dying for Sport?: Thursday, May 8, 2008; My father was a gambler. Whether it was a horse race or the sheriff's race, he always had a bet. Every August he'd take us out of the oppressive Las Vegas heat to the even more oppressive heat and humidity of New York City... and eventually, thankfully, on to the Catskills, the lush mountains where the movie "Dirty Dancing" was set.
Hit Bottom?: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Attorney: Dawn got Jim where he is today: Monday, May 5, 2008; Cal Dunlap, who represents Dawn Gibbons in divorce proceedings filed by her husband, Governor Jim Gibbons, this morning confirmed my suspicions that our First Lady is far from your ordinary political wife.
Lawsuit filed in hepatitis case: Thursday, May 1, 2008; Attorney Gerald Gillock is filing a lawsuit today on behalf of a patient who contracted Hepatitis C at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.
Shocked and Devastated: Monday, March 10, 2008; The president of the Nevada State Medical Association, Dr. Ed Kingsley, said he is shocked and devastated by the lapses that went on for years at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and other clinics. Kingsley also said that anesthesiologists, who bill independently of the clinics, would have been more likely to challenge the practices than the nurse anesthetists who depended for their livelihoods on Dr. Dipak Desai, the owner of the six facilities closed by authorities.
Attorney: Autopsy says ice cream lady on her knees: Friday, March 7, 2008; Jim Jimmerson, the attorney for the family of Deshira Selimaj, the woman killed by a Henderson Police officer says autopsy results show that Selimaj was on the ground when she was shot.
Trail of fraud?: Thursday, March 6, 2008; Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto says her office will do whatever it takes to learn whether the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada engaged in fraud with respect to Medicare billings.
Damage control?: Wednesday, March 5, 2008; Why hasn't the owner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada offered to pay for medical testing for patients possibly exposed to deadly diseases in his clinic? No doubt I lack the skills to have prevailed in the public relations business, but it seems like a no-brainer even to me... not only for PR purposes but for the public good.
New hepatitis C cases reported: Tuesday, March 4, 2008; Leave it to lawmakers . . . to pass a worthy measure then not fund government's ability to carry it out. That would be the new law Gov. Gibbons and others crowed about to collect DNA samples from all felons, not just violent felons. Some dangerous criminals could land back in prison if the DNA of all felons were coded and on file to compare with criminal evidence. But lawmakers (smart people) chose to rely on felons to pay the $150 to process the sample.
A sigh of relief: Monday, March 3, 2008; Among the 40,000 Southern Nevadans undergoing procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada in the last four years, as revealed on tonight's program, was one Jon Ralston. We're breathing easier now that Jon's test results are back and all is good.
On death's door: Friday, Feb. 29, 2008; Now, with 40,000 of my health-concious friends and neighbors waiting on pins and needles to find out if they contracted potentially fatal diseases... I'm feeling like my apple a day theory to staying healthy, while simplistic and fatalistic, is the best medicine.
Henderson Cops Decline Invite: Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008; The Henderson Police Department is taking a pass on talking about why a young officer fatally shot an ice cream vendor in front of her two children and husband. Couldn't officers have subdued the knife-wielding woman without shooting to kill? Maybe aim for a leg? I appreciate and admire the efforts of our valley's finest as much as anyone, and recognize police do a thankless job in the face of tremendous stress. But this is the latest in a string of police killing citizens under questionable circumstances. Remember the guy who wouldn't turn down his stereo on the Strip? And the 17-year-old murder suspect fatally shot as he ran from police, his hands cuffed behind his back? And the recent fatal shooting at a Henderson convenience store?
Those were the days...: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008; Nevada Family Courty Judge Nicholas Del Vecchio takes some of the spotlight off of Judge Elizabeth Halverson.