Timothy Pratt

Story Archive

Law allows restaurants freedom to be charitable: Businesses consider donating food instead of throwing it away; Thursday, June 18, 2009; Come July 1, Kathia Pereira’s family business won’t have to toss up to 1,000 rolls and loaves of bread into the trash every week. A new state law, which she helped write, takes effect on that date, protecting donors of perishable food from liability. It will allow Bon Breads Baking Co., the business she owns with her husband, Carlos, to give bread to organizations such as Three Square food bank instead of throwing it away. “For a long time, my husband and friends in the business wouldn’t donate bread and other food because they were afraid of lawsuits,” Pereira said. “Now we don’t have to worry.”
Tent city plans shorting other needy?: Private group, city of Las Vegas both focus on Foremaster Lane; Friday, June 12, 2009; Metro Deputy Chief Gary Schofield told his officers this spring to drop their policy of running off anyone they caught trying to feed the homeless near a tent city on Foremaster Lane.
Possible conflicts of interest are workforce board’s norm: Other work accepted to get best-qualified; Friday, June 12, 2009; Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly gave up a $48,000-a-year part-time government job after it stirred up talk about conflict of interest last month.
With little data, panel plans talk on foreclosures and minorities: Thursday, June 11, 2009; Panelists at tonight’s town-hall meeting on how the foreclosure crisis affects minorities in the valley are handicapped by a lack of research on the topic. According to its hosts, public radio stations KNPR 88.9-FM and KCEP 88.1-FM, the event is meant to address “how ethnic minorities have disproportionately been affected” by foreclosures in the region.
Desire, months of searching haven’t landed woman a job: Tuesday, June 9, 2009; Out of work this spring, 51-year-old Paula Gray decided to stand on a highway off-ramp and hand out business cards to passing drivers.
Recession fills area’s ER beds with mentally ill: State ‘back to square one’ on issue, official says; Monday, June 8, 2009; On Thursday, nearly one-third of the patients in Las Vegas Valley emergency rooms were awaiting psychiatric care.
James Campos, Chief of Nevada Workforce Solutions Section: Wednesday, June 3, 2009; James Campos made his splash on the local political scene in 2006, as the point man in the Hispanic community for Republican Jim Gibbons’ gubernatorial campaign.
Nevadans may be key to new push on immigration: Reid, Ensign are on opposite sides of an issue important to labor, business interests; Saturday, May 30, 2009; Nevada has stood out during four years of congressional efforts to overhaul immigration law because the state boasts several heavyweight supporters of far-reaching changes in the federal system -- the Culinary Union and the hospitality industry, in addition to the highest ranking member of Congress.
County, cities pitch homeless plan for stimulus money: In addition to bill-pay, rental aid, money would help coordinate services; Wednesday, May 27, 2009; Clark County, Henderson and North Las Vegas plan to use $4.1 million in stimulus money for a wide variety of programs, such as helping families pay rent and overhauling the computer system that more than 15 agencies use to help the valley’s homeless.
Price of emergency aid from county is a long wait in line: Tuesday, May 26, 2009; Most of them arrive while the skies are still dark, a ritual they will repeat for days. A father of two who was lured from Detroit by a false promise of work at a Strip resort arrives with his wife and children. A union carpenter and a 24-year-old college-trained bartender join the line.
Feel free to speak your mind ... right over there: Friday, May 22, 2009; Many of the hundreds of people who line up every day outside the main Clark County Social Service office pass under a mesquite tree as they inch closer to the agency’s door.
Vegas goes own way with stimulus: Critics say money for homelessness won’t be spent effectively; Sunday, May 17, 2009; Las Vegas seeks to use $2.1 million in federal stimulus money to get dozens of homeless people off a downtown street and into housing, an idea experts say misses the intention of the grant.
Affordable housing that’s accessible, too: Database would have clear benefits in valley; Wednesday, May 13, 2009; With a $3 billion budget shortfall dominating debate in the state Legislature’s final weeks, it would be easy to lose track of a bill that could directly affect tens of thousands of low-income people, as well as housing planning.
Foreclosures, immigration linked in report: Areas hit hardest have high percentage of foreign-born heads of household; Wednesday, May 13, 2009; Counties with high foreclosure rates also tend to have large immigrant populations, according to a report released Tuesday. The study ranked Clark County sixth nationwide in foreclosure rates. Nearly 1 in 4 heads of household locally were foreign-born, much higher than the national rate.
Habitat for Humanity building on economic opportunity: Monday, May 11, 2009; While some giants of the industry are idle or going bust in the Las Vegas Valley, one homebuilder is having its best year ever. The local branch of Habitat for Humanity is putting up 10 homes this year, the most since launching in 1991. All told, the Las Vegas nonprofit organization has built 63 houses, but its annual tally has never hit double digits.
Countering Vegas’ reputation: The other side of the story: A man who feeds people in need; Sunday, May 3, 2009; The irony is not lost on Las Vegas resident Tony Sipich. He traveled to New York on Saturday as one of 10 finalists chosen among 4,200 nationwide in the “For All the Ways You Care” contest.
Hundreds hit Vegas streets for immigration reform: Marchers hope Obama brings a pathway to legalization; Friday, May 1, 2009; About 300 people marched along Sahara Avenue and up the Strip this evening, a reprise of the nationwide May Day marches for immigration reform that began three years ago. Many of them had a personal stake in the issue.
Increasingly, not just the poor are uninsured: Officials say economic downturn is leaving those in the middle class without insurance; Monday, April 27, 2009; The free-falling economy is sending many more people to the state’s clinics that treat the uninsured. Last month, 2,498 patients without health insurance went to the clinics of Nevada Health Centers, a federally funded program that charges on a sliding scale. That’s 52 percent more than in March 2008, when the clinics saw 1,642. If you look at the past six months compared with the previous six months, the increase is less, but still striking: 21.5 percent.
Urban League taps assemblyman to right its ship: Friday, April 24, 2009; State officials are hoping that Las Vegas Clark County Urban League’s choice of Assemblyman Morse Arberry as interim CEO will lead to more answers about how the organization is spending public money.
Agency vows to keep better tabs on money it gives groups: Thursday, April 23, 2009; A local nonprofit organization cannot prove it helped dozens of people find work with a half-million-dollar grant, so the funding agency is set to crack down. The finding and the follow-up are important because the grant came from the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, which will soon nearly triple its budget thanks to $14.8 million in federal stimulus funds.
Street sweeps won’t solve street sleep: Once again, a homeless camp vexes Vegas, but key leaders are treating the symptoms rather than pursuing long-term solutions; Friday, April 17, 2009; The recent public bloviating about dozens of unbathed and often stoned, drunk and insane people sleeping on Foremaster Lane downtown is a rerun.
$1.5 billion worth of ideas at Mandalay Bay event: Those who came to learn about program have plans for a share of the pot; Friday, April 17, 2009; It looked like the line to see Macy’s Santa Claus three days before Christmas, except this was an all-grown-up crowd. Thursday morning, about 1,300 people converged on the Mandalay Bay conference center to learn about the $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money that is to trickle down to Nevadans. The event organizers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office, cut registration off early in the week because so many people had signed up to attend.
Nevada's percentage of illegal immigrants in workforce tops nation: Tuesday, April 14, 2009; Nevada tops the nation when it comes to the percentage of illegal immigrants in the workforce, according to a report issued today by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Metro rethinks ‘Don’t feed homeless’: Citations of Samaritans will end, but practice leaves a bad taste; Tuesday, April 14, 2009; Geoff Sample and other members of the Green Valley Christian Center have been turning their faith into action once a month for five years by feeding the homeless. But on March 15, when Sample and about 15 others took sandwiches to the string of tents on Foremaster Lane at Main Street, they were met by police.
Fighting the foreclosures: Ian Hirsch has built a growing business by helping borrowers in distress hang on to their homes; Sunday, April 12, 2009; About a year ago, Ian Hirsch, a debt adjuster and manager at Fortress Credit Services, discovered that his ability to cajole and badger could be put to use helping people hang on to their houses.
On the road back to work: Paula Gray hands out cards by the highway, hoping they will lead to interviews and, eventually, employment; Saturday, April 11, 2009; Paula Gray stands on the northbound off ramp of Interstate 15, the same spot, she says, “where the homeless guy stands” and panhandles. But the 51-year-old is not homeless and she’s not asking for money. She’s an out-of-work professional and she wants a job. After eight years as an administrative assistant at a construction company, Gray was laid off in July, placing her firmly among the ranks of the nation’s 13.2 million unemployed.
As economy worsens, tenants squeeze in: Temporary county rent subsidy of $400 a month gives the poor few options; Monday, April 6, 2009; Clarence Rowles had to pause, use his fingers to count the number of people who lived with him in his downtown apartment until last month.
Jim Shadrick, code enforcement inspector for the Las Vegas Neighborhood Services Department, stood nearby with the correct number at the tip of his tongue. There were nine people in a place no bigger than 600 square feet. Shadrick says the situation at the downtown apartment was a sign of the times.
A family’s reprieve from fear: Mother who’s seeking legal status freed from jail, but still could be deported; Saturday, April 4, 2009; When Emma Sarkisian heard her mother’s voice tight with panic in a call from the North Las Vegas jail last week, she flashed back to her own calls from a different jail four years ago.
Urban League can’t salvage plan to train ex-cons: Friday, March 27, 2009; After consuming $350,000 in public money, an Urban League project that was supposed to create jobs has collapsed under the weight of power struggles and infighting.
Government help can’t come too soon for 89131 families: Blight in Vegas neighborhood chasing homeowners away; Thursday, March 26, 2009; Maria Kriegh’s two daughters signed up about 20 neighbors for Girl Scout cookies in late February, but when they returned to deliver the boxes two weeks later, the mother of four was shocked to find that a few of the homes were empty, bare living rooms glimpsed through window panes. The Kriegh family lives on Wandering Street, in ZIP code 89131 — ground zero for the nation’s foreclosure crisis.
Will new leader run Urban League like a business?: Hope is that interim chief will set finances straight; Tuesday, March 24, 2009; The local Urban League’s new interim leader has no experience managing a nonprofit organization, which raises a question that analysts of social services agencies have been asking for several decades: Can — and should — those agencies be run like businesses?
A sweep of violent criminals, or deportation scheme?: Friday, March 13, 2009; A recent congressional report questions whether Metro and police agencies nationwide are using a federally funded program to engage in wide-ranging deportation instead of its intended purpose, ridding communities of violent felons.
Does Moulin Rouge have a place in 2009?: The casino site has history, but what to make of it?; Thursday, March 12, 2009; The Moulin Rouge is the only Nevada listing on the National Register of Historic Places linked to the history of race relations in the valley, but recent events raise the question, yet again, of its place in today’s Las Vegas.
Hopeful, but wary of stimulus quo: Black business leaders share ideas on federal deals, bemoan disparities; Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009; The mood was something between a high school reunion and a pumped-up gathering of Who’s Who of Black Las Vegas.
Legal tempest threatens to break up family: Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009; Four years ago, when she was 10, Patricia Sarkisian wrote a letter to President George W. Bush asking why her two older sisters were jailed in Los Angeles, an order of deportation pushing them toward a flight to Moscow any day.
Samuel Coleman, advocate for civil rights: Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009; Las Vegas retiree Samuel Coleman, 80, and some of his former fellow workers were recently honored by Amtrak and the Chicago-based A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum for their role in black history.
Lot of talk, little action frustrates: Setting goals, mission can wait, some jobs board members say; Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009; At a meeting to talk about the present and future of an agency that gets millions to help people find jobs, some board members got ticked off about all the talk going on.
Project delays put Urban Chamber in bind: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009; A project meant to draw minority-owned businesses and jobs to West Las Vegas is being postponed indefinitely even as the need for it grows more urgent.
Cultural differences: Economic values help explain why Chinese-owned businesses are faring better in the recession; Monday, Feb. 16, 2009; The fortunes of a newspaper published out of a second-floor Chinatown Plaza office may give us insight into differing attitudes about money and ways of surviving tough economic times.
In a time when a 162-year-old national news chain such as the Tribune Co. file for bankruptcy protection, the Las Vegas Chinese Daily News is actually growing.
Lacking leader, anti-poverty group will try to sort it out: Friday, Feb. 13, 2009; From outside the room, the gathering of more than 50 employees at the Urban League’s Pearson Center sounded like a rally.
As need mounted, money was misspent: NLV agency criticized even as audit continues; Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009; The North Las Vegas Housing Authority failed to spend up to $2 million on federal housing programs even as thousands of people were on lists awaiting that help, a recent audit has found.
Republicans’ red herring: Politicians use fear of benefits for illegal immigrants to hold up social services bills; Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009; In the recent debate over funding health insurance for children, several Republican members of Congress opposed the idea because of fears that more illegal immigrants would sign up for the program.
Nevada leaving money on table: If state spent more on children’s insurance, U.S. would match it; Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009; Congress approved more federal spending to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program and lawmakers in Carson City say they will defeat the governor’s proposal to cap the number of children who can participate in the state’s program. But experts say all of that will do Nevada little good if the state doesn’t start spending more of its own money in the program.
Diocese has poverty-fighting money that no area groups qualify to claim: Local director says lack of grass-roots efforts keep funding on hold; Monday, Feb. 2, 2009; For the past four years, the Diocese of Las Vegas has been unable to give away money Las Vegas Valley churchgoers donated to fight poverty.
What the stimulus plan would mean for Nevada: Billions for schools, transportation, health care, higher ed — and jobs; Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009; Washington’s promise of a massive stimulus package to help turn around the nation’s economy is paying dividends in Nevada. For the first time in a long time, Nevadans are expecting good economic news.
Counting Nevadans is no small job: Census official says there’s an inherent distrust of D.C. here; Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009; When census time comes around next year, you will hardly notice it’s the federal government doing the job, David Byerman says. “It’s more about Nevadans counting Nevadans,” adds the U.S. Census Bureau’s public face in this state.
Is one housing authority better than three?: Boards will meet to talk about merger plan that’s met lots of resistance; Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009; A 4-year-old idea of merging the Las Vegas Valley’s three housing authorities will be revived this month with the first meeting between the boards of all the agencies.
Carl Heard, chief medical officer of Nevada Health Centers: Monday, Jan. 19, 2009; As chief medical officer of Nevada Health Centers, the state’s largest network of clinics for low-income patients, Carl Heard is busy these days.
Feds nix apartment demolition plans: HUD gives county, North Las Vegas a month to come up with new proposal; Friday, Jan. 16, 2009; The federal government has rejected a $7.6 million proposal to tear down hundreds of apartments in a gritty North Las Vegas neighborhood.
Receding: New ground in care of mentally ill: Budget cuts will likely wipe out innovation, undo recent strides; Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009; Two years ago, a national group lauded Clark County for helping secure treatment for mentally ill people charged with nonviolent crimes.