Read or listen to the morning news headlines for Monday, Nov. 8, 2011.
Cortez Masto, Rosen join legislation to address supply chain disruptions
By Kaleb Roedel
Nevada U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen are looking for new ways to help strengthen the U.S. supply chain. The Nevada lawmakers have joined Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin in introducing The Supply Chain Resiliency Act. The legislation aims to address the pandemic-driven supply chain disruptions that continue to impact businesses and consumers across the country.
The act would create a federal Office of Supply Chain Resiliency. That office would provide loans and grants to small and medium-sized American manufacturers. This would allow them to help smooth out supply chain bottlenecks by expanding production.
Easing of COVID travel restrictions lets loved ones reunite
By The Associated Press
Travel restrictions that have separated couples and relatives living in different countries are about to end. New rules go into effect Monday that allow air travel from previously restricted countries as long as the traveler has proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. Land travel will require proof of vaccination but no test. Loved ones have missed holidays, birthdays and funerals while nonessential air travel was barred from a long list of countries that includes most of Europe, Brazil and South Africa. Closures at the land crossings with Mexico and Canada have devastated the border towns where traveling back and forth is a way of life.
Nevada board rejects proposal to ban coyote killing contests
By The Associated Press
A Nevada state regulatory board has narrowly voted against banning contests that give cash or other awards to hunters for killing coyotes. The regulation rejected by the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commission on a 5-4 vote Friday would have prohibited organizing, promoting or participating in contests or other competitions to capture or kill coyotes or other predatory or furbearing animals. While supporters of the ban said they were concerned about the image of hunting, all 16 advisory panels to the nine-member board supported continuing to allow the contests. Coyote killing contests have been banned in at least eight states since 2014.
ACLU: Nevada risks violating 'prison gerrymandering' law
By The Associated Press
American Civil Liberties Union attorneys said Friday that if Nevada redraws its political maps without reallocating thousands of inmates to their pre-prison addresses, they risk facing a lawsuit. Nevada has required inmates be counted at their “last known residential address” for redistricting purposes since 2019. Prison officials said last week that difficulties verifying addresses prevented them from providing usable data for roughly half the population in custody. The data gap suggests efforts to end a practice that detractors say distorts political maps and voting power won’t be realized. The threat of a lawsuit could complicate the redistricting process expected to take place this month.
Majority of Mountain West households report recent psychological distress
By Maggie Mullen, Mountain West News Bureau
Many of our region’s households reported experiencing various types of psychological distress and mental illness over the past few months. That’s according to a recent poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Survey respondents were asked if they or anyone living in their household had been having serious problems with depression, anxiety, stress, or trouble sleeping over the past few months. 51 percent of Mountain West households said yes.
Carolyn Pepper is a psychology professor at the University of Wyoming. She said regional employment trends can be especially hard on our mental health.
"With so much work that’s seasonal or tied to extraction industries, it’s somewhat economically unstable. People lose their jobs, and this area is known for having a lot of residential instability, people move around a lot looking for other economic opportunities," Pepper said.
And that can contribute to weaker social ties and support. Pepper also said the region’s rugged individualism can make it hard to ask for help.
COVID-19 forces closure of rural Lincoln County courthouse
By The Associated Press
A surge in COVID-19 cases in Lincoln County has forced the closure of the county courthouse in Pioche. Louise Buettner, Lincoln County’s health officer, told KLAS-TV Friday that the district court continues to operate on an appointment basis. But the courthouse has been closed until further notice. Melissa Rowe, administrator and CEO of a medical center in Caliente, said Lincoln County’s vaccination rate is 38%, which might be contributing to the outbreak in the rural county northeast of Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Clark County has recorded its 6,000 coronavirus-related death in the Las Vegas area. It's home to nearly four out of every five COVID-19 deaths statewide.
