As an advocate for the Open Meeting Law, I’m always going to argue the Nevada Legislature should be covered. But … The approach I’ve taken as lobbyist for the Nevada Press Association has been toward a compromise, which may surprise some people. Let me explain. First, the Legislature does make …

In Nevada, it’s not uncommon for mayors to deliver an annual state of the city speech at a luncheon hosted by the local chamber of commerce, as pointed out in this story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Sometimes there’s a charge to attend, because the event includes lunch. The Review-Journal …

“When we gathered in the woodsmoke after each day’s ride, I tried to remember this quote: ‘There are three things that no one can do to the entire satisfaction of anyone else: make love, poke the fire and run a newspaper.'” — William Allen White, editor, Emporia (Kan.) Gazette, 1917 …

The Las Vegas Review-Journal was past due in taking down its reader comments yesterday. Frankly, they had become worse than a joke. They were the drunk uncle at a family reunion who didn’t care that we ignored his racist, homophobic, sexist rants. Somebody needed to shut him up. It has …

Are body-cam videos public records? (Originally published November 2014 at nevadapress When police wear body cameras, are the videos considered a matter of public record? As Las Vegas Metro police prepare to join a study in which 400 officers will wear the devices, it’s an open and largely untested question …

http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/01/14/city-sues-newspaper-in-reverse-foia.htm The problem here may well be the city’s personnel policies, rather than its open-records policy. Many governments — local, state, federal — go to great lengths to hide performance reviews, disciplinary actions, firings and malfeasance among their employees from being examined by the public who pay their salaries. And, …

I’ve noticed two recent trends — at least I hope they’re trends: The insistence on crediting original sources, and the discrediting of people who can’t get correct simple spelling and grammar. http://jimromenesko.com/2015/01/19/journalism-student-drops-class-after-prof-asks-that-his-name-be-spelled-correctly/

Here is a column from the president of the National Newspaper Association on elimination of overnight mail, and how that hurts small towns . Rural mail will suffer with more mail plant closures By John Edgecombe Jr. Publisher, The Nebraska Signal, Geneva, NE And President, National Newspaper Association  A friend of …

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014 The Nevada Legislative Commission on Monday adopted new records regulations, and with them a new manual for how state agencies are to handle requests for public records. The regulations are a result of amendments to the state statute, NRS 239, adopted by the Legislature in 2013. …