Free Republic

Gravis Marketing, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted a random survey of 909 registered, likely voters in Nevada. The poll was conducted from December 23rd to the 27th and includes 406 Republican Caucus participants, 326 Democratic Caucus participants, and the remainder not planning on participating in the caucus, but are planning to vote in the regular elections. The poll has a margin of error of ± 3% [5% for Republican and Democratic caucuses]. The total may not round to 100% because of rounding. The polls were conducted using automated telephone calls (IVR technology) and weighted separately for each population in the...

He’s the GOP’s strongest candidate, right? But what if he can’t win a single early primary? The Rubio problem no one is talking about—yet. Everybody I know, I mean everybody, thinks Marco Rubio is the strongest Republican candidate. Yes, there’s a debate about how strong. Some say he’d beat Hillary Clinton, some say that what with some of the extreme positions he’s taken so far in this race, he’d be hard-pressed to do much better than Mitt Romney’s 206 electoral votes plus maybe his own Florida. So there’s a debate about that. But there ain’t much debate that he’s the,...

Ten days after the Paris terrorist attacks, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie trumpeted his connections to Americans who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001. "For me, it is a daily occurrence to look into the eyes of the people who lost their husbands and wives, their fathers and mothers, their sisters and brothers, their sons and daughters," he told the Council on Foreign Relations in November. "The threat is not minimal." A little more than a week later, after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., those words seemed prophetic -- and the Republican presidential hopeful shifted emphasis from...

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Bureau of Consumer Protection on Thursday filed a motion to halt the implementation of a new net metering rate for rooftop-solar customers while petitions seeking reconsideration or clarification of the controversial decision can be filed. The petition filed with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission says that the order approved Tuesday appears to conflict with the desire of Gov. Brian Sandoval to allow the rooftop-solar industry to continue to create jobs while balancing the interests of nonsolar ratepayers. "Major companies in the solar industry have stated the order could result in the loss of jobs numbering...

CARSON CITY — Independent auditors concluded Tesla Motors Inc. met all conditions for tax abatements and credits during the eight months after lawmakers approved the perks in a special 2014 legislative session. The audit by accounting firm Grant Thornton calculated Tesla has earned $9.6 million in transferable tax credits for the period Oct. 17, 2014, through June 30. Tesla, in partnership with Panasonic Corp., is building a $5 billion lithium battery factory east of Reno in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. To lure the electric carmaker led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to Nevada, state lawmakers last year approved $1.3...

Republican lawmakers reportedly laughed at House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) after he told them he had been given a promise from Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Lawmakers were amused at Ryan's naiveté for thinking that Reid is someone their party can trust. "I know, I know," Ryan replied with a smile, according to The Hill. Reid and Ryan just finished working together to help pass a $1 trillion dollar spending bill, which many argue contained far more liberal policies than conservative ones. Reid has promised Ryan that he will return to regular order in the New Year....

The light was first reported by dozens of witnesses shortly after 6 p.m. Hours later, around 9:30 p.m., officials said it was a Russian rocket body. "U.S. Strategic Command's Joint Functional Component Command for Space (JFCC Space), through the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC), removed a Russian SL-4 rocket body from the U.S. satellite catalog as a decayed object after it re-entered the atmosphere today over North America (vicinity Arizona)," around 6:08 p.m. PST, said Deputy Public Affairs Officer Julie Ziegenhorn. ... While the event seemed similar to one on Nov. 7, when an unannounced missile-test fired by the U.S....

Beltway-insider publications Politico and The Hill are hiding House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan's 2016’s disastrous report card, even days after the Dec. 18 passage of his $1.1-plus trillion 2016 spending-and-tax plan. Ryan and his top aides “really gave away the store,” Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared Dec. 18. Her report-card phrase — “they really gave away the store” — doesn’t appear in Politico or TheHill, even by Dec. 22. Instead, Politico suggested that Ryan came out roughly even. “The four leaders — Ryan, Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry...

More than 20 people are reported to have fallen victim to a major accident near the luxurious Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Conflicting reports are coming from the scene, which has been cordoned off by police. The crash took place on Las Vegas Boulevard in front of the Paris Hotel & Casino and Planet Hollywood, local NBC affiliate KSNV News 3 reported.

South Las Vegas Boulevard — the main road in front of the numerous hotels and casinos on the Strip — was closed to traffic in both directions between Harmon Avenue and Flamingo Road, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department tweeted shortly after 7 p.m. The Nevada Highway Patrol described the incident as a vehicle versus pedestrian...Police have asked everyone to avoid the area until further notice.

(CNN)A driver careened into a crowded sidewalk several times on the Las Vegas Strip, injuring over 30 people in what authorities described as an "intentional" act. At least one person was killed and 37 others injured near the Paris Las Vegas Hotel on Sunday night, authorities said. Authorities said the woman was driving down Las Vegas Boulevard before her car jumped onto the sidewalk and struck pedestrians. She returned to the sidewalk at different spots and hit more people before barreling down the road, according to witnesses.

The woman who mowed down several dozen people in Las Vegas Sunday night says she was sober but just extremely tired. Lakeisha Holloway told police she was trying to sleep in her car on several hotel properties but security kept running her off. In the police report, obtained by TMZ, Holloway described a "stressful period of time today where she was trying to rest/sleep inside her vehicle with her daughter." Holloway told cops she doesn't really know how she ended up on the Strip. The report says, "She would not explain why she drove on the sidewalk but remembered a...

..... Holloway's child, who was unhurt in the incident, is in protective custody, Lombardo said. The sheriff said investigators were trying to piece together Holloway's background. In the spring of 2012 Holloway received an award from a career-mentoring nonprofit in Portland for being a role model for high school students, according to The Skanner, a community website and newspaper published in the Pacific Northwest. The story recounts Holloway describing her mother as having "turned to alcohol, leaving Lakeisha to fend for herself." Holloway was homeless during her freshman year in high school, according to the newspaper, but had since graduated....

It wasn't long ago that the woman arrested in the deadly Las Vegas Strip sidewalk crash seemed to be doing well for herself. After a rough childhood that included a period of homelessness in high school Lakeisha Holloway had become an award-winning high school graduate and caring mother. That recent picture of success deepens the mystery of how the former Oregon woman wound up in a Las Vegas jail and on suicide watch.

A 24-year-old homeless woman who cops said had been living in her car with her 3-year-old daughter in Las Vegas for about a week was charged Monday in the automobile rampage that killed one and wounded at least 35 others Sunday night. Lakeisha N. Holloway appeared “stoic” when cops encountered her soon after the 1996 Oldsmobile sedan she was driving plowed into a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip multiple times – all while a young child was sitting in the backseat. Authorities said Sunday they “know this was not an act of terrorism,” though Lombardo did leave some wiggle...

The Portland woman accused of driving into dozens of people and killing one in Las Vegas may have fallen asleep at the wheel, her cousin said Monday. Lakeisha Holloway, 24, is suspected of swerving onto a Las Vegas sidewalk Sunday evening. Based on video footage, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said it appeared that Holloway intentionally veered into pedestrians, but the family disputes that account. Holloway works a lot and sleeps little, said her cousin, LaShay Hardaway. Taking care of her 3-year-old daughter and managing her fashion projects could have taken a toll, Hardaway said.

A woman in a car with its windows down screamed "Allahu Akbar" as she ran up onto the sidewalk and ran-over upwards of 40 people in Las Vegas last night. According to one eye witness "As we were walking accross the street, this car comes flying through the red light. She ran up on the sidewalk and smashed into a group of people walking accross the street and into the group of people at the corner. She did not slow down and appeared to accelerate as she hit the sidewalk." According to that witness. there is a huge row of...

A car plowed into pedestrians on the sidewalk Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip, killing one person and injuring 37 people, six critically. The six critically injured were in stable condition by late Sunday night, Las Vegas police said. The female driver of the 1996 Oldsmobile four-door sedan, only described as being in her 20s, was arrested near the Tuscany hotel on Flamingo Road shortly after the crash, which happened in front of the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood hotels. She is being interviewed and tested for impairment, Metro Capt. Peter Boffelli told media gathered on Las Vegas...

One person has been killed and at least 30 have been injured on the Las Vegas Strip after a female driver intentionally plowed into pedestrians on the sidewalk. Lakeisha N. Holloway, 24, of Portland, has been identified as the driver, who had a toddler in the back seat when she allegedly hit pedestrians on two different sections of the sidewalk while heading north on Las Vegas Boulevard near Bellagio Way. She is accused of murder, child abuse or neglect and failure to remain at the scene of an accident, jail records show, and is being held without bail at Clark...

Gun violence costs Nevada taxpayers millions of dollars every year, according to the national gun-control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. The Las Vegas Review-Journal received an advance copy of the organization's study of state inpatient hospitalizations for gunshot wounds from 2005 through 2014. Average health care costs for gunshots vary by the type of incident, and government insurance plans such as Medicaid and Medicare picked up most of the bills, the study said. Everytown for Gun Safety and its local affiliate Nevadans for Background Checks are pushing for a 2016 ballot question to expand background checks to nearly all...