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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Gibbons & Lawmakers Getting Earful on Proposed Cuts

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Tuesday, February 23, 2010   

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Governor Jim Gibbons called lawmakers into special session today and proposed at least 40 ways to cut the state's budget in order to reduce an estimated $887 million deficit. However, he is getting sharp criticism and plenty of messages from those who say he is trying to balance the budget at the expense of vulnerable Nevadans.

The governor's proposed reductions range from 10 percent across-the-board cuts to eliminating some Medicaid benefits. Barry Gold, director of government relations with AARP-Nevada, says members from across the state have fired off thousands of e-mails and letters to lawmakers and the governor expressing concern about the cuts.

"I think it's important that we don't balance the budget on the backs of children, seniors, the poor and disabled. It's important that we look at the services that treat our most frail and vulnerable, and not harm our citizens."

Gibbons has defended the proposed cuts and calls the current recession an opportunity to re-invent state government.

His budget proposes cutting, among many others, the Community Home Based Initiatives Program. Gold says right now there are more than 100 seniors on the waiting list for those services to help keep them at home.

"If you provide assistance for people at home it's a fraction of the cost of having them go into institutional care, so not only will people be forced to go into nursing homes, it will end up costing Nevadans and the state much more money."

Gold says Gibbons' proposal to cut funding for adult diapers and Medicaid benefits for eyeglasses and hearing aids is not going over well with many Nevada seniors.

"And, just because someone is old, or disabled, sick and poor, things like seeing and hearing and chewing should not be considered optional."

Gold says any cuts to Medicaid will cause the state to lose federal matching dollars that help the economy and provide jobs.


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