PLAN to Vice President Biden: Investigate the banks!

Thursday, January 19th, Vice President Joe Biden arrived at Galena High School in Reno, NV and was greeted by PLAN activists urging the Obama Administration to investigate the Wall Street Banks who wrecked our economy, one lousy mortgage at a time. Read the report from the Reno Gazette Journal by clicking HERE.

PLAN is coming to a radio station near you!

That's right, we have a radio station! We're working on getting it up and running but we are very excited for this new opportunity to reach out to Progressives in this great state. 

 

Reno News & Review has the story:

 

 

Bob Fulkerson, executive director of theProgressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), has long been an advocate of reviving the federal “fairness” doctrine, a policy that allows federal regulators to police the content of broadcasting and require broadcasters to provide time for certain points of view.

 

Now, Fulkerson may have found a more direct way to get a

Thank You for Making 2011 Such a Powerful Year for PLAN and Progressives

Thanks to all of PLAN's supporters over the years and especially for this past year. It is because of your support that as this year comes to an end, Nevada is a more just State than when the year began. Lest we forget all that we have accomplished together, here are a few highlights:

  • PLAN was granted a license for a full power FM radio station by the FCC that will cover northern Nevada. Progressive radio--here we come!
  • For the first time in the Silver State's history, the mining industry lost ground as legislators stripped their power of eminent domain, closed tax loopholes, established a

Weakening government oversight results in workers being hurt, not hired

Submitted by Bob Fulkerson
on Wed, 2011-12-21 14:52

Originally published in the Reno Gazette Journal, 12/01/2011:

 

 

The idea that government regulations stifle job creation is as pervasive and dogmatic as the flat-Earth theory was in 15th century Europe. And it's just as wrong.

 

High standards hold reckless corporations accountable and help businesses succeed by doing the right thing. But corporations from BP to factory farms to the mining industry would shelve these basic values in the name of ever-increasing profits for their top executives.

Mining Accountability

New NV Mining Oversight, Accountability panel holds first meeting

12/20/2011 -- The Mining Oversight and Accountability Committee (MOAC) held its first meeting Tuesday and PLAN showed up in Las Vegas and helped pack the house in Carson City. We also have to give recognition to Occupy Carson City, Reno and Las Vegas and Clark County educators for attending the hearing and providing strong public testimony in favor of fair mining practices. 

Here are reports from several media outlets:

Mineweb

Las Vegas Sun

Las Vegas Review Journal

Associated Press

Occupy Barrick

Submitted by Bob Fulkerson
on Mon, 2011-11-28 06:38

Note: This is the second post of a three-part series about building strategic collaborations between existing social justice organizations the Occupy Wall Street movement in Nevada and nationally.  See the first post here.

As people all over the country are opposing economic inequality, greed, and threats to human rights, one multinational mining corporation operating in the American West has pursued a shameful legacy with little public notice.

Canadian-based Barrick Mining is the largest gold mining corporation in the world, producing 7.8 million ounces of pure gold in 2010 from 26 mines

Tags: 
occupy
Mining
barrick

Facing Race: 2011 Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity

Submitted by mginsburg
on Wed, 2011-11-23 10:58

The Racial Equity Report Card examines legislation introduced in the 76th session of the Nevada Legislature directly impacted Nevada's communities of color. It scores each chamber of the state legislature as well as the Governor on their responses to those bills.

Main Street Policy Pulse: 2011 Small Business Issues Survey

Attention small business owners! We need your help!

Complete the 2011 small business issues survey. If you know small business owners in Nevada, please share this link with them. All responses are confidential.

Take the survey here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MGinsburg

Medicaid Makes a Difference - Protecting Medicaid, Advancing Racial Equity

by Jill Reese, Alliance for a Just Society. Congress is locked in a budget battle that’s grabbed round-the-clock media attention. Lost in the coverage are the real stakes in the debate, including the lives of the more than 50 million people covered by Medicaid, which is now in the budget-cutting cross-hairs. More than half of these 50 million are people of color. Racial disparities in health coverage have already reached alarming proportions. Cuts to Medicaid would make these disparities even worse, taking a toll on the real lives of real people.
Tags: 
Medicaid
racial equity

This is No Time to 'Dine and Dash.'

Investors and economists are watching the debt-ceiling debate with growing alarm, and some view default as committing economic suicide.

Robert Greenstein, founder and president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, describes two dangers:
 
  • Forcing the layoff of thousands of government workers, which takes their buying power out of the economy.
     
  • Since it would raise all interest rates, default would increase the payments in every adjustable-mortgage and small-business loan, and even increase the federal deficit itself.  [read the rest]
Tags: 
Health care
debt ceiling
taxes

Transgender Laws - One Remarkable Success

Diedra Parks of Reno News and Review with a rundown of PLAN's legislative victories.

With the whirlwind 120 days of Nevada lawmaking over, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada lobbyist Jan Gilbert reflects on this year’s victories for disenfranchised Nevadans. Three bills backed by PLAN that safeguard transgender and gender non-conforming Nevadans from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations were signed into law.

“Getting these bills passed was almost amazing, it truly was,” Gilbert says. “I thought it was going to be much more difficult.”
 
The legislation rose
Tags: 
transgender
nvtrans
nvleg