by Tony S. Foresta As the driest state in the nation, Nevada has always faced challenges when managing its scarce water resources. But this fact is especially true in the desert landscape of Southern Nevada, where the average precipitation rate is just four inches per year. Further complicating matters, southern Nevada relies on a single… Read more

by Kenneth J. Retzl, Ph.D. Introduction Every year Education Week publishes Quality Counts, a ranking of the education systems in each of the 50 states and District of Columbia. In the 2018 report, Nevada ranked 51st. However, the methods to create this overall ranking are complicated, with Education Week aggregating 39 different variables that are… Read more

by Meredith A. Levine and Hannah Munro Nestled in a basin surrounded by snow-capped peaks, Lake Tahoe stuns sightseers with its kaleidoscopic colors, which fall on a spectrum of deep emerald to rich turquoise. Its extraordinary beauty and wide assortment of recreational options make Lake Tahoe an attractive tourist destination, with about three million visitors… Read more

By Tony S. Foresta Nevada is the driest state in the country. The state’s desert climate and mountainous topography contribute to significant evaporation losses and an average precipitation rate of less than ten inches per year, the lowest annual rainfall in the United States. In Southern Nevada, where more than 70 percent of the state… Read more

By Guinn Center staff In 2014, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, in collaboration with BoardSource and GuideStar, surveyed almost 1,000 directors of nonprofit organizations about the composition, structure, and practices of their boards. The researchers found that “the skills, resources, and experience of directors are not sufficient to meet the needs of most nonprofit… Read more

by Kenneth Retzl, Ph.D. Nevada’s 2016-2017 high school graduation rate increased significantly over the prior year, jumping from 73.6 percent to 80.9 percent according to data posted on the Nevada Report Card. Around the state, various explanations have been offered for this increase. In the Clark County School District (CCSD), this increase has been attributed… Read more

by Suzanne Bierman From the Natural State to the Silver State, from the delta to the desert, from the home of Johnny Cash to the playground of Elvis, Nevada and Arkansas differ considerably, but in other ways, these two states are surprisingly similar. As a lifelong Arkansan who moved to Nevada this summer, it seemed… Read more

By Nancy E. Brune, Ph.D. and Paulina Kerrigan Singer Nelly’s lyrics “It’s getting hot in here” comes to mind every summer here in Nevada. In the north, one may reference the heroic efforts to extinguish raging fires, most recently the Qwyhee and Martin fires, the latter of which has been contained. In the south, residents… Read more

by Tony S. Foresta Nevada continues to struggle to reduce homelessness across the state. The rate of homelessness in Nevada remains well above the national average at 26 individuals per 10,000, and as illustrated in Figure 1, California is the only state in the Intermountain West with a higher homelessness rate. Furthermore, the Las Vegas/Clark… Read more

by Hannah Munro The Washoe County School District (WCSD) over the years has faced a plethora of issues, including a massive structural deficit, and a lack of ability to issue bonds. In addition to a structural deficit which hindered WCSD’s ability to keep up with much needed repairs and maintenance, the immense growth of the… Read more