skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Outdoor Recreation Industry Pushes for Land and Water Conservation Fund

play audio
Play

Monday, January 14, 2019   

RENO, Nev. – As the federal government shutdown drags on, very little is getting done in Congress, much to the frustration of people who want to see important legislation get a vote – bills such as the one that reauthorizes money for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Thursday was the 100th day since Congress let the LWCF lapse in September.

Tim Healion, a restaurateur in Reno and founder of the Nevada Outdoor Business Coalition, notes that Congress was supposed to take a vote during the lame-duck session, but it never happened.

"Now that the government shutdown is taking place, everything's kind of on the back burner and no one's talking about anything except opening the government back up," he laments.

On Friday, the House did vote to reauthorize the fund as part of an Interior appropriations bill.

However, it is unclear if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring up a similar bill or a separate public lands bill for a vote, since President Donald Trump has not committed to signing any funding bills that do not include money for a border wall with Mexico.

If the LWCF is reinstated, it would take hundreds of millions of dollars a year from fees on offshore oil and gas drilling, and direct the funds to public lands, parks and recreation facilities.

Healion says the fund has been popular on both sides of the aisle for decades, and needs to be prioritized.

"This seems to be an issue that takes care of everybody,” he states. “It's not just the tree-hugger vegans. It's the hunters and fishermen and guys riding quads.

“Everybody likes to play outside. This is about taking care of the places people like to play outside."

More than 80 percent of the land in Nevada is managed by public agencies. The fund gave about $600,000 to projects in Nevada last year.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021