News

Nevada Governor Calls Special Session For Las Vegas Oakland Raiders NFL Decision

Published

10 years ago

October 5, 2016

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has announced a special session for October 10th iin Carson City and that will focus on the set of recommendations advanced by the Governor’s group called The Southern Nevada Tourism and Infrastructure Committee (SNTIC).In a statement on the Governor’s website, Sandoval’s staff reports the meeting will start at 8 am (PST) and he will release the agenda for it on Sunday, October 9th.

In the announcement, the Governor wrote “My staff and I have had extensive discussions with legislative leadership and it’s time for the full body to begin its deliberations on the recommendations of the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee. Now is the time to capitalize on the opportunity before us to invest in Nevada’s most foundational industry, tourism, by providing for the infrastructure and public safety needs of the 21st century. As I have said before, we can and must usher in a new era for tourism in the Las Vegas market, while keeping our citizens and visitors safe, and ensuring our position as the global leader in entertainment and hospitality.”The rest of the Governor’s statement focused on Nevada’s under-funded education system and his desire to “get ahead” of the needs of the education budget. It’s reported that a number of Republican Nevada lawmakers had high hopes a education funding for what are called “education savings accounts” would be part of the set of legislative actions for special session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yclZ_Y–EK8

But the Nevada Supreme Court ruled the Legislature could not dip into money already set aside for public education. Having said that, the education discussion is arguably a political smoke screen for the real main event: the hotel tax increase and the $750 million bond issue that, if voted for, would be placed on the fiscal back of Clark County, Nevada.

The only way Clark County, Nevada could stop the decision is via a vote among its commissioners either not to do that bond issue, or to reduce the amount to something below the $750 million Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson and Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis say they want, and that not getting it would be, in their words, a “deal breaker.”

And if Clark County wound up approving that money, the next stop for proponents of the Oakland Raiders in Las Vegas would be the January NFL Owners Meeting.

According to observers the legislation would come down to a vote on a proposal that, if granted as one (rather than sectioned off as different bills) would lead to $750 million for the stadium, $400 million for the Las Vegas Convention Center Expansion Project, and $40 million for education, although it’s not clear where that money would come from as of this writing. What is clear, is that the stage is set for a massive battle between giving almost $1 billion to a person in Sheldon Adelson who is worth $29 billion, versus the original intent many in Nevada, which was to allow the state to provide $1 billion for the LVCC expansion project.

Does Nevada Special Session Spell End Of Tea Party Politics?

Over the past decade, the national Republican Party’s platforms have been altered by the emergence of the Tea Party. Formost among the advocates has been one Grover Norquist. His non-profit called Americans For Tax Reform opposes all tax increases, and has consistently hammered what he’s called “tax and spend” Democrats. He has also been vocal on taxpayer spending for NFL stadiums, and on Twitter tweeted “The 20 new NFL stadiums built between 1997 and 2015 got $4.76 billion in taxpayer funding. Av handout:$238 million” If the Nevada Legislature approves the $750 million, almost 16 percent of all taxpayer money spent between 1997 and 2015 would be represented in the dollars set aside for Las Vegas Sands and the Oakland Raiders.

Given that, and the Tea Party’s stance against such tax increases and expenditures, how could Nevada get to a point where it’s one vote from doing what not even Democrats are known for doing? Two words: Sheldon Adelson.

Fueled by his intense hatred for public money going to the convention center authority in Las Vegas, Adelson has been at war with the organization for the better part of 15 years. In an effort to slow down money going to LVCC expansion, Adelson and his staff saw the Raiders need for a new stadium, and Mark Davis’ willingness to not work effectively with the City of Oakland, as an opportunity not really to get a new venue for Las Vegas, but more as a new tool in his ongoing fight against the Las Vegas Convention Center Authority.

Oakland Raiders Las Vegas Nevada Special Session Monday

Oakland Raiders Las Vegas NFL Special Session Monday. Mark Davis and maybe Sheldon Adelson will be there

The true bottom line is that Adelson could pay for the football complex all by himself, if he wanted to. But he also knows that given his much talked about and current legal problems with money laundering allegations, he’s better off reducing his fiscal exposure as much as he can, and in the process steering tax money away from the LVCC.

To that end, Adelson first sought to control as much of the production of local news as possible. To do that he spent $140 million last year to buy the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Then, his management staff fired several journalists who didn’t want to play along and write only nice things about Adelson. Then, the remaining writers sought to pave a road of content favorable to the idea of an NFL stadium in Las Vegas, as well as why Nevada should agree to a hotel tax increase to give Las Vegas Sands $750 million to pay for it.

But Adelson had not stopped there: he also paid over $200,000 to help fund the campaigns of over 20 Las Vegas and Nevada lawmakers, from city council people to senators and assembly persons. The two public officials on the SNTIC, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodwin and Clark County Supervisor Steve Sisolak, both received a total of $25,000 from either Adelson or one of his business interests last year.

Even the Nevada Governor’s fed from the Adelson troff.

So, Sheldon Adeldon has done as much as he can to engineer this outcome. Many in Las Vegas and Nevada are, I’m told, afraid to piss off the billionaire. Why this is, is a mystery, but the word is out. Moreover, Adelson has the help of powerful friends, including Casino Magnate Steve Wynn, owner of such posh hotels as Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas, and who’s managed to realize significant revenues from Macao, as has Adelson. In a recent interview, Wynn said that having an NFL team in Las Vegas would be the biggest thing in 25 to 40 years and if the Raiders deal wasn’t approved, “someone should be arrested”. If that’s the case, Wynn may be calling for the jailing of The Nevada Taxpayers Association.

The Nevada Taxpayers Association has came out, full force, against the stadium financing proposal, saying that 57 percent of its board of directors is against the plan. Adding to their voice is that of the organization Nevadans for the Common Good, a religious non-profit that consists of 40 other similar companies.

Thus the stage is set. Stay tuned to this space and to Zennie62.com for more information leading up to Monday’s Nevada Special Session.

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COMMENTARY: Black Music is the Sound of Black Freedom: Let Us Reclaim Both This Juneteenth

Black Music Month started when Black Music Association members Ed Wright, Kenny Gamble and his wife, journalist and radio host Dyanna Williams were able to persuade President Jimmy Carter to establish the observation on June 7, 1979.

Published

2 days ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is thought of as the godfather of blues music, especially Delta blues. The 29 songs recorded by him during his short life have been of massive inspiration to guitarists and musicians over the last 80 years. Public domain photo.

By Wanda Ravernell

Black Music Month and Juneteenth are inextricably linked – Black music is the sound of our freedom.

From the plaintive moans of the enslaved Africans’ ‘sorrow songs,’ to the fields of Civil War battle where Black soldiers picked up abandoned bugles, to the upright piano played in juke joints on Saturday night and churches come Sunday morning, our ancestors’ innovation in the face of want, fear, degradation, and hopelessness has yielded genres of music imitated ’round the world.

In 2000, Congress made it official. In 2009, Pres. Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Heritage Month and in 2023, Pres. Joe Biden changed it back to Black Music Month, two years after he declared Juneteenth a national holiday, the result of a movement led by Opal Lee.

Our ancestors battle for freedom over these last 400 years and the music that allowed them expression of their humanity deserved to be honored.

But we may be losing sight of the value of their sacrifices.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Faith That the Dark past Has Taught Us…’

Along with the long-known exploitation of Black musicians whose recordings were stolen by record companies, the commercialization of Juneteenth feels like another kind of theft.

I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to the Bay Area from my hometown of Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was one of many freedom festivals celebrated by descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

Emancipation Day was Jan. 1 in Pennsylvania, April 16 in Wash., D.C., May 20 in Florida, and Aug. 8 in Kentucky. But Juneteenth, June 19, has the most renown, known in Texas as the ‘colored peoples’ Fourth of July.’

It was marked by parades, beauty pageants, rodeos, backyard barbecues and church picnics.

Yes, church.

The formerly enslaved began the day praying in thanks for their freedom just as they had prayed for Jubilee – the day of freedom – when they had chains on their feet and hands. They ‘testified’ about their past suffering and how they had managed to overcome.

And they sang.

Although, we will not hold it this year, Omnira Institute’s Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance recalled this part of Juneteenth with prayers in the languages of the African captives. In the middle of the ceremony, a soloist would lead us in singing “Many Thousand Gone” while we took turns reciting portions of the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of freedom that took more than two years to reach Texas – two months after the Civil War ended.

“Many Thousand Gone” was famously recorded by Black luminary Paul Robeson in 1947:

“No more auction block for me,

No more, no more

No more auction black for me

Many thousand gone.”

Other verses refer to the ‘pint of salt’ and the ‘driver’s lash,’ the realities of enslavement that they had survived.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Hope That the Present has Brought Us’

All of the genres of African American music have at their root songs like that, the essence being, as Stevie Wonder, wrote, “the joy inside our pain.” So Black music is not just music. It is our story, our history, our very strength.

During the Civil Rights Movement, which peaked 100 years after slavery ended, the people testified that it was the freedom songs – based on spirituals – that gave them the heart to march, face attack dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and shootouts with vigilantes.

The music reminded them that power was in the people. That music, our music, can do so again. We don’t have to accept the commodification of the products of our culture.

The power of those songs is showing a resurgence across the South as we battle again for the right to self-determination through the ballot box.

Those songs are the voices of our ancestors, voices forged in their blood, their sweat, their tears, joy and, above all, faith. Those songs, those prayers live in our blood and our very breath.

This Juneteenth, let us reclaim those holy voices expressed in Black music for ourselves. It is our birthright. It can neither be bought nor sold. No more. Never again.

Wanda Ravernell is the executive director of Omnira Institute, sponsor for 18 years of the Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance and Oakland’s 11^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, which will take place on Sept. 12.

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Oakland Post: Week of June 3 – 9, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 3 – 9, 2026

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2 days ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

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Study: Waiting Lists for Child Care Assistance Nearly Doubled

BLACKPRESS USA NEWSWIRE — “Since the expiration of tens of billions of dollars in federal child care funding in 2023 and 2024, an already fragile child care system has been pushed even closer to the brink.”
The post Study: Waiting Lists for Child Care Assistance Nearly Doubled appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

Oakland Post

By National Women’s Law Center

The National Women’s Law Center released its annual State Child Care Assistance Policies report, finding that the number of children placed on waiting lists for federally funded child care assistance nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025 — and that number has only continued to grow.

The report serves as a key resource for state lawmakers, advocates, and policymakers by tracking state child care assistance policies and identifying where states are strengthening support for families and early educators — or falling behind.

“This deeply troubling increase in the number of children on child care waiting lists is the result of a failure to invest in this crucial sector,” said Karen Schulman, senior director of state child care policy and author of the report. “Since the expiration of tens of billions of dollars in federal child care funding in 2023 and 2024, an already fragile child care system has been pushed even closer to the brink.”

Key findings in the report related to waiting lists for child care assistance include:

• 17 states had waiting lists or a freeze on intake for child care assistance in February 2025, up from 13 states in February 2024.

• Approximately 106,700 children nationwide were added to waiting lists between February 2024 and February 2025, bringing the total to 225,500 children in February 2025 — a 90 percent increase compared to February 2024.

• The numbers climbed even further between February 2025 and summer/fall 2025, with more than 175,000 additional children added to state waiting lists in just a few months — a 78 percent increase.

• At least seven states newly began placing families on waiting lists or freezing intake, while at least 10 additional states saw their waiting lists grow, after February 2025.

The report also includes state-by-state data on key child care assistance policies, including income eligibility limits, parent copayments, provider payment rates, and eligibility policies for parents searching for work.

Click the link to learn more: Warning Signs: State Child Care Assistance Policies 2025.

The post Study: Waiting Lists for Child Care Assistance Nearly Doubled appeared first on BlackPressUSA.