Nevada’s Gold Butte is rich in history.

Three separate American Indian cultures are known to have settled in the area; their petroglyph carvings, etched into the rocky hillsides. Mormons families settled the Bunkerville are in 1877 and Cliven Bundy’s family was a part of that early Nevada settlement.

That was then — this is now…

Bundy, the last remaining rancher in Clark County, is defying the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management as federal agents, including several snipers deployed near the rancher’s home in northeast Nevada. Bundy compares the situation to Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas.

The BLM has also started confiscating his cattle, claiming they’ve exhausted all other options. Agents have so far impounded around 400 of Bundy’s estimated 900 head of cattle.

News reports claim federal officials are considering auctioning the animals to buyers in Utah. However, a BLM spokeswoman says the agency has no plans to ship the impounded cattle off to auction, adding, “in the near future.”

The fight began when Bundy stopped paying the BLM’s grazing fee in 1993, arguing in court filings he had no obligation to pay the agency because his Mormon ancestors, long before the agency’s creation, had worked the land.

“Why should I pay BLM to manage me out of business?” Bundy asked the Las Vegas Review Journal rhetorically. “What I did is I fired the BLM.”

The land was finally declared off-limits for cattle in 1998 and became a designated habitat for the federally protected desert tortoise. That same year, a judge ordered Bundy to remove his cattle, which he refused to do.

“I’m protecting my rights as a rancher, and I’m also protecting the rights of all Clark County residents to access and policing power over this land,” Bundy says.

Yet in August of 2013, the BLM announced plans to kill hundreds of those same threatened desert tortoises it’s been caring for at Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. Federal officials blamed the mass euthanization on a lack of funds.

“It’s the lesser of two evils, but it’s still evil,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Desert Tortoise Recovery Coordinator Roy Averill-Murray told the Washington Post.

The BLM had been funding the conservation and research center with fees paid by those who disturb tortoise habitats. During the housing boom in the early 2000s, the conservation center had plenty of cash, since developers were often fined for disturbing such habitats.

Between August 2012 and the announcement, the BLM had only accumulated $290,000 in federal mitigation fees forced from developers. The Centers operating budget is about a million dollars annually.

The agency quickly back-peddled on its euthanization plan, claiming it would adopt-out some tortoises through the Humane Society, with the rest, if healthy, to be released into the wild. The San Diego Zoo currently manages the center under a 2009 partnership with the Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies.

Meanwhile, Bundy says he owes roughly $300,000 in back fees, but the federal government claims it’s more than that. In addition, the cost of removing the rancher’s cattle from the public land will cost taxpayers roughly $3 million, according to initial estimates.

As tensions mounted, their son, Dave Bundy, while filming agents near a spot designated “First Amendment Area,” was roughed, arrested and held overnight.  Officials cited him for refusing to disperse and resisting arrest.

“It was really just unreal to experience it,” Dave Bundy told Salt Lake City’s FOX13 News. “They believe that they can exercise unlimited authority, unlimited power upon its citizens, upon the citizens of our free America.”

Further violence was narrowly avoided, after a BLM agent tasered Ammon Bundy during a heated confrontation. That confrontation started after BLM agent knocked Cliven Bundy’s sister, Margaret Houston to the ground.

The incident, captured on video, is on YouTube.

Now several ‘Minute Men’ groups have arrived at the ranch. They say they are ready armed confrontation, but insist they will not start the shooting.

Both the BLM and National Park Service released a statement confirming a Bundy’s tasering. The agencies say the incident began when “a BLM truck driven by a non-law enforcement civilian employee assisting with gather operations was struck by a protester on an ATV, and the truck’s exit from the area was blocked by a group of individuals who gathered around the vehicle.”

As the stand-off continues, BLM Acting Deputy Director Neil Kornze, a former advisor to Senator Harry Reid, removed at least three reports from the agency’s website, BLM.gov. One of those documents, entitled “Cattle Trespass Impacts,” claims Bundy’s cows are impacting the building of “utility-scale solar power generation facilities” on “public lands.”

“Non-Governmental Organizations have expressed concern that the regional mitigation strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone utilizes Gold Butte as the location for offsite mitigation for impacts from solar development,” the document states, “and that those restoration activities are not durable with the presence of trespass cattle.”

Another BLM report, “Regional Mitigation Strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone (BLM Technical Note 444)” reveals the land in question is within the “Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone and surrounding area” and part of a U.S. Department of Energy program for “Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States” on land “managed” by the agency.

“In 2012, the BLM and the U.S. Department of Energy published the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States,” the report reads. “The Final Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement assessed the impact of utility-scale solar energy development on public lands in the six southwestern states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.”

“The Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments/Record of Decision (ROD) for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States implemented a comprehensive solar energy program for public lands in those states and incorporated land use allocations and programmatic and SEZ-specific design features into land use plans in the six-state study area.”

Furthermore, Harry Reid’s son, Rory Reid, is the chief representative for Chinese energy giant, ENN Energy Group, which is planning to build a $5-billion solar power and panel manufacturing plant on public land near Laughlin, Nevada.

As  reported by Reuter’s  in August 2012, “Reid has been one of the project’s most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on behalf of the project in Nevada. His son, a lawyer with a prominent Las Vegas firm that is representing ENN, helped it locate a 9,000-acre (3,600-hectare) desert site that it is buying well below appraised value from Clark County, where Rory Reid formerly chaired the county commission.”

Breitbart News Service discredits the Reid connection, calling it ‘myth busting.’

“Despite the obvious partisan gain to be had if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s son Rory (a failed 2010 Nevada gubernatorial candidate) had somehow been involved in a “land grab” affecting the Bundy family ranch operation — the facts just do not pan out as such. Indeed, Rory Reid did in fact have a hand in plans to reclassify federal lands for renewable energy developments. Just northeast of Las Vegas and Nellis Air Force Base, plans were drawn by Reid allies to potentially develop 5,717 acres of land for such use. While it would be fair to claim that such activity was in Bundy’s relative neighborhood, the federal lands once leased by the family were more than 20 miles away, east of Overton, Nevada. Contrasting maps offered by InfoWars and those entered into federal court record prove such a theory to be a stretch.”

And as the stand-off appears to be winding down, many on the ground are fearing that a “Black Flag Operation,” is now taking place. This comes after officials created a “No Fly Zone,” over the area, power to cell-phones towers being temporarily cut, the building of a ‘Forward Operating Base,’ in an adjacent valley and confiscation of personal weapons from Patriots.

Instead of de-escalation — a secretive plan to escalate the situation is in effect. According to the source, the government plans to take back ‘their land,” fulfilling international obligations, demonize any patriotic resistance and create a situation that will also advance the agenda of gun control and confiscation.

According to another source, the BLM wants to proceed with the sale of the cattle already gathered during the roundup but is reportedly willing to share the revenue from the sale with Bundy. Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie has been negotiating with Bundy behind the scenes for months reached a tentative agreement, though Bundy insisted the sheriff come to his ranch to finalize the arrangement face-to-face.

While being questioned about the Justice Department’s reluctance to hand over documents related to the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based Islamic charity that was shut down by the government for funding Hamas, Congressman Louie Gohmert brought up how the House held U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress in 2012 over the Fast and Furious gun running scandal.

“I realize that contempt is not a big deal to our attorney general, but it is important that we have proper oversight,” Gohmert said.

Holder snapped back: “You don’t want to go there buddy, all right? You don’t want to go there, OK?”

“I don’t want to go there?” Gohmert responded.

“No,” insisted Holder.

“About the contempt?” Gohmert asked. “You should not assume that this is not a big deal to me. I think that it was inappropriate. I think it was unjust. But never think that that was not a big deal to me. Don’t ever think that.”

“Well I’m just looking for evidence. And normally we’re known by our fruits,” Gohmert added. “And there have been no indications that it was a big deal, because your department has still not been forthcoming in producing the documents that were the subject of the contempt.”

The Texas Congressman shouldn’t be surprised — after all Holder recently told a House appropriations subcommittee that law abiding citizens should be tracked by the government when carrying a firearm.

“By making them either through finger print identification, the gun talks to a bracelet or something that you might wear,” Holder told lawmakers, “how guns can be used only by the person who is lawfully in possession of the weapon.”

The Justice Department has requested $382.1 million in increased spending for its fiscal year 2014 budget for “gun safety.” Included in the proposal is $2 million for “Gun Safety Technology” grants, which would award prizes for technologies that are “proven to be reliable and effective.”

A charter bus and a FedEx semi-truck collided on Interstate 5 north of Highway 32 near Orland Thursday afternoon leaving both drivers and seven high school students dead with another 32 injured. The two vehicles also caught fire leaving charred hulks on the side of the road.

The California Highway Patrol says the driver of the semi-truck was heading south when the vehicle crossed the center divider, crashing head on into the bus. There were 46 passengers, all students from the Southern California area heading to Humboldt State University in Arcata for the schools April 12th Spring Preview Day.

Investigators say the truck driver may have been trying to avoid a Nissan Altima that was also involved in the crash. The bus belonged to Silverado Stages, a tour bus company based out of San Luis Obispo.

Parents and family members of students who were on the bus may contact university police for more information at 707-826-5555. They can also visit the American Red Cross website to search for loved ones.

UPDATE 04/11/2014: CHP says ten people died including the two drivers, five students and three chaperones.

“The war on drugs brought in more drugs and the war on terror brought in more terrorists. Maybe next year we can have a war on money and jobs and see where that goes,” writes Occupy Portland.

Their premise is in error.

The federal government has not done a good job in ending drugs entry into the U.S. because it will not seal the borders. As for terrorists — again the fed’s are treating them as an organization and not an ideology — battling as if it were a war of attrition.

The only war the federal government has fought correctly is the one on money and jobs. Jus’ look at how weak the U.S. economy has been since 2007.

Hillary Clinton was ready with a quip after a woman threw a shoe at her as she took the stage for a Las Vegas speech.

Security at the Mandalay Bay casino resort ushered out the woman, who is now in federal custody after the incident at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries meeting.

“My goodness, I didn’t know that solid waste management was so controversial,” Clinton said. “Thank goodness she didn’t play softball like I did.”

Clinton dodged the object, which sailed past her head.

Mark Carpenter, a spokesman for the recycling institute, said the woman was not affiliated with the organization nor credentialed for the event.

“Our staff denied her access before she later rushed past security,” Carpenter said in a statement. “An ISRI staffer then stopped her as she approached the stage. She was then handed over to law enforcement.”

Jerry Simms, the outgoing chairman of the recycling institute, offered a “deepest apology for that crude interruption.”

The organization represents more than 1,700 companies that process, broker and industrially consume metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics and textiles. Both Clinton and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak spoke at the meeting.

Clinton, who has said she’s thinking about running for president in 2016, has been making paid speeches and is finishing a new book about her State Department days that will be released June 10. She’s on a three-state swing of the West Coast.

The Clinton incident evokes a 2008 event in which an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at President George Bush in Baghdad.

In May 2006, it was discovered that had Reid accepted free ringside tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing. He took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003 and 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing commission that Nevada’s agency feared might usurp its authority.

He defended the gifts, saying that they would never influence his position on the bill and he was simply trying to learn how his legislation might affect an important home state industry.

“Anyone from Nevada would say I’m glad he is there taking care of the state’s number one businesses,” he said. “I love the fights anyways, so it wasn’t like being punished,” added the senator, a former boxer and boxing judge.

Senate ethics rules generally allow lawmakers to accept gifts from federal, state or local governments, but specifically warn against taking such gifts, particularly on multiple occasions, when they might be connected to efforts to influence official actions. Two senators who joined Reid for fights with the complimentary tickets took markedly differently steps.

Senator John McCain of Arizona insisted on paying $1,400 for the tickets he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight. Senator Ensign accepted free tickets to another fight with Reid but already recused himself from Reid’s federal boxing legislation because his father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

Reid defended his decisions to accept the tickets and to take several actions benefiting former lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s clients and partners as they donated to him.

“I’m not (a) goodie two shoes, I just feel these events are nothing I did wrong,” Reid said.

On September 4, 2008, a Washington court found Abramoff guilty of trading expensive gifts, meals and sports trips in exchange for political favors, and U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle sentenced him to a four-year term in prison, to be served concurrently with his previous sentences. Abramoff cooperated in a bribery investigation leading to 21 people either pleading guilty or being found guilty, including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and Congressional aides.

Reid, who voted in support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, had changed his mind by March 2007, when he voted in favor of “redeploying US troops out of Iraq by March 2008”.

Reid said on April 19, 2007, “I believe, myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense, and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.”

He also said, “As long as we follow the President’s path in Iraq, the war is lost.”

A year later, while speaking about Senator Obama as a presidential candidate, Reid stated that Obama was a viable candidate because he was “light skinned” and had “no negro dialect unless he wanted one.” Although Republican leaders called for his resignation, Reid apologized to President Obama and African-American leaders and remained in power.

In July of 2012, Reid was interviewed by the Huffington Post. In that interview, he asserted that he had been contacted by a source whom he found to be credible and told that Mitt Romney had not paid taxes for a ten year time period while he was employed at Bain Capital.

Reid also stated that Romney’s father would be ashamed at the fact that his son had released only two years of tax returns as compared to his father’s decision to release 12 years when he ran for President.

Senator Reid continued by stating that a person who used to work at Bain capital had contacted him and stated that Governor Romney did not pay taxes for at least a 10 year span while working at Bain.

“His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son,” reports the Huffington Post. (His source called and told him) … Harry, he didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years. He didn’t pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain. But obviously he can’t release those tax returns. How would it look?”

Reid adds, “You guys have said his wealth is $250 million. Not a chance in the world. It’s a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don’t pay taxes for 10 years when you’re making millions and millions of dollars.”

The interview caused a media problem for Reid, so he spoke on the Senate floor on August 2, 2012 about the matter, reapplying his opinion.

“When we’re talking about trust, we need to look no farther than my friend the Republican Leader wants to be president of the United States,” Reid said. “He’s refused to release his tax returns, as we know. If a person coming before this body wanted to be a cabinet officer, he couldn’t be if he did the same refusal Mitt Romney does about tax returns.”

“So the word’s out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for ten years,” Reid continued. “Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t. We already know from one partial tax return that he gave us, he has money hidden in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and a Swiss bank account. Not making that up, that’s in the partial year that he gave us.”

Meanwhile, Reid is busy rewriting both Nevada and U.S. history. When asked about renaming Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport during a ceremony in August 2012, at the airport’s new Terminal Three, he said he was for it — but that’s not all he had to say.

“Pat McCarran was one of the most anti-Semitic — some of you might know my wife’s Jewish — one of the most anti-black, one of the most prejudiced people who has ever served in the Senate,” said Reid, “It’s not a decision I’m going to make, but if you ask me to give my opinion, I don’t think his name should be on anything.”

McCarran was a United States Senator from Nevada from 1933 until his death in 1954. He was also Nevada Chief Justice, chairman of the Nevada State Board of Parole Commissioners, chairman of the Nevada State Board of Bar Examiners and district attorney for Nye County.

The only thing he was “anti-” on was Communism — which he hated with a passion.

This is the second time Reid has attacked a deceased Nevada politician. In 2009, he released his biography, “The Good Fight,” a play on words referring to his boxing background, claiming Nevada U.S. Congressman Walter Baring told him President John Kennedy’s assassination was “a good thing.”

The book comes with pictures. They fall between pages 116 and 117.

One of the photographs shows Reid in his Capitol policeman uniform, next to the Nevada Cherry Blossom Princess. Next to her is Nevada’s Democrat Congressman Walter Baring.

Baring was Nevada’s only Congressman at the time. Reid claims that on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated Baring told him it was good thing as JFK was leading the U.S. into Communism.

“There is no way my dad would have said anything like that, much less to Harry Reid,” said Jeff Baring, son of former Congressman Walter Baring, “Simply, no way.”

Then in April 2013, Reid nominated Las Vegas attorney Jennifer Dorsey to become a federal judge, however two senior partners at the law firm where Dorsey works made large contributions to the political action committee ‘Majority PAC’ founded by Reid to electing Democratic Senate candidates.

Records show Will Kemp made a $100,000 contribution, while J. Randall Jones made a $50,000 contribution. Critics are now questioning whether Reid’s support was “bought” with the law partners’ donations.

Dorsey donated $2,500 to Reid’s PAC in March 2012 after mentioning her interest in becoming a judge. That donation was also reportedly returned by Reid and his office took her name into consideration, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal: “Dorsey’s personal contribution to Reid’s campaign was returned as the senator weighed her possible nomination and wanted to avoid an appearance of conflict,” said Reid spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Dorsey along a party-line vote after the Federal Elections Committee determined the donations didn’t violate any laws. She received her commission on July 9, 2013.

Lastly, there are rumors that Reid is suffering from a mental illness, saying something, then denying it. If he is not mentally ill, then as one national radio talk show host put it, “Senator Reid is a liar.”

“We heard about the evils of Obamacare,” Reid stated from the Senate Floor in late February 2014, “about the lives it’s ruining in Republicans’ stump speeches and in ads paid for by oil magnates, the Koch brothers. But in those tales, turned out to be just that: tales, stories made up from whole cloth, lies distorted by the Republicans to grab headlines or make political advertisements…There’s plenty of horror stories being told. All of them are untrue, but they’re being told all over America.”

However, by late March of this year, Reid, again from the Senate Floor claimed he didn’t call anyone a liar.

“I have never come to the floor, to my recollection, I’ve never said a word about examples that Republicans have given regarding Obamacare and how it’s not very good,” said Reid. “Mr. President, the junior senator from Wyoming has come to the floor several times recently talking about the fact that examples that he and others Republicans have given dealing with Obamacare, examples that are bad, I’ve called lies. Mr. President, that is simply untrue…”

Either way, Reid has remained unscathed through all of this.

Over the course of 2001 through 2005, Reid collected nearly $68,000 in contributions from Jack Abramoff’s lobbying partners and clients. Reid took actions to support positions on issues that Abramoff promoted as a paid lobbyist.

Reid received money from Abramoff associates after opposing a minimum wage law in the Marianas which was defeated in the Senate. He also wrote letters and spoke out against the creation of Native American casinos which would have competed with casinos that Jack Abramoff represented.

Reid received money from these casinos at around the same time

Abramoff is a former businessman and con man who was convicted of both defrauding Native American Casinos and trading gifts, meals, sports events tickets, and trips for political favors. He was sentenced to a four year prison term for these actions, which was served concurrently for his convictions of defrauding Native American casinos.

These casinos include: Michigan’s Saginaw Chippewas, California’s Agua Caliente, the Mississippi Choctaws, and the Louisiana Coushattas. The charges against Abramoff included schemes where he would lobby certain laws which would hurt the casino’s business, and thus increase the demand for his services to defeat the legislation or proposal.

Abramoff was the top lobbyist for the Preston Gates & Ellis and Greenberg Traurig firms and a director of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, and Toward Tradition. Abramoff also worked for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands from 1995 to 2001.

Although Reid and Abramoff never personally met and Abramoff never directly contributed to Senator Reid’s campaign, there was a great deal of contact between aides of the two offices and Abramoff did ask for donations to be made by the institutions that employed him as a lobbyist. According to documents and those familiar with the Abramoff team’s methods, the lobbyists devised lengthy lists of lawmakers to whom the customers should donate and then delivered the lists to the customers.

The entities, in turn, wrote checks to the recommended campaign committees and in the amounts the lobbyists prescribed. Much of the contact between Abramoff’s lobbying company and Reid’s office dealt with the Marianas Islands.

The Marianas, U.S. territorial islands in the Pacific Ocean, were one of Abramoff’s highest-paying clients and were trying to keep their textile industry exempt from most U.S. laws on immigration, labor and pay, including the minimum wage. Many Democrats have long accused the islands of running garment sweatshops. The islands in 2001 had their own minimum wage of $3.05 an hour, and were exempt from the U.S. minimum of $5.15.

In February 2001, Senator Ted Kennedy introduced a bill that would have raised the U.S. hourly minimum to $6.65 and would have covered the Marianas. The legislation, which eventually failed, would have given the islands an initial break by setting its minimum at just $3.5, nearly $3 lower than any other territory or state, and then gradually increasing it.

Within a month, Ronald Platt — an Abramoff deputy — began billing for routine contacts and meetings with Reid’s staff, starting with a March 26, 2001, contact with Reid chief of staff Susan McCue to “discuss timing and status of minimum wage legislation,” the billing records say.

In all, Platt and a fellow lobbyist reported 21 contacts in 2001 with Reid’s office, mostly with McCue and Reid’s Senate counsel Jim Ryan. One of the Marianas contacts, listed for May 30, 2001, was with Edward Ayoob, Reid’s legislative counsel.

Within a year, Ayoob had left Reid’s office to work for Abramoff’s firm, registering specifically to lobby for the islands as well as several tribes. Reid spokesman Jim Manley confirmed Ayoob had subsequent lobbying contacts with Reid’s office.

Manley cast doubt on some of the contacts recorded in the billing records, saying Reid Chief of Staff Susan McCue was out of Washington for a couple of the dates. But he acknowledged the contacts could have occurred by cell phone.

Reid himself, along with Ryan, met with Abramoff deputy Ronald Platt on June 5, 2001, “to discuss timing on minimum wage bill” that affected the Marianas, according to a bill that Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s firm, sent the Marianas.

Three weeks before the meeting, Greenberg Traurig’s political action committee donated $1,000 to Reid’s Senate re-election committee. Three weeks after the meeting, Platt himself donated $1,000 to Reid.

Manley said Reid’s official calendar doesn’t list a meeting on June 5, with Platt, but he also said he couldn’t say for sure the contact didn’t occur. Manley confirmed Platt had regular contacts with Reid’s office, calling them part of the “routine checking in” by lobbyists who work Capitol Hill.

As for the timing of donations, Manley said, “There is no connection. This is just a typical part of lawful fundraising.”

In January 2002, McCue took a free trip, valued at $7,000, to Malaysia with several other congressional aides. The trip, cleared by Senate ethics officials, was underwritten by the U.S. Malaysia Exchange Association, a group trying to foster better relations between the United States and Malaysia.

The trips were part of a broader lobbying strategy by Malaysia, which consulted with Abramoff and paid $300,000 to a company connected to him, according to documents released by Senate investigators. The arrangements included a trip by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his wife to Malaysia in October 2001.

While Abramoff worked behind the scenes, the Alexander Strategy Group run by two former DeLay aides, Ed Buckham and Tony Rudy, publicly registered to lobby for the U.S. Malaysia Exchange Association.

Rudy, who was cited in Abramoff’s court case, had worked temporarily for Abramoff before joining Buckham at Alexander Strategy, and the three men were friendly. In January 2002, Alexander Strategy arranged two congressional trips to Malaysia underwritten by the association.

One trip took a delegation of Republican congressmen. A Democratic consultant hired by Alexander Strategy, former Clinton White House aide Joel Johnson, invited McCue and went on the second trip with congressional staffers.

Johnson said he invited McCue on behalf of Alexander Strategy and went on the trip with her but said he knew of no connections to Abramoff. “My interest was in getting Democrats to travel to the country and to learn more about Malaysia,” Johnson said.

On March 5, 2002, Reid sent a letter to the Interior Department pressing the agency to reject a proposed casino by the Jena band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana. Fellow Nevada Senator, John Ensign, also signed.

The Jena’s proposed casino would have rivaled one already in operation in Louisiana run by the Coushattas, and Abramoff was lobbying to block the Jena. The day after Reid’s letter, the Coushattas wrote a $5,000 check to Reid’s Searchlight group at Abramoff’s suggestion.

Reid and Ensign later wrote the Senate Ethics Committee to say their letter had nothing to do with Abramoff or the donation and instead reflected their interest in protecting Las Vegas’ gambling establishments. Reid authored the law legalizing casinos on reservations, and has long argued it does not allow tribal gambling off reservations.

“As senators for the state with the largest nontribal gaming industry in the nation, we have long opposed the growth of off-reservation tribal gaming throughout the United States,” Ensign and Reid wrote.

On November 8, 2002, Reid signed a letter with California Senator Dianne Feinstein urging Interior Secretary Gale Norton to reject a proposal by the Cuyapaipe Band of Mission Indians to convert land for a health clinic into a casino in southern California. The casino would have competed with the Palm Springs gambling establishment run by the Agua Caliente, one of Abramoff’s tribes.

Two weeks later, Reid went to the Senate floor to oppose fellow Senator Debbie Stabenow’s effort to win congressional approval for a Michigan casino for the Bay Mills Indians, which would have rivaled one already operating by the Saginaw Chippewa represented by Abramoff.

“The legislation is fundamentally flawed,” Reid argued, successfully leading the opposition to Stabenow’s proposal.

The next month, Reid joined six other Democratic senators in asking President Bush in mid-December 2002 to spend an additional $30 million for Indian school construction. Several Abramoff tribes, including the Saginaw and the Mississippi Choctaw, were seeking federal money for school building. Six weeks after that letter, three Abramoff partners, including Platt and Ayoob, donated a total of $4,000 to Reid’s Senate re-election campaign.

Later in 2003, the Agua Caliente contributed $13,500 to Reid’s political groups while the Saginaw chipped in $9,000. Reid ten sent a fourth letter on April 30, 2003, joining Ensign a second time to urge Interior to reject the Jena casino.

Two months later, Abramoff’s firm threw a fundraiser for Reid at its Washington office that netted the Nevada senator several more donations from Greenberg Traurig lobbyists and their spouses. Ayoob was instrumental in staging the event, Reid’s office said.

Reid had separate meetings in June 2003 in his Senate offices with two Abramoff tribal clients and Edward Ayoob, a former staff member who went to work with Abramoff.

It appears ‘WordPress’ is abridging my freedom of speech and that of other users.

Last night I posted an article and was met with ‘Invalid key [4]. Back.  After some research I found out that it means ‘Contents of this topic are hidden until it has been reviewed by a staff member.’ And there is no one available to talk to about this.

Maybe it’s time to find a new blogging platform.

A native Nevadan is one of the sixteen soldiers wounded in the deadly shooting at Fort Hood. U.S. Army Private Deon Josephs of Las Vegas remains in the hospital, after being shot in the back.

“Deon made it through surgery the bullet is out of his neck with no complications from the surgery,” Deon’s brother, Darren Josephs posted, adding “He is very strong.”

Family members say Deon dreamed of joining the Army since he was a child, finishing boot camp and going active duty in November. He was planning on being a career officer.

Authorities say Ivan Lopez was upset after a being refused a leave of absence form. He then killed three people and injured 16 others before turning the gun on himself.

Lopez and Deon were friends and were assigned to the same unit.

The family is hoping to raise $50,000 at gofundme.com to help pay for the long-term stay they expect to endure as Deon recovers. Meanwhile a memorial service at Fort Hood is scheduled for Wednesday.

A year and a half later, Reid and the Nevada delegation tried again, inserting language moving the power corridor to the west side of the highway into a public land bill for Lincoln County. This time, Whittemore had to compensate the government on the basis of “fair market value,” but that was defined in such a way that would have required him to pay only about $160,000.

Drawing criticism, Reid and the delegation changed the cost provision to say government appraisers should figure what Whittemore had to pay, $10.4 million as it turned out. The bill became law in November 2004.

Jus’ before that bill was passed, Whittemore announced a deal with Westwood-based Pardee Homes to become Coyote Springs’ main residential developer. He also announced that Jack Nicklaus would design a set of golf courses to be known as the Bear Trail.

As the effort to clear a path for Coyote Springs moved forward, Whittemore showed his appreciation for the help Nevada politicians in Washington were giving him, especially Reid. Senator John Ensign and others got contributions, but much less than those given to Reid.

By the spring of 2005, only one step remained: securing a permit to deal with the stream beds and washes. That process, handled by the Army Corps of Engineers, seemed routine, but in late July trouble struck.

Alexis Strauss, an official in the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office that oversees Nevada, notified the Corps of Engineers that her office had concerns.

“We respectfully object to the issuance of a permit for the proposed project,” Strauss wrote, “because the authorization may result in substantial and unacceptable impacts to aquatic resources of national importance.”

The phrase, “aquatic resources of national importance,” was a designation that gave regional EPA officials leverage to press for environmental concessions.

As it happened, by the time Reid and Ensign had their conversation with the head of the EPA, Whittemore’s permit problem was all but over. On Sept. 16, Whittemore, Leif Reid and others had met with EPA and other federal officials at the site and the atmosphere became conciliatory.

Coyote Springs agreed to leave several washes untouched, reduced the number of acres of waterways to be filled in and pledged to make environmental improvements on 19 acres of other wash land. And Whittemore promised not to disturb the Pahranagat Wash, which runs through the site.

Since Pahranagat is subject to flash flooding, development there was impractical, but Whittemore made its protected status official.

“They took our concerns seriously,” Vendlinski said.

For their part, the regional officials were not looking for a fight. Whittemore had demonstrated that he could bring Reid and Ensign into the game. Privately, some regional EPA officials said they knew their superiors in Washington would not support a hard-line on aquatic resources.

The regional officials not only withdrew their objections, but in April 2006 they also gave Whittemore’s project an award for “environmentally sensitive improvements” in its plans. A smiling Leif Reid accepted the award.

“One year and $1 million in consulting fees later, we got our permit,” Whittemore said ruefully in an interview in May. “It is the right thing to do,” he said, “and there is an economic incentive in making the project proceed.”

As Coyote Springs grows onto the Lincoln County part of the site, more permits will be needed. But Whittemore’s dream is on its way to coming true.

Looking back, he expresses pride in the achievement, and in how far he went to meet environmental and other concerns.

“The final product is the most environmentally friendly development ever proposed in Nevada,” Whittemore said. “I want people to understand that I am the platinum standard.”

Since 2000, Whittemore, his wife and the Coyote Springs company have given Reid’s senatorial campaign and political action committees at least $45,000. That included $35,000 for Reid’s leadership PAC, the Searchlight Leadership Fund, which helped him advance as a Senate leader.

Most of that money was contributed in 2002 shortly after Reid introduced the Clark County land bill.

In 2000, Whittemore gave an additional $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Reid promoted as a party leader. Prior to 2000, the Whittemores had given Reid and his Senate campaign committee a total of $6,500, plus $5,000 for his leadership PAC.

Whittemore also helped Reid’s sons, all of whom at various times have worked for the law firm in which he is a senior partner, Lionel, Sawyer and Collins. Rory Reid is a partner in the firm.

When he ran successfully for the Clark County Board of Commissioners, Whittemore contributed $5,000. He also gave Josh Reid $5,000 for an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the city council in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Rory and Josh Reid have been active in Democratic politics.

Jon Summers, an aide to Reid, said, “Harvey Whittemore has a history of giving money to political candidates far and wide — and to both political parties. However, as a registered Democrat, it is only logical that he would give a larger percentage to Democratic candidates and committees.”

In 2001, the senator’s office established a rule that family members could lobby his office but could not get special treatment. In 2002, responding to questions by The Times, the rule was changed to prohibit any lobbying of Reid’s office by his family.

“For the last four years, our office has had a policy that Reid family members are not to lobby the office on business matters, even if those matters benefit Nevada,” Susan McCue, Reid’s chief of stated. “Leif is not a lobbyist, but he should not have called our office. I have reminded Leif of this policy to prevent future calls.”

Leif Reid did not respond to questions. The contacts by Leif Reid and others “were not an attempt to have Reid’s office direct the outcome of the federal permitting process,” Whittemore said.

Reid owns a great deal of land near Bullhead City, Arizona. In 2006, he sponsored an earmark to provide $18 million in funding to build a bridge to connect Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona. This bridge is near the property he owns and will undoubtedly increase the value of that land.

More than 20 years ago Reid purchased 100 acres of land roughly 3-5 miles from Bullhead City, Arizona for a price of $150,000. His longtime friend, Clair Haycock bought the remaining 60 acres for $90,000.

In the early 1990’s Californians bought the property from the two for $1.3-million. Those investors defaulted and the land was returned to Senator Reid.

In early 2002, Haycock sold out to Reid for $10,000, or about $166 an acre. At the time, the Mohave County assessor valued the entire parcel at $339,620, or more than $2,000 an acre.

In 2006, after the announcement of the bridge, a businessman bought land near Reid’s at a rate of $6,396 an acre. From 2001 to 2005, Reid disclosed that the property was worth $500,000 to 1,000,000.

Then, in 2006, after the earmark for the bridge went into effect, he indicated that the entire 160-acre property was worth only $150,000. In 2007 and 2008, Reid valued the asset at $250,000 to 500,000.

The proposed bridge between Laughlin and Bullhead City was not on the priority list sent to local members of Congress by either the Nevada or Arizona transportation agencies. But beginning in 2003, local supporters of the bridge, which would be the second span connecting the two towns, found a receptive audience when they approached some members of the Nevada and Arizona congressional delegations.

Civic leaders argued that an additional bridge was needed because traffic on the existing connector bridge, on the northern edge of Bullhead City, had become overwhelming Laughlin consists mainly of casinos and hotels, and has little housing or shopping.

Most of the casino workers live across the river in Bullhead City, which also has shopping and a hospital. Elected officials say both communities would benefit from a second bridge. Acting on a request from the town of Laughlin, Reid, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s transportation subcommittee, in 2003 secured $500,000 for preliminary studies.

Initially, Rep. Jon Porter, supported by Rep. Trent Franks, got $2 million for the bridge inserted into the House version of the transportation bill. By the time Congress approved the $286-billion transportation bill, $18 million more in bridge funding had been added.

Reid took credit in a news release for securing money that would kick the project into high gear. The bridge, still in the planning stages, is projected to cost $30 million to $40 million.

Arizona’s two Republican senators voted against the entire transportation bill as pure pork. Meanwhile, city and county officials say that land values have risen in Bullhead City as developers and speculators discover the area.

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog that tracks congressional spending said, “Unwittingly, the taxpayer may have helped inflate the value” of Reid’s property.

Finally, in March 2014, a sign promoting a future Interstate 11 from Las Vegas to Phoenix was unveiled at the stateliness of Nevada and Arizona at the Hoover Dam. The proposed roadway plan currently runs jus’ east of Bullhead City.

For several years, Reid donated funds from his re-election campaign to an employee holiday fund for the employees of the building where he resides. Although this appears to be in violation of federal election law and Senator Reid has reimbursed his campaign fund with his own money, Reid insists the use of the money was legal.

Federal election law permits campaigns to provide “gifts of nominal value” but prohibits candidates from using political donations for personal expenses, such as mortgage, rent or utilities for “any part of any personal residence.” The law specifically defines prohibited personal use expenses as any “obligation or expense of any person that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or duties as a federal officeholder.”

Reid and his wife live at Ritz-Carlton in Washington where they purchased a condo at the hotel for $750,000 in March of 2001. The residents of the hotel can give money for the holiday bonuses of the employees there through the Residents Executive Committee Holiday Fund.

The fund has been in existence for many years.

Reid gave the following donations to the holiday fund: $600 in 2002, $1200 in 2004 and $1500 in 2005 For two of those years, the donations are listed as campaign “salary” and one year, they are listed as a contribution.

When asked about the donations, Senator Reid stated: “These donations were made to thank the men and women who work in the building for the extra work they do as a result of my political activities, and for helping the security officers assigned to me because of my Senate position.:

Larry Noble, the Federal Election Commission’s former chief enforcement lawyer, said Reid’s explanation is aimed at a “gray area” in the law by suggesting the donations were tied to his official Senate and political work.

“What makes this harder for the senator is that this is his personal residence,” adds Noble, “and this looks like an event that everybody else at the residence is taking out of their personal money as they’re living there.”