Nevada

CARSON CITY — U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., urged Nevada lawmakers on Monday to figure a way around the $2 billion-plus revenue shortfall faced by the state and fund public education and social services for children adequately.

CARSON CITY — Medical marijuana advocates testified Monday that a bill prescribing prison sentences for growing more than seven marijuana plants will prevent sick people from getting their “medicine.”

Gov. Jim Gibbons has asked state workers to take a 6 percent pay cut and pay more for health insurance, but some members of his own staff have gotten big pay increases over the past two years, prompting a public outcry.

CARSON CITY — Nevada lawmakers start the ninth week of their 2009 session on Monday with more hearings that are likely to produce challenges to deep budget cuts proposed by Gov. Jim Gibbons.

CARSON CITY — A state Senate panel was urged Friday to approve a power-of-attorney measure aimed at protecting Nevada seniors from abuses by caregivers and, in some cases, their own children.

CARSON CITY — A bill to prohibit motorists, including police and emergency personnel, from text-messaging on cell phones while behind the wheel won committee approval Friday and now moves to the full Nevada Senate.

CARSON CITY — Chancellor Jim Rogers urged legislators Friday to tell him the exact figure at which they will fund the Nevada System of Higher Education, not just offer more guesses on how much money will be available.

CARSON CITY — A Nevada Assembly panel voted Thursday to back a plan for a lottery in the nation’s No. 1 gambling state, despite arguments that it would compete with slot machines and other games of chance.