Co-moderated by journalist Sam Shad and Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Victor Joecks on the program Nevada Newsmakers, the debate comes with just over three weeks remaining before early voting begins.

In a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Attorney General Aaron Ford announced that his office had joined a $26 billion multistate settlement arrangement after backing away from it in August.

“The People’s Republic of China and other defendants intentionally misled the international community about the coronavirus and its devastating medical and economic effects,” said lawyer Robert Eglet. “It is believed that defendants intimidated doctors, scientists, journalists and lawyers and ordered the destruction of medical testing data which would have exposed defendants’ attempted cover-up.”

With the number of coronavirus cases in the Silver State on the rise, The Nevada Independent will be keeping you up to date on the latest here.

Campaign payments made by Fiore’s PAC to a business owned by her daughter highlight Nevada’s loose laws and oversight on political spending, especially with no clear definition of “personal use” or guidance on how to avoid ethical conflicts when paying family members out of campaign funds.

Shortly after sunrise on Tuesday, a small but solemn gathering took place at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater to mark the second anniversary of the darkest moment in Las Vegas history. Respectful tribute was paid, as it should always be paid, to the victims of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting. Not only to the 58 murdered, but also to the hundreds wounded and thousands whose lives were changed forever.

MGM Resorts International has agreed to pay up to $800 million to the victims of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival shooting on the Las Vegas Strip in October 2017 that claimed the lives of 58 and injured more than 800.

Authorities say they are seeing fewer pharmaceutical drugs on the street — the number of opioid prescriptions has dropped from 74.9 per 100 Nevada residents in 2017 to 52 per 100 in 2018.  But experts worry they are in the midst of a “third wave” — a phase involving the rise of exceptionally dangerous synthetic opioids such as fentanyl that are either prescribed or illegally manufactured.

The contract is based on contingent fees, an arrangement wherein the state will pay nothing up front but will owe a certain percentage of any damages received if the state prevails in the suit. The percentages in the contract are based on the amount of damages recovered and whether they are paid prior to or after discovery in any court proceeding. It sets maximum recoverable amounts by the firm in the following ranges:

The announcement Tuesday comes after Ford’s office in January had received approval from state legislators to pursue outside legal help in a lawsuit against the nation’s largest opioid companies and after a declaration signed by Ford and Gov. Steve Sisolak finding the state needed “additional legal resources” for “comprehensive and effective litigation of matters related to the opioid epidemic.”