The State of Nevada faces almost a billion dollar budget shortfall. The Nuclear Energy Institute says there is a solution that requires no increase in taxes or cutting programs, but it comes with one very large string attached.

The NEI says the federal government could give the state $1 billion next year, effectively erasing the budget shortfall, but the state would have to drop any objection to shipping the nation’s nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

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 Gas prices just keep going up and up around the country and here in Las Vegas. We want to know what you think can be done to help Las Vegans deal with the problem of rising gas prices.

 Tim Russert, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” and its Washington bureau chief collapsed and died at work Friday after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 58. You can share your memories of him here.

 Gov. Jim Gibbons, who wants a divorce from first lady Dawn Gibbons, used his state-owned cell phone to send more than 860 text messages in one month last year to a woman he describes as a longtime friend. His wife has accused him of having a girlfriend. This very public couple is having a very public divorce. What do you think about it all? Does it affect how you think of Gibbons as Nevada’s governor?

Governor Jim Gibbons’ divorce has become a full blown scandal. First Lady Dawn Gibbons has accused her husband of having an affair with a married woman. She wants the court to open up the proceedings, which the governor had sealed.

At a news conference Wednesday, the governor snapped at reporters who asked about the first lady’s accusations. Gibbons says a response he had published earlier this week to an Elko newspaper is his final word on the divorce.

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Nevada Congressman Dean Heller has introduced a bill that would require all voter ballots to be printed in English only.

A provision to the Voting Rights Act requires cities and counties to provide bilingual ballots if 5-percent of the voting citizens speak little English. But Heller’s bill seeks to repeal that rule.

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Nevada has felt the pinch of a $500 million shortfall but projections now push the Silver State’s budget deficit to around $900 million. That puts state agencies on edge as they wait to hear where the axe will fall.

Systems like the correctional facilities are saying they can’t handle any more cuts without putting safety on the line. The number crunching has been done and the cuts are going to hurt much more than first thought.

“The last several months have shown us a rather disturbing trend and it goes to show you that even the best laid plans can often go awry,” said Governor Jim Gibbons.

Gibbons says many state agencies will likely have to slash their budgets an additional 3-percent. That’s on top of the already announced 4.5-percent statewide cutbacks.

“Our state government cannot then turn to those people who are doing with less and suffering from the escalating cost of everything to reach deeper in their pocket and take more out so we don’t have to make those tough decisions,” said Gibbons.

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Metro confirms that it’s looking into the purchase of high tech drones that could be tracking your moves from the sky.

While it’s not a done deal yet, the I-Team has learned the unmanned crafts are already zipping around above our heads.

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Harry Reid and President Bush are trying to help save people who are experiencing foreclosure issues. This new plan, Project Lifeline, may work for those of us in Nevada… or it might not. Do you think it will?

Have you ever seen or met a president of the United States? If so, what was it like? I grew up inside the beltway but it wasn’t until my brief move to New York that I saw one. I was walking down the street and saw a very elegant older woman and thought to myself, “Wow, she looks a lot like Rosalynn Carter….maybe I should look at the man she’s with. Oh wow, that’s Jimmy! Yep, it’s them.” How about you?