Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Wooden Nickel to Congress for playing politics

The Nevada Appeal's "Silver Dollar" and "Wooden Nickel" feature recognizes positive achievements from the capital region and, when warranted, points out others that missed the mark.

WOODEN NICKEL: To the Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate for continuing to play politics on a bill to fund disaster relief. With partisan wrangling trumping good governance, it's no wonder Congress has such low approval ratings.

SILVER DOLLAR: To Dr. Peter H. Gott, the syndicated medical advice columnist whose last column appeared in Saturday's Nevada Appeal. Gott has spent 28 years advising readers on all sorts of medical questions, and his insights helped many. He'll be succeeded, beginning in today's Appeal, by "Ask Dr. K," written by Dr. Anthony Komaroff.

WOODEN NICKEL: To Texas Gov. Rick Perry for continuing to defend his state's practice of giving an in-state tuition discount to illegal immigrants attending college in his state. Under no circumstances should an illegal immigrant get a government benefit that's denied to American citizens who live in other states. We'd expect such foolishness from California - but Texas?

SILVER DOLLAR: To the Carson City Sheriff's Department for its trial of a high-speed license plate scanner that can single out stolen cars or wanted drivers much more quickly and efficiently than having an officer run plates manually.