At last, Nevada's not last

Usually any news from the Census Bureau means bad news for Nevada.

If the state is in the top 10, then it is for smoking deaths, teen pregnancies or the number of prisoners per capita.

It was getting to where a Nevadan had to take a perverse pride in the evils attributed to the state by statistics.

Then a ray of hope.

We may smoke a lot and have a ton of heart disease, but at least our residents aren't poor.

According to figures released by the Census on Wednesday, Nevada is right up there with Utah and Connecticut for the fewest residents in poverty.

One-tenth of Nevada's adults live below the poverty level, within two-tenths of a percent of Utah (often ranked near the top on the list of healthiest states).

The number of children living in poverty is at 14 percent, tied with Connecticut for ninth in the nation. The national average is 13.7 percent, skewed by New Hampshire's remarkably low 7.5 percent.

Even that 14 percent is too high and is nothing to be proud of.

But in a world where Nevada's name is too often linked to bad things, it is nice to know there is one place where we are not at the bottom of the list.