DC

There’s no better moment than Lake Tahoe in the fall to showcase our world class climbing and bouldering by creating the first ever Lake Tahoe Climbing Festival & Bouldering Competition in Meyers on Sept. 17, 2011.

CARSON CITY – Assembly Speaker and announced candidate for Congress John Oceguera acknowledged today that a number of Democrats are seeking seats in the House of Representatives in the 2012 election, and that hopefully any costly primary battles can be avoided.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s First Lady Kathleen Sandoval is one of only 24 nonprofit leaders in the nation to be selected for the American Express Leadership Academy sponsored in collaboration with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval had a teleconference with the Nevada press today from Kuwait, where he is staying in the midst of a week-long trip to the Middle East, including visits with Nevada troops at several bases in Iraq.
Sandoval left Monday with the governors of Kentucky, Tennessee and Utah on the trip, and he expects to return this weekend.

Blackbane, a nine-member Lassen High School alumni rock band who began the group's first incarnation nearly 30 years ago, will play together again this weekend at Black Tangerine in Reno, after reconnecting on Facebook.

"None of this would have happened if it weren't for Facebook," said Joe Moody, drummer and one of three members of the original band, Rocksalt. "I stayed in touch, playing over the years with a couple of the guys, but there were other members who had fallen off the face of the earth."

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s skilled nursing homes avoided the deepest cuts initially proposed by the Sandoval administration to pay for serving Medicaid clients, but the reimbursement rate is still inadequate to cover actual costs, an industry official said today.
The industry is also concerned that any resolution to the federal deficit discussions under way in Washington, DC, could further exacerbate the economic challenges facing it, said Daniel Mathis, chief executive officer of the Nevada Health Care Association.

CARSON CITY – Term limited Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, today announced he will run for Congress in one of four districts that have yet to be finalized in Nevada’s contested redistricting process.
Oceguera, a native fourth-generation Nevadan, said he wants to bring his skills in finding compromise on difficult issues honed in the Nevada Legislature over the past nearly dozen years to the House of Representatives.

CARSON CITY – Thousands of Nevada residents who rely on financial assistance to pay their power bills likely won’t get help this year because of federal funding cuts, a state agency reported today.
Miki Allard, staff specialist with the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, said federal funding for Nevada’s Energy Assistance Program will amount to only $4 million this year, down from $15.8 million in the fiscal year that just ended June 30.

CARSON CITY – Attorneys for the state Democrat and Republican parties argued their cases Tuesday before the Nevada Supreme Court over whether they should pick their candidates for the special election to fill the vacant 2nd Congressional District seat, or whether it should be a “ballot royale.”

"Green Lantern," the current DC Comic ripoff now playing at the Fandango Galaxy cineflex in Carson City, is all about a corps of Green Lantern good guys who protected the universe from evildoers such as Parallax, the baddest bad guy around.

Movie starts with Temuera Morrison as Abin Sur getting hit by Parallax while sledding through space and crashing on a rocky beach. With his dying breath he send his powerful Green Lantern out to find someone to replace him in guarding Earth from Parallax.

Thirty-three religious leaders from all over USA, including one from Switzerland, are attending this innovative seminar, who include Christian (various denominations), Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Quaker, Unitarian, Wiccan, etc. This maiden seminar of the Seminary will reportedly become its annual feature.

CARSON CITY – Recently announced U.S. Senate candidate Shelley Berkley spoke to the Nevada Legislature today, stressing education, infrastructure and energy independence as ways to create jobs and get the state back on track.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A hearing room was packed today with labor and business representatives for a legislative committee’s consideration of a package of bills aimed at curbing the misuse of independent contractors.

By Elizabeth Crum / Nevada News Bureau
At 8:12 a.m. this morning, Rep. Dean Heller finally sent an email to his supporters announcing the U.S. Senate run I confirmed here last week.

Heller has a pretty new campaign website, and here is the text of the email:

Friend,

CARSON CITY – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a first-of-its-kind economic study today identifying stalled energy projects – including 10 in Nevada – that are costing billions of dollars in lost gross domestic product.
The study says the delays are costing the state’s economy $66.9 billion in GDP and that 86,700 jobs a year could be created in Nevada during the construction phase of the projects.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval said today he had productive meetings in Washington, DC, including talks with federal officials about clearing the way for permits to be approved so mining companies can expand and hire more workers.
Sandoval said there are several permits awaiting action that mining officials have told him could lead to the creation of 1,000 high-paying jobs in rural Nevada.
Creating jobs in Nevada is Sandoval’s top priority as governor. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation and ranks first in home foreclosures as well.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval will propose a change to the retirement system for new state employees that would reduce their current pension benefits by one half and cut the long-term liability for taxpayers by the same amount, his chief of staff said today.

The UC Davis’s Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) in partnership with the Tahoe Expedition Academy (TEA) will host the sixth annual Science Expo on March 16.

The fair features interactive experiments and demonstrations for children from the third to sixth grade, ages 8 to 12 and their families. The event is free and will run from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village. Ice cream will be provided by Susie Scoops of Incline Village and UC Davis TERC.

Nevada State Senate and Nevada Assembly will open with ancient Hindu prayers in Sanskrit on Monday and Tuesday in Carson City.

Hindu leader Rajan Zed will recite from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures, in Sanskrit and then provide translation in English.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
Driving down debt and reining in federal spending might not two things people normally associate with Sen. Harry Reid, but that’s what he spent most of this time addressing on television tonight.
“We cannot sustain the spending of this country,” the Democrat said. “We cannot wind up being a Greece or an Ireland and default on our debt.”

Carl Kuhl, a state Parole and Probation employee of six years, has created a plan that he claims will eliminate Nevada's budget deficit within two years.

In a news release issued on Tuesday, Kuhl said his plan not only will reduce the budget deficit but also help repair Nevada's economy at the same time. It is a pretty big claim, he admits, coming from an Accounting Assistant I, an entry level position.

The city attorneys for the city of Sparks have a unique audience for an upcoming case: the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court agreed last Friday to decide if states can forbid elected officials from voting when they may have a conflict of interest. The case involves a Sparks city councilman, Michael A. Carrigan, who is represented by the city.

CARSON CITY – Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval today said he is disappointed with an order from a Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel dismissing Nevada’s legal challenges to the high level nuclear waste repository proposed for Yucca Mountain.

CARSON CITY – A federal appeals court today lifted a stay on cases challenging the U.S. Department of Energy’s authority to withdraw its licensing application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Despite the need for drastic spending reductions to balance Nevada’s budget, the government program that provides health care to the poor continues to expand, consuming a growing share of the state’s scarce state revenues.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
University of Nevada, Reno President Milt Glick has signed the “Campus Compact,” joining a national coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents who have committed their campuses to encouraging service learning and civic engagement.

By Sean Whaley /Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said this week he expects to see Harry Reid continue to help northern Nevada in a variety of ways now that he has won re-election in a bitterly contested Senate race.

Families by the dozens packed Carson Mall in Carson City on Saturday for the Healthy Kids, Happy Kids health fair.
The Kid's Talking Wall event for the month of November at the mall featured health screenings, exhibits, demonstrations, entertainment, games and prizes.

Obesity is a condition that affects many children in the U.S. and according to the CDC those numbers continue to rise. Join us this Saturday as we show you how to get active and stomp out obesity! The Carson Mall is hosting the Kids Talking Wall and this month it is featuring Happy Kids, Healthy Kids. This event is free to all families that would like to improve their health and get active. There will be healthcare professionals on site to answer your questions and to provide free dental, vision, and spinal health screenings.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Veteran Republican state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, won’t be minority leader in the upcoming 2011 session, withdrawing his name from consideration for the leadership post today after getting GOP criticism for backing Sen. Harry Reid in the Tuesday general election.