local government

Karen Abowd, Carson City Supervisor, Ward 1, hosts her monthly walkabout Friday, March 14 from noon to 1 p.m. at Mills Park. Everyone is invited to attend the event, which takes place the second Friday of each month.

“This gives the people an opportunity to openly discuss their concerns and ideas about a variety of topics impacting Carson City,” Abowd said. “More importantly, it keeps me in touch with where our constituency is coming down on these issues.”

Jason Woodbury filed Friday as a candidate for Carson City District Attorney. This marks Woodbury’s first run for office and he says he’s looking forward to it.

“The folks I’ve talked with have a keen sense of their local government, and they’ve shared a number of concerns with me already. I have been encouraged by the positive reception from the public,” Woodbury said. “In the coming months, I hope to hear more about the service they expect from their District Attorney’s office.”

At the Lyon County Commission meeting January 2, the commissioners voted 4-1 to grant a request from Comstock Mining Inc., to modify the county Master Plan and change the zoning, which would allow pit mining in and adjacent to Silver City.

Four of the Commissioners ignored the recommendation of the Planning Commission and the express wishes of the citizens of Silver City and voted without explanation to abandon precedent and acquiesce to the company's desires.

Karen Abowd, Carson City Supervisor, Ward 1, hosts her monthly walkabout Friday, Feb. 14 from noon to 1 p.m. at Mills Park.

“These monthly events play a critical role in keeping me in touch with the citizens of Carson City and allows me to hear directly about what concerns they feel are important and to hear ideas for our future,” Abowd said.

There are many things currently being considered by the Board of Supervisors, including ongoing discussions about the corridor project and creating a sustainable future for the Capital City.

One of the core principles of conservatism has always been the concept of limited government which demands giving citizens more control on how they shape their local environment and policy, which by extension places more emphasis on local government and the ability of the citizen to participate in the democratic process, giving more access of the citizen to their locally elected officials.

Nevada Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller jointly released a discussion draft Friday of the Nevada Sagebrush Landscape Conservation and Economic Development Act. The proposal would conserve sage-grouse habitat in Nevada while providing economic development opportunities to industries and local governments throughout the state.

On December 12, 2013 in coordinated efforts with the Carson City School Board and Board of Supervisors, the Library Trustees unanimously adopted Level Up, a strategic plan for learning 2014 – 2019, the library’s next five year plan.

“An educated, skilled citizenry will secure our future. The integration of the strategic plans and the exciting partnerships/collaborations demonstrate that collectively, community leadership gets it. We welcome the challenge and look forward to the possibilities,” said Library Trustee Chairwoman Sandy Foley.

Carson City placed third in the nation among local government websites and digital technology serving a population of 75,000 and under, according to the national research firm Center for Digital Government.

The ranking is behind Palo Alto, Calif., and Fayetteville, Ark., and marks the fourth consecutive year the city's website, Carson.org has ranked in the Center's top 10 list. The Center serves as an advisory institute that focuses on information technology policies and best practices.

(Reno, Nev.) The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) received a three-year $2 million grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for the Juvenile Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program.

Douglas County has re-launched last year’s popular budget challenge again, inviting citizens to an online conversation that will harness their input on the County budget.

Residents can participate in one of the budgeting exercises centered on the question, “How would you spend $500 to fund what is most important to you in Douglas County?”

Residents will also have the opportunity to make general comments about the budget process, upload photos or videos to illustrate their concerns or suggestions and put a value on the priorities they think are most important.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong will run for a fourth term as the capital city's top law enforcement officer, announcing his 2014 re-election intentions Tuesday.

In what Furlong described as three "politically quiet but challenging years," crime statistics have trended downward since the 2010 election, which is remarkable given Carson City's economic climate as it continues to deal with the effects of a deep, prolonged recession.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval issued an executive order this week that directs all state agencies to make a concerted effort to include persons with disabilities in the preliminary and final group of candidates considered for employment.

The executive order is intended to allow people with disabilities greater opportunity to enter the workplace and to lead the way for businesses and other organizations to do the same, according to a news release from the governor's office.

It has been 17 years since President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore stood on the shores of Lake Tahoe and issued a challenge. They urged the frequently fractious perspectives in the region to come together in support of the restoration of Lake Tahoe.

I fly the flag every day. The kids even bought a solar powered spot light so we can leave it out at night. I do it in honor for the time, before the renewed Muslim war against the world and before the “patriot” act, when people here and abroad knew that the American flag stood for liberty and liberation from tyranny.

But now…?

Now I look at the stars through teary eyes as each star is morphing into a swastika or a hammer-and-sickle — or is it a crescent moon?

by NATASHA VITALE

A Nevada Assembly committee supported banning most “horse tripping” for sport, entertainment, or practice Thursday, sending a bill to the full Assembly.

State Senate Bill 72 was one of many bills prohibiting animal cruelty that were discussed in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday. It bans horse tripping unless it is part of an event that is allowed by the local government.

The bill passed the committee by a vote of 10-2, with Assemblymen Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, and John Ellison, R-Elko, opposing the bill.

AB 312 which is now currently before the Senate Government Affairs Commission, and was submitted by Republican Assemblyman and former member of the Carson City Board of Supervisors, Pete Livermore, strikes at the very heart of our democracy.

It is a despicable piece of legislation motivated more by vindictiveness on his part towards the citizens of Carson City, coupled in part by his ineffectiveness as a state legislator.

Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei announced Wednesday the re-introduction of his "Small Lands Tracts Conveyance Act" (H.R. 1633) to accelerate the process for transferring small parcels of federal land to local communities.

In western states, straightforward, non-controversial public land sales to decrease the vast federal inventory and promote local control can take more than a decade to complete. While Amodei believes there should be scrutiny for any sale, he cites the bureaucratic regulatory maze and slow legislative process as the main culprits in dragging out the transfers.

St. Teresa of Avila Catholic School eighth graders Margaret Rich, vice president student council and Alejandro Escobar, council secretary, recently spent a day with the Carson City Board of Supervisors.

Former Carson Mayor Harold Jacobsen was honored and given a presentation and took pictures with the board and the St. Teresa students.

When most of us spend our personal funds for a good or service, we strive for maximum value because our funds are finite.

Public spending, whether at the Federal, state or local level, occurs because of borrowed money, taxes and user fees ultimately paid for by an overlapping pool of individuals and businesses.

The future of Burning Man could be at the center of another potential legislative push in Carson City, this time at the hands of local government associations seeking to bolster local control over events that happen on federal land.

Now here is a story that SHOULD make your blood boil, especially because for some reason the story “hit” on Christmas Eve.

Pension Politics: California system plays hard ball in court – Opinion – ReviewJournal.com
http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/pension-politics-california-system-...

Closing out a multi-year process to update the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board is scheduled to vote Wednesday, Dec. 12 on the updated plan and supportive environmental documents at Harveys Resort convention center in Stateline.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. with brief statements by state leaders whose leadership resulted in key compromises allowing the plan to move forward, according to TRPA officials.

As a matter of law, the Nevada state constitution requires a balanced budget. As a matter of economic law and history, raising taxes will never balance a budget. It never has and never will. If a budget cannot be balanced without tax increases, it will never be balanced afterwards. The reason is simple, raising taxes decreases tax revenues and strangles growth. Many Nevada taxpayers believe that our legislators seek to redistribute our tax dollars to buy votes or political power rather than serve the public good.

This information is in response to several recent letters to the editor that have proposed the consolidation of libraries in Carson City. Our goal is to provide our community a better understanding of the types of libraries in Carson City. It is true there are libraries who serve the public in Carson City, but Carson City Library is the only “public library.” The other libraries are not “public libraries” and here is how they differ:

CARSON CITY – Democratic state Senate candidate Kelli Ross said today that she is the “union” candidate in the District 18 race in Las Vegas, while Republican Scott Hammond said he will listen to but not vote in lockstep with labor in the Legislature.

UPDATE 8PM: The U.S. Forest Service reports Friday night that the fire burning on the Douglas County side of Lake Tahoe on public land off of Elks Point Road has been contained at 2.6 acres. Cheva Heck, spokeswoman for the Forest Service, said local government resources assigned to the fire are being released. An engine will remain at the fire site overnight. The cause of the fire is under investigation. "We have no reports with lightning or problems with power lines. The fire is believed to be human caused," she said.

CARSON CITY – The potential viability of Yucca Mountain as a long-term repository for nuclear waste was the focus of yet another discussion in Nevada today as lawmakers serving on the Legislative Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste heard status reports on the now defunded project.

CARSON CITY, NV – Governor Brian Sandoval today commended the work of the Nevada Sage-grouse Advisory Committee which issued recommendations yesterday on a course of action that provides conservation measures sufficient to preclude the need to list the Greater Sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

“I thank the Advisory Committee, its Chairman, Bob Crowell and each of the members for their diligent and timely work on this very important issue,” Governor Sandoval said. “Representatives from a cross section of our state collaborated in an effort to conserve the Greater Sage-grouse species while maintaining predictable and multiple uses of private, state and public lands. I look forward to reviewing the Committee’s recommendations.”

CARSON CITY – The state Board of Economic Development today unanimously signed off on a package of tax breaks to bring Apple to Reno, but the panel found it had little authority over the deal reached after several months of closed-door negotiations.

CARSON CITY – A libertarian think tank’s legal team has filed an opening brief in a case before the state Supreme Court seeking to pursue its separation-of-powers lawsuit aimed at state lawmakers who also work in state government jobs.