The folks over at Virginia and Truckee Railroad (the V&T) and the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau are giving away a pair of tickets for the Polar Express train that will run on Saturday, Nov 26, at 8:30 p.m. If you're on Facebook, hit the "like" button and write what you would name Santa's 10th reindeer. A winner will be picked on Thursday, Nov. 17 at noon.

At Western Nevada College, serving Carson City and six rural counties, the number of students is down nearly 25 percent at 4,277, the biggest percentage drop of any of the state's seven universities or colleges. Of these, 2,365 are full-time students, a 19.5 percent drop from a year ago.

KRNV Reno picked up on the story about Karen Royce, the student at Western Nevada College who complained about a human sexuality course where she said she was required to masturbate. (Check out the comments at the end of both of those links to hear from other students who think about the scandal.)

Here is video of the story:

The story also was mentioned on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, though he referred to WNC as "Western Nevada University." Congrats, WNC, Leno just gave you a promotion!

The charred body of a convicted sex offender who was recently questioned about the fondling of a 6-year-old Carson City girl was found in a burning boat Friday night by Washoe Lake.

James Floyd Raines, 70, was questioned last week about fondling the girl at his Bel Aire Way home. He was a Tier 1 sex offender, having been convicted in 1989 of lewdness with a child in Henderson and served four years in prison. He allegedly told detectives last week that he was not going back to prison.

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The Nevada Tax Commission is scheduled to vote on a measure on Dec. 12 that would limit some of the tax deductions that mining companies take. During the last legislative session, lawmakers learned the mining companies were taking deductions for activities not related to mining in Nevada, such as executive pay. The Nevada Mining Association says the changing in deductions could cost mining companies and extra $48 million a year.

Nevada mining operations are taxed on net proceeds, which allows them to deduct expenses, whereas most other states tax gross income. A controversy erupted earlier this year when it was revealed that the state didn't have any qualified auditors to oversee what the mining companies were claiming for expenses.

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Silver State Charter School's plan to move into their new location on Mallory Way has been delayed until early next year. The school's principal Alan Staggs is frustrated with some of the "loopholes" because the building has to be retrofitted to bring it up to a higher standard because it will be used as a school and not an office. The Nevada Insurance Division vacated the building last year when workers were sickened by a chemical used to clean bird droppings. The Staggs said that problem has been fixed.

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Gov. Brian Sandoval led the celebration of a new Native American cultural exhibit at Reno-Tahoe Airport on Monday. The governor said he got the idea for the exhibit from visiting other airports where there were similar displays. The event coincides with his signing of a proclamation declaring November as Native American Heritage Month. See the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5prbco90554