The most unsettling observation of "A Man of His Word," the biography of former state Sen. Bill Raggio, is how politics in Nevada over the past 40 years has dissipated from friendly partisanship into all-out warfare.

When Raggio, now 85, started as a state senator in 1973, many Democrats and Republicans were friends who usually accomplished legislative goals through compromise.

By the time he resigned in January after his Republican colleagues ousted him as their party leader for the sin of endorsing Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, compromise was a dirty word.

Students speak out in support of professor Tom Kubistant, whose human sexuality class has come under fire after a complaint by a student. They contradict Karen Royce's claim that they were required to masturbate. An independent investigator ruled that Royce's complaint was unfounded. For her part, Royce says she feels vilified for speaking out, and may appeal. Ron Knecht, member of the state Board of Regents and former Republican Assemblyman, says he's investigating this class, too, and feels it might cross the line between education and therapy.

That gives us an excuse to include the video again with the giant house cat or mountain lion walking in the background:

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Here we go again. The headline of this story says it's a Meet Your Merchant story about Hap-E-Dog Grooming, but the text of the story is about the efforts of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce to clean up trash and graffiti around the city.

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Here's a story about the city's biggest crafts fair that took place this weekend at Carson High School. The 17th annual fair attracted 120 vendors, filling the school with some early Christmas spirit.

Twenty-nine homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the dangerous wildfire that blasted out of the foothills of southwest Reno on Friday.

Firefighters expected to have the 2,000-acre Caughlin Fire fully contained today, with fire lines cut around fire areas.

Evacuated homeowners were allowed to return noon Saturday, most of them grateful to enter homes firefighters managed to protect from the wind-whipped firestorm. Others found smoking ruins.

CARSON CITY — A group seeking to evaluate the state’s foreclosure mediation efforts has been told it will be charged nearly $1 million to review records of the negotiations between banks and homeowners.

Civil Rights for Seniors, a California nonprofit group, wants access to the records to see how cooperative banks have been and to independently verify how successful the mediation program is.

The state argues privacy is key to the program’s success: If people believe information they present could become public, some might not participate.