RENO – Friends, family and political colleagues gathered today to honor and pay tribute to the first woman to serve in Congress from Nevada, the now 91-year-old Barbara Vucanovich.

About 250 guests gathered at Rancharrah for the celebratory dinner, which not coincidentally raised a healthy sum for Republican candidates in the November general election.

U.S. 395 has been closed six miles south of Gardnerville after a thunderstorm washed parts of a hillside into the roadway. Nevada Highway Patrol said no injuries were reported, but that one vehicle ruptured an oil pan after hitting a large rock.

Update from NHP:

As of 4:20 pm, northbound traffic will be held at the Holbrook Junction (US395/SR208) and southbound traffic is being held or turned around on the south side of Gardnerville. Trooper Dan Lopez is reporting that it’s beginning to rain again in that area so a definitive time on the re-opening of the highway is questionable.

CARSON CITY – After hitting a three-year low in May and June, Nevada’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped four-tenths of a percentage point in July to 12 percent, the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) reported today.

The newspaper headline on page one on Aug. 15, 2002 said it all:
“They made it!”
Yes, they did! And, they did it in record-setting style.
Four athletes, who are personal friends of Elaine and I, completed 10 very physically and mentally-demanding challenges in a period of 10 grueling days, way back in 2002.
I know because we were there for each and every one of those 10 memorable days that resulted in the very first Nevada 10-in-10 Challenge going into the Nevada record book.
Those four were Karl Horeis, Jeremy Evans, Rick Gunn and K. M. Cannon.