I missed this one yesterday, that Assemblyman Cresent Hardy (R-Mesquite) introduced a bill to eliminate early voting in Nevada.

Huh?

Considering that early voting is hugely popular, accounting for about half of the votes in the last election, why does Hardy have a problem with this?

According to him, some group in Las Vegas who he will not name asked him to introduce the bill. Why would this group not want to be named?

Today we have started rolling out some changes for the Carson Now website.

First, you might notice a new bar at the top of the page when you start to scroll down. This makes it easy to search the web for items of interest without having to leave the site, as well as adding tools to share pages via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Next, try highlighting any text on the page, and you will see a little widget pop up that does a search for that term.

Anne Hansen from Western Nevada College talks about how the state's budget problems are affecting the school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3SlUYYiuLQ

Courtesy of GrandViewOutdoors.com
The bill to allow a small group of enthusiasts to hunt with spears has been stopped in the House.

The measure targeted at a subgroup of hunters who hunt like prehistoric man for sport was tabled in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee Friday.
The bill, which had already passed through the Senate, drew a large amount of public interest because of its unusual topic.

A Carson City Alternative Sentencing probation officer was charged today in a 22-count complaint that alleges he asked females he supervised to undress, in among other places their home and in his patrol car, or face jail. He also allegedly touched the females inappropriately. Read the full Reno Gazette-Journal story here.

UPDATE 4PM: Power was restored to about around 3,900 NV Energy customers in south Carson City and north Douglas County at about 3:30 this afternoon.

NV Energy reports crews continue work at the substation where the outage happened but managed to get electricity back on to the affected areas. Officials also revised the number of homes and businesses affected during the outage to around 3,900.

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A power outage this afternoon is affecting about 6,000 NV Energy customers in southern Carson City and northern Douglas County.

By Thomas G. Chase
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a repeal of Health Reform. Additionally, they passed budget cuts of $1.3 billion to existing funding for Community Health Centers (CHC’s).

Over the last 45 years, CHC’s have grown to provide primary care access to 20 million Americans. Study after study has shown that primary care in a CHC is less expensive and provides more reliable health outcomes than any other alternative for those with access challenges. Who is speaking for the needs of these patients?

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – When Amanda Collins testified before a Senate committee, she recounted an emotional story of her brutal assault at University of Nevada, Reno campus.
Collins said she was defenseless when serial rapist and convicted murderer James Biela attacked her in a UNR parking garage.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The city of Henderson is seeking legislation that one critic says would make it more difficult for Southern Nevada residents to challenge land use decisions by local governments.

Courtesy of www.GrandViewOutdoors.com
On a July evening a few years ago, a massive bull moose wallowed belly-deep in a small stream in the canoe country north of Ely. Facing the other direction, he had no idea a canoe was silently slipping up behind him. He kept dipping for the stems of water lilies and chewing them in the rich evening light.

We approached so closely that the 17-year-old in the bow of the canoe began backpaddling. He looked over his shoulder and shot me a silent glance that told me we were too close to that moose.
He probably was right.

Courtesy of GrandViewOutdoors.com
Alaska wildlife officials said last Tuesday that they were appalled the federal government rejected their plan to kill wolves to protect caribou on a remote Aleutian Island.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced this week it would not sign off on the state killing seven wolves in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge on Unimak Island.

By Wendy Madson, Healthy Communities Coalition liaison for school garden implementation

Nearly 2,000 students are getting their hands dirty in school gardens, thanks to a USDA grant received by Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey, a private nonprofit. This season school gardens are being created in Dayton and Silver Springs, and next season they'll be created in Yerington and Fernley schools.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Legislators would have to attend legislator school under a bill from Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas.
Assembly Bill 260 would make it mandatory for all new legislators to attend classes before the official start of the legislative session.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today signed the first two public policy bills of the 2011 legislative session.

Open burning will be permitted by the Carson CIty Fire Department between March 26 to April 24. Permits can be obtained at the local fire stations and online.

An open burn period allows residents the chance to dispose of weeds and yard debris. For safety reasons, the fire department will again require residents to obtain permit before burning is allowed. Permits will be issued on a walk-in basis beginning March 21 at the following locations:

All Carson City Fire Stations:
— Station 1 Headquarters at 777 S. Stewart St., Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Carson City Supervisor Shelly Aldean talks about the Carson City Center/Nugget Project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV3qETrL7DY

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s General Counsel Nicole Rinke resigned from her post today, according to an agency news release.

“We are grateful for Nicole’s four years of extraordinary service to TRPA and the Lake Tahoe Basin.” said Norma Santiago, TRPA Governing Board Chair, “On behalf of the Board, I’d like to thank Nicole for the energy and expertise she brought to the General Counsel position during a time in the Agency’s history when legal challenges are becoming more frequent and complex.”

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval was briefed on the Japan earthquake and Nevada’s readiness to deal with any local effects from the disaster during a visit today with the state’s emergency responders at the state Emergency Operations Center.

Responding to last week’s devastation in Japan, Charter Communications will waive all charges for direct dial long-distance calls to Japan from residential and business Charter Phone customers through April 30.

The free offer will be retroactive for calls placed to Japan from March 11, according to a statement from its Reno office.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in identifying two suspects who cashed fraudulent checks at the Carson Valley Inn last month.

The pair entered the cashier's cage at the casino on Feb. 24 and cashed fraudulent checks for an undisclosed amount of money. The incident was reported to the sheriff's office on March 11, according to Douglas County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Halsey.

The suspects are believed to be part of a group of suspects who have recently cashed counterfeit paychecks at several Northern Nevada area casino, he said.

CARSON CITY – Nevada and Georgia tied as the two states with the highest entrepreneurial activity rates in the country, according to the “Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity,” a leading indicator of new business creation in the United States.
The annual index shows that Nevada and Georgia both had 510 per 100,000 adults creating businesses each month. They were followed by California at 470 per 100,000, Louisiana at 460 and Colorado at 450.

PRESS RELEASE — The League to Save Lake Tahoe is voicing its opposition to the size and scale of a large hotel project on Tahoe's North Shore called Boulder Bay, which is slated for a final vote before the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on March 23.

The project violates the intent of the bi-state Tahoe Regional Planning Compact, which is a Congressionally-approved agreement between California and Nevada to strongly protect Lake Tahoe from the increasing urbanization that is threatening the region's environmental values.

A breakfast meeting and export achievement certificate presentation is part of the March 30 gathering of the Northern Nevada Development Authority.
The meeting will be at the Carson Valley Inn, 1627 Highway 395, Minden.

Doors open at 7 a.m.; buffet breakfast at 7:30; program begins at 7:45 and ends at 9 a.m. The cost is $20 per person with reservations or $35 at the door. Prepay for best networking. Click here to sign up.

By the Nevada Department of Wildlife
Eligible hunters who have purchased their waterfowl stamp ‘privilege” over the internet or at Point of Sales locations also have the opportunity to receive the actual physical stamp at the end of the license year.

For the purist, or for nostalgia’s sake, many hunters like to maintain a real copy of the year’s stamp, and this NDOW offer allows just that.