By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons has appointed Sue Lowden to the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners. Lowden has lived and worked in Nevada for more than 30 years. She is a former Nevada state senator who recently ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

A Lake Tahoe area public-private energy organization and the U.S. Energy Department have teamed up to make renewable energy more commercially available.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Incline Village-based Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization today announced their collaboration to accelerate the commercialization of a clean technology innovation owned and developed by the Laboratory.

CARSON CITY – Secretary of State Ross Miller today asked the state Board of Examiners to adopt a new rule requiring private employers who are awarded state contracts to use the federal E-Verify® program to ensure that only eligible workers are hired at their companies.
Miller asked that the board take up the issue at its next meeting in January.

RENO, Nev. — Gary Blomquist, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, has won the Entomological Society of America’s prestigious Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology. He was honored at the Society’s annual meeting in San Diego Sunday.

A Carson City man faces several felony charges including methamphetamine trafficking after being stopped by the Nevada Highway Patrol on Sunday.

Clint G. Malone, 27, is being held at the Washoe County Jail and faces charges of meth trafficking, driving under the influence, speeding, driving on a suspended driver's license and two misdemeanor traffic-related failure to appear warrants. The bail amount was set at $22,054.

By Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Lobbyists and policy-makers who can’t wait to get a jump on the 2011 legislative session can start their reading assignments now.
Forty-four bills have already been drafted and pre-filed on the Legislature’s website in advance of the session that will begin Feb. 7.

Join the Brewery Arts Center and the BAC to Broadway Kids for one of America's favorite Christmas stories and now a classic stage play, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."
The tale has been a favorite of young readers since 1972. Funny, memorable and outrageous. Performances are in the Maizie Harris Jesse Theater at the Brewery Arts Center on Friday and Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. For tickets call (775) 883-1976.

Join the Carson City Chamber of Commerce in welcoming the Business Resource Innovation Center with an official grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony today at 4:30 p.m.

Located at 108 E Proctor Street across from City Hall, the center brings together the building, planning, business license and business development departments under one roof for the first time. The center also makes resources from the Carson City Library available for those who need to do research for starting or expanding their businesses.

CARSON CITY – Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval said today he is pleased with the ruling by a federal judge in Virginia finding a key element of the new national health care law unconstitutional.

Western Nevada College offers a diverse series of art exhibits through Thursday, Jan. 27. An exhibition of life drawings in ink by Alison Harris explores the reality of three women through a series of drawings and paintings. Jill Brugler's colorful and playful "Stream" exhibit gives visual form to feeling using clay and steel. Michelle Legras Peltier's "My Work is My Prayer" portrays her personal vision of what she sees and experiences on treks through Nevada's mountains and deserts

The Red Hut in South Lake Tahoe will host a Burger Night fundraiser to benefit the Heavenly Ski and Snowboard Foundation.

Looks like Carson Now is running a Christmas light contest, showcasing some of the displays around town. First prize is a $100 gift certificate to Ti Amo at the Fandango, so there’s some incentive, and it looks like the contest is still open for nominations if you have a favorite house, or even your house, that you’d like to submit. Voting has already started though, so houses going in now are at a bit of a disadvantage.

RENO, Nev. – University of Nevada, Reno Orvis School of Nursing researcher Michele Pelter has been awarded $377,000 from the National Institutes of Health to study detection of ischemia, a condition that can lead to heart attacks.

Over the two-year course of the study, Pelter will work with two local cardiologists, Dr. Richard Ganchan and Dr. Anita Kedia, who will serve as consultants on the study. She wants to see if different monitoring of patients experiencing symptoms of possible ischemia could lead to better care.

At least 24 million people in the U.S. struggle with addiction to alcohol and other drugs. The good news is that millions in recovery stand as evidence that there is hope – people can stop using, reconnect with family, and go on to productive, happy lives. The Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey is one group promoting the fact that recovery is possible, prevention works and treatment is effective.

Winter is the time of year that seems to go on forever. Shorter daylight hours, cold temperatures and house-bound kids. And if you do go outside you wear so many clothes your knees won't bend.
What type of exercise would tempt you to brave the cold --- Sledding! Remember when you were young and fresh snow was an exciting part of your day? I’ll bet as you aged you lost sight of all that fun. Just imagine the calories you can burn when you force yourself to have fun with a sled!

The following Carson City road information applies to the period of Dec. 13-19, 2010:

The Nevada Department of Transportation will continue working on a freeway landscaping project at the Fifth Street overpass over the freeway and at the Fairview Drive Interchange. Single lane closures are expected on the northbound on ramp from Fairview Drive to the Freeway. No delays are expected. Single lane closures with flaggers are also expected on Fairview Drive and on 5th Street in the vicinity of the Freeway, with minor delays expected.

Well worth the wait and tremendous cost savings to taxpayers, the Roop Street road construction project in Carson City will be celebrated on Thursday, Dec. 16 with a ribbon-cutting dedication ceremony.

After nearly a year's worth of "road closed" signs accompanied by a few already-late-for-work-motorists with finger-gesture and other anger management-related issues, the $4.1 million reconstruction and widening project will permanently reopen following the public ceremony at the corner of William and Corbett streets.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley yesterday spoke out in opposition to her fellow House Democrats and supported President Obama’s tax deal to extend tax relief to all income brackets.
Her position was stated incorrectly in last night’s political segment on KTNV-TV Channel 13.
I regret the error.

CARSON CITY – A federal appeals court today lifted a stay on cases challenging the U.S. Department of Energy’s authority to withdraw its licensing application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

An unemployed Carson City was arrested after allegedly locking his girlfriend up in his apartment while he used the woman's disability money to drink and gamble at a local bar.

Steve Rutherford, 57, was arrested Wednesday and faces felony fraud and gross misdemeanor false imprisonment charges. Bail has been set at $10,000.

Silver Stage Task Force, Soul'd Out Ministries and the Lyon County Sheriff's Department will hold their annual "Stuff a Patrol Car" at Smith's Grocery on Highway 50 in Dayton from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 11.

Unwrapped, new gifts for children, tweens and teens will benefit all of our Lyon County families in need. Gifts will be distributed before Christmas at various locations.

Please help our elves — students from Stand Tall teams and Silver Stage High School "S" Club — help Santa provide a merrier holiday for our friends and neighbors.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Secretary of State’s office today ruled in favor of the Assembly Democratic Caucus regarding a complaint about its failure to report the receipt of funds from its members.
The caucus did not report more than $120,000 received from Assembly Democrats on its campaign contribution and expenditure reports filed this year.

By Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – State Treasurer Kate Marshall announced today that despite the current volatile treasury market, her office has successfully completed the sale of five series of general obligation bonds totaling $161.3 million at an average interest cost of 3.6 percent, one of the lowest interest rates the state has ever received.

By Jim Shirk

Some civic leaders tend to invest our city funds into one business proposal in the community then move to another and then another. This tax will become the next great example of that strategy.