Downtown Carson City celebrated the start of the holiday season with the annual Silver and Snowflakes Festival of Lights.

Streets were closed off as throngs of people gathered in front of the state capitol to watch as the lights for the two giant Christmas trees were turned on.

Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived on the back of an antique fire truck, with Mayor Bob Crowell riding shotgun. After the state's trees were turned on, the crowd headed over to the First Presbyterian Church where the city's Christmas tree was turned on.

Washoe District Judge Patrick Flanagan on Friday said he found "no redeeming value" in 13-year-old Jose Cruz, and sentenced him to a life term for his role in the Mother's Day fatal shooting of Steve Gale, 27. Cruz, the state's youngest convicted murderer in recent years, must serve 16 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

Cruz was part of a four-hour armed robbery spree with three adult gang associates that spanned from Reno to Carson City between May 7 and the morning of May 8, authorities said.

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The Nevada Housing Division today announced a new low mortgage rate for Nevada's first-time homebuyers. The Division is offering a dramatically low mortgage 3.50% interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan to qualified buyers.

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In the Saturday, November 26th Nevada Appeal, Geoff Dornan reported that Mark Amodei "is frustrated by the polarization and partisanship preventing progress toward fixing the nation's ills." I share Rep. Amodei's frustration, but would like to suggest he give a bit more thought to his own voting record, especially in light of his December 1st op-ed, in which he took Janice Ayres to task for saying he “voted straight party line.”

Firefighters from Reno, Carson City and the Sierra Fire Protection District have put out a house fire in Washoe Valley that apparently started about 8:30 Friday morning.

Besides getting in that first round of the season, golfers will always say they look forward to the holidays and the stocking stuffer surprises to enhance their game. This holiday season, surprise your husband, wife or significant other with one of the most affordable golf deals around: the “Ticket to Paradise.”

The feelings in the stands and on the field were mutual in the last quarter of the game as the score ended 49-0 with Reed winning. The loss may have felt worse because the Senators had an almost perfect season, making it to the Northern 4A Regional Championship of the playoffs. The look on the Carson senior boys said it all as they walked off the field for the last time. The Carson crowd surrounded the exit off the field clapping for the boys’ season.

Eleven people have been named to a state task force to promote development of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Gov. Brian Sandoval wants the task force to initially focus on development of transmission facilities to ship such energy sources as solar and geothermal power out of the state.

An unusual weather pattern has shielded Carson City from much of the wind blowing through nearby areas, said Scott McGuire, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Leona 'Lee' Nielson passed away November 20, 2011 at her home in Carson City, Nev., surrounded by her family. She was born June 6, 1936, in Alliance, Ohio to Harold and Evelyn Stark. Lee has be...

Jerry Lee Alley, 79, passed away November 29, 2011 in Gardnerville, Nevada. Capitol City Cremation & Burial. 775-882-1766Phyllis Jane Gruenwald, 87, passed away November 27, 2011 in Carson City. Wa...

The spirit of Christmas will be celebrated with a holiday concert featuring the Western Nevada College concert choir and the Douglas High School Madrigal Singers Tuesday.
The choirs, directed by musician and DHS band director Bill Zabelsky, will feature a myriad of fine music including "The Snow Carol," "All on a Cold Winter's Night," Earlene Rentz's "Agnus Dei," and a Mac Huff arrangement of the popular "Home for Christmas.

A prescribed fire on Upper Kingsbury Grade conducted two weeks ago rekindled, touching off about 14 acres before it was fully contained late this morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

"The fire is 100 percent contained," said spokeswoman Cheva Heck.

Fire crews respond to the rekindling off Andria Drive on Kingsbury Grade, near Stateline. Three Forest Service crews and two engines responded. Cold weather and high winds had created difficult conditions for firefighters and interfered with the ability to pump water from engines.

Steve Jobs on how you can change the world.

Carson City Health and Human Services encourages everyone to learn their HIV status today as the Health Department will join thousands of other healthcare providers and clinics across the country to celebrate World AIDS Day.

While low-cost HIV testing is always available at the health clinic on Long Street, testing will be offered for FREE today, Thursday, December 1. No appointment is necessary and the free testing will be available from 9-11 a.m. and 1-4:30 p.m.

The victim-driver of an alcohol-related head-on collision that happened last month, 51-one-year-old Reiko Hervin of Wellington, passed away at Renown Regional Medical Center yesterday afternoon.

A break in a sewer line has created a messy problem for an Indian Hills family. Even though the break is under the street in front of their house, the Indian Hills General Improvement District says it's the homeowner's responsibility to get it fixed. Watch the video.

LAS VEGAS - Nevada has agreed with officials in California to make a run at hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics at Lake Tahoe, in hopes of bringing the games back to an area where they were held in...

LAS VEGAS - A top Las Vegas marketer who produced the city's famed "What happens here, stays here" campaign told state and tourism industry leaders Wednesday that casinos need to work better with o...

Tracy Lawrence, the notary public who blew the whistle on a massive foreclosure fraud scheme, was found dead in her Las Vegas home on Nov. 28, MSNBC reported.

Earlier this month, Lawrence came forward and admitted to the Nevada Attorney General's Office that she notarized 25,000 fraudulent documents for Lender Processing Services, a Florida company used by most major banks to process home repossessions. The documents were filed with the Clark County Recorder's Office between 2005 and 2008, The Los Angeles Times reported.

A mother of two faces 20 years in prison for her role in an armed robbery spree that spanned Reno and Carson City and ended with the murder of a local musician walking home with friends on California Avenue.

Aurora Rodriguez-Perez, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the May 8 shooting death of Steven Gale.

As part of its investigation into NV Energy’s Smart Meters program and its implementation, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada has scheduled a workshop at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the PUCN’s Las Vegas office, 9075 West Diablo Drive, Suite 250, with videoconferencing to the Commission’s Carson City office, 1150 East William St.

NV Energy began installing Smart Meters in southern Nevada earlier this year. NV Energy is scheduled to start its second phase of installation in northern Nevada in December. The statewide installation project is scheduled to be completed by December 2012.

Film buffs will recall the terror with which the young Vito Corleone’s friends talked of The Black Hand, an invisible but palpable organization whose wrath was universally feared.

Far be it from me to suggest Godfather Harry Reid helms a criminal enterprise as Don Fanucci did in “The Godfather: Part II.” But recent events only reconfirm that the Senate majority leader’s unseen hand controls all within the Democratic Party with a ruthlessness and efficiency that La Cosa Nostra would envy, striking terror into all Democrats within his domain.

Nevada ranks last in "opportunity index," that measures factors like education, crime rate and health care to determine how much opportunity people have for economic success. But Carson City does better in than the state average in high school graduation rate, number of doctors and crime rate. In other words, we suck less than Las Vegas. Hooray!

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Fliers that were recently distributed around town offering to paint your house numbers on the curb also showed the logos for the Carson City Sheriff and Fire departments, which made it look like the departments endorsed this business, which they don't according to Sheriff Kenny Furlong. The person who put out the fliers also didn't have a solicitor's license.

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Carson girls basketball lose their season opener to Reno High 71-49. Eliza Matley had 19 points for Carson.