Community,

Distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is underway within the state of Nevada, including our local communities in the north. Those who are first up to receive the vaccine include health care personnel and long term care facilities as a part of the first phase of Tier 1 distribution.

The first batch of initial COVID-19 vaccines has reached Carson City, and was received by Carson Tahoe Health Tuesday morning.

The Dayton Valley Golf Course has been acquired by Tour Specs Golf Management from Duncan Golf Management in a deal that was finalized this week. Tour Specs Golf Management principal owner, James (Jim) Kepler will also serve as course general manager. Kepler is a well-known PGA professional in Nevada and west coast golf communities.

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak signed and issued an emergency directive Monday that implements a moratorium on most residential evictions in Nevada through March 31, 2021.

Jonah Toral, Nathan Parsons, and Bita Jazani were awarded the fifth annual Rosemary Nebesky Memorial Scholarships by the Carson City Symphony Association this month. The scholarship was established by John and Jennifer Webley of Santa Rosa, Calif., in memory Rosemary Nebesky, who loved music, loved children, and had been a friend and board member of the Carson City Symphony Association.

Feeling blue during the Holidays? You are not alone. The First United Methodist Church in Carson City welcomes all community members to a Blue Christmas service, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m.

After a wonderfully successful reading challenge in January, the Carson City Library is starting the upcoming Books Like Us: Winter Reading Challenge earlier to accommodate more participation.

Editor’s Note: Margarita Portillo-Hernandez is a school social worker and safe school professional at Eagle Valley Middle School in Carson City. The following is her report:

This year has been extremely challenging and with the impact of Covid; many of our families are struggling to ensure they can celebrate Christmas. However, generous community members have come together determined to help these families have a Christmas celebration not even Covid can stop.

Sierra Lutheran High School and Fellowship of Christian Athletes raised over $2,000 to fund the delivery of 75 Christmas trees to the active personnel serving at the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Coleville, Calif., last week.

This event marks the 18th year for St. Teresa of Avila Catholic School's annual Crab Feed, bringing the community and surrounding areas together to support St. Teresa of Avila Catholic School in Carson City, educating kids from grades K-8 and providing preschool and pre-K programs in its Child Development Center.

On Friday, the Greenhouse Project held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new outdoor classroom which will be used to host both students from Carson High School as well as community classes on gardening and agriculture.

To say 2020 was a crazy and eventful year would be an understatement. I think just about everyone can agree on that. But in the midst of a pandemic, a summer of protests, and an election year that shattered records, (pick a category, any catagory) it seems nevadans also found alot to disagree on. It was easy to see if one attended any of these protests.

An outside investigator found no policy violations but room for improved communication after reviewing events surrounding a rural Nevada library’s draft diversity statement that drew the county sheriff’s ire and sparked protests and national media attention.

In our region, as well as in many areas across the country, there have been massive spikes in COVID-19 transmissions over the past few months. Even as restaurants and bars were reopened, daily positive cases were generally staying within single digits inside the Quad-County region.

However, between October and December, both test positivity rates as well as overall cases — and deaths — have seen a massive increase. Local health organizations are now not only fighting against the disease, but against misinformation campaigns as well.

Heading into the weekend, there’s a bevy of activities around the Carson City region. Several fundraisers, including the annual “Share Your Christmas” Food Drive will be available throughout the Carson City, Minden and Reno areas on Friday. You can visit the North Pole safely as part of a drive-thru Santa's Village experience at V&T Railway in Carson City, beginning Friday into the weekend. A living nativity scene will be featured at First United Methodist Church on Saturday and Sunday. Combined with train rides in Virginia City, the state capital will be buzzing with excitement. Read on for more information.

KTVN will host its annual Share Your Christmas Drive-By Food Drive this Friday, Dec. 11 with food drop-off locations in Carson City, Minden and Reno beginning at 6 a.m. and running until 6 p.m.

The Sertoma Coat Drive is in full operation for its fourth year of collecting and distributing clothing to the people in the community who are without warm outerwear. With 19 blue barrels in Carson Valley and 7 in Carson City, everyone who wants to donate new and gently used coats, blankets, and warm outerwear is finding a donation spot.

Two Carson City leaders have teamed up to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and provide information on how families can protect themselves and others during the holidays.

In addition to being available by phone and online, the Carson City Library and staff remain committed to delivering its services to the local community through a variety of avenues. While currently closed to the public, the library is completing upgrades and installations to enable vulnerable populations to continue to safely access library collections.

Carson City Elks Lodge No. 2177 held a raffle drawing recently for a wooden American Flag. Proceeds from the raffle benefitted Holiday With a Hero, which is a local program that buys gifts for children and delivered by our first responders.

The Carson City Sheriff's Office Reserve, which has hosted an annual Christmas Eve program for decades with pre-arranged visits by Santa and elves to local homes, has been canceled and replaced instead with a virtual message greeting for families. The reason for the change this year is due to COVID-19 concerns.

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public and Behavioral Health is expanding the capabilities of the COVID Trace app by launching Exposure Notification Express through a partnership with Apple and Google.

Do you know of a woman in our Carson City community who is dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls and should be recognized for her efforts? Soroptimist International of Carson City is accepting sponsorship submissions for our 2021 “Women Helping Women” honorees.

GARDNERVILLE — RE/MAX Realty Affiliates of Gardnerville, Realtor Ginger Easley is working once again to raise funds for the Carson Valley Food Closet.

Easley has raised thousands of dollars for the food closet, along with hundreds of pounds of food through annual client gatherings and online fundraisers since 2016.

Work has begun on building the Living Nativity in Carson City. It is the 20th year that the street of Musser and Division has been transformed into Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem.

Carson City's DARE program, an anti-drug cooperative effort between the Carson City Sheriff's Office and the Carson City School District, remains active but has been through a difficult time due to COVID-19 and the retirement of longtime officer Lisa Davis.

MINDEN — The U.S. Navy Blue Angels have announced they will be returning to the Aviation Roundup Airshow at the Minden-Tahoe Airport for the 2022 Airshow.

The Carson City School District and Carson High School are pleased to announce CHS Senior Cristian Garcia Perez has been named a semifinalist for the 2021 class of the Coca-Cola Scholars Program, putting him in the running for one of the 150 college scholarships worth $20,000.

Nevada has recently been recognized as the state with the highest number of hospitalizations per capita in the country. This matches the surge of COVID-positive patients we are seeing and the increase in hospitalizations.

It was a year of uncertainty. A year when we felt a need for something more. A need for peace. It was a year that felt similar to 2020. It was 2001.

The year that we watched the airplanes crash into the Twin Towers. The year we felt hopeless and confused and a desire to connect with people and with God. Seeing that need, the Carson City First United Methodist Church began what has become one of the most cherished Christmas traditions in Carson City.

Crazy Cat Dog Grooming and Projections Photography are co-hosting a community meet and greet and Christmas photo session with our local Carson City Sheriff's Office Canine unit on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Citizens are welcome to come meet our officers and their canine partners.