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CARSON CITY – Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., said today he is not optimistic that Congress will make any substantive progress on a balanced budget or deficit reduction this year given the focus on the presidential election.

But Amodei, in town on a brief recess, said he is hopeful that progress can be made on Nevada-related public lands bills he is sponsoring as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Recognized for stewardship and care taken in the building and construction of developments around Lake Tahoe, the 22nd annual Best in the Basin awards were announced Tuesday by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
The TRPA, which sets policy for development around Lake Tahoe, will recognize the winners, listed below, during the 2011 Best in the Basin awards presentation during the meeting of its Governing Board on Wednesday, Feb. 22 in Stateline. Go here for the agenda.

Carson City Sheriff's deputies arrested the following individuals over the last few days:

• Jacob Jerrard, 23, a maintenance worker from Carson City, just after 9 p.m. Wednesday night, at the corner of North Edmonds Drive and Highway 50 East. Jerrard was arrested for a felony hold from Probation and Parole, as well as the misdemeanors of failing to stop at a stop sign and driving without a valid drivers' license. No bail has been set.

CARSON CITY – Members of the Nevada chapter of a small business organization say the state’s minimum wage and construction defects laws are hampering job growth in the state.

The state’s prevailing wage law was also cited as a drag on economic development in the survey of its members by the Nevada chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business.

A vocal minority’s intermittent cheerleading promotes the massive City Center project. Their objective: replace the city library with a +$75 million, three-times-the-size library complex just east of the Nugget Casino. (The ‘official’ $49 million cost curiously excludes 30 years of interest payments.)

Absent from this well-intentioned, but ill-conceived project are viability, necessity and prudence.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency received a positive ruling in the opening stages of the lawsuit challenging the Homewood Mountain Ski Area Master Plan that was filed by the Sierra Club and the Friends of the West Shore, a Lake Tahoe environmental group.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s mining industry is stepping up to Gov. Brian Sandoval’s challenge asking businesses and all economic partners to help create 50,000 jobs over the next three years.

Carson City Sheriff's deputies arrested Marshall Jaffe, 42, a construction worker from Carson City, at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. Jaffe was arrested for a felony possession of methamphetamines, a misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor resisting arrest with violence, and a misdemeanor driving an unregistered vehicle. The vehicle that Jaffe was driving was impounded. Bail is set at $4,150 plus administrative fees.

CARSON CITY – When state Sen. Greg Brower asked the Attorney General’s office earlier this month about the $6 million in outside legal costs incurred so far in defending the state in a freeway construction dispute, he said his motives were purely fiscal in nature.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s taxable sales rose 9.6 percent in November over the same month a year ago, driven in large part by car sales and improved business at bars and restaurants, the state Department of Taxation reported today. Taxable sales totaled nearly $3.4 billion for the month.

For the fiscal year that began July 1, 2011, taxable sales are up 8.5 percent through November.

Clark County sales were up 8.6 percent. Washoe County sales were up 5.3 percent.

CARSON CITY – State Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno, has asked Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto why an outside legal firm was retained to defend the state against a freeway construction dispute. Legal costs charged to the state will total $6 million by the end of an arbitration hearing set for next month.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s unemployment rate fell by four-tenths of a percentage point to 12.6 percent in December, the second consecutive monthly decline that saw the number of jobless drop to 166,300, a state agency reported today.

A year ago, the rate, which is adjusted for seasonal fluctuations in the labor market, hit a record high of 14.9 percent.

The operator of BlueGo, the South Lake Tahoe area public transportation system, has installed four new bus shelters and will put up three more in spring to provide riders safety, convenience and comfort.

CARSON CITY – A legal firm retained by the state Department of Transportation to defend against a contractor dispute over construction of a section of the Carson City bypass has racked up $6 million in fees so far and the costs could still go higher.

Gov. Brian Sandoval today expressed concern about the amount of legal fees in the case involving a $40 million claim by Utah-based Ames Construction, which built the first phase of the U.S. 395 bypass in the capital that opened in February of 2006.

The Homewood Mountain Resort project, which cleared the strictest of environmental hurdles at Lake Tahoe, is now being sued by a consortium of groups including the Sierra Club who, among other things, wish to stop promised environmental improvements, job creation and economic revitalization to the ailing west shore Sierra community.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, which oversees development and environmental protection at Lake Tahoe, was told it was being sued on Thursday because of its recent approval of the Homewood Mountain Resort Ski Area Master Plan project.
EarthJustice, on behalf of the Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore, lists both TRPA and Placer County as defendants in the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court of Eastern California. Absent from the suit is the League to Save Lake Tahoe, which implied that it likely wouldn't sue when the project was unanimously approved last month by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Governing Board.

Here is the fishing report for the week of Dec. 28, 2011 through Jan. 3, 2012. The report covers rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California, the Sierra and southern Oregon.

Each year, as my last article for that year, I present my Annual Don Q Awards for a number of different reasons: Outstanding, good, not so good, bad, serious, funny, dumb, head-scratching, are-you-kidding, etc.
Those annual awards are presented to all kinds of people or places or things for what has occurred throughout the year. It’s an interesting way to end the year, so here are my 2011 winners:

Carson City Sheriff's deputies arrested David Scott Illig, 25, an unemployed Carson City man, at around 11:30 p.m. Monday. Illig was arrested for a felony probation violation and a felony posession with intent to sell warrant, near the intersection of Goni Lane and College Parkway. No bail has been set.

At around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, officers arrested Jacob Allen Jarrard, 23, a Carson City resident, near the intersection of Sherman Lane and Airport Road. Jarrard was arrested for a felony warrant on file and a misdemeanor contempt of court. No bail has been set on the felony.

Due to a project to complete a new north-south water transmission line on the east side of Carson City, there will be shoulder work on S. Lompa Lane between Edmonds Drive and Grandville Drive. There will also be shoulder work on Edmonds Drive between Fairview Drive and Gentry Lane. Minimal delays are expected.

There will be work at North Carson Street, in the vicinity of the freeway overpass as a result of the Freeway Landscaping Project. No closures are expected.

In the three months since the Carson City Board of Supervisors approved the Carson City Center Project (aka Nugget Project), proponents of the project's Knowledge and Discovery Center have been gearing up their fundraising efforts to meet the $21.5 million commitment.

Here is this week's fishing report for the week of Dec. 21 through Dec. 27. This report covers rivers, streams and lakes in Nevada, Northern California, the Sierra and Southern Oregon.

The soaring atrium of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center at the University of Nevada, Reno has an unconventional tree on display this holiday season. Some would call it a green tree, not just because of its color, but because the tree is made entirely of recycled materials – old books.

The 9.5-foot tree was constructed using pre-1950 National Union Catalog books. The rarely used reference books made an ideal book tree, with their evergreen covers and gold lettering on the spine.

Friday, December 16th at 2:30 pm on the Carson High School Campus. The ceremony is the culmination of nearly three years of planning, fundraising and construction. The Greenhouse Project’s focus on using renewable energy and ecological sustainable growing methods make it the only one of its kind in Nevada.

To a packed house of observers, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board voted to approve Phase 1 of the Homewood Mountain Resort Ski Area Master Plan at their monthly meeting on Wednesday, December 14.

Here is the fishing report for the week of December 14-21. This report covers rivers, streams and lakes in Northern California, Nevada and Southern Oregon.

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), in close cooperation with Lyon County, is scheduled to install centerline rumble strips for enhanced safety on nearly 10 miles of U.S. 50 in the Mound House area beginning approximately Dec. 19, weather permitting.

Consisting of parallel grooves cut into the middle centerline of a roadway, tires running over the rumble strips produce sound and vibration when drivers veer out of their lane. By alerting and allowing motorists to correct their vehicles, head-on crashes can be reduced.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee. There are six (6) openings in the following categories, two (2) in each category:

• “Business Operator” or “Property Owner” from Redevelopment Area 1
• “Business Operator” or “Property Owner” from Redevelopment Area 2

Beginning today the Reno-Tahoe International Airport will be undergoing $40 million in renovations, including a ticket lobby with a Lake Tahoe theme. The Gateway Project, which will bring about 275 jobs now through April 2013, features an upgrade to the baggage claim area, creating a first floor single security checkpoint, plus new retail and places to eat.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors yesterday approved new boundary maps for the city's four wards, with slight changes from the previous boundaries. One change involved moving residents living south of King Street and north of West Fifth Street between Carson and Thompson streets from Ward 4 to Ward 1. The board also gave final approval to allow advertising on bus shelters, and made changes to water applications to allow better distribution of water between Carson, Lyon and Douglas counties. It was also announced that two donations totaling $71,773 has been given to Animal Services for the construction and operation of a new animal shelter.

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The Carson Senators win their season opener against South Tahoe 59-50 in the first round of the 35th annual Carson Lions/Capital City Classic boys basketball tournament.

At around 10 p.m. Wednesday evening, Carson City Sheriff's officers arrested Corey Allan Madieros, 19, a construction worker from Gardnerville, near the 1300 block of South Carson Street. Madieros was arrested for a Parole and Probation violation; no bail was set.