journalists

I stood outside of Comma Coffee Wednesday night, observing the people entering. I was hoping a friend of mine was going to come.

Finally, I went inside. There was a sign leaning against a chair that said OCCUPY NV CAPITOL. I introduced myself; these were the people I was here to see.

There were only 12 or 13 of us, but we all had one thing in common: we were disenchanted. We were the hungry, the tired of being pushed around, the broke. We are the 99%.

I should probably back up and explain myself now.

CARSON CITY – On Assemblyman Harvey Munford’s desk lies his teacher’s edition of an American government textbook.
The former high school history and government teacher said he brought it as a guidebook to the legislative process. But he has not used it much.
“It wasn’t applicable to a whole lot of things,” he said.
Munford, a Democrat from Las Vegas, describes himself as “disillusioned” with the Legislature.

CARSON CITY — Bethany Drysdale, who has promoted Nevada's tourism attractions for more than five years for the Nevada Commission on Tourism will head the Public Relations department beginning April 23, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki announced this week.

Drysdale has served as Public Relations specialist for NCOT since October 2005. She succeeds Chris Chrystal, who is retiring as manager April 22 after a 48-year career in news reporting and public relations that included 13 years with the Commission.

By Elizabeth Crum / Nevada News Bureau
Nearly 600 days before the general election and wearing a bright purple suit while proving she is no shrinking violet, Sharron Angle today cheerfully fielded tough questions from nine journalists for nearly an hour.
The sole (so far) candidate for Nevada’s second congressional district held the first press conference of her campaign in a small conference room at the Best Western hotel across from the Reno, NV airport.

CARSON CITY – Freshman Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, watched as one of his first bills was introduced on the floor of the Assembly Tuesday.
Hansen’s bill would establish a state grants coordinator to help Nevada apply for and win more federal grants.
A few hours later, Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, stood at a lectern flanked by the American flag and the flag of the State of Nevada, and told a gathering of reporters about his bill.

CARSON CITY – Lobbyists, legislators and journalists expected to hear about a bill that would increase energy bills for Nevadans when they arrived at a legislative hearing.
Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, sat down before the committee, ready to present his bill that would levy a fee on anyone paying an electric bill. That fee would help new businesses pay their energy bills. He designed the bill to attract manufacturing businesses to Nevada with reduced energy costs.

The film "Unknown," currently playing at the Fandango Galaxy multiplex in Carson City, is the kind of movie one wonders if anyone really read the script before proceeding.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – A coffee shop across the street from the Legislature announces “let the games begin.”
With the Legislature in session for less than two weeks, Democratic legislators seem to be playing the game well.

CARSON CITY – Mention government transparency and “Twitter” probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.
A communication technology that gives users 140 characters to share where they just had lunch or “Tweet” trivia about the weather and celebrities doesn’t immediately scream “politics” either.
But Nevada state legislators, lobbyists and journalists are finding more and more use in Twitter because the platform allows information gathering and governing at high speed.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
New state legislators got the low-down this past Friday about how to deal with the press. The theme woven throughout the legislative training seminar was one of transparency.

Carl Kuhl, a state Parole and Probation employee of six years, has created a plan that he claims will eliminate Nevada's budget deficit within two years.

In a news release issued on Tuesday, Kuhl said his plan not only will reduce the budget deficit but also help repair Nevada's economy at the same time. It is a pretty big claim, he admits, coming from an Accounting Assistant I, an entry level position.

There is an interesting discussion going on over at the Nevada Appeal site concerning the Nugget Project.

The story begins two week ago when Guy Farmer wrote a rather harsh column that slammed the Nugget Project. In response, last week there was a guest column by Michael Douglass criticizing Farmer's take on the subject.

By now, you have probably heard about the fiasco in Bell, Calif., where city officials were being paid outrageous salaries while cutting services and raising taxes.

When the manager of a city of 36,000 residents takes home almost $800,000 a year, that's going to raise some eyebrows. And how did he and other city executives get these salaries? The elected officials in Bell gave it to them, along with $100,000 annual salaries for themselves, for their part-time jobs.

A Clark County District Court jury last Friday ordered Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Baxter Healthcare Services to pay a combined $500 million in punitive damages to a Nevada man who contracted Hepatitis C during an outbreak two years ago.
The jury award was the largest in Nevada history.
In a statement issued shortly after the jury reached its decision, Teva said it planned to contest the verdict.  A spokesman for Baxter later confirmed the company will also most likely appeal.

Since a lot of people in Carson City know me from my political column that ran for four years in the Nevada Appeal, many asked if Carson Now would follow along the same philosophical slant.

The answer is no. But is Carson Now an "objective" news source? No way.

As someone who enjoys politics and has friends all over the political spectrum, I set out to make Carson Now open to all viewpoints. Anyone can sign up for an account and write whatever they want, subject only to keeping the content PG rated so as not to offend our younger viewers.