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With all the recent snow, it seems that Diamond Peak Ski Team's community-based homage to the Norse ski-god Ullr (pronounced Oool-er) is paying off. We've seen nothing but snow since the first annual Ullr Fest took place last winter. Ullr must be happy!

By Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Matt Griffin is leaving his post next month to return to private law practice with the Capitol Company, Secretary of State Ross Miller said today.
Miller appointed Griffin as his elections deputy when he took office in January 2007.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Long-time Republican political operative Sig Rogich said today that Sarah Palin is not a viable candidate for president in 2012.
Rogich, who was involved in the campaigns of Ronald Reagan and both Bush presidents, said Palin, a Tea Party favorite and former Republican Alaska governor, is unelectable.

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

By Sean Whaley /Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said this week he expects to see Harry Reid continue to help northern Nevada in a variety of ways now that he has won re-election in a bitterly contested Senate race.

U.S. Congressman Dean Heller, R-Carson City, today came out in support of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Continuation Act (H.R. 6419) which would extend unemployment benefits for an additional three months.

The Heavenly Ski and Snowboard Foundation will host the 22nd annual Ski and Snowboard Swap at Lake Tahoe's MontBleu Resort Casino and Spa on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 19-20.

Proceeds will benefit the Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides Lake Tahoe ski and snowboard programs for regional youth, local middle school students, and the S.O.S. program.

Skiers and boarders know when it comes to predicting snow at Lake Tahoe, a wing, a party and a prayer never hurts.

Prepare yourself for a snow dance at the alter as the annual “Pray for Snow” party will happen on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at Fresh Ketch Restaurant in South Lake Tahoe. There will be live music, dancing, beverages and an avalanche of prizes.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval said today he will make it a priority as governor to encourage businesses to relocate to Nevada from neighboring states where taxes have been raised to deal with the economic slowdown.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Veteran Republican state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, won’t be minority leader in the upcoming 2011 session, withdrawing his name from consideration for the leadership post today after getting GOP criticism for backing Sen. Harry Reid in the Tuesday general election.

"You see, in our two-party system, the Democrats are the party of no ideas and the Republicans are the party of bad ideas. It usually goes something like this. A Republican will stand up in Congress and say, "I've got a really bad idea." And a Democrat will immediately jump to his feet and declare, "And I can make it sh---ier." — comedian Lewis Black

I'm not sure I've seen a better close-up example of a campaign attack backfiring than I did last night in the Assembly District 40 race.

Robin Williamson seemed to be doing everything right to fill the seat held by fellow Democrat Bonnie Parnell. She was working very hard, walking the neighborhoods, working with both Democrats and Republicans to gather the coalition she needed to win in this GOP-leaning district.

And then the Nevada Democratic Party stepped in and screwed it up.

I turned off the TV late last night, unable to withstand another minute of talking head after talking head trying to come up with a narrative for this election.

For some reason, it seems they think that their audience is comprised of 6-year-olds who can't comprehend anything that isn't force-fed to them in tiny, single-concept bites.

Was it the NObama election? Was the the fiery phoenix of the Tea Party? Was it creeping socialism, or simple arrogance? What about government spending? Or was it just time to throw the bums out?

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – There will be no supermajorities for Democrats in either the state Senate or Assembly in the 2011 session, meaning the parties will have to work together and with Republican Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval on issues from taxes to redistricting.
Republicans in the 42-member state Assembly, who had been outnumbered 28-14, retained their seats and picked up two held by Democrats, enough to take away a veto-proof majority held by Democrats in the 2009 session.

Carson City Republican Pete Livermore has won the Nevada Assembly District 40 race against Democrat Robin Williamson, costing the party a crucial seat against Republican Governor-elect Brian Sandoval.

Livermore received 51.42 percent of the vote in Carson City and within a sliver of Washoe Valley. Williamson had 48.58 percent of the vote.

"I'm humbled and grateful that so many have shown trust for me," Livermore said. "I'm eager to get started so we can get people back to work."

Republican Steve Martin, whose neck-and-neck race with incumbent state Treasurer Kate Marshall will be decided Tuesday, recently answered some questions about his candidacy in an e-interview with the Nevada News Bureau.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s “actual� unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2010 increased to 22.3 percent from 21.5 percent in the second quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Senate Democrats are running a slate of candidates across the state in the hopes of winning a 14-seat, veto-proof majority for the upcoming 2011 session.
But Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he does not expect it to happen, and he has not discounted the possibility of the GOP winning the majority.

Boy Mr. Farmer and Mr. Joiner must have struck a very sensitive nerve with Mr. Neighbors. Steve Neighbors had a commentary article a week before Guy Farmers article telling us how concerned he is for Carson City's future. He proceded to tell us who he would vote for if he lived here. He endorsed Williamson and Abrowd (both for the Nugget Bail Out Project), but did not list any other issues (School Board candidates, School Bond, Governors race ect). Keep up the Good work Farmer and Joiner in making Neighbors accountable for all the facts not just the facts that benefit the Nugget.

Rarely has a Nevada senatorial race received the nationwide attention this year’s has. Of course, there’s the old pro versus the new pro — Harry Reid and Sharron Angle. Both have been around the barn a number of times, she in the Nevada Legislature and Harry in all kinds of jobs, most currently, of course, Senate majority leader.

Seems a lot of Nevadans are unhappy with Harry, mostly because he is now an insider, carrying out President Obama’s programs as any majority leader would be forced to do if it’s his party in the White House.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – The question of how well the Gibbons administration has done in quickly and efficiently deploying Nevada’s share of stimulus dollars is difficult to quantify.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – A survey of more than 600 chief executive officers who rated the best and worst states for business in 2010 has scored Nevada highly at fifth place, an improvement of one spot over 2009.

(Updated at 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2010, to include Gov. Gibbons comments.)
Questionable attack ads and the role of the federal government in job creation were the top issues in an energized debate Wednesday between Rep. Dina Titus and Republican challenger Joe Heck in one of the most closely watched house races of the Nov. 2 general election.

By Nevada News Bureau staff
CARSON CITY – Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said today his biggest concern about a “lame duck� session of Congress following the Nov. 2 general election is the potential for tax increases.

Democratic state Senator Joyce Woodhouse and Republican challenger Michael Roberson debated the budget, taxes and unjustified political attacks today in a race viewed as critical by both parties for the upcoming 2011 legislative session.
Woodhouse, running for a second term in Clark District 5, said the mailers sent out by the Nevada State Democratic Party attacking Roberson did not come from her campaign or have her review.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
RENO – An enthusiastic crowd of several hundred Tea Party supporters showed up to cheer on former GOP Alaska Gov. and U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin today at one of what will be many stops across the county in advance of the Nov. 2 general election.

Dear Editor,

Several negative mailers featuring Assembly candidate Pete Livermore were sent out recently to Carson City homes.

These ads were sponsored by the Nevada State Democratic Party, which hired an outside firm to produce the pieces. They claim Livermore got a "sweetheart deal" from the city when it purchased land he owned in order to widen Clearview Drive.

Hundreds made their way to the Carson City Courthouse today, the first day for early voting in Nevada.

A record number of people could be voting in this election, said Alan Glover, Carson City Clerk-Recorder.

"I think it's going to be high again, just like 08. I see maybe a 90 percent turnout when this is done," Glover said. "I think the Senate race is cranking them out."

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
A much-anticipated face-to-face debate between U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and his GOP opponent Sharron Angle on Thursday displayed stark contrasts between the two candidates but provoked little in the way of controversy.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
A debate Wednesday between Democrat Secretary of State Ross Miller and his Republican opponent Rob Lauer spent most of the time on past controversies, including Lauer’s alleged assault of a woman in a bar and Miller’s track record of prosecution as a Clark County deputy district attorney.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada remains in limbo over the status of Yucca Mountain as a potential repository for the nation’s nuclear waste even with a work stoppage on the project review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission due to funding limitations, a state official says.