state of nevada

Coming on the heels of the announcement by U.S. News & World Report that their school was nationally ranked and placed as the 2nd best high school in Nevada, planned cuts at Whittell High School were unveiled at the May 9th Douglas County School Board Meeting.

Several concerned parents attended the last meeting and many more are planning on making the drive to Minden for this week's meeting. The parents have taken their mission to social media with starting the Facebook page: Concerned citizens and parents for Whittell High School.

As Edgewood Properties moves forward with their plans to reconfigure holes on their golf course to accommodate for a new lake front lodge, they asked the City of South Lake Tahoe City Council today for a change in the area's general plan. The original Edgewood Tahoe plans were to have 100% of the golf course in the state of Nevada, but have now altered those plans to have some of the course venture into California on Edgewood owned land.

With hundreds of new laws every year for the past 45 years, one might wonder if anyone knows them all or can keep track of the changes. There are new laws on the books for both California (800 new laws) and Nevada (45 new laws) that Lake Tahoe residents might want to brush up on.

Here is an overview of some of them:

California

Casinos on the south shore of Lake Tahoe won $22,188,166 in the month of September, 2013, up 23.19% over the same period in 2012. This brings the win since July 1 to $75,985,370 according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Overall, the state of Nevada gained 7.41% over the previous year, bringing their September win to $958,805,870. The Carson Valley and Carson City casinos won $8,455,170 which is was a loss of just over 4% from 2012.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is marking this year’s Lake Tahoe Summit by highlighting the Environmental Improvement Program’s 15 years of achievement restoring and protecting Lake Tahoe’s fragile ecosystem.

Launched at the 1997 Presidential Forum at Lake Tahoe by then President Bill Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore, the Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) is a partnership of more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies, private interests, and the Washoe Tribe.

The Vietnam Veterans of America, Carson Area Chapter 388 invite you attend a Memorial Day Service on Monday, May 27th, 2013 beginning at 11 AM at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, Nevada.

The service will be an hour long. Immediately following the service, there will be an unveiling of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The shrine lists the names of 151 young men from the State of Nevada who gave their lives in Vietnam. Adjacent to that are the names of eight nurses who also gave their lives in Vietnam while they were there caring for our troops.

As Prepared for Delivery Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013:

Madam Speaker, Mr. President, Distinguished Members of the Legislature, Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court, Constitutional Officers, Senator Heller, honored guests…...

The state of Nevada will introduce a new “brand” in the spring that will include a marketing campaign to help boost tourism and economic development, Gov. Brian Sandoval told an audience at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism on Tuesday in Sparks.
Other tourism officials said the brand will include a new statewide slogan and logo. Tourism officials said the campaign to roll out Nevada’s new brand has been in the works for more than a year.

A popular, new program offered by the Nevada Rural Housing Authority (NRHA) is making home ownership even more affordable. Through the Home at Last™ Access program, qualified home buyers receive a generous 4 percent down payment grant, which does not have to be paid back. Now, the program is offering even lower mortgage interest rates on a conventional, 30-year fixed rate loan. Through participating lenders, the interest rates on FHA, VA or USDA-RD home mortgages have dropped from 3.75 percent to the current rate of 3.5 percent, which is an historic low.

Sale of the 564-acre Genoa Lakes Golf Resort to Mazz Golf Management Co. is currently in escrow with closing expected in mid-October, the principals of the deal announced in a news release.

Wild is the new theme in advertising for Lake Tahoe license plates, as U.S. National Stand Up Paddleboard Team member Jay Wild of Truckee is featured in television and print ads shot last week at Carnelian Bay.

“Over 96 percent of fees help support projects like the Lake Tahoe Water Trail and access to beaches like this,” says Wild, standing on the beach at Watermans Landing. “I train on the lake every day. Tahoe is a treasure, and I have a Tahoe plate to show my love for this magical place.”

Lake Tahoe will be thrust in the spotlight again when scientists, public agencies and elected officials meet Aug. 13 for the 16th annual Lake Tahoe Summit at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. To be discussed with great interest is the protection and health of Lake Tahoe's fragile environment and economy.
“The health of the environment and the health of the economy at Tahoe are linked,” Derek Kauneckis, political science professor and researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno said. “And the collaborations that have been established at the Lake have set the stage for future efforts.”

CARSON CITY — A Nevada panel charged with implementing a system to track individual student performance from preschool through entry into the workforce is recommending that $4 million in state funds be appropriated by Gov. Brian Sandoval and the 2013 Legislature to help accomplish the task.

CARSON CITY — Nevada’s taxable sales climbed by 5.1 percent in April over April 2011, continuing a 22 consecutive month trend of positive numbers for the important economic indicator, the state Department of Taxation reported this week.
The $3.5 billion in taxable purchases in April were buoyed by double-digit gains in several major categories, including construction; up 16.1 percent, merchant wholesalers-durable goods, up 10.2 percent; and motor vehicle and parts dealers, up 10.5 percent.

Applications for persons to serve on the Lake Tahoe Basin Federal Advisory Committee are being accepted now through July 20 by the U.S. Forest Service. The committee provides a critical role in advising the Secretary of Agriculture and Lake Tahoe's Federal Interagency Partnership on programs and funds to achieve the goals of the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program.

Hobart Reservoir, a small, high-mountain reservoir, located at an elevation of 7,600 feet in the mountains between Carson City and Lake Tahoe, will open for the 2012 fishing season on May 1.
Because of its high elevation and location, this reservoir is normally covered with ice, and surrounded by deep snow drifts, when it opens on May 01.
However, this year is entirely different, ice and snow-wise. It will remain open to fishing through September 30.

Beginning in April the Nevada Highway Patrol will step up enforcement and crack down on residents who register their vehicles in other states.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, chairman of the Homeland Security Commission, along with 16 voting members determined key priorities for the Homeland Security Working Group 2012 grant application process.
The March 2 Commission meeting was dedicated to identifying and establishing the Commission's priorities for the Federal Fiscal Year 2012 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP). The federal funds allocated to the State of Nevada in 2012 total $4.6 million (State Homeland Security grant for $2.8 million; Urban Area Security Initiative grant for $1.8 million).

Nevada's longest serving senator, retired senator Bill Raggio has died. He was 85. Raggio died at 10 p.m. Thursday night while vacationing in Sydney, Australia. The cause was reported as death due to respritory illness. The death was first reported by Face-to-Face host Jon Ralston.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY — A Carson City district judge today ruled an initiative petition to amend the state constitution to define human life as beginning at conception was too vague and so could not be circulated to qualify for the November 2012 ballot.

By Sgt Jim Halsey, Public Information Officer, DCSO
On Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 at approximately 2:10 pm, deputies of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to what was reported as a dead body lying outside of a white truck in the Gardnerville Cemetery.
A DCSO deputy arrived on-scene approximately six minutes later and found an adult male, later identified as 77 year-old David Pendleton, in the cemetery near the described truck. Pendleton was holding a shotgun in his hands.

Update 5 p.m.: Firefighters have stopped the advance of the fire and are now going back and putting out hot spots. Light snow and lessening winds are helping the efforts. Reno Fire Chief Mike Hernandez said 25 homes have been impacted by the fire. The fire has burned between 1,700 and 2,000 acres. One firefighter has been injured, one person suffered a heart attack and died and more than 4,500 NV Energy customers are without power.

View Caughlin Fire (fka Pine Haven fire) in a larger map

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – It’s hard to know how well Nevada’s public school and college students are doing if there is no uniform and reliable data to view their performance over time.
Gov. Brian Sandoval is working to change that.

By Jim Halsey
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office will participate in several high-visibility traffic enforcement details over the Nevada Day / pre-Halloween weekend.
During the late evening and early morning hours of Friday through Sunday, October 28th-30th, deputies of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, working in conjunction with deputies of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, will conduct increased DUI enforcement patrols on the highways and roadways within Douglas County.