love

Two guest speakers will be featured this month at the second Silver Springs social for families with military members and veterans.

The social will be held on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 11 a.m. at the Silver Springs Senior/Community Center, 2945 Fort Churchill Road in Silver Springs. The gathering is for Silver Springs and Stagecoach families of veterans, enlisted and reserve members, and for reserve, active duty, and veterans. It is open to anyone from Silver Springs and Stagecoach with a family member who is or has been in the military. Children are very welcome!

CARSON CITY – For the past nearly two decades, the Nevada Legislature’s Senate Judiciary Committee has been run by a lawmaker who was also an attorney in private life.
The committee, which hears a variety of bills dealing with civil and criminal law, is seen by many as one of the more important legislative panels and one where some legal expertise is considered to have value.

Treat your Valentine to an evening of sweet and hot big-band music 

tonight from 8 to 10 p.m. 
at Comma Coffee, 312 S. Carson St.
, across from the Legislature Building in Carson City.


Jazz Sampler for Sweethearts features the 19-member Mile High Jazz Band and vocalist Sheryl Adams, presenting jazzy versions of favorite love songs for Valentine's Day, and other swinging, big-band selections.

Joe Conforte, the former owner of the Mustang Ranch brothel a few miles east of Reno, has produced his autobiography as an ebook, his publisher has announced.

Titled “Breaks, Brains & Balls: the story of Nevada’s fabulous Mustang Ranch” the 464-page book details Conforte's adventurous life from his birth into the poverty of a Sicilian fishing village to a life of luxury in Rio De Janeiro.

Valentine’s Day in Carson City transforms into a week-long display of affection with candlelit dining options, special events, theatre performances and lodging specials, Feb. 12 – 19.

Selecting a restaurant for a romantic evening doesn’t have to be an intimidating task. The Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau compiled a list of favorites as recommended by the citizens of Nevada’s Capital based on surveys and local “best of” votes.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
Until now, tenured faculty at Nevada’s universities have avoided the budget guillotine that has chopped away at the state budget.
They escaped salary cuts during the past session due to rules governing their pay.

I was prepared to write off "The Green Hornet" as just another superhero movie, aimed at comic-book readings kids. Well, I was partly wrong. The film now playing at the Fandango Galaxy multiplex in Carson City is aimed at the lower levels of intelligence, but along the way offers some humor and an incredible chase-crash-shootout scene. So all is not lost when sitting in the Galaxy stadium seats.

Natalie Portman has been busy this year, starring in a ballet film, "Black Swan," where she was a neurotic ballet dancer in black face mask, and in the current "No Strings Attached."

"Strings" is about Emma (Portman), a doctor, and Adam, a TV writer, (Ashton Kutcher) who get together after a party and a funeral (there's twist for you) and when I say "get together" I'm being sly — she doesn't want any relationship other than sexual, but sexual she sure wants, and director Ivan Reitman shows a montage of scenes in which Emma is dragging Adam into handy closets or bedrooms.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval delivered the bad news in an email to state employees today: His budget will propose a 5 percent across-the-board salary reduction for state employees instead of continuing with a furlough program.
“We must also continue the suspension of merit pay and longevity pay,” he said in the letter.

Here is another example of why paying companies to do business in your city is problematic. Now that Carson City handed out more generous incentives to retailers in Southgate Center than it had to others in the past, it's now faced with other businesses who want their incentives, too.

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.

We all know the long saga of the Carson City Freeway. In planning for over 50 years, under construction for nearly 10, the freeway has become one of the big punch lines around town as one of those projects that it seems like we’ll never see the tail end of. They’ve been dribbling out freeway segments to us slowly, opening the stretch from Lakeview to Hwy 50 in Spring 2006 and the segment from Hwy 50 to Fairview in Fall 2009.

The family-aimed film "Gulliver's Travels," now playing at the Fandango's Galaxy multiplex in Carson City, has very little to do with the book (or books) Johnathan Swift wrote in satire on the English government in the 18th century. Gone is the wit, the clever writing, the book that many of us read in high school or English Lit 103.

Carson Kressley, star of the Bravo Channel show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" was in Carson City today filming scenes for his new reality show "Carson Nation."

Kressley bounded up and down the interior of Carson Mall at midday, with cameras in tow, interacting with shoppers and store employees in his high-energy, over-the-top style. He did quickie makeovers on some people, adding make-up, or working on their hair.

The event of the season will be our Holiday Dance at Sierra Place. Live music will be provided by local jazz singer, Linda Merrell and her band. Linda has a sultry voice which is beautifully suited for the songs of the 1940's.
This is a music program with dancing for those who love to sway and swirl along. Champagne punch and holiday cookies will be provided. Free event. Sierra Place, 1111 West College Pkwy. Call for times. (775) 841-4111.

PINE NUTS by McAvoy Layne

About a month or so ago I received a call from Gary Cain of the Carson City Historical Society, asking if I might be interested in presenting "Christmas with Mark Twain" at the Bliss Mansion.

There’s another new website to keep an eye on. The Carsonist is a site I found out about just the other night, when I met Jens Peermann who runs it. There’s a lot of interesting stuff there, mostly posts about events he goes to and galleries of his photography. He has a post up now about the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony that I went to the other night, with plenty of photos from the event.

With all of the "Black Friday" shopping madness now safely behind us, Carsonsports.com Outdoor Editor Don Quilici has some Christmas gift ideas, chocolate included, for outdoor enthusiasts. Click here to read up on the Q's list.

"Love & Other Drugs" is a sort of romantic comedy involving a drug salesman, Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) and an artist Maggie (Anne Hathaway) who is suffering from Parkinson's disease. It recalls that tear-jerker of yore, "Love Story," but doesn't go all the way. No cure but the couple walk off into the snow and to his Porsche Carrera rag top.

If you place X's on a map of Nevada to mark areas used for nuclear testing and O's to mark areas examined as potential nuclear sites, you end up with a tic-tac-toe game board in the shape of the Silver State, says Western Nevada College Emeritus English Professor Michon Mackedon.

With an unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent in Lyon County, the Dayton Food Pantry has seen a big jump in requests for Thanksgiving food baskets and is asking the community for help.

Food Pantry Director Freida Carbery reports that while many individuals and groups have donated turkeys and trimmings, there are already 100 families in need on the Pantry list, and only 40 turkeys in the freezer. The Pantry's list of those in need doesn’t even include the numbers of families she expects to receive from the local schools this week.

Yep, I got to the Carson Community Center a 7:30 p.m. Friday night, ready to enjoy the Western Nevada musical "White Christmas." Big show, big cast, great music.

But the audience didn't show up. No one but me, except for Stephanie Arrigotti, producer and director and her cast of thousands.I then realized the the WNMCC opens its shows on Saturdays rather then Fridays.

So what, I was there, the orchestra was warming up, the actors were on stage, the house lights were dimmed and there were plenty of seats, so I sat to enjoy a private preview, the dress rehearsal.

The following obituary was submitted by Jeff Cowen, community liaison for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on the passing of spokesman Dennis Oliver:

DENNIS J. OLIVER
May 20, 1963 - November 3, 2010

Dennis Oliver, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's public information officer, has died after a brain illness. He was 47.

Oliver was admitted to the hospital about three weeks ago, according to TRPA External Affairs Director Julie Regan. He died overnight Wednesday at Carson Tahoe Hospital of an apparent brain virus which attacks the meylin around the nerve cells, said friend Michael Carr.

"TRPA is deeply saddened to share the news with the community of the loss of Dennis Oliver, who was an extremely valued employee of the Agency over the last three and a half years," said TRPA Executive Director Joanne Marchetta. Click here to read the obituary.

A family fun event to emphasize healthy lifestyle choices for children will be held today, Saturday, Nov. 13 at the Carson Mall Center Court from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is free and open to all.

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?

Carson Area Wellness Association will host an afternoon of “Carsonopoly”, a board game that’s just like Monopoly, but with Carson City businesses and landmarks on the board instead.
 If you like Monopoly, you’ll love Carsonopoly. Using the very same premise of the world-famous game, Carsonopoly takes the player on a tour of Carson City. Have fun, and learn about the town too!

Shop Carson City First: It's All Here!, an idea spearheaded by the Carson City Chamber of Commerce a few years ago, has taken on a new incarnation, this time using social media as a tool to spread the word about its members and the deals and services they offer.

As advertising budgets tighten, social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have become a cost-effective means to spread the word to consumers about the latest deals and exclusive offerings in town.

Author Karel Ancona-Henry will be on hand to sign copies of "Irish Flame's Biker & Travel Guide to Nevada,"as well as limited edition prints, at two locations during Street Vibrations and Thunder on the Comstock.

Appearances and displays will be in Virginia City at Thunder on the Comstock inside the Ponderosa Saloon, beginning Thursday at 2 p.m., Friday at 11 a.m., Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. And at the Road Rider of Reno, 2187 Market Street, Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Everyone loves a parade!

Every year Nevada does something completely unique in the United States. Nevada celebrates it's date of statehood with a huge 3 hour parade right through the middle of beautiful historic downtown Carson City. The NV Day Parade averages 200 entries from all over Nevada with antique cars & motorcycles, cowboys on horses, Burning Man & Gunfighters shooting in sequences, Marching Bands and tons more!