2015

Carson City will present concepts for improvements to downtown Carson Street at a public open house on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at noon and 5:30 p.m. in the Community Center Sierra Room.

The concepts will be available for public review and staff will be available to answer questions and take public comments from 12 to 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Plans for downtown include wider sidewalks and enhanced landscaping. The plans will implement the vision for downtown that was adopted with the City’s Master Plan in 2006.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of Sept. 3-10, 2014.

Nevada's private space industry has been making headlines in recent months as private companies continue to blaze the trail with new partnerships with NASA and other leading private space-based initiatives. But now, Nevada's students are about to be the next in line to take a bold step into the unknown.

Join, Inc., northern Nevada’s non-profit career training agency has received the Department of Labor’s Emergency Grant Funding to provide immediate assistance to individuals who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more and have qualified for unemployment insurance.

Here is the Carson City area road report for the week of Sept. 2-7, 2014. Crews will be striping roadways throughout the city weekdays between the hours of 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Minor delays are expected on roadways that are being striped while the work occurs.

Monday, Sept. 1 will be the last chance to receive the early-season rate on Lake Tahoe Local, Tahoe Value, and Epic season passes — all of which offer access to Heavenly Mountain, Kirkwood and Northstar California resorts.

Here is the Carson City area road report for the week of August 25-31. The Nevada Department of Transportation will be continuing road work on Highway 50 from Arrowhead Drive in Carson City to Baldwine Lane in Mound House. There will be single lane closures on weeknights from 1 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. in the westbound direction and from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m. in the eastbound direction.

On Monday, August 25, Telegraph Street will be closed to through traffic between Division Street and Minnesota Street from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Work on a critical construction phase of the Carson City Freeway Project has finished, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Completion of the 2B-2 roadway project is considered a milestone, NDOT officials say. The project included roadway grading, utility relocation, extensive drainage facilities to channel storm water runoff and construction of an overpass bringing Snyder Avenue over the future freeway.

Here is the Carson City area road report for week of August 18-24: The Nevada Department of Transportation will be continuing road work on Highway 50 from Arrowhead Drive in Carson City to Baldwine Lane in Mound House.
There will be single lane closures on weeknights from 1 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. in the westbound direction and from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m. in the eastbound direction.

Nevada poets and fiction writers have a unique new opportunity to express themselves and compete for an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to meet with top literary professionals, including editors, agents, publishers, and prominent writers. Poets & Writers, the nation's largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers, has selected Nevada as the only state to participate in its annual Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award program.

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension invites Nevada students to showcase their artistic talents and promote radon awareness by entering the 2015 Nevada Radon Poster Contest.

The contest is open to all children ages 9 to 14 years old enrolled in public, private, territorial, tribal, Department of Defense and home schools. Children can also enter through a sponsoring club, such as an art, computer, library, reading, science, scouting, youth or 4-H club.

Now this is news. The Washington, D.C. Circuit Court’s recent ruling against the IRS may spell the end of Individual Mandates for Health Insurance (and individual penalties for not having qualified health insurance) and the Employer Mandates for companies with over 50 employees (and the corresponding penalties for not complying)…IF a state did NOT set up a State Health Exchange.

Here is the Carson City area road report for Aug. 11-17. The inside lanes of N. Carson Street between Musser Street and Spear Street will be closed in both directions Monday through Wednesday evenings from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for street work.

The Nevada Department of Transportation will be continuing road work on US 50 from Arrowhead Drive in Carson City to Baldwine Lane in Mound House. There will be single lane closures on weeknights from 1 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. in the westbound direction and from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m. in the eastbound direction.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada and Northern California. This report is for the week of Aug. 6-12, 2014.

CARSON CITY — A panel of lawmakers on Tuesday voted to draft legislation that would reduce the reliance on student test performance for a new teacher evaluation system from 50 percent to 40 percent.

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office regrets to inform everyone that the 12th Annual National Night Out in Mills Park, set for Tuesday, August 5 at 5 p.m. has been canceled.

It has been determined that with the park's current ground saturation from the rain, the quantity of “heavy” public safety vehicles, aircraft and equipment that was scheduled to be on the grassy area of the park would cause irreparable damage. Further, at this late hour, there is insufficient time to orchestrate a reasonable relocation of the event location, according to a news release which continues below.

The Carson City Chamber of Commerce Travel Club meets Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Red's Old 395 Grill to discuss their 2015 Trade Mission to China.

This will be the club's fifth year offering this incredible tour to China. New this year is the opportunity to join Kirk Caraway, publisher of CarsonNow.org, as he chronicles the tour for his readers.

Here is the Carson City area road report for Aug. 4-10. The Nevada Department of Transportation will be continuing road work on Highway 50 from Deer Run Road in Carson City to just east of Highway 341 in Mound House. There will be single lane closures on weeknights from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.

The inside lanes of N. Carson Street between Musser Street and Spear Street will be closed in both directions weeknight evenings from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for street work.

Proposed 2015 health insurance for individual and small group markets in Nevada are now available online, state Insurance Commissioner Scott J. Kipper announced Thursday. The proposed rates are for plans sold both on and off Nevada’s health insurance exchange.

Nevadans who wish to view proposed health insurance rates for plan year 2015 can go here. The Division has made proposed rate information available in two different formats.

Douglas County is hosting the Western Nevada College “Always Lost: A Meditation on War” arts and humanities exhibition as part of a special Nevada Sesquicentennial tour sponsored by the Nevada Department of Veterans Services.

CARSON CITY — A legislative committee Friday agreed to draft a bill for the 2015 session to look at energy-savings opportunities for utility customers, but the panel declined to move forward with the specific recommendations of a public policy group.

Here is the Carson City area road report for July 29 through Aug. 3, 2014. The Nevada sesquicentennial Fair will be held at Fuji Park July 30 through August 3. Additional traffic may be expected in the area. Off-site parking will be at the Casino Fandango with free bus rides to and from the fair.

The Nevada Department of Transportation will be continuing road work on Highway 50 from Deer Run Road in Carson City to just east of Highway 341 in Mound House. There will be single lane closures on weeknights from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.

Five lucky hunters, two of whom are from Douglas County, are preparing for their Nevada hunt of a lifetime after winning one of the five premier tags in the Nevada Dream Tag raffle on July 1.

This year the Dream Tag program saw winners from Nevada, California, New Mexico and North Dakota. The winners from Carson Valley include David Cochran of Genoa who won the Desert Bighorn Sheep tag and John Koster of Gardnerville who won the antelope tag.

John C. Fremont, the famed explorer who named, mapped and trekked the Great Basin comes to the Nevada State Museum in Carson City at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 24, in a theatrical presentation by Chautauquan Alastair Morley Jaques. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the one-person performance that is part of the monthly Frances Humphrey Lecture series.

Here is the Carson City area road report for the week of July 20-27, 2014: There will be road work on the section of Timberline Drive between both intersections with Prospect Drive. This section will be open to local traffic only, and through traffic will be detoured onto Prospect Drive.

There will be utility work primarily in the street shoulder on weekdays at the following locations. Minimal delays are possible.

— Gulch Road between Wagon Wheel Road and Combs Canyon Road.
— Lakeview Road west of Combs Canyon Road.
— Sandy Circle.

With Congress all tied up and failing to agree on almost anything, I wonder when we can expect Congress to reform our tax laws. Recently a tax writer (staff) for the U.S. Senate vowed to work on overhauling the federal tax code by August 2015.

It is long past time to reduce the corporation income tax rates. Senator Ron Wyden said rate reduction to 24 percent (from 35 percent) is possible by “eliminating loopholes.”

Newly crowned Miss USA 2014, Nia Sanchez, will return to her home state of Nevada for her official homecoming trip Wednesday, July 16 through Sunday, July 20. This will be Sanchez’s first celebration trip since becoming the first Miss USA from Nevada since she was crowned on Sunday, June 8.

Miss USA’s homecoming will kick off with a visit to the state’s capital, Carson City. Sanchez will have the opportunity to meet several government officials while visiting the historic Nevada State Capitol.

Here is the Carson City area road report for the week of July 14-20, 2014. There will be road work on the section of Timberline Drive between both intersections with Prospect Drive. This section will be open to local traffic only, and through traffic will be detoured onto Prospect Drive.
 
There will be utility work primarily in the street shoulder on weekdays at the following locations. Minimal delays are possible.
— Combs Canyon Road between Lakeview Road and Meadow Wood Road. 
— Lakeview Road west of Combs Canyon Road.
       

UPDATE: The Chamber Travel Club meeting has been changed to Aug. 6 at 5 p.m. at Red's 395.

Carson Now focuses on local news, but for eight days next spring, we will expand our view all the way to China.

In cooperation with the Carson City Chamber of Commerce, I will be embarking on a tour of China with a group of Carson City residents and businesspeople on April 7-15, 2015.

Here is the Carson City area road report for the week of July 7-13, 2014. On Wednesday, July 9, the outside northbound lane on Carson Street will be closed at the intersection with Washington Street due to utility work.
 
There will be road work on the section of Timberline Drive between both intersections with Prospect Drive.  This section will be open to local traffic only, and through traffic will be detoured onto Prospect Drive.
 
There will be utility work primarily in the street shoulder on weekdays at the following locations.  Minimal delays are possible.