Employment

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s jobless rate fell from a revised 13 percent in December to 12.7 percent in January, down from 13.8 percent a year ago and a peak of 14 percent in October 2010. The number of unemployed Nevadans remained relatively flat at 174,700, but is down 16,300 from the same month last year.

The Nevada State Demographer’s Office, located at the University of Nevada, Reno College of Business, has released its 2011 population estimates. The state gained an estimated 17,152 people from July 2010 to July 2011, an estimated increase of 0.6 percent, about equivalent to the increase of 0.7 percent the prior year. Two years ago, the state lost 27,677 people, a decrease of about 1.0 percent.

Jim Shirk has filed to be a candidate for Carson City Supervisor Ward 4, where he will face off with incumbent Molly Walt.

Here is the statement he sent announcing his candidacy:

If you’re a fisherman or fisherwoman, it’s that time of the year to remind you to purchase your new Nevada 2012-2013 fishing license.
That new fishing license year began on March 01 and it will run through the last day in February, 2013.
As a special tip you would be well advised to purchase that new license ASAP, because if you forget, go fishing and get checked by “The Friendly Old Game Warden,” he isn’t going to be very happy nor will you.

CARSON CITY, NEVADA- Russell Upton was an employee of Lyon County for six and one-half years before he found himself laid off due to budget cuts last summer. Upton, like many newly-unemployed, was uncertain of how to survive and how to cope. His wife would later tell the story how Upton had given up hope at a time in their lives when they should have been more settled.

In the United States a political party does not become the majority party in this country by becoming ideologically pure. They become the majority by becoming larger, inclusive, and superior to their political opponents not only in size, but should also be anchored in and unafraid of intellectual and discursive dialogue, devoid of reactionary emotionalism. Then and only then, can conservatism present and extend to the electorate our concepts in such a way that we will be accepted by the majority of our fellow citizens.

CARSON CITY – A long awaited opinion regarding the conduct of former Lyon County manager Dennis Stark has been published by the state Ethics Commission.

Stark appeared before the commission on an ethics matter in November 2010 and January 2011, and had been waiting for a published opinion in his case. Stark was found at the hearing to have committed one willful ethics violation.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s mining industry is stepping up to Gov. Brian Sandoval’s challenge asking businesses and all economic partners to help create 50,000 jobs over the next three years.

CARSON CITY – A broader measure of Nevada’s unemployment picture, including those who have given up looking for work, showed some improvement through the end of 2011, a federal report released this week shows.

The rate in Nevada dropped to 22.7 percent in the 12 months through Dec. 31, down from 23.3 percent in the 12 months through Sept. 30, 2011.

CARSON CITY – Treasurer Kate Marshall announced today that a request for proposals for a manger to oversee a new investment program using up to $50 million from the state Permanent School Fund has been issued by the Nevada Capital Investment Corporation (NCIC) Board of Directors.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s unemployment rate fell by four-tenths of a percentage point to 12.6 percent in December, the second consecutive monthly decline that saw the number of jobless drop to 166,300, a state agency reported today.

A year ago, the rate, which is adjusted for seasonal fluctuations in the labor market, hit a record high of 14.9 percent.

On January 7, 2012, Janet Sylvia MacDonald died peacefully surrounded by her family after battling Parkinson’s disease.

Born Janet Sylvia MacDonald May 6, 1941 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Jan moved to Nevada in 1959. As a single mother with a young son, she attended the University of Nevada, Reno during the day and worked evenings to support her family. It was during this time that Jan danced and performed with famous Bertha the Elephant in the main showroom at John Asquaga’s Nugget.

CARSON CITY – A conservative Nevada think tank today announced the second case taken on by its Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation (CJCL), this one aimed at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for allegedly flooding a Pahrump church camp through negligent and illegal work on two streams.

CARSON CITY – A computer glitch that caused some jobless benefit recipients to have their claims mistakenly rejected this week has been fixed, and claimants who had problems are encouraged to re-file using the state’s website.

Seven months ago, my spouse walked into my place of employment and told me that one of our best friends had been shot and killed.

It's been seven months and we've all begun to move on - all of Steve Gale's friends and family are slowly teaching themselves to exist in a world without Steve in it. We're all achieving this with varying degrees of success.

Unemployment figures released this morning show the state's overall unemployment rate held steady at 13.4 percent, still the highest in the nation and well above the 9 percent national average.

Carson City's jobless rate dropped to 12 percent in October, down from 12.4 percent the previous month. In October 2010, the unemployment was 13.1 percent.

Unemployment in the Las Vegas metro area dropped to 13.1 percent, down from 13.4 percent in September. The Reno metro area also saw a drop, from 12.6 to 12.1 percent.

Full press release below.

November 18 is a very significant date in the lives of several thousand hardy Alaskans. Those folks live in a unique location known as Barrow, Alaska, which is the northernmost community in the United States.
It is located in the Far North, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, about 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
On November 18, the sun sets below the horizon at Barrow and it will not peek back up over the horizon until January 24 (weather permitting).
That’s more than two months without sunshine. Wow!

You might have seen this on in our live update box yesterday, the McKeen Motor Car on display at the Nevada State Railroad Museum has been nominated as an historical landmark by the National Historic Landmarks Committee. If the nomination is accepted, it will become to only piece of railroad equipment to secure a spot on the list of National Historic Landmarks. Here is a video with some history on the McKeen Motor Car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Y4HHti0K0

****

A weeklong effort by Carson City JobConnect has rounded up 521 job listings in the Carson City area. The effort's goal was to get more employers to list their job openings with the state's one-stop employment centers.

****

Friends of the Urban Forest have begun an effort to plant 10,000 trees in Carson City over the next five years. With a grant from the Nevada Division of Forestry's Urban Forest Fund, they kicked off the effort last weekend by planting 30 native cottonwood saplings in Fulstone Wetlands Park, off Northridge Drive and Russell Way.

****

Don't forget Carson Senators play Damonte Ranch tonight at 7 at home in the first round of the 4A playoffs.

A Carson City woman was arrested Tuesday night for allegedly embezzling more than $10,000 from Carson Tahoe Veterinary Hospital.

Carson City JobConnect is holding a special event beginning Monday to find more jobs for Carson City, Douglas and Lyon County workers.JobConnect and the Department of Employment, Training and Rehab...

CARSON CITY – The September jobs report released today contained some hints of economic life in recession-battered Nevada, even though the unemployment rate held steady at a double-digit 13.4 percent rate from August.
While still tops in the nation in unemployment, Nevada saw a decline in the jobless rate in the Las Vegas area, to 13.6 percent from 14.3 percent in August. The Reno-Sparks and Carson City areas also saw declines.

CARSON CITY – A report from the Tax Foundation on unemployment insurance taxes says 34 states have had to borrow $37 billion from the federal government to pay jobless benefits, and employers around the country face the prospect of higher tax rates as a result.

CARSON CITY – Ten months after a legislative audit first raised serious questions about current and former state employees working as contractors for state agencies, the Board of Examiners earlier this week approved administrative changes to prevent future abuses.

The Board of Examiners approved restrictions Tuesday on state workers' ability to contract for other employment.The changes to the State Administrative Manual were ordered by the Legislature after ...

The re-opening of a formerly shuttered joist manufacturing plant in Fallon already has added 58 jobs in Churchill County, and employment at the New Millennium Building Systems facility could triple...

CARSON CITY – State Treasurer Kate Marshall today announced the appointees to the board of the Nevada Capital Investment Corporation (NCIC), a new group charged with overseeing the investment of school funds to improve returns while promoting economic development statewide.

Nevada's Employment Security Council on Tuesday recommended not raising the unemployment insurance tax paid by businesses, despite the fact that the state's debt to the federal government is more t...

CARSON CITY – Despite the need to borrow $773 million from the federal government to pay jobless benefits so far in the current economic downturn, an advisory panel today recommended that the average tax rate levied on Nevada employers to pay claims remain unchanged at 2 percent for 2012.
The unanimous vote of the nine-member Nevada Employment Security Council came despite the recommendation from one employer representative for an increase in the rate to 2.5 percent or even 2.75 percent so Nevada could pay off its federal loans more quickly.

CARSON CITY – Nevada ranks well overall in an analysis by the nonpartisan State Budget Solutions of spending trends over the past decade, coming in 12th in the review of how states have managed their money in times of growth and recession.

CARSON CITY – A new federal program is bringing $13.8 million to Nevada to lend to small businesses to spur job growth, Gov. Brian Sandoval announced earlier this week.
The funds provided to Nevada’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) by the Small Business Jobs Act are expected to help create private sector jobs and spur more than $138 million in additional lending to small businesses in Nevada, Sandoval said.