teleconference

USDA Rural Development will hold a workshop June 11 in Carson City on its Value Added Producer Grant designed to help Nevada farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs learn about the program and whether they wish to apply for grants funds. Nationwide more than $30 million is available to fund the grants.

USDA Rural Development will hold a workshop June 12 to help rural small businesses and agricultural producers apply for the federal Rural Energy for America Program funds.

The workshop will be conducted via video teleconference from 9-11:30 a.m. at Cooperative Extension offices in Carson City, Ely, Eureka, Yerington, Caliente and at the Logandale Office. USDA Rural Energy Coordinator Mark Williams will lead the training from the Carson City location to help applicants understanding the REAP application process.

A day after NBA basketball player Jason Collins came out as gay to Sports Illustrated, a former NFL coach and an Oakland Raider record-setting placekicker believe the NFL is ready to accept a gay football player.

"I don't think the NFL is going to have a problem," said Herm Edwards, former Kansas City Chiefs head coach, now an NFL analyst for ESPN. "Is there going to be a vote of confidence in the locker room? For some of the younger and immature players, but the veteran players — they get it."

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today said he wants an assessment of how Nevada’s public schools are doing in regards to security following the horrific shooting deaths a week ago at a Connecticut elementary school.

Sandoval made the request as chairman of the state Homeland Security Commission, which met today by teleconference. A presentation will be prepared for the next meeting of the commission.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval had a teleconference with the Nevada press today from Kuwait, where he is staying in the midst of a week-long trip to the Middle East, including visits with Nevada troops at several bases in Iraq.
Sandoval left Monday with the governors of Kentucky, Tennessee and Utah on the trip, and he expects to return this weekend.

CARSON CITY – A national conservative think tank today launched a new website to give Spanish-speaking Americans access to its analyses and policy recommendations on the nation’s most pressing problems.
The Heritage Foundation launched Libertad.org, where the organization’s work on issues ranging from education reform to the new national health care law will be available in Spanish.

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – State governments across the country are facing budget deficits and a tough economy right now, but failure to get a handle on long-term liabilities, from unfunded pensions to subsidized health care for retired workers, could jeopardize any recovery, a fiscal expert said today.