000

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons today approved a plan to phase out operations at the Nevada State Prison in the capital. The decision by the lame duck governor comes even though the Legislature has rejected past attempts to close the facility.
“It costs taxpayers an extra $4,000 to $6,000 per inmate for prisoners at NSP because the facility is so old and poorly designed,� Gibbons said. “Additionally, NSP is not as safe for prison staff as other facilities.�

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons approved plans today to phase-out operations at the 650-inmate Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

“It costs taxpayers an extra $4,000 to $6,000 per inmate for prisoners at NSP because the facility is so old and poorly designed,” Gibbons said. “Additionally, NSP is not as safe for prison staff as other facilities.”

CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons said today he believes Nevada and other states will prevail in their court challenge of the federal health care law following the filing of a motion to dismiss the lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice.

CARSON CITY – One proposal sought to increase mining taxes and another wanted to define life as beginning at conception. A third would have required secret ballots for employee votes on whether to join a union and yet another would have given Nevada residents the right to reject participation in government backed health care.

CARSON CITY – Jim Gibbons’ lame duck status as chief executive became a certainty on primary election day June 8, but the Legislature will add its own stamp of finality next week when it is asked to approve $20,000 for an official portrait of Nevada’s 28th governor.
Nevada law provides for an official portrait of each departing governor for display in the state Capitol Building.

CARSON CITY – The position of Nevada state Senate secretary is now being advertised to potential applicants following the decision last month by Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford to replace long-time staffer Claire Clift.

A 23-year-old transient was arrested Saturday and faces several charges including warrants for felony robbery, fraudulent use of a credit card, and uttering a fictitious bill.

Christopher Hugh Trappe, was arrested at North Carson and William streets at about 11:25 p.m.
According to the arrest report, deputies working with the Tri-County Gang Unit were dispatched to look for a four-door sedan with unknown Nevada license plates occupied by two men with shaved heads who left the area of Russell Way and Long street, displaying a "red rag" which is used to provoke gang activity.

The final games of pool were being played today at Doppelgangers Brewery and Tap Room in Carson City, with the winners being Carson City community organizations.

The Appeal has a story this morning about Mom & Pop's owner Doug Cramer being pushed out of the Fridays@3rd Street event he started nine years ago.

I've been talking with Doug about this situation, and there are a few interesting things left out of this story.

A Carson City motorcycle gang member faces gross misdemeanor weapons charges after bringing a concealed knife into a concert attended by more than 200 people.
Dave Ernest Herrick, 46, faces charges of possession of a dangerous weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. Bail was set at $5,000.
According to the arrest report, Gold Dust West security officers alerted Carson City deputies that there was a man with a concealed weapon attending a Saturday night concert.

CARSON CITY – Campaign contribution reports for the front-running Republican and Democrat candidates for governor show they are about even in the money-raising and expenditure game.

CARSON CITY – Jobless benefits will resume quickly to Nevada’s eligible unemployed residents if Congress passes legislation to again extend the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs that expired on June 2, a state agency reported today.
There are about 70,000 people receiving EUC benefits in Nevada.

I sent an email to all of the members of the Carson City Board of Supervisors for their reaction to the initiative petition filed on Friday to put the Nugget Project to a vote in 2012.

We now have responses from the four supervisors, and I just added Mayor Bob Crowell's comment below.

CARSON CITY – While voters and political observers are focused on the Tuesday primary, Nevadans seeking access to the November ballot for measures they are pushing to amend the state Constitution have another key date in mind.
June 15 is the deadline for groups pushing their amendments to turn in the nearly 100,000 signatures they need to qualify the measures for the ballot. There are three initiative petitions to amend the state constitution still active, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

LAKE TAHOE — Grocery shoppers can now add Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Tony Romo and Taylor Hicks to the basket at their neighborhood Raley’s, Bel-Air and Nob Hill Foods supermarkets by purchasing specially-priced tickets to the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, July 13-18, 2010.

CARSON CITY – Nevada Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty said a program the state initiated a few years ago to pardon selected illegal resident inmates so they could be deported to free up space in the prison system was in his view successful.
Hardesty said the review resulted in 106 nonviolent inmates being granted conditional pardons in exchange for a waiver of any immigration hearing and agreement to be deported to their country of origin.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors agreed to move forward with planning for the Carson City Center Project, AKA Nugget Project, allocating $75,000 to the effort.

The vote was 4-1, with Pete Livermore casting the no vote.

The agreement gives P3 Development the funds to come up with a plan over the next 90 days to see if the project is feasible, and what the final outcome would look like. The trust that owns the Carson Nugget is throwing in $75,000, with another $16,000 coming from the Carson City Library.

A 23-year-old unemployed Carson City woman faces multiple felony charges in connection with a series of thefts associated with paying off a drug dealer.
Bailey Michelle Wilson was arrested on Tuesday at the 3700 block of Hobart Road following an investigation in which the suspect's mother found the stolen items, including jewelry, inside a pawn shop.
Wilson faces felony charges of grand larceny, burglary, obtaining money under false pretenses and possession of stolen property. Bail has been set at $25,000.

A ground-breaking celebration was held this morning to mark the beginning of one of the truly bright spots in Carson City's otherwise ailing construction economy.
Building will begin June 14 on a $3.6 million, 42-unit senior apartment complex in Carson City, designed to help close the gap in a shortage of affordable retirement housing here.

LAKE TAHOE — The American Century Championship, the celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe celebrates its 21 birthday, July 13-18. Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Tony Romo, Bode Miller, Troy Aikman, Jerry Rice, Don Cheadle, Mario Lemieux, Taylor Hicks are among the 80 sports and entertainment stars and Hall of Famers competing in the 54-hole, $600,000 tournament on NBC Sports.
 

I saw this last week but didn't get a chance to do anything on it. The Nugget Project has a new name: The Carson City Center Project.

Why? It seems the Nugget name was getting in the way, as people focused on what it will do to help the Carson Nugget. It should be noted, however, that it was the city who deemed this the Nugget Project.

But do you think a new name will really change the perceptions about this project? Do you think the name will stick?

We have some good news to share in these not-so-good economic times, especially when it comes to development and housing.
Construction will begin soon on a $3.6 million, 42-unit senior apartment complex in Carson City that will help to close the gap in a shortage of affordable retirement housing here.

With early voting under way for the Nevada primaries, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chad Christensen yesterday maintained that he will come out on top, despite polls showing him trailing well behind candidates Sue Lowden, Sharron Angle, and Danny Tarkanian..

A Carson City man who allegedly held a Nevada driver license in a deceased person’s name was arrested after he allegedly applied for an identification card under another dead person’s name.

Gregory Scott Rice, 54, recently applied for a Nevada ID card under the name of Ross James Martin, according to DMV Compliance Enforcement investigators.The department’s Facial Recognition System matched his photograph with a Nevada driver license issued under the name of John Clifford Butler. A preliminary investigation showed both identities belonged to deceased Minnesota men.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s unemployment rate keeps creeping upward despite signs the economic slowdown has hit bottom, and April statistics from the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation show job losses are now being seen in the government employment sector as well.

Obtaining leases from three state agencies has been cited by the people pushing the Nugget Project as a critical piece to its success.

But, there's been more than a little skepticism that the State of Nevada, staring down the barrel of a $3 billion deficit in its next budget, has any appetite for spending money it doesn't have to.

A 25-year-old JCPenney supervisor was arrested Friday after admitting to store officials that he stole around $2,000 from the store's safe, which was captured on video surveillance.
Travis Lawing of Carson City faces felony grand larceny and embezzlement charges as well as drug possession and paraphernalia charges after Carson City deputies discovered 14 balloons of heroin, a pipe and tinfoil with heroin residue when he was booked into jail. His bail has been set at $25,000.

Course improvements, packages, online accessibility and savings are springing up around the Carson City and Carson Valley’s Divine 9 Golf Courses.

Spring and summer golf excursions for individuals and groups to Nevada’s capital city and the High Sierra are convenient, fun and affordable with the co-op power of nine Carson City/Carson Valley golf courses and nine lodging properties.

A team of athletes, many of whom are wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, will leave from Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday for World T.E.A.M. Sports’ inaugural bike trek across America called Sea to Shining Sea. The group will arrive in Carson City on May 28 on their way to their Virginia Beach, Va., destination.

An action item about an agreement involving the Nugget Project was pulled from the agenda at today's Carson City Board of Supervisors meeting, delaying a decision for two weeks.

The item calls for the city to contribute $75,000 to help fund the development planning for the Nugget redevelopment project. The Hop and Mae Adams Foundation will contribute $75,000, and the Carson City Library will pitch in $16,000.