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Nevada Board of Wildlife Commission approves 2024-2025 big game hunting tag quotas

RENO —After review of the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s recommendations and consideration by County Advisory Board’s to Manage Wildlife, the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners has approved big game tag quotas for the upcoming 2024-25 hunting season.

Two DNA tests identify suspected wolves in Elko County as coyotes

ELKO COUNTY — The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) has received results from two independent genetic labs regarding the samples gathered in conjunction with the recent sighting of three suspected wolves near Merritt Mountain, north of Elko.

Elected officials fighting to keep USPS processing in Nevada

After substantial push back from the Nevada delegation and Governor Lombardo on the proposed changes to the Reno Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC), USPS announced that they will go ahead and transition the Reno P&DC to a to a Local Processing Center and transfer mail processing outgoing operations to the West Sacramento, California P&DC. This comes after a hurried review process and only one public meeting with limited opportunity for Nevadans to provide comments and concerns. There are no present indications that USPS has any interest in responding to Nevada’s concerns.

Amodei's mining bill passes House after procedural mishap

After a Republican floor rebellion last week kept his bill from getting a vote, Rep. Mark Amodei’s (R-NV) Mining Regulatory Clarity Act passed the House on Wednesday by a vote of 216-195. Six Republicans voted with Democrats to send the bill back to committee last week as part of an ongoing war with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) about his legislative decisions. There were further fireworks Wednesday — the vote was briefly postponed as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) brought a motion to vacate the speaker to the floor. But after both parties joined together and tabled that motion, the mining bill sailed to a smooth passage with the support of all Republicans and even nine Democrats.

Nevada’s ‘green bank’ receives $156 million for statewide solar

The Nevada Clean Energy Fund has been awarded $156 million in federal money for statewide solar projects, the nonprofit group announced Monday. The five-year grant will fund a combined several thousand solar installations on single-family homes and affordable housing developments, as well as fund community solar projects and education and workforce development, according to CEO Kirsten Stasio.

Insurance tax helps state revenue exceed projections

Nevada’s general fund revenue is 5% higher so far in fiscal year 2024 than earlier forecasts from the state’s Economic Forum, Legislative fiscal analyst Michael Nakamoto told legislators Monday.

Only half of low-income Nevada mothers, babies eligible for food aid apply

Though more than 116,000 families in Nevada qualify for a federal program offering food, nutrition support and education to pregnant and postpartum women, toddlers and infants from low-income households, only about half of those families receive those benefits, state health officials told lawmakers earlier this month.

Nevada nuclear commission ready to strike back after pro-Yucca hearing in Congress

Earlier this month, a congressional subcommittee met to discuss spent nuclear fuel and where to store it — setting off alarms for opponents of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the federal site in Nye County designated to store the nation’s high-level nuclear waste that has nonetheless sat vacant for decades due to intense regional opposition.

Long-awaited Nevada DMV modernization likely delayed, may cost $300M more

One month after Nevada DMV officials said that the long-awaited project to upgrade the agency’s antiquated computer systems was on track and within budget, the agency now says the plan will likely take three more fiscal years and cost $300 million more than originally anticipated.

Pershing County and others protest water applications filed by Solidus Resources

A Reno-based company, Solidus Resources, LLC, has applied to change the usage of water rights it owns in Pershing County from “irrigation” to “mining.” The proposed change has alarmed some residents, including DJ (Dan) Myers. The Pershing County Commissioners and others are protesting all 18 of their applications and plans on discussing the matter further at its next meeting May 15. Myers’ ties to Nevada go way back. The walls of "The Ghost Town Saloon" in Midas display photos of his grandfather hauling the first ball mill to Coeur Rochester with a 20-mule team.

Fun is in the air — annual hot air balloon festival coming next weekend

Spring is here and hot air balloons will soon be too! The 2024 Winnemucca Balloon Festival is taking place May 17 to 19 with multiple opportunities to see some balloons on the ground and in the air. This year’s theme, Magic in the Sky, was inspired by a local student’s imagination.

School board appoints new superintendent pending retirement

Earlier in April, Humboldt County School District (HCSD) Superintendent of 13 years, Dr. Dave Jensen, announced that he will be retiring in June of 2025 during a regular meeting of the Humboldt County School Board of Trustees, but the Board has already appointed a new superintendent at their meeting on April 23 (Trustee Lori Woodland was present online).

Price hikes for leasing land for oil, gas exploration could force industry out of Nevada

Updates by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to its oil and gas leasing rule for public lands will likely discourage the industry from continuing to operate in states like Nevada where exploration rarely turns up a substantial oil deposit, according to state officials. With last month’s updates — the first comprehensive overhaul of the rule since 1988 and the first update to some components of it in more than a century — oil and gas companies will have to pay more to drill on public lands, a move praised by conservation groups but one Nevada officials say could eliminate several million dollars per year from state and county coffers.

Millions of salaried workers to become eligible for overtime under new labor rule

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor Tuesday announced a final rule that means millions of salaried workers who are employed in the executive, administrative or professional industries will become eligible for overtime pay.

Tapping into the heat beneath Nevadans’ feet

With highly fractured, permeable ground, the Great Basin’s geology makes it one of the most geothermally rich areas in the world. Hot fluid rises easily toward the surface, ideal for driving power plants, and present-day Nevada is the second-largest producer of geothermal energy in the nation behind California. Tapping into hot fluids below the ground to spin turbines in power plants that generate electricity and boasting a lower carbon footprint than many other power sources, geothermal accounts for about 9 percent of energy generated in Nevada. But that number could be much higher, scientists say. The Silver State could produce about 30 gigawatts (GW) of geothermal power — about 30 times more than it does now.