RENO — The College of Education & Human Development at the University of Nevada, Reno has climbed 21 spots in the rankings from the prior year. It is now ranked No. 88th among the 2024 Best Online Masters in Education Programs by U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News evaluated schools in the Best Online category based on a variety of factors, such as student engagement, faculty credentials, and services and technologies.
WINNEMUCCA — Black Rock Field Office, in partnership with Friend of Black Rock-High Rock, has co-hosted the 10th Annual Artist in Residence (AiR) program for the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area.
Nevada had the highest job growth in the nation last year, and the highest unemployment rate, a paradox that can be attributed to inadequate “job infrastructure”, says Julie Su, the Acting Labor Secretary of the United States. “It’s not just about Nevada,” Su said in an interview with the Current. “It’s just like physical infrastructure. It’s a decades-long problem of underinvestment. The workforce system has potholes and cracks in it, too. And it also has not been built to reach every community the way it should.”
Addressing high nitrate levels in the drinking water in Grass Valley (GV) and a lack of adequate space within the Humboldt County Courthouse to accommodate changes in legislation both call for multi-million-dollar solutions—a wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) for Grass Valley residents and a new, larger justice center for Humboldt County. At their annual Board Retreat on Jan. 29, the Humboldt County Board of Commissioners discussed two of the most prominent projects that they worked on in 2023, unanimously deciding to move forward with design work for the WWTF but ultimately not coming to a substantive conclusion for the justice center project.
Addressing high nitrate levels in the drinking water in Grass Valley (GV) and a lack of adequate space within the Humboldt County Courthouse to accommodate changes in legislation both call for multi-million-dollar solutions—a wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) for Grass Valley residents and a new, larger justice center for Humboldt County. At their annual Board Retreat on Jan. 29, the Humboldt County Board of Commissioners discussed two of the most prominent projects that they worked on in 2023, unanimously deciding to move forward with design work for the WWTF but ultimately not coming to a substantive conclusion for the justice center project.
ELKO — Are you interested in a high wage, high demand career in Diesel Technology, Industrial Maintenance Technology, Welding Technology, Electrical Systems Technology, or Instrumentation Technology? The GBC Career and Technical Education Department, CTE, is offering a Showcase of information night on these technical programs, as well as MTC Scholarship opportunities and the application process on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 5:30 pm. The event will be in person on the GBC Elko Campus: Greenhaw Technical Arts Center: Room GTA 130.
A long-running legal battle over state lawmakers’ ability to work as public employees while in office has once again reached the Nevada Supreme Court, as attorneys for both sides argued before the court on Tuesday and offered differing interpretations of the state Constitution’s separation of powers clause.
The IRS announced eligibility requirements for the free, direct filing system that Nevada and 12 other states are piloting during the 2024 tax season, helping an estimated 20 million people. But it won’t be fully functioning until mid-March, after many who qualify have already filed. The new “Direct File” system is currently open on a limited basis to federal and state employees, as long as they meet eligibility requirements, in Nevada and the other dozen states participating in the pilot program.
Speaking to a crowd that included attendees who said they have become disillusioned with politics, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cast himself as the person who can bring back faith in the nation’s political system. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic because of his questions regarding the quick roll-out of vaccines, is the latest member of his dynastic family — he is John F. Kennedy’s nephew — to enter the American political spotlight. He originally ran for president as a Democrat but switched to an independent bid last October and is now trying to land on the ballot in all 50 states ahead of the November general election.
In a Republican primary that did not feature former President Donald Trump, “none of these candidates” — a protest choice unique to Nevada — received more votes than former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
cThe Nevada Independent Former President Donald Trump easily won Nevada’s Republican caucus in a race where he was functionally the only remaining candidate on the ballot, according to returns released Thursday night. With more than 60,000 votes counted as of 5:36 a.m. Friday, Trump led with 99.1 percent of the vote. That included 99 percent support in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and accounted for roughly half (29,900) of those votes. The Silver State win secured 26 delegates for Trump, his largest single delegate haul thus far, and another electoral victory heading into a Republican primary in South Carolina later this month that could seal the 2024 Republican nomination for the former president. Ryan Binkley, a Texas banking CEO and pastor, was the only other active candidate on the caucus ballot. Early returns showed him with less than 1 percent of the vote. Four additional candidates — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — filed to participate in the caucus last October but ended their campaigns well before Thursday’s contest. Trump’s Nevada win follows victories in Iowa — where he beat second-place Ron DeSantis by nearly 30 points — and New Hampshire, where he bested former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley by about 11 percentage points. Hours before Nevada’s caucus Thursday, Trump also won a caucus in the U.S. Virgin Islands by 48 points. “If we win this state, we easily win the election in November,” Trump told a crowd at the Treasure Island in Las Vegas Thursday night after the race was called. “We have to win the election.” It also comes after another de facto Trump win Tuesday, after “none of these candidates” trounced Haley in Nevada’s nonbinding Republican primary by a 2-1 margin. Of the original Republican field, only three major candidates — Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) — filed to run in the primary, but Pence and Scott also ended their campaigns early. The state Republican Party adopted rules prohibiting candidates from running in both contests, with delegates only allocated to caucus participants. The Trump campaign seized on the result this week, saying in a statement that Haley’s defeat was “humiliating, embarrassing and utterly overwhelming.” The result also provided cover for the campaign, which had begun to worry internally that Nevada’s caucus result could prove hollow if turnout dipped too low, according to a report from Axios. Around 10 p.m., a tranche of more than 23,000 votes from Clark County pushed Trump’s margin of victory over 99 percent — exceeding the 22,600 votes Haley received in the primary. However, by early Friday morning, turnout had reached about 60,000 votes. In a speech delivered alongside Burgum and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, Trump hammered immigration and called on the Supreme Court to “preserve democracy,” an apparent reference to a case heard Thursday concerning whether states have the power to remove Trump off the ballot. “The Supreme Court, hopefully, will be doing something in terms of helping our country and preserving democracy,” See CAUCUS, Page 14 CAUCUS — From Page 2 Trump said. “We have to preserve our democracy.” Trump also nodded to Haley’s Tuesday loss — sarcastically congratulating “none of the above” on their primary win. Burgum, taking the microphone briefly, said Nevada sent a signal to the nation: “This primary is over, President Trump has won.” Watch party turned victory party Enthusiastic Trump supporters filled a ballroom at the Treasure Island, several wearing white hats with “Team Trump Captain” embroidered to show off their role as caucus captains, who were in charge of tallying the votes. Eva Landau served as a caucus captain on Thursday evening. She said she regained trust in the electoral process after seeing and being part of the hand counting. “This was very, very exciting … That's the way it's supposed to be — the election. You count by hand,” Landau, wearing a red “Latinas for Trump” T-shirt, said. “You say, ‘okay, Trump.’ Show to the camera, show to the people, one line until you get five, right? That's the transparency that we need in the United States.” For Landau, a 43-year-old originally from Bolivia, immigration, border security and human trafficking are her main concerns. Those issues dominated Trump’s speech during a rally in East Las Vegas two weeks ago. When asked how well Trump is appealing to Latino voters, which polling has shown are key to winning elections, Jesus Marquez, a political consultant and long-time Trump supporter, told The Nevada Independent that he saw “a lot” of Latino faces at the caucus location he attended. “Just the fact that Latinos are getting involved with the caucus, [is significant because] that is not normally the case,” Marquez said. “[Trump] didn't just win but he made the people turn out to vote … even though there was no competition for him in this caucus, this is the initiation of a grassroots operation to win the state in November. This is the beginning of that — we're already in a general election mode.” One week, two elections This week’s bifurcated Republican contests — primary and caucus — are the end result of a monthslong dispute between a Nevada GOP determined to hold a traditional caucus and a 2021 state law creating presidential preference primaries for both major parties. Under that 2021 law — passed under unified Democratic control of state government — a state-run primary would be held so long as at least two candidates filed. It was a prelude to a move by the Democratic National Committee to bump Nevada up its nominating calendar, a move opposed at the time by Republicans. The Nevada Republican Party sued the state to stop the primary in May 2023, roughly four months before it would finalize the decision to hold the caucus. In July, a state judge ruled that both a primary and a caucus could move forward. Republicans and the state eventually agreed to drop the suit in January. But the state GOP has pitched its caucus as a way to reject many of the Democratic-backed election policy reforms adopted since 2020, including universal mail ballots. Under party rules, the caucus required in-person voting barring select exceptions, and pledged to use paper ballots, voter ID and a ban on super PAC participation in the caucus process.
RENO — Child care programs and projects in Nevada that collectively received $231 million in Child Care Development Block Grant funds from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and the American Rescue Plan Act – Child Care and Development Fund Discretionary Supplement are now undergoing an evaluation by University of Nevada, Reno Extension to help the state determine future priorities and funding.
At the regular meeting of the Winnemucca City Council on Feb. 6 (with all members present):
The Pleasant Senior center is collecting Easter baskets for local senior citizens, but they won’t be filled with the traditional candy and plastic eggs. The Self-Care Senior Easter Baskets will be filled with things like toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, and other products that are a luxury item for many seniors living on a fixed income.
With significant population growth on the horizon, Nevada must support the critical energy demand. At the Humboldt County Board of Commissioners regular meeting on Feb. 5, Tallgrass Energy presented their Pinyon Pipeline project that will convert NV Energy’s North Valmy Generating Station, approximately 40 miles east of Winnemucca, from coal to natural gas by 2026.