Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada reopens St. Vincent’s dining room
By Lucia Starbuck
Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada is opening its doors again, allowing people to eat lunches inside at its St. Vincent’s Dining room.
The nonprofit stopped allowing guests to eat inside at St Vincent’s in March of 2020. That’s when all indoor dining was stopped by a mandate from the Nevada governor in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 early on in the pandemic. Since then, Catholic Charities has been serving hot meals to-go to people who walk up.
The CEO said staff and volunteers are excited to provide meals to people directly now and to get reacquainted with guests.
Catholic Charities serves more than 30,000 meals a month to people experiencing homelessness and to families who are struggling. The organization also provides hot lunches and dinners to Washoe County’s homeless shelter, the Nevada Cares Campus. More information can be found here.
Lucia Starbuck is a corps member forReport for America, an initiative of theGroundTruth Project.
Judge rejects petition for Nevada school voucher initiative
By The Associated Press
A judge in Carson City has dealt a setback to a group trying to get a school vouchers question before voters in Nevada. A ruling on Monday said petition wording is flawed and signatures can't be collected for a proposed constitutional amendment to let parents use state money to pay for private school tuition. Education Freedom political action committee leader Erin Phillips said initiative backers may appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Senior Judge Charles McGee's ruling came in a lawsuit filed in February by two top officials at the Rogers Foundation, which advocates for more state funding to public schools and backs a policy organization called Educate Nevada Now.
Prices rose in Mountain West nearly 10.5% over past year
By Robyn Vincent, Mountain West News Bureau
The Labor Department reported this week the highest rise in prices since 1981, and rates in the Mountain West region outpaced other parts of the country.
Nearly 10.5 percent: That’s how much prices rose in the Mountain West over the last year. The national rate was 8.5 percent. Richard Wobbekind is a senior economist at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“Well, part of the reason is that the Mountain West states have, in general, been the strongest growth states coming out of the recession. There’s 11 states in the country that have regained their formal level of employment, and there’s a nexus of them in the Mountain West region,” Wobbekind said.
Other factors include soaring energy and housing prices. The home supply here isn’t meeting the demand, especially amid the work-from-home trend that’s drawn high earners to the region. According to other federal data, the Mountain West saw a 23 percent rise in housing prices between January of this year and last year. That’s higher than any other region and five points above the national average.
Slain Nevada woman's brother seeks a positive from her death
By The Associated Press
A Navy veteran who served as an engineer on a nuclear submarine is on a more important mission now. Casey Valley says he's seeking a way to help others in the name of his 18-year-old sister who was kidnapped, killed and buried last month in northern Nevada's high desert. Valley says he wants to do everything he can to make sure the tragedy that struck his family doesn't happen to anyone else. Naomi Irion moved to Fernley a year ago to live with her 42-year-old brother about 30 miles east of Reno. The man accused of kidnapping and killing her, Troy Driver, is being held without bail.
Competency issue raised in Vegas teen-teacher attack case
By The Associated Press
A defense attorney raised doubt Tuesday about the competency of a 16-year-old student to face sex assault and attempted murder charges in an after-school attack that left a Las Vegas high school teacher unconscious in her classroom last week. A local judge confirmed the teen faces prosecution as an adult on charges also including first-degree kidnapping that could get him prison for the rest of his life.
Defense attorney Paul Adras told the judge he'll seek a mental evaluation for his client ahead of a May 6 competency hearing. Outside court, Adras acknowledged intense public interest since his client's arrest last Thursday. Officials say the teacher was hospitalized. The extent of her injuries were not immediately made public.
New report aims to map wildlife migration routes to address barriers
By Emma Gibson, Mountain West News Bureau
The migration routes of elk, deer and other big-game have been disturbed by the West’s growth, but a new report aims to highlight migration routes and address barriers, like highways.
This report is the second in a series that maps about a hundred migration routes across the West. Matthew Kauffman is a wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey and the lead author of the report.
He hopes the maps help pinpoint barriers that, once addressed, allow herds to migrate. Without it, Kauffman said populations often decline. This report coincides with $9.5 million in federal grants and contributions to conserve wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity.
This newscast was produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
