New Hospital in South Reno to open this spring
By Lucia Starbuck
There’s a new hospital slated to open in South Reno this spring.
Several hundred people gathered for the ribbon cutting event for Northern Nevada Sierra Medical Center, located just south of the airport on Monday. In the crowd there were local lawmakers, hospital officials and health care workers.
Alan Olive, the CEO of the new facility, said it will increase the number of health care providers in the region and has unique amenities, like private rooms and so-called UV robots.
“They’re robots that are pre-programmed, and they can actually drive themselves throughout the hospital, arrive at a patient room after it’s been cleaned, and then they take another round of infection and disinfection, if you will, and they disinfect the room with UV light,” Olive said.
The full-service hospital cost $300 million. The facility will add 170 private patient rooms and there’s space to expand. Nevada ranks among the worst in the country for physicians per resident according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Lucia Starbuck is a corps member forReport for America, an initiative of theGroundTruth Project.
Controversial election proposals on agenda for Washoe County Commission meeting Tuesday
By Lucia Starbuck
A controversial proposal for election reforms in Washoe County is on the agenda for the commissioners’ regular meeting Tuesday.
There are 20 changes in the proposal including counting ballots by hand and having voter registration expire after five years of registering or renewing. The proposal also included requiring Nevada National Guard members at the polls, but that recommendation was later revised to sheriff’s deputies instead.
Commissioner Jeanne Herman previously put forth the recommendations. Since then, county and state legislature staff conducted financial and legal reviews. They found that some proposals are already in place and some are out of the board’s power. Additionally, the changes could cost nearly $5 million.
App that aims to decrease emergency response time now available in Incline Village, Crystal Bay
By Lucia Starbuck
An app meant to decrease emergency response times is now available in Incline Village and Crystal Bay. The free app “Pulse-Point” alerts everyday people who are CPR trained that someone nearby, in public, is having cardiac arrest.
The North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District adopted the app in an effort to increase a person’s chance of surviving while emergency officials are on their way.
FCC looks to tackle digital inequities
By Robyn Vincent, Mountain West News Bureau
The Federal Communications Commission is gearing up for public comment on ways to combat digital discrimination.
It’s part of a new federal effort outlined in President Biden’s infrastructure and jobs act. The FCC is zooming in on broadband deserts, a problem that persists across many parts of the West. Rural residents, tribal communities and low-income families are disproportionately affected.
Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the FCC, said the stakes are higher now than ever.
“There was a time before this pandemic when folks might have talked about broadband, like nice to have, but those days are over. It's 'need to have' for everyone, everywhere. And that includes the Mountain West,” she said.
The FCC will field public input as it begins mapping out policies to bridge the digital divide. It wants Americans to sound off on things like - new rules the commission should adopt, data it should collect, and how it should revise its complaint process about digital discrimination.
Nevada bankruptcies amid pandemic lower than Great Recession
By The Associated Press
The pandemic may not have hit Nevada as hard economically as the Great Recession, based on bankruptcy filings. The Las Vegas Sun reported Monday that data shows bankruptcy filings last year were a little over a quarter of what they were more than 10 years ago. The American Bankruptcy Institute says that there were 30,000 bankruptcy filings for Nevada residents in 2009 and 2010 and that there were 7,000 in 2021.
An Institute official says pauses on student loan repayments and government protection are some of the factors making a difference. Nevada bankruptcy attorneys think there will be an increase in bankruptcies because of inflation and high gas prices.
