Washoe County

Hundreds of locals attended a national community event over the weekend called Drag Queen Story Hour. The event has been at the center of recent controversy after the mayor of Sparks and the Nevada Family Alliance complained that it should be canceled. KUNR’s Stephanie Serrano spoke to one of the queens who read books to the children at Sparks Library.

Getting to know Christopher Daniels

The Washoe County School District introduced its two-way immersion program a decade ago. It’s an opportunity for students to learn a secondary language and gain respect for another culture. KUNR’s Stephanie Serrano uncovers the challenges the district has had implementing this complex program.

Lee en español.

Nevada has recently seen more suicides in youth under the age of 18. Last year, there were 27 of these deaths, compared to 15 the year before. KUNR’s Karina Gonzalez examined this growing problem and recent prevention efforts.  

Washoe County commissioners are taking steps to contain Lemmon Valley’s Swan Lake to a specified boundary, although county staff have cautioned that a solution to flooding in that area hasn’t been identified and funding questions remain. To learn more, KUNR’s News Director Michelle Billman spoke to Bob Conrad, the publisher of ThisisReno, to learn more about this issue.

Reno's median home price has jumped, according to a recently release October report by the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors. KUNR contributor Kaleb Roedel of the Northern Nevada Business View has the details. 

The 2018 Midterm Election is over, and it appears that Nevada saw a significant Blue Wave roll over the state. To talk about some of the results, KUNR’s Bree Zender spoke with Senior Political Reporter Paul Boger to breakdown the election.

Washoe County’s Emergency Alert System is the first in Nevada to simultaneously issue a warning in both English and Spanish. Our reporter Karina Gonzalez has more.

A bike sharing program called Lime Bike is now available through a pilot program in Washoe County, including Reno and Sparks. Before launching in those areas, the company also did a trial run in South Lake Tahoe. Molly Concialdi of Reno Youth Radio visited the lake to see how the program works.

For the first time in 14 years, Washoe County is going to have new voting machines.

The new machines are large tablets, about two feet tall and one foot wide. At a price of $4.2 million dollars for the whole system, the tablets will provide a number of new accessibility and usability improvements.

Heather Carmen is the Assistant Registrar of Voters for Washoe County.

A 200-mile trail from Reno to Gerlach is being proposed to highlight Washoe County’s cultural, historic, and artistic elements. With $75,000 in grant funds from the the National Endowment for the Arts, Washoe County, working with Burning Man, envisions the trail to pass through Reno-Sparks, small towns, and tribal lands into Gerlach.