Washoe County

If you’re starting to feel sick, what do you do? Sore throat, exhaustion, trouble breathing... No doubt at that point you’d have COVID-19 on your mind.

The Truckee Meadows Public Land Management Act, formerly known as the Washoe County Lands Bill, is back before Congress. It would allow federal land in Nevada to be sold to local government for development and conservation projects. The proposal has received support from the cities of Reno and Sparks, as well as Washoe County, but it has also faced public criticism.

137 tents that were turned into homes by people living on the streets of Reno were removed by law enforcement on Wednesday, March 4.

Editor's note: this story contains adult language. 

An official from the Washoe County Health District said the county doesn’t have adequate staffing to respond to a possible outbreak of coronavirus, or COVID-19.

The 2020 U.S. Census kicked off this month and Census Bureau representatives are bolstering their recruitment efforts in Nevada.

25 Washoe County students have been struck by vehicles since August. KUNR’s Stephanie Serrano sat down with MJ Cloud to understand what’s going on. Cloud was a police officer for 25 years and now she’s the district’s Safe Routes to School coordinator.

Soon local women, children and families experiencing homelessness will have their own shelter to stay in. The Washoe County Board of Commissioners has approved nearly $15 million to fund the Our Place Homeless Housing Project in Sparks. KUNR’s Stephanie Serrano reports the shelter will have 265 beds.

Different solutions have been proposed to reduce water levels from the flooded Swan Lake in Lemmon Valley, a battle that has been affecting nearby residents since 2017. KUNR’s Lucia Starbuck spoke with ThisisReno’s Bob Conrad about what’s been done, what can be expected, and how some residents are feeling.

The Washoe County School District Board of Trustees has approved an added lesson on sexual orientation and gender identity to the recently revised sexual education curriculum. KUNR’s Stephanie Serrano has this report.

In June, the Board of Trustees for the Washoe County School District approved five updated lessons, but a lesson on sexual orientation and gender identity was sent back to the committee to be revised. Rochelle Proctor is the district’s sexual education coordinator. She’s been working with a team of advisors for over a year redefining the district’s sex ed. high school curriculum. KUNR’s Stephanie Serrano spoke to Proctor about the reasoning behind the curriculum changes and edits made to lesson 1.

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.