Grand Jury Probe Searches For Missing $100,000

City Council Representative

Can’t Or Won’t Account For It

A grand jury investigation of Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief continues, but the stakes appear to have gotten much higher. As The Nevada Observer reported in the January first edition (see archives, Volume 1, Number 5), Moncrief was being investigated for not reporting how some $30,000 had been spent.

Reportedly, Moncrief was paying teenagers, on a daily cash basis, to distribute campaign material. A current report out of Las Vegas indicates there may be as much as $100,000 unaccounted for in her campaign reporting. Allegedly, much of the money may have come from her current beaux, Bob Stupak. That report can’t be verified, and according to some investigators, should be taken with a grain of salt.

However, according to sources unwilling to be identified, Stupak may have secretly contributed to Moncrief’s campaign. Her former manager, Tony Dane has appeared before the grand jury, as has a one time supporter, long time Las Vegas columnist Steve Miller. Miller is actively working to discredit the councilwoman.

The grand jury probe is being conducted by the Nevada Division of Investigations at the request of the Secretary of State. According to a source in the Secretary of State’s office, “the investigation is ongoing, and of course, secret.” Grand jury investigations, by law, remain secret, and there are stiff penalties for anyone divulging information from the proceedings.

According to Dane, Moncrief was paying teenagers, daily, in cash. Moncrief has said she doesn’t remember exactly how the transactions took place. Dane believes that as much as $30,000 may have been paid to the youngsters.

New subpoenas have been issued for unknown witnesses to appear before the panel on February 24.

•••

Another Campaign Loan?

No, Christensen Says, Pay

The Nevada Observer has asked questions, editorially, about politicians making loans from themselves to their campaigns, and wonder why the state doesn’t demand to know exactly where those loans originated. Now, we have an assemblyman who has allegedly paid himself a wage from his campaign funds. With no disclosure statements filed, again, allegedly.

Assemblyman Chad Christensen paid himself more than $16,000 in cash from his campaign war chest without disclosing how the money was spent. This from his campaign finance report. Christensen, R-Las Vegas, says the money is reimbursements to himself. A democrat challenging Christensen in this election cycle, attorney Justin Jones, questions whether the money was used properly.

According to Steve George, speaking for Secretary of State Dean Heller, no formal complaints have been filed in the case, so no investigation is underway. “Under state law, the secretary can’t audit a politician’s campaign expenditures unless a complaint has been filed.”

Christensen’s report shows payments of $700, $1,000, $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000 listed as expenses. According to George, those expenses “usually indicate a repayment involving a contribution or a loan to a campaign.” Christensen did not list any loans to himself.

George says unless a complaint is filed, the secretary cannot ask for an investigation, and Jones has not indicated whether he plans to ask for an investigation.

•••

McClain To Be Challenged Following

Charges Of Double Dipping

Several republicans have come forward to challenge democrat Kathy McClain for her Assembly District 15 seat, including former Lieutenant Governor Lonny Hammargren. Hammargren said he would run if retired business executive Bob Anderson doesn’t. Anderson, formerly with Thomas & Mack Center has indicated he would like to challenge McClain.

Among many caught dipping more than once into state funds for paychecks, McClain was fired from her job with the Clark County Parks Division. She is appealing the firing and an arbitration hearing is scheduled for February 27.

Hammargren ran against McClain in 2002 and lost by about three percent, 316 votes. Another possible GOP candidate for McClain’s seat is Lou Toomin who lost in the GOP primary to Hammargren in 2002.

Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-Las Vegas, was fired by the county for abusing leave time, and Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, was fired from his city job. Williams has also been forced to repay the city for part of his salary, and for personal use of his city cell phone.

The attorney general’s office has indicated they may have an opinion to offer at some point during February, but as we go to press, that has not come about. Meanwhile in Las Vegas, with one person fired from the city, another from the county, and others in line for possible reprimand, the Las Vegas city council has decided not to write their own law on the matter of whether or not a city worker can also be an elected representative. They will wait for word from Attorney General Brian Sandoval.

There are federal requirements for federal workers, but the Hatch Act doesn’t cover state workers. Nation wide, some 29 states have various laws concerning public employees running for or holding elected office. There are 10 states that outright ban municipal and state workers from serving in the legislature. Among them is Arizona.

California is among nine states that bar state employees from serving in the legislature, but leave the question of city, county, and school district employees open.

One of the questions that AG Sandoval must answer is whether there is a line between the three branches of government, that is, executive, legislative, and judicial, that has been breached when government employees serve in the legislature. That is one of the questions that hopefully will be answered with his upcoming opinion.

There are many members of the state legislature who also work for various government agencies such as city, county, and state, and others that work in school districts and for the university system. Some do the right thing and take a non paid leave of absence during the sessions, but one of the questions that continues to crop up is the work that is done between sessions, and of course, when is a school employee no longer a school employee but rather, is a legislator. The same for a court worker; for someone employed by the state public service commission; for a city worker.

These questions are sure to be big factors in many legislative campaigns, and during the 2005 regular session.

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM

NEVADA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM

by Johnny Gunn

Fallout from 2003 Driving Education Funding Petition For 57,000 Signatures

A petition circulating at this time has already garnered more than 5,000 signatures according to Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, one of the backers of the amendment to Nevada’s constitution. Gibbons said the debacle of the 2003 legislative session has been her driving force for the change in the way Nevada builds its budget each two years.

The constitutional amendment calls for funding education before looking at other budget requests from state agencies. Others on Gibbons’s initiative group include well know political consultants Jim Denton and Scott Craigie. The petition, referred to as “Education First,” will need 57,000 signatures before June 15 to put it on November’s ballot.

If it passes this November, it will need to be accepted by the state’s electorate again in 2006 before it could go into effect. Gibbons says she was dismayed during the 2003 session, and even though she doesn’t believe anyone was attempting to delay education funding, she said that funding was being held hostage.

Assemblywoman Gibbons is married to Nevada Congressman Jim Gibbons, a republican. She is not running for reelection, while her husband is campaigning for another term in the House of Representatives. There have been whispers that Congressman Gibbons might be a candidate for governor in the 2006 election.

There is a second petition moving through the state’s neighborhoods as well, offered by the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA). It differs in that the funding, again to be passed before funding for other state agencies, must be at the national education average.

The NSEA is the union representing teachers in Nevada. It will take the same number of signatures, 57,000 for their petition to be on the November ballot. The same deadline of June 15 applies.

The difference between the two initiative petitions will possibly be what divides those who might be willing to sign one or the other. In the Dawn Gibbons’ effort, the petition simply calls for education funding to be first on the legislator’s agenda, while the NSEA petition puts a dollar figure to the funding effort.

Some in the legislature, including Senator Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, question the NSEA proposal, saying that a guarantee of a certain level of funding is better achieved by statute. Others are wondering where the state would get the money for such funding. A figure of $500 million is discussed to bring Nevada to the national average as far as education spending goes.

Titus believes such a figure would bankrupt the state as the budget stands today, or would require another massive tax hike such as the $830 million tax hike passed in 2003.

Some figures that are available concerning a national average for education spending per pupil put Nevada anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 behind. A proposal to fund schools to the national average, introduced during the 2003 session would have called for an additional $558 million to $576 million for the two year legislative cycle.

The measure was introduced by Senator Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, and did not pass. The U.S. Census Bureau says that Nevada is ranked near the bottom as far as funding for education. The state allocates about $5,778 per pupil which puts Nevada 46 out of 50.

A general case is made by Nevada Taxpayers Association President Carole Vilardo. Make funding available for what’s needed in Nevada, not a national average.

•••

Rural School Districts To

Receive Federal Help

Federal legislation introduced recently may help Nevada’s rural school districts in their attempts to comply with No Child Left Behind Act. Nevada congressman Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, says the proposal would give teachers in the outlying counties one year to comply with federally mandated certification programs.

The act requires teachers to be certified in all subjects they teach, and according to Gibbons, this puts a severe burden on the rural districts, saying it’s hard to get teachers to work in the outlying areas. Gibbons is quoted as saying, “Most rural schools are limited by the amount of interested applicants. It’s very difficult to find teachers.”

The Gibbons’s legislation will cover 13 of Nevada’s 17 counties, and will allow teachers in the cow counties to teach without full certification for one year, enabling most to get their certification.

Many of the teachers in rural Nevada are certified in one, maybe two of the areas within which they teach, but the No Child Left Behind Act mandates they be certified in all of their teaching areas.

•••

Appoint The Regents?

Many Saying Yes

The debate over whether or not the university system board of regents should be elected or appointed is picking up steam around the Silver State. Following the Attorney General’s claims that the board has been violating the open meeting law, a claim still in the court system in southern Nevada, there has been much talk about changing to an appointed board.

During the 2003 legislative session a measure to make that change was approved. It would change the board from an elected panel to one in which nine members would be appointed and three elected. The three elected members would come from each of Nevada’s three congressional districts.

The legislation must pass the legislature once more, in 2005, and then be approved by voters, statewide, in 2006 for it to become law. Governor Kenny Guinn says he supports the idea of some members being appointed, but didn’t speak directly to the legislation that has been passed.

The legislation is called Assembly Joint Resolution 11, and if it goes all the way, the three elected seats would be contested during the 2008 general election, and the governor at the time then would appoint the other nine members in 2009.

The legislation has been proposed by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, one of the legislators who also works for the university system. She is director of school district and community relations for the Community College of Southern Nevada (CCSN).

According to papers filed with district court, the board of regents flayed the open meeting law during meetings that were held in southern Nevada, at which CCSN President Ron Remington and the school’s PR man were demoted. Law suits are also pending from Remington. The meetings were closed and Remington was never allowed to attend or to defend himself.

At this time, Senate Majority leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Las Vegas, support the legislation. Some regents, speaking off the record, also support the measure.

•••

Flap Over United Way Donation

To Be Heard In Federal Court

Charges of harassment and retaliation have been filed in Federal District Court by an attorney recently fired from his position with the Washoe County School District. Suspended lawyer Jeffery Blanck is asking for unspecified damages in the case to be heard by U.S. District Court Judge Larry Hicks.

Among the items in the complaint filed by Blanck, are charges the district, in particular Superintendent Jim Hager, denied him his freedom of speech and broke their contract with him. Blanck was earning $93,000 prior to his suspension.

The flap originated when Hager made two donations to the United Fund of Washoe County, totaling slightly more than $2,000. Blanck called the donations illegal, even filing criminal complaints in the matter. Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick said there was nothing illegal in the donations and refused to file charges.

Blanck was let go from his position with the district, Hager rescinded the donations by putting his own money back in the district coffers, and Blanck has filed complaints in federal court.

School district mouth piece Steve Mulvenon says there is no merit to the suit and Dr. Hager will prevail in court. Blanck is represented by attorney Shannon Bryan.

School district attorney Stephen Peek said all eight of the claims filed by Blanck lack merit and have no foundation. Blanck claims retaliation from the district for filing the criminal claims, that he has been denied his due process. Peek claims Blanck broke the bond of trust between himself and the district he was supposed to be representing.

No trial date has been set for the matter.

Frauds And Schemes, Those
That Rake, Those That Bilk

Attorney General Brian Sandoval announced the arrests of four people in the Las Vegas area, charged with taking part in a scam involving duping individuals out of their automobiles. According to the AG’s office, the investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Arrested was Eddie Lopez, charged with 18 counts of theft and one count of forgery; Jose Aguilera was charged with one count of accessory to theft; Monica Page has been charged with two counts of accessory to theft and one count of theft; and Misty Huff was booked on one count of theft. The group is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.

Sandoval said this particular scam was centered in southern Nevada, those in other parts of the state should be aware it could take place anywhere. It is possible, he said through a press release issued by his office, there may be any number of people “unaware they have been defrauded.” He went on to say, “victims are driving or paying for vehicles they do not legally possess.”

Those arrested, according to the complaints, conducted business as A&E Auto Savers, and Alternative Auto. If you feel you may have been involved, contact the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. In Las Vegas, 702.486.3194, or in Carson City, 775.684.6300.

According to Attorney General information officer Tom Sargent, there were numerous complaints about A&E Auto Savers and Alternative Auto from people who felt they had been defrauded or victimized out of their vehicles. The complaint indicates the alleged racketeers would contact people who were attempting to sell their cars privately, convince them they could sell their car for more money, take the car, then sub-lease the vehicle to a third party, guaranteeing that all payments would be made to the consumer’s lien holder.

Instead, A&E allegedly would then take the vehicle, make a few payments to the lien holder, and the vehicle would disappear. Sold to some unsuspecting soul who now may not actually own the vehicle. For more information on scams, see: http://ag.state.nv.us

Another site in which to find listings of scams is: http://secretaryofstate.biz. Secretary of State Dean Heller has a list of the top ten scams, those reported most often, and those we read about regularly. Here are some of those about which we should be most worried.

PONZI SCHEMES: According to Secretary of State Heller, the premise is simple. Promise high returns to investors, use money from new investors to pay previous investors. Eventually, the scheme collapses of its volition, and the only people to make any money are the promoters who set it up in the first place.

As they always say, after you’ve been taken, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

SENIOR INVESTMENT FRAUD: Seniors are targets regularly, usually with complex investment scams involving unregistered securities, promissory notes, charitable gift annuities, PONZI schemes, and all promising high returns. Retirement accounts can be emptied fast. If you have any question about what just doesn’t sound right, call that number listed above at the Attorney General’s Office.

Be very cautious of promissory notes that offer high interest rates on short term. Often, the companies offering them are scam outfits with no intention of paying you a dime. The same with unscrupulous brokers working out of steamy little telephone rooms. The market is rebounding nicely right now, and these people are poised to strike. They simply offer things that don’t exist.

Heller feels everyone needs to be financially literate, to use his words. There is one other web site that might come in handy if you have doubts about a possible investment. See: www.consumer.gov/ncpw.

Gaming Giants Merge, New Players Come To Town,

Not All Are Winners

by Johnny Gunn

Two Giants Merge,
Billion Dollar Deal

The deal will total more than $1.3 billion, will create a gaming giant, and will employ more than 15,000 people in southern Nevada. The boards of directors of Boyd Gaming and Coast Casinos have OKd a deal to merge the large gaming operations. Both Boyd and Coast are known in the area as locals casinos.

In Las Vegas, the new company to be known as Boyd Gaming will have revenues of about $2 billion, offer more than 5,000 hotel rooms (they will have over 9,000 rooms nationwide), and will operate 11 hotel-casinos.

Boyd’s primary competition for the locals trade is Station Casinos which also operates 11 hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, but with only 3,000 rooms, and reports revenues of about $1 billion.

In the deal, Boyd will assume some $460 million debt from Coast Casinos, and Coast shareholders will receive almost half a billion dollars in cash, plus some $325 million in Boyd shares.

Among the properties affected by the merger is Boyd’s Sam’s Town and Coast’s Gold Coast, Suncoast, and The Orleans, and brings locals casinos to both the east side and west side of the valley. The combined properties will have a presence on the strip as well with Coast’s Barbary Coast and Boyd’s Stardust.

Boyd has properties outside Nevada as well, including the Midwest, south, and Atlantic City. Boyd is also expected to purchase Harrah’s Shreveport. That prospect has been in the works.

•••

Now, Let’s Play The

Trump Card

The Donald has been more than just firing people on his successful reality TV venture, “The Apprentice,” it seems. He is jumping into the Nevada gaming scene as well. He’s already in the Indian casino business.

Donald Trump was given Gaming Control Board approval for a gaming oriented holding company in Las Vegas, and said he is looking forward to doing something spectacular in Sin City. Trump already holds about ten percent of Riviera Holdings Corp., and plans to become more involved, he says. His shares are worth about $1.7 million.

The full Nevada Gaming Commission is expected to OK Trump’s license at a meeting scheduled for February 17. Trump operates three Atlantic City properties, a tribal casino in Twentynine Palms, CA, and may get involved in tribal gaming in northern California.

The Riviera operates an Indian casino in Colorado. Trump said he’s looking forward to a Trump Tower in Las Vegas. A condominium tower, some 60 stories tall, near the strip is in the offing, and would be called the Fashion Show Mall if it develops. However there is also talk that the project has been greatly scaled down.

Trump has always said he is a real estate person first, a gaming person next. He is in negotiation with New Frontier owner Phil Ruffin on a development of 40 acres close to the strip.

The possibility of Trump building anything in northern Nevada was never broached.

•••

Reno’s Fitzgeralds Still Alive;

There Be Trains At The Door

Fitzgeralds Casino in the heart of downtown Reno has been in bankruptcy for several years and is facing one of the biggest problems imaginable; railroad tracks just a few feet from the hotel entrance. Despite the problem, a representative told the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the casino will continue “indefinitely.”

Fitzgeralds was reorganized by its parent company, Fitzgeralds Gaming Corp., after declaring bankruptcy. The Reno property, along with others owned by the group, was put on the open market, and the Reno property has failed to sell. The property has been taken over by bond holders and creditors.

Besides the dramatic slowdown in gaming in northern Nevada, an even bigger problem faces the casino hotel. The city is preparing to put some three miles or so of the rail line that splits down town into a deep trench, alleviating traffic problems. But, to do so, and while this massive trench is developed, the railroad needed some way to get their trains through town.

Reno sits on the major east west line of Union Pacific Rail Road, a major benefit for warehousing, transportation, and factories in the area. UPRR is building what they call a shoe fly line along the main line and that rail runs right down the middle of Commercial Row, the street Fitzgeralds uses for hotel and casino guests, for parking, for unloading. Commercial Row no longer exists.

Along with Fitzgeralds, the new Reno Phoenix is also impacted, but they have existing parking facilities on site as well as street parking along Sierra Street. There is no parking on Virginia Street in front of Fitzgeralds, and now, no Commercial Row.

An attorney for Fitzgeralds told the Gaming Control Board the casino should be “liquid and solvent for a substantial period of time.”

Reno has suffered a rash of casino closings this winter and in recent years

The Buzz Around the State

Compiled by our Correspondents

CARSON CITY

PUC Hearing

(Carson City News Bureau) --- During Public Utility Commission (PUC) hearings recently, it was alleged that Nevadans are paying some of the highest rates in the west for electricity. Mark Garrett, a CPA, made the comparisons, and said Nevada Power Company’s request for a 9.8 percent hike, would help to further that problem. Garrett claimed the problem came about because of the merger with Sierra Pacific Resources.

Garrett claimed that any savings that might have come about because of the merger were lost by higher fuel and purchased power expenses, and that Nevada’s average electric rates have now risen from the mid range nationally to the high end of the national average, since the merger.

Testifying for Nevada Power, Jeff Makholm, Phd, said that simply wasn’t the case, that Nevada Power must buy more electricity than it can produce. It doesn’t have the capability of producing what is needed.

Many of the rate increases have come about because of deregulation, because of the crisis in California’s power systems, and because of the attempted merger between Sierra Pacific Resources and Enron’s Portland General Electric. That merger eventually failed.

Garrett claimed the various mergers and problems in California and other distribution problems created a lack of attention on the part of Nevada Power executives, and those of Sierra Pacific.

The hearings are continuing, the next one scheduled for February 17.

•••

A Tax On Thee, Dear Artist

(Carson City) --- A hearing is scheduled for February 18 to take a look at part of the $833 million tax increase passed by the 2003 legislature, this one dealing with those who make at least part of their living with arts and crafts. The legislation calls for a $100 tax on vendors at arts and crafts shows, including such street venues as farmer’s markets.

The legislation was amended to exempt those home based businesses that earn less than $22,000 annually. Some promoters are still upset saying many arts and crafts vendors make more than that, and it will hamper their ability to put on shows.

According to Nevada State Senator Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, the 12 member legislative commission will meet on February 18 to discuss the issue. As chairman of the commission, Townsend says he hopes many will attend. He also noted that there can’t be any changes to the existing legislation until the 2005 session, but he wants to hear public input.

Convention and visitor authorities from around the state have voiced their concerns, saying this new tax could cut into various trade shows and exhibitions.

•••

Reid Safe From This One

(Carson City) --- Republican Nevada State Treasurer Brian Krolicki has come forward to say he will not challenge U.S. Senator Harry Reid, D-NV. Krolicki said he didn’t think the timing was right for a challenge to Reid’s position. Reid currently is the number two democrat in the U.S. Senate.

There are no democrats who have offered to run against Senator Reid, but there are still two republicans in the race. Richard Ziser and Ken Wegner. Wegner plans to sell everything he owns, including his Harley to finance his campaign. He is a disabled Gulf War combat veteran.

Ziser headed a group of ultra conservatives in getting the petition to ban gay marriage in Nevada passed in 2002. Voters approved that measure. He says he has $120,000 on hand and plans to invest another $250,000 of his own money in the campaign.

Republicans Dean Heller, Secretary of State and Kathy Augustine, State Controller have both been discussed as possible candidate to face Reid, but neither has accepted the challenge.

NYE COUNTY

A Right To Be Heard

(Tonopah) --- The Nye County Commission is making rules that will make it harder and harder for citizens to participate in their governing. Public comment is being limited to 15 minutes to be spread among no more than five people, agenda items a citizen might wish must be approved by bureaucrats, and must be submitted at least 10 days in advance.

Commission chair Henry Neth said he doesn’t want to be corralled into seriously strict rules. Serious procedures. “We’re binding ourselves,” he said.

One other thing. A member of the public will be allowed to speak on only one subject.

CLARK COUNTY

Racism’s Ugly Head

(Las Vegas) --- A teacher at Manch Elementary School in Las Vegas has been facing criticism for her method of attempting to teach the ills of racism as part of Black History Month. Lora Mazzulla teaches a library course and was separating the children by race, black kids on one side, white kids on the other, then instructing the black kids to taunt the white kids with racial slurs.

The attempt, she said, was to show how hurtful racial taunting, racism, can be. An investigation is under way according to the school principal, Pat Garcia.

Some say Mazzulla, a white credentialed teacher, went too far. A nationally known education expert, Gary Orfield from Harvard, said it appeared to him the teacher had good intentions, just went about them in a misguided manner.

•••

DA Investigator Charged With Bribery

(Henderson) --- Peter S. Baldonado, an investigator with the Clark County District Attorney’s Office has been arrested and charged with bribery. The FBI alleges he attempted to stop a woman’s warrants in exchange for sex.

An unidentified woman made the charges according to reports filed in Henderson, NV Justice Court. The FBI handcuffed the investigator in the DA’s offices and led him out. District Attorney David Roger has not made a formal statement at this time, however he has been quoted as saying he was sick when he learned of the arrest of one of his investigators.

Baldonado was charged and convicted of a gross misdemeanor when he worked at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1983. He was charged with stealing thousands of dollars. The conviction was for conspiracy to obtain money under false pretenses.

This most recent arrest comes after an FBI sting. An unidentified woman had said she was told any outstanding warrants would disapear if she consented to sex. Through information from that woman, the FBI targeted Baldonado and the woman, by way of a recorded telephone call, set up a meeting with the investigator. The FBI wired her, and according to the FBI, the meeting was visually recorded as well.

Bail is $3,000 and no court date has been set.

•••

Invitation, If You Please

(Las Vegas) --- Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is coming under criticism by some over a flap over a cocktail party he hosted in Washington, DC for his son. His son’s politically motivated new company, that is. Charges of violations of the ethics standards are being sought.

His honor is denying any ethical problems, and at least for some, that isn’t enough. The state ethics panel is being asked to investigate. How many times does this make?

ELKO COUNTY

White Powder

(Elko) --- An envelope mailed to an Elko County school employee was filled with a white powder setting off a storm of problems including closing postal facilities and schools until it was determined the powder was not a toxic substance.

A second envelope followed the day after, also non toxic.

At press time it isn’t clear just what the substance was, but it has been deemed not toxic and no one was injured or made ill by the event. An investigation by the Elko Police Department and by postal officials is underway.

At first it was feared the powder may have been deadly ricin, but tests by the Washoe County Crime Lab said no. Police are not saying what, if anything was said in the letter, and postal authorities are attempting to trace its origin.

WASHOE COUNTY

Follow The Money

(Reno) --- Buildings were knocked down, businesses were closed, and officials had many nice things to say about a proposed new courthouse for Reno and Washoe County. That was a couple of years ago. Today, the lot is just that. An empty lot with blowing dust, and at every meeting of city and county officials, the cost of the proposed court house goes higher and higher.

Some say the cost now has reached an astronomical $41.5 million, about $8 million above the original thought. Or more.

The costs were divided about 60 percent to be picked up by Washoe County, the rest by the City of Reno. More meetings are scheduled, maybe even before the March winds blow through the area.

While the meetings over court house expenses was going on, and comments about a lack luster economy and not enough money to do this and that, the Washoe County Finance Department staff offered a report to the County Commission that there was an improving local economy and that is responsible for a shrinking budget gap.

The general fund gap for October was estimated to be as high as $15 million, and the latest estimate puts the gap no higher than $8 million.

The growth in Washoe’s economy appears to be driven by automobile sales and housing. Job growth has expanded by 1.8 percent in the county during 2003.

•••

Tahoe Research Center To Be Built

(Incline Village) --- A joint venture between Sierra College and the University of California at Davis is to be built on the Sierra College campus at Lake Tahoe, designed to study and preserve Lake Tahoe and other alpine lakes around the world. It’s estimated to cost about $24 million.

Some 450,000 square feet in size, the new research center will replace an old fish hatchery near Tahoe City that has been used for several years for research and study purposes. The new facility will be located at Incline Village.

It’s expected the Desert Research Institute, located on the University of Nevada Reno campus along with the RAND Corp. will cooperate in the building of the facility, and in research projects. There will be a conference space that can hold 300 people, exhibit space, and classrooms.

Construction could begin as early as summer, 2005.