By Daniel Rothbergn, Las Vegas Sun

A lawsuit asks a Carson City court to invalidate the Energy Choice Initiative, a November ballot measure seeking to end NV Energy’s monopoly and create a competitive electricity market.

Opponents are not challenging the initiative’s placement on the ballot this year but are using the case as a preemptive measure to block it from appearing on the ballot again in 2018. For the measure to pass, voters would need to approve it twice.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, argues that the initiative is improper because instead of enacting specific legislation, it would unlawfully bind future Legislatures to create a competitive electricity market by 2023.

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By Christopher Solomon, Outside

Perhaps you’ve heard that Donald Trump is running for president, and that he has strong opinions on issues like immigration and terrorism. Chances are, though, that you don’t know much about his positions on issues that Outside readers often care about, like public lands, the environment, conservation, and climate change. These topics usually aren’t in the forefront of any presidential race, and that’s certainly been true this year.

We reached out to Trump’s staff in the weeks before the first presidential debate. The campaign asked us to provide specific questions, saying that Trump’s oldest son, Don Jr.—a frequent surrogate for Trump—would get back to us with answers. After that initial exchange, we didn’t hear anything—if we ever do, we’ll let you know—so we tried the next best approach: assembling Trump’s views from speeches, interviews, and statements made on social media. There are a few surprises, a few non-surprises, and a few contradictions that may leave even some of Trump’s supporters scratching their heads.

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By Barrett Newkirk, Desert Sun

Scientists say they’ve discovered a new fault line running along the eastern edge of the Salton Sea parallel to the San Andreas Fault.

The announcement, published this week in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, follows a recent rash of almost 200 small earthquakes at the Southern California inland sea and heightened concerns about the “Big One.”

Valerie Sahakian, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of the study, said the newly named Salton Trough Fault has no connection to the recent quake swarm and the timing of the announcement is coincidental.

The research was a joint effort by seismologists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where Sahakian studied, and UNR.

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By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Nevada Gaming Control Board will refer a proposal to strengthen money-laundering regulations for sports books to its staff to determine if it would create additional burdens on its tax and audit divisions.

The board on Thursday conducted a workshop on a proposed regulation that was unusual in that it was generated by petition from a licensee. Board members were concerned that the proposal urged in a petition by Mesquite Gaming was motivated by competitive reasons.

Representatives of Mesquite Gaming told regulators they wanted them to close a loophole involving sports wagering payouts in excess of $10,000 from satellite books that commonly exist in rural locations.

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Once curb, gutter and concrete pavement is completed this week on Highway 28 in Kings Beach, grinding and paving at the east end will begin.

This is expected to start Monday between the Char Pit and Beaver Street, and finish Thursday. Lanes will be temporarily shifted through the work zone. One-way alternating traffic control through the work zone will be in place intermittently, however two lanes of traffic (one lane in each direction) will be open by 3pm each day. Chipmunk south will be closed during this work, and a detour will be in place via Coon Street and Brockway Vista.

Paving on the west end of the project site was finished last week.

Daytime underground storm drain and curb and gutter work will continue on Chipmunk Street north of Highway 28 between 7am-5pm during the week. Chipmunk Street north will be closed intermittently to through traffic between the highway and Minnow for approximately another three weeks.

Saturday work at the east end, including Chipmunk north, will continue during the dayt this weekend and possibly next weekend.

Overlay paving on Salmon and Chipmunk and the remaining speed humps on Rainbow and Fox Streets will be done during the middle of October.

By Marcella Corona , Reno Gazette-Journal

Authorities found the car that belonged to a missing 19-year-old Barstow man, who disappeared last year on his way to start a new landscaping job in Truckee, according to the Barstow Police Department.

Daniel Gallardo

Daniel Gallardo Jr., was reported missing on Oct. 28, 2015, by his family in Barstow, which is why the city’s local police department is leading in the missing person investigation, Barstow Detective Leo Griego said Thursday.

On Wednesday evening, Griego confirmed Gallardo’s car was recently found two miles north of Truckee.

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By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
 
Despite widespread opposition from law enforcement, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will allow thousands of felons in county jails to vote in California elections as part of an effort to speed their transition back into society.

Through a representative, Brown declined to comment on the bill by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, who said it would reduce the likelihood of convicts committing new crimes.

“Civic participation can be a critical component of re-entry and has been linked to reduced recidivism,” Weber said when the bill was introduced.

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By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle

Devastating wildfires like the giant that is still chewing through Big Sur are driving the nation’s firefighting costs to unprecedented levels, prompting the Obama administration to say the government is ill-equipped to handle the increasingly busy fire seasons of the historically dry West.

White House Budget Director Shaun Donovan on Tuesday called on Congress to better fund the U.S. Forest Service, the country’s biggest wildland firefighting force, which in six of the past 10 years has exhausted its allocation for fire suppression.

The agency has dipped into other programs to make up the shortfall — including programs that aim to prevent wildfires in the first place.

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Lahontan Regional Water Quality Board in November will decide how to spend money from a settlement agreement with Squaw Valley ski resort.

The public has until Oct. 14 to weigh in on the decision.

Through the mid- to late 1990s, Lahontan issued several orders to address various issues of non-compliance with Squaw Valley Ski Corporation (now Squaw Valley Resort). Lahontan referred the matter to the California Attorney General’s Office for further enforcement, and complaints were eventually issued by each party against the other. The parties settled their complaints in 2005. In part it required Squaw Valley to pay $900,000 and complete specific projects.

Lahontan received $354,187.67 from the Attorney General’s Office for money set aside and not spent by the Department of Justice for its legal fees in managing the agreement. The use of these funds is unrestricted for Lahontan.

Lahontan staff reached out to local nonprofit watershed groups to solicit potential water quality related projects that can be completed with these funds. Four projects were submitted from Friends of Squaw Creek, Truckee River Watershed Council, and the Alpine Watershed Group.

The Lahontan board will meet Nov. 9-10 in South Lake Tahoe to determine which project or portions of projects
to fund.

Submit written comments to Lahontan@waterboards.ca.gov. Put “Proposed Expenditure of Squaw Valley Consent Agreement Funds” in the subject line.

By Mary Lynne Vellinga, Sacramento Bee

The family of a 13-year-old girl who died of an allergic reaction after eating a snack containing peanut butter has reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the city of Sacramento, their lawyer announced Tuesday.

In a prepared release, Dreyer said the city, which owns Camp Sacramento, would also announce reforms to “ensure the safety of future campers.”

Natalie Giorgi went into anaphylactic shock July 26, 2013, after eating a Rice Krispies Treat during a hula hoop contest on her family’s last night of a four-day vacation at Camp Sacramento, a popular vacation spot near Lake Tahoe that has been visited by thousands of families since it opened in the 1930s.

The lawsuit said the snack contained peanut butter that had been mixed into a marshmallow filling “in such a way as to be visually undetectable” and also “difficult or impossible to determine that the treat contained peanut butter by taste.”

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