The Nevada Globe reported on November 2, 2023, the recall of two elected Trustees from the IVGID/Incline Village General Improvement District both failed to get the numbers of signatures needed for a special election. It was close, but there is no cigars in recall attempts. The petition lacked 75 signatures for Trustee Matthew Dent and 114 signatures for Trustee Sara Schmitz.

We’ve been reading about the cost of groceries in Nevada. The Hill on January 16, 2024, reported residents in the Silver State fork over roughly $294.76 at the grocery store, enough to rank second in the nation. In February 2024, the news was bad for egg eaters, with prices on the rise yet again. How do older Americans stretch their dollars to eat, some depend on Washoe County Government.

Supporting a Trump supporter when you do not support Trump…

At the Special Meeting of the Washoe County Commission, the Washoe County Canvass of the Vote on Friday, February 16, 2024, we were surprised that there was no ‘early’ public comment on the agenda at the start of the meeting.

Commissioner Herman has been facing challenges with the current commission, despite the addition of Garcia and the appointment of Andriola. Picon finds it interesting that the commission, now consisting of four women and one man, continues to treat Commission Herman poorly, despite her tenure and experience. At a January 16, 2024, meeting, Hill, Garcia, and Andriola raised concerns about her competence, readiness, and ability to perform the duties of her role effectively and stopped her from gaining additional duties. This has led to questions about the dynamics and power struggles within the commission.

How is a trespass order rescinded when it was never valid…

There’s an old saying that every man/woman has a right to his/her opinion, but no man/woman has a right to be wrong in their facts.

Ray Rocha goes left…

In the midst of all the controversy surrounding the Washoe County Republican Party voting on a resolution that they no longer consider Commissioner Clara Andriola a Republican, it has come to our attention that Governor Joe Lombardo is allegedly upset with Picon.

Despite rampant lawlessness at the shelter, instead the County seeks to arrest a former cop…

Apparently, Washoe County was incapable of hiring a local with the ability to run the county's information technology section, referred to as “IT.” Behzad Zamanian has actually worked for Washoe County since January 2021, and the county subsidized his travel to Washoe County where he was reportedly working one week a month on-site.

Picon was sent these photos from a reader who was around the Nevada Cares Campus last week.

The photos snapped of a recently purchased, bright and shiny, totally branded vehicle for Karma Box Project from the City of Reno.

The Reno City Council will vote on Wednesday to add an additional Storm Drain Fee. This is triple taxation. Residents already pay for Storm Drain through the Capitalization Fund which is nearly one-third of the Sewer Bill. Everyone in Washoe County is paying one-half of 1/8% of sales tax to Flood Management which can be used for storm drains, storm water, and emergency managers. The other half of that tax went to Reno’s ReTrac (oh, the memories).

Ah, the perplexing conundrum of human gratitude when it seems unwarranted, and we write about the Facebook post from Silver Circle Ranch/Pro Pony. Fear not, dear reader, Picon shall endeavor to shed some light upon this curious matter.

Humans possess epically complex minds, susceptible to the phenomenon, Perspective Paradox. This quirk manifests when individuals fail to accurately gauge the magnitude of a given situation, causing them to overestimate or underestimate its significance. Thus, one might offer gratitude where it is seemingly unnecessary due to an overblown perception of the favor received.

Is it Jeanne Herman’s time? We understand Herman is seeking to be the chair of the Washoe County Commission at the January 16, 2024, meeting.

It would seem as if City of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve’s dance card is full.

The question is where will she be?

As Picon pursues our goal of providing investigative journalism to the community, we realized that follow up is key. As we all know, child support cases do not have to start in the halls of the Family Division of Second Judicial District Court, but sadly, with a separate Court Master, a rotating cast of District Attorneys and even the Nevada Attorneys General’s Office, data is not on their side.

In watching the Monday, January 8, 2024, Sparks City Council meeting you could feel the discomfort oozing from Chris Barrett, of Barrett Resources when he was stuck ‘singing for his supper’ addressing the council to get his $90,000 fee, continuing to lobby for the elusive Lands Bill approval. We say elusive since Barrett has been collecting money thanks to the Lands Bill from the City of Sparks since 2019 and it amounts to a tidy amount. As Chris Garvey, who Mayor Ed Lawson barely beat in the 2022 race (Garvey was unknown and Lawson having been appointed mayor after the death of Ron Smith had been a city councilmember since 2010. Lawson with 51.1% squeaked by Garvey’s 48.9% - about 800 votes) stated during public comment Barrett has been paid over $350,000. Garvey went onto mention a prior Picon Press Media article on July 30, 2022, about Barrett and Lawson’s friendship. Garvey took the time to remind Councilmembers Dahir, Anderson, and Abbott they are facing reelection. Her comments didn’t seem to phase the trio because Lawson’s boys, Don, Paul, and Kris seemed happy to renew Barrett and Scott Bensing’s contract (SB Strategic Consulting) with no questions asked, unlike Bybee.

Picon finds it curious that City of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve indicated in an interview with RGJ Mark Robison that the firm the City of Reno retained to investigate Councilmember Jenny Brekhus was someone from out of the area, but in fact that seems to be a bit of a mistruth. Schieve commented to Robison in the November 7, 2023, article, “It was decided to hire a Reno litigation attorney Brian Irvine of Dickinson Wright to find an investigator who was “very, very removed from the political environment here.” Schieve added the person was picked from out of state.

Little Jack sat in the corner, eating his Christmas pie. He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum and said, “What a good boy am I.”

We thought of this nursery rhyme the minute we read ‘no longer at large’ Councilmember Devon Reese’s greedy plea for more campaign funds, because now he has an opponent, he will need to buy signs. Someone would dare to run against Reese! Who would have thunk it?