Is County Manager Eric Brown and his handpicked, by secret employee committee, Registrar of Voters awaiting the results of the Nevada Secretary of State and Attorney General multistate lawsuit against Trump Administration executive overreach in elections, before they take any action on Trumps executive orders?

As local governments scramble to patch their leaking financial ships—with Washoe County, Sparks, and Reno all millions in the red—they've settled on the usual solution: deeper dives into taxpayer pockets. Increased fees, passed on charges, some say, sales tax hikes are circling the drain, and "fire consolidation assessments" have become the preferred alternative to actual fiscal responsibility - (translation: moving money around so Reno - Sparks - Washoe County can spend fire budgets to run the city/county, because if State Senator Skip Daly, Mayor Ed Lawson, Commissioner Alexis Hill, and Mayor Hillary Schieve have their way, residents will pay an assessment to fund fire services - slick, right).

As the Reno Gazette Journal reported the City of Reno voted on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 to shift the credit card processing fees back to the citizens of Reno. The taxpayers get to absorb yet another fee due to poor city fiscal management.

In a display of municipal mathematics, the City of Reno has brilliantly introduced passing on to residents the processing fee for credit card payments, apparently without calculating that this might prompt citizens to... write more checks.

Last week County Manager Eric Brown took a vacation and left one of his Assistant County Managers in charge - seems like lack of transparency has a trickle down effect at Washoe County.

In what has become Washoe County's standard operating procedure, deflect, deny, hide the facts, officials sat on news of a deputy public defender's Las Vegas arrest for four days—miraculously finding their voices only when the Las Vegas Review-Journal prepared to publish the story. Apparently, the county's definition of "public information" is "whatever we can no longer hide."

Remember when local elected officials trembled at the thought of being lampooned at Sheep Dip? When the annual roast served as Nevada's political pressure release valve, where officials' blunders were immortalized through exaggerated comedy sketches and no one was safe from public ridicule?

In a stunning display of political self-sabotage, Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson expressed shock—SHOCK!—that his $500 million toll road bill died in the Nevada Legislature after he publicly insulted most of its members as self-serving public employees and union cronies.

While the media circus twirls around Governor Lombardo's Lincoln Day Dinner comments, Picon is asking the question no other media seems interested in: who exactly brought the recording device to Club Fandango? In a room packed with the Governor's devoted supporters, someone clearly came prepared to capture more than just memories.

Is the sudden discovery of library funding a genuine miracle or convenient timing? After five months of dire warnings about reduced hours, staff cuts, and service reductions due to tax reallocation, the library system has mysteriously found sufficient funds to maintain operations—just days before trustees might show the Library Director the door for performance issues.

Picon's readers just keep sending us tidbits about Assemblymember Erica Roth.

They pointed out to us after we published an article about Roth's non-conforming duplex that the duplex description of her rental was removed from Zillow. The description was published in our story.

Washoe County offers some of their hiring practices in writing after persistent questioning. But they've left the most critical question unanswered: Who selects the screening committees?

This isn't just bureaucratic nitpicking - it's the foundation of the entire hiring process.

Ever notice how certain companies seem to have the Midas touch when it comes to project approvals? At Reno City Council and Planning Commission meetings, one name keeps popping up with suspicious regularity: Wood Rodgers.

This engineering firm has mastered a fascinating civic magic trick. 

Step 1: Become developers' go-to representatives. 

Step 2: Sprinkle generous campaign contributions across the electoral landscape. 

Step 3: Watch as those same elected officials mysteriously forget to mention these financial relationships before voting "yes" on your projects.

Picon was going to let this story go, yes, it is questionable, but hey everyone likes to make a buck. Was the sunscreen business intentionally named using an inflammatory word, seems like it. Did Schieve and her partner not know the meaning of the word, or have they suddenly become marketing geniuses, maybe? How many moms and dads are going to let their kids take a bottle of Spooge to the pool?

Commissioner Mike Clark reached out to our published as the gentlemen were eating chucker at a wild game dinner and fundraiser, come on folks it is still Nevada.

Clark mentioned his frustrations surrounding the historic courthouse, and was surprised when he received an email from Alicia Lerud, the Clerk of the Court, in January 2025, regarding his question on the dais as to radon testing. He questions if the building is referred to as a “bit of a frankenbuilding” why the courthouse judges and staff are not in front of the Board of County Commissioners at every meeting pleading their case needing a new building. Put it on the record constantly was Clark’s opinion. You know, squeaky wheel kind of thing.

Who knew our culinary adventure sampling a $4 gourmet disappointment at the Washoe County Senior Center's makeshift cafeteria would lead to such bureaucratic pearl-clutching?

Picture this: while digesting our questionable meal at the "under renovation" center (a phrase we use loosely, as "planning" appears to be a foreign concept in county vocabulary), we took a little constitutional and snapped a few innocent photos of some rather interesting signage.

Commissioner Clara Andriola has been taking victory laps around the county building for her revolutionary brainchild: the Washoe County Checkbook. This digital wonder promises to unveil the mysteries of county finances to the masses.

On Tuesday, April 8, 2025, we'll all be treated to a special tutorial where county staff is suppose to be showing all of us how to use Checkbook.

Remember that old saying about history repeating itself? Well, grab your wallets, Nevadans, because AJR1—the sequel nobody asked for—is now playing at a legislature near you.

This blockbuster tax hike (previously known as SJR14 in its 2017 flop) has risen from the political graveyard with a simple plot: extract more property tax dollars from your pockets. Why? Because apparently our local governments have developed expensive tastes they can't seem to kick.

So Assemblymember Erica Roth finally emerged from the woodwork on Wednesday to champion eviction reform. How convenient that she's suddenly passionate about AB201, a bill that would seal eviction records faster than you can say "rental application."

Let's get this straight: Roth wants to make it impossible for landlords to know if potential tenants have been evicted once or twenty times. Because apparently, a tenant's history of not paying rent is just an inconvenient detail landlords shouldn't worry their pretty little heads about. The proposed amendment to the bill would be to cap sealed records at "only" twice in five years is supposed to be the reasonable compromise.

Remember those campaign trail promises? You know, the ones where candidates smiled, shook hands, and studiously avoided mentioning the fiscal elephant lurking in the room? Congratulations, voters - you've just witnessed the most impressive disappearing act since Houdini: the complete evaporation of campaign transparency.

The Pre-election playbook from Sparks Councilmember’s Anderson, Dahir, and Abbott, Reno Sparks Councilmember’s Anderson, Taylor, Martinez, and Reese, and Washoe County Commissioners Hill and Andriola was to stay mute about the financial woes the cities and county were facing in the next fiscal year. Assemblymember Natha Anderson didn’t tell voters she wanted to raise property taxes at all those campaign meet and greets in 2024.

Oh, how delightful. Washoe County Government has once again proven that they can't resist jumping into the social media fray, apparently believing their defensive comments are some kind of brilliant strategic move. Spoiler alert: they're not.

Let's break this down for the cheap seats: These public servants seem more interested in playing digital damage control than actually serving the residents who pay their salaries. It's like watching a desperate PR team try to plug holes in a sinking ship - except the ship is local government, and the holes are their own spectacular mismanagement.

Our Town Reno reported on this death at the Nevada CARES Campus yesterday. Commissioner Mike Clark sent the FYI announcement to the press. Why are we now reporting on this? Because the tenor of the email just really pissed us off, this is a human life.

The Washoe County manager and assistant county manager's response to a death at the Nevada CARES Campus appears to demonstrate a deeply troubling lack of human empathy. Reducing a human being's death to a mere "FYI" (For Your Information) memo reveals a disturbing bureaucratic detachment from the fundamental value of human life.