Week of May 29, 2024

From the editor’s desk

Starting this week, we’re switching up the newsletter format. It’ll still reach your inbox each Wednesday; you can still see all of our latest news and culture stories (scroll down for those); and now you’ll also hear from me directly on an assortment of local topics—and occasionally national ones, too.  

This week, three things are on my mind.

1. A breath of fresh air arrived in my inbox this week. We’re not seeing a lot of bipartisan cooperation these days, but if there’s one thing Northern Nevadans can agree on at the moment, it’s that moving the Reno postal operations to Sacramento is likely to cause undue harm and hassle—and, quite possibly, inaccurate election results, if mail-in ballots end up returning from their trip to Sacramento too late to be counted. The breath of fresh air was a press release announcing that Sen. Jacky Rosen and Gov. Joe Lombardo are in harmonious agreement that the post office’s plan should be reversed. Goodspeed, Sen. Rosen and Gov. Lombardo! 

2. In national news, a lot of the commentary around Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s May graduation speech has centered around free speech. Should he have been allowed to opine that, for women, the highest calling is for marriage and motherhood? The way speech laws work in the U.S., yes, he is legally permitted to think and say what he wants. Personally, I would rather see the conversation shift to something we’re not hearing much about—the fact that Butker, with his dated, privileged take on what women should be doing with their lives, is not an outlier. He’s just the tip of a more ominous iceberg. The far-right is simmering with calls to roll back women’s rights. The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles, for one, said that he thinks divorce should basically be outlawed, which would mean a field day for domestic abusers. Anyone who would like to see women’s rights protected needs to stay alert to similar commentary and should vote for the candidates most likely to uphold and expand these rights. In Washoe County, the primary election is June 11, and you can send in your mail-in ballot anytime.

3. The annual Best of Northern Nevada ballot is live, and it’s time to vote for your favorite local businesses, personalities and services. We’ll announce the winners on Aug. 30, and in our September print edition. You have until June 7 to vote in the primary, in which you may write in your favorites.

We sent the June RN&R, featuring our annual Summer Guide, to press this week, so you just have a few more days to grab a paper copy of the May issue. Start keeping an eye out for the Summer Guide, on stands this weekend and early next week.

Don’t forget to scroll down for the latest in movies, music, food and books from RN&R’s intrepid arts and entertainment writers!

—Kris Vagner, managing editor