Week of July 3, 2025

From the editor’s desk

It’s been hard to socialize normally this year. People can ask me any innocuous-seeming question—What have I been up to? How are the kids? Weren’t these first two Artown concerts fun?—and within seconds, I hear myself segueing into some detail about how scared I am for the future of the United States and its people.

What have I been up to? 

Doing my darndest to get useful, verified information to my community. Before this year, plenty of government institutions were scoring low marks for transparency, even though the information they decline to share with the media is supposed to be public. But I’ve never seen anything like 2025’s pervasive wall of silence. When I’ve asked direct questions to agencies like the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Land Management about how their DOGE-influenced policies are affecting Nevadans, I’ve received vague platitudes assuring me that everything is fine—and also that they will provide no further information.

I’ve lost count of how many locals I’ve spoken with, off the record, who work in health care, education, arts, public lands management and other fields, who suddenly cannot talk. In many cases, they’ve been explicitly ordered not to provide information. In other cases, they’re afraid their organizations will lose critical funding if they appear to contradict the president’s priorities. Fewer people can or will speak up in 2025, and that is a major win for fans of fascism.

How are the kids? 

You know how they say that having kids is like getting to see the whole world through a different pair of eyes? That has been a marvelous experience all along—and guess what? Now that they’re in their 20s, it’s still marvelous. But also, well, the one who just graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a science degree has four rejection letters from grad schools saying their science funding was cut, so they are not admitting grad students at all this fall. He has one additional rejection letter strongly implying it.

If you know my family, we’ll probably chat about how my son has a whole new set of decisions to make about his immediate future. You’ll say, “Wow, that’s a bummer. He seemed so well-suited to the hard science path, and he’s worked so hard on it,” but we’ll agree that he’s a clever one, and that in the long run, he’ll probably weather the challenge OK, in some way or another. If you’re a casual acquaintance, this conversation probably leads to an inventory of how many hardworking young people’s careers are being jeopardized by this administration’s severe cuts to science funding; how these cuts will be catastrophic to public health, national security, education and the environment for generations; and how we’re handing the future of tech and innovation to China.

How much fun were the first two Artown shows this year?

The new venue in Rancho San Rafael Regional Park is a convenient, semi-secluded, grassy lawn—a perfect setting for lovely, summer-night events. On consecutive nights, Sol Jibe and Ozomatli delivered tight, energetic performances; the dance floor was hopping the whole time; and there was still plenty of space to picnic and relax. I had a really nice time.

But wowza, so many arts organizations just saw significant cuts to their funding (and many others are waiting to hear whether they’re next), per the fed’s slashing of arts and culture agencies that have, by law, supported the arts and culture industries for more than a half-century now. Artown is among them. Its $30,000 National Endowment for the Arts allocation was rescinded in May.

This nonprofit has proven itself resilient many times over. Major kudos to its staff and board for pulling through this spring’s financial setback and presenting high-quality, high-energy events this month. But yeah, arts organizations everywhere are facing possibly existential threats. So, there’s that.

If you need to add me to your list of people you avoid asking, “How’s it going,” for fear of having to endure a pessimistic treatise, I completely understand.

As I was writing this newsletter, the House passed Trump’s sweeping budget bill, extending tax cuts (primarily for the rich) and further weakening the social safety net. If you’d like to share a thought about how any of the details of the bill are likely to affect you or your family, business, colleagues or friends, drop me a line at krisv@renonr.com.

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor