Week of Sept. 25, 2025
From the editor’s desk
This summer, there were some major developments in the local homeless shelter landscape.
In July, the city of Reno began demolition of the Record Street shelter, which it expects to complete in November to make way for a developer to build 36 affordable housing units, according to this Reno Gazette Journal article (which has some good video footage of what the demolition looked like as of two weeks ago).
In August, Washoe County opened a new, 50-unit housing facility at the Nevada Cares Campus, offering rent-subsidized rooms, along with medical and mental health services. If you’re curious to see what the units look like, the Channel 4 news team shot some interior and exterior footage.
On Sept. 18, Eddy House opened a new facility next to its youth homeless shelter. This one has 36 furnished studio apartments, for which residents pay a fee that starts at $300 per month and increases incrementally to market rate. Here’s more detail from Channel 4.
Even with these new and proposed amenities, hundreds of people in our region are still unhoused. On any given day, getting their basic needs met can be a major challenge.
In a story we just completed, which serves as the cover story of our October print edition, we introduce you to the leaders of four aid groups that are not government-run. These activists simply show up, often in public places, to provide basics like dinner, groceries, Narcan, birth control or access to a washer and dryer—all with faster turnaround times than governments typically can provide.
You can read the story, “People helping people,” at RenoNR.com. Or, for that satisfying, tactile experience of holding a piece of actual, physical media in your hand, pick up the print edition. You should start seeing it on the stands tomorrow and through the weekend.
I really like the magazine-like look that our designer, Dennis Wodzisz, gave the print layout for this story, and I was delighted to see him receive an accolade for making us look good in print in the Nevada Press Foundation’s 2024 Awards of Excellence, which were announced last weekend. Dennis took second place in Page One Design/Cover Design.
The RN&R garnered 12 awards in the editorial, advertising and design categories. When you consider that we’re up against the state’s largest newspapers, like the Las Vegas Review-Journal, that is a showing that makes me really proud of our team.
Congratulations to theater writer Jessica Santina, cocktail writer Michael Moberly and publisher Jimmy Boegle for earning first-place NPF awards for their RN&R writing in 2024! (For complete details, see my current Editor’s Note.) The RN&R would be nowhere without their insights, expertise and commitment to helping us remain Northern Nevada’s independent voice for arts, news and politics.
Take care,
—Kris Vagner, managing editor
Best of Northern Nevada Winners’ Spotlight!
From the RN&R
People helping people: These grassroots groups bring food, supplies and services directly to our neighbors in need
By Max Stone and Kris Vagner
September 25, 2025
“There are problems we need to fix right now, and government is slow,” said activist Lily Baran. “If our elected officials aren’t listening to what we need, which we’ve seen over and over, what do we do?”
11 Days a Week: Sept. 25-Oct. 5, 2025
By Kris Vagner
September 25, 2025
Coming up in the next 11 days: The Street Vibrations motorcycle rally; a two-day EDM fest in downtown Reno; and more!
Congrats on 12 awards, ‘RN&R’ team!
By Kris Vagner
September 25, 2025
To our hardworking RN&R contributors, I say: Great work! I’m excited to see you recognized for jobs well done.
‘Facts over folklore’: Guy Rocha, Nevada’s ‘myth buster’ historian, is dead at 73
By Frank X. Mullen
September 25, 2025
“During my 25 years in the Reno Gazette-Journal’s newsroom, we all abided by the ‘Rocha rule’ when a story involved Nevada history,” writes Frank Mullen, in his remembrance of a longtime friend and colleague, who died on Sept. 18. “The unwritten commandment: Ask State Archivist Guy Louis Rocha to check any historical references in stories before the presses roll.”
Magical move: For Kevin and Caruso’s ‘Magique,’ when one door closed, another opened at the Nugget
By Jessica Santina
September 25, 2025
With the new venue, the team added an additional two performers and now includes more than 20 illusions, more than 100 eye-popping costumes (which Caruso makes by hand himself), synchronized lighting, lasers and pyrotechnics, cinematic multimedia backdrops, a grand finale of epic proportions, and a thrilling new soundtrack.
Guest comment: Reflect on your media literacy; improve your news diet; keep fighting for free speech
By Mark Maynard
September 24, 2025
Sinclair is still advocating for shutting down dissent against the Trump administration.
Family matters: Jason Bateman’s performance makes Netflix’s overstuffed ‘Black Rabbit’ worth watching
By Bob Grimm
September 22, 2025
Jake is the owner of Black Rabbit, a restaurant/club in New York City he started with Vince, before gambling debts caused Vince to flee. Vince returns to the city after a few years—bringing a lot of trouble with him.
Darkly wacky: Season two of HBO Max’s ‘Peacemaker’ was worth the three-year wait
By Bob Grimm
September 22, 2025
Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker (John Cena), had a rough first season, and things get even rougher in the new episodes, as Christopher visits an alternate timeline in which his deceased father and brother (David Denman) are alive.
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