Week of Feb. 1, 2023

From the editor’s desk

A landlord who failed to repair safety problems for nearly two years will pay $500 for contempt of court, a Carson City judge ruled Jan. 31. Meanwhile, community members are helping scores of his displaced tenants who were evicted from the condemned building during the last week of 2022 and remain unable to find rentals they can afford.

In a related story, we talked to Jonathan Norman, the statewide advocacy, outreach and policy director for Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers, about Nevada’s “backwards” summary eviction law, which is unique among the 50 states.

Washoe County Commissioners put the brakes on SoL Cannabis’ drive to add a consumption lounge to its Washoe Valley dispensary. Reno, meanwhile, is mulling its own rules for cannabis lounges within its city limits. Reporter Matthew Berrey also looked in on the first consumption lounge in Denver, which has failed to make a profit in four years of operation.

In arts news, Lucy Birmingham gives readers a peek at a new exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art that spotlights the work of the late Adaline Kent, who is considered one of America’s most innovative and under-recognized midcentury artists.

For our latest 15 Minutes interview, David Robert talked to Donald Griffin, one of the co-founders of Black Wall Street Reno; the organization is partnering with ACCEPT and the BCC to put on the Black History Month Wellness Fair on Feb. 11,

Our food-news column is back! In Taste of the Town, Maude Ballinger looks at restaurant openings, closings and events—including the Heart Beat of Reno shindig on Fourth Avenue on Feb. 11.

Movie reviewer Bob Grimm concurs with Bill Nighy’s Oscar nomination for his turn in Living as an introverted English businessman who gets a piece of bad news that transforms him in very believable ways. Grimm also gives good grades to Infinity Pool, a bonkers social satire/horror show that gives Alexander Skarsgard the role of his career—and firmly establishes Mia Goth as the queen of horror.

Turning to the heavens, February’s night sky features a trio of bright planets, says RN&R stargazer Robert Victor. This month, he writes, the moon will dance with those celestial wanderers and a changing chorus line of shining stars.

These and many other stories are featured in our February print issue, available free on a newsstand near you.

I’ll see you in the funny papers.

Take care,

—Frank X. Mullen, Editor