Week of June 21, 2023

From the editor’s desk

Reno and RTC officials are asking residents to respond to an online survey about preferred places to install protected bike/scooter paths along local streets. There are seven suggested routes, including the on-again, off-again Center Street/University Way project, Virginia Street downtown and the Fifth Street corridor, where a pilot protected bike lane remains in place. The survey, which takes about 10 minutes to complete, will be available until June 30.

Shelia Leslie’s Left Foot Forward column provides a roundup of the peaks and valleys of the just-completed 2023 legislative session—and two special sessions in Carson City. Lawmakers passed some bills aimed at helping vulnerable populations, but couldn’t stop themselves from using millions in taxpayer dollars to fund a billionaire’s stadium for one of the worst baseball teams in the nation. (Spoiler alert: Washoe County’s Assembly members voted against the giveaway.)

Nevada lawmakers’ compulsion to make disgustingly wealthy people even richer was the topic of several recent epistles to the RN&R. Readers in our letters column also sound off about gun violence and react to the bankruptcy of a local real estate fund that may cost hundreds of local investors their nest eggs.

Bob Grimm hails The Flash, which was slow getting to theaters but worth the wait. One fun twist is that the movie’s time-traveling plot allows The Flash (Ezra Miller) to zip into the past, where he meets Michael Keaton’s Batman, Ben Affleck’s Batman—and other surprises.

“Fake news” is a 21st century buzzword, but fictional stories printed as fact were a tradition in Virginia City during the Comstock era. Author Rich Moreno, former editor of Nevada Magazine, explores the tall tales of journalists Mark Twain, Dan DeQuille and others in his new book Frontier Fake News: Nevada’s Sagebrush Humorists and Hoaxsters.

Here’s some real news: The final round of voting is now under way for the Reno News & Review’s Best of Northern Nevada contest, the region’s largest and most-comprehensive reader survey. Go online to vote for your favorite people, places and things in Northern Nevada. Don’t let the digital polls close without letting your voice be heard.

We wish you a happy Summer Solstice (and longest day of the year)!

I’ll see you in the funny papers.

Take care,

—Frank X. Mullen, Editor