Week of May 1, 2024

Join us to discuss the RNR’s future

If you’re interested in the RN&R’s future, please consider coming to an informal community meeting at 6 p.m., Monday, May 13, at Craft Wine and Beer, 22 Martin St., in Midtown Reno.

Publisher Jimmy Boegle and managing editor Kris Vagner will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. We will briefly discuss our plans for the RN&R to become community-owned nonprofit as well. We’re especially interested in hearing from people who may want to serve on that nonprofit-to-come’s board of directors, or its community advisory committee.

If have input or questions, or you want to help, please call Jimmy at 775-324-4440, or email him at jimmyb@renonr.com. Thanks!

From the editor’s desk

For our May print-edition cover story, I talked with the hardworking students who run The Nevada Sagebrush, UNR’s student newspaper, about the dire financial crunch they’re facing, and a solution they’ve been working to implement. It’s a microcosm of the same problems that have been threatening local news everywhere for the last 15 or 20 years. 

On a related note, RN&R publisher Jimmy Boegle talks about an important disconnect: Producing quality local news involves a level of effort, time and funding that’s hard to reconcile with the current thirst for free news. Don’t worry; the RN&R will remain free of charge. That’s always been our business model. But Jimmy makes a strong case for supporting news organizations across the board—whether by donating, advertising, or, yes, tolerating paywalls.

A New York journalist came to town a few weeks ago and shared some updates with local journalists on a few legislative actions that are being considered in order to help bolster the news industry’s broken revenue model. One proposal—a tax break that would put decisions about which media outlets to fund in the hands of local businesses, not the government—has strong bipartisan support, and has me intrigued. See my Editor’s Note for more details.

Midtown has a new bar, named No. 731 and located behind Calafuria, and is about to get another one, Parlay6 Brewing, in the Virginia Street space where Wonder Aleworks used to be. For more details and more food and beverage news, check out food scribe Maude Ballinger’s Taste of the Town.

In this month’s Letters to the Editor, readers weigh in on the post office relocation, offer advice to Washoe County voters, and argue that those of us on both sides of the political aisle could have been more compassionate during the COVID pandemic. 

In April, former RN&R news editor Dennis Myers became the first journalist ever inducted into the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame. Patricia Lynch, the former judge who accepted the posthumous award on his behalf, said, “I often ended up on the other side of the interview with Dennis Myers, and even though he was a friend, he still was very tenacious and really good, but he was always fair.”

“I wish more people knew when they were paying for a novelty,” said local liquor store owner AJ Chhabra. He’s talking about tequilas tainted with glycerin and other ingredients. Cocktail scribe Michael Moberly discusses why—and how—to avoid them.

As the Supreme Court last week heard the arguments in Grants Pass v. Oregon, the case that will determine whether municipalities can pass camping-ban ordinances, a local housing justice advocate detailed why his group opposes them, and a Washoe County official talks about why one was passed in March.

Generally speaking, you can not impress Bob Grimm, our movie and TV guy, with found-footage horror movies. But Late Night With the Devil, with its 1970s talk-show twist, is a lot more watchable than most. It’s streaming on various services. Also streaming is Love Lies Bleeding by Saint Maud director Rose Glass—an anything-goes thriller/love story that scores major marks for originality.

It’s wildflower season in the Truckee Meadows, and you don’t have to go far to see the spring show. Here’s your guide to what’s blooming on nearby trails. 

This month’s astronomy highlights include a string of first-magnitude planets early in the morning. For more stargazing tips, here’s Robert Victor’s full guide to the May skies.

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor