Week of July 17, 2025

From the editor’s desk

Early today, the U.S. Senate voted to rescind $1.1 billion in funding already allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the group that distributes funds to NPR, PBS and their member stations.

The vote was close, 51 to 48, and it fell along party lines, with only two exceptions. Republicans Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska voted against the cut. (In a July 10 social media post, President Trump had threatened, “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”)

This morning, I spoke briefly with Brian Duggan, general manager of KUNR, Reno’s NPR affiliate.

“The fight’s not over,” he said.

The House is scheduled to vote on the rescission package today at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time (4:30 Reno time). Even though all of Nevada’s members of Congress are in favor of federal funding for public media, Duggan is still encouraging Nevadans who oppose the cuts to call or email their representatives today.

I asked him how much impact last-minute letters and calls are likely to have. 

“It does signal that people are paying attention to a particular issue,” he said. “And it is a metric. … It is something that they can quantify, and it might give an additional talking point: ‘Look, my office is being flooded right now. You know, this is going to hurt Americans. This is going to hurt people in my district.’ … So it helps.”

If you’re inclined to weigh in, the easiest way to start is to visit protectmypublicmedia.org.

Pride is moving to Midtown

Northern Nevada Pride is moving from downtown Reno to Midtown, according to a July 15 press release. The move is due to the Arlington Avenue bridges reconstruction, which includes the yearlong closure of Wingfield Park, the festival’s usual location. This year, the festival will take place on Virginia Street, between Thoma and Mary streets, and the parade will start on California Avenue, between Arlington Avenue and Virginia Street. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6.

RN&R reporters place in a national competition

Great news: I’m excited to announce that two RN&R reporters won three total awards in the national AAN Publishers contest! 

Editor at Large Frank Mullen won third place in the Right-Wing Extremism Coverage category for his piece “Voting under siege: Conspiracy theories and the refusal to certify results threaten Washoe County elections.” Not only did Frank write an extremely clear, thorough piece on a critically important issue—the reverberations of 2020 election denialism were still going strong as the 2024 election approached—he also scooped the national media.

Matt Bieker—our versatile longtime news and culture reporter—won third place in Music Writing. One of his articles—“Getting used to the spotlight: When people talk down to the members of Worm Shot for being a ‘girl band,’ they laugh it off”—from the August 2024 issue, led a contest judge to comment, “I appreciated the ‘girl group’ bullsh*t being addressed head-on and accurately.”

Matt also won an honorable mention in health writing for his story on Nevada’s first psychedelic church. As always, he found a great angle—How the heck is this legal?—and explored it in detail.

Our sister paper, the Coachella Valley Independent, did well in the contest, too, winning first place in the News Writing (Short Form) category, and second place in the Online Story Presentation category.

Great job all around, team! Thank you for your always-excellent, always diligent work!

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor

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