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On Monday, August 26, U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small and representatives from agencies serving Northern Nevada visited the Lahontan Valley to showcase USDA investments aimed at supporting farmers facing water uncertainty in the West.

During the visit, Small met with the Schank family, who own the largest farm in the Lahontan Valley, and the Truckee Carson Irrigation District (TCID), which manages the Lahontan Reservoir Dam and the canal system delivering water to Churchill and Lyon Counties. The Schank family has a nearly 1,000-acre farm east of Fallon along U.S. Highway 50, which benefits from the USDA’s new $400 million investment plan.

The initiative helps farmers maintain crop production, conserve water, upgrade infrastructure, and strengthen water security.

“In the West, we are seeing more and more drought, and farmers are doing everything they can to adapt,” said Small, following her tour of the Schank farm.

Small emphasized the USDA’s commitment to investing in innovative technologies and partnerships with irrigation districts like TCID to conserve water. More than $300 million is being directed to 12 western states to support these efforts.

“Part of the way to select irrigation districts is looking at where drought is occurring,” Small explained, highlighting the agency’s strategy for maximizing the effectiveness of its water conservation programs.

TCID General Manager Ben Shawcroft expressed optimism after the visit, praising Small for her understanding of local issues and responsiveness.

“She really understands what’s happening in our local area… I think we will be able to make some positive things happen with the funding that’s available to TCID,” Shawcroft said.

Ernie Schank, a former TCID Board of Director chairman, said that the Lahontan Valley has faced intermittent drought conditions over the past decade despite periods of heavy snowfall, such as in 2017 and 2023-24. Although water conditions have improved, Schank stressed the importance of continued efforts to address water scarcity.

The tour gave Small and other officials a close-up view of Schank farm operations, including its aging irrigation systems and dirt ditches. Abe Schank, who helps manage the farm, appreciated the opportunity to discuss how USDA funds could be applied to improve water use.

“They are trying to figure out how they can use funds that have been allocated to apply to water — like true water savings,” he said.

The visit also touched on the U.S. Navy Readiness and Environment Protection Integration program, which ensures that land surrounding Naval Air Station Fallon remains agricultural, protecting the base from encroachment. The Schanks were the first in Churchill County to enter into this conservation easement program, allowing them to keep their land in the family for future agricultural production.

standing knee-deep in the creek and deciding between baptism and drowning doesn’t seem to be much of a difference right now as water-cold on the hot-blooded skin of sin burns i don’t care that it makes no sense that i touched the panic button of her heart to become the black flag of pestulance popped up left with a number to someplace in outspace so tell that to the last man on the moon standing hip-deep in the creek water rocky bed beneath where stones have teeth and cut the feet contemplationg a watery grave of a lifeless baptism that can hear only the roar of the upstream mass as i cry silent screems and still don’t care that it makes no sense because I am black death caught on a wire fence hurling downward and there i go again watch me wash away my diret and grime but not the stain of wrong standing neck-deep in this creek body chilled mind-numbed fast flowing moat no mossy stone to turn or float as i get swept away even as a flash flood passes me by left standing jus’ short of where i entered baptized once again the thunder dies away not dove overhead but the bluebird-of-happiness sitting on my chest carried on my roaring voice don’t look for me there for earth moves and i am over here somehow i have collided with myself no worse for wear so bid me adieu before my wants want to do you sweet and not even drunk and not drinking of the water that will swallow me whole where you can catch me on the turn around if you can find solid ground

Two years after President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allocates $369 billion to bolster energy security and combat climate change, Nevada is the top state in securing federal funding.

According to a report from the sustainability think tank RMI, the Silver State has claimed 54 percent of its potential IRA funding, the highest in the nation.

States have accessed about seven percent of the funds available under the act. However, Nevada’s aggressive pursuit of clean energy projects has placed it far ahead of other states, such as Connecticut, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Georgia, which have secured more than 13 percent of their potential IRA dollars.

“I was impressed to see that data as well,” said Dwayne McClinton, director of the Governor’s Office of Energy.

Despite Governor Joe Lombardo’s focus on energy security through traditional sources like gas, McClinton emphasized that Nevada is seizing opportunities in clean energy.

“If there’s a benefit to Nevadans, why not take advantage of it? Let’s not let politics get in the way of that,” McClinton said.

Nevada’s success in securing IRA funds mirrors a broader trend of clean energy investments in states that aren’t traditional Democratic strongholds. Republican-led states like Wyoming, West Virginia, and Louisiana have also seen high per-capita investments in clean energy, showing a bipartisan embrace of funding opportunities.

Jacob Corvidae, senior principal at RMI and the co-author, pointed out that states with the most significant clean energy projects are reaping benefits from the IRA. Nevada’s large-scale projects, like utility overhauls and renewable energy investments, have contributed to its substantial share of the federal funds.

With the IRA’s funding program running through 2032, other states may have a chance to catch up as smaller-scale projects, such as electric vehicle adoption and home energy efficiency upgrades, receive funding.

between seeing you at the railway  station, lost in transcendental meditation, and gazing at the stars afar, i wonder why you are my lone memoir instead of working on my hardback spine, adrift, caught in thoughts unkind far away on a mountainside, crying beneath the Ppleiades and orion’s guide, feeling like i should be someone else—perhaps a bird, a sparrow, or an eagle’s flight, or a crow, a seagull soaring high, escaping the sky and the world’s harsh sigh i could have been a tailor, cowboy, sailor, or any other role, but not this frail persona i do not grasp the pressured thunder, with storms and guns tearing asunder i am in my room, feeling like a heathen, at this altar, striving to hold something impossible to grasp, like fitting an ocean in a spoon

Somewhere between the clatter of trains at the station,
I glimpsed you—transcendental, elusive, a meditation.
And there, beneath the cosmic canopy, I stood,
Staring at stars—those ancient storytellers of wood.

What madness possessed me? What cosmic jest?
For a while, ink should flow, and pages unfold,
I found myself lost in constellation embrace,
Wondering why your name danced on my soul.

Far upon a mountain, tears etched my cheeks,
The Pleiades wept alongside their sisters in grace.
Orion, the celestial hunter, watched from above,
His belt, a roadmap to realms beyond time’s trace.

Seek ye the roller of celestial stones, they said,
A gambler’s game played in the cosmic saloon.
Yet I held a pack of cards, harmonica in hand,
Yearning for wings—feathers, freedom, the moon.

Should I have been a bird, swift sparrow, or eagle?
Or perhaps a crow, wise and cunning, aloft?
A seagull riding salt-laden winds over ceaseless sea,
But never this mortal coil—a tailor, a sailor, so soft.

The gun’s weight eludes me, its purpose obscure,
Thunder roars within, a furor of doubt.
I kneel at the pagan altar, seeking a notion,
Yet an ocean spills forth, too vast to pour out.

So here I stand, upon that mountain’s crest,
Beneath Pleiades’ gaze and Orion’s stern eye.
A cosmic misfit, a wanderer of paradox,
Yearning for flight, yet anchored to earth’s sigh.

Give me wings, O universe! Or a tailor’s needle,
A cowboy’s lasso, a sailor’s salt-stung song.
Anything but this ache, this mortal longing,
For I am—simply, inexplicably—me all along.

And as the harmonica hums its plaintive tune,
I wonder if the stars, too, harbor secret regrets.
Perhaps they envy our brief, burning lives,
While we, like fools, chase eternity in silhouettes.

So let the Pleiades weep, and Orion hunt,
For I’ll keep seeking answers in the night’s embrace.
A celestial misfit, a poet with ink-stained fingers,
Yearning for flight, yet grounded in mortal grace.

Crystal Davidson, who grew up in Emmett, Idaho, and later in Silver Springs, has long been haunted by traumatic childhood memories.

She recounted being sexually abused by her father at the age of five. Despite filing a report in 2003, the investigation hit a roadblock, leaving Davidson without the closure she deserved.

Davidson first reported the abuse to authorities when she was 16, recounting an incident in which she said her father entered the bathroom and began touching her inappropriately.

“I was so young, I didn’t even know it was wrong,” she recalled.

However, Crystal never heard anything further from law enforcement.

When she saw her father, John Hesselgesser, in a recent News 4 report regarding a child neglect case involving unsanitary conditions in her childhood home, it reignited her desire for answers.

Crystal obtained a copy of her 2003 report. The document showed that investigators had taken her signed statement but faced resistance from her father, who refused to cooperate.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) forwarded the case to the police in Emmett, Idaho, where Davidson’s family once lived, but it appears the case fell through the cracks. Despite records indicating that other agencies, including the Division of Child and Family Services, were aware of the complaint, Emmett Police say they have no record of receiving the report from Lyon County.

“Now it sounds like Emmett P.D. is saying they never received the report,” said Lyon County Sheriff Brad Pope.

More than two decades later, Davidson’s case was left unresolved, with no clear explanation of what happened.

“It really hurts to see that the people who are supposed to be helping, aren’t helping,” she said.

Although her father has refused to comment on the allegations, Lyon County Sheriff Brad Pope has committed to assisting in the investigation.

“If the suspect is found to have committed a crime, justice needs to be served,” Pope stated.

Recently, Emmett Police Chief Steve Kunka agreed to reopen the investigation.

“With the assistance of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office in making contact with all parties involved, we will collect as much information as we can and submit it to the Gem County Prosecutor for evaluation and potential charging,” Kunka said.

After 21 years, the case is again active, and Davidon expressed relief that she may finally get the answers she has long sought.

A crash on Route 318 has claimed the lives of four reining horses and left two people injured as they traveled to the High Roller Reining Classic horse show in Las Vegas on Wednesday, September 4, when a truck-and-trailer rig carrying the horses was forced off the highway by another vehicle, according to Nicole Renick Johnson.

Johnson and her husband Adam were driving separate rigs, with a third vehicle driven by their two assistants. After making an overnight stop in Ely, the team was continuing their journey when the southbound rig carrying six horses veered off the road around 7:30 a.m., resulting in a fatal accident for most of the animals on board.

Johnson described the tragic loss, saying that four of the six horses did not survive the crash.

“Two are at the vet hospital,” she said. “Both of those horses will make it. One had minor cuts and wounds, and the other one had quite a bit of damage to the one side of his face, but he’s put together and both of them will be fine.”

The two assistants traveling in the rig escaped with only minor injuries. One sustained a fractured thumb, while the other suffered a sprained ankle.

“It was a terrible day, but at the end of the day, I’m glad that the two girls that were in that truck came out alive,” Johnson added. “Because I don’t know how they did it—it was definitely a miracle.”

Despite the loss, Nicole expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support from the reining community.

“We’ll move on,” she said. “Everybody’s been so supportive, so we’ll get through it, and move on—and that’s all we can do.”

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and neither local nor state authorities have provided additional details about the other vehicle involved or the condition of its driver.

Ukraine operates as a covert CIA base and proxy for U.S. strategic interests, with the U.S. involvement in Ukraine beginning with the Nunn-Lugar Act in 1991.

U.S. activities in Ukraine escalated following the Nunn-Lugar Act, which aimed to address nuclear proliferation but facilitated deeper U.S. operations.

In 2005, Senators Barack Obama and Richard Lugar visited Ukraine to inspect former Soviet bio, chemical, and nuclear facilities. They were turned into “defensive research facilities,” paving the way for U.S. contractors to establish operations in Ukraine under the guise of “foreign aid.”

Now, Ukraine functions as a covert CIA base and proxy for U.S. strategic interests, with manipulation and controversial operations by U.S. agencies, making Ukraine a strategic asset that began with the Nunn-Lugar Act of 1991 and has evolved through covert operations and political interventions. The U.S. started intensifying its involvement in Ukraine following the Nunn-Lugar Act, which aimed at nuclear non-proliferation but allegedly laid the groundwork for deeper U.S. operations.

In 2005, Senators Barack Obama and Richard Lugar visited Ukraine to inspect former Soviet bio, chemical, and nuclear facilities, which were then reportedly converted into “defensive research facilities.” The transition facilitated U.S. contractors’ establishment in Ukraine, operating under the pretense of “foreign aid.”

The CIA funded extremist groups, including Nazi militant factions, leading to the outbreak of civil conflict in Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014. The period, marked by a significant geopolitical shift, saw the U.S. State Department, through figures such as Victoria Nuland, manipulating the political landscape to install pro-U.S. leaders.

The leaked phone call between Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, discussing the appointment of “their guy” Arseniy Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister, is evidence of this intervention.

Meanwhile, Ukraine was effectively taken over by the U.S. through a “Color Revolution” in 2014, turning the country into an unofficial U.S. territory and NATO member, something that Nuland is adept at creating. Russian President Vladimir Putin perceived it as a direct threat. He regarded U.S. efforts to integrate Ukraine into NATO and establish a proxy army along the Russian border as a significant security concern.

Finally, the U.S. continues to use Ukraine as a cover for illicit activities, including the development of bioweapons, human trafficking, and drug trafficking. U.S. financial and military support for Ukraine is a means to perpetuate these illegal operations and maintain a strategic foothold in the region.

Having finished work early, I was seated at the bar when he came shuffling in.

“What you drinking?” he asked.

“Water,” I answered.

“Wanna beer or maybe a shot? I’m having both,” he said.

“Not right now,” I said.

“Why you having both? That’s not your usual,” I stated.

“Jus’ bugged and wanna relax a bit.”

“What’s got you bugged?”

“That incident last Saturday at the saloon.”

“I don’t know what you’re referencing.”

“You didn’t hear?”

“Not a word.”

“A guy the cops had already cuffed and on the ground and the one that likes to carry the baton around, whacked the cuffed guy in the head at least three times.”

“No, shit?”

“No, shit.”

“He’s one of the cops I had a run in about three years ago. Pulled me over and before I know it, I’m on the ground, cuffed, with three cops tearing my truck apart.”

“Why did he pull you over in the first place?”

“He never did say. He just made me get out and whammo.”

“So what happened then?”

“When they didn’t find the drugs they thought they would, they let me go.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“What about the guy the cop beat?”

“They had to send an ambulance to the jail. I don’t know what happened from there. I suspect they didn’t take him to the hospital, though.”

We sat there silent for about a minute before he turned to me and asked, “You sure you don’t wanna have something harder?”

I looked into the bottom of my water glass and answered, “Yeah, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

He looked down the bar at the woman tending customers, “Two shot glasses, please, and a bottle of Jamison.”

She quickly poured two shots and set them down.

“You can leave the bottle,” he said as he gave her his credit card.

“I know there ain’t anything we can do about it because it’s a small town, and I know I don’t wanna get a beatdown, and I know you’re having your trouble with them and don’t want to get whacked in the head either, so the best we can do is sit here quietly and drink,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said.

After being rounded up and removed from a residential development property in south Reno last month, two dozen Virginia Range horses are up for adoption.

The Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) facilitated the adoption following discussions with the Wild Horse Connection (WHC) and the governor’s office. The horses, trapped after Sunny Hills Ranchos, a California-based development company, fenced off the area, had their access to water cutoff.

Despite efforts by the WHC to relocate the horses, the deadline passed, prompting the developer to contact the NDA, which then conducted the roundup. After ensuring no legal claims to the horses existed and microchipping them to prevent their return to the wild, the NDA transferred the horses to the WHC’s custody.

The horses are being cared for by private owners until they find permanent homes.

Vance emphasized the importance of finding safe and suitable homes for the horses.

“We don’t want to see any of the horses go into the wrong homes,” Vance said. “We want to make sure that we have good placement for these horses going forward for the rest of their lives.”

To adopt or foster one of the horses, email corenna@wildhorseconnection.org.