There’s a new look to Nevada license plates. They no longer have raised letters, and they look like they’re imprinted on cardboard.
“It’s true,” Jacobson said. “Our tag plant is in the Nevada State Prison, and workers in the tag plant are prisoners.”
Tom Jacobson is a public information officer for the Nevada DMV.
Published in Reno News & Review
Five days after announcing his candidacy for president, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson addressed a core group of Democrats in Reno.
“I’m a Westerner, like you,” Richardson said on why he was stumping Nevada so early in the campaign (besides Nevada’s second place in the national caucus lineup). “I want to be able, when I campaign in the West, to wear blue jeans.”
Democratic presidential contender Bill Richardson, here addressing a group of Nevadans at the Gold-N-Silver Restaurant, is cultivating support around the state.
PHOTO BY CAROL CIZAUSKAS
Published in Reno News & Review
Reno AntiWar Coalition members protested for peace following President Bush’s announcement to send an additional 21,500 soldiers to the war in Iraq.
“[Bush] is terribly optimistic about his so-called new plan achieving the desired results, but I think that’s all speculation,” Emerson said of the President’s speech. “And frankly, I have learned not to trust his judgment.”
John Emerson was the Democratic candidate for state senator in Washoe District 2 in November.
Published in Reno News & Review
Local activists hope the Iraq Study Group’s report is the way out.
“Absolutely, I think we have to use all diplomatic measures to get to a solution,” she said. “Why would we not do that? I mean, people are dying—not just our soldiers, but thousands of civilians in Iraq are being killed.”
Assemblymember Sheila Leslie supported withdrawing from the war in Iraq.
Former social worker Ellen Pillard has marched against the war and now sees some hope of a disengagement.
PHOTO BY DAVID ROBERT
Published in Reno News & Review
People with murder experiences try to get others to take another look at the ultimate punishment.
“I’m not advocating forgiving violent people and putting them back out on the street again. I know the cost of that violence, and I don’t want that for anyone. But we don’t have to kill people in order to keep society safe. Every time we take on the same mindset as the killer did to solve their problems, we demean and degrade ourselves, we dehumanize ourselves. We demean our own worth and dignity by becoming people who kill people.”
Marietta Jaeger-Lane, who forgave her daughter’s molester and murderer and now advocates against the death penalty.
Nancy Hart of Reno wants people to think about the death penalty instead of recycling rote arguments on each side.
PHOTO BY DAVID ROBERT
Published in Reno News & Review
Here’s a problem. How do you report a balanced profile of two opponents when one of them doesn’t show up?
When asked what he thought of Holcomb’s former party affiliation, Bobzien said, “I think it speaks for itself,” and then paused with a chuckle. “You can be certain that the candidates that choose to run as Independent Americans know darned well what it is that they’re signing up for.”
David Bobzien is running against incumbent Brooks Holcomb in the Nevada Assembly District 24 race.
Published in Reno News & Review
The Hanford nuclear site rose out of the sagebrush of Richland, Washington, in the 1940s. So did thousands of houses built for Hanford workers. They’re called the Alphabet Houses. Richland correspondent Carol Cizauskas explains from the Alphabet House she calls home.
Nordgren: “They certainly had a velvet glove that they used to stroke the workers, but beneath that, there was a hard-fisted reality. … If you lost your job for whatever reason, you also lost your house, and you had five working days to get out.”
Richard Nordgren is an historian who conducts walking tours of the Alphabet Houses.
Lorraine and Larry Riggs in the kitchen of their Alphabet House in Richland, Washington.
PHOTO BY CAROL CIZAUSKAS
Broadcast on Northwest News Network.
Latinos traditionally vote Democratic, come election time. Northwest Democrats want to keep it that way. They also want to capitalize on the momentum of the huge turnout of Hispanics last spring at immigration marches across the region. Correspondent Carol Cizauskas went out with Democratic canvassers in Sunnyside, Washington and files this report.
Rosario: “If we sleep through this election, we’ll lose a lot, which is why we’re trying to get the vote out.”
Tania Maria Rosario is the director of the 2006 Democratic Latino Vote Project in Washington state.
Central Washington Democratic canvassers
PHOTO BY CAROL CIZAUSKAS
Broadcast on Northwest News Network.
Public schools are for education. For low-income families, they’re also a source of child care and meals. But what happens in the summer, when children in poverty might be left alone while their parents work? Correspondent Carol Cizauskas visited White Swan in south-central Washington to look at a program that bridges the summertime gap.
Bell: “They’re probably of the poorest children and families in the area, especially out in White Swan. I mean, you’re out as far and as rural as you could possibly be. We have a lot of farm workers, and a lot of times they aren’t even making minimum wage, and they work very, very long hours. Parents work six days a week.”
Belinda Bell runs a summer program for five dozen children from the community of White Swan. The social worker started the project at the Yakama Christian Mission eight years ago.
Yakama Christian mission summer program sign
PHOTO BY CAROL CIZAUSKAS
Broadcast on Northwest News Network.
Today workers at Tyson meat processing plants in Washington and Idaho are mulling whether to relocate to the Midwest after their jobs are phased out over the next month.
“It’s going to be hard on these families, you know, getting laid off in October, just before Thanksgiving and the approach of Christmastime.”
Dean Schau, an economist who analyzes labor trends in Washington state
Broadcast on Marketplace
A production of American Public Media
Carol Cizauskas 