It's Christmas time in the city, but if all the bright lights and busy streets (or maybe that marathon series of “It's a Wonderful Life” you couldn't pass up) have you yearning for a small-town Christmas, there's no better destination than Nevada City, California, and its annual Victorian Christmas celebration. This gingerbread-decorated hamlet in the Sierra foothills, about a 2 ½-hour drive from San Francisco, is like a portal back in time. Read on to find out where to stay, eat, and play.

Before Christmas, two WednesdayFor the three Sundays in December, most of downtown is closed to through traffic and opened to a bustling activity. Carolers, wandering minstrels, jugglers, costumed characters, horse-drawn carriage rides, local musicians, including many children, and other local talent perform in the streets while families stroll from vendor to vendor sampling, sipping, snacking and purchasing their wares. The atmosphere is warm and inviting as locals and tourists alike are there.

SantaBaby
At the bottom of Broad Street (the main drag), Santa will be available for photo ops. For $5, children and groups can have their picture taken with Santa. The money goes to a local charity – and photos are not required. If your little ones are camera shy or want to cross seeing Santa twice off their list, any child can chat with old Santa.

Bonus: There's also balloon art and a bouncy castle for the kids. Also, keep an eye out for jugglers and magicians.

Roasting chestnuts over an open fire
In addition to spiced cider, mulled wine and barbecued food, there will be chestnuts roasted over a real open fire every night. Cecil Snow, the city's favourite Victorian chimney sweep, will be stoking the fire and selling the chestnuts. This is not to be missed.

Decorate the halls
In addition to the unique gifts sold throughout the streets by local artists and artisans, the United Methodist Church at the top of Broad Street hosts an open house and craft market. It's the perfect place to escape the cold, enjoy the festive atmosphere with Santa, apple cider, cookies and music, beautiful decorations, and use the restroom! Or visit the Nevada City Craft Fair on Sunday, December 11 In the historic Miners Foundry you will find a wide selection of artisan gifts.

Photo by Erin Thiem, outsideinn.com

Park your car
Parking is very limited and it can be frustrating when a whole troupe of carolers is ready to hit the road, so drop them off and park your car at the Nevada County Government Center, then take the shuttle back to town. There is a $5 fee on the ride into town, but it's free on the way back to the car! Check out the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce website for more information.

Good night everyone
There are many bed and breakfasts, hotels and motels in this area. The Outside Inn is a family and pet friendly motel style accommodation that is within walking distance of all of downtown Nevada City. Or if you'If you're looking for something unique, rent an RV and try the new Inn Town Campground, less than two miles from downtown Nevada City.

The Northern Queen Inn offers reasonable rates and its own Christmas lights – plus you can choose between traditional rooms or little cabins in the pines! It's a little further away than the Outside Inn, but it's still within walking distance of downtown.

What to wear
Dress for the occasion, but wear your warmest clothes. It's not unusual for snow to fall this time of year! Wool coats and capes and top hats are also appropriate! Bring gloves, hats and scarves for the kids, and wear good walking shoes. Most activities are outdoors, and Nevada City is hilly. The main street, Broad Street, is a long, rolling hill, so wear comfortable shoes.

When: Sundays, December 411th and 18th of 1:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m. and Wednesdays 14 and 21 December out of 5pm-9pm

A fairy tale about two cities
The neighboring town of Grass Valley, which is equally charming, celebrates a similar Cornish Christmas that begins the Friday after Thanksgiving and runs through December 20th. Mill Street and Main Street are closed off and the cool mountain air is filled with the scent of roasted chestnuts, kettle corn and pasties. Make it a weekend of super-retro Christmas celebrations and have the best time – experience both events in one weekend. For more information on Cornish Christmas, visit the Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce website.

Have you ever celebrated the season in Nevada City? Tell us about it in the comments below!

–Erin Thiem and Amber Guetebier

All photos courtesy of Nevada City Chamber of Commerce unless otherwise noted

The post Victorian Christmas Celebration in Nevada Metropolis, CA appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

It’s Christmas time in the city, but if all the bright lights and bustling streets (or maybe the marathon of It’s a Wonderful Life you couldn’t resist watching) have you hankering for a small town Christmas, there is no better destination than Nevada City, California and its annual Victorian Christmas celebration. This gingerbread-trimmed hamlet in the Sierra foothills, about 2 ½ hour drive from San Francisco, is like a portal back in time. Read on to find out where to stay, eat and play.

Leading up to Christmas, two Wednesdays and the three Sundays in December, the better part of the downtown area is closed to through traffic and open to a bevy of activity. Carolers, roving minstrels, jugglers, costumed characters, horse-drawn carriage rides, local musicians including many children, and other local talent perform throughout the streets, while families wander from vendor to vendor sampling, sipping, noshing, and buying their wares. Equally attended by locals and tourists alike, the atmosphere is warm and welcoming.

Santa Baby
On the lower end of Broad Street (the main drag) Santa will be available for photo ops. For $5 kids and groups can take their photo with Santa. The money goes to local charity—and photos are not a requirement. If your little ones are camera-shy, or want to check Santa sighting off their list twice, any child can chat it up with Ol’ Saint Nick.

Bonus: There will also balloon art and a bouncy house for the kids, plus keep your eyes out for jugglers and magicians.

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
In addition to the spiced cider, mulled wine, and grilled delights, each night features chestnuts roasted over a real open fire. Cecil Snow, the town’s favorite Victorian chimney sweep, will tend the fire and vend the chestnuts. Not to be missed.

Deck the Halls
In addition to one-of-a-kind gifts for sale by local artists and crafters throughout the streets, at the top of Broad Street the United Methodist Church will host an open house which includes a Craft Faire. It’s the perfect place to come in from the cold, enjoy the festive atmosphere with Santa, cider, cookies, and music plus beautiful decorations, and use the restroom! Or stop by the Nevada City Craft Fair on Sunday, December 11th in the historic Miners Foundry for a great selection of artisans gifts.

Photo by Erin Thiem, outsideinn.com

Park Your Carriage
Parking can is very limited and can be frustrating with a crew full of carolers ready to hit the streets, so drop them off and then park your car at the Nevada County Government Center, then hop the shuttle back into town. There is a $5 fee when going into town, but free for all heading back to the car! Visit the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce website for more details.

To All a Good Night’s Sleep
This area is rife with bed and breakfasts, hotels, and motels. Family and pet-friendly, The Outside Inn is a motel-style lodging within easy walking distance to all of Nevada City’s downtown.  Or if you’re looking for something unique, rent a RV and try the new Inn Town Campground, less then 2 miles from downtown Nevada City.

The Northern Queen Inn has reasonable rates and their own show of holiday lights—plus you can choose from traditional rooms or little cabins in the pines! Though it’s a little farther afield that The Outside Inn, it is still reasonable walking distance to downtown.

What to Don
Dress festive, but don your warmest of apparel. It is not unusual for snow to fall this time of year!  Woolen cloaks and capes and top-hats are appropriate, too! Do bring mittens, hats, and scarves for the kids and wear good walking shoes. Most of the activities are outside, and Nevada City is hilly. The main street, Broad Street, is one long gradual hill so wear comfy shoes.

When:  Sundays, December 4th, 11th, & 18th from 1:30-6 p.m. and Wednesdays December 14th & 21st from 5–9 p.m.

A Tale of Two Cities
The neighboring town of Grass Valley which is equally charming has a similar Cornish Christmas celebration, beginning the Friday after Thanksgiving and continuing through the 20th of December. Mill and Main Streets are closed off and the chilly mountain air is filled with the smell of roasting chestnuts, kettle corn, and pasties. Make it a weekend of uber-retro Christmas celebrations and enjoy the best of times–take in both events over a weekend. Check out the Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce website for more details on Cornish Christmas.

Have you ever celebrated the season in Nevada City? Tell us about it in the comments below!

–Erin Thiem and Amber Guetebier

All photos courtesy of Nevada City Chamber of Commerce unless otherwise noted

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The Republic of Molossia is the city of your adolescent, Candy Land dreams, where the currency is cookie dough and the nation’s leader officially outlawed spinach.
 
How does a place like Molossia, located about 45 minutes from Reno, exist within the confines of the United States? The self-described independent nation, ruled by President Kevin Baugh and first lady Adrianne Baugh, is actually a micronation within the United States.  

Molossia is enclosed within a small Nevada town called Dayton, on an 11-acre property with a total population of 38 souls. Three of the citizens are dogs.

President Kevin Baugh of Molossia inside the Presidential Office in August 2023.

Nora Heston Tarte Special to SFGATE

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Molossia is an artistic expression with shades of outlaw libertarianism, and it owes its entire existence to a San Francisco icon who was a pioneer in “fake it till you make it” social entrepreneurialism. 

The micronation accepts tourists but on specific terms. I rode over the desert brush to find it on a recent August afternoon. Before embarking on the journey, I somewhat expected an unhinged social vigilante with a political agenda, but what I discovered instead was a seemingly well-meaning couple with a solid sense of humor and a love of entertaining the masses with their clever takes on what it means to run a micronation.

I left knowing it was a place I would need to bring friends, if only to experience the hilarity and downright weirdness firsthand. Without seeing it, it’s hard to say who will believe a place like Molossia exists.

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Tours are held one day a month between April and October, usually, but not always, on a Saturday. During this time, anyone can visit Molossia. A passport isn’t strictly required, but if you bring one, you can get it stamped at the customs office.

Molossia tours are held one day of the month, between April and October, and if you bring a passport, you can get it stamped at the customs office. (Nora Heston Tarte Special to SFGATE}

Molossia is smaller than 10 football fields but can draw worldwide attention. During my visit in August, I met people from Canada, Washington and Texas, as well as many from other parts of Nevada. In total, there were about 20 attendees. It’s customary to bring cookie dough to exchange for the local currency, called Valora, which is Latin for “brave or courageous.”
 
It’s important to abide by the laws when moving about Molossia. That means no contraband like tobacco, incandescent lightbulbs, plastic bags, catfish, onions, walruses and, of course, spinach.
 
Other laws prohibit citizens from causing catastrophe; torpedoes may not be set off inside of the country, and percussion instruments are barred from every bathroom. It’s also illegal to detonate a nuclear device within the nation and offenders incur a 500 Valora fine.
 
President Baugh is also considering outlawing hurricanes, but the weather in these parts of Nevada tends to be sunny.

“Molossia weather is always perfect,” he boasts. He says the problem is that “we’re so close to the U.S. border that their crappy weather blows in all the time.”
 
A tour guarantees access to all of Molossia’s main buildings, including a post office, Tiki bar, the president’s office, a trading post and a jail cell. You’re subject to arrest if you bring in unpermitted items, but the president doesn’t make a habit of keeping anyone past the end of their tour (or for more than a few minutes).

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Molossia’s main street featuring a post office, Tiki bar, a trading post and a jail cell. (Nora Heston Tarte Special to SFGATE/Courtesy of Travel Nevada)Molossia’s main street featuring a post office, Tiki bar, a trading post and a jail cell. (Nora Heston Tarte Special to SFGATE/Courtesy of Travel Nevada)

Although Molossia is still at war with East Germany — there’s a long-winded explanation to this involving an argument suggesting East Germany still exists as a small island off the coast of Cuba — the micronation resists the need for a military to defend itself (in part because that East Germany island is uninhabited). 

Nevertheless, Molossia does have a naval program composed entirely of inflatable kayaks that explore nearby lakes, including Lake Tahoe on flexible biannual excursions. There are also annual and public events including a dry land boat race.
 
The space program is predictably limited, but you can launch a small rocket when visiting, which earns yourself a designation as an honorary Molossia space cadet.

Molossia is enclosed within a small Nevada town called Dayton on an 11-acre property with a total population of 38 souls. Three of the citizens are dogs.

Nora Heston Tarte Special to SFGATE

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If Molossia seems absurd, that’s the intention of its founders.

President Baugh created his first micronation in 1977 alongside his friend “King” James Spielman. They called it Vuldstein. The duo was inspired by the movie “The Mouse That Roared,” a British comedy centered around a war between a European micronation and the United States.
 
“We were really struck by the imagination and creativity of this tiny country idea,” Baugh says.
 
In 1998, Vuldstein was in Portland, Oregon, when President Baugh changed the name and uprooted the location of that micronation. He established the Republic of Molossia in Dayton, Nevada, that same year, drawing inspiration for the name from a Hawaiian word for peace and serenity.

Western artifacts, old cars and other collectibles sit among hillsides in an area called “The Yard” in Dayton, Nev., in July 2017. 

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Molossia began hosting tours in 2009, and the nation steadily grew. Because the president is a fan of Disney, you’ll notice several influences from Walt Disney himself, such as an Adventureland-themed trading post to buy souvenirs. Several addresses on Molossian buildings reference famous Disney films, and his name is pasted across the heroes monument.

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The micronation built its own miniature railroad, designed a flag, wrote a national anthem and established a time zone (39 minutes ahead of Pacific Standard Time).
 
“We like doing unusual things here,” Baugh laughs.
 
In addition to the property in Dayton, there are other outposts of Molossia sprinkled across the universe. The Protectorate of New Antrim is in Pennsylvania, and the Desert Homestead Province is in Southern California. Neptune Deep is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and Molossia stakes claim to a 49,000-square mile chunk of the planet Venus.
 
While micronations are not common, there are dozens across the world, and twice a year, the leaders of those nations gather to discuss micronation rule at a conference called Microcon. This year, the meet-ups were held in Belgium and Chicago.

The Principality of Sealand, some 7 miles off the coast of England, in September 2021. The metal-and-concrete platform in the North Sea has been run as an independent micronation in defiance of the U.K. government for decades. 

Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

Some of the names are posted on a wooden directional sign near the front gates of Molossia, including the Antarctic micronation Westarctica, founded in 2001; the Principality of Sealand, made up entirely of an offshore platform in the North Sea; and the Conch Republic, a playful nod to the secession of the Florida Keys.

As one of the oldest running micronations in the world, President Baugh is famous among newcomers. He’s received more than 100 medals from other nations (and gifted to himself). Since he rules under a dictatorship, this is allowed.
 
While it’s clear to see that Baugh sees his micronation as all in good fun, there is a serious side to his rule. Micronations need currency and laws. Most agree they have to file a formal declaration proclaiming how and why the sovereign state was created. A micronation does not need a legal basis to exist, and most rely on neighboring government agencies for emergency services.

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FILE: A photo of Emperor Norton in a store window on Kearny Street, San Francisco, in September 2020.

San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Baugh calls him “the first micronationalist,” and in Molossia, Norton Park is named in his honor.

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Platform Continues to Build Scale within the Mountain West 

OREM, Utah, July 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Any Hour Group (“Any Hour” or “the Company”), a leading provider of home services, today announced that Black Diamond Experts (“Black Diamond”) and Bumble Breeze Plumbing, Heating and Air (“Bumble Breeze”) have joined Any Hour’s growing group of brands. These new partnerships bring together two of the leading brands in the rapidly growing Utah market, further cementing Any Hour’s market leadership in the state, while also expanding its presence in Nevada.

Founded in 1961, Any Hour offers homeowners peace of mind through a full suite of high-quality HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services. The Company has achieved a market-leading position through rapid organic growth, and in July 2021 partnered with Knox Lane, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, to accelerate Any Hour’s trajectory.

Through its partnership with Black Diamond, Any Hour has joined forces with one of Utah’s leading home services brands, further expanding its reach within Salt Lake City while adding a presence in the Park City and St. George markets. Any Hour’s partnership with Bumble Breeze marks the Company’s expansion into the large and growing Las Vegas market, following last year’s entry into Reno.

Wyatt Hepworth, CEO of Any Hour, said, “We are excited about the combined strength of the Any Hour and Black Diamond brands in our home market of Utah, and the addition of Bumble Breeze, which further expands our footprint in Nevada. These are highly strategic partnerships for Any Hour, bringing together exceptional teams to achieve even greater success.”

Jeremy Hansen, COO of Any Hour, added, “Continuing to deepen our presence in existing markets has been a strategic focus for us as we’ve added new partners to our group of brands this year. We are thrilled to welcome Black Diamond and Bumble Breeze to the Any Hour Group and look forward to supporting our new partners in their next phase of growth.”

About Any Hour Group
Founded in 1961, The Any Hour Group is the market-leading home services company in the Mountain West, providing residential customers with a full suite of HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services, including repairs, replacements, and maintenance. Any Hour has a long history of organic growth and a workforce of more than 1,500 employees and technicians. Any Hour’s unique culture, commitment to its employees and customers, and track record of success has positioned it for continued growth, with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. For more information, please visit www.anyhourservices.com. If you are interested in exploring a partnership with the Any Hour Group, please contact Dustin Van Orman ([email protected]).

About Knox Lane
Based in San Francisco, Knox Lane is a growth-oriented investment firm comprised of a team of accomplished investors and operators with a shared work history and a strong track record of partnering with leading companies to accelerate transformational growth. Knox Lane employs an investor-operator mindset and seeks to provide support across a number of business components, including human capital, brand management, end-to-end digital transformation, sourcing, supply chain and logistics, strategic acquisitions and business development. For more information, please visit www.knoxlane.com.

About Black Diamond Experts
Black Diamond is a leading home services provider in Utah, operating through the Black Diamond and Lifestyles brands. Black Diamond was founded by Dan James in 2009, and offers electric, plumbing, heating and air services in the broader Salt Lake City area and St. George. Lifestyles was founded by Kevin Barnes in 1998 and offers customized residential electrical services in Park City and beyond. Dan and Kevin will continue to lead Black Diamond and Lifestyles, respectively, and will dispatch from its locations in Salt Lake City, Park City, and St. George, Utah.

About Bumble Breeze
Bumble Breeze offers quality heating, cooling, indoor air quality and plumbing service to the Las Vegas market and surrounding areas. Since opening its doors in 2018, Bumble Breeze has grown rapidly through its commitment to doing quality work at an affordable price. The Company believes in winning customers over with quality customer service, exceptional products, and dedication. Bumble Breeze was founded by Brooks Carson and Ante Soda.

Media Contact
Woomi Yun / Erik Carlson
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449

SOURCE Knox Lane; The Any Hour Group

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By Patrick Blennerhassett Special to the Times-Bonanza

47 mins ago

Robin Hebrock/Pahrump Valley Times file
Members of the Pahrump Valley Rotary Club help with a move in 2019.

Roughly 30 percent of the people moving to Nevada over the last year are from California, according to a new study from MoveBuddha.

Nevada ranks 13th in the nation when it comes to top destinations for Americans who are leaving their state, according to the study that uses 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data along with net migration economic forecasting models, plus searches and queries regarding moves and moving company hires on its website from the start of January to June 8 of this year.

Additionally, for every 100 residents moving out of the Silver State, 134 are moving in this year so far (a move in rate of 1.34). Las Vegas has an even higher move-in rate of 1.48, which means for every 100 people moving out of Las Vegas, 148 are moving in this year.

When it comes to who is moving to Nevada, Californians make up a significant chunk (29.7 percent), followed by Texas (8.4), Florida (6.4), Washington (4.8) and New York (4.3 percent), the study said.

Nick Pipitone, MoveBuddha’s communications manager, said while the company doesn’t track specific reasons behind moves, it’s pretty easy to assume people are moving to Nevada and Las Vegas for a very specific reason.

“Surveys show people move for many reasons, and the top ones are usually for work and family. But when it comes to moving to Nevada, we think people are moving to the state mainly because it makes economic sense,” he added.

“A recent Tax Foundation study found that Americans are increasingly leaving high-tax, high-cost states for lower-tax, lower-cost alternatives. A state like Nevada, with no state or corporate income tax, low median property tax rates, and no estate or inheritance tax, fits this national trend.”

People moving to Nevada is at a three-year high, above a recent high water mark of 2020, when the move-in rate was 1.25. Las Vegas and Reno are also two of the top destinations for San Francisco residents who have chosen to leave their city, the study said.

According to an earlier 2023 report from MoveBuddha, Las Vegas and Reno ranked second and third, respectively, behind Austin, Texas, as the destinations of choice in 2022. Miami and Orlando, Florida, rounded out the top five.

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RENO, Nev. (AP) — Environmentalists, ranchers and others have battled lithium mining projects in Nevada for years. But opposition to mining a particular area of ​​desert to extract the silver-white metal used in electric car batteries comes from an unlikely place: outer space.

An ancient lake bed in Nevada beckons as a vast source of the coveted metal needed to generate clean electrical energy and fight global warming. But NASA says the same location — flat as a tabletop and undisturbed like no other in the western hemisphere — is essential for calibrating the crisp measurements from hundreds of satellites orbiting overhead.

At the request of the Space Agency, the US Bureau of Land Management has agreed to remove 36 square miles (92 square kilometers) of eastern Nevada Territory from its inventory of federal lands open for potential mineral exploration and mining.

According to NASA, the long, flat stretch of land above the undeveloped lithium deposit in Nevada’s Railroad Valley has been used for almost three decades to get just the right measurements to keep satellites and their applications working properly.

“No other site in the United States is suitable for this purpose,” the Bureau of Land Management concluded in April after receiving NASA’s information on the area 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas.

The bureau has spent nearly three years fighting mining challenges of all kinds from environmentalists, tribal leaders, ranchers and others seeking to de-permit a massive lithium mine in northwestern Nevada near the Oregon Line.

In December, the bureau initiated a review of plans for another lithium mine that conservationists oppose near the California border, where an endangered desert wildflower grows, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Reno.

In Railroad Valley, satellite computations are critical for capturing information broadcast from space, with wide-ranging applications ranging from weather forecasting to national security to agricultural prospects and natural disasters, according to NASA, which said the satellites are “vital and often time-sensitive provide information on each aspect”. of life on earth.”

This increasingly includes the certification of measurements related to climate change.

Critics say this is the Nevada desert paradox. While lithium is the main ingredient in electric vehicle batteries and is a key contributor to reducing greenhouse gases, in this case the metal is buried underground. NASA says it needs to be left undisturbed to confirm the accuracy of satellites that monitor Earth’s warming atmosphere.

“As our country becomes increasingly impacted by an evolving and changing environment, it is critical to have reliable and accurate data and images of our planet,” said Mark Moneza of Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based technology company Satellite imaging that has relied on NASA site to calibrate more than 250 of its satellites since 2016.

A Nevada congressman introduced legislation earlier this month aimed at overturning the bureau’s decision to remove the land from potential mining use. Republican Representative Mark Amodei told a House subcommittee last week that the decision underscored the “hypocrisy” of President Joe Biden’s administration.

“Supposedly, a goal of the Biden administration is to advance the development of renewable energy technologies and reduce the carbon content in our atmosphere,” Amodei said. “Nevertheless, they support blocking a project to develop the lithium needed for their clean energy goals.”

Carson City, Nevada-based 3 Proton Lithium Inc., which owns most of the mining claims, had no formal project plans in 2021 when NASA requested the land withdrawal. However, the company said it was conducting extensive research into future plans to mine the brine-based lithium resource, which it said is one of the top 10 deposits in the world.

Chief Executive Kevin Moore said withdrawing from the area will likely prevent his energy company from pumping the “supersoles” out of about a third of its claims there, including the deepest and highest-producing reservoirs, which account for about 60% of the site’s value. Along with Amodei, he testified before the House Subcommittee on Mines and Natural Resources last week.

“This project is an integral part of transitioning to a green economy, creating high-paying American jobs, fighting climate change, ending America’s over-reliance on foreign adversaries, and securing a domestic supply chain for critical and rare earth elements,” Moore said .

Other opponents of the BLM push include James Ingraffia, founder of energy exploration company Lithium Arrow LLC. In previous public comments, he told the bureau that erecting barriers to lithium mining in Railroad Valley would undermine efforts to combat climate change.

“Basically what you’re doing is, ‘There is a problem that we want to continue to worry about, but we WILL NOT allow it to be solved,'” he said. “It’s contradictory.”

3 Proton Lithium insists its brine pumping operations would cause little to no land-surface disturbance. But NASA doesn’t think the risk is worth it.

The pristine nature of the area has enabled NASA to create a long record of images of the undisturbed topography to aid in the precise measurement of distances using radio signal propagation times and to ensure “absolute radiometric calibration” of sensors on board satellites.

“Activities that could affect the surface integrity of Railroad Valley would render the site unusable,” Jeremy Eggers, spokesman for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told The Associated Press.

“The final decision was to protect Railroad Valley, which in turn protects the critical scientific data that multiple sectors of the economy depend on,” he said in an email Thursday.

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Anthony Thomas Garcia, 62, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the April 11, 2015 killing of Abelardo Lopez Estacion. (Courtesy Orange County District Attorney’s Office)

A Nevada handyman was convicted Tuesday for the killing of an 81-year-old man who was strangled to death in the bedroom of a Newport Beach home six years ago.

An Orange County Superior Court jury found 62-year-old Anthony Thomas Garcia guilty of first-degree murder for the April 11, 2015 killing of Abelardo Lopez Estacion.

However, the jury concluded that the killing was not for financial reasons. Such a finding would have resulted in murder in special circumstances, which would likely have resulted in a life sentence with no possibility of parole.

The conviction comes less than a year after another jury failed to reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial and a second trial. The second trial was postponed several times mid-testimony after Garcia was placed under temporary quarantine due to exposure to other prison inmates who tested positive for COVID-19.

The murder came amid an ugly dispute over the estate of Dortha Lamb, Estacion’s dying wife. Garcia was Lamb’s granddaughter’s former boyfriend, and two of Garcia’s daughters were Lamb’s great-granddaughters.

At the start of Garcia’s latest trial, Assistant District Attorney Seton Hunt told the jury the case was about “family, greed, hatred and deceit.”

Lamb — a self-made woman who owned valuable properties in Newport Beach, San Clemente, and Costa Mesa — had been with Estacion for more than 20 years but only married him shortly before his death. At the time of Estacion’s assassination, Lamb was dying of terminal cancer and suffering from dementia.

According to testimony given at the trial, Garcia and some of Lamb’s relatives believed Estacion was abusing Lamb and taking advantage of her health problems to withdraw money from her accounts. According to witnesses, Garcia had told others that he wanted to kill Estacion.

A legal battle ensued, during which Lamb’s family took her out of their Newport Beach home and attempted to evict Estacion and ban him from contact with Lamb. A judge delayed deciding whether to grant an injunction against Estacion.

Hours later, someone entered the Newport Beach home, disconnected power, and choked, beat, and strangled Estacion.

Prosecutors allege that Garcia drove from Carson City to Newport Beach to kill Estacion and then immediately drove back. They say he left his cellphone with his adult daughter, Samantha Garcia, to make it appear like he was still in Nevada.

Samantha Garcia initially told investigators that she was in possession of her father’s cellphone the night Estacion was killed, and conducted a fake text conversation between the two. But in both trials, the daughter denied those claims, saying investigators pressured her to lie and said she didn’t have her father’s cellphone that night.

During the trial, Garcia’s attorney, Alisha Montoro, described Garcia as a non-violent, devoted family man who lived a simple life. Defense attorneys denied that Garcia believed his daughters were entitled to Lamb’s money and told the jury that Garcia was not even in California on the night of the murder.

Garcia is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on April 28. He faces up to 25 years to life imprisonment.

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RENO, Nev. (AP) – Water conflicts are nothing new for the arid West, where myriad users have long been vying for their share of the precious resource, from California’s Central Valley to the Colorado and Missouri rivers.

But few have addressed the legal issue at play in rural Nevada: To what extent can residents, farmers, and ranchers claim water that seeps into the ground through the clay bottom of an outdated, unlined irrigation canal?

A federal appeals court recently breathed new life into a legal battle that has involved the US government and the high desert town of Fernley since a 118-year-old sewer burst in 2008, flooding hundreds of homes.

That year, the US Bureau of Reclamation began work on a plan to line portions of the 31-mile (50-kilometer) canal with concrete. The canal diverts water from the Truckee River, which flows out of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra, and directs it to irrigation ditches that support alfalfa farmers and ranchers about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Reno.

However, farmers and ranchers in and around the town of Fenley said the repairs would prevent leaking water they’ve used to fill their wells east of Reno for a century.

The government says locals have no right to the water, which US taxpayers own. Government experts say the rehabilitation will also help prevent future sewer failures, although they acknowledge it will prevent leaks into the local aquifer used by Fenley residents.

Completed in 1905, the Truckee Canal was the first major irrigation system in the West under the Newlands Reclamation Act signed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902.

The law was named after a Nevada congressman who said the project would “make the desert bloom” and attract settlers to places like Fernley, where annual rainfall averages five inches.

Similar projects followed throughout the arid west – many of them much larger. Construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Arizona began in 1903 and was dedicated by Roosevelt himself in 1911.

By then, two dozen projects had been approved, including one that dammed the Lower Yellowstone River near its mouth in the Missouri to irrigate farmland in Montana and North Dakota.

In Nevada, Fernley and surrounding agricultural users eventually became “totally dependent” on state-subsidized water supplies, their attorneys say.

Borrowing a sort of finder-keeper doctrine as old as the western expansion, opponents of sewer rehabilitation have argued in state and federal courts that they have a right to water, in part because no one told them before the canal broke that they not allowed to do that.

The bureau, the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, which operates the canal, and various judges generally agree that the water belongs to US taxpayers.

Fernley is trying to assert a water right that does not exist under state or federal law, irrigation district attorney Benjamin Shawcroft said in recent Nevada Supreme Court filings.

“A related but perhaps unanswerable question is why is the City of Fernley so determined to disrupt a project whose sole purpose is to prevent a canal breach and the flooding of hundreds of homes?” he wrote.

Fernley attorney David Rigdon said the city is not opposed to cheaper alternatives to reduce flood risk while maintaining groundwater recharge.

“What Fernley refuses is a cure worse than the disease,” Rigdon wrote in the court filings. “To fix an issue that was affecting about 500 homes, they implemented a solution that is jeopardizing the primary water supply for all 20,000 city residents.”

“And to make matters worse, they now want the very people they are harming to pay for the cost of building the project,” he wrote.

No one was killed or seriously injured in the 2008 flood, but the Irrigation District agreed to a $18.1 million class action lawsuit in 2016 involving 1,200 people who suffered property damage. Unusual, heavy winter rains put pressure on the canal system, and experts later found it had been weakened by decades of rodent burrowing down the sides.

The legal dispute over the plans for the rehabilitation of the canal followed.

Fernley filed for relief in a state court last year after US District Court Judge Miranda Du dismissed her federal lawsuit alleging that the government failed to adequately address the alternatives required by the National Environmental Policy Act when granting a 148 -Million dollar plan to route 12.7 miles (20 km) of canal approved.

In March, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Du’s ruling, which concluded that the NEPA claims had no legal basis because their interests in the water were economic, not environmental.

However, the San Francisco appeals court also concluded that she erred in refusing to allow Fernley to amend her lawsuit to prove either would cause harm.

Du issued a new order this month giving Fernley until June 12 to file an amended complaint while the Bureau of Reclamation completed work on the first phase of lining 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of the canal for $35 million continues.

Approximately $2.5 million of the initial phase is expected to be recouped from the Irrigation District through assessments from water users who rely on the District to meet the needs of a growing community that has doubled in size over the past 20 years.

Fernley now wants to show that the loss of groundwater recharge will have dramatic and complicated impacts on the natural environment, as well as on farmers’ wallets.

“It’s going to make our community polluting,” said David Stix, a longtime rancher and former mayor of Fernley.

He said hydrological studies suggest that subsidence in the local aquifer will draw water from saline marshes in the nearby Fernley Wildlife Management Area and deteriorate the community’s water quality.

“This migration would be of great concern because treating salt in water is much more expensive than treating arsenic,” Stix said. “There’s all these unknown domino effects.”

He is among those who say that lining the seawalls, but not the soil where the water seeps away, would achieve all goals at a lower cost without domestic wells “starting to suck in air.”

He fears that unless the aquifer is replenished by percolation, the landscape will eventually return to its pre-canal state.

“It was basically desert,” Stix said. “There was nothing here.”

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GRASS VALLEY, California – The Nevada County Continuum of Care in conjunction with Bright Futures for Youth’s SAFE program will conduct a survey Tuesday, May 9 through Thursday, May 11 to determine how many children and young adults in Nevada County suffer from housing instability, a growing but often overlooked problem in rural communities.

The organizations encourage young people aged 25 and under who are affected by homelessness to participate in the survey at the time of the youth census. The results could pave the way for more funding and services to address the problem in the community.

The Nevada County Continuum of Care, Community Beyond Violence and other organizations, as well as SAFE staff and Youth Action Committee members, will be available Tuesday, May 9 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 6 to 7 p.m. at the San Juan Community Library Annex, 18847. available for meetings with young people at Oak Tree Road on North San Juan Ridge and 3-7 p.m. Wednesday, May 10 at the new SAFE Youth Drop-in Navigation Center at 200 Litton Drive in Grass Valley.

Also, a mobile effort will attempt to reach out to young people in high-traffic areas in Grass Valley and Nevada City from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, May 11.

The SAFE (Stability, Access, Foundation and Empowerment) Drop-in Center on May 10 will provide backpacks, gift cards, clothing and groceries for survey participants. SAFE staff can also help young people affected by homelessness access health services and counseling.

“It is critical that every single young person affected by housing instability is counted to better understand the broader problem in our community,” said Jennifer Singer, Executive Director of Bright Futures for Youth and Nevada County Board Member Continuum of Care. “Accurate census will help describe the need for more funding and services for children and youth facing housing instability.”

Homelessness among children and young adults ages 12 to 24 is a rapidly growing but often difficult to identify problem in rural areas where nature surrounds small towns and communities compared to nearby Sacramento and other large California cities are .

Also, the definition of “housing instability” can be a bit vague. Teens affected by homelessness often surf the web with family members or friends on the couch, live in hotels, sleep in a vehicle, or maybe even live in a shed or trailer with no electricity or plumbing — not just on the streets.

“You may not see people affected by homelessness the way you do in downtown Sacramento, San Francisco or Los Angeles, but housing instability is a very real and growing problem in Nevada County,” said Aurora Packard, program director for the SAFE program .

In fact, SAFE is currently helping around 120 young people affected by homelessness today – 10 times the target when the program started in 2019. SAFE case managers meet with about 50 of these youth each week, and an average of five others learn about the program over the same period.

However, how many children and young adults are homeless in Nevada County is uncertain, according to local officials.

The Youth Point-in-Time Count will provide a more accurate number while helping those facing housing instability access much-needed services. SAFE works with numerous governmental and nonprofit organizations in the community to ensure children and young adults receive the services they need.

Some youth affected by homelessness may need clothing or a hot meal, while others may need access to health care, counseling and shelter – or all of these services. The SAFE Drop-in Center also offers a place to charge smartphones, laundry services, showers, developing new skills, applying to college, financial aid, nutrition programs, or even job hunting.

“Youth affected by homelessness are often unaware of the services available,” said Phebe Bell, behavioral health director for Nevada County.

The Homeless Resource Council of the Sierra (HRCS), the leading organization in Nevada counties and placer continuum of care for homelessness, conducts an annual point-in-time survey each winter with the help of community organizations and volunteers. The latest poll found nearly 500 adults were homeless as of the night of Jan. 25, according to HRCS, down slightly from 525 a year earlier. The survey also identified 26 people under the age of 25 who slept outside, not with family or guardians.

But the closely monitored survey uses a much narrower definition of homelessness that undercounts youth experiencing homelessness.

“The Nevada County CoC is committed to data-driven decision making,” said Joe Naake, director of strategic operations at Hospitality House and chair of the Nevada County Continuum of Care teenagers are available in Nevada County.”

The Youth Point-in-Time Count connects children and young adults, a vulnerable group, as half of the adults affected by housing instability today were homeless at some point in their childhood.

“Housing insecurity is often a cycle that is repeated from one generation to the next,” Packard said. “SAFE’s mission is to identify youth affected by homelessness, help them find housing and other services, and open the door to new and often life-changing opportunities.”

Youth Point-in-Time Count data can also assist with grants and other sources of funding for homelessness efforts in Nevada County, including for the SAFE program.

Last year, Bright Futures for Youth received a $937,000 federal grant from the Center at Sierra Foundation to expand outreach and case management efforts for youth affected by homelessness in Nevada County. The three-year grant through Elevate Youth California—a project of The Center at Sierra Health Foundation under contract with the California Department of Health Care Services—has enabled Bright Futures for Youth to open the SAFE Drop-in Center, establish larger programs, and hire multiple employees.

“We’re already reaching out to youth in person and through social media, encouraging them to spread the word about the survey, which could help them and so many others,” said Singer of Bright Futures for Youth. “We want to reach as many youth affected by housing insecurity as possible and help them build a more stable foundation for their future.”

About bright future for youth

Bright Futures for Youth is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children and young adults in Nevada County. Bright Futures for Youth has three programs: The Friendship Club, founded in 1995; NEO, founded in 2008; and SAFE, launched in 2019 to help youth affected by homelessness. Bright Futures for Youth focuses on health and well-being, healthy relationships, goal setting, self-awareness, self-sufficiency and connectedness with the community. For more information, visit www.bffyouth.org or visit Facebook at Facebook.com/BrightFuturesforYouth.

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