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Eee-yo-leven!
Barbwire wins 11th Nevada Press Association award
6 of 11 gold
Tribune editorial page voted 2020 best

Dennis Myers 2nd Barbwire nominee elected to NPA Hall of Fame

Support Don Dondero and Jake Highton and David Toll next
Send endorsements

The Dean's List

   The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites.

RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006

 

Site map
SITE NAVIGATION TIPS: When all else fails, read the instructions (A favorite John Hanks aphorism I've been using for decades)

Je Suis Charlie
"Our republic and its press will rise or fall together." — Joseph Pulitzer

Updated 6-1-2022 GMT

Breaking News & Bulletins June-December 2022

 

Holding guns to our heads
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 6-1-2022

Veteran Nevada newsman John Howe dies at home at 93
Reno, Nev. 5-29-2022 9:12 a.m. PDT — John Howe died Tuesday evening, May 24, at his longtime Reno home. Howe was news director at Reno's KOLO TV-8 in the mid-1970s having moved north from a similar position in Las Vegas. He was 93 and leaves his wife of many years, Liz, sons David and Bill, and daughter-in-law Heidi. A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 25 at Mountain View Mortuary, 425 Stoker in Reno. Additional details as they become available. John was a great journalist about whom the greatest accolade is demanded: He always got the story right.

5-31-2022 UPDATE FROM HEIDI HOWE: The memorial been moved to 10:00 a.m. on the same date (June 25th).
Please pardon any inconvenience. Thank you.

FAMILY OBITUARY

John Holland Howe, veteran newsman, dedicated community servant and cornerstone of his family passed at his home on May 24, 2022. 

The son of George Holland Howe and Bertred (Watkins) Howe, he was born in Portland, Oregon, September 22, 1928. After graduating from high school, he became a copy boy for The Oregonian newspaper, inspiring what would become an amazing career. 

John enlisted in the Air Force in 1948, serving as a chaplain’s assistant in Japan. His 3-year obligation was extended when the Korean War began. 

After military service, John enrolled at Lewis and Clark College where he found the love of his life, Elizabeth “Liz” Drury. They both graduated in 1956 and married on December 28, 1957. 

John’s lengthy media career included various radio positions in Oregon before moving to television at KHSL in Chico, Calif. His journey would take him to KVIP in Redding, KJEO in Fresno, and eventually his first news director position at KORK TV-3 (now KSNV) in Las Vegas in 1966. In 1974, John moved his family to Reno as news director for KOLO TV-8. John prided himself in accuracy and honesty, understanding the role of the press to his community. 

John was one of the original organizers of Secret Witness, answering the first hotline in 1979. After retirement, he hosted Nevada Notebook on KSRN Radio, wrote for Senior Spectrum and returned to radio with KUNR-88.7fm. 

John was a quiet cheerleader, speaking the praises of others, often without their knowledge. He mentored those entering the news profession, was an advocate for diversity in the newsroom and community, a staunch Rotarian, and volunteer for the Silver Lake Volunteer Fire Dept. (serving as firefighter, EMT and chief). John was a fixture at county commission meetings, served on local boards, and was depended upon to provide honest input on issues impacting the community. 

John was a longtime member of the Nevada Society of Scottish Clans, a beautiful singer, played the bass, loved to garden, and more than anything he enjoyed spending time with family and friends. 

John is survived by his wife Elizabeth “Liz”, sons William “Bill” (Heidi) and David. 

A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, June 25th at 10:00 AM at the Mountain View Mortuary, 425 Stoker Ave., Reno, NV.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Rotary International <https://www.rotary.org/en/donate>

The awful truth for the rudely scrude
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 5-25-2022

Ripoffs, rake-offs, rape & pillage
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the 5-18-2022 Sparks Tribune/ Updated 5-19-2022 GMT

The abortion solution
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Sparks Tribune 5-11-2022

¡FELIZ CINCO DE MAYO!

Barbwire by Barbano: 4-20, 4-27 & 5-4-2022
Rent control legal under Nevada law
LET THEM EAT MASKS
Sparks-Reno superspreadators give booby bus boss big bucks
+FIREFIGHTERS ENDANGER E.R. PATIENTS
+ Nevada poisoning pigeons (and kids) in parks

War in moderation?
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-13-2022

Going out of business in style
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-6-2022

¡Feliz cumpleaños César Chávez! / Happy Birthday, hermano!
Born 3-31-1927 / Today is Nevada's César Chávez Day
César Chávez, spinmeisters and hatemongers
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-30-2022

Sexy ways to commit societal suicide
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-23-2022

Culinary Union to rally over unfair IRS tip allocation rates

WHO: *Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer Culinary Union Local 226
*Diana Valles, Union President
*Hundreds of Culinary and Bartenders Union members who are tipped workers
WHEN: Thursday, March 24, 2022 from 11am-12noon
WHERE: Federal Building (333 Las Vegas Blvd. South)
Info: Bethany Khan / Culinary Union 226

Workers win, abusive contractor loses. Again.
KEOLIS TRANSIT SIGNS SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON MORE LABOR VIOLATIONS
40 National Labor Relations Board Charges Settled in Teamsters Union Favor
March 17, 2022

How Renown stole our county hospital
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-16-2022

Oil Ain't All That's Rigged
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-9-2022

Eve of Destruction
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-2-2022
UPDATE: A humane no-death path toward peace with a little help from God. And the plague.

David Toll: Compleatly Nevadian
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-23-2022

Fresh glances at last, best chances
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-16-2022

 

Prolific Nevada author and publisher David Toll dies at 85

GOLD HILL, Storey County, Nev. (2-15-2022) — Award-winning writer, journalist and publisher David W. Toll passed away at his home in Gold Hill on Sunday, February 13 after a lengthy illness.

David W. Toll
(Photo: David Henry Kingman)

David Winthrop Toll was born in Los Angeles to Carroll C. Toll and Jessie Gorham Toll on July 24, 1936 and grew up in Santa Barbara. In 1944, an eight year-old David first came to Gold Hill with his great grandfather, Harry M. Gorham who returned to the Comstock to reminisce about his life during the Comstock’s heyday.

After graduating from high school, David Toll served on the USS Frank Knox, a US Navy destroyer. In 1957, he enrolled at the University of California at Berkley where, as a freshman, he became editor of The Pelican, a university humor publication.

He always loved Gold Hill and 14 years after his first visit, he returned. Buoyed by a small inheritance from his great grandfather, he purchased what remained of the Jones Mansion in Gold Hill.

Headquartered in Gold Hill from that point on, he wrote about what he called “The Most Interesting State in America.” For the past 50 years, through his writing, publishing and speaking, no one has done more to promote the state of Nevada.

Over the past year, he compiled memorable writings of his 60 years as a journalist and author into an anthology, "David Toll's Nevada: A 50-Year Tour Through the Most Interesting State in America."

Published in January of this year, the initial printing sold out almost immediately prompting a second.

Legendary Nevada author Robert Laxalt asked him to write a guidebook to the state in the early 1970s. The result was the "The Complete Nevada Traveler." (Originally "Compleat," but apparently few caught the auld English allusion. Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler" hasn't had proper promotion since 1635 but he would have undoubtedly enjoyed pursuit of his favourite sport in these boroughs.)

Ten editions have been published making it the top selling book on Nevada in the state. This work was the genesis for his internet publishing which still provides visitors and Nevadans alike a vast treasure trove of information about the Silver State.

In the mid-1970s, Toll revived the storied Gold Hill News as a bi-weekly. Under his guidance, it amassed more newspaper awards than any other rural publication before or since.

His writing on NevadaTravel.net earned numerous awards throughout the years and in 2016 the Nevada Division of Tourism honored him with itd Excellence in Tourism Award.

David considered his three major books a trilogy of "authentic Nevada voices":

  •      "Squaw Tom Speaks," a number of stories told by Tom Sanders, a man raised by an Indigenous American couple. His stories tell of a time and place almost never written about, life with the Indians of Nevada and as a working man.

  •      "My Memories of the Comstock," first published by Harry M. Gorham in 1939. "Memories" recalls Gorham’s rich experience on the Comstock managing the mining interests of his uncle, John Percival Jones, one of Nevada's silver senators.

  •      "Breaks, Brains and Balls," a biography of one of Nevada’s most colorful characters, Joe Conforte. The book is the product of hours of conversations between David and Joe conducted at Conforte's Mustang Ranch in Storey County, Nev., east of Reno.

David Toll is survived by his wife and traveling companion of 33 years, Robin Cobbey; sisters, Suzanne Abrams and Margery Toll of Fresno, Calif.; children, Sam Toll of Gold Hill, Sarah Hinman of Pleasant Hill, California, Rachel Ching of Austin, Texas, Lt. Col. John Toll of Fort Bragg, NC, Alexandra Toll of Oakland, California and Christopher Toll of Gold Hill; thirteen grandchildren and a great grandson.

"He spent his final days at home in Gold Hill writing about the state he loved so much," the Toll family noted in a statement.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you buy a tank or two of gas, visit a town in Nevada you’ve never been to, and stay a while.

We further suggest that you visit one (or all) of David’s websites for inspiration:

nevadatravel.net
nevadagram.com
nevadabookstore.org
nevadahalloffame.org

A Celebration of Life is planned for July 2022. (Stay tuned for information and photos. Personal memories may be submitted here for publication.)

Family info contact: Robin Cobbey


Editor's Note: David Toll built and launched NevadaLabor.com for this novice back in 1996. "Break out the cyber champagne!" he wrote the day we went hot. David's history of Big Bill Haywood and the IWW/Wobblies remains must-reading for any understanding of Nevada labor history. See NevadaHallofFame.org/

Thanks for all the memories and Godspeed, dear old friend. Requiescat in pace, frater mei. Be well. Raise hell. AB

 


Reno nurses to hold informational picket to urge Prime Healthcare / Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center to protect patients
Registered nurses demand that Prime Healthcare invest in RN staff and safe patient care

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN — Washoe Med / Renown nurses picket during a one-day strike on 6-23-2001. The issues were the same as during a 1990 organizing drive and remain today: Understaffing which erodes patient care so that the conglomerate may profit and proliferate on the backs of health care consumers and taxpayers.

RENO, NV (2-10-2022) — Registered nurses at Saint Mary's Hospital will hold an informational picket on Friday, Feb. 11 to express their ongoing concerns about safe staffing, patient care, and improvements they say the hospital needs to put in place to retain experienced RNs and recruit new nurses, announced National Nurses United Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

WHO: Registered nurses at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center
WHEN: 1:00 PM on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022
WHERE: Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center, corner of 6th St. and N. Arlington Ave., Reno, NV

Saint Mary’s RNs want to alert the public about the chronic short-staffing problem at their facility, including what they say is hospital management’s consistent failure to adhere to its own staffing standards.

“Saint Mary’s has had time to prepare for a Covid surge, but here we are, continually short-staffed and jeopardizing patient care,” said Katie Dawson, RN. “In an effort to accommodate more patients, Saint Mary’s continues to make decisions that spread already thin resources, even thinner. It is these decisions that put patients’ safety at risk and call on nurses to work in unsafe conditions. Saint Mary’s must step up and put patient and nurse safety at the forefront of health care.”

The nurses have been in contract negotiations since October 2021. Nurses say that economic security and decent health care for RNs is also important to ensure the hospital retains long-term, experienced RNs and can recruit new RNs.

“Administrators at Saint Mary’s called us heroes and said that they cared for us, but their treatment of nurses did not reflect that,” said Bethany Want, RN. “These contract negotiations represent an opportunity for the hospital to demonstrate their respect for the sacrifices that we made and continue to make during this pandemic."

“Two years into this pandemic, Saint Mary’s continues to use excuses to explain away their unsafe practices,” said Tamara Erickson, RN. “The community deserves better. When you come to a hospital run by a large, profitable health care corporation you expect top-of-the-line patient care. Instead, you will find inadequate resources, and administration will tell you that there is a nursing shortage instead of telling you the truth: that nurses refuse to work in the unsafe conditions created by the hospital and risk their nursing license. We call on Saint Mary’s to rise to the challenge and increase safety standards and protect patients and the nurses who take care of them. Saint Mary’s can do better.”

Nurses would love your support!

In Solidarity,

LaNita Troyano (she/her/hers)
National Nurses Organizing Committee | Nevada Labor Representative
ltroyano@nationalnursesunited.org | 702-682-9678

Rise of the Homotextuals
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-9-2022

New Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien comments about Reno Hat Trick Strikes vs. Keolis-19
By Jonathan Soroff / Boston Magazine / 2-8-2022

Culinary Union celebrates 30th anniversary of Frontier Hotel strike
Caesars Palace / Las Vegas Strip / Saturday 2-5-2022

Treasure the age of the republic's wane
We carry on with business as usual as we treasure the remaining time in our democracy's decline.
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-2-2022

Up your UPS in Sparks

Demonstrations at UPS Sparks

Teamsters demonstrate in Nevada & California
Interview with Local 533 CEO Debbie Calkins
KRNV TV-4 & KRXI TV-11 / 1-27-2022
KTVN TV-2 video

Teamsters protest potential pay cut for UPS part-timers
Lotsa photos + audio / ThisIsReno.com 1-28-2022

Actions across Northern California and Nevada protest UPS pay cut move
Teamsters Joint Council 7 / 1-27-2022

Teamsters Local 533 will hold a day of action in support of our Teamster membership working at United Parcel Service (UPS). This action will take place at all UPS facilities in Northern California and Northern Nevada, in peaceful support of our members who just recently were forced to take a massive pay reduction while United Parcel Service has been raking in billions of quarterly profits. (See above.)

Times: 8:30am to 10am & 4pm to 6pm
Date: January 27, 2022
Location: UPS Facility – 45 Vista Blvd. Suite 102, Sparks NV 89434

For more information contact
Teamsters 533 CEO Debbie Calkins (775) 348-6060 ext. 105
Business Agent Ross Kinson (775) 348-6060 ext. 106

NevadaLabor.com Teamsters Local 533 War Room
including complete local coverage of 1997 UPS national strike

Labor movement is popular, prominent — and shrinking
Membership has fallen even as support for unions grows
Public sector in great shape. Corporate penetration sux.
By Taylor Johnston / New York Times Business (newspapers don't have labor sections anymore) 1-29-2022
Excellent charts and graphs in the above

Rittenhouse in Reno & rationality in Sparks?
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-26-2022

What black people won't say
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-19-2022

Ghosts of Mississippi, Lani Guiniere & U.S. Grant
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-12-2022

STORIES WITH LEGS
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-5-2022

Help a union family in their time of need

NEVADA STILL A COMPANY TOWN
Gross mining mega-merger turns gold to dross for tribes, workers & environment
The Nevada Independent and High Country News / 1-3-2022

Happy High Holly Days to all
Merry Christmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année !
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo / Felice Anno Nuovo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2022

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005
Remember her kindness and laughter

Breaking News & Bulletins July-December 2021

Breaking News & Bulletins January-June 2021

2021 U-News Front Page Headlines

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005

In memoriam: 62 years ago toward a lonely road

January 16, 1959, brought the births of Debra Joyce Donlevy/Carson High '77 (1959-1978) and Donna Leslie Cline (1959-1999). Their youth was cut in twain on the same night in 1978 within the loneliness of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream. Remember them fondly.

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SITE NAVIGATION TIPS: When all else fails, read the instructions (A favorite John Hanks aphorism I've been using for decades)

Hope you and yours enjoyed Happy High Holly Days
HAPPY NEW YEAR / Feliz Año Nuevo
Frohe Weihnachten und beste Wuensche fuer 2022

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Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005
Remember her laughter

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