Editor’s note: It’s become our annual custom to spotlight our top stories and photos as the year draws to a close. It’s also time for us to discuss how we feel about these reports. 

In the last days of 2023, we’re spotlighting the top reader opinions, our favorite photos of the year, the communicator of the year, and, lastly, our top 10 stories in 2023. For the first time this year, we have also added what we consider to be the most underreported stories in 2023. These articles are being published daily in the remainder of 2023 as we take some desperately needed time off. 

Lastly, in some of these stories, we note our region’s lack of adequate news coverage. If you can, please consider donating to support our reporting efforts, becoming a paying subscriber or choosing a digital advertising package to promote your brand or event. 

Thank you for reading, and happy new year.

– Bob Conrad & Kristen Hackbarth

The news business continues to whither, shrivel and operate on shaky ground, something analysts and scholars say is a severe threat to democracy since, as news operations struggle to stay in business, a corresponding decrease in civic participation has been documented, as well as a rise in local government corruption. 

In other words, if folks aren’t paying attention, local politicians and government officials are even more emboldened to flout rules and engage in nefarious behaviors. This is readily evident in Reno. While other news media cover local government, it’s not with consistency or regularity. 

What was once a daily local newspaper covers minimal local news compared with its past. And what used to be its proclaimed watchdog role has been supplanted with boot-licking articles that appear more concerned with ensuring local politicians and PR people feel good about themselves at the end of the day versus making sure those folks are being honest and held to account. It’s a bizarre about-face, and barely a week goes by that we don’t field complaints about what other media are doing or not doing, as the case is. 

There are still a few solid reporters in the area, and watchdog journalism can be found at KRNV, particularly Joe Hart’s reporting, KOLO and the Reno News & Review. But serious, consistent watchdog journalism in Reno has gone by the wayside so much that when journalists do take governments to task, they get targeted and branded as pesky assholes, not reporters attempting to pursue a journalistic norm that was decimated by corporate news takeovers and unfavorable economic circumstances. 

Despite our meager efforts, and those of a few other local reporters, shenanigans in local government continue unabated in part because there are not enough strong, no-B.S. reporters in the Reno area. What used to be barn-burning news items are now scantly covered, if at all, by local journalists.

We’re highlighting what we believe are the top stories that should have been covered widely this year but were not. Not all of these are our reports, so if there’s an indication here that local news media drops the ball, put us in that camp as well. We’re all too familiar with operating with a lack of adequate resources.

Not having enough serious local journalists to adequately cover our region’s many pressing issues means people aren’t getting enough well-rounded, fact-based reporting. With that in mind, here are some of the stories we, and others, reported this year that deserved more public attention. 

4. TMCC’s missing computers

Frank Mullen’s reporting on Truckee Meadows Community College in the Reno News & Review and its handling of missing and out-of-date computers raised eyebrows, not necessarily because of the college’s handling of the equipment but more because of the institution’s responses, or lack thereof. 

We’re all too familiar with the dismissive, haughty replies by TMCC’s leadership when questioned about, well, almost anything. According to Mullen, “TMCC spokeswoman Kate Kirkpatrick told the RN&R in August that any suggestions of a policy violation or missing equipment are unfounded.” 

His articles (here and here) show how that’s misleading. TMCC was dinged in an audit a few years back for tablets issued to students that were never returned. More troubling is TMCC’s treatment of its employees. 

It wasn’t that long ago that TMCC lost a lawsuit after the college’s President, Karin Hilgersom, removed a department chair from his position in violation of the college’s collective bargaining agreement. That was among several other notable complaints that have arisen under her tenure.

3. UNR’s lawsuits

Not to be undone by TMCC’s antics, lawsuits against the University of Nevada, Reno have piled up over the past couple of years. A lawsuit is not inherently worthy of a news report, especially with scarce resources to cover such stories adequately. Still, a concerning trend emerged after at least four lawsuits were filed by UNR faculty. Allegations had similar threads, focusing on gender discrimination and lack of adequate responses by UNR leadership, particularly with Title IX cases. A USA Today report was the first to publicize some of the concerns.

Allegations are that UNR protects its interests as an organization more than those who may have legitimate grievances against the institution. Complainants said the lack of adequate responses forced them to go to court.

It got so bad that in August, the national American Association of University Professors, in a rare move, joined the Nevada Faculty Alliance in issuing a public statement of concern about one case. To our knowledge, the only news report on that statement was what we reported at the time. 

Perhaps most alarming is the UNR attorney’s gaslighting response to another plaintiff in a lawsuit, a communications study faculty member who claims her department chair casually spoke about his genitalia, one of a handful of concerns. The faculty member denies it.

“The conduct alleged in the Complaint, even if true, was not sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a hostile work environment,” UNR attorney Bryan Wright wrote. 

That statement was swiftly rebuffed as offensive. 

“UNR’s lawyer argues that a professor talking about how big his dick is not enough to create a hostile work environment … I’m pretty sure the research ethics and Title IX training I just took told me otherwise,” a UNR employee commented.

Good point. 

2. Public records litigation

We make hay of public records problems for good reason. Most local governments are stacked up with PR budgets and personnel to do one thing: Make those organizations and their elected rulers look good. They are entitled to do so. But what plays out as a consequence is these entities spend so much time and money hiring influencers to help them look good, taking selfies and issuing bizarrely unimportant press releases that simple things, like answering basic questions, fall by the wayside. 

Some local bureaucrats have unabashedly told us they could not answer questions promptly because they were too busy disseminating one-sided narratives. There have been countless instances where basic information in press releases is missing. Those communiques raise more questions than they answer, and the problem is exacerbated by other media, usually TV news, that merely report on those stories without an ounce of skepticism. 

We’re old enough to remember when journalism schools encouraged critical thinking. Still, the ongoing practice of accepting articles of faith from local officials enables and promotes one-sided narratives. If you don’t believe us, the city and/or local law enforcement will issue a press release about a dog within the next few months. TV news will line up to cover the dog story. It happens like clockwork.

The antidote to incessant PR smokescreens is public records. They reveal what else is going on at these organizations. Example: The City of Reno regularly brags about how many rides have been made on  Bird scooters, saving on vehicle trips. That’s cool. The city fails to coo and purr with the same enthusiasm about the hundreds of complaints those scooters generate as they are littered about town. Public records demonstrate time and again that the one-sided narrative by the government is incomplete. 

We were therefore impressed when KRNV’s Ben Margiott reported on the City of Sparks getting sued for refusing to release a taxpayer-funded report after one of its firefighters dropped an 83-year-old woman, Maureen Hvegholm, on her face, knocking her unconscious. Sparks will undoubtedly lose this public records lawsuit, should it go the distance, but if our experience is any indication, it could take years for that report ever to be made public. 

There’s also the school district refusing to disclose information it previously claimed was a public record, only to shut the door on one of its trustees who requested that information. The Washoe County School District will likely lose this case if it proceeds without a settlement.

WCSD’s attorney, Neil Rombardo, is already engaging in histrionics in the district’s defense, such as claiming to require more than half a dozen witnesses to testify at a hearing to determine why WCSD should not release the requested records. It will be fun to watch, but even if the documents are eventually made public, the nonsense manifested in trying to keep records secret ensures the public loses, regardless of the outcome.

A key characteristic of highly paid government attorneys is that they have unlimited time and a trough of public money for legal defenses—some just go straight to hiring a law firm to fight the release of records. Witness the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s ongoing battles to open government records. Clark County and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department have had to cough up more than $600,000 for serial abuses of the state’s public records laws. The LVRJ, to our knowledge, is the only media outlet in Nevada that appears to take public records seriously enough to go to court for them regularly. They should be applauded.

In our three current public records cases, we seek to identify specific information local agencies want to keep hidden. It is your right to access information, and we are more than willing to go as far as we can to get public documents. We’re incredibly fortunate to have attorney Luke Busby in our corner helping us; prior to that was the incredible Stephanie Rice. Busby is the only attorney we know who is fighting these battles locally (he’s also on the WCSD case mentioned above). For that, we are grateful. 

1. The library board

The far-right attempt to take over policy boards is alive and well in the Reno area. A national trend—what one observer called “a highly orchestrated effort”—is occurring locally, and few are paying attention. 

The alleged problem at local libraries—pornography being dished out to kids—is speculative and highly exaggerated. But it’s being used as a pretext to take over board positions and concoct issues where few exist.

Members of the loud, often foul-mouthed and even openly racist crew—dubbed by some as TSP or “the same 10 people”—show up to numerous public meetings with a recurring tactic: speak loudly, frequently and consistently. They have seen some success. It is also evident some serving on local boards are being fed carefully crafted agendas not of their authorship. 

While some board activities have been covered by other media in the past, we were dismayed—but unsurprised—at a recent Washoe County Library Board of Trustees meeting, attended by a hundred or more, that the only other media outlets that appeared to be in attendance were The Nevada Independent and the Reno News and Review.

When a seemingly endless parade of folks who have mastered the art of going from zero to Christofascist in less than 10 seconds of a three-minute public comment period, blathering in front of a board of volunteers under the guise of protecting children’s “innocence,” and so few media show up even though an unprecedented number of concerned citizens do, there may be a concern. Especially when the library director’s job is on the line because of pressure by the pugnacious, vocal minority.

CORRECTION: The RNR was also in attendance at the library board meeting noted above, which we were informed of after this article was published.