When the phone stopped ringing last spring, Mark Dickson, president of Simple Power Solar in Reno, dimmed his sales expectations for 2020.
“We got afraid like everybody else, and thought, what’s going to happen?” said Dickson, noting the company laid off most of its 20-person staff when COVID business impacts took hold nearly a year ago. “We were kind of preparing for the worst.”
So was the solar industry nationwide. The pandemic was initially disruptive as door-to-door marketing became much more difficult.
Residential solar installations were down 23% sequentially in the second quarter of 2020, largely due to shelter-in-place orders that imposed restrictions on selling and installing systems, according to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, a renewable energy advisory firm.
Feb 12, 2021
In 1965, only one state had no community colleges: Nevada. That soon changed. And 2021 marks the golden anniversary of the College of Southern Nevada and Western Nevada College.
It all began when Carson City and Elko residents tried to start their own colleges, and Elko succeeded. The result was what is now Great Basin College. Governor Paul Laxalt took office in 1967 and strongly supported community colleges. He also encountered a benefactor, who lived at the Desert Inn: Howard Hughes. The billionaire gave the state a quarter of a million dollars to help start the Elko campus and study where to put other colleges. The regents hired a community college administrator, Charles Donnelly. He developed a mission and targeted Las Vegas and Carson City. Interestingly, the legislature would wind up debating whether the new community colleges should be separate from the university, with a different governing board than the university regents. Not that there has been ANY controv
6:45 p.m. update: All state government offices, except for public safety and corrections personnel, in the Carson City, Washoe County and Douglas County areas will open two hours later than normal on Wednesday due to dangerous road conditions.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered the delay in opening late Tuesday. As such, state offices in these areas will open at 10 a.m.
State employees are urged to leave extra time to safely commute in snow and icy road conditions.
6:15 p.m. update: Hundreds of homeless people have signed up for beds at the City of Reno s temporary shelter after it expanded capacity for the winter while also trying to keep people socially distanced amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Updated: WCSD snow day Thursday, travel discouraged as heavy snow falls in Reno/Tahoe area Reno-Gazette-Journal 1/28/2021 Amy Alonzo and Siobhan McAndrew, Reno Gazette Journal
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6:35 p.m. update: Thursday is another snow day for the Washoe County School District. The district sent a note to families at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. It s the second snow day for the district this week as heavy snow and hazardous roads are expected overnight.
Original post: A winter storm warning remains in effect for the Reno/Tahoe area as up to a foot of additional snow could land on valley floors through Thursday afternoon, while a blizzard warning is in effect for higher-elevation areas.