KVMR News

Grass Valley has been granted a total of $467,500 to directly assist first time homebuyers with down payments and closing costs. The money comes from the Home Investment Partnerships Program, part of California's Department of Housing and Community Development. Learn more by emailing Program Manager Shannon Sinclair at shannon.sinclair@mbakerintl.com.

Current NID Division 1 Director Ricki Heck announced this week that she will not be seeking reelection and endorsed Dr. Terry McAteer as her replacement. The record price of gold is bringing prospectors of all ages to our local rivers.

The Nevada County Sheriff's Office and its partners were honored by the Nevada County Board of Supervisors for their response effortwhen a group of backcountry skiers and their guides were caught in an avalanche on Feb. 17.The City Council voted down the current design of the Downtown Grass Valley Roundabout on Tuesday, favoring a signaled designed instead.

Anyone interested in running for local office in the November 3rd General Election may begin filing their candidacy documents now. The following offices are up for election:Grass Valley City Council (two seats, at large)Truckee Town Council (three seats, at large)Chicago Park Elementary School District (three seats, at large)Clear Creek Elementary School District (two seats, at large)Grass Valley School District (three seats, at large)Nevada City School District (three seats, at large)Nevada County Board of Education (three seats, at large)Nevada Joint Union High School District, (two seats, Area 1, 5)Penn Valley Union Elementary School District (three seats, at large)Pleasant Ridge Unified School District (three seats, at large)Sierra Joint Community College District, (two seats, Area 2, 6)Tahoe Truckee Unified School District (three seats, Area 1, 4 and 5)Twin Ridges Elementary School District (three seats, at large)Union Hill School District (three seats, at large)Higgins Fire Protection District (two seats, at large)Nevada County Consolidated Fire District (three seats, at large)North San Juan Fire Protection District (three seats, at large)Peardale Chicago Park Fire District (two seats, at large)Penn Valley Fire Protection District (two seats, at large)Truckee Fire Protection District (three seats, at large)Donner Summit Public Utility Special District (two seats, at large)Truckee Donner Public Utility District (two seats, at large)Tahoe Truckee Airport District (two seats, at large)Tahoe Forest Hospital District (three seats, at large)Truckee Donner Recreation and Park District (three seats, at large)Truckee Sanitary District (three seats, at large)Nevada Irrigation District (two seats, Division 1 and 2)Candidates should begin by filling out a form at NevadaCountyCa.gov/candidateappointments. The last day to file is August 7th. Learn more online at NevadaCountyCa.gov/November3Election.

The Mystic Fire started just after 4 p.m. near Mystic Court and White Canoe Lane in Nevada County on July 11th. Forward progress was stopped almost two hours later but not before zone NCO-E076 was flagged for an evacuation warning. A good reminder to Know Your Zone. Volunteers with Nevada County Mutual Aid organized a Community Care Day on Sunday, July 12, at the Grass Valley Elks Lodge. The free event featured locally sourced food, free books, face painting, a clothing swap, and a build-your-own care kit station featuring hygiene, first-aid and harm reduction items as well as Narcan and sexual health kits. You can listen to a tour given to KVMR News by one of the event organizers here.

Nevada County Mutual Aid organized a Community Care Day at the Grass Valley Elks Lodge on July 12. Listen as one of the organizers, Yasmin Badshamiah, gives KVMR News a tour.

Photo credit: Earth Fire AllianceThe Nevada City City Council voted unanimously to make Councilmember Daniela Fernández the next mayor. This will be her second time sitting in the hot seat. Councilmember Gary Petersen was made vice-mayor.Earth Fire Alliance, the San Fransisco based global nonprofit founded in 2024 to "confront the escalating wildfire crisis" launched 3 purpose-built satellites into low earth orbit on Tuesday. The satellites are designed to support fire agencies by detecting wildfires early before they spread.

This year, almost 1500 people in our listening area have been scammed. PG&E's Paul Moreno says that $211,000 has been stolen so far and that scammers will likely steal more in 2026 than they did last year. Their newest tactic involves QR codes.

Last year AT&T asked the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to phase out copper-based landlines. They didn't get the answer they wanted so now they're petitioning the FCC. Anyone interested in sharing a public comment can do so at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express. The proceeding number is 26-125.

Miguel Banuelos, who is 49 years old, 5' 7" tall, weighs approximately 189 pounds, and has brown eyes and black hair, walked away from the Washington Ridge Conservation Camp in Nevada County on July 4th. He was last seen at approximately 12:35 p.m. the same day. Anyone who sees him or has information about his whereabouts should contact the Nevada County Sheriff's Office by calling 911. Anyone with information may also contact Lt. Wayland Hanks at (916) 200-6127 or OCS Special Agent Tim Keeney at (916) 210-9159.Nevada County launched its new River Shuttle Program on July 3rd. The pilot program is designed to reduce traffic congestion, improve safety, ease parking challenges, and support responsible recreation while creating a more enjoyable visitor experience. It will run Fridays through Sundays until September 6th. Learn more on the County's website, NevadaCountyCA.gov.

Fireworks, even those labeled "Safe and Sane," are not allowed in Nevada County but there will be a free Fireworks Show at 9:30 p.m. on the 4th of July in Grass Valley.Nevada County Connects is offering free fares on all routes July 2nd and 4th in conjunction with the High Sierra Music Festival and in celebration of the 4th of July holiday. There is no service July 3rd though it will be the first day of Nevada County's River Shuttle. The shuttle will run every weekend until September 6 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Truckee Police Department held what they called a community conversation on police technology and equipment on Monday. The discussion included how they use the 2 dozen Flock Cameras deployed in town.

The You Bet Firewise Community held its annual gathering at the Chicago Park Fire Station #57 on Saturday. The event featured an expert panel and gave residents an opportunity to network while getting up to speed about this year's wildfire season. Learn more about Firewise Communities at ReadyForWildfire.org.Members of the Nevada County Amateur Radio Club (NCARC) set up antennas and transceivers at the Nevada County Airport that afternoon for the American Radio Relay League Field Day. The annual event has been happening for almost a century and takes place all over the United States. It serves as ham radio's open house.

Outgoing vice-mayor Lue Ceci bid his colleagues farewell at Wednesday's City Council meeting in Nevada City. Ceci's parting remarks and the general tone of the meeting was markedly different from Grass Valley's meeting a day earlier where several members of the public attended to criticize the city for its continued use of Flock Safety LPR cameras and for allowing current Chief of Police Alex Gammelgard to serve as interim city manager. 

KVMR arts reporters Joyce Miller and Cy Musiker spoke to Kimberly Clouse, founder of the Nevada County Playwrights Collective and actor and director Sky Seals about the festival of new plays the collective is presenting Thursday June 25th through Sunday June 28th at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City. 

Learn about AB 2697 on CalMatters' Digital Democracy website. Nevada County Elections will post unofficial results again on Thursday, June 25, by 10:00 a.m.

Minnie Street between Butler Street and Brighton Street and Butler Street between Brighton Street and Minnie Street, will be closed to through traffic for tree work on June 22nd, 23rd and 24th, 2026.  The closure will take place between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Access to businesses/residences will be maintained, however through traffic will be required to use an alternate route. Condon Park access will only be available via eastbound travel on Butler Street.  Idaho Maryland Road, between Centreville Road and Brunswick Road will be closed to through traffic for tree work on June 24th, 25th and 26th, 2026.  The closure will also take place between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Access to businesses/residences will be maintained, however through traffic will be required to use an alternate route. Please observe all construction signs and the instructions of onsite personnel.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience. 

This year the community will celebrate Juneteenth at Condon Park this Saturday June 20th from 11:30 am to 2 pm. Learn more online on Color Me Human's website.Nevada County Connects is offering free rides this week in support of The Father's Day Bluegrass Festival. All busses on all routes will be free today, tomorrow, and Saturday. Route 3, "The Grass Valley Loop" offers direct service to Brighton Street at Gate 8of the fairgrounds. Bus route maps and schedules are available online at nevadacountyconnects.com.

Learn more about Nevada County's budget process and read the adopted 2026-27 budget at NevadaCountyCA.gov/Budget.

Lavender Glow: Queer Art & Our Shared History is currently on display at the the Eric Rood Administrative center in Nevada City and will run through August 28th.Meet and visit with adoptable dogs at the Rood Center on Wednesday, June 17th at Tails with Nevada County.

Back in the fall of 2024, the first Nevada City Bike Bus consisted of founder Adian Minty and two kids. Last Friday, at least 100 kids rolled through Nevada City as part of the last Bike Bus of the 2025-2026 school year. 

Presented here, unedited or trimmed, is a recording of GVPD's community meeting about Flock Safety's automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. Although the audio quality of the recording is poor, KVMR News has published it here as a service to members of the public who were unable to attend. The meeting's various parts have been marked to allow listeners to navigate to the segment that interests them most.

The meeting, announced weeks earlier as an opportunity for citizens to have their questions answered, served instead to gather concerns for later study. 

Multiple members of the Grass Valley Police department will attend today's town hall meeting to answer the public's questions. The meeting is open to all and is scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m. this afternoon at the Love Building in Condon Park, at 660 Minnie Street in Grass Valley.

A storm system moving inland today will bring dry winds to the Sacramento Valley creating elevated fire weather conditions. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning that will be in effect from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday.The Wildfire-Ready Coalition of Nevada County will present two webinars on evacuation this week: Emergency Alerts & Evacuation Buddy System, on Wednesday, June 10, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., and Evacuation is Plan A. What is Plan B?, on Thursday, June 11 also from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Chasen Ryder McIntire has been convicted of three felonies and a misdemeanor related to a violent, racially motivated group attack that occurred in the Grass Valley Target parking lot in December 2025. Nevada County District Attorney Jesse Wilson condemned the violence and reaffirmed the office's commitment to holding violent offenders accountable saying his office will advocate for punishment to the fullest extent of the law at sentencing.

Find updates about conditions and water quality results related to the sewer spill into Scotts Flat Lake at nevadacountyca.gov/scottsflatspill.Check out all of the pets looking for their forever homes on the Sammie's Friends website.Learn about KVMRx's Nevada City Pride Parade float here or here.

An invasive pest, smaller than a dime, has the local viticulture and agriculture community doing everything they can to temper its potential impacts. KVMR News speaks with Nevada County's Agriculture Commissioner about an outbreak of glassy-winged sharpshooters after a shipment of thousands of tainted grape plants brought the insects to northern California Costcos. The local June 2 Election Canvass will begin on Thursday, June 4th at the Nevada County Ballot Processing Center in Grass Valley, near the county airport. Anyone may observe the process. Ongoing election results can also be viewed online at NevadaCountyCa.gov.

The Pride flag rising over City Hall in Nevada City this month represents a lot of progress for the local queer community; many of this year's Pride Month events, including the first-ever Nevada City Pride Parade, can be found on Nevada County Pride's events calendar. An exhibition presenting Nevada County's queer history, Lavender Glow, will be on display in the Rood Center through August. Find your local Vote Center as well as a map to the county's Ballot Drop Boxes on the Nevada County Elections website.

On Thursday, May 28, Nevada City city council candidates Jim Khatami, Adam Kline and Micayla Sortland answered questions for community members gathered in Sans Backup Plan Records in the Seven Hills District of Nevada City. KVMR's Kelley Rees attended the Candidate Forum to learn what young voters think about our local election.

All three Nevada City City Council candidates will participate in a Youth Voter Forum tonight at Sans Backup Plan Records in Nevada City.Nevada Union High School Senior Graham Gardemeyer is the event organizer and will serve as moderator, asking candidates questions before an open Q&A that gives precedence to young voters and their concerns.The City Council of Nevada City designated May 27th, 2026, as “Joanna Newsom Day” in the City of Nevada City.

Grass Valley Deputy Chief of Police Steve Johnson told the public assembled at Tuesday night's City Council meeting that his agency has "become aware of a conversation in the community related to the automatic license plate reading cameras," calling people's concerns and questions valid, adding that the GVPD is committed to trust and transparency. That meeting is scheduled for June 10th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm at the Love Building in Condon Park.Nevada County will test its new emergency alert system on May 28th, beginning at 10:30am. You can sign up or update your information at ReadyNevadaCounty.org/EmergencyAlerts.

The DeFlock movement aims to educate the general public about Flock AI cameras and to ultimately build enough momentum to have them taken off public streets. You can learn about local efforts at deflocknc.com or by following @deflocknevadacounty and @deflock_grass_valley.

Order number CAC08000-26-05 was issued by BLM's Mother Lode Field Office and goes into effect on Friday, May 22nd.United States District Judge William B. Shubb ruled that Rise Grass Valley is violating the Clean Water Act by discharging arsenic, iron, and manganese from the Idaho-Maryland Mine into Wolf Creek without a permit.

Seth David Cotten of Nevada City was booked into Wayne Brown Correctional Facility in the early morning hours of May 19th and remains the primary suspect in the murder of Jeremy Norton.Unit forester for CalFire's Nevada Yuba Placer Unit, Steve Garcia, says the lack of snowpack at elevation is among his biggest concerns.Register for Nevada County Alerts at NevadaCountyCA.gov/Emergency-Alerts.

Resolution No. 2026-08 authorized Annual Contributions to the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe in the Amount of $2,500 over the next 3 years for a total $7500.

Learn more about the County's new emergency alert system, Nevada County Alerts, which is replacing the CodeRED notification system on the county's website. Nevada County residents are encouraged to sign up for before the official test on May 28th. You can do that at ReadyNevadaCounty.org/EmergencyAlerts.

Pacific Gas and Electric will begin inspecting a 2.5 mile section of Nevada County natural gas pipeline in June. The utility says there will be no impact on regional customers. Voting is underway for the June 2 Primary Election. California residents can still register to vote online or check their voter registration status at registertovote.ca.gov.  

In a May 7 Memorandum Decision and Order, Nevada County Superior Court Judge S. Robert Tice-Raskin wrote that Nevada County, by clear and convincing evidence, established that the Idaho-Maryland Mine Corporation abandoned any vested mining right by 1963.

The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County Vice Chair of the Board, Steve Eubanks, spoke with KVMR on Wednesday afternoon following the organizations special meeting.Grass Valley Library Adult Programming Coordinator Brittany Blake tells us about the special “wired-less” grab-n-go bags the library has created for Nevada County's annual Screen Free Week. 

The Sierra Express Bicycle Club has launched a community survey to assess bicycling and e-biking conditions across Western Nevada County. The Western Nevada County Bicycle Transportation & Recreation Survey results will be used inform local planning decisions.

Anyone who still hasn't received your Voter Information Guides should call the Nevada County Elections office at (530) 265-1298. They can also be reached by email at elections.mail@NevadaCountyCA.gov. Nevada County is celebrating Screen-Free Week, May 4th through the 10th. The Nevada County Offline Oasis lists opportunities for screen-free activities and health information about the impact of screens.

Jamie Jones, Executive Director of the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, and her husband, Christopher Wackerly, the organization's Director of Field Operations, were indicted by a Nevada County criminal grand jury on more than two dozen felony charges including embezzlement, grand theft, money laundering, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, perjury and forgery.Foothill Fire celebrated May Day at the Nevada City Odd Fellows Oustomah Lodge #16 with a Festival of Revolutionary Joy. You can follow their work on their blog: foothillfire.noblogs.org The Wildfire-Ready Coalition of Nevada County's Wildfire-Ready Festival & Expo at Western Gateway Park featured multiple speakers and over 40 exhibits.

Armando Salud-Ambriz, Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters for Nevada County says the best way to fight misinformation is to increase transparency. His office is leveraging technologies like streaming cameras to give voters more opportunities to observe ballot processing.

Cláudio Mendonça spoke with two of the festival organizers, Marni Marshall and Christian Gutt, to learn what's new this year.

Learn more about the SR20 closure on the Caltrans website.The Nevada County Democrats hosted a public forum for down-ballot races at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City. Listen to the entire forum on the KVMR News podcast.

On Monday, April 27th, the Nevada County Democrats organized a forum at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center in Nevada City to hear from down ballot candidates including those running for Nevada City City Council, Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, and California's 3rd Congressional District.

Sierra College's Nevada County Campus celebrated its 30 year anniversary by sharing the contents of a time capsule buried in 1996. Items included a wooden apple, a couple of hats, a t-shirt, and lots of newspaper articles.  

The new center at 590 Searls Avenue in Nevada City will help survivors of crime by offering access to various law enforcement agencies and other services in one place.

The Warm Weather Clothing Swap will take place on Saturday, April 25th from 2 - 3:30 p.m. at the Madelyn Helling LibraryThe second meeting of the Wolf Creek Alliance's Empire Mine Community Assessment Project will take place today, Tuesday, April 21st at 6:30 p.m.

Learn about the Forest Service Reorganization on the USDA's website.Learn more about KVMRx online and sign up to play on Skream Radio here.