• For the first time since its founding in 1978, Community Beyond Violence is getting their own emergency shelter in Western Nevada County. The  nonprofit organization works to end domestic violence and sexual assault. KVMR News speaks with Executive Director Allison Bischoffberger about the newly acquired space which will act as an emergency shelter for people who are actively fleeing a domestic violence situation or are in danger and looking for shelter. 

• Last week, CodeRED, a system used to send emergency alerts to residents who have opted in, reported an outage which affected six cities and twelve counties in California, including Nevada County. Now, CodeRED has notified Nevada County of a cybersecurity breach associated with the outage. 

• For nearly 40 years the Nevada Union High School Chamber Choir has organized a fundraiser in the form of a Renaissance celebration.
  The fully immersive experience includes students dressed in period-appropriate attire, live renditions of Renaissance era songs and, even, a comedy sketch. The event is known as the Madrigal Dinner.

• As interest in generative technology has grown, so too have concerns over using AI to prepare legal documents. Nevada County District Attorney Jesse Wilson made national news for his office’s misuse of generative artificial intelligence. KVMR News looks at two investigative reports from the Sacramento Bee and the New York Times outlining the allegations. 

• The newly appointed Nevada County Clerk Recorder/ Registrar of Voters, Armando Salud-Ambriz, is hosting a series of informal meet and greets at various locations across the county in December. Armando says this is a chance for Nevada County residents to get to know him and ask questions about elections, voter registration, and the many services the office provides. 

• Downtown Nevada City art supply store Wonder Docent presents NEONoir: New Works in Watercolor by Erika Peterson, also known as the artist Ghost Baby. The show, which runs through January 4th, features 32 watercolor paintings, varying in size, and all depicting neon signs against dark backgrounds. KVMR News speaks with Ghost Baby (Erika Peterson) and Heather Heckler (co-owner of Wonder Docent).

• On November 20th, Nevada County identified a sewer spill at Lift Station #23 near Dove Loop. The sewage spill occurred between November 18th and November 20th, entering into Lake Wildwood as a result of an operational error during scheduled testing.

• Nevada County is accepting applications for a free cat spay and neuter clinic on Tuesday, December 16th. 

• On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved up to 1.5 million dollars over five years to keep Rough and Ready Fire Station 59 operational during the consolidation of Rough and Ready and Penn Valley Fire Districts. 

Listen to this excerpt from November 25th’s KVMR newscast:
Downtown Nevada City art supply store Wonder Docent presents NEONoir: New Works in Watercolor by Erika Peterson, also known as the artist Ghost Baby. The show, which runs through January 4th, features 32 watercolor paintings, varying in size, and all depicting neon signs against dark backgrounds. KVMR News speaks with Ghost Baby (Erika Peterson) and Heather Heckler (co-owner of Wonder Docent).

• Nevada County's Elections Office reports 99.9% of ballots counted for the November 4th Special Election with a voter turnout rate hovering around 66%. 
• KVMR News speaks with Niccole Staten, Manager of Public Affairs for the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority, and Lindsay Myers, Public Information Officer for Sacramento County Department of Airports, to see how SMF and RNO are doing following the historic government shutdown with holiday travel fast approaching. 
• Road Closure: From today (11/24) through Wednesday, November 26th, a portion of East Broad Street in downtown Nevada City will be closed for construction on a permanent crosswalk at the Broad Street Y.

Photo from Reno-Tahoe International Airport website

• Nevada County is one of twelve counties and six cities in California impacted by a recent CodeRED outage. 
• McGees Annex in Nevada City went up for auction on the steps of the Nevada County courthouse yesterday.
• City Hall Art Meets the Public, or CHAMP, is an exhibition on the entryway walls of City Hall in Nevada City. Submissions are now open for the first exhibition of 2026 with the theme: Year of Advanced Music Appreciation.

Submissions are open for the 2026 Nevada City Film Festival. Now comes the flood of films - animation, shorts, documentaries -  from around the world, says Jesse Locks, the festival’s Executive Director. 

In 2025 the small committee tasked with decision making watched 297 hours worth of submissions before whittling down the event’s final lineup.

This year the focus will be on animation and the artists committed to that craft. But, as Locks points out, animation is expensive. And some filmmakers have been turning to artificial intelligence to cut costs. “Does that erode how we interact with reality, or does that enhance creativity,” Locks asks. 

Films created with the use of AI are able to enter the festival.  Locks says, “Ultimately, audiences are going to be the ones who decide if AI succeeds or fails in filmmaking.”

For 35 years Judith Berliner has been running Full Circle Press in Grass Valley. In 1968, Judith’s father, Harold Berliner, along with Deputy State Attorney General Doris Maier,  wrote the finalized text for the Miranda Warnings. Using his letterpress, Harold printed small, laminated cards, so every police officer in California would have a copy of the Miranda Warnings. Now, Judith has printed similar, small, laminated cards which outline individuals’ rights when approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents, known as ICE agents. Judith printed around 400 of these cards, which have been available at Grass Valley’s Nevada Union High School Library since the Spring.

KVMR News spoke with Judith Berliner and Brandon Dellis, library assistant at the NU library.

The Nevada County Planning Commission voted 3-2 to recommend to the Board of Supervisors to adopt the Alternative Housing RV Dwelling Ordinance. The nearly 4-hour meeting saw impassioned public comment (including an original song performed) and a conflicted Planning Commission.

Watch the Planning Commission meeting HERE.

Last night’s Grass Valley town hall with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna was canceled. Khanna is already in Washington D.C. after Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called all representatives back to vote on a bill that could end the longest government shutdown in US history. 

Sierra Roots is hosting their annual shelter training and orientation tomorrow, November 13th from 5 to 7pm at the Nevada City Veterans Hall. Mike Cannatella, Shelter Program Manager, says the training is open to anyone interested in learning more or getting involved with Sierra Roots. 

KVMR News speaks with Dr. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and creator of the popular Weather West blog, about Nevada County’s impending winter weather and the effects of DOGE cuts and the historic government shutdown on National Weather Service employees. 

KVMR News speaks with Kristin Plante, Nevada County Social Services Program Manager, about the ever-changing state of CalFresh benefits for Nevada County residents. Then we hear from Brett Bentely, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Nevada County and Victoria Lindsay, Marketing and Communications Manager for Interfaith Food Ministry. Bentely says food banks and pantries can’t make up the difference for those not receiving federal benefits. For every one meal of a food bank provides, benefits provide nine.

Nevada County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) holds their annual simulated emergency test exercise this Saturday. Peter Mason, Emergency Coordinator for Amateur Radio Emergency Service of Nevada County, speaks with KVMR News about the program and how local neighborhoods can get involved as we brace for potential extreme weather events. 

Last week, a special joint meeting of local government agencies met at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City to address local housing challenges and prepare for upcoming state housing mandates. KVMR News then covers the latest City of Nevada and Grass Valley City Council meetings.

California voters have passed Proposition 50. Early returns show approval of the ballot measure leading with roughly  64% of the vote. In Nevada County the Yes and No vote margin was much slimmer than the state’s. Yesterday’s 11:10pm update from the Nevada County Elections Office reports a yes vote on 54 percent of counted ballots. No votes totaled 46 percent. As of 11:10pm Tuesday, nearly 34 thousand ballots have been counted. Nevada County has nearly 78 thousand registered voters and is known for a high voter turnout. 

Grass Valley’s Condon Park Skatepark project is well underway, looking to be completed by late November or early December. But Nevada County skaters may have another option in the works. KVMR’s Neil Wright attended last week’s Skatepark Input Meeting in Nevada City and spoke with the project’s leaders and community members who gathered to find out more. 

Let’s take a deep dive into Prop 50. After covering the basics, we hear from Mac Young, Chairman of the Nevada County Republican Party and Peter Minett, Nevada County Democratic Chair and current Central Committee member, sharing their local parties’ perspectives on Proposition 50. 

This special election certain Nevada County residents will be voting on Measure G, a piece of the funding puzzle, namely a $25 million bond, to build a new library in Truckee. KVMR News spoke with Executive Director of the Friends of the Truckee Library April Cole who’s spearheading the effort to get a new facility built. 

KVMR News visits Nevada County’s new ballot processing center at the Loma Rica Warehouse in Grass Valley in the run-up to Nov. 4th’s special election. Newly appointed County Clerk Recorder/Registrar of Voters, Armando Salud-Ambriz, and Assistant Clerk Recorder/Registrar of Voters Corey O’Hayre speak about the election process and how election administrators might be adrenaline junkies. 

You can watch the Nevada County Elections’ livestream of the ballot processing center on the County’s Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdGzGr9WdIE

KVMR News speaks with Randi Swisley, Voter Services Chair of the League of Women Voters of Nevada County, a nonpartisan organization which promotes voting, provides resources for informed citizenship, and encourages civic engagement. Randi answers questions about California's November 4th Special Election, which will ask voters to approve or reject Proposition 50. 

The League of Women Voters of Nevada County has additional resources, including a multi-part video series about Prop 50 for voters still unclear about the proposition.  https://my.lwv.org/california/nevada-county/elections/upcoming-elections