KUNR Public Radio: Local News Feed

COVID-19 upended just about everything in 2020. KUNR’s Lucia Starbuck talks to Brian Labus, an epidemiologist with Nevada’s COVID-19 medical advisory team, to learn more about the past 10 months in Nevada and what is expected for the start of the new year.

Before we begin, a note of warning: the topics we are about to explore may not be suitable for our young listeners. The pandemic has limited in-person social interactions for college students. Classes have gone online and many typical school activities have been canceled. For some, in-person dating also presents a new set of challenges. Student contributors Alina Croft and Catherine Schofield explore how some are navigating romance these days.

After a turbulent year, 2020 is coming to a close. Now, many are looking forward to 2021 with the new challenges and opportunities it might bring. Local high school junior Avery Thunder reflects on 2020 and comments on what the new year might look like in an audio diary for KUNR’s Youth Media program.

Dulce Leyva is a bilingual contact tracer who lives in Reno, Nevada. Her job is to reach out to people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and make sure they're self-isolating. And she tries to help them remember who they've been around and could have been exposed to the virus.

Lee en español. With Nevada small businesses working to stay open in 2021 amid the pandemic, KUNR recently hosted a Facebook Live event in Spanish with business owners and advisors. They answered community questions and shared resources for small business owners in both Northern and Southern Nevada. Our bilingual reporter Natalie Van Hoozer moderated the Q&A and spoke with KUNR’s Jayden Perez to break down some highlights from the discussion.

Avalanches in the Rocky Mountains killed four people late last week, three in Colorado and one in Wyoming. Drew Hardesty is with the Utah Avalanche Center. He says it's been a fairly dry early season for many states around the West.

The Sony Handycam, of all things, foretold what may soon be a massive mine on public lands in Nevada. In the early 1990s, the camcorder became the first product to use lithium-ion batteries commercially. Since then, the technology has been used to power our laptops, smartphones, and now electric vehicles and homes.

There’s so much COVID-19 data being reported. What does it all mean? KUNR’s Lucia Starbuck talks to Brian Labus, an epidemiologist with Nevada’s COVID-19 medical advisory team, to break down what the numbers can tell us.

The recent arrival of the new Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is an important landmark in the fight against the pandemic; however, the Pfizer vaccine isn’t the only one in production, and trials for other vaccines are nearing completion. Madelyn Beck, a regional reporter with the Mountain West News Bureau, took part in one of those trials and sat down with KUNR’s Jayden Perez to share her experience.

It's been a tough year for gas and oil prices, but solar power has seen steady growth during this pandemic year.