Great pitching and some powerful hitting by the Carson Senators put the South Tahoe Vikings away in two straight games played at South Tahoe today. Coach Steve Cook said that the real Carson Senator Team came to play today, by taking the first game 20 to 3, the game ending after five full innings. The second game was very similar, with the Senators beating the Vikings 11 to 1, the game called after five full innings.

WATCH THE ENTIRE GAME SERIES BY CLICKING ON LOCAL SPORTS!!! (ABOVE)

Carson City lost to South Tahoe 8-5 on Thursday in a game that Coach Cook said ended the way it did due to a lack of team “intensity.” When asked today whether that intensity re-appeared, Coach Cook said absolutely, and that he was very proud of the team.

Carson City plays McQueen of Reno on Monday in a non-league game. Then it’s off to Wooster to play the Colts in Reno on Wednesday, 3:30pm. The Wooster Colts travel to Carson Thursday afternoon for another 3:30pm game, and then again on Friday.

If Carson continues to do well, they may be expected to do well in the upcoming tournament playoff games to be held here in Northern Nevada starting May 6th. The exact tournamennt play schedule, and where they’ll play has yet to be announced. That information is expected to be released on Saturday, the day after the regular league play is over for the season.

A huge gang party with up to 100 people inside a neighborhood clubhouse at 4150 Pheasant was raided by up to fifty law enforcement officers from five local agencies, some accompanied by attack and drug sniffing dogs. At least one officer was assaulted, while others shouted “take ‘em down, there’s more of us than them.” In the end, 13 people were arrested, half of them juveniles.

Update 1:07am: USGS revises tonight’s Verdi earthquake back up to a 4.7 on the richter scale.

Update 12:42am: The USGS has downgraded the Verdi earthquake to a 3.2 on the richter. The USGS move is being roundly criticized by many Reno area residents on the Reno Gazette Journal website as being inaccurate. Some are saying tonight’s shaker was far stronger than a quake earlier in the week that was estimated at 4.2.

Update: 12:38am:
No reports of any damage in Carson City according to 9-1-1 dispatchers.

Update 12midnight:
USGS and Berkley Seismology Lab reports an earthquake of 4.9 magnitude shook the Reno and Carson City areas this evening at 11:39:59. The quake was centered just 1 mile northwest of the Verdi-Mogul area, eight miles due west of Reno. They report the quake originated at a very shallow depth, basically right near the surface of the ground. The initial quake was followed closely by an aftershock shaker registering 3.0 on the Richter Scale. Thus far, no reports of injuries or damage in the Carson City area. The Reno Gazette Journal website is reporting it’s the largest of the recent swarm of quakes to rattle the area. They’re also saying that thus far, there have been no reports of any serious damage in the area.

Earthquake at 11:39pm: A small-cale earthquake rumbled through Carson City this evening at 11:39pm, swaying buildings and causing a lot of phone calls to the city’s 9-1-1 dispatch center. Emergency operators said although they received many calls, there were no reports of any damage. Power did not appear to be affected.

The Reno area has been hit with a number of quakes originating in the Verdi area. One of them this evening was strong enough to be felt strongly down here.

Carson City’s financial condition went back on red alert this week after they learned that sales tax collections were down 9.4%…well worse than predicted for the current year’s budget. The city had budgeted for only an 8% drop. Each percent is a lot of money. The fall also caught state budget officials looking, they too now having to readjust the cuts to the state budget. Some state legislators this week began urging that top state officials begin seriously re-examining where tax monies come from and how to better distribute the taxation pain over a broader base of the state.

The state’s seriously faltering budget is causing a lot of uncertainty, some might say misery, but perhaps more seriously for tens of thousands of southern Nevadans who wonder if they were needlessly exposed to life threatening diseases like Hepititus C and HIV-AIDS…partly blamed on the fact the state did not have an adequate number of medical inspectors to ensure property sanitary procedures were followed in at least two southern Nevada outpatient surgery centers.

A big gathering of area residents took a first swing at a master plan for the future of the Silver Saddle Ranch. And the vast majority of them had a common opinion on what to do and what not to do about the prized piece of open space and ranchland that will soon come under the ownership of the City.

State figures show that sales tax collections in Carson City plunged 9.4% in February, compared to February of ‘07. It further damages Carson’s current and next year’s budgets, foreboding even tougher economic times ahead for city hall. The city had budgeted for only an 8% drop in February, the difference no small change.
The state, as a whole, saw a 5.4% drop. Washoe County was down 9%, Clark down 3.1%.

The continued downtrend for cities and counties also affects the state budget, and we can expect to hear a growing chorus of state lawmakers to force a re-examination of the state’s tax structure, especially tax rates on certain economic sectors in the state, including gaming, mining, and business in general. Further increases in property taxes are quite unlikely to be considered since the legislature only recently slapped a cap on the rate of growth of those taxes.

Incumbent Ward 2 Supervisor Shelly Aldean announced today she will run for re-election to the Board of Supervisors.
Aldean joined the Board after the sudden unexpected death of Supervisor Jon Plank. Aldean was later elected to a full term in her own right. She is now running for her second full term on the Board.

Aldean says top priorities for her next term would be continued revitalization of the downtown area of Carson, protection of private property rights and the economic health of Lake Tahoe, improving streets around Carson, seeking greater political and economic cooperation with our surrounding counties, strengthening our fight against gangs and drugs, and helping the town’s down-and-out/homeless to become self-sufficient with a new program she’d like to bring forward.

Although new billboard restrictions would please a number of residents in the Northridge area, it’s unknown whether City Supervisors will make them retroactive to when developer Kent Witt applied to erect a huge sign alongside his shopping center and the CC Freeway.

There’s a new scam on the internet making the rounds, getting into a lot of e-mail accounts. The scam is ripping off people left and right. It claims to be the IRS. But don’t believe it!