Reno

In the state's first decision involving juries and social media, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has called on judges to better police jurors' use of the Internet to make sure they do not discuss cases online, and thus risk a mistrial. The court said judges need to do more to explain to jurors that refraining from conversations about a case also means not posting anything about it on Facebook or Twitter, common practice in today's technology-driven world. "Jurors must separate and insulate their jury service from their digital lives," the court said in a ruling involving a Plymouth Superior Court...

A blue ribbon panel reviewing the deadly air race crash in Reno last year is making a number of safety recommendations. But officials who have read the report say none would prevent the races from continuing as scheduled. Two officials said Monday that several recommendations in the panel's final report call for changes the Reno Air Racing Association already has initiated, including appointing a safety director with the authority to halt races if necessary. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the report ahead of...

Parts of eastern Asia were being treated to a solar spectacle as the moon slid across the sun, creating a "ring of fire. " Sky-watchers in the western U.S. awaited their turns as the rare phenomenon was due to move over the Pacific and toward them later Sunday. Scientists cautioned would-be viewers everywhere to be very careful because the sun's damaging rays will remain powerful even during the annular solar eclipse. The advice: Either wear specially designed protective eyewear or attend a viewing event — at a planetarium or amateur astronomy club, for example — to avoid risk...

Parts of eastern Asia were being treated to a solar spectacle as the moon slid across the sun, creating a "ring of fire. " Sky-watchers in the western U.S. awaited their turns as the rare phenomenon was due to move over the Pacific and toward them later Sunday. Scientists cautioned would-be viewers everywhere to be very careful because the sun's damaging rays will remain powerful even during the annular solar eclipse. The advice: Either wear specially designed protective eyewear or attend a viewing event — at a planetarium or amateur astronomy club, for example — to avoid risk...

RENO - Dozens of minor earthquakes shook Reno yesterday as a series of temblors entered its third month and prompted some frazzled residents to leave their homes. More than 150 aftershocks have been recorded on the western edge of northern Nevada's largest city after a magnitude-4.7 quake hit Friday night, the strongest quake in a sequence that began Feb. 28. There were no reports of injuries or widespread damage. Scientists have urged residents to prepare for worse, saying the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength.

RENO - The wildfire that destroyed 29 homes near Reno is contained. Thousands of evacuees are back home. And the family of the woman found dead says there is no point in prosecuting the remorseful man who accidentally started it. Fire officials declared the blaze contained Saturday after a storm brought precipitation that the region hasn't seen in months. All evacuations were lifted and US 395 reopened through the 3,200-acre fire zone. But in addition to 2 inches of rain, the storm also brought another challenge for emergency workers.

The insurance unit of Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday that it has bought ISU Stetson-Beemer Insurance, an insurance brokerage and consulting firm in Reno, Nev. The purchase closed on Sept. 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Stetson-Beemer, founded in 1923, provides a range of insurance, including employee benefits and commercial property and casualty insurance. President Richard Schield and a team of about 24 employees will join Wells Fargo Insurance Services' Reno office.

A 25-year-old pilot described from his hospital bed watching in horror as a World War II-era plane came hurtling toward where he was sitting in the VIP section at a Reno air show. Noah Joraanstad (JURN-stead) says he started running from the crash Friday, then got blown off his feet. He was bleeding from his head and covered in aviation fuel. Joraanstad, who flies for a commuter airliner in Alaska, says he felt like he was on fire. Others tried to wash the fuel off him, but it wasn't until he was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital that emergency workers were able...

RENO, Nev. - Reno has not seen a winter this dry in more than 120 years. So residents welcomed a forecast that a storm was due to blow across the Sierra Nevada this week. Instead, as many as 10,000 found themselves fleeing their homes while howling winds gusting to 82 miles per hour pushed a fire toward them, destroying 26 homes and torching thousands of acres. As the fire eased yesterday, residents faced another threat: the storm was expected to bring high winds and a burst of rain and snow that could cause flash flooding on the charred land.

RENO - Police are scouring records of major unsolved cases in northern Nevada to determine whether any match the profile of the man charged in the abduction and assault of a Lake Tahoe, Calif., girl 18 years ago. The cold cases include the 1989 murders of two Reno children who vanished near their school bus stop. Investigators are looking for similarities between several cases and Phillip Garrido’s method of operation in the attack on Jaycee Dugard, Reno police Lieutenant Mike Whan said.

Organizers of the Reno National Championship Air Races cleared a major hurdle Thursday in their bid to continue the annual event this fall, winning approval of a special one-year permit and moving closer to securing the necessary $100 million in insurance in the aftermath of last year's tragic mass-casualty crash. The future of the 48-year-old competition has been in question since a modified World War II-era plane crashed at the event in September, killing the pilot and 10 spectators, and injuring more than 70 others on the ground.

LAS VEGAS - Newt Gingrichcq labeled rival Mitt Romneycq "Obama-lite" yesterday, as the two candidates made their closing arguments before today's Republican presidential caucuses in the key general election battleground of Nevada. The former House speaker, in a stump speech retooled as polls showed him trailing badly in the state, said Romney revealed a big-government penchant like President Obamacq when the former Massachusetts governor said earlier this week he didn't need to focus on the needs of the poor unless there is...

When Harvard assistant Tony Reno was hired as the new Yale football coach Jan. 12, he promised to spice up the rivalry, while praising the coach who hired him at Harvard, Tim Murphy, who last fall guided the Crimson to their 14th Ivy League title as well as a 45-7 pounding of Yale. "What Coach Murphy does with his program is he prepares them to be great players on and off the field," said Reno in his introductory press conference at Yale. "He prepares them in the classroom. He does a great job on the recruiting trail.

RENO - The wildfire that destroyed 29 homes near Reno is contained. Thousands of evacuees are back home. And the family of the woman found dead says there is no point in prosecuting the remorseful man who accidentally started it. Fire officials declared the blaze contained Saturday after a storm brought precipitation that the region hasn't seen in months. All evacuations were lifted and US 395 reopened through the 3,200-acre fire zone. But in addition to 2 inches of rain, the storm also brought another challenge for emergency workers.

Nevada RENO - Rain and snow helped firefighters surround a brush fire that destroyed 29 homes and forced thousands to flee near Reno, leading officials to declare the blaze contained early yesterday and lift all remaining evacuations. Fueled by hurricane-force winds, the blaze burned nearly 3,200 acres. The break in the weather for firefighters arrived with calmer winds on Friday, allowing crews to gain the upper hand. The next challenge for emergency workers may be a storm in the Sierra Nevada, which for many brings welcome snow and rain amid one of the Reno's driest winters in more than...

RENO — Two Lovelock men changed their pleas yesterday and acknowledged that they shot and killed five wild mustangs in Nevada in a case that flooded US prosecutors with thousands of e-mails from around the world expressing outrage. Todd Davis, 45, admitted in federal court in Reno that he and Joshua Keathley, 36, had been drinking and used “poor judgment’’ when they shot the horses with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle in November. Prosecutors said they intend to seek the maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine for each.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have promoted Pacific Coast League home run leader Wily Mo Pena from Triple-A. The 29-year-old Pena was put into the starting lineup Tuesday night at Kansas City as the designated hitter. It was his first major league game since 2008. Pena topped the PCL with 21 homers and a .726 slugging percentage at Reno. He was hitting .363. The outfielder has a .253 career average with 77 home runs in 560 games in the majors with Cincinnati, Boston and Washington.