Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Silver to WNC nursing program

The Nevada Appeal's "Silver Dollar" and "Wooden Nickel" feature recognizes positive achievements from the capital region and, when warranted, points out others that missed the mark.

SILVER DOLLAR: To the Western Nevada College nursing program and Carson Nursing and Rehabilitation, which put first-year nursing students into the center to work directly with residents. They treat maladies, but they also learn to interact with patients as people.

WOODEN NICKEL: To a new report that ranks Nevada dead last among the states in an "opportunity index." The good news: Carson City ranks better than the statewide average in many areas.

SILVER DOLLAR: To Carson City Health and Human Services, for offering flu shots in exchange for two cans of donated food. The deadline is Dec. 9; for information, call 775-887-2195.

WOODEN NICKEL: To the entrepreneurial but unethical guy who offered to paint homeowners' addresses on curbs, implying in a flier that he had the endorsement of Carson City's sheriff and fire chief - when he had neither. Fliers were distributed in the Northridge subdivision in northeast Carson City.