Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels: Walking for a cause? Enjoy Carson City

The Nevada Appeal’s Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels feature recognizes achievements from the capital region and, then warranted, points out other acts that missed the mark.

SILVER DOLLAR: Two men who were walking across the country for good causes spent Wednesday night in Carson City. Mike Warren is walking in support of cancer research and education, and Noah Coughlan is doing the same to raise awareness of Batten disease, a neurological affliction that affects children. The two don’t know each other, but given that they’re following approximately the same route for a while, they might cross paths at some point in their journey. Carson City is a frequent stop for cross-country walkers and bikers, and we hope it’s a pleasant experience for visitors who pass through on foot. The next town they’ll pass through that is Carson’s size or larger is Pueblo, Colo. — more than 1,000 miles away.

WOODEN NICKEL: Lawmakers rightfully criticized Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposal to move money from Northern Nevada’s mental health hospital, Lakes Crossing, to Rawson-Neal, its counterpart in Las Vegas. Rawson-Neal has received unwanted attention for sending some discharged patients to other states where they had no family and no living plan. Lakes Crossing shouldn’t pay for sins committed in Sin City.

SILVER DOLLAR: The nation’s number of unemployment claims is at a six-year low. The U.S. government said Thursday that the number of weekly applications for jobless benefits has averaged 335,500 in the past month. That’s the lowest level since November 2007, a month before the Great Recession began.

WOODEN NICKEL: That said, companies remain reluctant to hire, and many of the jobs they’re hiring for have low pay or aren’t full time. Low-paying retail outlets and restaurants accounted for more than half of July’s nationwide gain of 162,000 jobs. Let’s hope that improves as the recent positive economic trend continues.

SILVER DOLLAR: Volunteers at South Lake Tahoe rescued six of 10 puppies that were left in a trash bin just hours after their births. A man who found them drove them to Pet Network, a nonprofit animal shelter in Incline Village. Incline and South Lake Tahoe residents later stepped up to provide foster care for the young dogs.