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Look for cloudy skies with Scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. Look for today’s high around 89.
Great news from last night’s community meeting on the Ward Fire: now 8,683 acres and 83% contained.
Command of the Ward Fire will change hands this morning, as the California Complex Interagency Incident Management Team transitions control to the Eastern Nevada Interagency Management Team.
Lisa Kemper will take over as incident commander at six a-m today.
The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest has also reduced the Ward Fire closure area. And White Pine County officials have lifted the “Ready” evacuation status for zones one through four.
Mt. Wheeler Power says the South Steptoe power line remains on single-shot protection because of ongoing fire traffic and equipment.
Forest roads inside the fire perimeter remain closed, but main roads are open. Drivers are urged to watch for fire crews and equipment.
The White Pine County Commission will meet on Wednesday, August 12th, beginning at 9 a.m., in the White Pine County Library Conference Room in Ely.
Among the items on the agenda, commissioners will consider a new policy requiring surplus county equipment and vehicles to be offered at public auction before being donated or transferred. They'll also decide whether to apply for an $808,550 grant from the William N. Pennington Foundation to improve the White Pine High School baseball field, with a $200,000 county match already budgeted.
Other agenda items include approval of a liquor license for the McGill Swimming Pool Park Labor Day weekend event, adoption of the county's Continuity of Operations Plan, acceptance of grants for the library and sheriff's office, and comments on the proposed Greenlink North transmission line project. The meeting is open to the public and will be broadcast live here on KELY.
The Ely City Council will meet Thursday, August 13th at 5 p.m. at the Ely Volunteer Fire Hall.
Key agenda items include reports from city departments, a quarterly Georgetown Ranch report, and consideration of utility penalty waivers totaling more than 23-hundred dollars. The council will also consider hiring a third-party building plan reviewer, options for replacing the city treasurer if they resign, a proposal regarding a city-owned communications tower, and several employee pay-increase requests.
The Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers and the Las Vegas Police Protective Association are demanding Democratic gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford remove a campaign ad they say falsely suggests their endorsement.
The groups say Ford’s ad recycles footage from his 2018 attorney general campaign, including officers wearing their logos and badges.
Retired officer Dave Kallas, featured in the ad, says he does not endorse Ford and now supports Governor Joe Lombardo.
The Lombardo campaign says the ad is misleading and accuses Ford of manufacturing law enforcement support.
Nevada reported 31 traffic deaths in July, according to new figures from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.
That’s slightly higher than the 30 deaths reported in July of last year.
So far this year, 199 people have died on Nevada roads — down about 13-and-a-half percent from the same period in 2025.
Deaths involving unrestrained motorists, bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians are all down.
In White Pine County, traffic deaths are also down this year.
State figures show one traffic fatality in the county so far in 2026, compared with two during the same period last year — a 50-percent decrease.
State officials caution the numbers are preliminary and could change as crash investigations are completed.
That’s your morning news from White Pine County and the state of Nevada