WINNERS — Laborers' Local 169 Business Manager Skip Daly, left, his predecessor Dan Rusnak, right, and safety flagger Cheri Corless with the Flagger Moms of Orange Cone Hell first-place national award. Click on the photo to view the full story.
About the Editor
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Andrew Barbano is a 39-year Nevadan who invaded Reno from Gomorrah South many moons ago. His longtime column, Barbwire by Barbano, has won first- and second-place awards from the Nevada Press Association. His investigative series on the University and Community College System of Nevada was entered in the 1997 Pulitzer Prize competition by his home newspaper, the Daily Sparks Tribune. The Barbwire has originated in the Tribune since 1988, has appeared occasionally in almost all Nevada newspapers, and expanded to the Internet on Nevada Day, 1996. Barbano's writing and photography have been published in regional and national magazines.
On April 23, 2002, he was honored as 2001 Columnist of the Year at the annual banquet of the Reno Media Press Club. The previous winner was the late Rollan Melton of the Reno Gazette-Journal. Barbano has more than four decades of experience in all forms of mass communication. He has garnered professional awards for excellence in print, radio and television advertising.
In 2008, he became the producer of northern
Nevada's annual César Chávez celebration.
His
multi-media road construction zone safety campaign,
The
Flagger Moms of Orange Cone Hell,
won
a 2001 first-place award in a nationwide
competition sponsored by the National Safety Council and the American
Road & Transportation Builders Association.
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The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites.
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Mr. Barbano has produced and hosted news and public affairs radio and television shows in Sacramento/San Francisco, Reno and Carson City.
Barbano on the Barbwire returns to television and expands to the web very soon.
His erstwhile radio show defeated Rush Limbaugh head to head. He has been a regular commentator on Sam Shad's statewide Nevada Newsmakers radio-TV-webcast program for the past 16 years. Mr. Barbano produced, syndicated and co-anchored the worldwide Long Beach GrandPrix Formula One Motoracing Radio Network in English and Spanish from 1976 through 1978. His company also filmed the SCCA/Citicorp CanAm (Canadian-American) motoracing series for TV syndication. His sports marketing background additionally includes major league baseball, professional motorsports teams, collegiate and Olympic-level wrestling and automotive/RV shows.
In 1991, the Reno City Council appointed him to the founding board of Sierra Nevada Community Access Television (SNCAT). In 1993, he produced and hosted a four-day series on Reno-Sparks local elections, the first live call-in political talk TV in northern Nevada and perhaps in the state. In September, 2002, Mr. Barbano persuaded the Reno City Council to form a cable television consumer advisory board. On Nov. 19, 2002, the council named him to a three-year term on the panel. On Dec. 11, 2002, his fellow appointees elected him chairman. He was re-elected to the chairmanship in 2003, serving until February, 2005, when he was elected secretary for the remainder of his term.
He has long been active in Nevada progressive and consumer causes as well as advocating for the rights of the mentally disabled. In 1980, he managed a statewide initiative petition which caused the 1981 Nevada State Legislature to establish the state's first office of consumer advocacy, legislation 20 years in the making. Over the past quarter-century, that entity has saved millions of dollars for large and small utility ratepayers. Concurrent with lobbying the enabling legislation, Mr. Barbano managed consumer intervention against Sierra Pacific Power, Nevada Power and C.P. National Corp. in rate cases and takeover proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nevada utility regulators, state and local governments.
He has been a member of California and Nevada culinary union locals as both a worker and organizer. He is a longtime member of statewide Communications Workers of America Local 9413, the longest-established labor organization in the state and the union of Mark Twain. Barbano served as the union's legislative chair during the 2001 Nevada legislative session. He manages advertising, news, public relations and websites for a wide range of Nevada worker and public interest organizations. He is the editor and publisher of NevadaLabor.com, the Silver State's first and only comprehensive workplace website, now in its 14th year.
In 1998, Mr. Barbano served as gubernatorial campaign manager for State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas. In 1999, he started Casinos Out of Politics (COP). He worked on Sen. Neal's successful 2000 re-election campaign and his concurrent statewide casino tax initiative. In September, 2002, Sen. Neal, the state's first African-American state senator, again made Nevada history by winning the Democratic primary and becoming the first African-American to advance to a general election as his party's gubernatorial nominee. Sen. Neal was defeated by incumbent Republican Kenny Guinn in the general election and returned to the state senate as its senior Democrat in the 2003 session. Sen. Neal retired in 2004 after 32 years of service.
In 1984, Mr. Barbano was the Democratic nominee in Nevada's statewide second congressional district. He currently chairs the political action committee of the NAACP Reno-Sparks Branch. From 1971 to 1981, he served on the executive board of the Northern Nevada Multiple Sclerosis Society, during which time it became the highest per capita fund raiser of any chapter in the country.
Andrew Barbano was a California Scholarship Federation honors student all four years at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. He graduated from Fresno State in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in business administration, moving to Las Vegas in 1969 to work through the summer.
The endless summer continues...
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