Nevada Newsmakers Tue, Oct 6 2026

And back on Nevada Newsmakers, we're delighted to host today the Sparks mayoral debate between Ed Lawson, who is the current mayor of Sparks, and Wendi Rawson, who is the owner of Engine 8 Urban Winery, along with her husband.

And she is challenging Ed for the mayoralty.

Pleased to have you both here on the program.

Appreciate you being willing to debate on the show.

We tossed coins, so we decided where everybody's going to sit.

And who gets the first question is you, Ed.

In the past, Sparks was the railroad town, and then for many years, it was John Squager's Nugget that was the center of activity in Sparks.

Birth and Angel.

Yeah.

What is Sparks all about now?

We've kind of transitioned more.

We decided to become a bedroom community in 90, and that's kind of what we've become.

We're still a family-oriented community.

But we're trying right now to find another identity.

I think we have to grow.

And the state of Nevada kind of makes us have to grow.

So I think we're still trying to figure out what we what I think we need to be is more of a tech hub, tech industry.

So I'm really working hard on recruiting advanced manufacturing.

All right, the big problem is space.

Yes.

Yes, that's the whole problem.

Sparks is out of land.

I mean, we've got about 6,000 homes to build.

And after that, the gap between revenues and expenses is just going to continue to grow.

All right.