Our Town Reno and Mike’s Reno Report both have reported on Karma Box Project’s Matthew Grimsley’s arrest so we urge you to subscribe and follow them, but in the meantime let’s ask ourselves a very simple question:

Why does the Reno Gazette Journal blast out a major story on former Reno councilman Paul Anderson’s first domestic-violence arrest over Thanksgiving — yet say absolutely nothing when Matthew Grimsley, a third-time domestic-battery arrestee who works for Karma Box Project as a Safe Camp supervisor, is taken into custody?

At what point does Washoe County stop pretending everything is fine?

Here we go again. Another mess tied to Karma Box Project, and somehow Washoe County still can’t seem to connect the dots. How many stumbles does one contractor get before the county finally admits the obvious: something is very, very wrong here. Matthew Grimsley, a Karma Box Project who works at the Safe Camp at the Nevada Cares Campus was arrested for domestic battery for the third time.

And this time, there’s no Dana Searcy or Eric Brown left to blame.
This one lands squarely on the shoulders of newly installed County Manager Kate Thomas.

Let’s take a quick trip down Karma Box Memory Lane …

Holiday weekends are supposed to be quiet… but Reno never met a long weekend it couldn’t fill with intrigue, eyebrow-raising posts, and a few stories that practically write themselves. And because Picon hears from everyone — the kind, the cranky, the concerned, and the borderline-threatening — we figured we’d share a few morsels to go with your football watching.

First Up - Mayor Schieve, Belleville, and Spooge.

Yesterday we published a story hoping someone with a bigger reach might amplify it — and bless their souls, Our Town Reno picked it up. They have a megaphone compared to Picon’s whistle, and for that we’re grateful. We’re happy being the “little engine that could,” the outlet everyone swears they don’t read… yet somehow always seem to react to. That’s our comfort zone.

But today we’re stepping out of that zone.

Because what’s happening at the Safe Camp — and how residents are reacting to it — can no longer be brushed aside with a smile, a ribbon, and a county press release from what we lovingly call the Propaganda Princesses at Washoe County.

Well, well, well — looks like Commissioner Mike Clark been calling out Commission Chair Alexis Hill long enough. Washoe County sent him a “Hold the Date” notice for Tuesday, December 2, 2025, from 1–5 p.m. — a possible meeting of the long-vanished Community Homeless Advisory Board (CHAB).

If true, that’s big. The CHAB hasn’t met since May 2024, which is remarkable considering Washoe County leadership — Commissioner Chair Alexis Hill and former County Manager Eric Brown — have spent the better part of two years declaring the homeless population “down by 40%, maybe 50%, possibly even 60%,” depending on which press piece you read that week. Remember the Wall Street Journal article that poor reporter was led down the garden path.

More than a year has passed since the Community Homelessness Advisory Board (CHAB) last met — the very board tasked with overseeing Washoe County’s most pressing humanitarian crisis. Chaired by Commissioner Alexis Hill, CHAB has gone silent while encampments spread and frustration grows.

At the most recent Washoe County Commission meeting, residents finally said what many have whispered: Why hasn’t Chair Hill called a CHAB meeting in over a year?

The CHAB Board Goes Silent — and So Does Accountability.

It’s been more than a year since the last Community Homeless Advisory Board (CHAB) meeting — and the silence is starting to sound suspicious.

Our Town Reno reported on this death at the Nevada CARES Campus yesterday. Commissioner Mike Clark sent the FYI announcement to the press. Why are we now reporting on this? Because the tenor of the email just really pissed us off, this is a human life.

The Washoe County manager and assistant county manager's response to a death at the Nevada CARES Campus appears to demonstrate a deeply troubling lack of human empathy. Reducing a human being's death to a mere "FYI" (For Your Information) memo reveals a disturbing bureaucratic detachment from the fundamental value of human life.

In the thrilling saga of "How to Avoid Accountability While Running a Homeless Shelter," starring Commission Chair Alexis Hill, we bring you the latest episode of "Why Have Meetings When You Can Just Tell The Wall Street Journal Everything's Fine?"

Picture this: Commissioner Mike Clark, apparently under the wild impression that advisory boards should actually ... advise, keeps requesting to schedule a CHAB meeting. The audacity! Doesn't he know the last meeting in May 2024 was practically yesterday? (If by "yesterday" you mean seven months ago, and before that, September 2023 - but who's counting?)

Washoe County has effectively silenced homeless residents at the Nevada CARES Campus by minimizing Community Homelessness Advisory Board (CHAB) meetings since September 2023. This started after Teresa Bacon, a resident, publicly criticized the County and Commissioner Alexis Hill about conditions at the campus. Rather than address Bacon's concerns, the County launched a counter-campaign against her.