The notorious Reno drunk and the housing-market hangover

In 2006, the New Yorker published a Malcolm Gladwell story headlined “Million Dollar Murray.” It profiled Murray Barr, an affable, mostly toothless homeless man who had cost the city of Reno, Nev., hundreds of thousands of dollars in hospital bills, substance-abuse-treatment costs, ambulance transportation and much more over the 10 years he’d lived on its…

Housing prices in Reno area hit all-time high again

RENO — Rising housing prices have set a record in the Reno-Sparks area for the fourth time this year. The Reno-Gazette Journal reports the combined median price for an existing single-family home in the cities of Reno and Sparks reached $389,000 in June. That’s the highest level ever recorded by the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors.…