Your Most-Read Stories of 2025

As we look back to the past year, we wanted to shine a light to some of the top stories from you, our readers. Let’s look at some of your favorites.

You care about the costs of feeding and providing for your family. We get it, too. That’s why it’s no surprise that our Grocery Price Tracker was the most visited page on the Sierra Nevada Ally’s website.

We started the Grocery Price Tracker after the 2024 presidential election was widely viewed as a referendum on cost-of-living issues. President Donald Trump, before taking office for the second time, had pledged to lower the cost of groceries on the campaign trail.

Journalism like this exists in part to keep our elected officials honest and accountable. So ever since Donald Trump took office in late January 2025, we’ve been tracking prices on a few essential grocery items in the West and across the U.S. Our grocery price tracker uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which releases the set of data on prices every month.

Bookmark this page as we continue to monitor your cost-of-living in 2026.

You value life in the great outdoors. Fortunately, we live in the Sierra Nevada region. But whether you’re physically able to respond to the mountain’s calling or not, the Sierra Nevada Ally had you covered.

Our contributor Matt Johanson has been chronicling the outdoors culture and community both here in Nevada and across the region. In a six-part “Pacific Crest Trail” series published over the course of this past year, Matt took us along his multi-year journey hiking the PCT. 

His Pacific Crest Trail adventure concluded in Part 5, “Wandering through Washington,” where we met the trail angels, friends and family that joined Matt on his journey.

Feeling the heat? Now, we know what our local leaders are doing about it. Earlier this year, we learned that Nevada is home to the two fastest-warming cities in the United States: Reno and Las Vegas, respectively.

So when local researchers, leaders and community members gathered at the Northern Nevada Heat Summit this past summer, our contributor Vanesa de la Cruz Pavas was there. You paid attention, too. Her report on the solutions being explored at the summit—from community-based data collection and tree-planting efforts, to heat warning systems and designated cooling centers—received the third-highest traffic from our readers this year.

We’ll be sure to continue monitoring the solutions to Nevada’s rising heat problems, as state lawmakers also signed AB96 during this year’s legislative session, requiring major counties in Nevada—including Washoe—to include heat mitigation in their development plans.

As a leader in Nevada’s news ecosystem, collaboration is at the heart of what we do. The Sierra Nevada Ally works in partnership with several local and niche publications that cover issues important to our communities.

It appears you’ve noticed.

One of those partners, The 19th News, is an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy that aims to empower women and LGBTQ+ people from underrepresented communities. We shared a report they published earlier this summer spotlighting the removal of signage explaining the role of women in founding the Muir Woods National Monument and the controversial backgrounds of historical figures associated with the park.

Thank you for supporting not only the Sierra Nevada Ally, but the work of our allies and partners, as well. 

Rounding out our top stories of the year is a report that gets back to the heart of what we do: local news. As populations continue to rise in Northern Nevada, local leaders are looking for ways to accommodate that growth with further development.

That’s when our contributor Richard Bednarski shared this story on the efforts of local officials in Sparks to build Nevada’s first toll road by presenting AB 61 to the Nevada state legislature. While no votes were ever recorded on the measure, the bill’s proposal showcased the solutions and challenges local leaders are grappling with to accommodate Nevada’s growing population.

Thanks again for joining us as we look back on your favorite stories from 2025 and please consider donating to keep our coverage going in 2026.

What issues do you want covered in 2026? We want to hear from you! Keep any eye out for our audience survey by signing up for our newsletter.

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