By USSA

VAIL – Americans Shaun White (Carlsbad) and Chloe Kim (La Palma) won the top spots in halfpipe on Saturday at the 35th edition of the Burton U.S. Open.

Kim continued her dominating season with a run that featured the back-to-back 1080 combination she first put down at the Park City Grand Prix in February, becoming the first woman to do so. At just 15 years of age, Kim became the youngest athlete to win the U.S. Open since Janna Meyen-Weatherby (Bend, Ore.) did so 25 years ago at the age of 14.

In qualifying, Kim had tough fall where she hit her face on the edge of the halfpipe. “It’s an insane feeling. I just cannot believe it at all,” Kim said of her win. “I didn’t even know if I was going to come out here today—I was super sore when I (got hurt) so I’m just stoked that I was able to come back out and put down a good run.”

Four-time Olympian Kelly Clark (West Dover, Vt.) was able to put down a superb run for a third-place podium finish, despite struggling with an injury. “Today was a really tough day for me,” said Clark, who has eight U.S. Open titles. “I’m really thankful that I was able to put a run down; I’ve been dealing with a leg injury since X Games and it just seems to hurt more every day and be more challenging to get done what I need to get done today. I haven’t had tears come after a run in a really long time and after I landed that second run I was overwhelmed with what I was able to do. Just landing a run today was going to be a victory let alone getting on the podium at the U.S. Open a million years after I did my first Open.”

In the almost all-American women’s final Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) finished fourth, Hannah Teter (Meyers) fifth and Elena Hight (South Lake Tahoe) sixth.

White, who used to train at Northstar, proved that he is still the most dominant force in men’s snowboard halfpipe, with mind-blowing amplitude on his first-hit backside air and technicality that could not be matched by the rest of the field.

“There’s been a lot of talk about me retiring,” White said after the competition. “I took last season off to be refreshed and be excited about the sport again. I was playing a lot of music (but) I never lost the passion and love for competing and snowboarding. In my eyes I really feel like I’m just getting started all over again.”

The two-time Olympic gold medalist went easily 25 feet out of the halfpipe on his first hit, saying that he dropped in with a little more speed than usual because he “thought the pipe was going to slow down a bit.” White also landed back-to-back double cork 1260s in his second run.

Ben Ferguson (Bend, Ore.) locked down the third-place position by landing his third and final run. “I wanted to land the first one and then do some different stuff,” Ferguson said. “I didn’t get to do what I really wanted to do but I put one down and I’m stoked. I was tripping at the top—I was so nervous.” Ferguson has been having a great season, including earning a silver medal at X Games Aspen in January.

Matt Ladley (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) finished fourth, Judd Henkes (La Jolla) fifth, Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes) sixth and Danny Davis (Highland, Mich.) eighth.

The American Legion Hall early 1960s. Photo/South Lake Tahoe

Built in 1947, the American Legion Hall also served as a venue for teen dances from the 1950s into the late 1960s.

Jim Burgett’s popular band played at the Legion in 1965, though they spelled his name wrong. Photo/Bill Kingman

The back end of the building had a large auditorium, stage and dance floor, but that part of the roof collapsed under snow load just hours prior to a scheduled school dance on Feb. 28, 1969 — 47 years ago last week. No one was injured.

What the American Legion looks like in 2016. Photo/Bill Kingman

As evident today, the auditorium portion was not rebuilt. The old Enco and Signal gas stations seen distant in the black and white photo have become the Muffler Palace and American Gas, respectively. Today, a wooden plaque at right honors Marjorie Johnson Springmeyer whose family originally made the land available to American Legion Post 795.

My thanks to Carol Olivas of Post 795 Ladies Auxiliary for her information assistance.

— Bill Kingman

Snow covers a frozen Marlette Lake. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

SPOONER SUMMIT – Sitting on the rocks I wished I were in a chair that spun around so I didn’t have to get up to enjoy the 360-degree view of this slice of Sierra beauty.

On this particular Saturday in February we had Marlette Lake to ourselves. It was stunning, warm and relaxing – especially after hiking nearly 6 miles to get there.

While we started out with the notion we would be snowshoeing, the hardpack conditions were such that hiking boots were all we needed for most of the trek. It was nice to have the snowshoes for the final descent to the lake and then climbing out. Poles were also good to have.

The abundance of aspen trees makes this a much different hike in the fall.

In winter, this trail is practically deserted – the complete opposite of summer and fall when hikers and mountain bikers are out.

With the return of cross country skiing out of Spooner Lake, part of the trail has been groomed for skiing. Snowmobilers had also laid down a path for us to walk on. Much of the trail is wide enough for at least two to walk side-by-side because this is North Canyon Road.

The bare aspens are like tall white, stick figures protruding from the snow.

Marlette’s history is rich – dating back to the days when silver was being mined in Nevada.

The dam forming the lake was built in 1873. The height of it has been increased several times. It is now at 45-feet high. The lake itself is 45-feet deep.

Marlette Lake’s rock outcropping, which is ideal for a lunch stop, is visible in the bottom of the photo.

While fishing at Marlette did not open until 2006, brook trout were introduced in the 1800s, Lahontan cutthroat trout in 1964 and rainbow trout in 1984.

The rock island where we stopped for lunch has a sign talking about some of the history, including the chimney that still remains on Rocky Point. It is the last remnant of what was a cabin built by James Mather Leonard and Jessie Hobart Leonard in 1933. They owned Virginia City Water Company, which included Marlette Lake.

Before the couple built the cabin the other structures in the area were a caretaker’s cabin near the dam and a Nevada Fish and Game cabin.

The state bought the water system in 1963 from the Curtis Wright Corp., which had bought it from the Leonards. The Marlette Water System, which still provides water to Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City and part of Carson City, also includes Hobart Reservoir.

The caretaker’s cabin was supposed to be taken down in the late 1960s, but instead crews mistakenly took down the Leonard cabin. In 2005, the chimney was restored. In the informational sign was erected two years later on Jessie Leonard’s 91st birthday.

Sue and Brenda make their way to Marlette Lake.

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Getting there:

From South Lake Tahoe take Highway 50 east. At the top of Spooner Summit, just beyond the Highway 28 junction, there is parking on the left. Trail starts there. You go past Spooner Lake – it will be on you left – and the North Canyon Trail will eventually be on the right.

By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee

Democratic legislators and officials, business and labor representatives, and water suppliers took turns Wednesday flailing a November ballot measure that would require voter approval of major state revenue bond issues.

Dan Walters

If the measure is passed, critics said, using bond financing for critical public works projects, including emergency work after a natural disaster, would become more difficult.

The forum was a legislative hearing on a pending ballot measure under a new state law that also allows initiative sponsors to withdraw their proposals even after they have qualified for the ballot. The Legislature cannot, however, change a measure on its own.

Read the whole story

By Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times

Visitors to Colorado might want to think twice before lighting a joint or biting into a pot brownie, even if it is legal in the Centennial State.

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that out-of-state tourists in Colorado are more likely to end up in the emergency room with symptoms related to marijuana use than local residents.

The authors report that cannabis-using tourists were responsible for 168 out of every 10,000 ER visits in 2014. The ER visits made by pot-using local residents accounted for just 112 out of every 10,000 visits.

Read the whole story

By Alexei Koseff and Jeremy B. White, Sacramento Bee

California legislators accepted at least $612,000 worth of travel last year from non-profit organizations and foreign governments, including lodging, airfare, meals and gifts received while visiting locations from Napa and Newport Beach to Australia and Argentina.

Senators took about $199,000 and Assembly members took about $413,000 of sponsored travel in 2015, according to statements of economic interest filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission this week. Twenty one lawmakers reported no subsidized travel last year.

Some trips related directly to policy issues that dominated the Legislature’s agenda. Lawmakers circled the globe to study how Australia endured a devastating drought. Months after a dogged oil industry campaign helped derail a bill to cut California’s petroleum use half, the California Independent Petroleum Association gathered 14 Assembly members and three senators in Newport Beach.

Read the whole story

By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times

Cal State University campuses are under pressure to boost their four-year graduation rates, which in most cases are far below the national average. A new state Legislature bill could make their task easier.

If the legislation is adopted, students who agree to take 15 units a semester and maintain a minimum grade-point average would get priority registration for popular classes, among other benefits.

The bill by state Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, a former Cal State trustee and strategist for Gov. Jerry Brown, is similar to pilot programs at four of the 23 Cal State schools. Participating students often get first shot at classes, additional academic advising and tuition waivers for any class that’s required to graduate but isn’t offered during the students’ first four years.

The proposed legislation would go a bit further by freezing tuition for students in the program.

Read the whole story

By Mike Dunne, Sacramento Bee

Though the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition in Sonoma County is a strictly all-American show, this year it drew 98 Barbera entries.

My panel at the competition tasted just one of the Barberas, Healdsburg’s Portalupi Wine 2013 Amador County Shake Ridge Ranch Barbera ($45), a faithfully vibrant and solidly built interpretation of the varietal. (The 2013 no longer is available, but the 2014 has been released at the same price.) It was the only one to be nominated for sweepstakes consideration.

Though the Portalupi wasn’t ultimately crowned the best red wine in the competition, it was fitting that a Barbera in the final round was from Amador County, which further enhanced its standing as the epicenter of modern Barbera production in the nation.

Read the whole story

Crews work five days a week hauling 3,000 yards of dirt for what will be an extension of Interstate 580 in Carson City. Photo Copyright 2015 Carolyn E. Wright

Drivers can expect periodic lane reductions on South Carson Street near the Highway 50 intersection in Carson City starting this spring as roadway drainage, paving and construction at the future intersection begins.

The final leg of the Carson City Freeway project is approximately 25 percent complete.

More than 650,000 cubic yards of dirt have been excavated from the future freeway, with much of it transported underneath South Carson Street via a conveyor system. More earthwork is scheduled through the coming months. Construction of soundwalls and drainage, as well as signage and other electrical systems on the future freeway is under way. Future construction phases will include freeway paving, lighting and landscaping.

The project is expected to completed in 2017.

Outdoor adventure photographer and National Geographic cover creator Nick Cahill will take people on photographic journey on March 9.

Cahill’s presentation will be part of the Tahoe Art League’s monthly meeting at 6pm at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center. The presentation will begin at 7pm.

Cahill is Force 12 Media’s video and photo guru. He is a self-described adventure junkie and world traveler with an eye for photograph. Cahill will talk about how and why he picked up a camera and the passion that drives him to create. He will walk people through his process from concept to execution.