The sixth annual SiriusXM Celebrity Fantasy Football Draft will be at Hard Rock Lake Tahoe on July 15.

The event features a variety of celebrities and SiriusXM personalities together on stage to draft their fantasy football teams for the 2015 season. Participating in this year’s draft will include NBC and Pro Football Focus analyst Cris Collinsworth; actor Dennis Haysbert; actor/comedian Rob Riggle; former U.S. Soccer star Brandi Chastain; Rascal Flatts bassist Jay DeMarcus; actor John O’Hurley; NASCAR driver Ty Dillon; and SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio hosts John Hansen, Pilar Lastra and Lisa Ann.

The event will begin at 1pm and will take place in front of a live audience at the Hard Rock.

SiriusXM hosts Bruce Murray and pro Football Hall of Famer James Lofton will emcee the event, which will air live nationwide on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio.

By Abby Phillip, Washington Post

A bizarre kidnapping case that police once called a hoax took yet another surprising turn Monday. The FBI issued a warrant for the arrest of a 38-year-old Harvard Law School graduate in connection with the case and a separate alleged home invasion that occurred last month.

Matthew Muller

In court documents unsealed Monday, the FBI said that there is probable cause to believe that Matthew D. Muller of Orangevale kidnapped Denise Huskins from a Vallejo home on March 23.

At the time, her boyfriend Aaron Quinn told police that assailants entered the home in the early morning, drugged them and tied him up, and disappeared with Huskins. She appeared mysteriously days later in her hometown, unharmed after a person or persons claiming to be her kidnapper demanded thousands of dollars in ransom.

Vallejo police said after Huskins reappeared that the situation was likely a hoax and that there was no evidence that there had even been a kidnapping.

Months later, the FBI’s statement on Muller’s arrest appears to vindicate Huskins’s and Quinn’s story.

Muller had been arrested in connection with a home invasion robbery case on June 5 at his South Lake Tahoe home and was charged with home invasion, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and great bodily injury in that case.

Read the whole story

By Jim Shahin, Washington Post

Internet videos and cookbook recipes make grilling corn seem as easy as basic arithmetic. Cob on the fire + cob off the fire = classic summer bite. But the ear of corn I was holding might as well have been a calculus problem.

Why? Because after studying those videos and recipes, I was more confused than ever. Each method is different, but all promise the same outcome: perfection.

To determine once and for all the best way to cook corn, I challenged myself to cut through the elephant’s-eye-high thicket of information and get down to the basics. That’s where things really got complicated, and where the calculus comes in.

Throughout an entire month, I tested more than 30 ears of corn in every conceivable way: husks on. Husks off. Wrapped in aluminum foil. Placed directly in the embers. On the cold side of an indirect fire. And on and on.

Read the whole story

By Carl Richards, New York Times

I have a crazy idea I want to run by you. Imagine that a cultural anthropologist finds one of your credit card statements in 100 years. What would your spending suggest you value the most? Based on your spending, what assumptions might someone make about how you live your life?

Our credit card statements (really, any financial statement) reveal a lot about what we care about. They are unintentional personal manifestoes. In stark detail, these statements lay out how we spend our money and our time. As a result, we end up with a clear picture of what we value versus what we say we value.

For instance, my top priorities are spending time with my family and serving in my community. In theory, every decision I make, every action I take, should be about meeting those priorities. But sometimes, my statements show I have made other things a priority. I get distracted.

Read the whole story

The bear that was shot to death last week is removed from the forest. Photo/Toogee Sielsch

By Jeff DeLong, Reno Gazette-Journal

Authorities are investigating the shooting death of a bear at Lake Tahoe last week and say they already know who did it.

The unidentified South Lake Tahoe resident said he shot the black bear Thursday night in self-defense, said Capt. Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Foy said game wardens had previously offered the man a permit to legally shoot the bear due to damage at his property but he turned it down due to fear of retribution by animal activists.

Bear advocates dispute accounts as described by the Department of Wildlife based on an interview with the man, with some suggesting the animal may have been shot out of a tree.

Read the whole story

By Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian

ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, knew as early as 1981 of climate change – seven years before it became a public issue, according to a newly discovered email from one of the firm’s own scientists. Despite this the firm spent millions over the next 27 years to promote climate denial.

The email from Exxon’s in-house climate expert provides evidence the company was aware of the connection between fossil fuels and climate change, and the potential for carbon-cutting regulations that could hurt its bottom line, over a generation ago – factoring that knowledge into its decision about an enormous gas field in south-east Asia. The field, off the coast of Indonesia, would have been the single largest source of global warming pollution at the time.

“Exxon first got interested in climate change in 1981 because it was seeking to develop the Natuna gas field off Indonesia,” Lenny Bernstein, a 30-year industry veteran and Exxon’s former in-house climate expert, wrote in the email. “This is an immense reserve of natural gas, but it is 70% CO2,” or carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change.

However, Exxon’s public position was marked by continued refusal to acknowledge the dangers of climate change, even in response to appeals from the Rockefellers, its founding family, and its continued financial support for climate denial. Over the years, Exxon spent more than $30m on thinktanks and researchers that promoted climate denial, according to Greenpeace.

Exxon said last week that it now acknowledges the risk of climate change and does not fund climate change denial groups.

Read the whole story

By Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times

Beans can seem complicated. They come in different colors — green, yellow and purple are the most common. And in different shapes — round and flat — and different sizes — yard-long and fingernail thin. They grow on different types of plants — pole beans climb to the sky while bush beans stay close to the ground.

But in the end, they all taste pretty much the same.

Thank goodness. Because beans, whatever the type, make terrific summer food.

Read the whole story

·       Tahoe City Rotary gave $5,000 to the Tahoe Fund for the Tahoe City Aquatic Invasive Weed Removal Project.

·      Coach Gil Llewellyn and crew are back for a weeklong summer basketball camp at Kahle Community Center. The camp runs July 20 -23 from 9am-3pm with individual or small group lessons available upon special request. For information, call 805.729.5539. To register, go online.

·      Here are the El Dorado-Tahoe and Sierra roadwork schedules for the week from Caltrans.

·      Tahoe Youth & Family Services is gearing up for its third year of Color Blast on Aug. 15 at Carson Valley Medical Center Health Fest from 9-11am. All proceeds raised will directly benefit TYFS’ programs and services for youth and families. Register online.

·      Susie Glaze and the Hilonesome Band will be at the Boathouse Theatre on the South Shore on Aug. 5 from 8-11pm. Tickets are $22 in advance, $25 at the door and $30 for preferred seating. To reserve tickets, go online.

By Mathis Wackernagel, Sacramento Bee

The drought in California has made the economic risks of living beyond the means of nature all too clear. Just last month, estimates pegged the state’s economic losses from the drought at $2.7 billion, an enormous number that still fails to capture the toll on individual farmers and farmworkers.

Water, however, isn’t the only natural resource that our state is overusing and must manage more carefully to ensure a resilient future.

On Tuesday, the United States will go into ecological deficit. That means our nation will be using more of nature’s renewable resources and services than our ecosystems can regenerate in the entire year. Of all 50 states, California is running the largest ecological deficit, according to our analysis, which we will release Tuesday in a report called “State of the States.” We found we would need a land area equal to eight – eight! – Californias to support the “ecological footprint” of California residents.

Read the whole story

A man was seriously injured in the Rubicon Spring area of the Rubicon Jeep Trail.

Because of low clouds, thunderstorms, lightning, wind, and heavy downpours in the area, no helicopter could respond on the morning of July 8.

.The patient was stabilized as best as possible and the decision was made to drive him out by an El Dorado County sheriff’s OHV unit. The deputies loaded the patient into the EDSO Rubicon Jeep at Buck Island Lake.

While transporting the patient, there was only room for one deputy and the injured male. The second deputy had to walk. The trail was extra dangerous due to the heavy rain and limited visibility.

As of today, the patient is reportedly in good condition. The name and hometown of the person have not been released, nor has any info about how the person was hurt or what the injuries were.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report