California State Parks, Nevada Division of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service will continue prescribed fire operations Jan. 20.

Operations may take place near Tahoe City on Highway 28 between Rocky Ridge and Lake Forest, near Emerald Bay at Eagle Point Campground, the boat camp and behind Vikingsholm, Fallen Leaf Lake, Ski Run Boulevard near Heavenly, north of Spooner Summit, and Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park near Sand Harbor.

Operations will last through the next several weeks as conditions allow.

Smoke from prescribed fire operations is normal and may continue for several days after an ignition depending on the project size.

The Forest Service updates the local fire information line at 530.543.2600, ext. 6. To receive prescribed fire notifications, send an email to pa_ltbmu@fs.fed.us.

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

Placerville police report that a juvenile has been arrested in connection with graffiti that has appeared throughout the city during the past couple of weeks.

The arrest was made Wednesday. Police said graffiti incidents had increased in recent weeks, and all the tagging was similar, indicating that it might have been the work of one person or group.

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By Robert O’Harrow Jr., Sari Horwitz and Steven Rich, Washington Post

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without evidence that a crime occurred.

Holder’s action represents the most sweeping check on police power to confiscate personal property since the seizures began three decades ago as part of the war on drugs.

Since 2008, thousands of local and state police agencies have made more than 55,000 seizures of cash and property worth $3 billion under a civil asset forfeiture program at the Justice Department called Equitable Sharing.

The program has enabled local and state police to make seizures and then have them “adopted” by federal agencies, which share in the proceeds. The program allowed police departments and drug task forces to keep up to 80 percent of the proceeds of the adopted seizures, with the rest going to federal agencies.

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• It’s time to signup for Little League on the South Shore. For more info, go online.

• The Joerger Ranch Specific Plan in Truckee will have a public hearing before the Planning Commission on Jan. 20 at 6pm in the council chambers.

• Terrence Martin, who grew up in Gardnerville and now lives in Sacramento, created the guitar at Lake Tahoe Hard Rock that stands 25-feet-tall and weighs 2,150 pounds.

• Carson Tahoe Cardiology now has a part-time clinic in Stateline. For more info, call 775.445.7650.

• American Forests is partnering with the Sugar Pine Foundation to plant 7,000 sugar pines on 152 acres in Tahoe National Forest and the surrounding area.

By Kelly Bastone, Outdoor

In January 2013, 24-year-old Laura Fraser hit a tree while snowboarding at Fernie, British Columbia. Afterward, she felt a ringing in her ears that doctors attributed to a mild concussion, and within a few days she felt fine.

But then she had another, less traumatic fall in March 2014. That’s when her life changed. Fraser became irritable, had difficulty concentrating, and experienced headaches that worsened with exertion. “It took me three times as long to do the things I used to do,” she recalls. Her local Nova Scotia doctors told her to avoid anything that provoked symptoms, but she didn’t recover. Instead, her mental focus became so poor that she had to drop out of school.

For decades, doctors have told concussed athletes like Fraser to rest, avoid bright lights, and limit activity. Having had one concussion places you at greater risk for another, they thought. But emerging science says that’s bunk: You can recover from a concussion, with active treatments that re-condition the injured parts of your brain.

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Tom and Cheryl Millham of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care will be the guest speakers at the next Tahoe Area Sierra Club meeting.

LTWC raises, rehabilitates and releases orphaned and injured wildlife. 2014 was a busy year for the center with a record number of bear cubs, including little Cinder from Washington state.

The Millhams will be sharing their stories and photos of the bears, bobcats, and many of the other wildlife animals they have nursed back
to health. They will also give an update on the new wildlife center being planned in South Lake Tahoe.

It is not necessary to be a member to attend the free talk. The talk is Jan. 29 at 7pm at Unity at the Lake Center, 1195 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

By Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

The Common Core State Standards call for kindergartners to learn how to read, but a new report by early childhood experts says that forcing some kids to read before they are ready could be harmful.

Two organizations that advocate for early childhood education — Defending the Early Years and Alliance for Childhood — issued the report titled “Reading in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose.” It says there is no evidence to support a widespread belief in the United States that children must read in prekindergarten or kindergarten to become strong readers and achieve academic success.

The adoption of the Common Core State Standards falsely implies that having children achieve these standards will overcome the impact of poverty on development and learning, and will create equal educational opportunity for all children.

The report says that kindergarten has since the 1980s become increasingly academic — with big pushes from President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and President Obama’s Race to the Top — and that today many children are being asked to do things they are not ready to do.

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High Fives Foundation and Charity Smith will present the Squaw Valley Prom on Feb. 21 at 8pm.

The event will take place at Squaw Valley’s Olympic House, using the entire building and making available six bars for spirits and cocktails. The 11th annual prom is appropriately themed after the award winning film “Ocean’s Eleven,” with guests looking so fancy, they could own the Bellagio.

Andy Frasco and the UN will provide the music along with  four nationally-known DJ acts.

Tickets for the High Fives Foundation fundraiser available online.

By Patricia Cohen, New York Times

When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit.

That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington, labeled the most regressive, to Delaware, ranked as the fairest of them all.

According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent.

The trend is growing worse, said Meg Wiehe, state policy director at the institute, a nonpartisan research organization based in the nation’s capital. Several states have adopted or are considering policy changes that further lighten the tax load on their wealthiest residents, she said.

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By Alena Hall, Huffington Post

There’s no doubt that the worst of winter has arrived (in some places), bringing sub-zero temperatures and icy winds along with it. The dark, frigid days make it tough to stay positive as we slog through our daily commutes and count down each hour of the workweek until we can return to snuggling up on the couch at home with loved ones and Netflix.

However, once a beautiful bout of snow is added to this wintry mix, we often find our feelings of bitterness transform into ones of pure, unadulterated joy.

It seems to wipe the slate of our world clean, rejuvenating our personal perspectives at the same time. Whether you choose to play in the snowfall or appreciate it through a frosty window, there’s no denying that the beautiful snowflakes make you pause and take notice of their arrival.

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