On Dec. 18 from 4:30-6pm the Truckee Police Department is hosting a presentation on the new driver’s license available from the California DMV as of Jan. 1.

This driver’s license will be available to any California resident regardless of immigration status.

The presentation will be primarily in Spanish and will include information, applications and study guides from DMV. DMV representatives will be present to answer questions and help applicants through the process.

The presentation will be at the Truckee Donner Recreation and Park District building at 8924 Donner Pass Road.

The Truckee Community Christmas toy, food, and coat drives are under way. Collection bins can be found all over town for toy donations.

Coats may be donated at Church of the Mountains or Sierra Bible Church. And food items are being collected at local grocery stores. Look for the recommended food lists and barrels at the front of your favorite grocery store.

Contributions will directly help a local family in need that has been identified by area agencies, schools or churches, screened and approved to be a program recipient. To make an online donation, find out where collection bins are located, how to volunteer and more, go to this website.

For questions, call 530.587.2757.

By Dan Charles, NPR

A government-appointed group of top nutrition experts, assigned to lay the scientific groundwork for a new version of the nation’s dietary guidelines, decided earlier this year to collect data on the environmental implication of different food choices.

Congress now has slapped them down.

Lawmakers attached a list of “congressional directives” to a massive spending bill that passed both the House and the Senate in recent days. One of those directives expresses “concern” that the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee “is showing an interest in incorporating agriculture production practices and environmental factors” into their recommendations, and directs the Obama administration to ignore such factors in the next revision of the guidelines, which is due out next year.

The directive is not legally binding, but ignoring it would provoke yet another political battle between the Obama administration and Congress.

The federal dietary guidelines have never explicitly considered the effects of food choices on the environment, but the idea of doing so is not new.

Read the whole story

A fire Sunday night caused more than $30,000 in damage to a South Lake Tahoe cabin.

An electrical outlet shorted out, Fire Chief Jeff Meston told Lake Tahoe News.

All of the contents and the second floor of the Marjorie Street house were destroyed Dec. 14. The bottom level is still livable.

Lake Valley and Tahoe Douglas assisted. The hard part was how far away the fire hydrant was – it meant laying down 900 feet of hose.

South Lake Tahoe firefighters have been busy. The day/night of the Dec. 11 storm they responded to 40 calls, including five structure fires and two wildland fires. The structure fires were small – a chimney fire, kitchen fire and heater overheating. The wildland fires were in response to a controlled burn and power lines going down.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

To the community,

Our community is still reeling from the tragic turn of events this weekend. I have been receiving phone calls and emails today from concerned community members wondering how they can help Dejon Smith’s family in this time of need. I spoke with a representative of the family today and they did not have funeral or memorial plans yet. I will let you know when we hear anything.

I do know that Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s cousin has set up a fund to help the family with funeral expenses. I also spoke with a co-worker of Mrs. Smith’s at Grocery Outlet, where she is employed, and was told that they are also accepting donations for the family.

Superintendent Jim Tarwater said today, “There are no words to ease the heartache and pain that Dejon’s family and friends are experiencing following this tragic accident, but our hearts go out to them. Our counselors and local grief support professionals are providing assistance at school for the students and our tight-knit community will rally to do all that it can to help bring comfort during these difficult times.”

Our counseling team will continue to be based in the Stadium View Building (SV107) all week and will be available to work with any student or group of students who need help. Please encourage any children who are expressing concerns at home to avail of the services.

Thank you for your continued support.

Angie Keil, Lake Tahoe Unified School District

By Ed Koch, Las Vegas Sun

Paramedic Alan Tinney remembers pulling up to MGM Grand on that autumn day in 1980 and witnessing “a fireball coming out the side of the building” — the beginning of what would be the deadliest tragedy in Nevada history. Eighty-five people died in the blaze, and nearly 700 were injured.

Tinney would make three runs from MGM — now Bally’s — carrying seven to nine victims each time to emergency rooms. Along the way, he and his partner provided life-saving treatments for smoke inhalation to several patients.

The day’s efforts occurred just seven years after the birth of the nation’s modern Emergency Medical Services system that nurtured a new generation of professional, medically trained first responders.

Tinney is one of about 150 emergency responders, representing every Nevada county, to be profiled in the recently released book “Nevada EMS: A History of Emergency Medical Services in Nevada” written by retired Reno physician Elwood L. Schmidt.

Read the whole story

Wayne Allen Huntsman

The man accused of starting the devastating King Fire near Pollock Pines in September has been indicted on one felony charge.

Wayne Allen Huntsman was arraigned Dec. 15 in El Dorado County Superior Court in Placerville. Huntsman’s attorney filed a motion to recuse the judge. A trial setting conference is scheduled for Jan. 23 with Judge Ken Melikian.

The grand jury handed down the indictment Dec. 3, accusing Huntsman of arson of forestland with five special allegations of arson with aggravating factors. This includes causing great bodily injury because a firefighter was hurt, and an enhancement because of the 12 houses and 68 outbuildings that were destroyed at a loss of $6.5 million.

Huntsman’s bail remains set at $10 million.

The fire took nearly one month to contain. It burned 97,717 acres northeast of Pollock Pines, mostly in the Eldorado National Forest.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kelly Dinardo, New York Times

Beads of sweat trickled down my back, forming an icy pool where my thermal top had ridden up. My heart, drumming a furious, hard-rock beat, accompanied the loud gasping of my breath. Reaching forward with one arm, I stabbed my pole into the snow-covered ground, slid the opposite leg forward and continued to ski up the mountain at La Fouly, a small, four-lift resort in the Valais region of Switzerland.

Known as ski mountaineering, Alpine touring or skinning, this is skiing much as it was before chairlifts: you propel yourself up the mountain before swooshing back down.

For years, skinning remained primarily the domain of backcountry skiers, those adventurous athletes who ventured off slope to ungroomed, unmarked, unpatrolled terrain. Today, people skin to reach isolated sections of a mountain, to search out fresh, deep powder or for the calorie-torching workout. And, it’s no longer limited to off-piste ground.

“It’s taking over at resorts,” said Tyler Cohen, managing editor of Backcountry Magazine. “It’s a good way to get in shape before the conditions are ready for backcountry skiing. It’s a great way to squeeze in a run and a workout before or after work. And, it’s a different way to experience skiing.”

An enthusiastic downhill skier, I spotted my first skinners battling uphill a year before my own huffing-and-puffing attempt. From the comfort of a gondola, I would pull up my neck warmer or yank on my mittens and study a man dripping with sweat or a woman in just short sleeves, working his or her way up the slopes of the Swiss Alps below.

Curious, I grilled all the people I met who mentioned they skinned until, in late January, my friend Greg Stewart said, “I’ll take you tomorrow.”

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

Usually I fix something to eat and then decide what wine to have with it. But earlier this month I took the reverse approach.

A friend gave me a bottle of Silver Oak Cabernet to celebrate Lake Tahoe News turning 5 in September. I knew I needed the perfect entrée to complement this wine.

On a solo sojourn to Scottsdale I created a stuffed portabella mushroom dish that paired exquisitely with the wine. I realized I was taking a chance by not using a recipe, and instead coming up with the concoction as I shopped. Fortunately, it worked out.

Portabella mushrooms are one of the most hearty vegetarian options to complement a robust red wine. In the vegetable world, it’s our steak.

Stuffed Portabella Mushroom

2-3 portabella mushrooms

1 bunch green onions, minced

½ bunch asparagus, finely chopped

9 mini bell peppers, finely chopped

2 T butter

Fontina cheese, shredded

Vegetable oil

Black pepper

½ jar roasted red peppers

½ small jar marinated artichoke hearts

Cut off stems of mushrooms, mince to add to veggie mixture.

Over medium-high heat sauté onion, asparagus and peppers in melted butter. Add pepper to taste. Add chopped mushroom stems. Cook until soft.

Place mushrooms on pan with edges. Brush mushroom with oil. Heat mushrooms for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove mushrooms from oven.

Divide vegetable mixture evenly into mushroom caps.

Cover veggie mixture with shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted.

In blender mix roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.

Put mushrooms on individual plates to serve. Pour pepper-artichoke mixture on mushroom. Serve.

(The leftover pepper-artichoke mixture is superb on scrambled eggs.)

“Collage” takes place Jan. 8-10 at the Truckee High School auditorium.

Members of the Drama Club have been rehearsing a collection of scenes and monologues for months. Works will include a number of monologues written by the actors, as well as one-act plays and scenes.

The actors are preparing for the Lenaea Theater Festival at the end of January, where many of these pieces will be entered for competition. The Lenaea Theater Festival offers three days of workshops where the high school actors from throughout Northern California perform before working theater professionals from across the country, known as “respondents”. The respondents view and critique the performances and ultimately, award medals in Monologues, Duo Scenes, One Act plays, and Musical Theater performances.

The shows start a 7 each night, 11725 Donner Pass Road, Truckee. Tickets are $10 adults, $8 students.

For more info, call 530.386.1929.