By Sam McManis, Sacramento Bee

LONE PINE  — These days, sad to say, movie location scouts are so eager to flee California for cushy tax enticements that they don’t even deign to shoot films supposed to be set in the Golden State on our terra bella.

Toronto is sometimes fobbed off as Los Angeles, Vancouver stands in for San Francisco. Heck, in the recent film “Kill the Messenger,” a scene in a Sacramento Capitol news bureau was filmed in Atlanta.

Atlanta? Really?

Ah, but once, there was a California town – mountainous and craggy, sandy and tumbleweed-strewn – that stood in for any hundreds of far-flung locales on the silver screen.

Need a place that can look like the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan (“Charge of the Light Brigade,” 1936) or maybe the vastness of the Himalayas (“Gunga Din,” 1939)?

Go to Lone Pine, the cinematic little town up Highway 395 in Inyo County.

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By Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette-Journal

Lots of people who cover more than 400 miles cycling, paddling, ascending and trekking might say they’ve had an active season.

People who join the Primal Quest adventure race at Lake Tahoe Aug. 22-29 are expected to be able to do as much in about four days.

Organizers are planning a revival of the iconic race that from 2002-09 was known as one of the toughest events of its kind on the planet.

Maria Burton, who directed the event for its first three editions, is seeking to bring the race back with a modern twist. It’s a big job considering that by August, when the next race is scheduled, Primal Quest will have been on hiatus more than five years.

The 2003 race started in South Lake Tahoe with 80 teams and covered 457 miles. The disciplines included caving, mountain biking, trekking, ascending, traversing on ropes, rappelling, whitewater paddling, night navigation and orienteering.

Burton said the 2015 event will have some similar disciplines but will be updated to include newer activities, such as standup paddleboarding, which only recently has exploded in popularity.

Some of the reasons Lake Tahoe is a good adventure venue are the diverse terrain and great views and proximity population centers that can accommodate event support and online access.

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By Christopher Cadelago, Sacramento Bee

When all the ballots are finally tallied from this month’s election, the proportion of Californians voting by mail is expected to break the record set in 2012, the first time more than half of the state’s electorate voted absentee.

The uptick has more Californians pushing for the state to go all the way and ditch traditional polling places. Washington, Colorado and Oregon require all of their elections to be run entirely by mail, and at least 19 others permit some of their elections to be all mail, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

County elections officials have touted the potential increase in voter interest and significant savings from avoiding the task of recruiting and training polling place workers. And some believe an all-mail system could even help speed up and avoid some overtime ballot-counting.

“I say, ‘yes, please,’” said Jill LaVine, the registrar of voters in Sacramento County. “I would love to go all vote-by-mail.”

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By Kathryn Reed

With temperatures consistently below freezing at night, it is time to start cooking comfort food. They tend to be dishes that make the house smell good, warm the insides and often involve having plenty for leftovers.

Mac and cheese has never been one of my favorite meals – not even as a kid. In fact, I had never made mac and cheese until I was an adult. It was for my nieces and nephew. It was that Kraft stuff that is a color yellow that I don’t think is found in the natural world. It’s all about additives.

My mom made a mac and cheese from scratch. I didn’t like that either.

Considering I like pasta and cheese it seems hard to imagine I would not like this simple combination.

Thanks to Sue I finally do. She made the recipe below. What makes this ensemble different is the add-ons and the different cheeses. It’s a bit of a grownup mac and cheese.

Adult Mac and Cheese

2 C grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

4 T extra virgin olive oil, divided

6 ounces penne pasta

2 tsp garlic, minced

5 T all purpose flour

1¾ C milk

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp pepper

¾ C part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/3 C Parmesan cheese, grated

½ C fresh basil leaves

3 T panko

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

Preheat boiler to high.

Combine tomatoes and 2 tsp oil on a jelly roll pan.

Broil 3 minutes or until tomatoes begin to break down.

Cook pasta. Drain water and return to pot.

In saucepan over medium heat add oil and garlic. Cook 1 minute and then add flour, milk, salt and pepper. Combine with a whisk. Simmer until thick; stirring constantly.

Remove pan from heat and stir in cheeses.

Add mixture to pasta. Stir to coat pasta.

Add tomatoes and basil.

Mixture may be spooned into individual ramekins or baking dish. Top with panko and red pepper flakes. Broil for 2 minutes or until panko is brown. Additional basil leaves may be used as garnish.

El Dorado County search and rescue teams were busy this weekend with people not equipped for the wilderness.

“All incidents were treated with high urgency, as none of these hikers was prepared for the cold temperatures we are experiencing,” Deputy Greg Almos told Lake Tahoe News. “All incidents involved inexperienced, not prepared day hikers. None of them had flashlights or light sources for nighttime travel.”

On Nov. 15 a couple in their late 30s got lost hiking down from Mt. Tallac. SAR volunteers had to hike into the area near Gilmore Lake and rescue them.

On Nov. 16 at about 3:30pm deputies got a call about two hikers lost near Cascade Falls. They were determined to be close to the falls near the trail. A deputy hiked in to get them.

At the same time, SAR got a call from a couple in their late 50s who got lost coming down Pyramid Creek Trail, aka Horsetail Falls. SAR volunteers were used to recover them due the technical steep location.

“In all incidents we used cell phone technology consisting of obtaining GPS coordinates from their 911 calls. This has proven to be very valuable, as it expedites our response significantly, preventing cold related illnesses,” Almos said

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Ken Ritter, AP

LAS VEGAS – A federal appeals court should reject a request by the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage for a full-court rehearing of a landmark decision allowing gay marriage in Nevada, the state’s governor and an advocacy group representing eight same-sex couples said.

In strongly worded filings submitted on a Wednesday deadline to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Gov. Brian Sandoval declared the same-sex marriage question settled in Nevada, and Lambda Legal lawyer Tara Borelli said the coalition had no standing to mount what she called a “final act of desperation” to prolong the case.

“While the question whether same-sex marriage can be prohibited remains in controversy elsewhere, it is not here,” Sandoval, a former U.S. District Court judge, said in a 10-page filing submitted by the Nevada state attorney general’s office. “The legal resolution of the matter in Nevada is in the public interest and should not be deferred by further proceedings.”

Hundreds of couples have married since a three-judge appeals court panel in San Francisco struck down Idaho and Nevada bans on gay marriage last month as a violation of equal-protection rights, Lambda Legal said in a 28-page document.

The ruling generated a wave of same-sex marriages in Las Vegas, which bills itself as the marriage capital of the world, but no tsunami. Same-sex couples made up a little more than 10 percent of about 2,300 couples who obtained marriage licenses around the state in the week after the gay marriage ban was dissolved.

Borelli derided the coalition’s involvement in the case as the architect of a Nevada state constitutional amendment passed in 2002 to prohibit same-sex marriage, but not a named party in the case Lambda filed in 2012. The case challenged the state law as a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Monte Neil Stewart, lawyer for the Boise, Idaho-based coalition, didn’t immediately respond Thursday to messages.

“Intervenor has no direct stake in the outcome of this appeal,” Borelli wrote, “it has no standing to petition for rehearing en banc. Intervenor’s final act of desperation — attacking this court’s integrity — is wholly devoid of merit and should be rejected.”

The coalition filed documents last month claiming bias by Judges Stephen Reinhardt, Marsha Berzon and Ronald Gould; alleging that Reinhardt and Berzon weren’t randomly appointed to hear gay-marriage cases from Nevada, Idaho and Hawaii; and accusing Reinhardt and Berzon of favoring the rights of gay men and lesbians.

Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is hosting a transportation workshop on Nov. 20 at 2:30pm.

The focus is talking about unmet transit needs in the basin.

The meeting will be at TRPA — 128 Market St., Stateline.

People who cannot attend may submit comments to jweber@trpa.org.

The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California is hosting an open house Nov. 24 at the Forest Supervisor’s office in South Lake Tahoe to seek public input on improvements at Meeks Bay Resort.

The Washoe Tribe operates the West Shore resort under a special use permit issued by the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. The resort provides day-use beach access, marina operations, cabins, and RV and tent camping.

The tribe will present preliminary concepts that look at ways to address pedestrian and vehicular circulation improvements, water quality best management practices, reorganization of overnight accommodations, and streamlining of overall facilities operations.

The  open house is from  5-7pm.

The Forest Supervisor’s Office is located at 35 College Drive in South Lake Tahoe.

Tahoe South Restaurant Week will feature at least 10 South Shore dining establishments.

Participating restaurants to-date include: Azul Latin Kitchen, Beacon Bar & Grill at Camp Richardson, Blue Angel Café, Boathouse on the Pier, Echo Restaurant at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel, Edgewood Tahoe, Jimmy’s at the Landing, MacDuff’s Pub, Riva Grill, and Tavern at Tahoe Beach Retreat.

The Jan. 9-16 event connects foodies with local eateries. Participating restaurants will feature specially-priced and prix fixe menus highlighting the theme Made with Altitude. There are no passes, tickets or coupons. Instead, diners simply visit their favorite participating restaurants throughout the week to enjoy the special menus.

Tahoe South Restaurant Week is part of California Restaurant Month, designated by Visit California. More than 30 destinations across California, from the desert and coast to Wine Country and High Sierra, will host restaurant weeks and other value-driven food programming in January.

For additional restaurant week information and menus, go online.

Columbia

Columbia is a nice Chihuahua who has been at the shelter for two months.

She is friendly, house trained, and loves to be held on your lap. Maybe she hasn’t been adopted yet because she’s a bit aloof at first. But when she warms up to you, she is a great, affectionate girl.

Columbia loves children and small dogs.

Columbia is spayed, microchipped, tested for heart worm, and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz