Longtime local Kathie McWilliams was suddenly diagnosed with lymphoma. She had to quit both her jobs to receive immediate treatment in Truckee.

There will be a fundraiser for her Nov. 13 from 4-9pm at the Flight Deck restaurant at Lake Tahoe Airport. Tickets are $20 in advance and may be purchased at Blue Angel, Sunsational Tans, Nepheles, Flight Deck and Meyers Downtown Cafe. Admission at the door will be $25.

Admission includes food provided by Nepheles, Blue Angel and Fasta Pasta and Cakes by Grace, and any entry for a prize. Entertainment will be by Jesse Kalen, Brian Murray, Ken Clark, Super Dave and Frank Benvenuto. There will be silent auction and raffles prizes from more than 50 local businesses.

For more information contact Rhonda at dobsoninc@sbcglobal.net.

By Jacob Adelman, Bloomberg

Oceanographers have detected isotopes linked to Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant off California’s coast, though at levels far below those that could pose a measurable health risk.

Volunteer ocean monitors collected the samples that tested positive for trace amounts of the isotope cesium-134 about 100 miles  west of Eureka, the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said this week on its website.

Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which released “unprecedented levels” of radioactivity during the March 2011 accident, was the only conceivable source of the detected isotopes, Woods Hole oceanographer Ken Buesseler said in the release.

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Wesley Shira and his dog Loci are sleeping outside in South Lake Tahoe until he finds a job to afford a roof over his head. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

Wesley Shira had a bedroll, some other belongings and his dog to keep him warm last night. The expected low in South Lake Tahoe was 30 degrees.

He called it camping. Others would call it being homeless.

“In this town it’s really hard to come up with any kind of long-term solution for something like that,” El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum told Lake Tahoe News. “Over the years there have been numerous homeless people we have found deceased in the meadows.”

Members of Lake Tahoe Collaborative are looking to create a warming room in South Lake Tahoe that might be open six months a year at night when the temperatures drop below freezing.

The Collaborative is a group of leaders of mostly nonprofits and government social service departments who meet monthly to bring awareness to the needs of their respective populations and to help find solutions so efforts are not duplicated and resources not wasted.

The Collaborative’s subcommittee working on the warming room has gained traction with the Salvation Army, Del Oro Division, which represents this area. Nicole Zaborsky is talking to the folks off the hill this week about the proposal that has been submitted. The Collaborative is working with Barton Foundation on the proposal.

“They will see what they can assist with,” Zaborsky, who is on the subcommittee, told Lake Tahoe News.

The main reason such a facility has not been started sooner on the South Shore is that no entity wants to be the lead agency, plus there is no one to foot the bill. But South Lake Tahoe isn’t alone; there is no shelter for the homeless anywhere in the basin.

Red Cross has said it can provide cots and emergency supplies if the Collaborative opens a warming room.

Leanne Wagoner, who is also on the subcommittee, foresees needing a place for about 20 people. She added it could be in the industrial area, and most likely not in a residential area. It will also need to be on a bus route.

The subcommittee is assessing whether a permanent bathroom or port-a-potty would be best. Should men and women be in the same room? What about kids? Pets? Security? People to supervise? Food?

All of those questions and more still need answers.

But for Shira and his dog Loci they wish the warming room were a reality.

“I don’t have a place to stay. I really could use a place,” the 32-year-old Shira told Lake Tahoe News as he stood Tuesday at the driveway entrance to Safeway holding a sign asking for work. “I have my ServSafe card. I can cook and handle food at any restaurant. But a lot of people don’t want to give people like me a chance.”

He has found work here before so he hitched a ride and returned.

It’s not unusual for Tahoe’s homeless to be transient. They think the area, especially being a 24-hour community, is rich with jobs. They don’t know people call Lake Tahoe “poverty with a view”.

Van Arnum said his department used to have money for bus passes to send people to a warmer climate. He said the county also in the past would hand out vouchers for hotel stays, but that resource has dried up.

He regularly talks with the Tahoe Area Coordinating Council for the Disabled and the National Alliance on Mental Illness about what more can be done for the homeless in the area. Working with local churches is one option, but it is not consistent.

“A lot of times people end up in town destitute with kids and it’s heartbreaking,” Van Arnum said. “We don’t have the funding and facilities in Tahoe for that.”

To the community,

Ameriprise Financial advisors, employees and clients recently came together to participate in the annual National Day of Service organized by Ameriprise in partnership with Feeding America, the nation’s largest leading anti-hunger organization.

In the Lake Tahoe South Shore community, in support of the event, Rick Gross, private wealth advisor, organized the local Amerprise Financial organization’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment on Nov. 3 to assist Bread & Broth in providing nutritious meals for the one in six in our community who struggle with hunger.

Supporting Ameriprise Financial’s effort to alleviate hunger especially during the holiday season were Roger Pratt, financial advisor; Ryan Nauman, paraplanner; and Mark Klover, CPA (Olivio, Zicko and Klover). These three sponsor volunteers were a great help at the dinner bagging food for the to-go bags, serving on the food line, manning the dishwasher and helping with the cleanup.

“It’s great to be able to give back to the community,” Nauman said. “Everyone was very friendly and appreciative of the warm meal they had. Makes a person proud of the Tahoe community.”

Thanks to Ameriprise Financial’s affiliation with Feeding America and concern for the hungry, the less fortunate of our community can count on B&B to provide another meal to help ease the burden of hunger.

To help B&B as a donor or sponsor, contact me at 530.542.2876 or carolsgerard@aol.com.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

By Roberto A. Ferdman, Washington Post

It might be time to reconsider the lunchbox.

A study carried out by researchers at Virginia Tech concluded that preschoolers and kindergartners tend to eat healthier lunches when the food is chosen by their school, not their parents. The study, which surveyed more than 1,300 lunches at three schools in Virginia, found that parents frequently pack things like chips, sweets, and sugary drinks—all of which are not allowed under the National School Lunch Program.

Parents, it turns out, appear to do just the opposite. More than 60 percent of meals packed at home had one dessert (nearly 20 percent had two or more); just under 60 percent had savory snacks, like chips; and roughly 40 percent had a soda or sugar-added juice. School meals, meanwhile, were more likely to contain fruits, vegetables, naturally sweetened juices, and milk.

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By Gamaliel Ortiz, KCRA-TV

The mysteries behind the meteorites that rained over California’s gold country in 2012 are becoming a little clearer.

NASA researchers found diamonds and other treasures that provide new insight into the early workings of the solar system. The nanodiamonds, however, are too small to sparkle in a ring.

Along with the diamond, the meteorite contained matter that was present in the nascent solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists said that some of the material found in the meteorite is likely present in other primitive asteroids.

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• The Valhalla Holiday Faire is Nov. 21 from 5:30-8:30pm, Nov. 22 from 10am-5pm and Nov. 23 from 10am-4pm.

• Public viewing of the Festival of Trees and Lights at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe is from 10am-2pm Dec. 4-6 and from noon-2pm Dec. 7. Cost: adults $5, ages 55 plus and 2-12 are $3.

• Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce’s breakfast meeting Nov. 18 from 7-8:30am will focus on the ski industry, with Bob Roberts of the California Ski Industry Association speaking. Cost is $10 for members, $12 for others. The meeting is at the Truckee airport.

• Corissa Welch now owns Tahoe Hair Company in South Lake Tahoe.

• TRYP’s November workshop on productivity management is designed to help people create calm amongst chaos. Alexis Robin of Nourish Life Coaching and Plink Coaching Center for Excellence will be speaking. The even is Nov. 19 at Tahoe Mountain Lab on Ski Run Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe from 5:30-6:30pm. It’s free for members, $5 for others.

Curt Emerie with the South Lake Tahoe American Legion speaks Nov. 11. Photo/Kathryn Reed

A hush fell over the crowd as each speaker expressed the importance of Veterans Day.

Nearly 90 people attended the South Lake Tahoe ceremony at the American Legion.

Patty Smith, whose son died in the Iraq war, spoke of how she took freedoms for granted before Timmy died. She apologized for having done so.

Mayor Hal Cole spoke of the sacrifices his 92-year-old father made fighting in World War II. He talked about his friends who went to Vietnam. Those who came back were forever changed, while many returned in a flag covered casket.

Veterans Day marks the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. At the time it was called the war to end all wars.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Scott Sonner, AP

RENO — The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a longtime Lake Tahoe lawyer who’s been trying for a decade to gain public access to private beaches on the lake’s tony North Shore.

The high court on Monday upheld an earlier Washoe District Court ruling that the Incline Village General Improvement District has the right to restrict access to the exclusive beach property it purchased in 1968.

Steve Kroll, who lives in neighboring Crystal Bay, first filed a lawsuit over the restrictions in 2008.

He argued in his latest challenge he’s entitled to access because Crystal Bay merged with the district in 1995 and all dues-paying members should be treated equally.

The Supreme Court disagreed, citing earlier rulings against Kroll by a federal judge in Reno and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

South Tahoe and Truckee high schools could find themselves playing against each other in the Division 1-A state championship for girls soccer.

But first both teams must win their respective semifinal game on Nov. 14 in Henderson. South Tahoe faces Faith Lutheran and Truckee will take on Sierra Vista.

The championship game is at noon Nov. 15 in Henderson.

On the boys side, Truckee will square-off against Sunrise Mountain on Friday in Henderson in the semifinal round.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report