Zephyr Cove Resort, Great Basin Brewing Co. and Nancy’s Green Barn Farm won the Best Tasting Experience based on votes from attendees of Sample the Sierra. Zephyr Cove Resort prepared gourmet grilled cheese with a cold tomato basil soup served with brews from Reno-based Great Basin Brewing Co.

The fifth annual farm-to-fork festival was at Bijou Community Park on Aug. 31 — the first year at this location.

The Sierra Chefs Challenge had last year’s winner Peter Brinckerhoff, executive chef for the Tahoe Restaurant Collective, competing against past participant Jeremy “Boomer” Acuña of Zephyr Cove Resort, and newcomers Stephen Moise of Ridge Tahoe and Jimi Nakamatsu of Kalani’s. Brinckerhoff retained his title.

Mushroom-designed fireworks light up the sky Aug. 31. Photos/Howie Nave

Pyrotechnics become butterflies.

People will be out in force today picking up debris from Sunday’s annual fireworks show.

The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority is organizing trash pick up today through Sept. 5 from 9am-noon each day. The beaches include: 4H Beach, Tahoe Shores, Nevada Beach, Round Hill Pines.

The fireworks on the South Shore are now shot off from the Nevada side.

The cleanup days are to help ensure all the floating debris is removed and discarded properly.

Yazzy

Yazzy is a 2-year-old Australian shepherd mix who is house trained and very affectionate with her people. She walks nicely on her leash, and has lived with teenagers.

Yazzy does well with large dogs, but cannot be trusted with cats and small animals. She has a lot of energy and would make a great hiking and camping companion.

Yazzy is spayed, microchipped, tested for heartworm, 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

Timothy B. Schmit dazzles the crowd at Harveys on Aug. 30. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Susan Wood

STATELINE – I was 12 years old when the Eagles’ debut album came out. I spent so many hours in my room listening to it that my mom would occasionally feel the need to check on me.

I loved the melodic harmony and kickback California style so much that it set the ground for my longing to leave the East Coast for the West. More than half the songs off the album became hits, from one of their favorite early garage-type jams “Witchy Woman” and heavy guitar rhythm “Already Gone” to top-down cruisey “Take It Easy” and sway-inducing “Train Leaves Here This Morning.”

From there, I was hooked – gobbling up LPs from “On the Border” to the more recent “Long Road Out of Eden.” This was the first full studio album in 28 years for one of the most popular rock bands of all time.

Some would say the group’s signature country-rock blend was a first for this popular mix and definitely not the last.

The Eagles wrapped up the Harveys Outdoor Concert Series this weekend with two sold-out shows. This part of their box-office record-breaking “History” tour was so named to coincide with a 2013 documentary of the same name. The band, which is led by front men Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, will continue on its massive $145 million tour that started July 2013.

Glenn Frey and Don Henley

The core singers and musicians returned to Stateline for the second time. This time original guitarist and banjo plucker Bernie Leadon joined them, much to the delight of the heavy baby boomer crowd. The band members looked older, but still had it — as they were on key and in sync with their guitars, percussion and keyboards.

Always considered the proverbial bad boy of the band, the longhaired Walsh even delivered on his own major hits “Life’s Been Good” and “Rocky Mountain Way.” He engaged the crowd with a call to perfect a guttural chant and provided his own classic contorted facial expressions.
Through the years, Walsh, Henley and Frey have shown their mettle in going solo.

Henley – always widely respected for his ability to sing as a drummer, launched the band into his own mega hit “Dirty Laundry.” The timeless piece showed news images depicting the public’s fascination with misfortunes in the news cycles.
Even Schmit, who mainly plays with the band, took the lead for his sweet, high-pitched honest depiction of a romance gone awry with “I Can’t Tell You Why.”

And later Frey tipped the band’s hat to the Beach Boys, indicating how the 1960s beach soft rock group led by Brian Wilson inspired his band’s harmonious sound.

“The Eagles were settlers, but the Beach Boys were pioneers,” he said.

With that, “Heartache Tonight” made the crowd rise again.

Then, Walsh cranked out the sexy “Those Shoes.”

After a fun-filled electric guitar challenge between Walsh and Frey in which the latter announced “you got to be funky,” the boys of summer got the crowd to its feet for “Life in the Fast Lane” – one of its biggest hits in more than four decades of making music.

The event brought hit after hit after hit.

I’ve never been to a concert where so many people knew most of the words to the songs. The couple behind us belted out a good majority of them.
Harrah’s entertainment director, John Packer, said before the Aug. 30 show to expect that based on Friday night’s concert.

“This is a bucket list show for people,” he said. “People hear they’re touring and don’t care what tickets cost.”

The Eagles shows are some of the priciest.

The first time the band played Stateline the shows sold-out immediately, prompting Harrah’s management to add a performance.
The Eagles apparently like returning to Lake Tahoe for however long they play together.

“They find out what a lot of what locals know. It’s nice here. And (the band members) get that vibe,” Packer said.

Some people don’t think twice about seeing this band more than once, as in Joe Patone of Belmont.

“I like the venue here,” he said, while the band opened with country tune “How Long.”

The group followed up with the audience sighing with a big “ah” for its soft melody “Take it to the Limit.”

From start to finish, the band gave the audience a walk down memory lane. When Henley and company left the stage before a triple encore; I could hear concertgoers declaring the band had to play “Hotel California.” The song, with its so-named album, became one of its biggest hits and marked its peak of commercial success in 1976.

But it was Henley standing in a plaid shirt at the mic for his melancholy “Desperado” that is moving enough to make the emotional cry. The lights even came up for the entire audience to sing, “you better let somebody love you.”

With yet another special pinnacle in the band’s storied career, the Eagles have sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, earning five No. 1 U.S. singles and six Grammy awards. In 1998, the band was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

By Larry Weitzman

Item No. 3 on the consent calendar at the Aug. 26 El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting demonstrates why the county needs new top management. It was a small item asking for three $20,000 checks, one to the city of Placerville, one to the Cameron Park CSD and a third to the El Dorado Hills CSD – all for operational costs in running their public pools or in the case of EDHCSD for a shade structure.

There were a couple problems with the CAO Terri Daly’s request. The budget from June 12 that approved the Placerville appropriation was absent for the CPCSD and the EDHCSD. Without a budget appropriation, you can’t ask for the check.

Larry Weitzman

On top of that problem Daly didn’t follow the appropriate process of going to the Recreation Committee for approval. But, notwithstanding the problems that Daly thought she could slide through by using the consent calendar, there were constituents who spoke up for Daly (benefactors of her largess) who thought what she was doing for them was wonderful. Hey, if someone wanted to give me a new $20,000 car, I would sing his or her praises, too. We have “procedures, policies and processes” in operating a government (thank you BOS member Norma Santiago for those words) and they are to be followed as so strongly pointed out by Supervisor Brian Veerkamp, saying that the county is looking at a $12 million to $17 million short fall next year and the county’s No. 1 priority is public safety (not recreation).

When she was CAO of Amador County, Daly used the consent calendar for approval of a lease modification that cost Amador County $20 million in an unnecessary grossly expensive lease.

At the same BOS meeting during a closed session action, the acting IT director was removed because she lacked the minimum qualifications. Yes, you guessed it, she was a Terry Daly appointment to a job that pays about $140,000 a year. In an interesting twist, Daly tries to turn this mistake of hers into a positive by an email sent by Daly that said the following. Daly didn’t say the BOS fired the acting IT director because she wasn’t qualified but said, “The BOS reported out last evening that the acting IT director is returning to the CAO’s office as a principal analyst (a $110,000 a year job) … and thanked her for her work in IT … I am excited to have her back with us ….”

Since she wasn’t qualified, I wonder about the quality of her work. Is she even qualified as an analyst as it is questionable if she even has a four-year college degree.

But perhaps there is something more insidious going on. There is a rumor that Daly is wrangling for a long term, no cut contract. And the rumor comes from a reliable source, so the gist of it might very well be true. And the contract idea could have a quid pro quo. In other words, you get me a contract and I’ll get you a job (with such a contract the BOS couldn’t do anything about who Daly hires or fires). But it would take three supervisors to make such a contract happen. And this is where it gets dicey. Another supervisor will be elected on Sept. 9 to fill the vacant seat of District II and that vote could be critical.

I interviewed every candidate running for a supervisorial seat whether it is District II, IV or V to ask them one question, would they vote yes or no to a long term, no cut CAO contract at her $200,000 plus salary? When explained the ramifications of abdicating most of their power to the CAO and perhaps their responsibility to their constituents, they all agreed they would not vote for such a thing, except for Sue Novasel who was non-committal and Jennifer Nutting as explained below.

Mike Rinalli, District IV candidate, in an interview perhaps said it best without recognizing the possible quid pro quo, “Why would I work so hard to be elected a supervisor and then abdicate most of my power to the CAO.”

The CAO has the power to hire and fire most county employees and the only check on the CAO is the right to fire her at will. You could still fire her, but if there were three years left on a contract, it would cost the county over $600,000 to do so. All of these conversations were long, 15 minutes or more to discuss the question and to distill their answers.

District II supervisorial candidates said the following among other things. Chris Amaral said “absolutely not, no long-term contracts.” Shiva Frentzen also said essentially the same thing, “no, no long-term contracts.”

Claire McNeal seems to understand the question the best, recognizing this could be a quid pro quo with shenanigans involved and just said two words “No way.” Those two words where the first thing she said, no explanations as to such a contract’s ramifications were necessary. She got it immediately.

George Turnboo said such a contract “is not gonna happen, the BOS are the elected and need control. The buck stops with them.”

Dave Pratt wasn’t quite as strong in his opinion, saying he would have to study such a contract in detail (most of the candidates interviewed said the same thing about the potential contract described). In Pratt’s words as to such a contract he said he “doubts he would agree to such a contract.”
Jennifer Nutting was called twice with clear messages left on her voicemail, but she refused to return the calls. My message said I would like to ask just this one question, but her refusal to call back makes her unacceptable as a candidate. She also would not allow herself to be interviewed by the Mountain Democrat as well. Hiding from the press and refusing to answer questions (she also never appeared at any candidate forum) disqualifies her as a candidate. It is not the American way.

There are three other candidates, Howard Penn for District IV responded by saying, “Very unlikely and there would have to be compelling reasons for such a contract, but as to a yes or no, it would be no.” Penn and I had the longest conversation, seemingly discussing everything under the sun for over 100 minutes, but only perhaps spending about 15 minutes on the subject question.

In District 5, the candidates showed a real dichotomy in that Kenny Curtzwiler said, “Certainly no action should be taken until after the election. They better not tie my hands.”

Novasel was noncommittal, giving a political answer by saying, “I couldn’t vote on something I don’t know about.” While I tried to explain the hypothetical details, Novasel was still noncommittal.

There are obvious problems in the administration of EDC. And they are located right at the top. Voters please look at and listen to all the supervisorial candidates carefully. It has never been more critical. Ask questions and demand straight answers. You are placing a lot of trust into three people. They will be lawmakers with the power to spend hundreds of millions of dollars.

Larry Weitzman is a resident of Rescue.

By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee

Drive across city limits in virtually any part of California, and you will also cross another kind of frontier, one gaining more attention during the worst drought in a generation: The borders between cities also define different ideas about water. One city may have gutters coursing with wasted water, while its neighbor lives by the highest conservation standards.

The differences can be glaring, according to a Bee review of data submitted by water agencies, and they highlight some of the challenges in achieving broad conservation goals during the ongoing drought. In a hypothetical tour of the state, according to the data, the well-informed traveler would encounter the following disparities:

• In the tony hillside mansions of Los Altos, residents in 2012 consumed an average of 197 gallons of water per person each day. Step across the city limits into Mountain View, and consumption drops to 139 gallons per day.

• In Anaheim, the home of Disneyland, per capita consumption is 163 gallons per day. Next door in Garden Grove, the average is only 128 gallons each per day.

• In the state capital’s metro region, Folsom residents consume 329 gallons each per day. Their neighbors in adjacent Orangevale consume significantly less, 225 gallons per day.

Read the whole story

By Josh Dawsey, Wall Street Journal

ATLANTIC CITY — Early Tuesday morning, gamblers at the Revel Casino Hotel will be asked to leave, and security guards will take over at the gleaming, 47-story building on the north end of the boardwalk.

The sudden closing of the two-year-old Revel, plus two other casinos shutting their doors in the next few weeks, marks the end of Atlantic City’s decades-long reliance on gambling to stay afloat.

When Atlantic City opened its first casino in 1978, state and local officials talked up gambling as the path to revival for a shore resort plagued by high unemployment and white flight to the suburbs. While the city had its moments—even surpassing the Las Vegas Strip in gambling revenue for much of the 1980s and 1990s—many politicians, residents and business people are giving up on the dream.

The city is bracing itself for the loss of more than 6,000 jobs at the Revel, Showboat and Trump Plaza, and collateral damage as businesses and the city itself cope with the aftermath. In January, the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, with about 800 rooms, closed.

Read the whole story

By Matt Egan, CNN Money

NEW YORK — Sports gamblers have lots in common with stock market investors.

They both believe they can predict the future, and they sometimes fall into the trap of making decisions with their hearts instead of their brains. And of course, they both hate to lose.

But don’t let those similarities fool you. Gambling on sports may be more fun, but it’s definitely a more risky use of money than putting it in the stock market.

In the long run, investors have the chance to make more money because there are fewer downside risks.

To put it another way, the stock market is a lot more forgiving than the MGM Grand (let alone your local sports bookie).

“A lot of people regard investing as gambling, but I frequently say no. Which casino in Atlantic City, Las Vegas or Macau pays the bettor 73 percent of the time?” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P Capital IQ.

That’s the percentage of time that Stovall’s research shows the S&P 500 — the gold standard in the stock market — has increased in value during the years since 1926.

Read the whole story

The Sugar Pine Foundation and Explore Tahoe: An Urban Trailhead Visitor Center, and the Tahoe Rim Trail Association are teaming up for a morning of discovery and fun in the Van Sickle Bi-State Park in South Lake Tahoe.

During the free 1.5-mile trek people will explore forest management of this area, while visiting panoramic vistas and a small waterfall. All the while, we’ll discuss the fate of the magnificent Sugar Pine and what individuals are doing to help the species persevere for future generations.

People will be collecting sugar pine cones from high up in the trees and the director of the Sugar Pine Foundation will share her seed bank of knowledge.

The hike is Sept. 12 from 10am-noon. Go online to register.

By Associated Press

ELKO — A state panel has approved regulations guiding oil and gas exploration companies’ use of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, in Nevada.

The Commission on Mineral Resources’ unanimous decision Thursday in Elko drew criticism from opponents, who say fracking could lead to water contamination, excessive water consumption and earthquake activity.

But supporters say the concerns are exaggerated, and they add that oil and gas development resulting from fracking will provide a boost to Nevada’s economy.

The 2013 Legislature passed legislation requiring adoption of fracking regulations by January 2015.

Kate Fay, a representative of Houston-based Noble Energy Inc., praised the regulations. Her company is searching for oil in northeastern Nevada.

“Noble Energy believes these regulations are tough but they’re workable, that they will help ensure that all oil and gas operators in Nevada follow best practices to protect public health and the environment,” she said, according to the Elko Daily Free Press. “We think it will ensure the state has a strong role in enforcing these rules.”

But Bob Fulkerson of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada said the governor-appointed commission was stacked with members with ties to “extractive industries” including oil and mining. The process to review the regulations was rushed, he said, and did not allow adequate public input.

“We know we’re playing in a game that’s been rigged from the get-go,” he said, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. “It does appear the foxes have been put in charge of guarding the hen house. Nevada is simply not ready for this.”

Dawn Harris of Frack Free Nevada said substantial evidence from scientists links fracking to problems in human health, while opponent Steve Fisher said “water in this state should trump oil.”

Some tribal members and farmers also voiced opposition to fracking, which involves extracting oil and gas from rock by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals.

Among other things, the new regulations require the monitoring of well casings for quality, the disclosure of all chemicals used, the notification of land owners and county commissioners and the collection of multiple water samples for testing.

Resident Bob St. Louis, a hydrologist, said the regulations were well-vetted and would not endanger the land.

“I believe these regulations haven’t been rushed,” he said. “I believe best practices have been adopted from numerous states with a long history of fracking — both good and bad experiences. I think these are practical and thorough.”

Pam Borda, executive director of the Northeastern Nevada Regional Development Authority, said oil and gas development was needed to help diversify the economy in rural Nevada.