The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, which includes local, state and federal agencies, may continue prescribed fire operations this week in some locations around Lake Tahoe, weather and conditions permitting. 

Smoke may be present. To receive prescribed fire notifications, send an email to pa_ltbmu@fs.fed.us. 

When weather and conditions allow, prescribed fire operations are conducted to reduce overgrown vegetation, which decreases the severity of future wildland fires, protects communities, reduces the risk of insect and disease outbreaks in our forests, recycles nutrients that increases soil productivity and improves wildlife habitat. 

Each prescribed fire operation follows a specialized prescribed fire burn plan that considers temperature, humidity, wind, moisture of the vegetation, and conditions for the dispersal of smoke.  This information is used to decide when and where to burn.

When prescribed fire operations are conducted, the TFFT posts road signs around areas affected by prescribed fire, sends email notifications and updates the local fire information line at 530.543.2816.

El Dorado County Board of Supervisors vacation home rental ad hoc committee will meet Feb. 12 from 1:30-3:30pm at the California Conservation Corps in Meyers.

Supervisors Sue Novasel and Mike Ranalli are the committee members. They are gathering input and will eventually make a recommendation to the full board about changes to the VHR ordinance.

The full board is expected to review the topic on March 3. The time and location have not been determined. The county is looking at 1pm. This will be a continuation of the meeting from last week that was canceled because of overcrowding.

Kim Pevenage shows Rosie Klym and Kash Hendrick how to properly brush. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

Rotting teeth fill the screen. Some are black from nicotine; some are decaying from drug use. Gums that have never been brushed reveal teeth that have seen better days and likely can’t be saved.

It was like a science project gone bad unfolding before the students’ eyes. Only this was real life. The images were all things Kim Pevenage sees on the job as a dental hygienist.

Two minutes twice a day and flossing at night. That’s the difference between healthy teeth and unhealthy teeth, she told Heather Hart’s fifth-grade class at Sierra House Elementary School. And that flossing – it should occur before the brushing in order to loosen any particles between the teeth.

“If you saw what I saw all day, you’d floss every day,” Pevenage told the students. She pointed out that healthy gums don’t bleed.

Students at Sierra House choose a toothbrush package. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Kash Hendrick and Alex Budd were eager to demonstrate they are good brushers. A tablet that turns teeth purple where there is plaque would prove otherwise. Smiling, it was like the boys had eaten a carton of purple popsicles. Brushing removed the colored evidence.

“After seeing the purple, I’m going to brush better,” Alex said.

Pevenage explains the importance of X-rays, how it gives dental professionals a better idea of what is going on in a person’s mouth.

“I need to be able to see in between the teeth, and to see the bone that holds your teeth,” she said. “Nicotine causes you to loose bone. Toxins in the nicotine eat away at the bone.”

Heather Hart’s class shows appreciation for Kim Pevenage, back center, for teaching them about dental care. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Each grade level receives a little different talk from Pevenage. The younger kids are shielded from the disturbing photos. High school kids can get an actual cleaning. All are given a pouch that has a tooth brush and small tube of paste.

Pevenage has been giving dental presentations in local schools since 2006 when her oldest daughter was in preschool at St. Theresa’s. From there it grew into doing talks for both daughters’ and each class of the respective grade level. In 2010, Pevenage started going into classrooms in Lake Tahoe Unified schools, with it growing from there.

Now she visits schools every other year, with the thought that this will better reinforce her message and the kids won’t get burned out on the talk.

Pevenage does this all on her own time. Her full time job is working as a hygienist for dentist Nicole Gordon in South Lake Tahoe.

Grants from Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation and Barton Health have allowed her to purchase some of the props she uses to help demonstrate her message, as well the giveaways for the kids, and tools for Pevenage to use in the dental lab at South Tahoe High School.

Pevenage has been working with dentist April Westfall since 2016 to bring care to South Tahoe High School students at the dental lab on campus. It means students not having to miss school, getting care that they might not otherwise have gotten, with any further work being done at Westfall’s office.

By Jonathan Thompson, High Country News

This month, hundreds of corporate representatives will sit down at their computers, log into something called Energynet, and bid, eBay style, for more than 300,000 acres of federal land spread across five Western states. They will pay as little as $2 per acre for control of parcels in southeastern Utah’s canyon country, Wyoming sage grouse territory and Native American ancestral homelands in New Mexico.

Even as public land advocates scoff at the idea of broad transfers of federal land to states and private interests, this less-noticed conveyance continues unabated. It is a slightly less egregious version of the land transfers that state supremacists, Sagebrush Rebels and privatization advocates have pushed for since the 1970s.

It’s called oil and gas leasing, conducted under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920.

Read the whole story

By Derek Thompson, The Atlantic

The monopolies are coming. In almost every economic sector, including television, books, music, groceries, pharmacies, and advertising, a handful of companies control a prodigious share of the market.

The beer industry has been one of the worst offenders. The refreshing simplicity of Blue Moon, the vanilla smoothness of Boddingtons, the classic brightness of a Pilsner Urquell, and the bourbon-barrel stouts of Goose Island—all are owned by two companies: Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors. As recently as 2012, this duopoly controlled nearly 90 percent of beer production.

This sort of industry consolidation troubles economists. Research has found that the existence of corporate behemoths stamps out innovation and hurts workers. Indeed, between 2002 and 2007, employment at breweries actually declined in the midst of an economic expansion.

But in the last decade, something strange and extraordinary has happened. Between 2008 and 2016, the number of brewery establishments expanded by a factor of six, and the number of brewery workers grew by 120 percent.

Read the whole story

By Jane Ann Morrison, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Nevada Supreme Court had two open seats in this fall’s election. Now there is just one. Abbi Silver, chief judge of the Court of Appeals, was elected outright when no one filed against her.

The other seat drew five candidates, requiring a primary election to whittle them down to two and then a November general election.

Why would one nonpartisan seat draw only one person and the other five?

“I’m a hard worker, end of story,” Silver said.

Read the whole story

By Doyle Rice, USA Today

The dry times are back. 

Drought has returned with a vengeance across much of the United States, with the worst conditions across southern and western parts of the nation.  

As of Thursday, 38.4 percent of the continental U.S. is in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. That is the highest percentage since the 40 percent recorded in May 2014.  

Read the whole story

Sierra-at-Tahoe is offering free skiing to passholders of neighboring resorts with the “Have One On Us” program.

Passholders from Dodge Ridge Ski Area and China Peak Mountain Resort will be granted one day of free skiing at Sierra-at-Tahoe through the end of February.

Free skiing for eligible passholders is available Sunday through Friday, non-holiday until Feb. 28. Blackout dates include Feb. 17 and 18.

·      The Mormon Emigrant Trail is closed for the winter to vehicles.

·       There will be a free radon presentation Feb. 21, 6pm at IVGID public works at 1220 Sweetwater Road, Incline Village. Free radon test kits are available to Nevada residents through Feb. 28 at the Incline Village Recreation Center while supplies last.

·      El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini will be the guest speaker at the El Dorado County State of Jefferson Committee meeting Feb. 13. It will be at the American Legion Hall, 4561 Greenstone Road in Placerville. Doors open at 5:30pm with a taco bar. The meeting kicks off at 6:30pm.

·      Truckee EAA chapter has a pancake breakfast and offers free Young Eagle airplane rides for kids 8-17 on the second Saturday every month starting at 8am. The next one is this Saturday. RSVP to yecoord1073@outlook.com.

 ·     The Feb. 7, 3-8pm burger event at Red Hut Cafe on Ski Run Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe will raise money for Whittell High School basketball and ski teams, and cheer squad. For $10 people get a burger, homemade chips and soft drink.

By Todd Dewey, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The house doesn’t always win, especially when the Patriots are in the Super Bowl and a mystery bettor riding an epic hot streak is on the other side.

Caesars Palace sports book reported a seven-figure win on the Eagles’ 41-33 upset of New England in Super Bowl LII and the Westgate sports book reported a small win. But William Hill sports book reported a multimillion-dollar loss, CG Technology sports books reported a mid six-figure loss and most other Las Vegas sports books also lost on Sunday’s game.

The mystery bettor — just call him Biff Tannen Jr. — who beat Las Vegas out of millions of dollars when he won all of his wagers on the World Series reportedly won more than $10 million on at least $7.4 million in money-line bets on Philadelphia, which closed at plus 170.

Read the whole story