The Wilbur D. May Museum’s annual Tuba Christmas Concert is Dec. 2.

This free, family-friendly event features holiday carols arranged in four-part harmony and performed by local tuba, baritone, and euphonium players.

All area tuba, baritone, and euphonium players are invited to participate in the Tuba Christmas Concert. Musician registration begins at 12:30pm and musician rehearsal begins at 1pm. The participant registration fee is $10.

The concert in Reno begins at 3pm.

For more info, call 775.785.5961.

The first Tuba Christmas was conducted in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink in 1974. The musical event celebrates those who play, teach, and compose music for instruments in the tuba family.

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – Snow – and all the things one can do in it will be the thrust of the 2017-18 Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority ad blitz.

They will tie into the “there must be something in the water” mantra that started in summer 2016.

The board of directors this month were shown some of the visuals that will be used in the nearly $400,000 campaign that launches the first week of December. Some are a bit whimsical with snowmen, others show actual skiing and casino scenes.

Duncan/Channon of San Francisco, the firm tasked with developing the ads and figuring out where to place them, had photographers shooting last winter. With the epic snowfall, it provided ample opportunity to highlight snow, snow and more snow.

Some ad banners are designed to run when it’s dumping here, with click-throughs going to webcams showing all that powder. Some are specific to various social media sites like Facebook. Others target those who will be flying here.

Skiing, snow play and night clubs are the primary activities that will be highlighted. Olympic references will be thrown in to capture that 2018 is a Winter Olympic year and the fact the South Shore is home to multiple Olympians.

Bob and Scarlett Hart prove even locals like to sled at Lake Tahoe. Photo/LTN file

Videos will have a huge presence. While in many ways they are just snippets of what the South Shore has to offer, they are designed to pique a traveler’s interest.

Video is shot every two years, with this being the year to film. That video will be used next winter. The plan is to film snowboarding since skiers are in the current videos. Snowmobiling, nightlife and a polar plunge are other ideas. Drones were used for much of the current footage and will likely be used this time, too.

Many videos are 15 seconds. That’s why visuals more than words are used to tell the story of the South Shore.

New this year is specific advertising to attract people here during spring break. That campaign has not been fully developed.

While Northern California is still where most people come from, LTVA continues to tap into the Los Angeles and San Diego markets.

By Dan Pellissier, San Jose Mercury News

During the next five weeks, the CalPERS board, custodian of $326 billion in assets needed to fulfill retirement promises for 1.8 million California public employees and beneficiaries, will make decisions affecting government budgets for decades to come.

The problem is, despite their fiduciary duty under the state Constitution to “protect the competency of the assets” under their absolute control, CalPERS is roughly $153 billion short of fully funding the retirement promises earned to date.

How did CalPERS dig this huge hole?  During the last decade, they manipulated actuarial assumptions and methods to keep employer and employee contribution rates low in the short term.

Read the whole story

By Peter Fish, San Francisco Chronicle

There you are, you and friends on a fall afternoon, gathered in a Napa Valley tasting room. You’re primed, pumped, ready to savor the world’s best Cabs, Chardonnays and maybe a Fume Blanc or two. As you swirl and sip, you focus all your brainpower on the wine terms you’re supposed to remember: malolactic, tannin, terroir. And the flavors you’re supposed to recognize: blackberry, mocha, tobacco leaf.

At this point, one of your friends pipes up to ask the person pouring behind the bar: “Do you have any vegan wines?”

Pause. You feel a moment of panic. You wonder if, this whole time, for centuries, the deep merlot color of the world’s red wines has been more a function of sheep’s blood than grape juice. Is animal testing a new wine variable you have to know? You’ve spent hours trying to memorize Robert Parker’s wine scores. Now you have to worry about Gwyneth Paltrow’s?

Read the whole story

By Yvonne Gonzalez, Las Vegas Sun

Not only does Nevada’s naturally hard water cloud the taste of coffee, experts say — it also requires steady monitoring, even if lawmakers approve cuts to a federal agency that monitors quality.

A coffee tasting at UNLV served as a platform to discuss potential budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency while illustrating how Nevada’s hard water can affect flavor. Environmental policy Professor Ted Greenhalgh said the state’s geography adds minerals to the water.

Iron, calcium and calcium carbonate wash out from rocks and into the water supply, Greenhalgh said.

Perchlorate, a chemical compound that often is commercially produced and can affect the thyroid gland, has been found in Nevada water, Greenhalgh said.

Read the whole story

UNLV graduate student Scott Thomas collects samples from Great Boiling Spring, about 100 miles northeast of Reno. Photo/UNLV

By Henry Brean, Las Vegas Review-Journal

In Northern Nevada’s Great Boiling Spring, strange microscopic creatures thrive in water hot enough to kill you.

Scientists led by UNLV researcher Brian Hedlund are studying the microorganisms in this near-200-degree environment in search of clues about life on Earth and elsewhere.

Using a new $900,000 grant from NASA, the scientists hope to learn how these microbes survive in such an extreme environment.

Read the whole story

By Riley Snyder, Nevada Independent

When Nevada voters head to the polls in 2018, they’ll be given the opportunity to fundamentally reshape the state’s energy market and end NV Energy’s monopoly control of electric service.

But what voters may not know is that Nevada came close to doing the same thing almost 20 years ago.

The state flirted with, but never consummated, a transition away from a standard regulated monopoly structure to a competitive, retail electric market in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Despite thousands of man-hours and countless hearings in front of the Legislature and Public Utilities Commission, state leaders ultimately backed away from the effort after watching California’s energy market implode and lead to mass rolling blackouts across the state.

Read the whole story

Ida Grasso

Ida R. Grasso died Oct. 27, 2017, in Carson City. She was 98.

Ida was born in Lawrence, Mass., on July 5, 1919. She had lived in Torrance since 1955.

Ida is survived by son Tony Grasso (Teri) of Stateline; daughter Beverly Ann Grasso of Sacramento; grandchildren Nicholas, Christopher, Katherine and Meredith Grasso, Bruce and Brian Carr, and Nicole Jordan; great-grandchildren Carey Jr., Brianna and Taylor Jordan, and Jason Baggett.

She was a longtime member of Saint Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Lomita. Graveside services were at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Bruce

Bruce is a very cute 3 year old Chihuahua/rat terrier mix who has lots of personality. He is a nice boy who loves to play with other dogs and go for walks with his people.

He does need an adult only home. (He is best friends with Lou, if you would like them both their adoption fee is reduced)

Bruce is neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated. He 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

By Jill Sanford, Moonshine Ink

As the snow settles from our most recent storm, the Tahoe/Truckee backcountry community is buzzing with anticipation for those remote, untouched lines and the fresh tracks they dream of all summer long.
 
Each winter more people opt to earn their fresh turns by hiking the local mountains rather than riding lifts, and increased use in the backcountry year-round has led to more opinions weighing in on the management of these areas.

Enter the Winter Wildlands Alliance, a national organization that advocates on behalf of non-motorized winter recreation on public lands. According to the WWA, the number of backcountry skiers is projected to increase by anywhere from 55 to 106 percent by 2060.

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