By Seth Borenstein, AP

Winter is coming … later. And it’s leaving ever earlier.

Across the United States, the year’s first freeze has been arriving further and further into the calendar, according to more than a century of measurements from weather stations nationwide.

Scientists say it is yet another sign of the changing climate, and that it has good and bad consequences for the nation. There could be more fruits and vegetables — and also more allergies and pests.

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Placer County and the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association are having three meetings in November to gather input on where hotel tax revenues should be spent.

More than $18 million in transient occupancy taxes was collected in the last year on the North Shore. Now the county needs to decide how to spend it. The money will be reinvested in the North Lake Tahoe area.

The meetings will be Nov. 1 from 6-8pm at the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach, Nov. 7 from 6-8pm at the Donner Summit Auburn Ski Club Training Center in Soda Springs, and on Nov. 8 from 6-8pm at the Tahoe City firehouse.

The winner of the 2016 Word Wave One-Act Play Competition, now expanded to a full-length production, is coming to Lake Tahoe Community College.

“Joint Chiefs” is the story of four veterans, one from each branch of service, who meet regularly at the The Joint, a local diner owned by one of their own, Mike Riggio, a former Navy cook. Everyday, they tell stories, share jokes, and give each other grief, until one day Mike seems to be acting strangely. The other three suspect he might have to sell “The Joint.”

The play will be performed Nov. 9-12 and Nov. 16-19, 7:30pm each night in the Duke Theatre.

The $20 tickets are available online.

George R. Scott, author of “An Archeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp,” will share his insights on the many long-unsolved mysteries of the Donner Party on Nov. 18.

Doors open at 5pm at the Donner Memorial State Park Visitor Center, and the program begins at 5:30pm and ends at 6:30pm.

His book will be available for sale, with signing after the program.

There is no cost to attend and parking is free. There will be light snacks, and wine available for a small donation.

By Jason Blevins, Denver Post

Ski resort companies are shouldering more responsibility for workforce housing after years working in the background with community partnerships.

In Telluride, Colo., resort owner Bill Jensen spent $6 million this year on homesites and revamping an empty apartment complex for employees. Aspen Skiing spent $4 million on 40 tiny homes it plans to park in a former KOA campground it bought in Basalt. Vail Resorts, which promised $30 million for employee housing in 2015, is planning a new apartment complex in East Vail to join its new housing partnerships in Summit County, although it has run into resistance from residents concerned with traffic and environmental impacts.

Employee housing was becoming a critical problem in the mid-2000s, but then the economic recession hit and locals with their own housing started working for resort companies. But as the economy improved and locals found jobs elsewhere, resort companies started looking farther afield for workers and that required housing.

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Lake Tahoe Unified School District Performing Arts Department’s Presents: A Veteran’s Musical Tribute will be Nov. 8 at 6:30pm.

The free concert will be in the multipurpose room at South Tahoe Middle School.

This concert is a tribute to the men and women who have served or are currently serving in the various branches of the military.

Performers include: South Tahoe Middle School and South Tahoe High School bands, orchestras, and LTUSD choirs, as well as the South Lake Tahoe Children’s Choral Society’s Tahoe Intermediate Honor Choir and the Blue Ribbon Choir.

·       On Nov. 3, Black Dahlia Murder, the American death metal band, comes to Hard Rock Lake Tahoe’s Vinyl Showroom. Doors open at 4pm, show starts at 5pm. Pre-sale tickets are $25 or $30 at the door. Must be 21 to attend.

·      Washoe County Sheriff’s Office will offer free Halloween candy X-ray screening at the Washoe County District Courthouse and the Mills Lane Justice Center on the day after Halloween.

·      Auditions for “Vagina Monologues” will be Nov. 6 at 6:30pm at MoonHouse Brewhouse (2040 Dunlap Ave., South Lake Tahoe). For more info, email vdaytahoe@gmail.com.

·      Placer County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 24 adopted a resolution formalizing that 100 percent of lodging taxes generated in North Lake Tahoe will support tourism and go toward implementing the county’s 2015 Tourism Master Plan for the region.

·      Here are the El Doardo-Tahoe and Sierra roadwork schedules from Caltrans for the week.

Katelyn Feeney has the strength to smile as she finishes the Lake Tahoe Marathon — in last place. Photo/Jessie Marchesseau

By Jessie Marchesseau

Eight hours, 45 minutes and 22 seconds after she started, Katelyn Feeney crossed the finish line.

It had been a long day, but the journey was beautiful. Feeney, 25, had just finished her first marathon. She may have been the 213 finisher, the very last one, but she had done it.

Her mom, Danette, was there waiting at the finish line with a smile and a hug.

“I am so proud of her,” Danette Feeney said. “I am so proud of her.”

The Lake Tahoe Marathon has been an annual event for 23 years. Les Wright, the event organizer, has seen all sorts of reasons for running a marathon in those years. He said some do it because it’s a goal which they have been working toward for a long time, some people do it because they have overcome a serious illness or lost a significant amount of weight, and some people do it simply because they love to run. Regardless of their reason, for nearly everyone, just finishing is an accomplishment.

“It’s a physical challenge,” Wright told Lake Tahoe News. “After my first marathon, I felt 10 feet tall for a month.”

Feeney, who lives in the Monterey area, had signed up for the Lake Tahoe Marathon back in August on somewhat of a whim. She hadn’t been training for a marathon or fulfilling some lifelong dream. She signed up “just to be able to do it.”

“I wanted to run somewhere beautiful so no matter what the outcome was, it was still going to be a good day,” she said of her choice to sign up for the Lake Tahoe Marathon.

She chose well. It was a beautiful course and a beautiful day. She walked most of the race and ran a little; she said jokingly that her running pace was slower than some people’s walk. But she found everyone so supportive, especially of the participants in the back. People would drive by honking and cheering. People would offer her water bottles. One person who was riding by on their bicycle actually dismounted and walked alongside her for more than a mile, just to show her support and offer a little bit of company.

Katelyn Feeney will always be able to say she is a Lake Tahoe Marathon finisher. Photo/Jessie Marchesseau

I joined Feeney for the last mile and a half or so of the race. We talked and laughed, and after 25 long miles, she still had a smile on her face. She set our pace at a fast walk until the final corner when she summoned her last bit of energy to run across the finish line. Even though the finishing arch had already been taken down, the band had gone home and the booths were packed up, when she ran across that line, horns were honking, people were cheering and her name was finally announced over the loudspeaker.

Though this was her first full marathon, it wasn’t Feeney’s first race. She has participated in several half marathons in the past including races in Africa and Germany when she was studying abroad. She always tried to get friends and acquaintances to join her in the races.

“It was fun to run people’s first half marathon with them because they get to see what they’re capable of,” she said.

It has been three years since she last did a half marathon, however Feeney had no doubts she was capable of finishing the full 26.2 miles of the Lake Tahoe Marathon.

 “I knew my body could go that far,” she said as we walked toward the finish line.

On Oct. 15, 2017, Katelyn Feeney finished her first marathon, but it likely will not be her last. She has a new goal: to walk half the marathon, and run the other half.

“I don’t quite feel like Superman with kryptonite yet, and I want that feeling,” she said.

By Garrett Hylton, Reno Gazette-Journal

All due respect to Casimir Pulaski and Harry S Truman (nobody’s complaining about a three-day weekend), but the Silver State’s holiday sets the standard by celebrating Nevadan staples like imbibing, cavorting and gambling, often in costume.

Nevada Day is here, which means it’s that special time of year where folks statewide celebrate an undeniable, irrefutable, indefatigable reality: our state holiday (and state in general, for that matter) is better than yours.

You may not understand if you’re not local – odds are your state doesn’t even find itself cool enough to celebrate (more on that in a second) – but here are a few reasons why Nevada Day is a state holiday unlike any other.

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Barton Memorial Hospital was on lockdown earlier this month after a man shot himself outside the emergency room.

CEO Clint Purvance on Oct. 24 sent a letter to staff about the suicide that had occurred nine days earlier. In part it said, “… a lockdown was ordered to allow law enforcement and security to assess the area’s safety. It was determined that it was an isolated incident and there was no threat to the hospital, staff, or physicians. The hospital was cleared after 90 minutes.”

Barton workers were alerted to the unresponsive male at about 1:50am Oct. 15. When they went outside he was already dead. It’s not known how long he was there before medical crews arrived.

Barton deferred comment to law enforcement.

South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler said, “Sorry, no info.”

— Lake Tahoe News staff report