·      Bijou Community School Principal Cindy Martinez is the winner of the LTCC Foundation’s Distinguished Alumni Award for 2018. She will receive her award at Lake Tahoe Community College’s graduation ceremony on June 29 at 6pm.

·      In a letter dated June 14 from Caesars Entertainment’s global president to staff in Northern Nevada it says John Koster, regional president, “has left the company to pursue other opportunities.” Koster ran Harrah’s and Harveys at Lake Tahoe among other properties.

·      North Tahoe Public Utility District officials said, “Peak watering season is still to come and the district and our customers are already behind in meeting the 20 percent by 2020 conservation mandate.” 

·      El Dorado County is surveying residents to better understand public awareness and concerns about water use and storm water management. Here is the survey. It will be available through Aug. 31.

·      Katchafire plus E.N Young & the Imperial Sound, Notis, Heavyweight, Rockaz Sons of Zion, and DJ Treez will be at Blu Nightclub in Stateline on July 13. Doors open at 9pm. Must be at least 21 to attend. Advance tickets are available for $20, $25 day of show.

On June 23 from 10am-noon the Sugar Pine Foundation will co-host a Tahoe yellow cress planting with the Tahoe yellow cress adaptive management working group at Baldwin Beach on the South Shore.

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will host a TYC information booth at the Native Species Festival that day from 9am-3pm at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center. 

Tahoe yellow cress (Rorippa subumbellata) is a rare plant that grows on the shoreline of Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada. TYC exists nowhere else in the world and is on the endangered lists in both states. 

A lake-wide survey conducted in 2017, reported a decline in TYC with only 43 percent of surveyed sites occupied, compared to 80 percent in 2016, when the lake was several feet lower. In 2018, the lake level is expected to remain high throughout the summer. 

By Susan Wood

South Shore resident Jerry Goodman couldn’t have said it better when it comes to opening up or closing the door to vacation home rentals. It feels “like Groundhog Day” in respect to a November ballot initiative that could change the face of the lake’s only incorporated city.

No other issue can bring a massive reiteration of everything discussed and everything analyzed for years like this one. This time, a petition with a sufficient number of signatures for an all-out ban on VHRs in residential zones was received into record by the city. More than 1,100 signatures were needed to meet the 10 percent requirement of registered voters. The VHR opponents led by Ken Weitzman, Dan Brown and Peggy Bourland raked in 1,636 for what promises to be a blockbuster general election slated for Nov. 6.

So when the South Lake Tahoe City Council chose to issue another study to gauge the economic impact of the practice at its June 19 meeting, the issue prompted another round of opinions. The certification and request for a report due by July 17 was passed on a 3-0 vote. Councilman Tom Davis abstained, and Councilman Jason Collin missed another meeting.

The issue is so full of acrimony; some speakers didn’t wait for the agenda item to arrive. Instead, they expressed their opinions over public commentary and during a discussion about the establishment of VHR fines. The latter has come under fire as South Lake Tahoe’s $1,000 parking fine made national headlines.

Property manager Josh Priou called the level of fine “insane,” inferring the amount of negative national publicity could certainly dwarf any gain by assessing these fines.

“People don’t want to walk around on eggshells while on vacation,” Priou said. 

The fines ranging from $50 to $1,000 depending on the violation passed, but will return without the “and/or” language on five line items.

Tuesday’s meeting with dual agenda items on vacation home rentals brought out mostly stakeholders ranging from VHR workers at property management firms to homeowners renting rooms.  

Airbnb host Debbie Norton was in tears as she pleaded with the council to find a way to maintain her source of income and reason for hope amid being disabled.

“Please do not ban VHRs,” she said.

Other meetings over the last few years have been dominated by residents’ complaints over disruptions by rowdy, inconsiderate tourists.

It’s no wonder elected bodies like this one are having to deal with the dilemma of making tax dollars in the millions from people renting their homes while trying to keep the peace. It’s a delicate balance at best.

When all is said and done, VHRs’ existence will be headed to the ballot box, as Councilman Austin Sass reminded the citizenry.

“We understand your passion,” Sass told the speakers “imploring” the panel to can the ban. He urged them to vote.

“It’s going to the ballot,” he said.

In other business, the council:

·      Chose to meet with El Dorado County to discuss a 51.7 percent increase in fees reapportioned to the city in order to sustain ancillary services relative to animal control.

·      Considered a policy to rename city streets, prompted by a request by South Tahoe Refuse General Manager Jeff Tillman to labeling a roadway after South Shore philanthropist Lisa Maloff.  

By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Continuity will be the key to the Nevada Commission on Tourism’s new marketing strategy for rural Nevada.

Three companies, two from out of state, will collaborate to market the state’s rural destinations under new four-year contracts finalized Wednesday by the commission.

Columbus, Ohio-based Fahlgren Martine will head media buying, public relations and external communications; Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based BVK will direct creative development; and Noble Studios of Reno will lead web and digital development services, including customer relationship management.

Read the whole story

The Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe has again been designated as an open site, providing breakfast and lunch at no charge to all youth 18 and younger now through Aug. 24.

The program is funded through the Summer Food Service Program, a USDA/CDE funded program. The purpose of the Summer Food Service Program is to ensure that children continue to receive a healthy meal when school is out for the summer.

The program takes place at at the club (1100 Lyons Ave.). Breakfast is served 8-9am and lunch from noon-1pm. The club is open Monday through Friday. It will be closed July 4. 

For more info, call 530.542.0838.

Truckee is having an open house June 27 to gather input on the future use of the McIver Dairy site.

The town obtained  landscape architecture consultant Callander Associates to develop alternative conceptual drawings which include various public uses on this site. These will be presented at the workshop.

The McIver Dairy site, located at 10755 Donner Pass Road, has a rich history in Truckee, providing a source of premium butter for much of the West Coast in the late 1800s and early 1900s. More recently the site has been dubbed by some as the unofficial Truckee sled hill. Currently, the Truckee River Watershed Council is undertaking a grant-funded ecological restoration project of the wetland and meadow portions of the site.

As the landowner, the town is interested in providing safe and environmentally compatible access to the site and seeking how best to use this public space.

The open house will include discussion of existing conditions on the site and new recreation and wetland/meadow interpretation opportunities.

The open house will take place at town council chambers, 10183 Truckee Airport Road from 5:30-7:30pm.

By Seth Borenstein and Nicky Forster, AP

We were warned.

On June 23, 1988, a sultry day in Washington, James Hansen told Congress and the world that global warming wasn’t approaching — it had already arrived. The testimony of the top NASA scientist, said Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley, was “the opening salvo of the age of climate change.”

Thirty years later, it’s clear that Hansen and other doomsayers were right. But the change has been so sweeping that it is easy to lose sight of effects large and small — some obvious, others less conspicuous.

Earth is noticeably hotter, the weather stormier and more extreme. Polar regions have lost billions of tons of ice; sea levels have been raised by trillions of gallons of water. Far more wildfires rage.

Read the whole story

By Jennifer Rich, The Conversation

More than 60 percent of America’s middle and high school students rely on alt-right internet sites as credible sources for their research papers. The students are using alt-right sites to write papers on topics that range from free speech and the Second Amendment to citizenship, immigration and the Holocaust.

These were among the key findings of a preliminary survey of 200 teachers I conducted recently to develop a snapshot of how common it was for middle and high school students to turn to alt-right websites.

As a researcher who specializes in teaching what is known as “hard histories,” including slavery, the Holocaust and other genocides, this finding is of concern, particularly as the nation approaches the one-year anniversary of the tragedy in Charlottesville, Va.

Who they are

The alt-right is a connected set of far-right groups, beliefs and individual people. They believe in white supremacy, and that it is under attack by multiculturalism, political correctness and social justice. It was the alt-right that marched in Charlottesville, shouting Nazi slogans and invoking the KKK. One way the alt-right recruits new members is through social media and other online platforms.

Despite the link between the alt-right and the Charlottesville tragedy, students are still using alt-right websites for their research papers in school, according to teachers I surveyed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. The teachers reported that the students cite these websites in their bibliographies but often struggle to make sense of the information they obtained from the sites.

These sites are increasingly prominent. In fact, it is interesting to note that the alt-right websites teachers list as being used most often by their students have all been started since 2005, with the exception of one, and many have come into existence in just the past five years.

Examining alt-right websites

The question becomes, then, what should teachers do regarding these sites? Is it the responsibility of teachers to actually do anything?

Instead of ignoring these sites, I’d suggest teachers might do best to teach students how to critically examine the sites. In order to do that, however, teachers must know what is out there. While this is not an exhaustive list, the following six alt-right websites were most commonly cited by teachers as those that students use for their papers.

They are: National Policy Institute, Radix Journal, American Renaissance, Taki’s Magazine and Voat.

In open-ended follow-up questions, teachers added that students find the information on these sites appealing but are unable to differentiate between fact and fiction.

In classroom spaces, teachers will inevitably teach students who come from a variety of backgrounds and who hold different beliefs, ideas and opinions. Still, it is a teacher’s job to encourage objective, fact-based thinking to the students in their care. Awareness of pseudo-scientific “White identity” sites like Radix and American Renaissance allows teachers to deconstruct those sites with students, encourage critical reading, and debate the validity and value of the content.

Uncomfortable subject matter

Teachers responding to my survey report that they are uncomfortable teaching about these websites because they are certain they have “at least some” students who agree with the alt-right sites in question. The teachers also believe that teaching about these websites in class would lead to uncomfortable conversations.

As teachers, it is not our job to indoctrinate students to think as we do. However, it is our job to teach facts. Creating a safe classroom climate will allow for these uncomfortable conversations where close examinations of the opinions presented on these websites can be examined in a dispassionate way. For example, Radix Journal recently featured an article that “Martin Luther King Jr., a fraud and degenerate in his life, has become the symbol and cynosure of White Dispossession and the deconstruction of European civilization.” It is reasonable to expect heated student disagreement around an article like this one. This, then, opens up space to teach students how to engage in respectful and difficult conversations with one another.

Lessons of this sort would certainly involve countering misinformation that is put forward on these sites. For example, after looking at the Radix Journal article that attacks Martin Luther King Jr., it would be appropriate to have students consider “Three Visions for Achieving Equal Rights,” a lesson with primary sources from the organization Facing History and Ourselves. Beyond this point-counterpoint, students need to be given tools to evaluate the validity of the information they encounter while doing research. One excellent tool to do this, “Evaluating Online Resources,” comes from the project Teaching Tolerance, and helps students evaluate online sources. Regardless of the resource used, students need to be pushed to consider who the author is, his or her bias, and the purpose of the article.

What I am suggesting here might engender pushback but so did other proposals to introduce controversial subjects to students. Consider sex education in the 1960s or the DARE program in the 1980s. Today, both are commonplace in schools, despite the idea that they expose students to controversial information they might not know, including information about safe sex and different drugs.

Why it’s necessary

Fewer than 10 percent of teachers report doing any whole class teaching about, or discussion of, these alt-right websites, despite the fact that more than half of their students utilize these sites, according to responses to my survey. Instead, they speak to students individually and request that they find other sources, according to my survey.

Teachers need to help students learn to recognize credible sources and not fall victim to alt-right sites that put forth propaganda. In order to combat the darkness in the world and on the web, teachers must have the knowledge and courage to teach about it directly.

Jennifer Rich is an assistant professor, Rowan University.

By Kristie Ebi, The Conversation

Rice is the primary food source for more than 3 billion people around the world. Many are unable to afford a diverse and nutritious diet that includes complete protein, grains, fruits and vegetables. They rely heavily on more affordable cereal crops, including rice, for most of their calories.

My research focuses on health risks associated with climate variability and change. In a recently published study, I worked with scientists from China, Japan, Australia and the United States to assess how the rising carbon dioxide concentrations that are fueling climate change could alter the nutritional value of rice. We conducted field studies in Asia for multiple genetically diverse rice lines, analyzing how rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere altered levels of protein, micronutrients and B vitamins.

Our data showed for the first time that rice grown at the concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide scientists expect the world to reach by 2100 has lower levels of four key B vitamins. These findings also support research from other field studies showing rice grown under such conditions contains less protein, iron and zinc, which are important in fetal and early child development. These changes could have a disproportionate impact on maternal and child health in the poorest rice-dependent countries, including Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Carbon dioxide and plant growth

Plants obtain the carbon they need to grow primarily from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and draw other required nutrients from the soil. Human activities – mainly fossil fuel combustion and deforestation – raised atmospheric CO2 concentrations from about 280 parts per million during pre-industrial times to 410 parts per million today. If global emission rates continue on their current path, atmospheric CO2 concentrations could reach over 1,200 parts per million by 2100 (including methane and other greenhouse gas emissions).

Higher concentrations of CO2 are generally acknowledged to stimulate plant photosynthesis and growth. This effect could make the cereal crops that remain the world’s most important sources of food, such as rice, wheat and corn, more productive, although recent research suggests that predicting impacts on plant growth is complex.

Concentrations of minerals critical for human health, particularly iron and zinc, do not change in unison with CO2 concentrations. Current understanding of plant physiology suggests that major cereal crops – particularly rice and wheat – respond to higher CO2 concentrations by synthesizing more carbohydrates (starches and sugars) and less protein, and by reducing the quantity of minerals in their grains.

The importance of micronutrients

Worldwide, approximately 815 million people worldwide are food-insecure, meaning that they do not have reliable access to sufficient quantities of safe, nutritious and affordable food. Even more people – approximately 2 billion – have deficiencies of important micronutrients such as iron, iodine and zinc.

Insufficient dietary iron can lead to iron deficiency anemia, a condition in which there are too few red blood cells in the body to carry oxygen. This is the most common type of anemia. It can cause fatigue, shortness of breath or chest pain, and can lead to serious complications, such as heart failure and developmental delays in children.

Zinc deficiencies are characterized by loss of appetite and diminished sense of smell, impaired wound healing, and weakened immune function. Zinc also supports growth and development, so sufficient dietary intake is important for pregnant women and growing children.

Higher carbon concentrations in plants reduce nitrogen amounts in plant tissue, which is critical for the formation of B vitamins. Different B vitamins are required for key functions in the body, such as regulating the nervous system, turning food into energy and fighting infections. Folate, a B vitamin, reduces the risk of birth defects when consumed by pregnant women.

Significant nutrition losses

We carried out our field studies in China and Japan, where we grew different strains of rice outdoors. To simulate higher atmospheric CO2 concentrations, we used Free-Air CO2 Enrichment, which blows CO2 over fields to maintain concentrations that are expected later in the century. Control fields experience similar conditions except for the higher CO2 concentrations.

On average, the rice that we grew in air with elevated CO2 concentrations contained 17 percent less vitamin B1 (thiamine) than rice grown under current CO2 concentrations; 17 percent less vitamin B2 (riboflavin); 13 percent less vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid); and 30 percent less vitamin B9 (folate). Our study is the first to identify that concentrations of B vitamins in rice are reduced with higher CO2.

We also found average reductions of 10 percent in protein, 8 percent in iron and 5 percent in zinc. We found no change in levels of vitamin B6 or calcium. The only increase we found was in vitamin E levels for most strains.

Worsening micronutrient deficiencies

At present, about 600 million people — mostly in Southeast Asia — get more than half of their daily calories and protein directly from rice. If nothing is done, the declines we found would likely worsen the overall burden of undernutrition. They also could affect early childhood development through impacts that include worsened effects from diarrheal disease and malaria.

The potential health risks associated with CO2-induced nutritional deficits are directly correlated to the lowest overall gross domestic product per capita. This suggests that such changes would have serious potential consequences for countries already struggling with poverty and undernutrition. Few people would associate fossil fuel combustion and deforestation with the nutritional content of rice, but our research clearly shows one way in which emitting fossil fuels could worsen world hunger challenges.

How could climate change affect other key plants?

Unfortunately, today there is no entity at the federal, state or business level that provides long-term funding to evaluate how rising CO2 levels could affect plant chemistry and nutritional quality. But CO2-induced changes have significant implications, ranging from medicinal plants to nutrition, food safety and food allergies. Given the potential impacts, which may already be occurring, there is a clear and urgent need to invest in this research.

It is also critical to identify options for avoiding or lessening these risks, from traditional plant breeding to genetic modification to supplements. Rising CO2 concentrations are driving climate change. What role these emissions will play in altering all aspects of plant biology, including the nutritional quality of the crops that we use for food, feed, fiber and fuel, remains to be determined.

Kristie Ebi is a professor of global health and environmental and occupational health sciences, University of Washington.

A South Lake Tahoe child care operator has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a child.

David Rodriguez-Flores, a licensee of Pequenos Rascals Learning Center, was taken into custody on June 20. Bail was set at $500,000.

South Lake Tahoe police officers on June 15 received information about a possible on-going child sexual assault case at the Sandy Way center. Multiple victims came forward and reported a pattern of abuse dating back at least two years, according to police.

The California Department of Social Services’ Community Care Licensing Division is working with SLTPD on this case.

Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact SLTPD at 530.542.6100.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report