Less than three weeks after the Placer County Planning Commission approved the Northstar Mountain Master Plan, the Board of Supervisors did the same.

It was a 5-0 vote on Feb. 21.

Components of the plan include:

• New terrain: Includes access to the Sawtooth Range. Approximately 293 acres of new groomable ski trails are proposed with over 700 acres of new skiable terrain, resulting in approximately 3,870 acres of total skiable terrain.
• New lifts: They will be added to reduce congestion in higher-use areas on the mountain and on trails returning to the village.
• Snowmaking advancements: Improving quality of snow surface conditions through additional snowmaking coverage.
• Skier services: Provide additional seating, restrooms and enhanced food service.

By Seth A. Richardson, Reno Gazette-Journal

Activists packed a Nevada state Senate committee room on Monday during a three-hour hearing for the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that yielded a wildly divided perspectives.

The Equal Rights Amendment, commonly known as the ERA, was birthed out of the feminist movement during the late-1960s and early 1970s. It states constitutional rights apply to everyone in the country regardless of sex.

The amendment was nearly ratified, first passing Congress in 1972 but fell three states short of the requisite 38 needed for ratification before the deadline of June 30, 1982, after mostly southern and a few western states voted it down.

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By Reno Gazette-Journal

The South Dayton Retention Pond above east Dayton is expected to fail, according to the National Weather Service’s social media pages.

However, there is no actual dam failure, according to Lyon County.

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Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Feb. 18, 2017, Sacramento Bee.

No disaster is entirely natural in our re-engineered state and valley. Owing to our hubris, we humans have a direct hand in them all.

We have built cities on earthquake faults, balanced mansions on hillsides that burn in one season and slide into the ocean in the next, and moor boats in marinas where tsunamis are known to strike.

Having dammed almost all major rivers in California and many tributaries and creeks, we have constructed entire cities in what a century or 150 years ago was swamp, and made islands of rocks piled on peat.

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By Kathryn Reed

My book club rates what we read based on if we liked it, would we recommend it and literary merit. The scale is 0-10, with 10 being the highest. “The Sound of Gravel” received several zeros, a few eights and a lot in between.

My scores for this memoir by Ruth Wariner (2015, Flatiron Books) – all zeros. I would have stopped reading it if I didn’t “have to” read it.

The story is written from Wariner’s point-of-view when she was a child. She grew up mostly in Mexico in a Mormon polygamist compound. Most of us agreed it was like a cult. The poverty, the abuse, the way women are second class citizens at best are etched throughout the book.

This is Wariner’s life. She had to grow up fast because she was like a second mother to her siblings. Her education was cut short because it was presumed her future was to wed early and be a baby producer; and she would not have been expected to contribute to society in any other way.

There is so much repetition in the book I was wondering where the editor was.

She did a good job with foreshadowing, and the descriptions made it easy to visualize the horrendous conditions.

While some of my friends said they learned things from this book, not many would actually recommend it.

Spoiler alert: The book that would have been more interesting to read would have been how Wariner got her life together, the turmoil of those years, how it was to literally raise her siblings, the guilt she must have had over her mother’s death – because if she had not died, Wariner may have never left the compound. It could have been told as a flashback so her voice as a child stayed intact.

The Genesis G90 redefines the luxury automobile. Photos/Larry Weitzman

By Larry Weitzman

In my 20 years of testing cars and trucks, driving the most luxurious cars in the world, Mercedes S550, Audi A8, VW Phaeton, Cadillacs, Lexus LS, BMW 7 Series, Infinitis and even a Bentley and Rolls now and then, I have finally driven perhaps the best luxury ride of them all, the entirely new Genesis G90, which in my tester’s case was powered by a small, 3.3L V-6 turbo engine. A 5.0L V-8 is available for another $1,700, but more on engine choice later.

Genesis came to America as an upscale near luxury/luxury ride from Hyundai in 2009. They also brought us the Equus a couple of years later as a full-on luxury ride. But with this new generation, Hyundai has raised the bar to a new level.

About a month ago, I tested another new Genesis, the G80, which I rated as the best luxury car I had ever driven (especially when price is considered), that is until the Genesis G90. While the aggressive front end of both models are similar, it is the formal design of the rear that sets apart the G90 from its smaller brother. It is a clean, simple design with perfect proportions especially with respect to the upper window line. It is a beautiful, classic look.

G90 is a large car, its wheelbase stretches out over 10 feet at 124 inches an increase of 6 inches over the G80 and its length is 205 inches, 8 more than the G80. But what makes the G90 manageable is its reasonable width of 75 inches, the same as the G80 and 5 inches narrower than most every full-size SUV. Inside is a cavernous saloon with rear seat leg room like a Maybach. When I drove it I kept thinking “where is my chauffeur’s hat as any chauffeur would love to drive this vehicle.” If this were to be chauffeur driven, I might apply for the job and here’s why.

Specifications
Price
$69,050-$72,150 with destination
Engine
3.3L turbocharged, direct injected, DOHC, 24 valve V-6 365 hp @6,000
376 lb.-ft. of torque from 1,300-4,500 rpm
5.0L normally aspirated DOHC, 32 valve direct injected V-8 420 hp @ 6,000 rpm
383 lb.-ft. of torque @ 5,000 rpm
Transmission
Eight-speed torque converter automatic with paddle shifters (on a limousine?)
Configuration
Longitudinal front engine/RWD/AWD
Dimensions
Wheelbase 124.4 inches
Length 204.9 inches
Width 75.4 inches
Height 58.9 inches
Track (f/r) 64.5/64.5 inches
Weight 4,630 pounds
Fuel capacity 21.9 gallons
Trunk capacity 15.7 cubic feet
Passenger capacity 113.2 cubic feet
Wheels (f/r) 19X8.5/19X9.5 inches
Tires 245/45X19/275/40X19 inches
Brakes (f/r) 14.2/13.4-inch diameter; ventilated
Steering lock to lock 2.55 turns
Turning circle 39.2 feet
Co-efficient of drag 0.27
Performance
0-60 mph 4.81 seconds
50-70 mph 2.48 seconds
50-70 mph uphill 3.19 seconds
Top Speed Perhaps escape velocity?
Fuel economy EPA rated 17/24/20 mpg city/highway/combined. Overall in rural and suburban driving expect 20-22 mpg and on the highway at legal speeds 28-29 mpg.

First is the power train. My tester was powered by the best V-6 turbo engine ever, the 3.3L V-6 with twin turbos and every other advanced feature including DOHC, 24 Valves, direct injection and twin turbos plus a high 10:1 compression ratio to make turbo lag history. It cranks out 365 hp at 6,000 rpm and 376 pounds of incredible twist from between an off-idle 1,300 rpm to 4,500 rpm. The normally aspirated 5.0L V-8 makes 55 more peak hp (420 hp at 6,000 rpm) but just seven pounds more peak twist (383 at 5,000 rpm), and although I haven’t reviewed the torque curve of the V-8, you can bet dollars to donuts that between idle to 4,500 rpm, maybe even to 4,700 rpm, the V-6t actually makes more hp than the V-8 and those are the rpms that you really drive with, unless you are on a racetrack where you can keep the engine boiling at or near 6,000 rpm.

In most acceleration tests the V-6T is just as quick as the V-8. Zero-60 mph testing consisted of five runs averaging an astonishing 4.81 seconds with all five runs below 5 seconds and all within a 0.13 second bracket. That is consistency in super sedan performance. If my memory is correct, this is one of the quickest sedans ever tested by the Road Beat, especially if we don’t consider any AMG Mercedes or a BMW M cars. In fact, it is a tenth of a second quicker than the lighter G80 5.0L V-8 tested a month ago and this larger G90 weighs in at 4,630 pounds, about a hundred pounds more than the G80 V-8.

Passing tests also reflect the prodigious power of this diminutive powerplant. Fifty to 70 mph simulated passing times on a level highway required just 2.48 seconds and up a steep grade (6 to 7 percent) only slowed that time to 3.19 seconds, all super sedan times. There is no slow in the G90 in any form, V-6t or V-8 as I have also driven the V-8 and found the performance virtually identical except for the perhaps barely audible wonderfully melodious sound of the V-8 engine. Step hard on the throttle and G90 V-6t will snap your neck performing its own imitation of a rocket sled ride. The V-6t is so smooth, quiet and responsive that many drivers will think that this V-6t is a V-8. There is virtually no turbo lag with the V-6t as well and it will provide perhaps an mpg or two better fuel economy from reduced friction hp and pumping losses. For comparison, the times for the G80 V-8 were 4.92, 2.44 and 2.99 seconds or virtually identical.

As to fuel economy, the EPA rates the G90 V-6t at 17/24/20 mpg city/highway/combined. My overall average for 525 miles of varied driving with less than 10 percent on a four-lane highway, 20 percent in suburban traffic and all performance testing was 22.2 mpg. In a 180-mile run to South Lake Tahoe and back from Placerville the big “G” averaged 25.9 mpg. Interestingly the EPA rates the AWD version of the “G” identically. Fuel capacity is large at almost 22 gallons. Also helping is a coefficient of drag of 0.27.

The other part of this incredible story is the ride and ambiance which is wonderfully smooth and quiet. It is the best vehicle that I have encountered, period, end of story. It does this with almost no float as well as the ride is solid, like a bank vault carved or machined from a steel ingot. The engine spins at a very low 1,750 rpms while cruising at 70 mph and there is no tire, wind or road noise. This vehicle is isolated making one think in a quiet whisper, like a golf tournament. And at nearly 16 cubic feet, it will swallow your foursome’s golf bags easily.

Now here’s where you ask the question of how did they do that while keeping its handling crisp? It’s the same system that gives the ride quality Genesis Adaptive Control Suspension with Electronic Damping Control and Intelligent Mode and it obviously works as this G90 can change directs with aplomb. It also has all the credentials with five link independent suspension at all four corners, solid stab bars at both ends, super wide 19 x 8.5-inch front and 19 x 9.5-inch alloys front and rear shod with 245/45 front and 275/40 series rubber in the rear. Those are some meats. It also has super quick steering at just 2.55 turns lock to lock. The suspension keeps the attitude flat and the tires exhibit gobs of cornering power. The steering is accurate like the scope on a sniper rifle with very quick turn in and perfect on and off center feel with just a bit of numbness and isolation. It is amazing at how adept the G90 is in the twisties and how easy it handles. While long by today’s standards, its narrower width makes it easy in tight parking maneuvers. Who needs or wants a chauffeur when driving can be so much fun?

Safety is at the top of the class with every acronym. Brakes are huge (more than 14 inches in front and more than 13 inches in the rear) and all four discs are ventilated. Automatic emergency braking is standard as well as the multi-view camera which gives a top 360-degree view of the G90 and its surroundings with the front and rear camera at the same time at speeds below 10 mph from its massive 12-inch-wide center stack screen. But perish the thought of putting a scratch on this car and its absolutely perfect finish and remember what pilots say if their engine quits at altitude, “I guess my insurance company just bought my airplane and now let’s make a landing I can walk away from.”

Inside is where you want to be with soft Nappa leather everywhere, quality soft touch materials on the dash and doors and polished wood in all the right places. Everything, besides its full complement of power accessories, has been thought of down to the heated steering wheel, the automatic induction phone charger and more. Comfort is beyond outstanding and the rear seat leg room imitates a fine Limousine, however only the G90 is a better and more capable vehicle (than a limo). Instrumentation is complete (speedo, tach, trip computer, etc.) and the center stack as complex as it looks and with a mini-mouse is actually very easy to operate. If you read the last sentence as Mickey Mouse you are wrong, if anything it should refer to “Tomorrowland.”

All this super luxury will cost you $68,100, plus $950 for the suite on the boat from Ulsan, Korea. There are no options other than all-wheel drive, which is $2,500. The V-8 is $1,700 more and is called the “Ultimate” instead of the V-6t nomenclature of “Premium.” Along with the V-8 you also get LED headlights instead of HID units which are outstanding anyway, and power rear seating adjustability which is probably more of the reason for the $1,700 than the V-8 engine. AWD is also available on the V-8. This is the first time I would not recommend the V-8 over the V-6 unless you are hauling a lot of finicky rear seat passengers around like chauffeuring a third world dictator. The rear seat on the V-6 is absolutely fabulous anyway. Now $68K-70K is a lot of money, but just remember the competition, if there is any, will cost you $20-$40K more.

I want to point out that a month ago, I called the G80 V-8 the best car I had ever driven. While I may still prefer the G80 as it is 8 inches shorter and it is almost $15K less, the G90’s classic looks, incredible performance and ultimate features does make that decision a bit difficult for me.

Hyundai and Genesis have shown the world that when it comes to cars and value the Koreans can out Japanese the Japanese.

Larry Weitzman has been into cars since he was 5 years old. At 8 he could recite from memory the hp of every car made in the U.S. He has put in thousands of laps on racetracks all over the Western United States.

A block of Tahoe Keys Boulevard near Venice Drive in South Lake Tahoe is off-limits Feb. 21 because a tree is across the road. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

Roads remain a mess in the greater Lake Tahoe area as another storm system pummels the already saturated mountains.

The main closure is on Mount Rose Highway because a wall of snow, 20-feet deep fell there on Monday. No time has been given when it might reopen. It is closed at the Galena Creek Visitors Center.

“It was ugly up there,” Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Highway 50 in the American River Canyon is washed out near Bridal Veil Falls. Photo/CHP

Along Highway 50 near Bridal Veil Falls the side of the road has collapsed. According to the California Highway Patrol, the No. 2 lane is buckling.

The onramp at Interstate 80 and Highway 89 in Truckee is closed because of flooding.

Highway 89 around Emerald Bay is closed, as is Highway 88 getting to Kirkwood. The Carson Spur is also closed. Caltrans has no estimate when any of them will be open.

Check with Caltrans or NDOT for current road conditions, or click on the state icons on the home page of Lake Tahoe News.

A commuter to Carson City said visibility on Spooner Summit is horrible.

South Lake Tahoe crews will be out Tuesday assessing storm drains and water levels.

“Actually, all is not too bad. The snow level stayed just above the lake so run-off from the mountains wasn’t much at all,” Jim Marino, assistant public works director, told Lake Tahoe News.

Local firefighters have been dealing with downed trees and power lines.

There are widespread power outages on the West Shore. The lower mountain and lodge at Alpine Meadows don’t have electricity. Liberty Utilities crews hope to restore power by noon Tuesday unless further damage occurs.  

Avalanche danger and weather are making damage assessment difficult, according to Liberty. Customers in some locations should plan on multi-day outages.

A large swath of NV Energy customers on the South Shore also have no electricity.

Incline Village schools have decided to have a longer school day and stop early-out Wednesdays in order to make up for all the snow days.

According to the National Weather Service in Reno, 1 to 3 feet of snow could fall above 6,500 between now and Wednesday morning, 3-5 feet above 7,500 feet and torrential rain below 6,500 feet.

Stowe Mountain is considered the premier ski resort on the East Coast. Photo/Stowe Mountain

Vail Resorts today announced it has acquired Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont.

Mt. Mansfield Company, a subsidiary of American International Group, sold the resort for $50 million. It had been under the same ownership since 1949.

This is the first resort on the East Coast that the Broomfield-Colo.-based ski behemoth has purchased.

Vail Resorts is acquiring all of the assets related to the mountain operations of the resort, including base area skier services (food and beverage, retail and rental, lift ticket offices and ski and snowboard school facilities) at Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak. Other facilities such as the Stowe Mountain Lodge, Stowe Mountain Club, Stowe Country Club and certain real estate owned and held for potential future development will be retained by MMC.

Vail expects to retain the majority of employees.

“With the investments in both mountain infrastructure and base area facilities that AIG has made over the years, Stowe Mountain Resort has become the premier, high-end resort for East Coast skiers and snowboarders. We look forward to working with AIG to continue enhancing the guest experience and to ensure the resort’s long-term success,” Rob Katz, chairman and CEO of Vail Resorts, said in a statement.

Stowe Mountain Resort is expected to be part of the Epic Pass for the 2017-18. This gives skiers access to Vail Resorts’ ski areas in California (Heavenly, Kirkwood, Northstar), Colorado, and Utah. Also to be added to the pass next ski season is Whistler, which Vail bought last year.

Stowe is also home to the Trapp Family Lodge. For those familiar with “The Sound of Music,” this is the family who escaped Nazi occupation in Austria. They are the ones who opened this lodge in Vermont, with family members to this day operating it.

STHS senior Hawley Jarrett sets up one of the 3D printers to start printing an object. Photo/Jessie Marchesseau

By Jessie Marchesseau

Students in Cliff Smith’s AutoCAD class at South Tahoe High School are printing out more than just term papers. Since fall 2015, students have had the opportunity to not only design three dimensional objects with the computer aided drafting software, but watch their creations come to life with the help of in-class 3D printers.

On a recent winter afternoon, the trio of printers was busy cranking out a space ship, a three-dimensional chess board and a set of working gears. A single object can take anywhere from 30 minutes to more than 24 hours to complete, depending on its complexity.

Meanwhile, students were working on their final semester projects: action figures containing at least two types of working joints.

Cliff Smith, STHS career tech education and math teacher, holds a model of a prosthetic hand he printed with the 3D printers in his classroom. Photo/Jessie Marchesseau

In place of ink cartridges, the printers have spools of polylactic acid filament. It basically looks like the spool of weed whacker line. PLA is a thermoplastic, meaning when you heat it, it melts, and when it cools it becomes solid again. So essentially, the printer melts the PLA and “prints” it in the desired form where it cools.

The melting process is especially obvious in the classroom graveyard of misprinted objects (which they are trying to figure out a way to recycle). It’s not uncommon for a student to send an object to print one day, then come in the next day to find a plastic blob where their design should be.

“It’s funny to watch other people, but it’s super-frustrating when you keep failing,” said Jessie Brown, a junior in Smith’s 3D AutoCAD class. She was laughing with a classmate whose gear project had misprinted 14 times so far. “It’s just luck,” she said, “a lot of luck.”

Brown explained that every time someone’s project fails, they have to figure out why and add it to a running list of printer tips and instructions. Sometimes it has to do with the design, sometimes it’s the printer. For example, they discovered wiping the plate with alcohol helps the plastic stick, thereby reducing mess ups, and how needles and unfolded paperclips work wonders for cleaning a clogged tip.

Smith insists the students repair and maintain the printers.

“The more toys they get to play with, the more ways they can come up with to solve problems,” he told Lake Tahoe News.

STHS students have printed a variety of objects on the classroom 3D printers, including fully-functioning gears and chess pieces. Photo/Jessie Marchesseau

For example, when a part broke on one of the printers, the students designed a new part to fix it, and then printed it with one of the other printers.

Smith said problem-solving is his No. 1 goal for his students. “To me, that’s the key, is allowing them to troubleshoot, problem solve, but in a fun way. Whether they go into engineering or not, they’ll be good problem-solvers.”

And it sounds like it’s working.

Most of the class projects are fairly broad, allowing students to be creative with their designs. They’ve created dice, chess pieces, various working gears, functioning joints, and puzzles. And once students have finished the required projects, they are free to create and print their own designs. Smith has seen a Star Trek badge, a Harry Potter wand, Lake Tahoe keychains and a smartphone stand to name a few. One student even purchased a special type of filament in order to print out custom skateboard wheels.

“You come up with a problem, and you find a way to fix it,” Brown said of objects she has created for family and friends.

Other students, like Hawley Jarrett and Sam Satin, both seniors, are less focused on the problem-solving aspect, and more into just creating cool stuff. Jarrett said his favorite part of the class is having the opportunity to design and create new things. Satin, an aspiring architect, enjoys designing and working with the CAD software, calling the 3D printers “the icing on top.”

Though he may not be consciously focused on problem-solving, Satin said, laughing, that he wasn’t sure anyone had anything work the first time around all semester, an indication that problems are being addressed and solved by nearly everyone on every project.

And the experimental printing and designing doesn’t stop with plastic. The 3D printers can also print a type of dissolving filament which, when placed in water, will disappear, creating voids within the plastic part of the printed object. Students can also hop across the hall to the laser cutter/etcher/engraver which can create intricate designs on and out of wood. Figuring out what kinds of wood and what thicknesses work has been a problem-solving experience in itself. Pieces of burned and cracked wood in the printing room are evidence of the experimentation.

Though not all of these students expect to be using this type of technology in their future careers, the rate at which 3D printing technology is advancing makes it nearly impossible to tell what we may be printing a year or 10 years from now.

But even if they never use a 3D printer again, at the very least they have gained some problem-solving skills … and printed some cool stuff.

By Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee

Capping a yearlong assessment of pay equity among its ranks, the California Senate late last year gave 10 percent raises to 71 employees to shrink a lingering gap between what male and female employees earn.

The raises, which total about $602,000 annually, followed the passage of a 2015 law expanding California’s equal-pay protections and a Sacramento Bee investigation that found persistent gender inequities on the Capitol payroll.

Though the new law did not apply to the Legislature, Dan Reeves, chief of staff to Senate leader Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, said the Senate wanted to “show other businesses” that they could pay men and women equally for similar work and still “be successful.”

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