To help educate Californians on the value trees provide to building successful, healthy cities and neighborhoods, CalFire and California ReLeaf are sponsoring a poster contest for students in grades 3-5.

Rules and details are online. 

In addition, the two groups are having a video contest for students in grades 6-8. Those rules are also online.

For each contest, students are asked to create original artwork or video based on the theme “Trees Are Superheroes!”

Submissions are due Feb. 14. Winners will be featured at the State Fair in the summer.

By Kathryn Reed

A court decision handed down Tuesday in El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson’s favor could have reverberations throughout the state.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal, which rarely publishes public opinions, on Jan. 10 said the California Legislature overstepped its bounds when in 2015 it enacted a law prohibiting grand juries from investigating police shootings.

The court ruled the Legislature would have to change the Constitution; that simply creating the law was not enough, nor did it have the legal power to do so.

“Every day peace officers put their lives on the line for all us. However, sometimes they make mistakes and sometimes they commit criminal misconduct up to murder. The public is entitled to a comprehensive, professional, and transparent investigation of any use of force, particularly one including the loss of life. Unfortunately, the legislature was misled by fake news — hands up don’t shoot — and restricted our ability to conduct those investigations,” Pierson told Lake Tahoe News.

Missing in the Superior and Appellate court hearings have been the Legislature and Attorney General’s Office. It was the AG who told lawmakers what they were doing was legal.

A grand jury gives the prosecutor great latitude to control a case because only their side is presented, and only what they want divulged comes out. Many people actually believe grand juries are actually skewed toward protecting the officer and not providing true transparency.

Pierson has a vested interest in the law because he is tasked with deciding whether to prosecute South Lake Tahoe police Officer Josh Klinge in the June 15, 2015, fatal shooting of 22-year-old Kris Jackson of Sacramento. Klinge said he thought Jackson had a gun when he fired the single bullet into his chest as the suspect was escaping through a window at the Tahoe Hacienda Motel on Lake Tahoe Boulevard. Klinge has been on paid administrative leave all this time.

On Feb. 1, 2016, Pierson issued subpoenas to Police Chief Brian Uhler, Klinge and four other officers. The grand jury sessions were to begin a month later.

South Lake Tahoe Police Officers’ Association and Police Supervisors’ Association filed motions to quash the subpoenas and dismiss the grand jury. The city of South Lake Tahoe then became a party of interest.

“Both the chief and myself could not tell police officers to act contrary to state law,” City Attorney Tom Watson told Lake Tahoe News. “We support our officer because we believe our officer will be vindicated whether in criminal or civil court.”

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Jim Wagoner did not find the legislation unconstitutional.

Pierson challenged that decision and prevailed Tuesday.

The police association has 60 days to decide if it wants to take this to the state Supreme Court.

By Joe Mathews

I recently learned that, in the second grade, I was part of presidential history.

Every morning during the 1980-81 school year, I walked the five blocks between my family’s home in Pasadena and Allendale Elementary School. In the evening, I went back to play Little League at Allendale Park, adjacent to school.

Joe Mathews

The round trip seemed unremarkable then. But last month, the city installed a plaque on the sidewalk outside one of the apartment buildings I used to pass on my way to school. The plaque at 253 Glenarm St. explains that an Occidental College sophomore lived there in 1980 and 1981.

The occupant’s name was Barack Obama.

This revelation—that the president of the United States was once my neighbor—might seem trivial. But it has made the California news and inspired my own state senator, Anthony Portantino, to propose renaming a portion of the 134 Freeway, connecting Pasadena with Glendale, the “President Barack H. Obama Freeway.”

I still live less than two miles from the sidewalk plaque, and coach my kids in the same nearby Little League. So, while I’m not a big fan of the president, over the holidays I stopped a half dozen times to see the plaque. The draw is some combination of childhood nostalgia and the deliciously incongruous updating of the president-from-a-log-cabin story. Plus, I’m never alone—there always seem to be other curious locals in front of the otherwise forgettable apartment building.

But I must confess I also find the plaque—and my own interest in it— embarrassing, in an “Aren’t we behaving like small-town hicks?” sort of way. And I felt that embarrassment even before my in-laws, visiting from Chicago, made fun of the plaque when I took them to see it.

Obama, after all, left us as fast as he could, transferring from Occidental to Columbia University in New York City after that sophomore year. And the plaque is the product of a conversation between Obama and a city councilman in which the president said he’d loved Pasadena—but could only remember that the street he’d lived on started with a G. (A search of phone directories and utility records identified the address, according to the Pasadena Star-News).

So why is my hometown holding so tightly to such a thin connection to a president? There’s our strong commitment to celebrating African-American history in a city with one of California’s oldest African-American communities. More broadly, it’s understandable that Californians are clinging to a president for whom we voted twice, particularly at a time when we’re confronting a president-elect that most of us see as a threat to the republic.

But that doesn’t justify our state’s lack of caution in celebrating Obama so robustly, even before he leaves office. There are already two schools named for Obama in Los Angeles, and another in Oakland; more are likely on the way. The town of Seaside, near Monterey, gave its Broadway Avenue a second name—Obama Way—six years ago. And scientific researchers even named a lichen they discovered in the Channel Islands after the president. (It’s called Caloplaca obamae).

Such celebrations seem excessive because the president hasn’t exactly reciprocated our affection. During his presidency, Obama came to our state mostly to raise money and play golf. He attacked Silicon Valley for not collaborating with his administration on mass surveillance of questionable legality. He turned down our recession-era requests for financial assistance that would have prevented the worst of the state budget cuts. And he deported an awful lot of our undocumented neighbors.

At the very least, high honors for this president are premature. It’s always dangerous to name things after living people, and he is just 55 years old, with—potentially—decades to screw up his reputation here. Depending on what his successor does, Obama’s legacy may soon seem rather ephemeral.

So why not hold off on renaming more schools or roads for him?

Yes, the stretch of the 134 Freeway in question is near Obama’s alma mater. But that’s too big an honor for a guy who spent such little time here in his youth. It’d be more appropriate to name that bit of freeway for Mildred Pierce, the title character of the novel and 1945 film noir, whose daughter, a bratty social climber, dreams of leaving drab Glendale for higher social status in Pasadena.

But I feel differently about the sidewalk plaque in my old neighborhood. Yes, the plaque—or, as some of us now call it, the Obama Monument—is hokey. And yes, if you have friends from Pasadena, you may hear us bragging that Obama was once our homie.

But I say we swallow our pride and keep the plaque (and maybe have T-shirts made). It’s a sweet little reminder that sometimes history is hiding just around the corner, and living in a really shabby apartment.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.

Ken Rollston

Kenneth Carl Rollston died on Jan. 3, 2017, while on a trip to Monterey. He was 72.

Rollston was born on Nov. 14, 1944, in Burbank to Henry and Irene Rollston. Ken graduated from James Monroe High School in North Hills, Calif., in 1962. In 1966 he received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University, where he played varsity baseball, and he earned his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1969. He was admitted to the bar in California in 1970, and he began practicing law in the Tahoe basin in 1974.

Ken was the original staff attorney for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and served as counsel on various matters for the city of South Lake Tahoe and South Tahoe Public Utility District. He represented many Tahoe businesses including Tahoe Seasons Resort, Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association, Alpine Rentals, and Tamarack Rentals. Ken was on the Lake Tahoe Community College district board for 25 years and served as its president four times. He was instrumental in bringing the Court Appointed Special Advocates program for children to the South Lake Tahoe court system, and he supported youth sports for many years as a baseball coach from Little League up to Senior Babe Ruth.

Ken had many passions, but he especially loved fly fishing, from streams in Big Sky and Kodiak Island to the saltwater flats of Los Roques and Christmas Island. He was a world traveler, an inveterate golfer, a wine connoisseur, and a Dodgers fan since childhood. In recent years, he became a fearsome fantasy football player.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy Carpenter Rollston; sisters Joanne, Garol, Lynne, and Marci; sons Jim and Brian and their wives Keri and Viktoria; Nancy’s sons Christopher and Erik and their wives Yvonne and Andrea; and six grandchildren on whom he doted — Ryland, Kaj, Zane, Miranda, Griffin and Maggie.

A celebration of Ken’s life will be in the spring. The family asks that donations in his memory be sent to the Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation.

By Katy Steinmetz, Time

Pristine produce will have less photogenic–and also less costly–cousins in the fresh-food aisles. That’s thanks to a growing effort to reduce waste by farmers and grocers, particularly the waste of wholesome, if somewhat unsightly, fruits and vegetables.

In the U.S., up to 40 percent of food goes to waste–that amounts to a per-household cost of about $2,200. Meanwhile, the U.N. estimates that some farmers chuck 20 to 40 percent of less-than-flawless-looking plants simply because they aren’t pretty enough to meet retailers’ expectations. But now, even large grocery chains are developing an appetite for the ugly stuff.

In early 2016, Whole Foods launched a program with the nonprofit Imperfect Produce to start stocking some of its stores in Northern California with knotty potatoes and blemished oranges. At a Brooklyn location, another Whole Foods started a program selling “ugly greens.” Walmart, the largest grocery retailer in the U.S., has gotten in the game too, selling wonky potatoes and apples with patchy exteriors. Hy-Vee, another chain, has promised to stock all of its 242 locations with aesthetically challenged goods as well. Imperfect produce, proclaims a sign on one of its displays in the Kansas City area, Is perfectly delicious and nutritious.

Read the whole story

Genesis G80 V-8 is shines all other vehicles in its class. Photos/Larry Weitzman

By Larry Weitzman

I have been testing cars for nearly 20 years and about 1,000 different makes and models, from every manufacturer (except for the Yugo). In testing I consider all factors from looks to performance, handling, ride, fuel economy, interior design and comfort, room, overall size, NVH (noise, vibration and harshness), safety, utility, quality, reliability, reputation and price. In considering the new (Hyundai) Genesis G80 V-8, with all the factors mentioned above (remember some factors carry more weight than others), it is simply the best car I have ever encountered.

Here’s why? Two years ago, when I tested the V-6 version of the new Genesis G80, it had become a world-class automobile, being “one of the best cars the Road Beat has ever tested and when you consider its relatively low price, it may be the best.” Now with the V-8 engine it may be one of the best changes to the best car ever tested when price is a factor and for 99.9 percent of consumers, it always is. So the claim “simply the best” fits.

Genesis G80 is about 6 inches longer and 2 inches wider than your average midsize, but its wheelbase is a huge 8 inches longer. By the numbers it is 196 inches long by 74 inches wide by 58 inches tall on a long 118-inch wheelbase. Fluidic Sculpture is its design philosophy and it works. It is a beautifully proportioned automobile with a strong front and rear end dynamics in its lines to make it interesting. It is a great looking ride.

The difference between the 3.8L V-6 Genesis G80 and 5.0 L G80 V-8 is the engine and levels of standard equipment, although the base Genesis G80 is incredibly well equipped. And even the engines are not much different, both sharing the same bore and stroke, meaning that except for the V angle (V-6s are 60-degree Vs and most V-8s are 90-degree Vs because of engine balance issues), the V-8 is the V-6 with two more cylinders. Smart. The data for the V-6 is listed in the specification box, but the V-8 punches out a whopping 420 hp at 6,000 rpm and 383 pounds of twist at 5,000 rpm. It also makes muted, wonderful V-8 burbles when strong in the throttle, otherwise it is one of the smoothest and quietest engines I have ever driven behind. That is about 109 more hp and 90 more pounds of twist than the V-6.

Specs and Techs
Price $41,000 to about $55,660
Engines
3.8L DOHC 24 valve V-6 311 hp@ 6,000rpm
293 lb.-ft. of torque @ 5,000 rpm
5.0L DOHC 32 valve V-8 420 hp @ 6,000 rpm
383 lb.-ft. of torque @ 5,000 rpm
Transmission
Eight speed automatic
Configuration
Longitudinal front engine/Rear Wheel Drive/All Wheel Drive (V-6 only)
Dimensions
Wheelbase 118.5 inches
Length 196.5 inches
Width 74.4 inches
Height 58.3 inches
Track (f/r) 64.1/65.3 inches
Ground clearance 5.3 inches
Weight (RWD/AWD/5.0L) 4,138/4,295/4,541 pounds
Trunk capacity 15.3 cubic feet
Fuel Capacity 20.3 gallons
Steering lock to lock 2.55 turns
Turning circle 36.2 feet
Wheels (3.8/5.0) 18X8/19X8.5f; 19X9r inches
Tires (3.8/5.0) 245/45X18/245/40X19f; 275/35X19r
Cabin volume 107.7 cubic feet
Coefficient of drag 0.26
Performance
0-60 mph 4.92 seconds
50-70 mph level 2.44 seconds, uphill 2.99 seconds
Top speed will be mined blowing
Fuel economy EPA rated at 15/23/18 mpg combined. Expect 21-22 mpg in suburban/rural driving. 31 mpg on a level highway at 70 mph.

While the V-6 was world class quick with 0-60 mph times of 5.89 seconds and 50-70 mph times of 2.97 and 3.86 seconds, respectively, The V-8 Genesis has simply shredded those numbers with a 0-60 mph of 4.92 seconds and passing times of just 2.44 seconds and the same run up a 6-7 percent grade only slowing to 2.99 times. Those are the times of a World Class super sedan. If you need to go to the moon or into Earth orbit, this is your vehicle as it has “escape velocity” type acceleration. If you need some exhilaration in your life, this G80 V-8 will provide it. If it doesn’t, I would check to make sure you haven’t assumed room temperature. Also, the pre-flight check list should include checking your head restraint.

Now mind you, I have tested quicker super sedans, BMW M cars, AMG Mercedes, but these are cars costing tens of thousands of dollars more with minuscule better performance (maybe half a second better). Once you cross the 5 second barrier, not much else matters. And the Genesis does it smoother.

Fuel economy is another small issue, but here is where the EPA numbers didn’t jive with the real world. EPA rates the G80 V-8 at 15/23/18 mpg. Overall the G80 averaged anywhere from about 20-24 mpg and when driven reasonably in rural driving it should return 22 mpg. At a constant 70 mph on a level highway during a two-way run the G80 V-8 averaged 30.8 mpg. Interestingly the V-6 only averaged 32 mpg in the exact same run. The engine spins a low 1,750 rpm at 70 mph. In a roundtrip from Placerville to Carson City which includes climbing over the Sierra, the G80 averaged 26.5 mpg. This is astounding fuel economy especially considering that the G80 V-8 weighs in at a 400-pound weight penalty at 4,500 pounds (over the V-6). The fuel economy penalty is at most about 2 mpg.

Handling is another strong point of Genesis. It has all the creds, with a wide track of 64 and 65 inches front and rear, respectively. Steering, while lacking in some feel (as most electric power racks) is nicely weighted and very quick at 2.55 turns lock to lock and a 36-foot turning radius. Huge 19 inch wheels are wide and staggered at 8.5inches wide in front and nine inches wide in the rear shod with 245/40 and 275/35 rubber front and rear. State of the art suspension keeps the attitude flat and it simply goes where you point it even when driven aggressively. You can even feel it rotate in hard cornering. This is one confident automobile and a real pleasure when the road bends.

Ride quality is also the best. It is a bank vault structurally and going over severe bumps you can feel a dull thud but the rest of the vehicle is almost unmoved. One of the best rides ever. And is this G80 smooth and quiet? You can take that to the bank. Engine, wind and road noise are nonexistent. It is simply one of the most pleasurable automobile experiences ever. It you gotta’ go, it would be hard to beat a Genesis.

Of course, safety is always an issue and the Genesis G80 Ultimate that I tested had everything standard. Lane departure warning, check; lane keep assist, check; automatic braking system, check; blind spot and cross traffic, check; in other words, it has it all, about every acronym and then some. And if that isn’t enough, it has huge four-wheel disc brakes with the front ventilated rotors measuring over 14 inches. They are powerful. The headlights mimic the sun.

Inside is a spacious large car interior of 123 cubic feet when the trunk is included. Seats are done in soft leather, beautifully styled and sublimely comfortable with powered seat side bolsters that add to their comfort and cornering ability. With its long wheelbase, rear seating is fabulous. The front line of the Sacramento Kings could fit easily with the legroom it provides.

All materials are not just first quality, but as good as it gets. Everything you touch oozes quality. The instrument panel has all the requisite gauges, trip computer and ancillary information. The center stack is about perfect in design and ease of use both for the HVAC system and beautiful sounding sound system. NAV and such all use the big 9-inch color screen that could be read by Mr. Magoo. But the voice inside the NAV system is not Jim Backus.

Sure, this is not your average $30,000 midsize. The sticker shows a price of $54,550 plus my tester had two port installed options, a first aid kit for $45 and mud guards at $115. Delivery from Ulsan, Korea, is $950 so the total MSRP is $55,660. A base V-6 hits the showroom at about $41K and is a phenomenal value, the best in the industry. Anyone you would ask would tell you that 0-60 mph in 5.89 seconds is certainly quick enough. But there is something about this V-8 as it has an ethereal feel to it. It is about $10,000 to $20,000 less than any competition and I just don’t see the extra value in spending more money on anything else. A Lexus LS 460 which I think the G80 V-8 competes easily with and perhaps exceeds the LS is at least $17K more dollars. Not only would I take the G80 V-8 over the LS in a heartbeat, I would consider it the ultimate ride when you consider all the factors mentioned near the beginning of this Road Beat. Coincidentally, the exact name of this Genesis happens to be the Genesis G80 RWD 5.0 Ultimate. If you take a test ride, bring your checkbook, you will need it.

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.

Rebates are still available in Truckee for the removal of non-compliant solid fuel burning devices, including woodstoves and fireplace inserts.

Available rebates are $600 for replacement of a non-compliant solid fuel burning device with a Phase II EPA certified woodstove or pellet stove, and $1,000 for replacement of a non-compliant solid fuel burning device with natural gas service, for up to $1,600 per residential unit. 

The rebates are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and will expire once the $64,000 in Air Quality Mitigation Funds have been exhausted. 

For more information on applying for a rebate, go online.

El Dorado County Teen Court is recruiting students for the spring Teen Court program.

The program operates in Placerville and South Lake Tahoe for grades 8-12. After completing mandatory orientation training, teens serve as personnel in real court cases in which a minor has committed an offense, admitted to that offense and chosen to be judged for sentencing by their peers.  

There will be an orientation training Jan. 19 from 5-7pm at El Dorado County Superior Court, located at 1354 Johnson Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe. Arrive by 4:45pm for check-in. Courtroom attire is required.

Teen Court hearings in South Lake Tahoe will be February through April on scheduled Thursday nights. Students will receive a calendar of hearing dates at orientation training. 

For more information, contact Hector Reyes at 530.573.7959.

By Tony Berendsen

On a dark cloudless night away from artificial light hundreds to thousands of stars are visible in the Earth’s sky. Our atmosphere is mostly transparent to visible light so we see our sun’s distant neighbors sparkling above. For millennia humanity have written stories inspired by their groupings, we have wondered about them and their beginnings, they have guided us and many other creatures who roam our planet, our curiosity of the cosmos was born from our visual sense to gaze upon them.

Will the stars always be visible to us? What about our sister planets, would the night sky look the same from Venus or Mars?

If we went star gazing on Mars, the constellations would look the same as from Earth, but the North star wouldn’t be the pole star. Mars is tilted on its axis a couple of degrees more than the Earth so the north celestial pole would be near the constellation Cygnus, not Polaris, or any individual bright star. Also, the one large moon we see on Earth would be replaced by two small moons; Phobos and Deimos. Neither are very large and both orbit faster than our moon since they are so close Mars, in fact Phobos takes a mere 7½ hours to orbit, so a star gazer could see Phobos cross the Martian sky twice in one night.

An image of the earth and the moon by the Curiosity Rover.

For an earthling visiting Mars a spectacular difference in the view from Earth would be to see the Earth and the moon in the night sky. The Earth would be an inferior planet, showing phases like Mercury and Venus, and would look like a bright star in the sky, with a small dim star-like object (the moon) orbiting around it every month.

On Venus, star gazing would be impossible from the surface. At one time Venus may have had a transparent atmosphere, but today due to global warming, the clouds never clear to show the stars. Venus is much closer to the sun than the Earth, and long ago the planet experienced a disastrous climate change fueled by its close proximity to the sun, boiling away its oceans, capturing the radiation of the sun with the carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, raising its surface temperature to become hot enough to melt lead.

If a star gazer could go back in time, when the atmosphere of Venus may have been clear, imagine what a wonderful view it would have been to see the Earth and moon in the distance orbiting the sun with the Milky Way as a back drop.

Humans have a very short lifetime compared to the cosmos. We may live a century, but the cosmos lives so long we call it infinity. A billion years of time for us may be only a second in cosmic time. If we traveled forward a second or two in cosmic time, our view of the stars from the surface of the Earth would be gone. The increasing heat from our evolving sun would have boiled our oceans changing our atmosphere from transparent and clear, to opaque and cloudy, bringing an end our existence in the habitable zone of our solar system and our view into space from the surface of the Earth.

So, our long term future of star gazing depends on the tool making ability of our species, and our success exploring and traveling our galaxy in search of other earths. But for now, a star gazer on Earth has a wonderful view of the cosmos, including Mars and Venus in the southwestern sky tonight. So, why not breakout your SkyPortal app, binoculars, or telescope, and enjoy the awesome view we have from the Earth.

Happy New Year!

Tony Berendsen runs Tahoe Star Tours. He may be reached at 775. 232.0844 or tony@tahoestartours.com.

·      Diabetes of American Team Tahoe Success is not a typical support group, but rather an energetic success group that meets to share ideas, experiences, and resources. Meetings are the first Tuesday of each month, 5:30-6:30pm in the board room at Barton Memorial. For more info, contact Ryan Papke at ryan@diabetesofamerica.org or 408.775.4945.

·      Lake Tahoe Community College President Kindred Murillo’s legacy of support for student success has grown to include the memorial scholarship for her daughter — Kindred Murillo/Michelle Dubberly Honorary Scholarship. Contributions may be made online then under “apply my gift to” select “scholarships” and then select the “Kindred Murillo Honorary Scholarship.”

·      Here is the sierra roadwork schedule for the week from Caltrans.

·      South Lake Tahoe is looking for someone to serve on the El Dorado County Commission on Aging. The commission meets the third Thursday of each month (except July and December) from 9:30am-noon at various locations throughout the county. Applications are online and are due Feb. 1. 

·      +Impact School and Tahoe Expedition Academy have teamed up with Project MANA to create Project MANA-TEA. The goal of this year-long project is to stamp out hunger in the North Tahoe and Truckee region by raising 1 pound of food and $1 for every Kings Beach resident, for a total of $3,796 and 3,796 pounds of food. Students and staff at +Impact School and TEA will host a community-wide spaghetti feed on Jan. 16 from12:30-2:30pm at the Boys & Girls Club in Kings Beach, 8125 Steelhead Ave. Suggested donation is $5 and one can of food per person.