To the community,

Thanks to the , Bread & Broth dinner guests had an unexpected surprise for their meal Dec. 12. Instead of the meal being held at St. Theresa Grace Hall where the Monday meal is normally served, the dinner guests were sent a few buildings down to Globin Hall. Once at Globin Hall, they were given food giveaway bags containing fruits, vegetables, dairy products and breads/pastries and a Box Lunch provided by the Hard Rock Café. 

Once every seven or eight years, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe falls on a Monday evening and the St. Theresa Church’s Hispanic community has a dinner celebration at Grace Hall and Bread & Broth needs to find a new location for its meal service. When the Hard Rock Café heard about B&B’s need to find an alternative for our Monday Meal, they jumped right in to save the day. They provided a very tasty box lunch filled with chicken or vegetarian wraps, potato salad, chips and a big cookie and a bottle of water.

B&B would like to thank Hard Rock Café team members Sam Mellilo, Rose Hook, Jennifer Lynch and Dory Tollner for their work in preparing and assembling the box lunches and to Kimberly Templeton and Robert Perry for delivering and handing out the box lunches at Globin Hall. Hard Rock Café and manager Kimberly Templeton have been partnering with B&B for many years and B&B is very grateful for their support of our efforts to feed the hungry of our community.

Go online for more Bread & Broth program information.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

By Ryan Sabalow and Tony Bizjak, Sacramento Bee

A cold winter storm swept into the region on Friday and early Saturday, bringing low snow levels and slippery roads on one of the busiest holiday travel periods of the year.

While the storm made for dangerous road travel and plenty of airport delays, the wet, snowy weather, following a succession of storms to start the rainy season, was more welcome news as California concludes its fifth consecutive year of drought.

“At this point, we’re cautiously optimistic,” said Jeanine Jones, interstate resources manager for the state Department of Water Resources. “We’re in the fingers-crossed, wait-and-see mode.”

Experts like Jones aren’t ready to declare the drought over in spite of one of the more promising starts to California’s wet season in years. The reason? The state’s water-supply picture is very much a mixed bag at this point, and it’s still early in the state’s brief rainy season to point to any sort of trend. Most of the precipitation that falls in California falls in January and February.

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The Placer County Air Pollution Control District is seeking applications for its annual Clean Air Grant program.

The goal of the program is to reduce air pollution from sources not already required by law or regulation to do so. This program is a proactive approach to help incentivize clean technologies and programs which ultimately provide the benefit of measurable and cost effective emission reductions.

There are six grant project categories to choose to apply under. About $800,000 is available.

More information is available online.

By Benjamin Stillman, Reno Gazette-Journal

Backers of a plan to force the federal government to cede control of millions of acres of land in Nevada are refreshing their proposal.

And they’re starting with an effort to convince a skeptical public it’s possible to take nearly 7.3 million acres from the Bureau of Land Management without disrupting hunting, off-highway riding or sticking Nevada taxpayers with bigger bills for fighting massive rangeland wildfires.

The plan has a better shot at survival if it manages to make it to the desk of incoming Republican President Donald Trump than it would have under a Democratic president.

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By Tracy Rucinski, Reuters

Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s bankrupt operating unit resolved a dispute with its lenders on Friday, paving the way for a consensual plan to push the casino group out of its $18 billion Chapter 11.

In filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, bank lenders said they had reached an agreement over their recovery terms and were withdrawing a threat to abandon a plan to end Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc’s two-year bankruptcy.

Caesars is the parent company of Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys.

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By Sandra Chereb, Las Vegas Review-Journal

CARSON CITY — A legislative panel on Wednesday postponed a regulation to prohibit Nevada hunters from using high-tech rifles capable of zeroing in on big game from up to a mile away.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife approved the ban on so-called “smart rifles” this fall, citing concerns that the technology allowing hunters to execute a kill shot with laser-like precision from long distances is contrary to the sportsmen’s doctrine of “fair chase.”

But the Legislative Commission withheld action after complaints from a lobbyist for a leading manufacturer, and some rural lawmakers raised concerns.

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By Kathryn Reed

Sometimes I feel like a kid; I eat more veggies when there is a dip – especially an unhealthy one.

It’s not that I have a problem eating enough vegetables. But they aren’t something I tend to snack on unless there is a dip.

I made the recipe below for some friends. Thank goodness there was left over dip. I scarfed the rest of the raw veggies with the dip the next day in a way that would have been a bit embarrassing had anyone other than the dog witnessed it. I could have just eaten spoonfuls of the concoction.

I’ve always loved blue cheese, so it was a no brainer this recipe was going to be to my liking. And while it is a dip, there isn’t any reason it couldn’t be used as a salad dressing.

I used Veganaise only because that is what I keep in the fridge now instead of regular mayo.

Blue Cheese Dip

1 C Veganaise

1 C sour cream

6 green onions, finally chopped

2 T dried parsley

5 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Garlic salt to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Tony Berendsen, center, leads a star tour at Northstar on Dec. 21. Photo Copyright 2016 Carolyn E. Wright

By Kathryn Reed

TRUCKEE – Traipsing through the snow was otherworldly in a way that wasn’t expected.

It became a star tour that required a bit of an imagination. Such are the hazards when Mother Nature decides to the mar the night sky with clouds.

But along the way the clouds parted just long enough for Tony Berendsen to point out the star Capella, which was 42 light years from where we were standing. It is actually four stars within the constellation Auriga.

“Constellations are beautiful. They are humanity in space,” Berendsen said.

His passion shines through as he imparts nuggets of knowledge about the universe. Each stop was punctuated by the recital of one of his poems that was inspired by the cosmos. Berendsen was definitely able to stir the imagination enough to get people to start thinking about looking up more when it is dark and to wonder about what else is out there and what it will be like one day on Earth when our sun (which is a star) burns out

Berendsen is an award-winning amateur astronomer residing in Reno who writes the Star Guide astronomy articles for Lake Tahoe News. He is president of the Northern Nevada Science Coalition and a past president of the Astronomical Society of Nevada. 

Snowshoeing through the dark woods of Northstar to learn about the stars. Photo Copyright 2016 Carolyn E. Wright

On the winter solstice on Wednesday he led a group of novice star gazers into the woods from the Nordic center at Northstar and finished at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe. Normally the night wraps up with guests being able to view the myriad stars and planets through high-powered telescopes lined up at the Ritz. The clouds were not cooperating.

Instead of being able to be led by Sirius, which is the brightest star this time of year, headlamps were our beacon. 

This is the eighth year Berendsen has put on guided the tours at the Truckee resorts, though he has been doing star tours for 15 years. He also guides summer programs.

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Notes:

·      Future stargazing snowshoe tours will be on Dec. 28, Jan. 14 and Feb.11.

·      Tours are approximately 2-2½ hours.

·      Cost is $63 for ages 13 and older, and $45 for ages 10-12. Snowshoe rentals are available for $21 per person.

·      Make reservations online. 

·      For information, go online. 

By Marjorie “Slim” Woodruff, High Country News

I am getting tired of being shot at. The perpetrators may not realize they are shooting at me, but that only makes it worse.

People in the Wild West like to carry their guns with them when they venture into the outdoors. So far, so good. Problems arise when they get bored, pull out said guns and start plinking away at various objects. Shots from a rifle may travel more than a mile. The shooters cannot actually see that far.

Hiking in the national forest and hearing the boom of a high-powered rifle — one knows not where — is disconcerting, to say the least. 

Someone who decides to get in a little target practice on the public lands may not know if there is a trail, road or recreation area close by. Some do not appear to care.

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By Tom Moroney, Bloomberg

Ski-resort executives tend to hate climate change, for obvious reasons. Then there’s Les Otten.

It’s not that he’s a fan, just that he’s looking to turn the global-warming equation on its head. How so? By carving out slopes in a remote spot in northern New Hampshire that’s frigid enough to out-snowpack rivals. While lower-elevation areas wilt, the lifts on higher ground will keep on humming.

“You wouldn’t wish your fellow man ill,” said Otten, a winter-sports industry veteran who has teamed up with a pair of local businessmen, “but their seasons will be shortened. It would be dishonest to say that to a degree that’s not in our thinking.’’

The go-north strategy is like a nor’easter that drops snow twice: It protects your investment and gives you a leg up on competitors.

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