For the first time in several decades, the Eldorado National Forest will sell Christmas tree cutting permits.

Permits for pine, fir or cedar trees up to 6 inches in diameter at the base will be available beginning Nov. 14.

Christmas tree permits will be issued with tree tags for $10 each, with a limit of two per family or address. These permits must be purchased in person, are not transferable and are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Fourth-graders who present a valid Every Kid in a Park voucher or pass are entitled to one free Christmas tree permit.

For more information, go online.

·       Truckee is having a Veterans Day ceremony at 11am in Victory Plaza.

·       Dingo Weisel will play at Whiskey Dick’s in South Lake Tahoe for free on Dec. 3. Doors open at 9pm.

·       Author John Hindmarsh will be the guest speaker at the South Lake Tahoe AAUW meeting on Nov. 12 at 11:30am in the Aspen room at Lake Tahoe Community College. He will talk about his writing process, including story building, and the challenge a writer faces to deliver an experience to the reader that matches the book’s genre. He will also share his experiences in self-publishing.

·       The Sierra Watercolor Society returns to the Wilbur D. May Museum in Reno with an exhibition of original watercolor paintings. Local and regional artists were asked to paint places they have visited or want to visit, favorite views, special events, and other scenes. The free exhibit runs Nov. 10-Dec. 18.

·      The last day to purchase a U.S. Forest Service fuelwood permit for the Lake Tahoe Basin is Nov. 18, 2016, and the last day to cut wood is Nov. 20.

By Kathryn Reed

Even though Caesar salad is one of my favorites, so often restaurants provide more dressing than greens. No wonder people order dressing on the side.

This recipe below is not a traditional Caesar dressing, but it tastes like it. It doesn’t have raw eggs or anchovies.

I used Veganaise instead of mayonnaise. They do the same thing.

It would also be fine not to fry the chickpeas. Doing so added a little different flavor and texture that I welcomed.

These days it’s possible to buy kale in a variety of forms. I bought a bag that was chopped already. I just took off some of the larger stems.

It would be easy to add other things to this salad. I had some craisins I wanted to get rid of, so I threw those in the mix. Nuts would work too. So, really, what makes this a Caesar is that the dressing is Caesar-ish.

Untraditional Caesar Salad

Canola oil, for frying

1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained

Salt

Pepper

½ C Veganaise

2 T fresh lemon juice

2 tsp Dijon mustard

4 garlic cloves, finely grated

¼ C shredded Parmesan, plus more for serving

10 ounces curly kale, stemmed

Craisins, optional

Lightly coat frying pan with canola oil. Add the chickpeas and fry over moderately high heat. Stir. Remove after browned and crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chickpeas to paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.

In a bowl, whisk the Veganaise, lemon juice, mustard, garlic and ¼ cup of cheese. Add the kale and toss. Add chickpea, toss. Add remaining cheese or allow people to add it at the table.

By Kathryn Reed

Five newcomers will be joining three South Shore school boards.

Keith Byer was the decisive victor on Tuesday night. He easily beat Mike Kiger for the Douglas County School District seat. Byer had 65.88 percent of the vote.

“I’m honored. This is my first election,” Byer told Lake Tahoe News. “I hope to do a great job, to bring some balance to the lake schools, budget items and all the things the board has influence in.”

He spent election night at a fundraiser for Whittell High School’s safe and sober graduation night.

Byer replaces Cindy Trigg who was termed out.

In Lake Tahoe Unified School District the races were closer. Incumbent Mike Doyle barely lost to challenger Bonnie Turnbull in Area 3. Turnbull had 856 votes or 51.69 percent, to Doyle’s 792, 47.83 percent.

Upon winning she plans to first do extensive research, which is “what I always do.”

She wants to get creative so she can lead education to the next level. She mentioned instead of just focusing on test scores, she advocates balancing testing with cultivating the interests of students. She pledged to have community meetings to discuss the issues.

Prior to the election Doyle’s wife told LTN he would not talk to us. And he hasn’t.

In LTUSD Area 1, just a few votes separated winner Larry Reilly and Annie Davidson for much of Nov. 8. In the end it was Reilly winning by 100 votes. He had 739 votes, or 53.36 percent and she had 639 votes, 46.14 percent.

“I am deeply troubled by this presidential election. My own race is feeling much less important,” Davidson told Lake Tahoe News as Donald Trump was winning Nov. 8. She was at Divided Sky in Meyers watching the results, with most everyone paying attention to the presidential race.

Troy Mathews ran unopposed for Area 4 in LTUSD.

Down the street at Lake Tahoe Community College it will be Nancy Dalton filling the seat of Area 4 trustee. She beat Dave Hamilton 927 to 687 votes, or 57.29 percent to 42.46 percent.

“I am just so looking forward to serving on the board,” Dalton told Lake Tahoe News. She has been attending board meetings since the first of the year.

Hamilton all along supported Dalton if voters didn’t support him, saying she will make a good board member.

“I will be involved in other things in other ways,” Hamilton said.

By Susan Wood

In the management of fire and water, South Shore voters seemed to go with the flow in opting for those who have already been serving.

With 35.48 percent of the vote, or 4,076 cast for the top spot, current South Tahoe Public Utility District Board Chairman Randy Vogelgesang characterized his run this time in a high profile election as “humbling.”

“The last time I ran in an off year, so I didn’t know if the vote would hold up,” he told Lake Tahoe News.

Vogelgesang represents a board member who understands the duty before him – especially when it means all citizens expect wastewater to leave their home and clean drinking water to enter it.

“We’re going to spend about $35 million in this district. I really appreciate their trust,” he said of the voters.

Incumbent Kelly Sheehan captured the second seat on the STPUD board with 27.72 percent of the vote or 3,184 ballots, according to El Dorado County Elections.

“I’m excited. My goal was to remain on the board. I feel good about where I am. I feel I have something to contribute,” she said while serving in her South Lake Tahoe bar, Steamers.

The third candidate Nick Exline secured 2,212 votes at 19.25 percent; the fourth is Kirk David with 17.29 percent of the vote – 1,986 counted.

For an agency dependent on STPUD’s fire flows, the Lake Valley Fire Protection District has three seats open.

The top spot goes to former Lake Valley staff Leona Allen with 1,796 votes at 29.93 percent. Phone calls to Allen were unreturned. This will be her first term.

Incumbent board member John Rice as the second top vote getter by raking in 27.85 percent of the vote with 1,671 cast.

With 23.20 percent of the vote, incumbent Bob Bettencourt edged out Tony Sears who had 18.47 percent.

“I feel as far as Lake Valley goes, we’ve moved so far in the last six months. We have a new leader, and there’s togetherness in the house we haven’t seen in a while,” Rice said, referencing the hiring of Fire Chief Tim Alameda to replace former head Gareth Harris.

Rice, who has a stellar reputation as the general manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort, pledged to continue to make a difference in the community.

“If there’s anything this election has taught us it’s that everyone’s not happy. Pretending everything’s good is wrong,” Rice told Lake Tahoe News.

By Kathryn Reed

Recreation, roads and a say in the loop road. That’s what voters in South Lake Tahoe want.

Measure P, with more than the required two-thirds needed to pass, sent a message that locals want better recreation facilities. It will increase the hotel tax from 10 to 12 percent for most properties, while those in the redevelopment area will pay 14 percent instead of the current 12 percent. It is estimated to bring in $2 million per year.

The measure passed with 3,214 votes, or 67.65 percent.

“This in unbelievably exciting,” City Manager Nancy Kerry told Lake Tahoe News.

The transient occupancy tax would be raised 90 days after the election is certified, which is 28 days from now.

First thing on the to-do list is to build a new recreation center to replace the outdated, dilapidated 40-plus-year-old structure. Preliminary designs have been drawn.

The goal is to begin construction in 2018, with people able to use the facility in 2020.

The council would sell bonds to pay for the facility, then use the revenue from Measure P to pay that debt.

While Measure U did not pass, the advisory measure wanting to have had that money go toward roads dominated the proposals. U would have raised the sales tax by one-half cent to 8.5 percent. While the city asked voters where to spend the money – roads, housing or facilities – the allocation was not binding. However, roads did get the most support.

Measure U needed only a simple majority, but lost with only 42.26 percent wanting it.

Kerry was not completely discouraged by this turn of events.

“If the public is saying the highest priority is roads, I will recommend the council have a dedicated tax go to roads,” she said. That vote, though, could be two years away. It will likely be discussed at the February strategic plan workshop.

Measure T was the other South Lake Tahoe initiative on the ballot. This was brought forward by concerned citizens who want the town to have a say in the loop road. This is the proposal to turn Highway 50 near the state line into a city street and city streets into the highway, going from near Pioneer Trail, then behind Harrah’s and MontBleu.

“It forces the city to seek approval of the citizens before they can start supporting something,” Bruce Grego, one of the advocates for Measure T, told Lake Tahoe News. “It doesn’t stop the process; it just requires another level of consent.”

T passed by 2,852 votes, or with 60.5 percent. It required a simple majority.

Next up will be the Dec. 5 court hearing. City Councilman-elect Jason Collin brought a lawsuit to stop the measure from going on the ballot. The judge allowed it, saying he would take action after Nov. 8. The judge could order a settlement conference, a trial date or something else – there just won’t be resolution that day.

By Susan Wood

Former South Lake Tahoe City Councilwoman Brooke Laine returns to the panel with a renewed vigilance, joining newcomer Jason Collin. They captured the two seats with 22.32 and 16.71 percent, respectively.

That’s Laine with 1,887 votes and Collin with 1,413, the El Dorado County Elections Department reported early Wednesday morning. The election will be certified in 28 days.

One thing is for sure in this year of election unpredictability – the council has evolved over the years with varying personalities, missions, visions, challenges and tasks.

Serving this community often serves as a balancing act for candidates considering politics and people. The two seats came up for grabs this 2016 election with longtime member Hal Cole bowing out and JoAnn Conner trying to answer to the community again. Conner, who didn’t return phone calls election night, came in fourth with 11.97 percent, or 1,012 votes, El Dorado County Elections reported.

Tami Wallace’s 1,359 votes at 16.08 percent had her in third. Another City Council returning candidate, Ted Long, follows behind with 968 votes at 11.45 percent.

Laine has served six years on the council; the first term during a critical time for the city managing redevelopment.

They say timing is everything.

Laine admitted to Lake Tahoe News her “heart wasn’t in it” during that last go-around two years to serve on the council and wondered if the community sensed it. Her nephew had just died.

“I needed that space,” she said.

Now she’s returning strong and confident because there’s a lot to accomplish.

“I’m in this because I feel the future of our community is at a tipping point. I always felt there was more to do,” she said.

She emphasized that this 2016 election is about the community moving forward, adding she hopes for those with dissenting voices to have “public discourse that’s polite.”

“This national election has shown a divide. People are so unhappy. We as a council cannot allow it to get to that level. We’ll have to adjust and make accommodations,” Laine told Lake Tahoe News.

She proceeded to thank those who believed in her during the campaign.

Collin congratulated Laine and said he felt “excited” about his own race. He was saying goodbye to a few friends from his home when LTN called.

Although Collin early on became known as a widely supported candidate, he said he “honestly didn’t know what to expect.”

What he’s not surprised about is how close the race turned out to be.

On the other hand, Wallace told LTN she predicted the top four vote-getters would be who they are.

She pledged to run again for council again because if anything “there’s not a single one of these people who I couldn’t work with” even though they “may not agree 100 percent of the time.” She wants to work with patriarch Councilman Tom Davis and embrace his institutional knowledge.

The rest of the field included: Danny McLaughlin with 6.7 percent; John Shearer with 6.58 percent, Trey Riddle with 2.77 percent; Bob Topel with 2.64 percent; and Patrick Jarrett with 2.42 percent.

By Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times

California voters on Tuesday elected the state’s first new U.S. senator in 24 years, and made history in the process.

State Attorney Gen. Kamala Harris won the race, according to the Associated Press, becoming the first black politician in history to represent California in the Senate.

With Harris cemented as the solid front-runner and Democratic Party favorite, challenger Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Orange, embraced the role of the underdog and attempted to stitch together support from Latinos, Republicans and moderates. But hampered by an underfunded campaign and missteps, her effort failed to take hold.

The Harris-Sanchez Senate race was the first major test of California’s “top-two” primary system, an experiment in democracy that California voters approved in 2010 in an effort to reduce the highly partisan influence of the Democratic and Republican parties and give independents and moderates more clout in the political process.

Read the whole story

Catherine Cortez Masto won a hotly contested Senate race in Nevada. Photo Copyright 2016 Carolyn E. Wright

By Dave Phillips, New York Times

After a close race fueled by record outside spending, Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, won the Nevada Senate contest on Tuesday to become the first Latina senator. She defeated Representative Joe Heck to fill the seat of Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic minority leader, who is retiring after three decades in the Senate. Outside groups spent nearly $90 million on the tight race, but the biggest factor might have been Donald J. Trump.

Cortez Masto, 52, a former Nevada attorney general and the granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant, focused her campaign on immigration overhaul and future Supreme Court picks before the Senate. She capitalized on the extensive ground operation built by Hillary Clinton and energized Latinos by railing against Trump’s plan to build a border wall, while trying to pin Trump’s most controversial views on her opponent.

Read the whole story

By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times

Voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 64, making California the most populous state in the nation to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

The approval of the ballot measure creates the largest market for marijuana products in the U.S. It comes six years after California voters narrowly rejected a similar measure. Activists said passage would be an important moment in a fight for marijuana legalization across the U.S.

“We are very excited that citizens of California voted to end the failed policy of marijuana prohibition,” said Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Assn. “Proposition 64 will allow California to take its rightful place as the center of cannabis innovation, research and development.”

Discouraged law enforcement officials said they will closely monitor implementation of the ballot measure.

Read the whole story