Afternoon devoted to South Tahoe education

Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation’s annual Celebration of Education is May 16 from 4:30-6:30pm at Lakeland Village Lakefront Room.

Besides honoring the retirees, there will be a presentations of the 2011-12 enrichment programs sponsored through grants given by the foundation. All schools are represented.

Music is performed by students, and appetizers prepared and served by the South Tahoe High School Culinary Arts students.




Ski industry trying to forget about 2011-12 season

By Jason Blevins, Denver Post

SAN ANTONIO — In the worst ski season in 20 years, the winners stayed flat and the losers lost big.

“I think we dodged a bullet,” said Dave Riley , chief of Telluride ski area, where visitation remained steady through the 2011-12 season while nationally visits fell 16 percent to 51 million, a 20-year low.

Telluride joins a handful of Colorado ski areas – like Eldora, Wolf Creek, Echo Mountain, Durango Mountain Resort and Aspen Skiing Co.’s quiver of four hills – that saw visitation remain similar to the record season of 2010-11. Wyoming and New Mexico — home to the thriving Taos Ski Valley — were the only states to show annual increases in visitation. Overall, the Rocky Mountain region, which includes Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, bested the national 16-percent decline with a mere 7.2 percent drop to 19.4 million visits. Resorts in California were on the other end, with visits plummeting more than 20 percent in a season that saw a first-ever snowless December.

Heavenly's parking lot was full on the few powder days Tahoe witnessed. Photo/LTN

The mood at the annual National Ski Areas Association convention — a typically celebratory confab of several hundred resort operators from all snowy corners — was not the same as recent gatherings, where resorts reveled in record showings despite economic turmoil.

Recovery and resiliency reigned at this year’s rally of goggle-tanned optimists.

“We are eternally optimistic. We see an anomaly winter and we know it’s going to get better next year,” said Steve Rice , the managing director of Florida’s CNL Lifestyle Co., a real estate investment trust with 16 ski resorts and seven ski-area villages . “Still, I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that this year’s silver lining is that it demonstrates a worst-case scenario. We know what the bottom looks like.”

Indeed, it would be hard to get any worse.

Read the whole story




Nevada among 9 swing states in presidential race

By Michael Cooper, New York Times

Since the housing bubble burst, Nevada has been plagued with record foreclosures, the nation’s steepest drop in home values and its highest unemployment rate.

Iowa, on the other hand, may have missed out on some of the boom but was spared the worst of the bust: its housing prices have stayed relatively stable, and it now has the fifth-lowest unemployment rate in the country.

Ohio suffered a steeper than average loss of jobs during the recession, but it has since seen its unemployment rate fall below the national average.

All three are among the handful of swing states likely to decide who wins the presidential election — states in different stages of a slow economic recovery.

With just over six months until Election Day, an analysis of the emerging electoral map by The New York Times found that the outcome would most likely be determined by how well President Obama and Mitt Romney perform in nine tossup states.

All nine voted for Obama in 2008, only to see Republicans make big gains since then.

Now, with many of those states transformed economically and politically by the recession, they are perhaps even less predictable than they were in past close elections. The disparity in their circumstances highlights the challenges that both the Obama and the Romney campaigns face in framing arguments that will resonate across the country.

Read the whole story




USFS to work on Camp Rich area bike trail

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin work to repair the Pope-Baldwin Bike Path on May 14. This 3-mile stretch is better known at the Camp Richardson trail.

Work will include fixing cracks and holes and eliminating bumps. he repair project is intended to improve safety and accessibility, while increasing the trail’s lifespan.

Improvements coming to bike trail near Camp Richardson. Photo/LTN file

For safety purposes, portions of the bike path will be closed during construction activities and at times pedestrian/bike traffic will be rerouted through detours on native surfaces. Detours will be clearly marked and Forest Service staff will direct traffic in some areas. Some delays will be possible.

No construction activities will occur during weekends beginning Fridays at 1pm until 7am Mondays. During Memorial Day weekend construction activities will stop on Thursday at 1pm and resume on Tuesday at 7am.

The project is expected to be finished before the Fourth of July.

For more information, contact the Forest Service at (530) 543.2694.




Special Olympics fundraiser

AAA is hosting an open house May 18 at its Carson City office to benefit Special Olympics.

The 9am-3pm event includes a silent auction, special insurance counseling, travel advice as well as ample refreshments. Proceeds from the silent auction will go to Special Olympics of Nevada.

Food vendor Schwan’s will donate 20 percent of its proceeds on orders to Special Olympics.

Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.7 million athletes in 170-plus countries.

The office is at 2901 South Carson St., Carson City.




Blood drive

Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District is having a blood Drive May 30 from noon-6pm at station No. 3 at 193 Elks Point Road.

To schedule an appointment, go online and use the Sponsor Code: TahoeFire, or contact Kate or Carrie at (775) 588.3591.




‘The Five Love Languages’

Unity at the Lake presents a book study on “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. Different people express love in different ways. Understanding these different “languages” can be a key ingredient to success in relationships, not only with a spouse or partner, but also with children, parents, friends, and even with ourselves.

Everyone is welcome — even without reading the book.

The event is May 16 from 6:30-8pm.

Unity at the Lake is located at 1195 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, directly across from the recreation center sign.

A love offering will be accepted.

For more info on all activities and office hours, call 530) 544.2266 or go online.

 




Gaming revenue drops in Stateline, throughout Nevada

After four straight months of posting a gain, year-over-year revenue at Stateline casinos went in the other direction.

South Shore casinos, according to data released Thursday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, collected $13 million in revenue in March, a decline of 14 percent from 2011.

The entire state saw revenue drop in March. The $855 million in revenue is 11 percent less than what was recorded a year ago.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report




South Tahoe Chamber turns 5

South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce is celebrating its fifth birthday May 24 at Lake Tahoe Golf Course in Meyers.

No host cocktails and meet-greet will be an hour starting at 5:30pm, with dinner starting at 6:30pm.

RSVP by May 18 to (530) 542.5060 or (530) 544.7412.




LTN tidbit 10: It pays to advertise with LTN

May is 31 tidbits about Lake Tahoe News month.

LTN tidbit No. 10:

How are people finding your business? What is the return on investment with your advertising?

These are two of the basic questions any person in charge of deciding how to spend a company’s advertising dollars must be able to answer.

Lake Tahoe News can help you answer those questions. We can provide advertisers with monthly stats about impressions and clicks. When it comes to clicks, our stats only register one IP address per day so we can’t inflate those numbers by clicking on ads all day.

Charter Advertising in Meyers, which designs ads for Lake Tahoe News for clients who don’t have someone in house or an agency to do so, has the capability of creating a link for your ad that would provide you with your own data so you don’t have to rely on LTN’s stats. (Their ad creation fees are in addition to the posted ad rates on Lake Tahoe News.)

More businesses are turning to the Internet to get the message out about what they have to sell or what their services are. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, in 2011 Internet ad revenue was a record $31 billion. This is up 22 percent from the $26 billion in 2010.

People use a search engine to find a business. Gone are phonebooks. Gone is the need for any print mode of advertising.

With ads on Lake Tahoe News, it’s always there – 24/7, no matter where people are reading the news site. LTN is ideal for reaching people in the basin and outside the basin. People are reading LTN in more than 2,000 cities and 100 countries.

Ad rates may be accessed from the top of the page by hitting Advertise. If you have questions, email info@LakeTahoeNews.net with “advertise” in the subject line.

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