Unity at the Lake is hosting a night of Hand and Foot as a fundraiser.
Frank Riley will be in charge of running the card game.
The event is May 30 at 6pm, 1195 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.
Cost to play is $10.
RSVP to Paige Rice at paige@tahoebestfriends.com or 530.543.1903.
Due to the drought and the threat of large damaging wildfires, beginning June 1 the Amador-El Dorado and Nevada-Yuba-Placer units of CalFrie will suspend dooryard burning permits.
CalFire has responded to twice as many wildfires than average and it is anticipated that fire season will only continue to get worse.
Anyone who burns on or after June 1 in these areas may be subject to civil or criminal action including cost recovery charges for a fire suppression response.
By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times
Ben Wu took a six-figure pay cut when he left a career in private equity for a shot at the marijuana boom.
Trained to spot small businesses with big potential, he started this year as chief executive of Kush Bottles, a Santa Ana company that sells child-resistant plastic cannabis containers.
It took some persuading to get his parents and girlfriend to embrace the move. But Wu insists it was a sound business decision. As the pot industry blossoms, he reasoned, a robust supply chain is needed to help grow, package and market legal marijuana.
“The sky’s the limit,” said Wu, 35, a New York University business school graduate and former vice president at Wedbush Capital Partners. “As long as states continue to adopt, we’re going to double growth each and every year.”
In celebration of the Silver State’s Sesquicentennial, and in conjunction with National Get Outdoors Day, residents and visitors will have free access to Nevada state parks June 14.
Park visitors will receive free day use admission and free fishing (no license required) at Nevada’s 23 state parks. In addition, the first 150 vehicles at each park on June 14 will receive a complimentary deck of commemorative Nevada Heritage playing cards.
In honor of the state’s sesquicentennial, Nevada State Parks will also be giving away two annual park passes per week during the four weeks leading up to the Discover Nevada State Parks Day.
By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
With California’s gas tax unable to keep up with road maintenance needs, one state lawmaker has proposed a study to determine the feasibility of instead taxing motorists based on the number of miles they drive.
A combination of inflation, cars getting better mileage and more hybrids and electric vehicles on the road mean the 18-cent-per-gallon gas tax approved by voters in 1990 is falling short of covering the costs of maintaining the state’s transportation system.
Inflation has meant purchasing power of the state’s gas tax has steadily diminished over time, according to Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord.
He has introduced SB1077, which would allow the California Transportation Agency to conduct a voluntary pilot program to study the feasibility of a mileage-based fee to replace existing gas taxes.
The North Shore is having a community clean up day on June 7 from 9am-1pm.
It will happen even if it rains.
Registration stations open at 9am at the Kings Beach State Recreation Area picnic tables, in Tahoe Vista at Cable Car Ice Cream, in Carnelian Bay at Gar Woods, and in Crystal Bay at the Biltmore.
For more info, email tily@northtahoebusiness.org.
Publisher’s note: This is one in a random series of stories about gardening in Lake Tahoe.
By Kathryn Reed
Getting one’s hands dirty is not only a physical workout it is a mental recharger.
“There is a biological link between soil and people. We have lost that because we are no longer an agrarian society,” De-Anne Hooper told Lake Tahoe News.
Hooper runs the South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center and is the driving force behind a demonstration garden at the site that will break ground June 2.
The dirt to the right of the Family Resource Center will become a garden. Photo/LTN
Providing prevention and early intervention when it comes to mental health issues are two of the center’s core objectives. The garden will be a component to help people cope.
“Not many people have the opportunity to get their hands dirty in South Lake Tahoe, especially kids. We thought this would be a perfect match,” Hooper said.
She is working in cooperation with Brian Hirdman, who teaches gardening classes through Lake Tahoe Community College’s Connect Community Education. He has been trying to start a community garden for the last three years. And while this 30-foot-by-50-foot plot isn’t big enough to feed a community, it will act as a way to show people what can grow in the basin and how to grow it.
Right now the growing area is raw dirt between the center and chain link fence for the ball field. First to be built is the fence that will enclose the growing area. This will be a joint project by the FRC and Lake Tahoe Unified School District, which owns the property.
Hirdman has some logs, boulders and planter boxes that will be used. The center has boxes already planted on the other side of the parking area that have herbs growing.
“This isn’t a farm, so we are not going to have a super high volume of food, especially the first year. It will provide an opportunity for people to dig in the dirt and there is scientific evidence that it helps mental illness and that is the biggest part for me,” Hooper said.
The goal is to have a summer program for the kids so they can be tending to the garden.
Hirdman will be teaching a four-part class through Connect Ed where the practical aspect is working at the demo garden. FRC students and their parents are expected to be the long-term caretakers.
The classes may be taken individually. The first one – Creating Healthy Soil – is May 31. July 12 is about which plants grow well here. It will include creating a hoop house to create a microclimate. July 19 focuses on advanced growing techniques. Permaculture and biodynamic growing principles are part of this class. The July 26 class is about xeriscape, which is about being smart about water use.
“This summer I will have workshops with kids. I will teach them how to plant trees, plant vegetables and get in the dirt,” Hirdman told Lake Tahoe News. “My goal is to train a group of volunteer leaders who can go about and train kids.”
Hirdman would like to plant fruit trees that have been grafted to stand up to Tahoe’s climate. These could include apple, cherry, plum, apricot and pear.
Large shrubs like elderberries and smaller ones like raspberry, blueberries and currants grow well here.
Another lesson will be learning what annuals work in Tahoe versus perennials.
Hirdman envisions a salsa garden where tomatoes, peppers and cilantro are grown. He also wants to show how squash and corn can be cultivated in Tahoe.
“It will be just like your standard garden … nothing too exotic,” Hirdman said.
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Notes:
• Information about the Connect Ed classes as well as how to register is online.
• Brian Hirdman may be reached at naturesgardener@hotmail.com.
• De-Anne Hooper is available at 530.542.0740.
To the community,
Leona Allen
The months leading up to an election are always an annoyance to me, particularly because of campaign signs.
I’m not really sure they serve a purpose other than to waste resources and create litter. I’m curious, however, if all of these politicians really received permission from the property owners where their signs were placed. I see signs on county, state and federally owned property. Can you honestly tell me that Caltrans and the El Dorado Department of Transportation agreed to these signs being placed?
I think not.
Politicians: please follow the law.
Leona Allen, Meyers
By AP
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A New Jersey man is considering suing for the right to use medical marijuana in an Atlantic City casino.
Daniel Price’s lawyer, Michelle Douglass, says that Revel Casino Hotel failed to accommodate his disability when a security guard told him he could not take his marijuana into the casino last month.
The 23-year-old Atlantic City resident is a registered medical marijuana patient. He tells the Press of Atlantic City that he uses the drug to treat seizures and irritable bowel disease.
State guidelines encourage patients to smoke cannabis at home. But they are not barred by law from using it in private businesses.
Revel, like all Atlantic City casinos, has a smoking area. Lisa Johnson, a Revel spokeswoman, declined to comment to the newspaper.
No lawsuit has been filed.
By Michael Roppolo, CBS News
A report by a consumer watchdog group says a shocking amount of sugar is packed into children’s breakfast cereals. Eating a bowl of kids’ cereal every day would add up to consuming the equivalent of 10 pounds of sugar a year, according to the report by the Environmental Working Group.
“Breakfast cereals are the single greatest source of added sugars in the diets of children under the age of eight,” said nutritionist and EWG consultant Dawn Undurraga, co-author of the report which looked at 181 cereals marketed for children.
Recent research has shown that there has been some progress in reducing obesity rates in young children, but for all other age groups there has been little sign of improvement. One of the reasons for the lack of progress may be due to the high amounts of sugar that Americans consume — far more than the commonly recommended amount of 10 to 15 percent of total calorie intake. In March, the World Health Organization lowered sugar intake recommendations to less than 5 percent.