By Nancy Shute, NPR

Mothers of new babies might be forgiven for turning to caffeine to get through those sleep-deprived months. And they might worry that drinking coffee interferes with the sleep of breast-fed babies — the Web is full of such questions. But a new study says it’s not so.

Instead, researchers in Brazil found that the babies of heavy coffee drinkers were no more likely to wake up than were babies whose moms didn’t have a serious espresso habit.

Crying and colic at 3 months old, as well as frequent night waking at 12 months, were not affected by a mom’s caffeine intake.

“When we planned the study, we worked with the hypothesis of association between heavy maternal consumption of caffeine and higher infant awakenings at night,” Marlos Rodrigues Domingues, a researcher at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, and co-author of the study, tells Shots in an email.

It’s not clear why the infants’ sleep wasn’t affected. The babies might have developed a tolerance to caffeine while in the womb, Rodrigues says. But other studies have found no caffeine metabolites in the urine of babies whose mothers drink coffee, suggesting that the babies don’t absorb caffeine the way older children and adults do. The results were published in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers tracked 885 babies born in 2004. All but one of the mothers consumed caffeine, either in coffee or in the herbal drink mate, which is popular in South America. And 20 percent of those women drank a lot of coffee — more than 300 mg a day of caffeine, or about six espressos.

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Sierra Nevada College presents the 6th annual Tahoe Poetry Slam on April 27 at 7pm at Patterson Hall.

The evening is free and open to all. There are cash prizes for the top three competitors — $300, $200 and $100.

Participants must be present 20 minutes prior to the show to sign-up; the first 10 to sign up will compete. Each competitor has three minutes to perform their poem.

The emcee is poetry slam champion Denise Jolly.

By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Sun

When I lived in Flagstaff, Ariz., I was always astonished to run into a local resident who had never been to the Grand Canyon.

Every year, people travel thousands of miles to see what arguably is the most spectacular natural attraction on the planet. Yet there were people who lived just over an hour away and had never been there.

I made it my quest to see as much of the Grand Canyon as I could and to head all directions in the state to see all of Arizona.

Rabe Meadow in Stateline provides a scenic walk to Nevada Beach. Photo/LTN file

Now, I’m a Nevadan and I made it my objective to see as much of this state as I can.

Lucky for me, with relatives in Elko and children attending the University of Nevada, I’ve been able to put together side trips to some of the places many of us have heard about but few have seen.

Over the years, I’ve made it to about half of Nevada’s 24 state parks, driven the “Loneliest Road” (U.S. 50 across the center of the state), the Extraterrestrial Highway (Nevada State Route 375) and hiked and explored national parks on the state’s western border (Death Valley), eastern border (Great Basin) and southern tip (Lake Mead).

One of these days, I’ll get to Black Rock Desert and find my way to the Fly Geyser. Nevada is blessed with remarkably rugged beauty, north and south. Visitors to our state often discover this by accident when they stumble upon our scenery when indulging in the attractions that make us famous worldwide, the Las Vegas Strip.

How many of the thousands of Southern Nevada residents have never seen Valley of Fire or Cathedral Gorge state parks? Both are easy day trips from Las Vegas. How many have never checked out the spring blooms in Death Valley or the sand dunes near Amargosa?

Only recently had I made my first visit to Nelson. It’s only an hour away from home and it’s a scenic and historic treasure.

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By Julie Weed, New York Times

Tipping for hotel concierges, bellhops and housekeepers moves up and down with the economy, but lately it has also been affected by changes in corporate, airline and hotel policies.

The airlines’ checked bag fees offer a prime example. Since luggage got wheels, more travelers have been eschewing porters and taking their own bags up to their hotel rooms. But the airline fees have made things worse, said Adam Weissenberg, a vice chairman at Deloitte & Touche who leads the firm’s American travel, hospitality and leisure division.

“People are packing lighter so they can bring just a carry-on and avoid the fees,” he said. “The other day, I was sitting in a lobby for 20 minutes, and not one business traveler used a bellman.”

The bag fees have also affected skycap tips, said Calvin Miller, who has worked as a skycap for five years at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. He said that he was paid $2.13 an hour plus tips, and that those tips had decreased by 30 percent since the airlines started charging the fees.

“The more people have to pay for baggage fees, the less money they are going to give to skycaps,” he said. “It would be nice if the money could trickle down to the workers who are giving the service.”

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By Kathryn Reed

An angry citizenry prompted South Lake Tahoe officials to look closely at how it handles special events.

Guidelines were thoroughly discussed April 3 during a City Council workshop at which six members of the public gave their input, plus one letter was read into the record.

New Year’s Eve weekend’s SnowGlobe music festival, which definitely helped the economy, rattled so many houses that some nerves are still frayed more than three months later.

December's SnowGlobe music fest forced South Tahoe's hand to formalize special event guidelines. Photo/LTN file

The council at the April 17 meeting is expected to adopt guidelines for special events.

The problem with SnowGlobe was the sound – not of music per se – but the excessive bass associated with the type of music that spilled from the community ball fields at Lake Tahoe Community College.

To prevent a repeat of those problems, the city is considering imposing rules that call for special events to be between 10am and 10pm, with decibel levels of no more than 95.

“Ninety-five dbA is restrictive. Most cities are generic,” City Manager Tony O’Rourke said. But he also said it’s easier to relax rules than to implement them after the fact – thus the reason he supports the 95dbA.

He pointed out how the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s noise rules call for sound not to exceed a certain limit over a sustained 24-hour period. Based on that criterion, the booming sound from SnowGlobe did not violate TRPA rules.

In doing research, South Tahoe officials found two cities with decibel limits higher than what is being proposed locally. Aspen and West Palm Beach have limits of 100dbA.

With these being guidelines and not an ordinance, it means staff has more flexibility. For instance, it’s likely another New Year’s Eve event could have an end time of 12:30am so revelers could celebrate the new year. But to avoid another SnowGlobe incident, either speakers will be positioned differently, or acts will be scheduled so the less deafening ones come on last.

Having a say in the schedule is part of the guidelines.

Some discussion Tuesday centered on whether the city should charge a permit fee.

It was pointed out by staff as well as B Gorman, CEO of the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce, that it takes most events a handful of years before they turn a profit.

“People have no idea how expensive events are,” Gorman said, relaying how people after year two of Sample the Sierra asked where the proceeds are going. The $30,000-plus spent on tents and other materials for the event are still being paid off.

Money for the city comes via hotel and sales taxes.

Gorman suggested in addition to city staff, that someone like Carol Chaplin, head of Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, be on the events committee.

While Councilmembers Claire Fortier and Tom Davis liked that idea, Councilwoman Angela Swanson said someone less entrenched in the business, like a member of the city’s recreation commission, should be involved.

That issue was not resolved at the meeting.

Where events can be conducted was another issue brought up at the meeting.

“Venues are our biggest obstacle,” Stan Sherer, community services director, said.

The South Shore is an obvious draw because of its natural beauty, easy drive from the Bay Area and Central Valley, and proximity to Reno-Tahoe International Airport. But locations for events are lacking.

A baseball tournament coming to the area in the summer is using fields throughout the basin and in Gardnerville.

Cody Bass wants to bring a festival on the scale of Outside Lands that is staged in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. He envisions the way to do that is to convert Bijou Community Golf Course into a music venue. He’d like that to happen Labor Day weekend.

JoAnn Conner, president of South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, would like the city to look at the number of similar events it allows at a given site – for example how many crafts fairs are at South Tahoe Middle School.

Councilman Hal Cole, remembering the contentious nature of meetings regarding arts events, said he is not ready to revisit that issue.

Another aspect of future events is a waste management plan will be required, with the goal of being zero waste.

Caltrans next week will begin installing the new speed limit signs from Meyers to the state line, as well as in the Meeks Bay area.

Most stretches of highways 50 and 89 in the basin in El Dorado County will be increasing by 5 mph. Refer to the map above for exact speeds.

Installation is from 7am-4pm Monday-Thursday.

Snow is expected to arrive in the Lake Tahoe Basin after 11 Tuesday night. But only an inch is supposed to collect.

A 30 percent chance of the white stuff is in the forecast for Wednesday, with the high being 35 degrees.

Sun will return in full force by Friday, when the high should be 42, and increasing to 53 on Saturday.

Melanie Ramirez, 19, AJ Kiss, 20, Ben Sauve, 20, and Savannah Lemons, 18, all of South Lake Tahoe do their thing April 3 in the Upper Truckee Marsh. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Officials with El Dorado County vector control were near the houses that border the Upper Truckee Marsh area by San Francisco Avenue on April 3 checking on conditions. They collected water with small larvae samples.

The duo said to expect mosquito season to arrive soon and not last long because there isn’t near the amount of standing water that the basin experienced a year ago.

The warm weather has been drying things up quickly.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

Citing two incidents that occurred last weekend, El Dorado County sheriff’s search and rescue officials urge people venturing into the back country to carefully prepare and plan for their travels.

On Satruday, Robert Barber of San Diego had gone for a walk in the woods off Kiowa Street in South Lake Tahoe when a fast-moving weather front moved into the Tahoe area, creating blizzard-like conditions. About 2pm, Barber became disoriented because of almost zero visibility caused by the heavy snowfall, according to a sheriff’s department news release.

When he could not find his bearings, Barber called 911. Global positioning system technology was used to narrow down Barber’s location, and search and rescue personnel, along with a search and rescue dog, located him about three-quarters of a mile from area residences.

Officials said Barber was cold but in good condition.

About 7:15pm the same day, search and rescue personnel responded to another 911 call, this one regarding three snowmobilers who became lost in the storm. The three men from the Tahoe area began their trip in the Meyers area and planned to return before the approaching storm arrived. But it began snowing heavily before they were able to make it out of the back county.

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The bicycle and fields advisory committees that will make recommendations to the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Facilities Joint Powers Authority board have set spring meeting dates.

The meetings are open to the public.

These committees were created when Measure S became Measure R in November.

Bicycle committee:

• April 6, 9-11am, downstairs conference room, Lake Tahoe Airport.

• May 4, 9-11am, downstairs conference room, Lake Tahoe Airport.

• June 1, 9-11am, downstairs conference room, Lake Tahoe Airport.

Field committee:

• April 30, 4-6pm, downstairs conference room, Lake Tahoe Airport.

• May 21, 4-6pm, City Council chambers, Lake Tahoe Airport.

For further information, contact John Upton at (530) 541.0525 or email rkupton@aol.com.