Nevada Division of State Parks is accepting applications for the 2012 round of the Recreation Trails Program. Nevada’s apportionment is approximately $589,488, but more funding may become available.

Federal, state, city and county governments, special governmental districts, trail organizations and private individuals are potentially eligible for the grants.

Eligible projects include motorized and non-motorized trail projects for new construction, maintenance and trail related facilities. Trail education projects are also eligible.

Past projects include the multi-use Jumbo Grade trailhead in Washoe Valley, Tahoe Meadows snowmobile area and interpretive trail, Tahoe Rim Trail, Bootleg Canyon mountain bike trail in Boulder and the Nevada Trails Training course.

The 2012 Grants Manual and Application packages are available on the Recreational Trails website. Applications are due April 6 by 5pm at 901 S. Stewart St., Ste. 5005, Carson City, NV 89701. Faxed or emailed copies are not accepted.

All National Environmental Policy Act requirements must be met before the submitting a trails grant application.

For further information or questions, contact Jenny Scanland at (775) 684.2787 or email at jscanland@parks.nv.gov.

The annual Ryan Shreve Memorial Ski Race is March 29 at Sierra-at-Tahoe.

The categories include skiing, snowboarding and the 3-inch hose relay. It’s open to firefighters, paramedics and their families. And the racers must be wearing their firefighter turnouts.

The fundraiser is at Sierra because this is where Shreve grew up skiing. He was on the Buddy Werner team in the mid-1980s and skied at Sierra while on the STHS ski team all four years.

Shreve was 24 when he died after a wakeboarding accident on Folsom Lake.

The Ryan Shreve Head Injury Awareness Foundation was created in the 1997 South Tahoe High School graduate’s name in hopes of limiting the number of deaths like his.

Registration is at 8:30am, with the race starting at 10am.

To register or for more information, email bwarren@edhfire.com or mshreve@edhfire.com or smwtao@gmail.com or Rshreve4@gmail.com.

By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times

Vitamin D may be helpful in protecting highly active pre-teen and teen girls, such as those who play sports, from stress fractures, researchers reported this month.

The study was surprising because calcium has long been considered the nutrient most vital to bone health in children. But, in developing children, vitamin D intake may matter more.

Researchers analyzed data from 6,721 girls ages 9 to 15 at the start of the study. The girls’ intake of calcium, vitamin D and dairy products was recorded along with stress fractures, which are common sports-related injuries. The girls were followed for seven years.

During that time, almost 4 percent of the girls developed a stress fracture. Dairy and calcium intake seemed to bear no relationship to the risk of a stress fracture. However, girls with the highest vitamin D intake had a 50 percent lower risk of stress fracture compared with the girls who had the lowest intake. This was especially evident among girls who participated in at least one hour a day of high-impact physical activity. They had a 52 percent decreased risk.

By Kathryn Reed

While spring is a week away based on the calendar, one can never really depend on that to know what the weather will be like in Lake Tahoe. That’s also why it seems like hot drinks are something that can be enjoyed about 10 months out of the year here.

I spent the past few months with friends trying different hot libations in the basin. We know we just scratched the service, so please add your top choices as a comment.

Riva Grill wins for best glasses for winter drinks. Photo/LTN

We’ve learned that adding room temperature alcohol to the main hot liquid just cools the whole drink down. Bartenders need to have the coffee, cocoa, cider – whatever – hotter than it’s normally served at straight so it is still a hot drink by the time customers start drinking.

From the Z Bar inside the Zephyr Lodge at Northstar came my favorite winter drink of the season because it didn’t involve coffee or hot cocoa. African Winter is dark rum, hot African tea, peach liqueur, lemon, and orange bitters. It was hot and refreshing at the same time. Cost — $12.

Also at Northstar, this time from the bar by the ice rink, Sue and I liked the Snow Plow over the Dirty Snowman. For $9, you get Baileys, Malibu, dark crème de cacao and hot chocolate. Careful, though, because it goes down fast.

Sue’s favorite drink hailed from the Fresh Ketch in South Lake Tahoe. It’s something bartender Sean whipped up for $7.50. It had butterscotch schnapps, rum, and hot buttered mix.

I thought it was like drinking a butterscotch candy. Sue thought it had a vanilla taste. She tends to favor sweet drinks – and this was one of those.

At the Ketch I had the Ketch Toddy ($10.50). This is Dewar’s White Label, honey, cinnamon, star anise, ginger and fresh orange zest. I’m the one who can do scotch and whiskey. Sue made a face and handed it back to me.

Even though Sue is not a big fan of tequila (she pronounces it to-kill-ya), the Mood Swing she ordered at the Beacon on the South Shore was tasty. The $8.50 drink has Cazadores Reposada, dark crème do cacao, Defrost Cinnamon Schnapps, hot chocolate and whipped cream.

The cinnamon schnapps puts it in the something “unique” and “let’s have a second round” categories.

The Hot Bubba ($9) sounded good, but I was wishing I had ordered the Mood Swing. Too much coffee in this one.

Then there are places where the bartender is of no use. We asked the guy at Zephyr Cove Lodge what fun hot drinks he could make. He paused, then said he could make an Irish coffee. We passed.

Five of us at Brook’s Sports Bar at Edgewood were ready to do research one afternoon this month. The waitress had no fun hot drinks to offer us. (We stuck with beer.)

While the two hot drinks on the menu at Pacific Crest in Truckee were passable, the ambiance at the bar is what would get us to go back. It’s fun.

I would recommend the Bourbon Furnace ($8) – Buffalo Trace Bourbon and hot cider. Sue took one sip and passed it to me. So much for sharing.

She liked the Almond Joy ($8) – saying it was like drinking a chocolate bar. The sweetness is what had me passing it back to her. The hot cocoa drink has two kinds of rum and Amaretto.

One place we won’t be ordering hot drinks from again is Stateline Brewery. The names are cute, the concoctions are unique and the price ($6-$8) reasonable. The execution, though, put this experience at the bottom of the list for me, Sue, Brenda and Roni.

As Brenda put it, “It seems like they are unprepared for people who order hot drinks.”

The bartender didn’t know how to make all the drinks and all came to the table without whipped cream. The server added the topping after the fact – which didn’t work. Presentation is a big deal – especially with hot drinks.

It’s mid-February and we are taking in the Unbuckle Apres Ski Party at the Tamarack Lodge at Heavenly. Half-price drinks are touted. We paid $23 for two hot cocoas with Frangelico and Grand Marnier. Ouch. Another for the “not going to do that again” category.

However, later in the month we are back at Heavenly, this time at the Umbrella Bar that is now at Snow Beach. This time, two cocktails $17.92 – plus, they are bigger and tastier. And Angela the bartender is much better at customer service.

She even warned us the drinks were hot. Which they were.

Sue had the Hot Sailor Cider, which has Sailor Jerry spiced rum and hot apple cider. My Hot Apple Pie (with whipped cream) was the same, except it has tuaca, too. We both liked mine a little bit better.

It was hard to decide which hot cocktail to order at Riva Grill. Original choices, flavor and value for the price would have us going back to this restaurant at the Ski Run Marina.

I had the Hot White Russian. It’s very much like the cold version. It has Kahlua, Absolute vodka, steamy cream and a Mexican chocolate shake. The steamed milk is certainly something I had not had in a hot spiked drink before.

Sue had the Stabbin’ Cabin – rum, Irish cream and amaretto. Something on the menu mentioned it would be hard to find the door after two. Sue agreed just after one.

Riva definitely serves its drinks in the best looking glasses. The handles make it so you don’t burn yourself holding the drinks – which are served hot. Each drink was $9.95.

Over at the West Bowl at Sierra-at-Tahoe I let Jason tell me what I should drink. It’s his version of an Irish coffee, only hot chocolate is the main ingredient. The Jameson whiskey, Bailey’s and whipped cream were delightful. With tax, the bill came to $8.39.

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Note: On March 15 read about hot places for having a winter drink in Lake Tahoe.

By Kathryn Reed

Baseball is a pretty simple sport – throw, catch, hit.

The business of baseball is a bit more complex as spelled out in “Moneyball”, the book by Michael Lewis. But it was also clearly pointed out if baseball were run more like a business than an old boys’ club, some teams would likely be more successful.

While the movie by the same name was up for six Academy Awards this year, including best picture, the book is so much better. (The other nominations were for best actor, best supporting actor, best-adapted screenplay, best sound mixing and best film editing. It did not win one statue.)

As with most books compared to the movie rendition, there is depth in those 304 pages. This isn’t one of those books that you just plow through. It’s really more of a book about business and strategy than it is sports. But it would be hard to imagine a non-baseball fan finding anything interesting about this book.

While the Oakland A’s are the focus of the book in how they transformed the business of recruiting ball players and the importance of factors heretofore overlooked by other teams, the book is more than the A’s and Billy Beane. It is all about an institution set in its ways that is challenged by one of the little guys.

I’m not one of those fans who know all the stats about players or can remember my team’s history all that well. I’m more of an in-the-moment kind of fan.

Still, I found “Moneyball” absolutely fascinating.

It also has personal intrigue with the various personalities involved. It made me wonder how a psychologist would dissect all of the human elements involved.

And with spring training under way, well, “Moneyball” just whets the appetite for the 2012 season that is just weeks away.

By Kevin McCarthy, Devin Nunes and Jeff Denham

The man-made drought in California is no secret. Burdensome environmental regulations restricting water pumping in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have contributed to hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile farmland going fallow in recent years.

During California’s 2007-2009 drought, the Democratic majority and the Obama administration stood on the sidelines while farmers were forced to forgo planting, joblessness rose and families stood in food lines. It was a huge relief last year when we had abundant rain and snow, but instead of using 100 percent of that water for farming and storage, millions of acre-feet of water were allowed to be lost into the ocean.

This year is looking to be as dry as they come, and without adequate storage, we will continue to see the problem of water shortages year after year. We must act now to ensure that our communities get every drop of water possible to grow the crops that feed America and create the jobs that support families and local economies.

The U.S. House of Representatives did just that on Feb. 29 by passing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act. If enacted, this bill will get water flowing in California and increase water storage for future years. Right now, water traveling through the delta has been reduced from a gush to a trickle because environmentalists care more about protecting fish than putting Californians back to work. Protecting ecosystems is important, but so are the crops that help feed America and produce jobs that promote economic recovery in our state. This bill takes the zealotry out of these environmental restrictions and puts California’s water delivery system on more balanced and reliable footing.

Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield; Devin Nunes, R-Tulare; and Jeff Denham, R-Merced, represent the Central Valley in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Read the whole story

This summer, the Bill of Rights Institute is partnering with the Foundation for Economic Education will host the Founders Fellowship: Civil Liberty, Commerce, and the Constitution. American history and civics teachers from across the country are invited to apply.

Selected fellows will participate in a professional development program aimed at deepening their understanding and appreciation of the Constitution.

The workshop is in Washington, D.C., from July 16-20. During the program, participants will engage in lectures with constitutional scholars, discussions with fellow teachers, and scholar-led visits to historic sites including Mount Vernon, Gunston Hall, and a monument tour.

Fellows will be selected based upon their leadership in their classroom and profession, and dedication to educating their students about the connections between politics and economics in America.

Teachers must apply online by March 26. More information and an application can be found online.

By Jessie Marchesseau

William Cottrell, a physician at Barton Osteoporosis & Bone Health, is partnering with the pharmaceutical company Amgen to host an observational study for the osteoporosis drug Prolia.

The drug was approved by the FDA and released to pharmacies in 2010. So this is not a trial to see if the drug works or what the side effects are. Rather, observational studies like this one are designed to see if the patients like the medication, if they choose to continue using it, how they tolerate the side effects and other such factors.

William Cottrell

Cottrell has not only had Prolia available to his patients, but has been educating other physicians on the drug for more than a year.

“I do it for the mental stimulation and satisfaction,” he said of teaching other doctors about prescription medications. “There is nothing more rewarding than educating your peers to their satisfaction.”

Prolia is not the first prescription drug Cottrell has chosen to learn and subsequently educate his peers about. He says doing so allows him to learn all the ins and outs of a medication and find the answers to questions he may never have thought to ask.

“There are some physicians that are much more curious than others, and I’m a very curious guy,” he told Lake Tahoe News.

The reputation and relationships Cottrell developed among the medical science community from doing such presentations prompted Amgen to approach him about participating in the Prolia study.

At a couple presentations and conferences over the years, Cottrell had also crossed paths with Doreen Spires, a former research biologist and the current clinical research coordinator for the study. With a background in pharmaceutical research and 16 years of investigating bone density issues, Spires was an ideal candidate to partner with Cottrell for the Prolia study.

However, an invitation from Amgen was not enough to earn Barton Osteoporosis & Bone Health a spot among the 90 participating facilities in North America. They had to meet a set of strict guidelines put forth by the pharmaceutical company as well as pass an inspection including the Barton pharmacy and lab. Cottrell, Spires and Barton passed on the first try.

“Even the study coordinator said it was very unusual to pass the first time,” Cottrell said. “It was a compliment not only to me, but to the hospital.”

The study will observe 600 patients nationwide, of which Spires and Cottrell were asked to observe 10. However, patients’ response to the study far exceeded the team’s expectations.

They signed up three the day the study began in September 2011. The other seven spots filled up in no time, so they asked for 10 more. The request was granted, and again, the spots filled quickly. When they requested five more, Amgen granted them 10. Though they have not reached their 30-participant threshold yet, Cottrell and Spires will be signing people up through the end of March.

“The benefit to the patient is that they’re helping other patients in the future,” Spires said.

The study will last for two years with participants receiving injections of Prolia every six months. The first group of patients are just now coming in for the second treatments. Part of the study is seeing how many participants stick it out for the full two years, but Spires says so far most of the patients are happy with the twice per year protocol of the drug.

This is Cottrell’s first time participating in this type of study, but he is already looking toward the future.

“If they like the way you do things, they ask you to do things down the road,” he said. “And the dream drug for bones is in the pipeline, and Amgen has it.”

For questions regarding the Prolia observational study or to become a participant, contact Barton Osteoporosis & Bone Health at (530) 543.5490.

South Lake Tahoe web developer Hanna Bernard created BeDrugSafe.com to help educate local parents and teens about the imminent threat of drugs in the area..

After hearing a presentation by Officer Rebecca Inman about drug use among Lake Tahoe teens, Bernard was inspired to create the site.

“The presentation was such an eye-opener that I felt I had to do something to spread this very ­important information to other parents,” Bernard said in a statement. “What do we need to know to protect our ­children? How do we identify the signs of drug use? What does these drugs look like and smell like? and What clues should we not miss?”

Bernard put the answers on the website. She worked with South Tahoe police officers as well as Lake Tahoe Unified and South Tahoe High officials on the site.