By Chris Buckley, KOLO-TV

TRUCKEE — About 400 students and community members heard from first responders and Coast Guard Auxiliary members on Wednesday. The topic was cold-water survival techniques, a subject that for many hits close to home.

“In early January we had a canoe that turned over in Donner Lake,” Truckee Fire District Public Safety and Information Officer Gene Welch said. “It was in about ten feet of water and the female made it to shore but the male drowned in about 10 feet of water very close to the shore.”

The Coast Guard Auxiliary says a lot of people don’t realize just how dangerous cold water can be.

“Cold water immersion – the muscle incapacitation you suffer, the muscles and nerves don’t connect anymore and you’re just sitting there,” Flotilla Commander Jerry Gilmore said.

That point was illustrated with a DVD documentary of a cold-water boot camp.

“These are very strong people that jump into 45-degree water,” Gilmore said. “And you see them take four or five strokes and then just start shivering and rescue swimmers have to come help them.”

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By Angela Haines, Forbes

It’s getting easier to make a living doing what you really enjoy. Especially since there seem to be enough customers who can afford to indulge their taste for artisanal or handcrafted products. Jimmy Beans Wool was founded in 2002 by software engineer Laura Zander who, afraid of losing work during the slump in Silicon Valley, decided to move to Truckee. Spending a lot of time in the car on weekend ski trips Laura had become obsessed with knitting. When she took a part time job building a website for a graphics designer, she sold an ad to a local hand- dyed Yarn Company, which sparked the idea for what has become Jimmy Beans Wool. A shop built around her knitting hobby seemed like a good idea, and with their tech backgrounds, Laura, with her husband Doug, figured in time they could extend their reach with an internet business. They invested $30,000 of their own money in a 500-square foot retail store offering coffee to the knitters too. And customers came and loved the yarns and the service.

Taking An Exit But Not Saying Goodbye 85broads 85broads Contributor

Today, 10 years later, after dropping the coffee, Jimmy Beans Wool (Jimmy is Laura’s nickname and beans were for the coffee) offers knitters around the world a wide selection of the finest yarns and knitting supplies available. With more than 98% of revenues derived from internet sales, Jimmy Beans Wool customers are spread across the US, Canada, Australia, with a recent order from Uzbekistan too. The company imports yarns from South America, Turkey and Italy. Revenues have been increasing by 30%, every year, and are expected to exceed $7 million in 2012.

Laura Zander attributes her success to timing because she started the company when “magazines were filled with pictures of Sarah Jessica Parker, Cameron Diaz and other celebrities knitting.” Then too scarves were in vogue, so a group of Lake Tahoe women would pop in and spend $100-$500 on yarns to take home to knit into scarves. But the other ingredient in Jimmy Beans’ success is customer engagement, which has won the company several awards. Along with her tag line, “your local yarn store—online,” Laura writes bimonthly newsletters keeping her online customers informed of trends and fashions; her site also offers 1100 free instructional videos, helping customers with everything from the practical, such as how to turn a heel, to the more exotic, such as how to do Tunisian crochet. In addition, all the instruction is explained in simple, encouraging words which make a customer feel she is asking a good friend for help. Whenever there is a question about an order, or a pattern, customer service is a click or phone call away—always answered promptly by a friendly voice.

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By Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee

California revenues missed the mark in February by 3.2 percent, or $146.3 million, state Controller John Chiang said Monday.

Chiang, who manages the state’s cash, said the shortfall was likely due to a spike in tax refunds going out earlier than expected in February. Income tax receipts were 5.7 percent, or $99.9 million, below the Department of Finance’s projection.

Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers are anxiously awaiting tax receipts from March and April, two significant revenue months as taxpayers file their returns. The Democratic governor has proposed a budget to close a $9.2 billion deficit, but the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has suggested that Brown’s estimates are overly optimistic and that the deficit is likely higher than that figure.

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Richard Bales, director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at U.C. Merced, will present new research on the beneficial impacts to water resources from sound forest management.

In a recently published paper, Bales makes the case that the Sierra Nevada Watershed Ecosystem Enhancement Project could increase water yield from forests and extend the retention of snowpack in the spring, both of which will translate into more water at the right time of year for the rest of California. Initial estimates suggest that reducing forest cover by 40 percent of maximum levels across a watershed could increase water yields by about 9 percent. Sustained, extensive treatments in dense Sierra Nevada forests could increase water yield by up to 16 percent.

Bales’ presentation is sponsored by El Dorado County Supervisor Ray Nutting and El Dorado County Water Agency General Manager Dave Eggerton.

The presentation is scheduled for 2pm March 20 at the Board of Supervisors meeting, 330 Fair Lane in Placerville. There will be time for discussion following the presentation.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the March 12, 2012, Sacramento Bee.

No single politician is going to change Proposition 13, the iconic 1978 initiative that slashed property taxes, anytime soon.

It’s easy to understand why. A Field Poll last September showed that 34 years after its passage, voters by a ratio of more than 2-to-1, 63 percent to 29 percent, support Proposition 13. However, support narrows when the question is limited to altering commercial property taxes.

Starting today, a handful of political leaders and advocates are reopening a conversation about aspects of the system of assessing property taxes on businesses. That’s an important step.

This coming November, Gov. Jerry Brown will ask Californians to approve a ballot measure to raise income and sales taxes by about $5 billion a year for five years. That initiative would help the state close the budget deficit.

But to fix California’s system of financing government, thoughtful people must devise a fair restructuring of the state and local tax system. Proposition 13 ought to be part of that discussion.

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By USA Today

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Many of America’s teens smoke cigarettes as well as use smokeless tobacco, and the tobacco industry’s marketing fuels their addiction, says the first U.S. surgeon general’s report on youth tobacco use since 1994.

“The numbers are really shocking,” Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said in an interview, citing data in Thursday’s report that nearly one in four high school seniors and one in three young adults under age 26 smoke despite a half-century of federal warnings about tobacco.

“It’s a problem we have to solve,” Benjamin said, calling it a “pediatric epidemic” in need of greater public action. She said one of every three young smokers will quit and one of the others will die from tobacco-related causes. She said adolescents, because their bodies are developing, are more susceptible than adults to nicotine’s addictiveness and tobacco’s damage to hearts and lungs.

The voluminous report finds that progress in reducing youth cigarette smoking – quite dramatic from 1997 to 2003 – has slowed in recent years. It says more high school students are using smokeless tobacco and many (at least half of white and Hispanic male tobacco users and nearly half of Hispanic female users) both smoke and chew tobacco.

The report concludes that the tobacco industry’s $10 billion in annual marketing, some of it in promotions to reduce prices, encourages young people to begin and continue their tobacco use.

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Kenny Broad doesn’t shy away from tough physical conditions or tough issues. Through a unique combination of underwater cave exploration, photography and environmental anthropology, he tackles challenging expeditions to unexplored caves and probes controversial problems ranging from climate change to inequity in natural resource management, focusing on the potential use and misuse of scientific information.

Broad is the April 10 guest speaker at the Squaw Valley Institute. The lecture begins at 7pm.

In 2011, Broad was named National Geographic’s Explorer of the Year for his extraordinary achievements in documenting the Blue Holes of the Bahamas. His presentation is designed to be fun and fascinating, leading people to the unimagined world underwater.

For tickets and more information, go online.

Lynn Gillette, president of Sierra Nevada College, talks about what’s new, changing and the future of the college as the guest at the Fireside Chat in the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences room 139/141 on March 20 from 7-9pm.

Gillette is well versed in the growth and changes at the Incline Village college having served as the executive vice president and provost at the college for the past four years overseeing all academic departments as well as the registrar’s office, financial aid, information technology, admissions, student affairs, food services, library, and academic support services.

Gillette brings a unique focus and hands-on approach to his position having taught and served in leadership at several top universities.

Pints for Paws is a beer tasting featuring beers from Bison Brewery with proceeds benefiting South Lake Tahoe Canine Association.

The event is March 15 at 5pm at Cork and More, 1032 Al Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

Cost is $15. Tickets are limited and may be purchased before that night at the store.

For more information, call (530) 544.5253.

Caltrans announce today that Highway 50 from Strawberry to Cedar Street in El Dorado County will be subject to one-way traffic controls.

The controls will be effect March 12 until 11am while a crew does roadway grinding.