Each year Sierra Business Council hosts an event to recognize and encourage leadership in the Sierra, honoring community members as their work continues to achieve excellence in projects and approaches that foster community vitality, environmental quality, economic prosperity, and social fairness.

This regional award recognizes the thinkers and doers of the region.

Now is the time to nominate a person, organization or collaborative team who has embodied this type of innovative thinking in the Sierra Nevada in 2011,.

Nomination forms are online.

By Wendy Koch, USA Today

Drinking wastewater? The idea may sound distasteful, but new federally funded research says more Americans are doing so — whether they know it or not — and this reuse will be increasingly necessary as the U.S. population expands.

Treated wastewater poses no greater health risks than existing water supplies and, in some cases, may be even safer to drink, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Research Council, a science advisory group chartered by Congress. “We believe water reuse is a viable option” to deal with growing water scarcity, especially in coastal areas, says Jörg Drewes, an engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines who contributed to the report.

“This can be done reliably without putting the public at risk,” he says, citing technological advances. He says it’s a waste not to reuse the nation’s wastewater, because almost all of it is treated before discharge. This water includes storm runoff as well as used water from homes, businesses and factories.

Of the 32 billion gallons of wastewater discharged every day in the USA, the report says 12 billion — equal to 6 percent of total U.S. water use — is sent to an ocean or estuary and is thus a lost resource.

Read the whole story

By USSA

CORTINA d’AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn of Vail dominated the Cortina super G to notch the 47th Audi FIS Alpine World Cup win of her career and launch ahead of Austrian great Renate Goetschl to stand alone at third on the women’s all-time win list.

“Cortina is a very special place for me. It’s where I got my first World Cup podium and I’ve always had success here, so I was really trying hard today and risking a lot,” Vonn said. “My run was a good combination of risk and aggression, but I still stayed in control. The high speed made it more challenging than normal. I was on the limit the entire race.”

Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley was fifth and Leanne Smith of North Conway, N.H., 10th as the U.S. Ski Team captured the Cortina Trophy on Sunday, recognizing the most successful nation over the two-day race series.

Stacey Cook of Mammonth was 26th.

The women’s World Cup moves to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and a slalom Jan. 21-22.

We know plenty of Random Acts of Kindness occur every day. It’s time to tell us about the ones you see, you did or ones done to you.

It’s not about being in the running for a great prize from one of the many Lake Tahoe businesses that have contributed to Lake Tahoe News’ Random Acts of Kindness promotion, it’s about spreading goodness. This can be happening wherever you are — not just Tahoe. You can even let us know about a past Random Act of Kindness; it doesn’t have to happen today. And it doesn’t have to be something incredible, it could be holding the door open for someone.

Jared is our latest winner. He works at Grass Roots in South Lake Tahoe and wrote in about the person who turned in nearly $1,000 in cash that was found in the store.

Anthony Cupaiuolo of First Tracks Productions will be providing Jared with some ski/snowboard DVDs for recognizing the kindness of others.

Each day a story is posted about that day’s winner. All stories are listed under the Random Acts of Kindness category at the top of the page.

For more details about Random Acts of Kindness and the few rules associated with it, check out this story.

Carmela Bechtol knows kindness when she sees it. She sees it nearly every day in Nancy Ziegler.

Nancy is today’s winner of Lake Tahoe News’ Random Acts of Kindness promotion. She will be receiving note cards from Dirk Yuricich Photography.

Random Acts of Kindness as a promotion on Lake Tahoe News runs through the end of the month. The goal remains the same since Jan. 1 — be kind. Let us know about your RAOK — one you saw, did or were the recipient of. Just write about it at the end of this story.

All the things people have written about are posted under the Random Acts of Kindness category at the top of the page.

Everyone nominated in the RAOK promotion is up for a prize from one of the many kind businesses in town.

What is your Random Act of Kindness?

By Kathryn Reed

Kingsbury Middle School is officially for sale. The asking price is $4 million.

The Douglas County School District board agreed to sell the parcel and buildings at its Jan. 10 meeting. This was one of many votes during the last few years about the closed site.

Not enough students forced the closures of KMS. Now it's for sale. Photo/LTN file

The 36,000-square-foot school sits on 10 acres of pristine lake ridge property above Lake Village in Stateline.

Greg Felton told the board that property like this doesn’t come along that often and if the district’s circumstances were to change, it may be impossible to buy land at Lake Tahoe.

“He was right,” Superintendent Lisa Noonan told Lake Tahoe News after the meeting.

But Noonan added, “This was a carefully considered process. We’ve looked at projections, at the enrollment trends. The board feels we owe it to the students and district to go forward. (The money) goes to capital projects that do help children in the district.”

The board is expected to look at any offers at its April 10 3:30pm meeting at Zephyr Cove.

“If there are no buyers, then we have to look at fixing up Kingsbury and having a lease arrangement,” Noonan said.

To the community,

One of the great things about the neighborhood I live in is that we haven’t had to worry about burglars. Until now.

Suddenly, our neighbors are reporting their cars are being broken into. However, in most cases, these break-ins are not reported to the police because many of my neighbors grow medical cannabis and they are afraid to contact the police for fear they will be raided and shut down by city officials for violating the new South Lake Tahoe cultivation ordinance.

Steve Kubby

Here’s a report from one of my neighbors: “Last night my husband and I went to bed to be awoken by the teenager that lives with us at midnight because when he walked home from a neighbor’s house he noticed all our car doors open and the interior lights on. My husband and I sprang out of bed (my wallet was in the car with over $200 in it) to find that our car was ransacked. The thief stole many items: our roadside emergency kit worth about $200, our daughters’ DVD players worth $250, my husband’s GPS worth $500, our phone charger and adapter for listening to music on the radio, our cargo net and ratcheted tie downs, and they even took the girls’ sunglasses. It is so upsetting to know that random people just walk down our street (Oakland) and check for unlocked vehicles to steal from. We work hard for what we have and it is really disturbing to have some low life come and rip it away from us.”

My neighbor then told me that about a dozen break-ins have occurred in our neighborhood, but that she was the first person to report it to the police. Since my neighbors are so afraid of the police, they have decided to form a vigilante committee to catch the thieves and punish them.

Thanks to the misguided efforts of the City Council, we now have an epidemic of break-ins and the prospect of some teenage thieves getting beaten to a pulp. This is the scary and destructive outcome of local council members creating more hardship and dangers through the unintended consequences of creating bad laws.

The time has come to replace the terrible and unworkable current cultivation ordinance with one that actually helps reduce odor emissions and still protect our fellow citizens who rely upon the medical use of cannabis, under their physician’s supervision, as provided by California law.

This Friday, the South Lake Tahoe city attorney issued a “Title and Summary” for a new, citywide, voter initiative that will fix the current dangerous and unworkable SLT cultivation ordinance. That means that we can start gathering signatures for the new SLT voter initiative over the next week at local grocery store parking lots.

Until then, lock your cars and leave the outside lights on at night.

Steve Kubby, South Lake Tahoe

By Kathryn Reed

TRUCKEE – Scanning the vast open space, with tall grasses dancing in the gentle breeze and pines looming overhead, the solitude is extraordinary. That’s what makes it so hard to imagine this used to be a bustling outpost in the mid-1800s.

Called the Henness Pass, it linked the Gold and Silver states – still does, but not with nearly the same amount of traffic.

A marker at Kyburz Flat says, “Henness Pass Road was used in the 1850s for travel to the mining camps along the North and Middle Yuba rivers. After the Comstock silver strike in 1859, Henness Pass Road was improved to attract travel between San Francisco and Virginia City via Sacramento, Auburn, Nevada (City), and Camptonville.”

Wide-open spaces north of Truckee off Highway 89 used to bustle with silver and gold miners. Photos/Kathryn Reed

More’s Station was a 320-acre ranch.

Three points of interest are marked in this area that is one mile off Highway 89 between Truckee and Sierraville.

In a quest to find someplace new to mountain bike while the ground is snowless in January, we ventured just outside the Lake Tahoe Basin. I can’t count the times we’ve driven by this dirt county road. This time we turned right and drove a mile in.

Wow. What history tucked back into this near pristine acreage that is mostly on Tahoe National Forest land.

A sign talks of a once thriving hotel being two-feet from that marker. It would still make for an ideal place for a lodging establishment. But, selfishly, it is so wonderful to look at such a large swath of undeveloped land.

A little boardwalk makes a loop, with markers pointing out where a hotel, well, barn, corral and root cellar once stood. Rocks that are likely from that time period are still there.

Getting on our bikes, we ride less than a mile to what was the Wheeler Sheep Camp. A brick oven still stands – though volunteers, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, rebuilt it. It works today and can be rented.

It’s easy to imagine sheep roaming in the adjacent meadow, munching away on the native grasses.

No one is here.

It’s quiet, except for the wind in the trees.

We ride up a bit farther, but the road dead ends. We turn around, but instead of making a left to go back to the Jeep, we go right to explore more.

Done with our cultural and historical portion of our outing, we get some exercise.

The trail is really more like a logging road. Evidence is everywhere that thinning projects have been going on recently in this section of the forest. The grade is gradual. A few spots have snow and ice, some places are hardpack, while others are dry and dusty.

It’s chilly and the light doesn’t last as long this time of year. We don’t venture that far in. Next time, on a summer day, we’ll explore even more.

Getting there:

From the South Shore, get to Truckee going up either side of the lake you like. Then get onto Highway 89 north going out of Truckee.

Between Truckee and Sierraville, which is 25 miles from Truckee, is Sierra County Road 450. Turn right.

One mile in is Kyburz Flat, where we parked. Seven miles is Sardine Valley and 14 miles in is Stampede Reservoir.

A four-wheel drive is not necessary to get to where we parked.

Signs point to where the historical sites are located.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The Truckee Donner Recreation and Park District is hosting a public information meeting to present the preliminary plans for the proposed Truckee Aquatic Center.

The architect will be on hand to answer questions and receive input from the public.

The meeting is Jan. 19 at 6:30pm at the Community Recreation Center.

Contact Amanda Oberacker for more information at amanda@tdrpd.com or (530) 582.2361.

By USSA

MONT GABRIEL, Quebec — Olympic champion Hannah Kearney of Norwich, Vt., captured her first victory at Mont Gabriel, extending her FIS Freestyle World Cup win streak to 10 consecutive.

Jeremy Cota of Carrabassett Valley, Maine, joined Kearney on the podium with a career best second behind winner Mikael Kingsbury of Canada.

Action continues Sunday with the opening aerials event of the season before the World Cup swings to Lake Placid.

Sho Kashima of Stateline was fourth. It was Kashima’s first time off the podium this season.

The U.S. Freestyle Ski Team qualified four men and four women into the finals.