Following its premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the documentary feature film “Miss Representation” will be screened at the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation Queen of Heart’s lunch Feb. 15 at the Resort at Squaw Creek in Olympic Valley.

Written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, “Miss Representation” exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself.

“Miss Representation” includes stories from teenage girls and interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics like Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Jackson Katz, Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem.

While women have made strides in leadership over the past few decades, the U.S. is 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures and women hold only 3 percent of clout positions in mainstream media.

The distribution of the film “Miss Representation” will coincide with a social action campaign led by MissRepresentation.org. The campaign seeks to empower women and girls to challenge limiting labels in order to fully realize their potential, and ultimately transform our culture for the betterment of all. A portion of the film proceeds will be donated to women’s leadership initiatives led by partnership beneficiaries that include Girls for A Change, Girls Inc., The International Museum of Women, Step Up Women’s Network, The Women’s Media Center, and The White House Project.

For more information about the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation Queen of Hearts Luncheon and the screening of “Miss Representation”, contact Cathy Dangler at cathy@dangler.us or call (415) 317.7705.

On Jan. 9, the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will begin aspen restoration work near the Pope/Baldwin Bike Path adjacent to Highway 89.

A Forest Service contractor will use mechanical equipment to remove pine and fir trees from aspen stands. Most material will be hauled away. Some limbs may be piled outside the aspen stands and burned at a later date.

The project area is 4.6 acres between Taylor Creek and Spring Creek Road.

Work in two locations across the highway from Spring Creek Road is expected to last through Jan. 11.

Operations will then move to the area west of Taylor Creek near the pump house. The entire project is expected to last approximately 10 days.

Because the project involves use of heavy equipment and the felling of trees, access to the bike path on Highway 89 may temporarily be restricted. The area where the contractor is actively working will be clearly marked.

Removing the encroaching conifers will improve aspen stand health, which will provide important habitat for plants and wildlife. Once treated, aspen stands often act as natural firebreaks.

For a complete project description, go online.

The Haldan Art Gallery at Lake Tahoe Community College will open “Off the Press” on Jan. 12.

The exhibition of contemporary printmaking from artists of the Bay Area starts with an artists’ reception from 6-8pm that Thursday.

The exhibit will run through March 16. More information is online.

The photography of Nina Aegerter will be showing in the Foyer Gallery this winter and the talent of LTCC Art Department faculty and staff will be on display in the Student Gallery. These shows will run through March 17 and are free and open to the public during normal campus hours.

The 46th Super Bowl kicks off at 3:30pm Feb. 25 from Indianapolis.

Tower of Power rocks Harrah’s Lake Tahoe on Super Bowl weekend. They play Feb. 4 at 7:30pm.

Tickets are $37.50.

For more information, call 800.786.8208.

Mark McLaughlin, author of “Longboards to Olympics: A Century of Tahoe Winter Sports”, presents stories and photos of the men and women who made Tahoe a world class ski mecca.

The March 14 6-7pm event is part of the Explore Tahoe Winter Lecture Series.

The event is at Explore Tahoe: An Urban Trailhead, 4114 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

A $5 donation is requested. A $5 flat rate is offered in the Heavenly Village Parking Garage after 4pm.

For more information, call (530) 542.4736.

The Soup and Chili Showdown is going into its third year at the Rideout Community Center in Tahoe City on Feb. 25. The Tahoe City Recreation Department is inviting all amateur and professional cooks to show off their culinary talent in this year’s event which will feature a variety of categories in the soup and chili division.

Entry into the friendly competition is free, but preregistration is required. The event is from 6-8:30pm.

For more information, contact Shaun at (530) 583.3440, ext.14.

What Random Act of Kindness have you done, witnessed or been a recipient of?

Let us know by writing about it at the end of this story and you may win something.

Bob Sweatt is the latest winner of the RAOK promotion sponsored by Lake Tahoe News. He nominated a friend, but we have Bob’s contact info so the award is going to him. He won a $50 certificate from Sealed with a Kiss.

Our goal is to start off the year on a great note and recognizing all the little and big things people do for one another. Local businesses are getting in on the acts by providing the prizes.

Now, tell us about your Random Act of Kindness.

The few rules that apply to the promotion and more details about it can be found on this story.

By Jennifer M. Freedman, Bloomberg News

Four years after Bruno Prior paid less than a dollar for an unprofitable ski resort in the Swiss Alps, the strength of the country’s currency has quashed the British entrepreneur’s dream of turning it around.

The Swiss franc has risen 70 percent against the pound since August 2007, when Erner Galen’s community backed Prior’s plan to resuscitate 12 miles (19 kilometers) of pistes over bids to build holiday chalets. After investing more than 500,000 francs ($533,000) in the resort east of Zermatt, he’s dropped a plan to raise another 100 million francs and is instead seeking a buyer.

“The funds we’d set aside for it were worthless,” said Prior, 45, a director of U.K.-based Summerleaze Ltd., a firm that specializes in renewable energy and waste disposal. “The strength of the franc is a problem for the country long term.”

The franc’s gain, coming after a season when snowfall was less than two-thirds of the long-term average, is putting pressure on a ski industry worth 1.5 billion francs a year to the Swiss economy. Resorts from St. Moritz to Verbier are cutting prices for hotels and ski passes to lure foreign visitors and deter locals from crossing the border into France or Austria.

A combination of the strong franc and Europe’s debt crisis is weighing on this season’s bookings with some hotels only half full, said Guy Chanel, marketing director for tourism in Villars, a ski resort 123 kilometers (76 miles) east of Geneva.

Read the whole story

• Peter Fink has been appointed to the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Commission.

• It’s time to register to vote. Need to know how and what the deadline is? This website has info on every state.

• Nevada traffic fatalities dropped in 2011 to 243. This compares to 257 Nevada traffic deaths in 2010.

• Looking for snow? Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass holders can ski for free at Montana’s Big Sky Resort through January if they book lodging through Big Sky Central Reservations.

• Fifth generation lumberman Andrew Cross has been promoted to president and CEO of Truckee-Tahoe Lumber Company, a family-run business that has served Northern California and Nevada for the past 80 years.