What do you get when you combine networking, local charity, and a bar with karaoke — a Tahoe Regional Young Professionals’ August FUNdraiser at Murphy’s Irish Pub on Aug. 25 at 7:30pm.

It is a benefit Christmas Cheer All Year, the food bank in South Lake Tahoe.

The outdoor patio will feature an evening of karaoke and giving back to the community.

TRYP is a new organization created to connect Tahoe’s next generation, while helping the Lake Tahoe community. The young professionals encourage people to bring any type of donation for Christmas Cheer, including cash, non-perishable items like canned food, rice, soups, vegetables or even toys gearing up for the holidays. Cash is the easiest item for them since they use it to buy from the Nevada Food Bank.

In addition to Murphy’s offering a venue for this event, the South Lake Tahoe restaurant will write a check to Christmas Cheer.

Next month, the group will organize a TRYP mixer, incorporating a full moon hike/stroll on Sept. 12. In addition, they’ll pair up with Great River Sierra Cleanup to help collect trash around the Lake Tahoe Basin on Sept. 17.

For upcoming events with TRYP, find them online or email tahoetrpy@gmail.com.

Capt. Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger will be in Incline Village on Sept. 3 to raise money for the nonprofit Thunderbird Preservation Society.

Sullenberger, the U.S. Airways pilot who landed a plane in the Hudson River saving all 155 passengers, will talk about core values and the preservation of American culture like the Thunderbird yacht.

Only 300 tickets are available and cost $35 in advance and $45 at the door for the 3pm event at the Hyatt Regency’s Lakeside Ballroom. Tickets for a 1pm members only reception at the Thunderbird Lodge cost $250.

His appearance will raise money to help keep the Thunderbird boat at Lake Tahoe.

For more information, call (775) 832.8752.

By Nancy Lofholm, Denver Post

Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado has added his voice to mounting pressure on the State Department to improve oversight of a 50-year-old foreign-exchange visitor program that has morphed into a conduit for guest workers and is drawing fire for siphoning jobs from American workers.

The Democrat wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last week asking her to outline what steps the department has taken to end misuse of the J visa program that has more than 350,000 foreign workers in U.S. jobs.

The J visa program was created to promote cultural and educational exchange as a tool to enhance diplomatic ties abroad. In its inaugural year, about 50,000 visas were issued under the program. The program, with 16 classes of J visas, has participants in a wide variety of occupations, including au pair work, farm labor and seasonal jobs at national parks, ski resorts, hotels and restaurants.

Colorado leads the country in numbers of foreign students working on J-1 visas, the type that bring foreign college students to America to fill seasonal jobs for four-month periods.

Udall’s letter to Clinton was prompted by a recent Denver Post article about J-1 visas and by three independent and governmental reports that have outlined problems in the program.

“Mark is following up on reports of weak oversight of the program. He’s asking for a review to see what measures the State Department has taken to ensure that the proper guidelines are being upheld for hiring through the J visa visitors program and that American workers are not inadvertently hurt,” said Udall spokeswoman Tara Trujillo.

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“Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time” will be shown at the outdoor theater at the Sagehen Creek Field Station, north of Truckee on Aug. 23. The movie will begin at 6:30pm.

All are welcome to bring a picnic and eat during the movie.

Aldo Leopold was a U.S. Forest Service employee and developed important conservation ideas that were new to his time but still applicable today. He is probably best known for his book “A Sand County Almanac”. This movie was produced by the Forest Service and the Aldo Leopold Foundation.

It is free.

By Jason Hildago, Reno Gazette-Journal

It’s a sunny, summer day in August, and several employees inside a control room are clearly feeling the heat in more ways than one.

As workers at Ormat Technologies’ Steamboat Geothermal Power Plant Complex in Reno, the control room guys are charged with overseeing an operation that generates 89 megawatts of energy — enough electricity to support the entire residential load of Reno.

The state-of-the-art equipment in the room also allows the employees to monitor other Ormat operations, including a waste heat system that creates energy by harnessing excess heat from a natural gas pipeline that runs from Canada to Chicago.

Most of the heat today, however, is coming from several pairs of inquisitive eyes right behind the employees. The visitors are part of several group tours arranged Tuesday as part of the Geothermal Energy Association’s first National Geothermal Summit. One pair of those inquisitive eyes belongs to Karl Gawell, executive director of the association.

For Gawell, having attendees — including policy makers — see a geothermal plant up close and personal is critical when it comes to promoting the technology. The Steamboat facility is particularly special because it is right next to a metropolitan area, Gawell said.

“It’s important for people to see that geothermal can be a good neighbor,” said Gawell from a hill overlooking the complex during another leg of the tour. “If you look down, you can see a geothermal plant right there, but you can also see a shopping mall across the road behind it. Most people don’t even know there’s a plant here. Geothermal uses the smallest amount of land for the amount of electricity it generates.”

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California Smokers’ Helpline is sending free nicotine patches to people in 34 counties in California who call 1-800-NO-BUTTS and enroll in the free telephone-based quitting program will receive a free two-week starter kit of patches, while supplies last.

All 34 counties picked have an adult smoking prevalence rate of 14 percent or higher, according to the 2008 California Tobacco Survey. In comparison, the 2010 statewide adult smoking rate is 11.9 percent.

This program is part of a nationwide effort called Communities Putting Prevention to Work, which aims to improve health and lower medical costs by preventing disease, such as those caused by tobacco use.

The free patches will be distributed on a first-come, first-served.

For more information, go online.

Source: California Smokers’ Helpline

Barton Health and Push Fitness have been discussing the possibility of the health care provider acquiring the South Lake Tahoe gym.

However, Barton’s board of directors on Aug. 16 voted not to go forward with the purchase.

“We can’t disclose why we were looking into it. We filed a non-disclosure statement with Push,” Rebecca Wass, spokeswoman for Barton, told Lake Tahoe News.

Push owner Tim Christenson said the gym is not for sale.

Barton would not reveal it if will be looking at other gyms on the South Shore to buy or if it was the prime piece of real estate on Highway 50 that it was more interested in.

— Kathryn Reed

Experience a unique blend of art and the natural world during the eighth annual Trails and Vistas art hike on Sept. 17-18.

The hike, modeled on the theme of “Reflections and Rhythms,” takes place at Spooner Lake in Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park.

Expect to hear the beats of REMO Endorsed Drum Circle facilitator Norman Jones from the Rhythm Child Network, a group that helps children and adults connect with their inner rhythms through drumming. Also, new for Trails and Vistas are dancers from Marin-based Terpisicor D’Amour Dance and Lorna Danton, a visual artist from Reno.

Emmy-award winning Chris Spheeris, a musician and poet from Sedona will be returning to perform at Spooner Lake for this year’s art hike. Enjoy the fluid movements and strength exhibited by acrobats and dancers from San Francisco-based Capacitor, an interdisciplinary dance company obsessed with the mechanics of the human body and machines that propel the body through space. These performers are known for the expertise in rigging systems, wearable sculpture, and engineers of large-scale props. Appreciate the sculpture, movement and mythology created by dancer Lesley Ehrenfeld Chapman. Delight in the exquisite painting by Cathee vanRossem-St.Clair, famous for her magnificent egg art – one of eggs, The California Thrasher was created for the Whitehouse Christmas Tree and is now in the National Archives. Another Tahoe-Truckee resident, Emily Tessmer of Orenda Blu Music, will share sacred chants. Dancers from InnerRhythms Dance Theatre will spark your imagination.

Additional artists are Truckee-based artist Caree Bragg, local poet Kira Yannetta who recruited her brother, Benjamin Hall, a musician from Southern California to participate in this year’s event.

The list keeps going with an impressive group of creative minds and hearts including Angelika’s Healing Music, Angelique Benicio and Deborah Kelly. Attend one of the Saturday hikes and hear Reno Taiko Drummers led by Rieko Shimbo. As a young girl in Japan, Shimbo saw taiko performed at many festivals. Her formal training began with a professional company based in Tokyo. Today she has her own group in Reno with 15 students who practice weekly and perform throughout the year.

There will be a variety of specialty hikes including family hikes designed for walking with children at 2pm Sept. 17 and 10 and 10:15am on Sept. 18; leisure hikes suitable for anyone not acclimated to high elevation at 4pm Sept. 17 and noon and 3:30pm on Sept. 18; and adult-only meditative hikes will be available at 3:30pm Sept. 17 and 2:30pm Sept 18.

The art hike is a collaboration between artists and nonprofit organizations including the main sponsor, Trails and Vistas, and the Truckee Donner Land Trust, InnerRhythms Dance Theatre and the KidZone Children’s Museum.

For more information and ticket prices, go online.

The Truckee Public Art Commission is accepting applications for its juried autumn art exhibit.

This year’s theme is “Everyday Objects.”

Artists must be at least 18 years old.

The deadline to apply is Sept. 7 at 5pm.

Artwork will be displayed at the Truckee Donner Parks and Recreation Community Center from Oct. 4-Jan. 31.

More information and applications are online.

PTAs in Northern California and Northern California have a chance to win a $5,000 grant from Raley’s.

The grocery story chain is giving away $25,000 on Sept. 30.Votes can be cast online for the nominated schools from Sept. 6-23.   Schools with the most votes in each region will receive a $5,000 grant to put toward “back-to-school” needs, ranging from new books to physical education equipment to art supplies.

The regions are:

Region 1: Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Humboldt and Washoe counties.

Region 2: Butte, Shasta, Siskiyou, Nevada, Sutter and Tehama counties.

Region 3: Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Solano and Yolo counties.

Region 4: Madera, Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.

Region 5: Alameda, Contra Costa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties.