By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – If the phone rang at a quarter after one Saturday morning, blame it on Lady Antebellum. As an encore to their 17-song concert Friday night, the trio delivered their most recognizable song “Need you now.”

And to make sure the audience knew the lyrics, they were asked to sing the chorus as their own encore. After all, many at the sold-out concert at Harveys had been singing most of the night.

It’s a quarter after one

I’m all alone

And I need you now

Said I wouldn’t call

But I’ve lost all control

And I need you now

Lady Antebellum plays a sold-out show July 29 in Stateline. Photos/Kathryn Reed

The ballad earned Lady A, as fans call them, Song of the Year honors at this year’s Grammy Awards. They collected four other statuettes that night – Record of the Year, Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, Best Country Song, and Best Country Album.

Having released their first album just three years ago, they aren’t slowing down. Their next album “Own the night” will be in stores Sept. 13. They played songs from it, including the title track.

“That’s the whole concept of the next album – own the night. Live in the moment,” vocalists Charles Kelley told the crowd.

Hillary Scott and Kelley’s voices are much more powerful live than recorded. Watching the two of them interact on stage is a bit like a music video with the subtle choreography.

Dave Haywood, while he sings, is better known for the work he does with his hands – whether it’s stroking the keyboard, guitar or mandolin.

They write most of their work, though sometimes record songs from others. “Hello world” is one of those songs, which they executed so well midway through the concert.

Scott rivaled Sara Evans’ rendition of “A little bit stronger” – and with good reason, Scott penned the lyrics.

Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott

Kelley spent most of the time interacting with the audience, crooning to those in the front row as he paraded around the stage in jeans that left nothing to the imagination and a tight V-neck T-shirt.

“This is the most beautiful area I’ve ever seen. It’s gorgeous,” Kelley said.

Scott, too, played to the crowd. In particular she singled out 8-year-old Mackenzie, saying how “American honey” reminded her when she was the youngster’s age.

Despite this being their third time to play the South Shore, most in the audience were first-timers to see the group live. Three years ago they made an appearance at the Hark Rock. In May 2010, Lady A opened for Tim McGraw. By that time they were winning Grammies and Country Music Awards. It’s hard to know if that concert sold-out because of Lady A or McGraw.

While Troy Olsen put on a good 30-minute act before Lady A took the stage, he clearly was the warm-up guy.

The whole night started a half hour late to accommodate Mother Nature who thought it a good idea to unleash a downpour as thousands of people were making their way to the outdoor venue.

Dave Haywood

Despite all the cowboy hats, at times it felt and sounded more like a rock concert with the five-member back-up band and the lights.

While all of this brought a tremendous amount of energy to the show and had people dancing more than sitting, the rock overpowered the country.

Being confused about the genre of music was reinforced when they played Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” and Prince’s “Kiss.”

After their 90-minute performance, my mom said, “It was good, but that was not country.”

Playing Lady Antebellum’s “I need you now” album in the car while waiting 50 minutes (no exaggeration) to get out of the parking garage had her back believing they are country artists.

Harveys Outdoor Concert Series has five more shows:

Aug. 9 – Phish – sold out

Aug. 10 – Phish – sold out

Aug. 13 – Big Four

Aug. 19 – Miranda Lambert with Little Big Town

Sept. 10 – Sammy Hagar & The Wabos.

To the community,

Tahoe Regional Young Professionals would like to thank all who joined the group July 27 at Pope Beach for their mixer/barbeque. More than 30 people attended the warm sunset filled evening – the second of many mixers for the young professionals.

TRYP would like to send a special “thank you” to Overland Meat for donating their delicious burgers and hot dogs. Great salads, sides and desserts were brought by individuals and TRYP.

The next events scheduled are Beach Clean-up days, Aug. 17 and Aug 20. Stay tuned for details.

TRYP’s mission is connecting Tahoe’s next generation to help the community and strives to get younger professionals involved in the community and give back while creating an environment for networking.

For more information email tahoetryp@gmail.com or find them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TahoeTRYP.

Jenn Boyd, TRYP

A Calaveras County woman has died from the injuries she sustained after being hit by an alleged drunken driver while she was crossing Highway 50 in Stateline.

Joan Marie Hamrick, 60, of Valley Springs was struck while going from the Horizon casino to MontBleu at 1:17am Saturday. She was flown to Renown Medical Center in Reno where she later died.

David Ray Stephenson, 35, of Discovery Bay was booked into jail on charges of felony DUI.

Nevada Highway Patrol troopers said Stephenson was driving an unregistered silver Ford truck when he struck Hamrick, who was in a cross walk. He was followed less than a mile to Kahle Drive by a witness.

Officers waited for the suspect to return and then arrested Stephenson.

The accident is still under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Scott Famer at (775) 689.4623.

— Kathryn Reed

Professor Frank DeCourten is giving a lecture one day and leading a hike the next about the volcanic rocks in the Lake Tahoe region.

He plans to reconstruct the volcanic history of the area in non-technical terms.

The Aug. 6 hike will provide opportunities to directly explore the volcanic rocks and landscape features along the portion of the Pacific Crest Trail between the trailhead on Old Highway 40, through the Sugar Bowl ski area and along the Judah Loop to Roller Pass.

The lecture is Aug. 5 at the Olympic Village Lodge, Squaw Valley. No-host bar social hour begins at 6:30pm, with the program at 7pm.

It is free for Squaw Valley Institute members, $10 for others.

The hike begins at 8:30am at the Pacific Crest Trailhead parking area off Old Highway 40 (Donner Pass Road). The fees are the same as the lecture.

Space is limited. Tickets may be purchased online.

El Dorado County Animal Services is temporarily reducing the adoption fee to half price for kittens and cats due to an unusually late kitten season and a recent surge in the number of felines at its shelters. The fee to adopt a cat or kitten, which is normally $80, will be reduced to $40 through Sept. 30.

Adoptable felines are vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and have a microchip. The kittens are also litter box trained and socialized.

The animal shelters are located at 1120 Shakori Drive in South Lake Tahoe and 511 Placerville Drive in Placerville. They are open Monday through Saturday from 9:30am-noon and 1-4:30pm.

Pictures of adoptable pets can be found online via Animal Services’ website.

To reach the shelters with questions about adoption, call (530) 573. 7925 in South Lake Tahoe and.(530) 621-5795 in Placerville.

By Tom McClintock

Imagine a family that earns $50,000 a year but is spending more than $88,000 with a credit card balance of $330,000. The discussions around the kitchen table are likely to be a little tense.

Proportionally, that’s where Washington’s finances are today, and that’s why the national discussion is a little tense, too.

Even these figures belie the magnitude of the fiscal crisis. Shutting down the entire federal government and firing every federal employee is no longer enough to balance the budget. Mandatory spending – mainly entitlements – consumes more than the government takes in.

Tom McClintock

Fortunately, revenues vastly exceed debt payments, so threats of an actual default are so much flimflam. The president has both the legal authority and constitutional obligation to prioritize payments to prevent a default. The problem is that a lot of other bills would go unpaid, causing a downgrade to the nation’s triple-A credit, forcing up interest costs, wiping out all of the savings now on the table and jacking up everything from mortgage interest costs to family credit card rates.

But avoiding a downgrade will take more than just raising the debt limit. Without a credible plan to place the Treasury back on the path to fiscal solvency – which Standard and Poors defines as reducing the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade — the nation’s credit will be downgraded no matter what happens with the debt limit.

So what to do?

The president wants to raise taxes on “corporate jets” and “millionaires and billionaires.” But the awful truth is that there aren’t enough corporate jets or millionaires and billionaires to make more than a dent in these numbers.

That’s why the president has actually proposed raising taxes on those earning $200,000 per year ($250,000 for couples). These are families who are already paying more than half of all income taxes, many of whom are struggling to keep up with upside-down mortgages while putting kids through college without financial aid. Worse, over 80 percent of small businesses’ net income would be subject to the president’s “millionaires and billionaires” tax at a time when we’re depending on them to produce two-thirds of the new jobs that people desperately need.

The folly of the left’s tax nostrums is to assume that high taxes are the path to prosperity and an antidote to deficits. They are neither.

As Adam Smith warned, raising taxes in a recession makes as much sense as a shopkeeper raising prices in a sales slump. New revenues are needed, but the healthy way is to remove the burdens that government has placed on the economy and produce those revenues through economic growth. Prosperity is the only true source of revenue.

Nor are taxes an antidote to deficits. In fact, they’re close cousins: a deficit is simply a future tax. Both are driven by spending. It’s no coincidence that while annual spending increased by $1.2 trillion in the last five years, the annual deficit increased by $1.4 trillion. It’s the spending, stupid.

So how do we reduce spending when promised entitlements are pushing the nation to bankruptcy? A family grappling with a problem as big as the federal government’s would rapidly come to several conclusions.

First, it’s going to need a work-out plan, starting with a family budget. In March, the House passed the first federal budget since 2009. It would ultimately balance the budget and pay off the debt. The Senate tore it up.

Second, that family’s going to have to review its spending and pull out everything that it can do without. The House has begun that process but has a long way to go. The Senate frets over losing the “Cowboy Poetry Festival.”

Finally, it’s going to have to renegotiate any promises it has made but just can’t keep. And that’s the biggest budget challenge, because an entire generation of Americans has made retirement plans based on those promises.

For example, an average couple earning $89,000 and retiring in 2011 will have paid $110,000 into Medicare and will consume $350,000. Is anyone really surprised the system is collapsing?

Paul Ryan has done the nation a great service by offering an alternative that stops provider flight and guarantees seniors the choice of the health care plan that best meets their own needs, underwritten by a solvent Medicare system in a manner that provides higher support to those who are sicker, poorer and older.

Facing grim financial reality after decades of profligacy is a difficult, time-consuming and thoroughly unpleasant process. But there’s an infinitely worse alternative.

Just ask the Greeks.

Tom McClintock represents the 4th Congressional District, which encompasses Lake Tahoe on the California side.

American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament at Edgewood Tahoe in Stateline is July 17-22.

For more information, go online.

By Jason Hildago, Reno Gazette-Journal

A nonprofit group hopes the release of a new “green directory” will help Nevada attract more business and get the state one step closer to its goal of being a renewable energy leader.

The Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization released the first edition of its Nevada Clean & Renewable Energy Product & Service Supply Directory this week.

The directory includes a list of more than 300 companies in the state that work in various fields of the renewable sector, including suppliers, contract manufacturers, assemblers and developers. The group first started soliciting company names for potential inclusion in June.

“Now that we have the list, we can go to the next phase, which is using what we know is available in the state for company attraction,” said Jim Croce, NIREC president and CEO. “A lot of renewable companies that have an interest in relocating to Nevada are looking for strategic partners in the state who can help them by providing components and services. This list shows those companies which businesses are here to support them.”

Croce expects the list to grow to at least 500 companies. The second edition is scheduled for an October release. NIREC has a contract with the state to provide quarterly updates to the list through the first quarter of 2012. It is uncertain how the list will be maintained after that.

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• Anytime Fitness is looking to open a second Lake Tahoe gym. According to an employee at the Zephyr Cove facility, negotiations are under way for the Minnesota-based company to lease the Tahoe Daily Tribune building in South Lake Tahoe.

• Barton Foundation’s 17th annual Golf Tournament and fundraiser grossed nearly $34,000 for the Community Health Endowment. Briggs Matsko from Lincoln Financial Advisors made the first hole-in-one in the tournament’s 17-year history.

• While Jackson Rancheria Casino invests $100 million in restaurants, slot machines and other amenities, it is laying off 150 workers – about 10 percent of its staff.

• Tamarack Chairlift at Heavenly is open for hiking.

• Participation this summer at Lake Tahoe Boys & Girls Club is up 30 percent.

By Nancy Creech

Have you ever given young children a standardized test?

Kindergartners are 4 to 5 years old and this is what happens: Some of them cry. Some get stomach aches. Many of them, all of a sudden when instructions are being explained, have to go to the bathroom or get a tissue. Some draw all over the paper. They talk. They shout out answers, as they have been taught to care for one another and help one another.

Race to the Top put us on the data bandwagon and Education Secretary Arne Duncan has now called for more “formative assessments.” Even though Michigan did not win Race to the Top money, we are nevertheless answering the call for data for data, data, and more data, for children in kindergarten.

I am spending so much time recording “formative” assessments that I don’t have time to evaluate the meaningful assessments and plan for instruction, much less time to actually teach!

I now have to give a total of more than 27,000 check marks or grades for my class of 25 students per year. This is not counting the stars, stickers or smiley faces I put on their work each day.

Nancy Creech is a kindergarten teacher in Michigan.

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