Renowned Winemaker Scott Harvey Comes to Après, Tasting
Tuesday at Après Wine Company on April at 6pm.
A trip to Germany inspired a lifetime of
wine creativity. Meet the man who delighted the masses with Ménage A Trois. The cost is $25 advance, $30 at door. It includes five wines and appetizer pairings. Discounts on wines tasted.
RSVP 530-544-9463.
A winter weather advisory is in effect through 5pm. Snow and wind are already impacting upper lifts. See today’s ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.
U.S. Snowboarding News
AROSA, Switzerland – U.S. Snowboarding landed two athletes on the final snowboardcross World Cup podium of the season Friday in Arosa with Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, VT) second and Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, MI) third.
After missing the podium on Thursday, SBX star Jacobellis wasn’t going to let another podium spot go by Friday. Jacobellis qualified for the finals in first, setting the pace for the rest of the day as she raced her way into the large finals.
“It was really challenging with the warm weather,” said Jacobellis, “I have had a tremendous season and won some important events.”
Jacobellis charged out of the start taking the hole shot and leading most of the way before Thursday’s winner Alexandra Jekova made an impressive pass to clinch her second victory in 24-hours.
“I wasn’t planning on competing in the World Cup as intensely this year,” said Jacobellis. “I am very proud of my season, after missing the first couple of World Cups I was able to come back and have some success.”
Jacobellis ended the season placing third in the SBX World Cup standings with 3610 points. Dominique Maltais of Canada won the SBX World Cup globe with 4800 points, while Alexandra Jekova of Bulgaria was second with 4040 points.
In the men’s large finals, Baumgartner, who qualified for finals in third, kept the momentum going advancing to the large finals. With many of the top SBX riders eliminated to the small final, the six riders in the large final charged down the course with eyes set on the podium.
Baumgartner ended an incredible season grabbing a podium spot in third. Luca Matteotti of Italy finished second and Alex Pullin of Australia took the top spot in Friday’s final world cup winning his first World Cup.
“Getting on the podium springboards me into the next season” said Baumgartner, 2011 X games Gold Medalists. “I’ve learned what I need to work on, and next year I am going for everything.”
Pullin took full advantage of the opportunity clinching the SBX overall World Cup title with 3270 points. Followed closely behind in second was Pierre Vaultier of France with 3210 points. Jonathon Cheever (Saugus, MA) ended his incredible season finishing third in the overall standings with 2690 points.
This concludes the SBX World Cup season. Competition will continue Saturday with men’s and women’s halfpipe competition.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS World Cup
Arosa, Switzerland – March 25, 2011
Snowboardcross
Men
1. Alex Pullin, Australia
2. Luca Matteotti, Italy
3. Nick Baumgarnter, Iron River, MI
–
10. Jarod Minghini, South Lake Tahoe, CA
13. Alex Tuttle, Stratton, ME
17. Nate Holland, Squaw Valley, CA
35. Jayson Hale, Sierraville, CA
41. Jonathan Cheever, Saugus, MA
42. Seth Wescott, Sugarloaf, ME
45. Robert Minghini, South Lake Tahoe, CA
Women
1. Alexandra Jekova, Bulgaria
2. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton, VT
3. Nelly Moenne Loccoz, France
–
11. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, Girdwood, AK
17. Chloe Banning, Steamboat Springs, CO
19. Jenna Feldman, Linwood, NJ
–
Did not qualify for finals
25. Carries Uren, Randle, WA
For complete results: www.fis-ski.com
Final SBX World Cup Standings
Men
1. Alex Pullin, Australia, 3270
2. Pierre Vaultier, France, 3210
3. Jonathan Cheever, Saugus, MA, 2690
Women
1. Dominique Maltais, Canada, 4800
2. Alexandra Jekova, Bulgaria, 4040
3. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton, VT, 3610
For final standings: www.fis-ski.com
By Kathryn Reed
Interesting travel pieces capture my imagination, taking me places I’ll never go, returning me to places I’ve been and introducing me to places I’ve never heard of.
“Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel” is a collection of short stories from a group of women who gathered to draw inspiration from one another to pursue their writing and their travels. The book published in 2001 is still relevant. It’s not like traveling and exploring ever become dated.
As with most collections like this, some of the stories resonate more than others. And in this type of writing, it’s so personal. It isn’t a travel guide to get someone to book a reservation. It’s a snapshot of an experience they had. But it’s also gives readers a taste of different cultures.
As a woman who has traveled a bit by myself and with others, I felt myself identifying with the circumstances of some of the writers even if the locales were different.
A passage from Pamela Michael who is traveling by herself in India reads, “In an instant I made the sort of decision that every traveler has to make from time to time: You decide to take a risk, trust a stranger, enter a cave, explore a trail, act on intuition and experience something new. It is this giving oneself over to a strange culture or environment that often reaps the most reward, that makes travel so worthwhile and exhilarating.”
I agree. Perhaps that’s why I am not a big fan of big organized tours. I don’t want the sterilized – or dumb-downed American – version of visiting someplace.
As Christi Phillips points out in her essay about New Orleans, specialized expeditions are a great way to find out interesting tidbits about an area, its culture, the people and meaning behind traditions.
“The tombs aren’t completely airtight. When bodies decompose, they release a lot of gas, and if the tomb were airtight, they would explode. For the most part, modern embalming techniques have taken care of this problem, but on a hot day, you can still smell something a bit odd in here. Hence the tradition of brining flowers to a gravesite,” Phillips writes, using what her guide tells her on the cemetery tour.
“Wild Writing Women” takes readers on a tour of the world. Some experiences might be worth emulating; others definitely should be avoided – like being a victim in a horrendous bus crash and nearly dying. But all have something to capture the adventurous traveler.
The Forest Service will be submitting an annual application to the state Department of Parks and Recreation, Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division. This application requests funding to provide trail maintenance, restoration, conservation, patrolling, education and law enforcement for over the snow and off-highway vehicle trails and areas.
These grants will be available for public review and comment until April 4 online.
Any comments that are submitted to this site will go to the state and to the individual National Forest.
“These annual grants have provided important funds for the Forest Service to maintain the trails, repair winter storm damage and restore trailside environments as well as enabling more patrolling and monitoring of these sites. The Forest Service is requesting over $1 million this year,” David Michael, Tahoe National Forest Trails and OHV manager, said in a statement.
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the March 23, 2011, Reno Gazette-Journal.
If there were any doubts that Nevadans would play an important role in the 2012 presidential race because of the state’s early caucuses (and its additional Electoral College vote), Tuesday’s visit to the Silver State by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour should put them to rest.
Barbour is one of a handful of Republicans already testing the waters for a 2012 challenge to Democratic President Barack Obama and one of the first to take a swing through Northern Nevada. (Sarah Palin, the Republican former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate, was in Reno for a speech at the Safari Club International convention.)
But he isn’t alone in seeing the value of starting to build relationships 11 months before the Republican caucuses, scheduled for Feb. 18, 2012. Already, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, radio talk-show host Herman Cain and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty all have touched down in Nevada.
Residents in the Kingsbury General Improvement District will be getting water meters starting in May.
The Stateline board is accepting bids on the project until April 5. The board is expected to award the bid April 19.
The work involves the installation of approximately 787 individual meters and setters with bid alternates for 188 meters and setters for Olivers Park, Lake Village, Palisades, Summit Village, and Tahoe Village.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
By Kathryn Reed
Lake Tahoe Community College hopes to return to its roots a bit this fall by offering community education.
While the state mandates the dollars it doles out to two-year institutions be largely spent on courses geared toward students who will transfer to four-year colleges and for remedial purposes, it hasn’t always been that way.
Tom Greene
When LTCC opened in 1975 it had a true community education component. This was in large part funded by a 5-cent assessment place on properties statewide. A local 72-cent property tax was in place to fund LTCC.
At that time community colleges also set their own fees.
When voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978 it changed how property taxes to this day are collected in California as well as the funding structure for education and other entities.
One reason LTCC is reintroducing community education is because of how the state reimburses the school for classes. In recent years more elective type courses are not being reimbursed. Many of these, like physical education, are popular in South Lake Tahoe. But the college is losing money without the state reimbursement.
Tom Greene, vice president of Academic Affairs and Student Services, spoke to the LTCC board March 22 about the need to hire a part-time community education coordinator.
After the meeting he told Lake Tahoe News he expects in the next month or so to have more structure to the program. Bringing back community education was a component of the February strategic planning session.
“It will give us a great deal of flexibility,” Greene told the board. “It will be an alternative revenue stream and it meets the unmet needs of the community.”
Although the program per state law is not supposed to make money, instead break even, it’s possible to incorporate into the fee structure the wear and tear of the facility and utility costs. This is where the college may reap a savings of sorts.
“I imagine if it’s not self-supporting, it will not be long lived,” Greene said.
Specific courses that might be offered are far from being finalized. But there was discussion about bringing back Kids College, offering culinary classes, having a mini version of the Spanish institute, or weekend seminars.
Part of the flexibility Greene spoke of was timing of classes – this could be for a day, hours or a weekend. Plus, the requirements for instructors are not the same as regular LTCC classes.
Cynthea Preston, dean of Instruction, said, “We have a lot of vocational classes that would be better in community education.”
By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal
The road over a dam at a popular Sierra reservoir will be closed next week because of security concerns, blocking access for many Reno-area boaters come summer.
With Boca Reservoir expected to fill to the brim for the first time in years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is forced to close the road to cars and trucks beginning April 1 and through the summer, bureau spokesman Pete Lucero said.
“We’ve reached that level where it’s a security concern issue,” Lucero said. “When the water gets that high, it’s something we do.”
It’s something the bureau last did, for the first time, in 2006. It wasn’t necessary any of the subsequent four years because dry winters kept water levels at Boca low, Lucero said. A heavy winter year changed things.
Lucero declined to discuss specific security concerns regarding the dam but acknowledged the move is associated with a study of all the bureau’s dams and reservoirs ordered after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“It’s not something we can say,” Lucero said. “We just can’t disclose what the serious issue is. That would be a breach on our part.”
By Gretchen Weber, Climate Watch
Environmental groups are criticizing the Obama Administration’s new proposed rules for managing the country’s nearly 200 million acres of national forest, arguing that they weaken current standards for protecting wildlife and watersheds.
More than 100 organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Defenders of Wildlife, signed on to a letter sent to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Monday, arguing that the proposal “fails to provide critical, concrete protections for the most precious resources of our forests — water and wildlife,” and that it “weakens the strong standards for safeguarding water quality and wildlife viability first issued in 1982 by the Reagan Administration and currently still in place.”
In a February press release announcing the new proposed rules, the USDA (which manages the Forest Service) touted the new proposal as creating increased protections for water resources and an “improved ability to respond to climate change and other stressors through provisions to restore and maintain healthy and resilient ecosystems.”