By Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times

When it comes to water management, California Assemblyman Jose Solorio focuses on three C’s: capture, conservation and conveyance. Of those, the state has been most successful with conservation, Solorio says, but it hasn’t been nearly as adept at capturing rain and snowfall and conveying it to where it needs to be.

In an effort to reduce California’s demand on limited drinking-water supplies and to minimize the amount of polluted storm water that flows into the ocean, Solorio has written AB 275, also known as the Rainwater Capture Act of 2011. Introduced last week, the bill would authorize property owners to install different types of rainwater-capture devices, including rain barrels that could provide water for outdoor gardens and other systems that would allow captured water to be used indoors for non-potable uses, such as toilet flushing.

“California has traditionally relied on expensive and large public works projects to capture and store water, such as dams and groundwater basins and other forms of above-surface water-storage projects, but those projects are large and expensive,” Solorio said. “It’s time we start thinking about what we can individually do in our own residential properties, as well as what businesses might do, in terms of capturing water on property voluntarily.”

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From the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department: The West Slope of El Dorado County is slated to be hit with a significant snow storm on Feb. 25 through Feb. 26. According to National Weather Service, snow accumulation above 2,000 feet will range from 1 foot and up to 4 feet in the higher elevations.

The Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services suggests residents have enough food, water and supplies to last 72 hours.

By Dan Hinxman, Reno Gazette-Journal

Alpine skier Nicole Brill should be swooshing in silence down a Slovakian slope today.

She knows it’s loud when her skis get going fast. Deaf since she was about 1, hearing aids give her the ability to pick up sounds. She combines the aids and her partial ability to read lips to turn sounds into words. She asks only that you enunciate clearly.

But when she skis in the Deaflympics — at speeds of more than 60 mph in the downhill — she and her fellow competitors hear nothing. No wind, no skis grinding on ice. In competition, athletes are not allowed to wear hearing aids.

It’s a sensory experience that able-hearing skiers can only imagine.

And in this quadrennial Deaflympics, it’s something Brill can only imagine, too. On Feb. 11, three days before she was scheduled to fly to Slovakia, the 17th Deaflympics (formerly the World Games for the Deaf) were canceled.

Brill, a 35-year-old from Reno who works for the U.S. Forest Service in South Lake Tahoe and was the only U.S. woman scheduled to compete (along with three U.S. men), found out in an e-mail she received on her phone while training at Mt. Rose.

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Aramark has been making some changes to its South Shore operation.

The company that runs the two paddle-wheelers on Lake Tahoe along with the snowmobile operation in Nevada and Zephyr Cove Resort needs a director of marketing and sales, as well as an executive chef for the restaurant.

Austin Sass, who had the sales position since Carol Chaplin left the company in 2008 to run Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, told Lake Tahoe News he did not know what he is going to do now – other than enjoy skiing this winter.

Jody Bell, general manager of Zephyr Cove operations in Tahoe, said no other personnel changes have taken place or are anticipated.

A new service being offered this winter is après ski cruises on the Tahoe Queen on Wednesdays for $29. The 90-minute excursion includes a drink and all-you-can-eat appetizers.

— Kathryn Reed

Cold and sunny with lots of snow on the slopes throughout Lake Tahoe.

Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

By Peter Finocchiaro, Salon

Wisconsin has captivated onlookers as it evolves into what some are calling ground zero for a nationwide standoff over organized labor in the public sector. Major budgetary battles loom large on the horizon, and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker is just one of several governors who are considering big cuts to union benefits for state employees. Rumors are already swirling about similar legislative battles in states like Ohio, Tennessee and Indiana, and action against organized labor there could instigate further protests. In short: The scene in Wisconsin could be prelude to a national event.

Given that the two major media stories of the moment have inundated the American public with images of protests, both at home and in the Middle East, it’s unsurprising that people are beginning to draw comparisons. That being the case, the big question of the moment becomes this: Will the labor fight cascade out from Madison across the U.S.? Or, as the New York Times succinctly put it: “Is Wisconsin the Tunisia of collective bargaining rights?”

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On March 5 at 7pm, V-Day South Lake Tahoe will present a one-night only benefit reading of Eve Ensler’s award winning play “The Vagina Monologues” at the Loft at the Blue Angel Café.

Last year there were more than 5,400 V-Day benefits around the world raising funds and awareness toward ending violence against women. These events raised more than $4 million through performance of Eve Ensler’s award-winning plays including. South Lake Tahoe has again joined this global movement as part of the V-Day 2011 Campaign.

For the eighth year in a row South Lake Tahoe will present a benefit production. This year is special in that “The Vagina Monologues” are returning after a two-year break, as performances in 2009 and 2010 were readings from “A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer.”

V-Day is a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls.

The V in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.

Admission to the South Tahoe event is $15. Tickets are available at the door and the Family Resource Center on Spruce Avenue. Proceeds will benefit Family Resource Center Mother’s Support Group, South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center Emergency Services, and Tahoe Youth & Family Services Little Latinas Program.

To learn more about V-Day Tahoe call Natalie Yanish at (775) 843.7142 or e-mail natalie@realtordeb.com. To learn more about V-Day and its campaigns visit www.vday.org.

Other related invents include:

• “The Sex Show”, a jeopardy based sex education game show on Feb. 24 at 7pm at The Divided Sky in Meyers, $5 tickets at the door.

• “HONK”, a rally to raise awareness on Feb. 25 from 5-6pm at the Y in South Lake Tahoe.

• The Dress Rehearsal showing of “The Vagina Monologues” March 3 at 7pm at The Divided Sky, $5 tickets at the door.

By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee

California wildlife officials seek public comments on a proposal to add the mountain yellow-legged frog to the state endangered species list.

The request comes in response to a petition last year by the Center for Biological Diversity. A similar petition under the federal Endangered Species Act resulted in the species becoming a candidate for listing in 2003.

The state petition covers both the northern and southern variants of the species, which the center maintains has been eliminated from 93 percent of its habitat. It blames the state Department of Fish and Game’s historic practice of stocking Sierra Nevada lakes with non-native trout, which eat young frogs.

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By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE — Making Nevada Beach accessible to people with disabilities and improving water quality are the goals of the $1.2 million project under way at the popular beach-day use-campground just east of the Stateline casinos.

With work having begun last summer, crews expect to wrap things up before Fourth of July. This holiday is the time when the beach reaches maximum capacity because the views of the fireworks shot off over the lake are some of the best.

Restrooms at Nevada Beach are being built to ADA specs. Photos/Kathryn Reed

This winter workers are finishing the two restrooms, with landscaping work to begin once the snow melts and the grading season opens.

The two old restrooms date to the 1940s or ’50s, according to U.S. Forest Service officials. They will be demolished. One of the facilities that was built in the 1970s will remain in use, however it is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Forest Service, which has owned the land since 1942, is using money from its general budget as well as funds from the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act for the upgrades.

Besides replacing the structures that have outlived their usefulness, water and electrical lines are being replaced to meet health and safety codes.

“The other thing related to accessibility is an accessible path around the entire parking lot,” USFS spokeswoman Cheva Heck said. “As we get money, we go to our facilities and address accessibility because we want and need to bring them up to that level.”

She said it’s all part of the Forest Service’s goal “to serve all of the public.”

A boardwalk leading to the lake has been laid. This allows people in wheelchairs to use picnic areas close to the shore.

Part of the water quality portion of the project involved moving one campsite to ground that is not sensitive. Burke Creek runs through Rabe Meadow, which leads to Lake Tahoe, so lots of marshy areas exist much of the year in the area. None of the improvements are designed affect the creek.

In the day use area, catch basins are being installed to trap water to have it filtered before it reaches Lake Tahoe.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Temperatures are expected to be at or near zero Monday night and only in the 20s as a high on Tuesday.

Despite these facts, this is what the National Weather Service in Reno has to say, “A very cold and unstable winter system will move into the region Thursday into Friday. This will bring the potential for a significant snow event to the region. This weather pattern is favorable for several feet of snow in the Eastern Sierra and accumulating snow down to the lower valleys of Northeastern California and Western Nevada.”

— Lake Tahoe News staff report