With a resume that ranges from culinary apprenticeship at Walt Disney World to designing menus for visiting Olympic athletes, Danny Stoddard is primed for his new position as Tahoe Truckee Unified School District’s culinary operations manager.

Stoddard will be responsible for bringing the district’s new food philosophy to life by developing recipes, menus and supervising food production. The goal is to provide high quality nutritious food that is fresh, seasonal and prepared from scratch as much as possible within the requirements of the USDA National School Lunch Program. Additionally, the meals will not include partially hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup. Sugar, salt and additives will be kept to a minimum and there will be no fried foods.

Chef Danny Stoddard left the Magic Kingdom for the North Shore of Tahoe. Photo/Provided

“I’m up for the challenge,” said Stoddard, noting that he looks forward to adopting the school district’s new nutritional tenants into his own eating as well. “My goal is that the food will be so good that parents will want to meet their children for lunch at school.”

So what types of cuisine can parents and students expect from Stoddard? Hint – this isn’t typical mystery meat school lunch fare. One day students may dig into a hearty beef stew served in a whole wheat bread bowl with a spinach side salad garnished with dried cranberries. And the next day, the menu may include a roasted vegetable and marinated pork wrap with chipotle mayo and sliced peaches. All of the lunch entrees will include a vegetarian option.

Originally from Sparks, Stoddard not only served as an apprentice at Walt Disney World, he was later hired by the resort to manage large-scale special events catering, he later served as an executive chef at Ormond Memorial Hospital, Ormond Beach Florida, as well as the dietary manager at Kennert Retirement Center, Orlando. After his tenure in Florida, Stoddard worked as an executive chef at UC Berkeley where he fed athletes at the university’s Training Table program and also catered the NCAA Basketball Regional Finals.

Collectively, he has 20 years of culinary experience, including 12 years in the management where he became well versed in all aspects of menu planning, ordering, quality control, food safety and training employees.

The revamped school nutritional plan is set officially to launch in early 2011.

By Laurell Rosenhall, Sacramento Bee

Candidates seeking to replace former state Sen. Dave Cox in the California Senate will face off Monday in a debate.

Republicans Barbara Alby, Ted Gaines and Roger Niello and Democrat Ken Cooley will field questions from students, media and community members during the forum at William Jessup University in Rocklin.

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By Colin Nicholson, Independent

As we drove through the desert state of Nevada, it seemed both practical and reassuring that our car’s global positioning system (GPS) could find its way to a ski resort in this arid landscape of cacti and rolling tumbleweed. Sure enough, turning a corner, I caught sight of the snowy peaks and green pines surrounding Lake Tahoe. But what is perhaps more impressive is that I could also use GPS to direct myself around the slopes of the resort I had arrived at: Heavenly.

Yes, just as satellite navigation technology has become a must-have accessory in cars, sat-navs are beginning to make themselves useful on the slopes. The market leader is Satsports (satsportsgps.com), which reproduces the artist’s rendition of the mountains you see on paper piste maps on your iPhone, BlackBerry or other smart phone, with a little yellow circle to indicate where you are.

I was skeptical at first, but its position-finding was largely spot-on. Occasionally, it would place me on a piste when I was on a lift more or less above it, only to correct itself. I could zoom in and out and just had to drag my finger across the screen to scroll around the map. And I could replay where I had been.

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The latest round of campaign contributions for California candidates has been documented.

Candidates must file the paperwork if at least $1,000 was part of the campaign revenues or expenses.

The forms may be found below by clicking on the candidate’s last name. The campaign forms are for South Lake Tahoe City Council and El Dorado County sheriff. Douglas County charges $1/page for these disclosure forms.

Lake Tahoe News will continue to report the financial documents until the last set is due Jan. 31. Craig Therkildsen has multiple forms based on contributions since the last deadline.

Joy Curry

John D’Agostini

Tom Davis

Claire Fortier

Elizabeth Hallen

Steve Kubby

Angela Swanson

Craig Therkildsen; Therkildsen-2; Therkildsen-3.

— Compiled by Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

Domestic violence. It’s not an isolated issue. It’s not a private issue. It’s a community issue.

That was the message Lisa Serafini, El Dorado County deputy district attorney, drilled into the women gathered for the Thursday meeting of Soroptimist International Tahoe Sierra.

Serafini, who has prosecuted domestic violence cases, said the number of people on the South Shore dealing with alcohol or some other substance abuse problem, as well as mental health issues is high based on the population. Those factors often lead to domestic violence.

EDC Deputy DA Lisa Serafini talks Oct. 21 about domestic violence. Photo/Kathryn Reed

“We have a lot more (cases) than we should. You can’t blame the casinos for it. You have to blame the people who conduct themselves that way,” Serafini said.

The key criminal issues are the threat of physical abuse, actual physical abuse and sexual abuse. But emotional abuse, financial abuse, isolation – they all come under domestic violence.

Serafini said it’s a horrible myth to believe someone, usually a woman, chooses to stay in an abusive situation. Fear is often what keeps her in the relationship. Potentially losing custody of her children, even the love she once had for her abuser, and possible financial security are other reasons women stay.

It has been proven that leaving the abusive person can be the most life-threatening moment, Serafini said.

She pointed to two cases in the past few years – one in South Lake Tahoe, the other Stateline – where the woman left the man who was abusing her. The first case almost ended with the perpetrator fatally slashing the victim’s neck with a machete in front of her child. She lived. The woman in the second case died after she was beaten with a hammer at her casino job where her ex showed up.

Although these women did what authorities and social agencies advise – get out of the abusive relationship – they prove Serafini’s point that leaving can be dangerous.

It’s a community problem because the victim and abuser live here. They work here. They shop here. Their children go to school here.

Millions of children each year in the United States witness some forum of abuse in their home – verbal or physical – and may be one of the victims. Those children are then likely to repeat the abuse or seek out abusive relationships.

Behavioral issues with these students often crop up at school – potentially taking time away from classmates.

Domestic violence calls can take a lot of time for law enforcement. Serafini recommends people call the cops if they hear abuse going on, to document fights they hear neighbors having, give officers a statement, and show up in court so the victim is not alone in a potential he said, she said situation.

With October being Domestic Violence Awareness month, the Soroptimist are trying to bring awareness to the issue.

Leanne Wagoner, executive director of South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center, is a member of the club. Her agency is partnering with Heavenly Village today for Shop to Stop Domestic Violence. Ten percent or more of proceeds from the 16 participating stores/eateries will be donated to the women’s center.

By Todd Woody, New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — In a city passionate about the environment and technology, commuters are using their smartphones to check in at a popular social networking service to help keep a critter threatened by climate change from checking out.

“What does it take to help save the endangered pika? About 20 seconds,” read ads from Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, that line San Francisco transit stations and feature the cute rabbitlike American pika in its Sierra Nevada mountain redoubt. “Check in now at Foursquare at ‘Earthjustice ad.’ Every time you check in, an Earthjustice donor will donate $10 to protect endangered species.”

Foursquare, a rapidly growing social network, lets people use their mobile phones to announce their location to friends. When they arrive at a restaurant, bar or another site, they “check in” and can broadcast their whereabouts through other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The Earthjustice campaign appears to be among the first to let people check in at a physical billboard, a tactic that has proved successful for the firm and could be attractive to other advertisers, according to industry analysts and Foursquare executives.

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The Geology Club at Lake Tahoe Community College has teamed with the Tahoe-Baikal Institute to present the Fall Speaker Series.

The presentations will be in the Aspen Room at the Lake Tahoe Community College in South Lake Tahoe.

They are free.

· Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species: Oct. 27th 7:30-8:30pm presented by Sudeep Chandra, UNR professor, and Nicole Cartwright of TahoeRCD

· After the Angora Fire: Nov. 3 from 6:30-7:30pm, presented by Susie Kocher and Daylin Wade, California Tahoe Conservancy.

· Bringing Environmental Education to Lake Baikal: Nov. 10 from 6:30-7:30pm, presented by Joy Barney Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

By Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette-Journal

The King’s Beach area at Lake Tahoe marked its first affordable housing development as county and regional officials broke ground Monday at the project’s site.

The King’s Beach Housing NOW! project will consist of 77 units built on five separate sites. The apartments will be deed restricted for low-income residents whose earnings fall between 30 percent to 60 percent of the area’s median income. The Placer County median income for a family of four is $73,100.

The average rent will average between $400 and $1,200 a month.

“This project creates badly needed affordable housing for the year-round resort workers who help make this economy tick,” said Jennifer Montgomery, Placer County supervisor, in a statement. “It will help revitalize Kings Beach, a neighborhood that’s struggled with overcrowding and unsafe housing for years.”

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To the publisher,

The Tahoe-Douglas Visitor Authority supports the passage of the Airport Ordinance Question 1. The Visitor Authority is responsible for the promotion of tourism in our region based on funding received from the collection of room taxes.

The Visitor Authority believes the future of the economy in our area is founded on the outdoor recreational activities available in our magnificent natural environment, complemented by amenities provided by tourist and commercial businesses locally. The Airport Ordinance supports the use of the Minden-Tahoe airport as a general aviation airport emphasizing soaring and sport aviation. These activities are consistent with the natural environment and attractive to domestic and international visitors.

Moreover, the ordinance places constraints on the use and expansion of the airport to ensure the rural character and pristine beauty of the Carson Valley are maintained. For these reasons the Tahoe-Douglas Visitor Authority support a “yes” vote on Question 1.

John Packer, chairman of the board Tahoe-Douglas Visitor Authority

By Jessica Bennett, Newsweek

It started with rumors, a love triangle, and a dirty look in a high-school bathroom. Soon jokes about an “Irish slut” cropped up on Facebook, and a girl’s face was scribbled out of a class photo hanging up at school. One day, in the cafeteria, another girl marched in, pointed at her, and shouted “stay away from other people’s men.” A week later, as the girl walked home, a car full of students crept close. One kid hurled a crumpled soda can out the window, followed closely by shrieks of “whore!”

If your children had behaved like this, how would you want them punished? Certainly a proper grounding would be in order; computer privileges revoked. Detention, yes—maybe even suspension. Or what about 10 years in jail? Now what if we told you that the girl had gone home after the soda-can incident and killed herself—discovered by her little sister, hanging in a stairwell. Now which punishment fits the crime?

This is the conundrum of Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old South Hadley, Mass., girl the media have already determined was “bullied to death”—her alleged “mean girl” tormentors charged with felony crimes. Bullied to death is the crime of the moment, the blanket explanation slapped on suicide cases from Texas to California, where two 13-year-olds recently killed themselves, bullied for being gay. The most twisted example yet came last week, when Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old New Jersey college student, threw himself off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and a friend allegedly streamed a Webcam video of his tryst with a man.

Cases like these are being invoked as potent symbols for why, in the digital age, schools need bullying policies and states need legislation. But do they? Is the notion of being bullied to death valid? No one would deny that Clementi’s roommate did the unconscionable; the alleged crime is all the more disturbing because of the specter of antigay bias. Yet he couldn’t have known how badly the stunt would end. (He and his friend now face up to five years in prison for privacy invasion; there is also talk of additional bias charges.) In the case of Prince, the answer of who’s to blame might change if you knew that she had tried to kill herself before the epithets, was on medication for depression, and was struggling with her parents’ separation. So where is the line now between behavior that’s bad and behavior that’s criminal? Does the definition of old-school bullying need to be rewritten for the new-media age?

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Videos worth seeing:

1. From Hillary Clinton

2. Texas councilman