Jewel of the Sierra Belly Dance Competition is Sept. 18 from 11am-10pm.

Participants will compete in five categories: Sapphire (Non-Professional), Ruby (Groups), Emerald (Live Music), Crystal (fusion of different dance and music), and Diamond (Professional).

The judges will be scoring each competitor based on appearance, musical interpretation, technique, use of stage, presentation, entertainment value, and personality.

The event is at Lake Tahoe Community College’s Duke Theatre, One College Drive, South Lake Tahoe.

For more information, call (530) 541.4660, ext. 207.

The entrance fee for the Jewel of the Sierra competition show is $15.

On Sept. 25, Truckee Tahoe will host its Third Annual Walk for Farm Animals, an event taking place in more than 75 cities across the United States and Canada to promote compassion for factory farmed animals and raise vital funds to support the lifesaving rescue, education and advocacy work of Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization.

This year’s national salk spokesperson is celebrity trainer and television personality Bob Harper from NBC’s hit show “The Biggest Loser.”

“Animals raised for food in the U.S. spend their entire lives in filth and darkness, kept in such severe confinement they cannot turn around, lie down or extend their limbs,” Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, said in a press release. “No one likes cruelty and when people learn about the abusive conditions inside factory farms, they are appalled and a growing number are getting active to raise awareness about these intolerable cruelties and put an end to the unnecessary suffering. For nearly 25 years, Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals has provided a forum for people from all walks of life to spread a powerful message of compassion for farm animals in their own cities and hometowns. The exponential growth of the Walks is a very positive sign. This year, we are thrilled to have Bob Harper’s support as our national spokesperson for the 2010 Walk for Farm Animals. Bob is as passionate about animal protection as he is about health and fitness, and with his support, the biggest winners this year will be farm animals.”

The Truckee Tahoe Walk for Farm Animals starts at Plumas Bank in Truckee. Registration is at 9am Sept. 25, and the walk begins at 10am. Those interested in registering for the 2010 Walk can learn more at walkforfarmanimals.org. Participants will receive a special limited-edition 2010 Walk t-shirt designed by vegan fashion house Vaute Couture, and special prizes will be awarded to walkers who reach fund-raising milestones.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the “food animal” industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts.

On Sept. 25 at 2pm share in locally-raised, seasonal foods as Moody’s Bistro Executive Chef Mark Estee and Chef de Cuisine Guy Frenette roast a Berkshire hog raised in pasture at the small, sustainable Shaw Family Farms in Truckee during Roast on the Range.

· Proceeds from this event will benefit Girls on the Run – Sierra, a life-changing, nonprofit prevention program for girls in grades 3-8. Their mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.

· Tickets are $100/person, and include a dinner prepared by Estee and Frenette, wine, live music, and tours of this local farm. A free butcher demonstration will be that Saturday from 9-10:30am on the back patio of Moody’s Bistro.

· For tickets, email jbossin@gmail.com or call (530) 587.1690

· Roast on the Range witll take place at the Shaw Family Farms, located at 12654 Samuel Drive in Truckee. The butcher demonstration will take place at Moody’s Bistro, 10007 Bridge St. in Truckee.

Come see what Saturday Mornings at SNC (formerly Senior Saturdays), the award-winning joint offering of Sierra Nevada College and Incline Village Parks & Recreation Senior Programs, are all about. Share your morning coffee with SNC’s faculty and other knowledgeable locals as they present bite-size offerings of intellectually stimulating material. An optional continental breakfast will be provided for $3.

Date: Sept. 18

Event: Monotype Demonstration

Come to the printmaking studio (3rd floor, David Hall) and watch Mary Kenny (Sierra Nevada College associate professor, Fine Arts Department) create color rich prints. This demonstration will introduce the basic methods and materials of monotype printmaking. Topics covered by the demonstration will include stencils, chine colle (collage using a press), and multiple drop printing. Monotype is a versatile printmaking medium that can accommodate a wide range of approaches.

Kenny is an artist printmaker living in Truckee and teaching at Sierra Nevada College. She has participated in numerous shows regionally and nationally, most recently at Riverside Studio and Western Nevada Community College. Her prints reside in collections at Kent State University, Iowa State University, and Zygote Press, among others.

Time: 10am–noon

Where: Prim Library, Sierra Nevada College, 999 Tahoe Blvd., Incline Village

Fee: $3 optional continental breakfast

For details on course offerings, click here or call (775) 832.1310.

Come see what Saturday Mornings at SNC (formerly Senior Saturdays), the award-winning joint offering of Sierra Nevada College and Incline Village Parks & Recreation Senior Programs, are all about. Share your morning coffee with SNC’s faculty and other knowledgeable locals as they present bite-size offerings of intellectually stimulating material. An optional continental breakfast will be provided for $3.

Date: Sept. 18

Event: Monotype Demonstration

Come to the printmaking studio (3rd floor, David Hall) and watch Mary Kenny (Sierra Nevada College associate professor, Fine Arts Department) create color rich prints. This demonstration will introduce the basic methods and materials of monotype printmaking. Topics covered by the demonstration will include stencils, chine colle (collage using a press), and multiple drop printing. Monotype is a versatile printmaking medium that can accommodate a wide range of approaches.

Kenny is an artist printmaker living in Truckee and teaching at Sierra Nevada College. She has participated in numerous shows regionally and nationally, most recently at Riverside Studio and Western Nevada Community College. Her prints reside in collections at Kent State University, Iowa State University, and Zygote Press, among others.

Time: 10am–noon

Where: Prim Library, Sierra Nevada College, 999 Tahoe Blvd., Incline Village

Fee: $3 optional continental breakfast

For details on course offerings, click here or call (775) 832.1310.

Arlen Huggins will discuss cloud seeding to enhance snowfall at Sierra Nevada College on Oct. 20.

Cloud seeding has been conducted in the Sierra Nevada since the 1950s and in the Lake Tahoe area since the 1960s. As a form of weather modification, wintertime cloud seeding is aimed at enhancing snowfall in mountainous regions to increase the snowpack, resulting in more spring runoff and water supplies to the surrounding areas.

Cloud seeding research is still being conducted, but the scientific basis for wintertime cloud seeding evolved mainly from detailed investigations of clouds and their response to various seeding materials in the 1980s and 1990s. Significant results from several of these research efforts will be presented to explain how the conceptual model for seeding winter storms came about, and how it is being applied today in areas like the Tahoe basin.

DRI scientists have played a major role in cloud seeding research and a specific DRI evaluation method using ultra trace chemical analysis of snow samples continues to be applied in ongoing research and operational seeding projects. Some examples of this unique evaluation method will also be presented.

Huggins, with the Desert Research Institute, has an active interest in applied research in summer convective storms and wintertime storms. He has studied the evolution of winter storms over mountainous terrain, including field projects in the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada, the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and the Victorian Alps and Snowy Mountains of Australia. As a researcher Huggins has studied the physical effects of both airborne and ground-based cloud seeding on winter storm clouds, and produced several publications documenting the effects of seeding from cloud to ground. He manages the Cloud Seeding Program at DRI, which is designed to augment snowfall in selected mountainous regions of Nevada, California and Colorado.

Date: Oct. 20

Time: 5:30pm no-host bar/door opens; 6pm program

Cost: $5. Students free.

Location: Assembly Rooms 139 & 141 Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, on the campus of Sierra Nevada College.

Toccata, the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, presents its annual 9/11 Memorial concert on Sept. 13 at 7:30pm at St. Theresa Catholic Church in South Lake Tahoe.

The performance will feature Mozart’s Requiem and the Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.

Once again, the violinist will be world renowned virtuoso, Elizabeth Pitcairn, playing the Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius. This instrument, which has a wonderfully rich and beautiful tone, was featured in the film “The Red Violin”.

The tickets for the concert are $40 preferred/$25 adult/$20 senior/$10 students 25 and under.

Come and treat yourself to a special evening for our community.

Tahoe Maritime Museum hosts Alan J. Zulberti on Sept. 14 from 11am-noon to talk about his three-year project in building an operational model of the S.S. Tahoe.

Built nearly 115 years after the original ship was launched at Glenbrook in 1896, the model is entirely hand-built, has a riveted copper hull with more than 5,000 rivets and is powered by the only known twin engine steam plant. Six-feet long and radio controlled, the ship provides the sounds of an actual steam whistle, a ships bell and steam cuffing. The model is quite fast with a trial run at a scale speed of 36.9 knots.

Zulberti is an active member of the San Francisco Model Yacht Club. This is his third model boat, which follows his construction of a WWII Patrol Torpedo boat, which received first place in Military and Best in Show a few years ago. The PT-588 was also the subject of a six-page feature article in a national magazine, Ships in Scale.

The model will be on hand during the slide show presentation. Lecture is free with admission. Adults $5. Members and children under 12 are free.

Tahoe Maritime Museum is at 5205 West Lake Blvd. in Homewood.

By Sam Stanton, Marjie Lundstrom and Denny Walsh, Sacramento Bee

For nearly 18 months, Sacramento businessman Michael Lyon has faced the twin crises of a bitter divorce and a criminal probe.

The fallout escalates as the 54-year-old executive, who has stepped aside as CEO of Lyon Real Estate, resigned this week as a Boy Scout leader and remains out of town.

Lyon learned two weeks ago that a federal probe would be closed without charges being filed. But the Sacramento County sheriff and district attorney since have launched their own investigation into whether he secretly videotaped guests and family members in bedrooms and bathrooms in his Sacramento and Lake Tahoe homes.

Read the whole story

The Nevada Gaming Control Board today said casinos statewide won $829.7 million in July, compared with $872.7 million the year before. This is a 4.9 percent drop.

On the South Shore, the decline was by 12.8 percent. Casinos collected $23.7 million this year compared to $27.5 million in 2009.

North Shore casinos had a slight uptick of 2.23 percent. Collected in July 2010 was $3.79 million compared to $3.7 million a year ago.

Nevada gaming revenues have dropped six out of the seven months reported this year.

— Compiled by Kathryn Reed