Mark Williams, Lake Tahoe Community College music instructor, will be singing duets with some of the area’s best divas to raise money for a concert grand piano for the college’s music department. “It Takes Two: A Broadway Valentine” will be Feb. 6 at 8pm in the Duke Theatre.

Tickets will be a $20 donation.

“In trying to think of an idea for a fundraiser, I thought it might be fun to do an evening of duets with lots of my female friends with whom I have performed over the years,” Williams said. “I contacted 16 ladies from South Lake Tahoe, Gardnerville, Minden, Carson City, Reno, and Incline Village, the majority of whom have been my leading ladies in a show, or have performed leading roles in shows for which I have done the musical direction.”

Susan Boulanger “It Takes Two” (Into the Woods)

Sharon Kerrigan “As Long as You’re Mine” (Wicked)

Michelle Sennings “Come What May” (Moulin Rouge)

Joanie San Agustin “The Last Night of the World” (Miss Saigon) Dan Lancaster, alto saxophone

Cindy Sabatini “All I Ask of You” (Phantom of the Opera)

Moe Leonard Accompanist

Diana Evans “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (For the Boys)

Stephanie Grigsby “It Couldn’t Please Me More” (Cabaret)

Catherine Cook “Sue Me” (Guys and Dolls)

Liz Niven “How Could I Ever Know” (The Secret Garden)

Ania Helwing “Tonight” (West Side Story)

Salli Parker Accompanist

Olivia Hakel “Make Believe” (Show Boat)

Carolyn Lancaster “If I Loved You” (Carousel)

Suzie Tagayev “We Kiss in a Shadow” (The King and I)

Saundra Whitt “You and I” (Chess)

Sarah Pennebaker “You are my Home” (The Scarlet Pimpernel)

Stephanie Williams “Take Me as I Am” (Jekyll and Hyde)

Cindy Sabatini Accompanist

Finale (Company): There’s No Business Like Show Business (Annie Get Your Gun)

By Kathryn Reed

Fidelity National Title in South Lake Tahoe is closing at the end of business today.

“The amount of transactions in this marketplace have diminished so it doesn’t make it feasible to have an office here,” Lenora Shealy, vice president and escrow administrator for the company’s Sacramento Valley region, told Lake Tahoe News.

Two full time and one part time employee will be without jobs.

Fidelity had been in South Lake Tahoe for more than a quarter century.

The next closest offices are in El Dorado Hills, Tahoe City and Truckee.

Shealy said Fidelty is working with agents and lenders to transfer files “so customers are taken care of.”

The 2010 Winter Olympics’ torch relay has had some interesting moments with its windy Canadian route.

A polar bear passed in front of the convoy during a visit to appropriately-named Alert (Canada’s most northern inhabited community). And more recently, elephants, reindeer and camels walked along-side the relay.

There was the time a young man proposed to his girlfriend in front of a torchbearer exchange.

As far as firsts, the torch made its way for an inaugural visit to the House of Commons with the flame being carried by a surfer in Tofino.

A touching moment ensued when Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins received the flame in Halifax from long-time fan Kirk Boudreau in front of thousands of cheering fans.

The relay will travel 45,000km in 106 days through every province and territory. When planning the route, communities were selected because of their population and geographic location to ensure as many Canadians as possible were reached.

The torch relay has been and will be within a one-hour drive of more than 90 percent of Canadians.

The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will connect some of Canada’s farthest points: Cape Spear on the east coast to Old Crow in Yukon – the route’s northernmost stop, Canada’s southernmost point Point Pelee, Ontario to the world’s northernmost inhabited community of Alert, Nunavut.

Daily highlights can be found here.

Click here to see the torch route.

Compiled by Susan Wood.

Publisher’s note: Read about Daron Rahlves’ quest for gold in skiercross on Jan. 10.

By Arnold M. Knightly, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn will be the largest owner of Tropicana Entertainment when it becomes the first gaming company to emerge from bankruptcy since the recession, likely on Jan. 27.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board gave preliminary approval Wednesday to the Las Vegas-based gaming company’s new ownership and financial structure plans.

If approved, Tropicana Entertainment would own nine casinos in five states including the River Palms and the Tropicana in Laughlin, and the MontBleu in Lake Tahoe once it exits bankruptcy.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

A strip club. That’s what Bill’s Casino may become.

Potential proprietor Mike Laub and Douglas County Sheriff Ron Pierini met Monday to discuss the idea. The sheriff’s department issues alcohol and adult entertainment licenses. But it’s the county commissioners who first must approve the licenses.

When Laub tried to open a strip club a few years ago at the bottom of Kingsbury Grade in the old Faces and Tahoe Underground building, the commission denied him.

Bill's may become a strip club.

The commissioners then rewrote the ordinance dictating where these types of businesses are allowed. The only place on the South Shore of Douglas County a strip club is allowed is along the casino corridor – right where Laub wants his club.

Not even Las Vegas has strip clubs on its Strip.

Laub did not return phone calls. He is an attorney on the South Shore. He used to own Brothers Bar on Emerald Bay Road.

Pierini told Lake Tahoe News that Laub is thinking about buying the two-story building from Harrah’s Entertainment to have part of it be a strip club and part shops.

This can be a busy area with families walking by. Across the street is a movie theater at the Horizon. Restaurants and showrooms in the adjacent and nearby casinos all cater to children.

“They wanted to see what the pleasure of the county would be because of the investment possibility,” Pierini said.

Laub essentially wants the OK from the county to do this before he makes a deal with Harrah’s, otherwise he could end up owning a building without a business to operate.

Douglas County Commission Chairwoman Nancy McDermid did not want to discuss the matter at this time.

The commission would need more than public outcry as a reason to deny the permit. However, entertainment licenses are hard to get. All employees have to have work cards and have background checks, plus other requirements.

Pierini believes Laub and the district attorney need to talk about Laub’s business proposal.

“The only opinion I will give, and I told Mr. Laub this, is I won’t give my personal opinion, but I can say it will increase calls of service,” Pierini said.

Pierini was captain at the Tahoe substation when a strip club was in the old Nugget building in the 1990s. It has since been subdivided and houses restaurants and other businesses east of the casino corridor.

That club didn’t last long.

“Typically when you deal with strip clubs the problem is intoxication and disturbance of the peace with fights,” Pierini said.

John Packer, spokesman for Harrah’s Northern Nevada, said the company doesn’t expect to decide until later this month or February whether to sell or lease the property.

“The only decision that was made was to close Bill’s on Jan. 4,” Packer said.

But he added, “Harrah’s is not in the real estate business.”

Harrah’s is in the gaming business. It owns Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys at Stateline.

Packer would not comment on how a strip club might affect his business.

Others are more vocal about their thoughts.

“I think the location is not appropriate for it,” Carol Chaplin, executive director of Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, said. “I would hope that is not the direction that our destination aspires to.”

Although the strip club would be across the state line, the South Shore tries to be one community.

“When we say ‘America’s All-Year Playground,’ that is not what we had in mind,” South Lake Tahoe Mayor Kathay Lovell said.

Publisher’s note: Shotzoom Software, makers of Golfshot, is based in Douglas County.

Business Wire

SCOTTSDALE — Golfshot: Golf GPS(C), the incredibly popular Golf GPS and Scorecard application for golfers, was ranked the fifth-best selling app of the year in Apple’s iTunes Rewind 2009. The ranking, which came out just before Christmas, comes on the heels of Apple featuring Golfshot in numerous TV ads in the United States, Japan and Australia.

Golfshot has been used on more than 10 million golf holes since it was released on Father’s Day in June of 2009, and its popularity among golfers has vaulted it to one of the top grossing iPhone apps among more than 100,000 apps in the Apple iTunes Store.

Read tbe whole story

By Mark Earnest, Reno Gazette-Journal

MC Hammer spent some more time in the spotlight this past year, with a reality show about his family, the start of a dance-oriented Web site, frequent updates on Twitter and his blog, and a new album in the works titled “DanceJam: The Music.”

Yet, like other musical artists who tend to take their time, that new album will be ready when it’s ready.

“I feel absolutely zero pressure to lock any dates down,” Hammer said about his new album, which he has worked on for more than a year. “It’s such an old, outdated business model to say, ‘This is the date.’ I do have a ton of material — we just finished three more songs in the last month, and I’m liking what I hear.”

Whenever it comes out, the album will be one more stop on the varied adventure that’s been Hammer’s career. The rapper will perform Jan. 9 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

Read the whole story

Letter to community,

Jack’s Pantry at Tahoe Community Church is thankful to the community for its many donations as we fed hungry families during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Thank you to:

* Whittell High School students for 1,600 canned foods and gifts for the children.

* Cub Scout Pack 468 for canned foods.

* Harrah’s/Harvey’s Resort Casinos for needed freezer space for donated turkeys.

* Tahoe Douglas Christian Preschool parents and children for canned food and children’s gifts.

* Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe for the generous donation of $1,000.

* MontBleu Casino Resort & Spa and its employees for 49 turkeys.

* The kindergarten class of Zephyr Cove Elementary for canned foods.

* The Kiwanis Club of LT for coats and snow pants.

* Local businesses and individuals for cash donations.

* Tahoe Community Church congregation for additional turkeys and food.

Jack’s Food Pantry has been in existence for 25 years and was named for the many contributions of Jack Powell. We feed hungry families from both the California and Nevada sides of our community each Friday afternoon throughout the year, and it is always amazing to see how generously our community responds to helping those in need. We are truly grateful for these donations.

Thank you.

Kathy Pavich, food pantry organizer

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe is spending more money on yet another study.

The nearly $45,000 for the parking study comes from state Community Development Block Grant and Planning & Technical Assistance Grant funds.

“The goal of the study is to develop parking solutions which could improve economic conditions in the community,” Nancy Kerry, the city’s Redevelopment & Housing manager, told Lake Tahoe News. “The idea behind these grants are to find solutions to barriers to economic development. For example, if parking problems are impediments to businesses and job retention (in areas like) Ski Run Boulevard/Harrison Avenue, etc., then what solutions would improve the situation that will help to grow the local businesses, make it easier for customers to access those businesses, thus bringing in new customers, growing their revenue and retaining jobs.”

Developers in the Lake Tahoe Basin are mandated to follow parking regulations set forth by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

The original theory was if less ground were covered with asphalt for parking, this would encourage people to use public transit (on a system that keeps changing its schedule), walk (on sidewalks that don’t exist) or ride their bikes (in traffic because bike lanes are sketchy).

The reality is locals and tourists like their cars and adequate parking is not available at many places. Ski Run Marina is a prime example of this. This is because instead allowing for the number of spaces to meet the needs of the center, the rules care more about vehicle miles traveled and not the reality of the consumer.

Although the money is coming from the state, it’s still taxpayer money. One has to wonder if a parking study is really needed. Why can’t the city, TRPA, business owners and consumers find the answer sooner and without expense?

The request for proposal (RFP) was sent out Jan. 6.

U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews will be conducting prescribed fire operations in the Logan

Shoals and Cave Rock areas located along the East Shore of Lake Tahoe beginning Jan. , and continuing through the weekend.

Residents and travelers can expect to see smoke from prescribed fire project areas.

Other fire protection agencies, state and local, may also be conducting prescribed fire operations during this period.