South Shore artist and poet Yasmin Sayyed will display her abstract paintings in Lake Tahoe Community College’s Foyer Gallery  Jan. 9-March 20.

An Artists’ Reception is Jan. 14, 6-8pm.

Born in New York of Cape Verdean and Caribbean ancestry, much of her professional life has been spent as an educator, researcher and psycho-educational therapist. Sayyed has had a lifelong passion for making art in the service of spirituality, peace, and truth-telling inform these colorful and magical paintings.

Explore Tahoe lecture Jan. 14 at 6pm in South Lake Tahoe.

What: “Saving Li’l Smokey” Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care Executive Director Cheryl Milham tells the heartwarming story of an orphaned cub, severely injured in a forest fire that was rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild. The book written by the firefighter who rescued Li’l Smokey will be available for purchase along with a photo CD. This program is free and refreshments will be provided.

Where: Explore Tahoe: An Urban Trailhead, 4114 Lake Tahoe Blvd in the Heavenly Village next to Cecil’s Plaza. Please consider public transportation – visit www.bluego.org for routes and times.

For more information, contact Lauren Thomaselli at (530) 542.4637 or lthomaselli@cityofslt.us

By Elizabeth Karam, USSA

ST. JOHANN, Austria -– Daron Rahlves knifed the injected ski cross course, landing on the podium in second place in Tuesday’s World Cup in St. Johann. The German young gun Simon Stickl won the race with Canada’s David Duncan in third.

Conditions were tough in St. Johann with the course totally injected for the ski cross, creating an ice rink like surface. Although the course posed an added challenge to the athletes, the field of competitors pulled out of the starting gate launching their bodies down the hill.

“It was a really exciting ski cross race to say the least. The course itself was fully injected so, it was just an ice rink,” explained Ski Cross Head Coach Tyler Shepherd. “It made for difficult conditions all around.”

Stickl skied exceptionally well to take the coveted win, pushing Rahlves into second. Trailing Rahvles was Duncan to close out the podium.

Rahlves slayed it the entire way down the course, making an essential pass to qualify for the final. He also showed particular strength in his starts, out pulling most of his competitors.

“For the first time since I’ve been working with him, his starts today were extremely good,” said Shepherd. “The first two heats he got the whole shot and never looked back. In the semi final he actually barged a bit but he did a really good job, kept his head cool and made the pass necessary to get into second and move on to the final.”

Once in the final, Rahlves showed no mercy passing his way to second place to take his spot on the podium. Proving to be a true competitor, he fought to make aggressive moves the entire way down.

“The final was just an all out fight for every guy in the heat,” explained Shepherd. “He made a phenomenal pass to get into third and then another pass on the bottom to get into second, so he had to work for it.”

In the women’s race, France’s Ophelie David charged down the course to take the win, beating out fellow countryman Meryll Boulangeat. Grabbing the last spot on the podium was Canadian Julie Murray.

Caitlin Ciccone (Littleton, NH) had a breakthrough day fighting her way into 31st place. Ciccone looked strong, skiing fast and aggressive trying to make passes the whole way down the course.

“She came down the hill charging and tried to do the moves we discussed in terms of making passes,” said Shepherd. “The girls that were in front of her closed the door on her, but she kept fighting the whole way down.”

World Cup, Jan. 5, skiercross

Men

1. Simon Stickl, Germany

2. Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, CA

3. David Duncan, Canada

4. Michael Schmid, Switzerland

5. Florent Astier, France

–

13. Casey Puckett, Aspen, CO

31. Justin Johnson, Park City, UT

37. John Teller, Mammoth Lakes, CA

45. Jean Christophe Rudigoz, Sun Valley, ID

53. Patrick Duran, Fayston, VT

71. Scott Horn, Truckee, CA

Women

1. Ophelie David, France

2. Meryll Boulangeat, France

3. Julia Murray, Canada

4. Anna Woerner, Germany

5. Andrea Limbacher, Austria

–

31. Cailtin Ciccone, Littleton, NH

44. Langely McNeal, Ketchum, ID

For people who have further questions about the New Year’s Day power plant fire at Kirkwood, the Kirkwood Meadows PUD board of directors is having a meeting at 5 today.

The board also met with concerned residents, guests and employees on Saturday night.

The meeting will be in the Community Center on Loop Road in Kirkwood.

By Ray Hagar, Reno Gazette-Journal

With the stroke of midnight Monday, the transaction for the new ownership of the Carson Valley Inn was finalized. The new ownership team of noted thoroughbred owner Mike Pegram and the Carano family wasted little time to begin renovations on the 25-year old property.

“At 12:01 last night, the Carano family and I became the proud owners of the Carson Valley Inn,” Pegram said. “We started right away moving out 260 old slot machines and putting in 200 new ones.”

A $10 million renovation for the property is planned, Pegram said. The complete makeover will be done in three phases and should be completed within a year.

Read the whole story

By Susan Voyles, Reno Gazette- Journal

After six years of following the path of least resistance in building the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway, the volunteer group is now tackling the Truckee River Canyon — with high hopes of building the first sections of trail into high Sierra this year.

This is the big one awaited by many local cyclists.

The route would follow the river and Interstate 80 up the steep canyon faced with high rock walls and rock croppings to Hirschdale near Truckee. Dirt roads from Boca Reservoir to Dog Valley Road in Verdi would create one giant loop for diehards.

Read the whole story

By Frank X. Mullen Jr., Reno Gazette-Journal

Two horses died and a third leaped over a fence and escaped through barbed wire in the first week of a roundup of wild horses in the Black Rock Desert 100 miles north of Reno.

The federal Bureau of Land Management, which plans to gather 2,500 mustangs over the next few weeks in areas near the Calico Mountains, verified Monday that two animals died during the roundup. As of Sunday night, 158 wild horses had been captured in the effort the BLM says is necessary to insure the health of the rangeland and horse herds.

One elderly mare was shot after BLM officials determined the animal was in failing health, and a 6-month-old foal who died during the roundup was determined by veterinarians to have a congenital heart defect, said Heather Emmons, BLM spokeswoman.

Read the whole story

The Harlem Globetrotters will be at UNR’s Lawlor Events Center Jan. 12 at 7pm.

Tickets range from $15 to $88; call 800-641-4667 (775) 784.4444 or go to www.harlemglobetrotters.com.

Why are you reading this? Get on the slopes. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

By Tom Kelly, USSA

ZAGREB, Croatia -– Following a short holiday break, the men’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup resumes Wednesday with a night slalom in Zagreb. The race will air live on www.UniversalSports.com with first run action at 6:15am followed by the finals at 9:30am.

Zagreb features one of the highest prize money for a technical race with the winner taking home 50,000 euros or roughly $72,000 and awards prize money to the top 30 finalists. Only the men’s downhill and slalom in Kitzbuehel, Austria, pays out more to the top 30 racers.

The U.S. Ski Team will be represented by Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety (Park City, UT), Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV), Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH), David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO) and Paul McDonald (Bellevue, WA). Two-time World Cup overall champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) will miss the race to continue focusing on his conditioning and further rest a sore ankle. He is scheduled to rejoin the World Cup in Adelboden, Switzerland, this weekend.

“Our guys are totally rested after a good holiday break at home, where they’ve all been working hard on personalized conditioning programs,” said Head Coach Sasha Rearick. “I’m looking for this slalom group to come into this race strong and rested. January is a big month with four slalom races prior to naming the Olympic team.”

The 2010 Olympic qualification period ends with a Jan. 24 slalom in Kitzbuehel and the U.S. Olympic Committee will name the U.S. Olympic Alpine Team by Jan. 26.