The California Highway Patrol’s annual Chips for Kids program is under way. The agency is looking for food, new unwrapped toys, and new or lightly used jackets.

On the South Shore of Lake Tahoe, drop items off at:

California Highway Patrol, South Lake Tahoe – 2063 Hopi Avenue

Tahoe Daily Tribune – 3079 Harrison Avenue

El Papagayo Grill – 3132 Highway 50

Enterprise Rent A Car – 2281 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

Chevy’s – 3678 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

As an incentive to give this season, Chevy’s will give people who donate items at Chevy’s Restaurant, $5 in “Chevy Bucks” to put toward their order.

In addition to the current recipients, items donated will also go to hospitalized children at Barton Memorial Hospital.

By Samie Hartley, Discovery Bay Press

Two porcelain dolls that belonged to Francis Eustis Donner Wilder, one of the surviving members of the doomed Donner Party, will grace the East Contra Costa Historical Society Museum’s collection of treasures when it opens for the 2010 season.

Frances moved to Byron in 1866 after she married William Wilder, and she remained in East County until she died in 1921. Her granddaughter, Doris Wilder Shera, recently donated the dolls to the museum, along with a few antique clocks from the 1920s.

Read the whole story

The South Tahoe Wrestling Club will have sign ups and a parent meeting Dec. 1 at 6:30pm.

Signups and practices continue Dec. 3 from 6:30-8pm.

The sign ups and practices will be at South Tahoe Middle School (Activity room attached to Old Gym near the Multipurpose room) on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The wrestling season is from December through March and costs $90 per year. Bring a copy of your child’s birth certificate at sign-ups. Membership fee includes; 1. Secondary insurance coverage that has a deductible, 2. membership to USA Wrestling, Nevada Wrestling and Sierra Wrestling Associations, 3. SWA a T-shirt, 4. facility use and 5. experienced coaching.

Where possible, parental help is expected.

Wrestling practice clothing is old T-shirts, gym shorts and athletic shoes. Bring a desire to work hard in one of the oldest sports in history.

Call David Borges at (530) 544.5800 for more information.

If you’ve never tried snowshoeing, Sorensen’s in Hope Valley will let you borrow a pair for free – assuming you stay the night.

Carson Valley Trails Association has received a two-year technical assistance grant from the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program, which will provide assistance and expertise of a Park Service outdoor recreationist. Meetings begin in January.

Sorensen's Resort

A custom picture framing business – Artrageous – is open in South Tahoe.

The Ritz-Carlton at Northstar – Lake Tahoe’s only five-star resort – opens Dec. 9.

Ted Gaines, the Republican from Roseville who represents Tahoe in the California Assembly, received an “A” for the third year in a row from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association for the 2009 legislative season.

It could be a powder afternoon on the slopes in and around Lake Tahoe. Check out the ski report to find out what the conditions are like this morning. All that information is brought to Lake Tahoe News by Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

The following is this morning’s report from the Weather Channel:

A winter weather advisory for snow remains in effect from noon today to midnight PST tonight.

* Timing: snow will spread over the lake tahoe area late this morning and intensify this afternoon. the heaviest snows will fall between 2-9pm.

* Total snow accumulations: 4 to 6 inches at lake level with 6 to 10 inches above 7000 feet.

* Snow levels: snow levels will start around 6,000 feet this morning then quickly fall to all valley floors by noon.

* Impacts: accumulating snows will create slick roads and hazardous driving conditions this afternoon and evening.

Precautionary/preparedness actions:

Snow is expected to pose an inconvenience to travelers. roads will become slick and hazardous,with snow and ice first developing on bridges and overpasses. motorists should slow down and use caution.

Publisher’s note: On Dec. 1 from 5-7pm the Biltmore will host an open house. On Dec. 9 at 9am the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Advisory Planning Commission will meet at Stateline to discuss the Biltmore project. On Dec. 16 at 9:30am the TRPA Governing Board will meet in Incline Village to discuss this matter.

By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal

The planned upgrade of an aging and “tired” hotel-casino on Lake Tahoe’s north shore is described by supporters as a shining example of change needed to protect a sensitive environment and revitalize a troubled economy.

Critics say it may be a little too much for one place at one time.

Proposed are the demolition of Crystal Bay’s Tahoe Biltmore hotel-casino — famous for its wooden wagon wheel sign that towers into the air in dubious distinction — and its conversion into a plush and scenic resort offering a vision of future redevelopment around the lake.

Read the whole story

By John Packer

STATELINE — In 1955, budding casino magnate William F. Harrah took a chance on the then-sleepy, seasonal resort town of Stateline on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe. He bought the Gateway Club on the lake side of Highway 50 and opened his second gambling house in Nevada, nearly 18 years after opening the bingo parlor that became Harrah’s Reno.

Looking to expand, the next year he bought the former Stateline Country Club across the highway and, in 1958, added the adjacent Nevada Club to his holdings. These moves gave him the property needed to realize his vision for Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

In 1959, Bill Harrah decided it was time to roll the dice and spend more than $3.5 million of borrowed money to expand Harrah’s Tahoe and build a state-of-the-art nightclub and dinner theater with “Vegas-type stars performing every night of the year.”

Built in just nine months, with construction crews often working around-the-clock, Harrah had insisted that his dream 850-seat theater (fairly large by the standards of the day) be ready in time to host the expected horde of visitors coming to the 1960 Winter Olympics in nearby Squaw Valley.

In December 1959, Harrah opened the South Shore Room with the one-and-only Red Skelton as the headliner.

The plan to attract the Olympic visitors, however, fell fairly flat: After spending their days watching the myriad events on the slopes, people were just too tired to trek to the South Shore for a show.

Despite a massive advertising and PR campaign, shows in the first quarter of 1960 — which included such contemporary stars as Patti Page, Fred Waring, Liberace, Victor Borge, Marlene Dietrich, Nat King Cole and Ray Bolger — drew disappointing numbers.

Undaunted, Harrah continued to insist on booking the top names in entertainment for two-week runs, two shows every night. Once again, his vision was vindicated. As April turned to May, vacationers and gamblers began to flock to the new entertainment Mecca.

The South Shore Room soon became “the place” outside of Las Vegas to see the biggest stars of the day.

For nearly 50 years, hundreds of the world’s most popular singers, comedians, Broadway shows, pop bands and rock bands have graced the maple boards of the legendary showroom, some on numerous occasions over several decades.

Superstars from today and yesterday, including Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Dylan, The Smothers Brothers, Jerry Lewis, Marlene Dietrich, Robin Williams, Willie Nelson, Tom Jones, Emmett Kelly, Huey Lewis & The News, Jonny Lang, Liberace, Johnny Mathis, Wayne Newton, Patti Page, Don Rickles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Lawrence Welk Show, George Burns, Donna Summer, Danny Thomas, Sarah Vaughan, Dionne Warwick, Bryan Adams, Andy Williams, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Loretta Lynn, Belafonte, Scott Hamilton & Dorothy Hamill, Tony Bennett, Sonny & Cher, Radio City Music Hall’s Rockettes, Carol Burnett, The Muppets, George Burns, Paul Anka, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Sammy Hagar, Billy Crystal, David Letterman, Bill Cosby, John Denver, Liza Minnelli, and many others, have played the famed Harrah’s Lake Tahoe stage. The list goes on and on.

In 2006, the South Shore Room underwent a multi-million dollar renovation. The project included a $500,000 state-of-the-art sound system and a top to bottom renovation of the theater. The stage, which many performers have recognized for its efficient design, friendly feel and impeccable acoustics, was left relatively untouched — looking much like it did when the curtain first rose on Red Skelton on Dec. 21, 1959.

For more information about who is next to visit the South Shore Room, call 800.786.8208.

John Packer is regional director of entertainment for Harrah’s Northern Nevada.

By Bill O’Driscoll, Reno Gazette-Journal

Several ski and snowboard makers scattered around the Truckee Meadows are growing their business on the strength of locals in the market for locally made products.

Love for the sport and a lack of corporate roadblocks to experimentation drive them, they said. And, besides, what better backdrop for their business than Lake Tahoe and the Sierra?

“They are not the highest mountains in the world, but they’ve always been at the forefront of progression in skiing,” Luke Jacobson, vice president and engineer at Moment Skis on Sutro Street, said.

Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe and Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra sre accepting applications for the Violet Richardson Award until Dec. 1.

The Violet Richardson award targets young women between the ages of 14 and 17 who volunteer in their community or school. Individuals who see challenges instead of obstacles, hope instead of dispair. They are young women who believe in the power of volunteer action. Action through volunteer efforts such as: fighting drugs, crime and violence, cleaning up the environment, and working to end discrimination and poverty.

Award winners receive a recognition gift of $100 and our clubs will recognize six individuals.

Applicants may apply online and email their application to: Anna Richter at annakrichter@mac.com or Lisa Huard at lisahuard@sbcglobal.net.

No wonder Sierra Athletic Club is called the “gym with a view.” On Sunday, those exercising at the South Lake Tahoe gym in the Tahoe Keys could watch predator birds flying around. On Monday, it was a coyote pacing Venice Drive on the edge of the meadow. Bears have also been part of the wildlife experience.

Views at Sierra Athletic Club make exercising less painful. Photo/Kathryn Reed

To learn something about what’s going with actual exercising at the club, listen to KTHO FM-96.1/AM-590 (www.kthoradio.com) on Saturday at 10am or Monday at 6pm when Sierra Athletic Club trainer Rhonda Beckham talks with Lake Tahoe News Publisher Kathryn Reed. Beckham, who owns Help Me Rhonda personal training and Pilates, talks about health and fitness.