By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE — “My mantra is if it’s in a brochure, I don’t want to know about it.”

Travel guru Peter Greenberg is not going to endear himself to tourism executives with that sentiment – and he’s fine with that. He is all about giving listeners of his weekly worldwide radio show what they want. And that is the truth.

Todd Offenbacher, left, tapes a segment for Peter Greenberg's Nov. 28 radio show. Photo/Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority

Greenberg taped his show at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on Wednesday afternoon. He has been coming to Tahoe for 30 years, but this is the first broadcast from the basin.

He has a couple rules about his show – no heads of chambers of commerce, no visitor or convention center chief, no one who is selling anything.

“My audience knows better,” Greenberg told Lake Tahoe News after he wrapped up his show as the sun was setting over Lake Tahoe.

Greenberg interviewed five locals with different stories, though all fairly well known throughout the South Shore.

Terri Marceron — supervisor of the U.S. Forest Service office that regulates the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. Todd Offenbacher — Resort Sports Network host and founder of Tahoe Adventure Film Festival. Dave Borges — local chiropractor and historian. Curtis Fong — “the guy from Tahoe” and coordinator of two major cycling events around the lake. Allen Biagi — chairman of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Governing Board.

In two hours, the five told their stories. The show will air the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 28). To find a station that carries it, log on to www.petergreenberg.com.

Greenberg is all about asking locals what they like. That’s how he finds authenticity in a location – not those brochures in hotel lobbies.

“My job is not to promote you. It is to give the audience choices,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg isn’t your average travel journalist who writes happy stories because he’s gotten a freebie. He’s a veteran of the news business, having worked for publications like Newsweek. He is the travel editor for CBS News and does regular segments on “The Early Show”.

The 36 hours he spent on the South Shore (he left this morning) don’t seem like a whirlwind to him. Deadlines are in his blood. He knows how to get a story, churn it out and move on to the next one.

This travel show of his takes him to all corners of the world. It’s not a vacation for him – it’s work.

His vacation time comes in six-month increments each year when he returns to Fire Island, N.Y., where he is a firefighter. It’s a job he’s had since he was 18.

Greenberg’s theory on all resort communities is, “You know why someone comes here, so why mess with it.”

Publisher’s note: Assemblyman Ted Gaines voted Wednesday against the water bill. These comments were issued after that vote.

By Ted Gaines

While this plan addresses California’s longtime need for additional water storage and much-needed infrastructure, it does nothing to help our state by creating more unaccountable bureaucracies that don’t answer to those they serve. The plan could take water rights out of the hands of Northern Californians at a time when we should be eliminating boards and commissions and bloated bureaucracies.

We shouldn’t be asking taxpayers to fund more of the government’s pork projects during a recession, when California should be reducing the amount of money it spends. California faces a massive $20 billion deficit next year and this plan does nothing but add significantly to the state’s deepening financial hole.

Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, represents Lake Tahoe in the state Assembly.

By Dan Hinxman, Reno Gazette-Journal

The Reno-Tahoe Open has a new date and renewed enthusiasm.

The American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament has new competition and is not happy about it.

The RTO, which has been held in August at Montreux Golf & Country Club since its inception in 1999, has been moved by the PGA Tour to mid-July starting in 2010 where it will take the week vacated by Milwaukee’s U.S. Bank Championship, which folded on Oct. 15.

By Susan Skorupa, Reno Gazette-Journal

Right from the beginning, women have made history in Nevada.

The Nevada Women’s History Project, which works to highlight the stories of those women of the Silver State, holds its annual authors luncheon on Saturday to raise money to continue its mission.

Mysteries for All Ages is the project’s gathering of some 30 local authors and their books with a couple of nationally known keynote speakers, plus lunch, book-buying opportunities and a lively question-and-answer session between the writers and local television weatherman Dave Finley.

Read the whole story

North Lake Tahoe Resort Association may have four new board members.

Nov. 10 is the deadline to apply. The large lodging, restaurant and retail slots are three-year terms. The ski area member will serve the last two years of a three-year term.

Ballots will be mailed by Nov. 12. The results will be announced Dec. 2 at the NLTRA board of directors meeting.

For more information about the election, call Kym Fabel at (530) 581-8764 or email kym@puretahoenorth.com.

By Dan Majors, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The woman who has filed a civil lawsuit against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger claiming he sexually assaulted her last summer has quit working for the Nevada hotel where she said the incident occurred.

Calvin R.X. Dunlap, the Reno-based attorney for the woman, tonight confirmed that his client quit late last week because of “the way she was being treated” by managers at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, where she was a casino host.

She was not forced to quit, he said.

Read the whole story

El Dorado County officials expect to certify the Nov. 3 election on Nov. 19.

As of Wednesday, about 900 absentee ballots and about 100 provisional ballots still needed to be counted.

If an outcome does change, it would likely be in the Lake Tahoe Unified school board race where Judy Cefalu is five votes ahead of Duane Wallace.

Officials don’t believe it will change Measure B or other contests.

Dear League Members and Friends,

(On Nov. 3) Senators Reid, Feinstein, Ensign, and Boxer introduced in the Senate a bill that would authorize up to $415 million for projects at Lake Tahoe, including wildfire risk reduction, stormwater pollution prevention, and environmental restoration. However, future federal funds will be contingent upon the ability of the states of California and Nevada to provide matching funds. The state of Nevada has already arranged for bond funding for its share of the match.

Given the state of the California budget, bond funding is Lake Tahoe’s only hope at present for financial support to match federal funds. Currently, the California Legislature is engaged in a special session to consider whether to place a water resources bond on a future statewide ballot. Various proposals are circulating, and at least some of them include $75-$100 million in bond funding to help Keep Tahoe Blue.

Lake Tahoe’s future is at stake. Please contact your state senator and state assembly representative today and urge them to support funding to Keep Tahoe Blue in the water bond. Point out to them that Lake Tahoe is a statewide and national natural treasure, not a local issue, and that critical federal matching funds may be at stake.

Thank you for taking action!

Rochelle Nason, executive director League to Save Lake Tahoe

By Kathryn Reed

Kindertown is open.

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Steven Bailey issued a stay on Wednesday morning for the South Lake Tahoe day care-preschool. This means Kindertown can keep operating until a final decision is made.

Maria Barrows-Crist thanks her attorney Mike McLaughlin after Wednesday's hearing. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Maria Barrows-Crist is eager to welcome back the parents who have left while uncertainty hung over the center. About 35 kids have stayed at the facility during the fight with the state.

The state Department of Social Services wants to shut the center down based on 15 citations.

As Bailey went through each of the accusations he said he didn’t think the state had a case.

For him to make a more concrete decision, Bailey has requested a transcript of the hearing before the administrative law judge and all supporting documents.

A status conference is scheduled for Dec. 9. When the final outcome may be reached is not known.

Mike McLaughlin with Feldman Shaw and McLaughlin LLP in Zephyr Cove is representing Barrows-Crist. He would like Bailey to return the case to the state for it to issue a “reasonable if any penalty” against Barrows-Crist.

Brenda Ray, deputy attorney general with the state Department of Justice, argued keeping Kindertown open is a dangerous situation. However, no one from the state has explained why it hasn’t automatically shut down the facility if it is so horrible.

On Wednesday, Ray told the court, “Children could get seriously injured or killed. There is a substantial or likely outcome of that if you leave this facility open.”

Gasps were heard in the courtroom at that statement.

McLaughlin countered with, “The bottom line is whether children are at-risk at Kindertown and clearly they are not. Parents wouldn’t keep their kids there if there were.”

The judge then went through the allegations outlined in the 28-page document the state sent to Barrows-Crist explaining why it is trying to close her down after operating for nearly 30 years.

Bailey questioned the lack of medical records which rendered one incident inconclusive, questioned due process, and where the supporting evidence was to prove Barrows-Crist’s daughter was under the influence of drugs or alcohol while on the job.

After the hearing, Barrows-Crist was visibly relieved and emotional as parent after parent hugged her. About 50 people attended the hearing.

Roseanne Brant came from Fremont to hear what might happen to her grandson’s day care.

“It’s insulting to imply parents would allow their children to stay there when they could die,” Brant said. She thought the state’s argument was absurd and out of line.

Rich Williamson, whose 5-year-old daughter attends Kindertown, was glad to see locals could rally to effect change.

“It’s not the state watching our kids. It’s nice to hear a judge side with locals,” Williamson said.

Learn about Slow Food Lake Tahoe on Nov. 11 at 4pm at the Dragonfly restaurant in Truckee.

Slow Food Lake Tahoe is a nonprofit organization started in 2007 whose mission is to reconnect people to the enjoyment of good, clean and fair food, as well as clean and fair goods, and to educate the community about its role as co-producers.

Monthly meetings are the second Wednesday of the month.

Contact Susan Diane at (530) 582.7498 or sdbrumm@sbcglobal.net for more information.