By Carma Hassan and Michael Martinez, CNN

A gunman and another person were killed during a shooting Tuesday at a medical building at Renown Medical Center, said Tom Robinson of the Reno Police Department.

Two other people were injured and were being treated at a hospital, Robinson said.

The shooter, who carried one weapon, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the shooter opened fire after going to the urology office of Nevada Advanced Medicine on the third floor, said Sharon Spangler, spokeswoman for Reno police.

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Lake Tahoe Community College’s Nordic Ski Center is open. Groomers have set 3.5 kilometers of track for cross country and skate skiing.

When more snow falls a total of 5 to 7 kilometers will eventually be groomed.

For the most up-to-date grooming reports and snow conditions, go online.

The $29 individual season pass provides unlimited use of our terrain. A family pass is $49 for the season.

Skiers may access the trails from several entry points around the college — from the Ledbetter Terrace; the trailhead between Ross and the post office; from Black Bart; from behind the LTCC sports field; and from the bike path at College Drive.

Passes can be purchased online or stop by the Connect Community Education office. For more information, call (530) 541.4660, ext. 717.

By Alessandra Bulow, Epicurious

If you’re already inhaling Christmas cookies like it’s your job this holiday season, take a moment to wipe off the crumbs from your footie pajamas and strategize some meals with foods that are proven to help rev up your metabolism.

“First of all, eating breakfast can make a huge difference in metabolism,” says Sarah-Jane Bedwell, a registered dietician and the author of the upcoming “Schedule Me Skinny”. “Your metabolism is like a fire: If you don’t add wood, your metabolism will die down. If you don’t eat regularly, your body doesn’t have fuel and your metabolism will slow down. Your best bet for breakfast will have carbs, protein, and a fruit or vegetable — like a bowl of oatmeal with Greek yogurt, and berries. After that, make sure to continue to eat every three to four hours.”

“There are somethings we can do in terms of how we eat, plus there are some foods that can speed up metabolism,” says Bedwell.

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By Molly McMillin, Wichita Eagle

The need for speed remains the catalyst behind a continuing effort by the Aerion Corp. to develop a business jet that can fly faster than the speed of sound.

“We don’t think there’s any doubt this is clearly the next frontier,” said Brian Barents, Aerion vice chairman and a former executive at Bombardier Learjet and Cessna Aircraft in Wichita.

The industry is building business jets that fly farther, but it’s stuck at subsonic flight, Barents said.

“There’s clearly a demand for speed, and we feel that we’re in a good position to take advantage of that demand,” he said.

Supersonic business jet flight will happen in our lifetime, Barents said.

Reno-based Aerion wants to be first to the market.

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By Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee

In the face of a community backlash, the owners Squaw Valley ski resort announced plans Monday to scale back their proposal to expand an existing village at the base of the mountain.

The new plan – dubbed “The Right Plan” on the resort’s website – calls for a series of buildings housing 1,493 new luxury bedrooms. That’s less than half the 3,400 bedrooms proposed in the company’s 2011 plan. Monday’s revision is the second revision of the development proposal by Colorado-based KSL Capital Partners LLC.

Chevis Hosea, the company’s vice president of development, acknowledged the firm was a little surprised by the level of resistance to its 2011 proposal. He now says the company has a better plan after listening to its customers and the community.

Stepner, one of the founding members of Friends of Squaw Valley, said there are battles ahead once the exact site plan and building design aesthetic come into focus, but he said he was pleased with how far Capital Partners moved from the old plan – dubbed by some as a Disneyland in the snow.

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Truckee firefighters on Sunday responded to what they thought was a grease fire. It turned out to be a drug lab on fire.

Crews said they quickly determined there had been a small chemical explosion from people trying to make “hash oil” from marijuana by using butane fuel. The call came in Dec. 15 about 2:30pm

“This has become a common practice among some marijuana users looking for stronger THC content. This can be very dangerous and has resulted in many explosions and fires across California and the rest of the United States,” authorities said in a press release.

Anthony Garner, 20, was transported to the hospital with moderate burns. He was later booked into jail on felony charges involving manufacturing drugs, child endangerment, conspiracy to commit crimes, and maintaining a residence for manufacturing drugs.

Kiev Watson-Akright, 22, Yvenel Casseide, 21, and Austin Coton, 21, were also arrested at the scene on felony charges including manufacturing drugs, child endangerment, and conspiracy to commit crimes.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Howard Stutz, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced a partnership Tuesday linking the two chains’ customer loyalty programs.

The partnership between Caesars’ Total Rewards and Starwood’s Preferred Guest begins Jan. 9. Customers who link their accounts will be able to earn points and credits for stays and other benefits at participating hotels and resorts across both networks.

“This partnership sets Caesars and Starwood apart by allowing members to both earn and redeem points while doing the things they love most,” Caesars Chief Marketing Officer Tariq Shaukat said in a statement.

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By Cristina Janney, Telegraph

Over a period of 12 months in 2012 and 2013, Brooke Laine’s father, Ed, was hospitalized twice with pneumonia.

Each time he came home from Barton Memorial Hospital, Laine tried her best to help take care of her father, but both struggled. Brooke Laine worried about doing the right things and managing her father’s mediations. Ed Laine, who is 82, also was worried about getting his medications right.

After the second hospitalization, the Laines found help through a new program provided by the hospital called Transitions in Care. The program provides nurses to help with care and recovery in the home after a hospitalization. The goal is to reduce costly re-admissions to the hospital.

One of the primary goals of the nation’s new Affordable Care Act is to improve health care quality and use money more wisely. Hospital re-admissions are expensive and in many cases experts believe they are preventable with better primary care. Under the new payment system put in place by the new health law, re-admissions are one of the measures that will be tracked and tied to payments. Hospitals will face financial penalties for excessive re-admissions of Medicare patients with certain illnesses, including pneumonia, heart attack and heart failure.

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By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee

Let’s start with the basics about California’s highway network, which a few decades ago was considered to be among the world’s best.

It was mostly constructed in the three decades that followed World War II, as California’s population boomed and vehicular travel exploded.

Dan Walters

Eventually, however, just about when Jerry Brown began his first governorship, highway construction slowed dramatically for a wide variety of ideological (both left and right) and financial reasons.

Nevertheless, vehicular travel continued to expand, along with population and economic activity. It’s roughly twice what it was 30 years ago, even though California’s population has increased by about 50 percent.

The slowing of capacity-increasing construction and the steady growth of auto travel eventually resulted in California having the nation’s worst traffic congestion, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

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By Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Salon

Now that the weather has turned cold, down is having its fashion moment. Every other person seems to be wearing the kind of brightly colored jackets once the province of serious climbers and hikers.

I grew up in the snow-swept tundras of northern Minnesota and am well-acquainted with down’s unparalleled warmth for clothes and bedding. The trouble with it then was finding a way to stuff it so that you didn’t look like the Michelin Man. With new ways of sewing down into smaller tubular shapes (“baffles” as they are called), fashionable silhouettes are possible. And even after a brief flirtation with Thinsulate, hardcore companies that equip climbers for the real outdoors, like REI and North Face, always come back to down.

What is down? “Down” generally refers to goose down (it is also sourced, but much less frequently, from ducks). It is the soft layer of tiny feathers closest to the bird’s body. A single piece of down is called a “plumule,” basically a multidirectional puff. These plumules interlock and trap tiny pockets of air — it’s actually this layer of air that keeps the cold out and the warmth in. Down provides about three times more warmth per ounce than synthetics; that is, it’s warmer and lighter and doesn’t mat down over time as synthetics will do.

Even if you are careful to buy only free-range eggs and non-factory farmed meat products, you might be shocked to learn that your comfy and fashionable down may have come at the price of an animal’s suffering.

Down is often collected through a procedure called live plucking. Which is pretty much what it sounds like: A worker restrains the bird and rips out feathers by the handfuls, especially from the goose’s underbelly but sometimes also from the back. Often, pieces of skin come off as well, the birds scream in terror and struggle to get away. Sometimes they die from the trauma. Just Google “down cruelty” and you’ll find plenty of pictures of miserable, bald and dying geese straight from my nightmare. Animal rights groups contend that this practice encompasses 50-80 percent of all down.

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