• South Lake Tahoe native Kyle Smaine has joined Sierra-at-Tahoe’s pro team. The Association of Freesking Professionals ranks him in the top 30 for halfpipe skiers in the world. He has his sights set on the Winter Olympics.

• According the Bureau of Land Management, Nevada is the most mountainous state in the union with more than 150 mountain ranges.

• The November issue of Bon Appétit magazine recommends Barbera for Thanksgiving dinner. El Dorado County wineries make excellent Barbera, according to LTN.

• South Lake Tahoe is having an informational meeting Nov. 13 at 5:30pm at Lake Tahoe Airport for businesses affected by the single-use plastic bag ban.

• Tahoe City Public Utility District is having a budget workshop Nov. 5 at 4pm at 221 Fairway Drive, Tahoe City.

By Ed Komenda, Las Vegas Sun

There’s a new Benjamin in town, and the casino companies were ready for him.

For years, Las Vegas’ gaming companies had been preparing for the Oct. 8 debut of a new $100 bill. In advance of its arrival, resorts and equipment manufacturers spent thousands of hours making sure every slot machine and money-taking device would accept them without a hitch.

It worked. Bosses at the biggest gaming companies say the transition so far has been smooth.

David Kubajak was among the first to find out about the new $100 bill.

As senior director of operations at JCM Global, which supplies more than 75 percent of the country’s 850,000 slot machine bill validators, Kubajak got word from the U.S. Treasury Department about five years ago that Benjamin Franklin was getting a makeover.

The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing relies on industry experts such as Kubajak for feedback on bill design. The Federal Reserve wants to make sure its design is secure and difficult to counterfeit.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

Joseph Michael Nissensohn stared intently at the court clerk on Thursday as she read the jury’s verdicts – guilty on three counts of first-degree murder.

The six-woman, six-man jury found the 62-year-old guilty of murdering Kathy Graves, 15. The remains of the South Lake Tahoe teen were found near the Mount Tallac trailhead in 1990, about one year after she was last seen alive. He was charged with that crime in January 2008. He was also found guilty of killing Monterey County teenagers Tanya Jones and Tammy Lynn Jarschke in 1981. He was charged with those murders in fall 2008.

Joseph Michael Nissensohn

But these aren’t Nissensohn’s first murder convictions. In 1990 he was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1989 stabbing death of a woman in Tillicum, Wash. He served 15 years in prison for that crime.

With the three convictions on Oct. 31, Nissensohn faces the death penalty. He has been in El Dorado County Jail since 2008. The penalty phase begins Nov. 12 and should last a few weeks.

“A very bad person is finally being held for his actions as a direct result of the efforts of a dedicated team. The victims and their families are entitled to nothing less,” District Attorney Vern Pierson told Lake Tahoe News.

Nissensohn didn’t interact with his two attorneys, Hayes Gable III and Peter Kmeto, who sat to his left in El Dorado County Superior Court in South Lake Tahoe. With his gray hair pulled back in a ponytail, his focus was on the clerk and Judge Suzanne Kingsbury and not the 12 who just found him guilty.

Douglas County has relaunched the budget challenge so residents can partake in an online conversation about the county budget.

The question is, “How would you spend $500 to fund what is most important to you in Douglas County?”

Residents also have the opportunity to make general comments about the budget process, upload photos or videos to illustrate concerns or suggestions and put a value on the priorities they think are most important.

While the county will continue to hold its annual budget workshops as part of next year’s budget process, the online budget challenge will provide decision-makers with valuable insight from the community before the annual budget process begins. The online budget challenge is now open and available on the county’s website until Dec. 5.

The results from last year’s budget challenge lead to the county to make road funding a priority and continues to be an item of focus with the development of the road funding task force.

By Robert D. Dávila, Sacramento Bee

Maryanne B. Ingemanson, a world-class concert pianist who founded a Sacramento land-development company and led a successful property-tax revolt in Incline Village, died Oct. 2 of cancer. She was 80.

Mrs. Ingemanson was a musical prodigy who began piano lessons at 21/2 at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. Her early years of discipline and rigorous training as a performer helped prepare her for a pioneering career in the rough-and-tumble world of commercial real estate and a nine-year battle over property-tax bills in North Lake Tahoe communities in Nevada.

Maryanne B. Ingemanson

“She was a very determined and hardworking woman,” said Andy Matthews of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a free-market think tank. “When she made up her mind that she wanted to accomplish something, nothing was going to stand in her way. She was very intelligent as well, a really gifted thinker.”

Born Aug. 13, 1933, in Atlanta, the former Maryanne Bullock moved with her family to Chicago and gave her first concert at 5. By 10, she had a manager and traveled the world as a professional classical pianist. She performed with major symphonies after settling in Sacramento with her family and graduated from McClatchy High School in 1950.

At 19, she won the Marie Morrisey Keith Award as the outstanding young piano soloist in the United States. In 1954, she earned a licentiate and fellowship – equivalent to American bachelor’s and master’s degrees – in music from Trinity College in London and began a tour in Europe.

Mrs. Ingemanson settled in Incline Village in 1984 with her husband after he retired from dentistry. She formed the Village League to Save Incline Assets and led the group’s efforts to keep the local hospital from closing and to protect homeowners’ private beaches at Lake Tahoe.

Read the whole story

People interested in becoming trained master gardeners must attend an orientation on Nov. 4 or Nov. 13 to participate in the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension 2014 Master Gardener training course Feb. 24 through April 16.

Course enrollment is limited to 30 students in Reno and 10 students in Gardnerville. Those interested in enrolling must sign up for and attend one of the mandatory orientation sessions. Both orientations will be from 10–11:30am.

The training program develops master gardener volunteers and leaders in environmental stewardship through education. Students complete the training, pass an exam and provide 50 hours of community service to become certified master gardeners.

To sign up for one of the orientation sessions, contact Wendy Hanson Mazet at (775) 784.4848 or hansonw@unce.unr.edu.

The annual Crab & Chowder Gala at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds is Nov. 16.

The no-host bar opens at 6pm and dinner follows at 7pm with clam chowder, pasta, bread, salad and all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab.

Halie O’Ryan will play from 6-10pm.

The event is in the Mark D. Forni Building at the El Dorado Fairgrounds, 100 Placerville Drive, Placerville.

The $40 tickets are available in the fair office, at Cool Feed & Ranch Supply or online.

Stateline casinos hauled in a ton of cash in September, especially compared to the previous year.

Revenues were $22 million, which was up 23.2 percent compared to 2012.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Thursday said revenues statewide were up 7.4 percent. Casinos brought in $958.8 million. Las Vegas did better than the previous September, while Reno’s numbers were down.

In August, the state was up and Stateline was down.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Vicki Price is busy basking pies at the Apple Pantry Farm in Apple Hill. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

CAMINO – It’s apple season. And while these sweet and tart orbs are full of nutrients, sometimes it’s better to alter them in ways that makes them not be so healthy.

Pie is normally my first choice for what to do with the haul I bring back from Apple Hill this time of year. And while the ones I have left will become a pie, I used many of them for applesauce.

I have fond memories of mom canning applesauce when I was growing up. She spoiled me. I turn my nose up now at what is on store shelves. Most are way too sweet, and some don’t even taste like apple.

Like a lot of foods, there is a tremendous amount of personal preference. Sweet or tart? Just how much cinnamon is the right amount? Chunky or smooth? I’m one who likes cinnamon, but wasn’t sure what others thought. Apparently they agree with me. But the samples I made lacked the amount of cinnamon I would have put in if they were just for me.

A slew of apple varieties to choose from.

I don’t have a food mill, which would have made the sauce smooth enough to serve a baby. I used a potato masher to make the chunks of apple smaller, but I would still describe all that I made as chunky.

The biggest revelation is that what I’ve known all these years about Golden Delicious was thrown in the trash this week. Mom had advised me to, “Stay away from Delicious.” This has been our family mantra for pies and it was her same warning for applesauce, in  particular for Red Delicious. And while I will stick with that philosophy for pies, others and I are saying yes to Golden Delicious for sauce.

Vicki Price at Apple Pantry Farm swears by Golden Delicious for her pies and sauce.

“It’s the best because of the high sugar content. You really taste the fruit,” Price, who lived in South Lake Tahoe for 30-plus years, told Lake Tahoe News. She likes not having to add as much sugar to her products because it’s naturally in the fruit.

Peter Jivanove at Mother Lode Orchards said to use Empire apples.

“It’s the best of both worlds – sweet and tart,” he said of that varietal.

Jivanove also said a number of bakeshops in the Apple Hill area buy Golden Delicious from his orchard.

Candy Tuso would only use Pink Ladies if she could get them all the time. On Saturday she was using Granny Smith because that’s what was available.

(I grew up using Pippin for pies, with Granny Smith the backup because they are more readily available in grocery stores.)

Tuso, who is at Apple Ridge Farms, also likes the density of Arkansas Blacks.

O’Halloran’s is one of the older orchards in Apple Valley. Apple Hill Growers Association turns 50 in 2014.

For Donna O’Halloran of O’Halloran’s it’s all about mixing Romes, Wine Sap and Golden Delicious. But she admits if she were to ask her employees their preference, each would likely have a different answer.

(She also said Golden Delicious always make a good pie, and that Red Romes make an impressive baked apple.)

At Hangtown Kid Apple Orchard they are trying to grow Gravenstein, which is a popular apple in Sebastopol. Cindy Cogswell is filling in for her sister, Gail, on this particular day. (Gail and John Palmer own the orchard.) That’s what they prefer for pies because they are more tart.

Apples are usually in season September-December. The growers in Apple Hill have mixed thoughts about freezing them. But having cold storage – like, a garage in Tahoe in the winter – should keep apples into the spring.

More than 750,000 people visit Apple Hill each year.

When the sauces were warm, I liked the Wine Sap-Golden Delicious-Red Roma best. Chilled, I liked the Golden Delicious best.

Seven women at the AAA office in Carson City tasted the five versions of applesauce made from the fruit the growers recommended. It was a blind tasting and until they read this they haven’t known what they tasted.

Here is what they had to say:

• Golden Delicious

Vanessa – Spicy, good for sweet things.

Kathy – Nice and sweet. (Tied for favorite with Arkansas Black.)

Susan – Sweet, with cinnamon.

Angie – Sweet, cinnamon, yum! My favorite.

Dawn – A bit bland. More cinnamon.

• Arkansas Black

Deb – Right combo sweet and tart. All needed more cinnamon.

Kathy – Nice and sweet. (Tied with Golden Delicious.)

Angie – Tart, OK.

Dawn – Nice and tart, but too chunky.

• Wine Sap-Golden Delicious-Red Rome

Angie – Mushy, OK.

Dawn – Mellow. Not enough kick.

• Pink Lady

Angie – Sweet, OK.

Natalie – Tart enough to stand up to the cinnamon.

Dawn – Tangy, but needs to be smoother.

• Empire

Angie – Mushy, OK.

Dawn – Blah, blah, blah.

Apple Sauce

6 medium Golden Delicious apples

1/8 C sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

Slice the apples like you would for a pie. Put in medium saucepan on low heat. When slightly mushy, add the remaining ingredients. Keep stirring.

Adjust flavoring to your preference.

Use potato masher or food mill to make sauce less chunky.

Eat warm or chilled.

By Jeremy Miller

“Enough Said” is a masterpiece written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. It stars James Gandolfini, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Catherine Keener and Toni Collette.

Eva (Dreyfus) is a middle-aged divorced massage therapist. She’s the quirkiest, yet most incredibly charming character I’ve seen in a long time. Her path crosses with Albert (Gandolfini) who’s in pretty much the same boat. They’re both moved on from failed relationships and they aren’t necessarily looking for anything either. They meet at a party thrown by some of the higher ups on the social strata and each character seems to not fit quite right.

Their meeting is pretty low-key, but from the get-go you know these two have something refreshing.

Another positive from the party is that Eva picked up another client named Marianne (Keener) who’s an earth friendly hippie type. They form a pretty cliché friendship and start hanging out on a regular basis.

Simultaneously Eva and Albert go on a few dates that are full of quirky indie-romantic humor. I loved it because it really broke the mold of the “ideal scene” that 99 percent of all romantic comedies tend to fit and show what real dates are like. There’s imperfect conversation, awkward moments, tension and flaws that I’ve always wanted to see characters exhibit in a romance movie.

In the meantime, Eva and Marianne find comfort in the fact that they can talk about their past marriages and vent about all the terrible times they had with their former partners and get down some good old-fashion girl talk. Throw in a bunch of perfect “best friend” humor in the form of her pal Sarah (Collette) who’s blunt and borderline emotionally unstable and boy are there some laughs.

Eva starts to build something pretty nice for herself in the relationship department, but what’s a movie without conflict? Enter in the fact that her newfound bestie and boyfriend were once married, and all that bad-mouthing that Marianne was spewing was about the man Eva’s now falling for. Eva does what any human being would and starts pulling for more. She’s essentially getting “the other side of the story” in an attempt to either protect herself or save a lot of time and heartache.

The film crescendos when everyone finds out about everything; and boy is it rough to watch (in a hysterically tense kind of way). I loved this movie for so many reasons; mostly because of how much reality it brought to the table. Its realism was perfectly balanced with its subtle charm. Every actor brought his or her A-game on this one, and what a way for Gandolfini to end his career.

I had a hard time watching it because of the fact that I knew it was his last. His performance was one of the most personal and equally sentimental that he’s ever done. The chemistry he shared with Julia Louis-Dreyfus was absolutely flawless, touching and all around heart-warming. They bounced back and forth with the wittiest conversations that really made you wish you were that funny.

The ending was perfect. It gave you just enough to leave you satisfied and not too much to where you’re begging for the credits to roll as you’re drowned in overly scripted romantic mush.

James Gandolfini was so incredibly talented; it’s really tough to know that I won’t be writing any more reviews with him in them. I miss him and salute him for one of the most well rounded, beautifully crafted careers in film and television in history. RIP Jim, and from the bottom of my heart thanks for everything.

South Lake Tahoe resident Jeremy Miller has more movie reviews online.