By Anya Martin, MarketWatch

Nevada conjures up images of glitz, glamour and gambling, thanks to the reputation of the state’s largest city, Las Vegas. But many retirees set their stakes on the Silver State for entirely different reasons — including breathtaking landscapes, outdoor activities, affordable homes and low tax rates.

With a population of about 2.8 million in 2012 — a 30 percent rise since 2000 — Nevada is the second-fastest-growing state in the nation and a favorite location for boomers who want a quieter pace, as well as a more reasonable cost of living than they’re likely to find in neighboring California or Oregon.

Its diverse geographic areas range from mountain valleys in the cradle of the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada to the hot, dry Mojave Desert where Las Vegas is located. And although the state is landlocked, those who love to live by water have many options, including Lake Mead in the south and Lake Tahoe to the West.

One of Nevada’s biggest draws for many is that it has no state income tax and no inheritance tax, leaving retirees with more money to enjoy. “Low taxes are the underlying driving factor of anybody I talk to that is considering a move to Nevada from California,” said Cole Smith, owner of Sierra Nevada Realty Group, based in Minden.

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• Outside magazine says Squaw Valley is the No. 1 resort in North America.

• The 18th annual Holiday Faire at Valhalla Grand Hall on the South Shore is Nov. 22 from 5:30-8:30pm, Nov. 23 from 10am-5pm and Nov. 24 from 10am-4pm.

• Squaw Valley’s annual Oktoberfest will transform the village into a miniature Bavaria on Sept. 28 from 2-6pm.

• The East Shore Express ridership increased 21 percent this summer compared to the inaugural 2012 season for the bus service. There were 14,652 passengers.

By Jan Hoffman, New York Times

When Vinnie Richichi started watching the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home opener against the Tennessee Titans a week ago, he was feeling great. After all, the Steelers had won their first home game six years in a row.

Then things indeed went south.

“The worse they looked, the more I kept going to the fridge,” recalled Richichi, a co-host of a sports talk show on KDKA-FM in Pittsburgh. “First a couple of Hot Pockets. By the second quarter I threw in a box of White Castle hamburgers. As the game progressed, I just went through the refrigerator: the more fear, the more emotion, I’m chomping down. But I’m not going near the salad or the yogurt. If it doesn’t have 700 calories, I’m going right past it.”

The aftereffect of the Steelers’ ignominious defeat by a score of 16-9 clung to Richichi on Monday, when he rejected his regular breakfast of yogurt and strawberries in favor of a bagel sandwich with sausage, eggs, cheese, peppers and hot sauce. Then, his mood hardly improved after spending four hours on the air railing and commiserating with Steelers’ fans, he had pizza for lunch.

“My weight goes up and down with my teams,” said Richichi. “My team does well? I’m 40, 50 pounds lighter.”

Richichi’s eating habits, joined at the waistline with the NFL, were reflected in a recent study that investigated whether a football team’s outcome had an effect on what fans ate the day after a game. Although the study did not look at weight fluctuations, researchers found that football fans’ saturated-fat consumption increased by as much as 28 percent following defeats and decreased by 16 percent following victories. The association was particularly pronounced in the eight cities regarded as having the most devoted fans, with Pittsburgh often ranked No. 1. Narrower, nail-biting defeats led to greater consumption of calorie and fat-saturated foods than lopsided ones.

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By Sam McManis, Sacramento Bee

Atop Wolf Ridge on a clear day in the Marin Headlands several years ago, Tom Courtney paused to take in the view. Hikers always stop there, mostly to gawk at the Pacific Ocean to the west and Mount Tamalpais to the north, but also to catch their breath after a steep climb.

Going on walkabouts in England is common. Photo/LTN file

But Courtney had other reasons for peering pensively into the distance that day. Once, years before, he had completed a multiday hike in the Cotswolds in west-central England, hoofing it from inn to inn as part of a pastime Europeans call “walkabouts.”

So, as he gazed beyond verdant Tennessee Valley and over Mount Tam’s foothills, he wondered whether it was possible — logistically, not athletically — to string together a “walkabout” from Rodeo Beach to Point Reyes without resorting to pitching a tent and camping. Nothing wrong with roughing it, of course, but occasionally a guy likes to soak his weary feet in a hot tub, sip a fine Merlot alongside a juicy steak, and sleep in high-thread-count sheets along the way.

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There will be a fundraiser Sept. 27 for a Kings Beach child who has cerebral palsy and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that is difficult to treat.

Julian Gaube is 5 years old.

The fundraiser will help raise money for an alternative medicine that is not covered by health insurance. The fundraiser is free, and includes music, food, beer, wine, balloon twisting, and face painting. There will also be a silent auction from 6-8pm.

The event is from 5-10pm at the 101 Live, 10152 Church St., Truckee.

For more information, go online or contact Kara at kara_fox@hotmail.com

There will be multifaith clergy gathering at Lake Tahoe for peace on Sept. 21.

Area leaders of various religions and denominations are gathering at Tahoe Vista Recreation Area at 11:30am to celebrate International Day of Peace, aka Peace Day.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, will open the Interfaith Peace Service with invocation from oldest scripture of the world still in common use Rig-Veda; besides Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita, both ancient Hindu scriptures; in Sanskrit followed by English translation.

This service, reflecting the universal teaching of “Love thy neighbor”, will include prayers, readings, poems, songs and chants offering visions of a world of peace.

Other participants include the Rev. Clare C. Novak and Rector Eric Heidecker of Incline Village St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Rabbi Meredith Cahn of Tahoe Vista North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation, Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno Life-Peace-Justice Commission Coordinator Rita Sloan, Kathleen Cornell Mahoney of Kings Beach United Methodist Church, the Rev. Liz Luoma of Tahoe-Truckee Center for Spiritual Living, Vicar Jenni Liem of Tahoe City St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, Washoe County Baha’i Spiritual Assembly Vice Chairperson Mary Jo Adams and Ana Lizbeth Servin-Bancroft of Kings Beach North Tahoe Family Resource Center.

By Chad Terhune, Los Angeles Times

The doctor can’t see you now.

Consumers may hear that a lot more often after getting health insurance under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

To hold down premiums, major insurers in California have sharply limited the number of doctors and hospitals available to patients in the state’s new health insurance market opening Oct. 1.

New data reveal the extent of those cuts in California, a crucial test bed for the federal healthcare law.

These diminished medical networks are fueling growing concerns that many patients will still struggle to get care despite the nation’s biggest healthcare expansion in half a century.

Consumers could see long wait times, a scarcity of specialists and loss of a longtime doctor.

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The Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) will give an update on Medicare benefits and costs for 2014 at three free community presentations in El Dorado County.

The meetings are:

Oct. 22 at 12:30pm at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center located at 3350 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe

Oct. 25 at 10am at the El Dorado Hills Senior Center located at 990 Lassen Lane in El Dorado Hills

Oct. 28 at 1:30pm at the Placerville Senior Center located at 937 Spring St. in Placerville.

HICAP is a nonprofit organization that gives free, unbiased information and counseling to Medicare beneficiaries, including people soon to become eligible for Medicare. HICAP is not affiliated with any insurance company, nor does it sell, endorse, or recommend any specific insurance product. HICAP counseling sites are located in Placerville, El Dorado Hills and South Lake Tahoe.

HICAP works in partnership with the senior programs of the El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency. To schedule a free, individual appointment with a registered HICAP counselor call (530) 621.6369 (for Placerville and El Dorado Hills) or (530) 542.6094 (for South Lake Tahoe).

By Kathryn Reed

Whether MV Transportation ever gets the $2 million it believes it is owed by a slew of South Shore entities may never be known because details of settlement agreements are only trickling out.

Lake Tahoe News has been told the casinos and lodging property involved in the legal dispute have settled. TRPA has confirmed it has settled.

“I am not at liberty to discuss this with you,” Dan Garrison, senior vice president-general manager of Ridge Tahoe, said when asked if it’s true the Ridge has settled. He would neither confirm nor deny a settlement was reached.

“Heavenly does not comment on open litigation,” Heavenly Mountain Resort spokeswoman Sally Gunter told LTN.

Neither Mike Bradford nor Stacy Noyes with Lakeside Inn responded to questions. Noyes had been on the transportation board that was sued. At one time all the board members were named as defendants, but they were eventually dropped from the case.

The defendants are:

• STATA

• Tahoe Regional Planning Agency

• Douglas County

• South Lake Tahoe

• Heavenly Mountain Resort

• Tropicana Entertainment

• Harrah’s Operating Company

• Harvey’s Tahoe Management Company

• Lakeside Inn

• Horizon Casino

• Lake Tahoe Casino Realty

• Columbia Properties Tahoe

• Ridge Tahoe Property Owners Association

• Tahoe Transportation District.

The quagmire has been going on for three years.

Fairfield-based MV had signed a three-year contract in summer 2009 to run the day-to-day operation of the bus service on the South Shore that included BlueGo, Heavenly ski shuttles, Nifty 50 Trolley, routes to Carson City, and service into Carson Valley.

MV filed a lawsuit against South Tahoe Area Transit Authority – which was the overseer of the bus operations – after the agency severed the contract within a year. STATA filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 13, 2010. MV that year filed a complaint saying it was owed $2 million for services rendered and another $1 million in lost revenue.

(Tahoe Transportation District has since taken over the operation of the bus service.)

In January this year U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Gregg Zive sent the case to mediation. Mark Shinderman with Milbank Tweed, Hadley & MCloy LLP in Los Angeles was selected to be the mediator.

The last settlement hearing was Sept. 3.

More news could be forthcoming this week. The South Lake Tahoe City Council will discuss the matter in closed session on Sept. 17. To date the city has spent more than $100,000 on outside legal counsel to defend the case. City Attorney Tom Watson says his policy is to not talk to the media about anything.

South Lake Tahoe City Manager Nancy Kerry told Lake Tahoe News, “The city hopes to find a resolution, but if we are unable to find a resolution, we are willing to litigate.”

Most of the government agencies’ transportation dollars are from the state or federal governments. That money is called a pass-through as it is given to an agency like STATA or TTD. Government entities contend they paid the money they were supposed to pay and should not have to pay more.

That was not El Dorado County’s philosophy at the time. At the get-go the county settled for $160,000.

It has not been disclosed how much MV would like from each entity.

The TTD board is having a special meeting Sept. 18 at 1pm to only discuss the settlement with MV. One of the agenda items it take possible action.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board has agreed to settle its two issues that amount to writing a check for $16,000. Scott Lichtig, attorney for TRPA, said the bi-state agency was once a creditor and it was agreed that it would receive $34,000, while at the same time having to settle the other portion of the case for $50,000.

TRPA was a non-voting member on the STATA board. It also leased space to STATA like it does now to TTD.

Attorney David Thompson, the federal bankruptcy trustee appointed by Zive, was not available for comment, nor was the MV attorney.

Sources have told Lake Tahoe News more settlements are likely this month, while some defendants will choose to have their day in court.

Brownie

Brownie is a young girl with lots of personality, despite the rough time she’s had during her first year.

Even though she was underweight and much too young, she became pregnant and then lost all her puppies. But Brownie is in foster care to gain back that much-needed weight, and is proving to be a sweet, charming girl who plays nicely with other dogs, sleeps very quietly through the night, walks well on a leash, and is housetrained. She does sometimes jump on people and she is nervous when left alone, but these are not surprising behaviors for a young, mistreated dog and will diminish as she receives training and consistent care.

Brownie is spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated. Please call the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers (530.573.7925) to inquire further about Brownie. Her foster family will make it easy to meet her.

And go online to see photos and descriptions of all other pets at the shelter.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

— Karen Kuentz