By Shan Li, Los Angeles Times

Greta Goplen stood in position with a cane at the ready, like a ninja warding off invisible foes.

As an instructor yelled out directions to the class — “left, left, jab, jab, nose! right, right, jab, jab, nose!” — the 59-year-old raised her walking stick and nimbly thrust it out kung-fu style, swinging it to either side before jabbing it backward.

Half an hour later, the class ended. A dozen women quickly sat down to rest artificial hips and arthritic knees.

“But I’m not done killing yet,” Goplen said, bashing an imaginary mugger on the ground. “We got ’em! Yeah! Yahoo!”

Exercise for baby boomers has gone trendy.

As the oldest baby boomers turn 67 this year, the same generation that sent crib sales zooming in the 1950s and ’60s and snapped up cars in the 1980s is now changing the fitness market in the same way it influenced music, fashion and politics.

Gone are the days when seniors could only stroll around the park or do low-impact aerobics. Now, a slew of new gyms and exercise programs are catering exclusively to the gray-haired set.

Read the whole story

Motorists can expect delays on Highway 267 next week.

Caltrans is having a contractor grind and repave 2.2 miles from just south of Brockway Summit to Stewart Way in Kings Beach. The cost of the contract is $800,000.

One-way traffic control will be from 7am-6pm Monday through Thursday. Work may extend to Friday and into the following week, but the project will be done well in advance of Ironman Lake Tahoe on Sept. 22. The bicycle course includes that section of the highway.

Motorists can expect up to 15-minute delays traveling through the work zone.

Mountain bikers are about to descend upon Squaw Valley for the return of the Tahoe Fat Tire Festival.

Formerly one of the largest mountain bike events on the West Coast, the festival is being brought back Sept. 13-15 by the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association in an effort to promote recreational trails in the Tahoe area and to raise money for trail projects.

The festival will include cross country and downhill mountain bike racing, skill clinics, the Tour de Squaw fun ride, free kids races, and a BMX jump show. Squaw Valley will be opening its bike park and trail network for the three days.

The festival kicks off Sept. 13 with live music from Decoy and a outdoor film festival featuring the U.S. premiere of the mountain bike film “Arrival”.

Saturday morning is the cross country race, which is the final race of the 2013 Sierra Cup Series.

All proceeds from the festival will go to TAMBA and the Truckee Bike Park Project to improve local mountain biking opportunities and trail networks.

For more information and to register, go online.

Fire Fest is an annual event that highlights fire and life safety for children and families.

This year’s free event is Sept. 28 from 10am-3pm at Lake Tahoe Airport.

Helicopters will star at Fire Fest as they land at the airport. Sit in a fire truck, escape from the smoke house, wear firefighting equipment, squirt fire hoses, play in a bounce house, meet Smokey Bear and Sparky, watch fire departments compete, and learn about fire resistant construction.

For more information, contact Jeanne Lear at (530) 542.8366 or Leona Allen at (530) 577.3737.

By Neil Irwin, Washington Post

If you only looked at the headlines on Friday’s August jobs numbers, you’d think “Not bad!”

You would also be completely wrong.

Yes, the unemployment rate fell a notch to 7.3 percent, from 7.4 percent in July. Yes, the nation added 169,000 jobs, broadly consistent with the pattern of recent months.

But in almost all the particulars, you can find signs that this job market is weaker than it appeared just a few months ago, and maybe getting worse. The drop in the unemployment rate was caused by 312,000 people dropping out of the labor force. The number of people actually reporting having a job actually fell by 115,000 in the survey on which the unemployment rate is based.

And while the overall August jobs number was OK, the Labor Department revised down its estimates of June and July job creation by a combined 74,000 positions. In other words, through the summer, hiring has been quite a bit shakier than it had appeared.

Read the whole story

Following consecutive sell-out years, the Polar Express is returning with 15 additional train rides to accommodate 3,600 more passengers. This all-ages ride from the frosty Northern Nevada landscape to the North Pole will depart Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Nov. 22 through Dec. 22. Tickets are on sale.

The train rides are based on the iconic holiday feature film and children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg. The story is about a doubting young boy who takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. The V&T Railroad has partnered with Rail Events Inc. to offer the experience.

The V&T’s 100-year-old steam engines and holiday decorated passenger cars leave the Carson City Eastgate Depot and travel nearly two miles before stopping at Santa’s mythical North Pole retreat.

To purchase tickets, call 877.724.5007.

By Blair Anthony Robertson, Sacramento Bee

The folks at highly regarded Russian River Brewing stress one thing that may surprise you: freshness. It’s practically a mantra for this famed Santa Rosa brewery.

They want you to enjoy their Pliny the Elder, a world-class double India Pale Ale, as soon as possible. It’s not something to stock up on for the big barbecue in six months. It’s definitely not something to collect and break out in a few years for a special occasion.

“Beer is a perishable product. The way we make our IPAs, they’re not meant to age,” said Russian River co-owner Natalie Cilurzo. “The fresher they are, the better they are.”

The emphasis on due dates and spoilage isn’t necessarily new, but not a lot of beer aficionados paid much attention to fading flavor profiles and staleness when it came to Budweiser and its “Born on” campaign.

The renewed emphasis on drinking sooner than later tends to highlight the quality-driven appeal of craft beer.

Read the whole story

Washoe County residents who want to be better prepared for an emergency may participate in the free Community Emergency Response Team training offered by the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Citizen Corps.

Topics include disaster preparedness, emergency medical techniques, fire safety, search and rescue, disaster psychology, and terrorism awareness.

The training is free and trainees are not required to become a Citizen Corps volunteer.

The 26-hour training course is Sept. 19-21 and Sept. 26-28.

No special skills are required. Children 12-15 may participate with parent’s supervision, and teens ages 16-17 with parent’s permission.

To enroll in this free training, call (775) 325.6927 or (775) 325.6928, or email drussell@washoecounty.us.

• The Olympic Valley residence at 254 Granite Chief Road sold for $8.5 million – breaking the previous highest priced home for this area by nearly $3 million.

• Melissa Ewing, law enforcement program support assistant for the Tahoe National Forest and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, is the recipient of the national 2012 Law Enforcement and Investigations Outstanding Administrative Support Services award.

• Just Downstream: Water Culture & Water Governance at Pyramid Lake is the subject of a free lecture on Nov. 14 at 5:30pm at Tahoe Center for Environmental Science, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village.

• The Weber Creek Bridge on the El Dorado Trail will be closed for maintenance from Sept. 16-19 from 7am-4pm each day. The trail will remain open to the bridge on both sides, but there will be no access across the bridge during these dates and times.

• The Meyers Area Plan will be discussed Sept. 11 from 6-9pm at the CCC dining hall at 1949 Apache Ave., Meyers.

Terry Havey with Penhall Co. cuts lines Sept. 6 on 12th Street. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

A multimillion-dollar waterline project to bring Lukins Brothers Water Company customers fire protection started this week.

The 4-inch lines are being replaced with 12-inch lines.

Because the bank loan was secured later in the summer than anticipated, the first phase is being broken into two segments to accommodate the limited time contractors may move dirt or asphalt in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The first 3,400 lineal feet will go in this year along 12th Street, Tahoe Island and almost to Big Pine. Another 2,600 lineal feet will be put in next summer along James Avenue and by Highway 89 and down West Way. This two-year first phase is $2 million. This will give 40 percent of the 963 customers adequate fire protection.

Sixteen fire hydrants are also being installed.

Customers can expect to see a $15 to $25 surcharge on their bills starting in 2014. The CPUC guarantees the loan will be repaid via the 20-year surcharge.

Another change is that as the line goes in so will meters at the residences and commercial properties on those streets. State law says all customers must have meters by 2025.

“Customers will have more consistent water pressure,” Jennifer Lukins, who runs the company, told Lake Tahoe News. She said on peak days there are times when people don’t have full pressure.

Jennifer Lukins goes over the water line replacement plans.

When water districts first came about in Lake Tahoe and other places it was all about domestic use. Not fire protection.

The Angora Fire of 2007 helped Lukins get the attention of the California Public Utility Commission. As a private water company, it is the CPUC that oversees Lukins. The city manager of South Lake Tahoe at the time filed a complaint with the CPUC saying Lukins didn’t have adequate capacity to handle a fire. That in turn allowed Lukins to begin planning the massive water line replacement.

The delay from 2008 planning to 2013 implementation has been money. While all phases of the project are not funded, the entire first phase is. In 2008, this was estimated to be a 20-year project. Starting five years later, Lukins won’t venture a guess as to when all the work will be done.

Phase 2 is estimated to cost $6.1 million. This would bring fire coverage to 75 percent of Lukins customers. This phase includes storage tanks and booster pumps.

If Phase 1 comes under budget, those dollars will go to Phase 2.

“Completion of Phase 1 opens up (funding) opportunities,” Lukins said. “It opens the door to explore other opportunities.”

With Tahoe Valley Elementary School now a customer of Lukins, it might mean a collaborative project with the school district. The school has two fire hydrants.

The possibility of a joint project with South Tahoe Public Utility District to put a tank on Gardner Mountain has been talked about.

The interties Lukins and STPUD have will remain. Those are in place in case the other needs an emergency supply of water. In Phase 3 another tie on Ruth Avenue is penciled in.

Local contractor Thomas Haen Co. hopes to have as few interruptions in water service as possible.

Lukins will be paying $300,000 to repave the streets it tears up. The city a couple years ago put a law on the books making utility companies do more than a patch job after digging.