With warmer weather, extended daylight hours, and lots of outdoor activities to enjoy, El Dorado County health officials are offering hot weather safety tips.

Seniors, young children, those with chronic medical conditions and individuals with inadequate air conditioning can be especially vulnerable to hot weather.

The following are tips for staying cool and healthy during hot weather:

• Drink plenty of fluids, such as water and low-calorie sports drinks, to replace salts and minerals lost through sweating.

• Stay indoors in an air-conditioned building. If your home does not have sufficient air conditioning, visit a friend, relative or other location in the community, including libraries, grocery stores or shopping centers where the air conditioning is working.

• Pace yourself and avoid heavy exertion in the heat.

• Never leave a child, elderly person or animal in a parked vehicle, even for a few minutes. Temperatures can quickly rise to dangerous levels in a matter of minutes.

• Check on neighbors, relatives and friends, particularly those who may be isolated.

The Health and Human Services Agency, Community Services Division has programs to help low-income individuals make their homes more summer ready, including weatherization services and the repair or replacement of air conditioners or evaporative coolers. For information about these programs, and eligibility requirements, individuals may call (530) 573.3490 in South Lake Tahoe and (530) 621.6150 in Placerville.

• South Lake Tahoe’s summer activity guide is online.

• Barton Health is sponsoring a lecture about hips on June 5. Robert Rupp, orthopedic surgeon, will talk about the causes and treatment of hip pain from 6-7pm at Kahle Community Center, Stateline.

• Learn about animals from around the world at the South Lake Tahoe library (1000 Rufus Allen Blvd.) on July 5 at 2pm.

• In this week’s episode of “Mountain Movers,” the Snow Park Technologies crew will build a one-of-a-kind 65-foot road gap for South Lake Tahoe’s Jamie Anderson at Sierra-at-Tahoe. The show airs June 6 at 8pm on National Geographic channel.

• Discovery Channel is honoring three storm chasers, including Carl Young of South Lake Tahoe, who died last week in Oklahoma. “Mile Wide Tornado: Stormchasers Tribute” will air June 5 at 10pm.

Whether you’re an experienced road cyclist or new to the sport, get your cycling season started off right with professional USA Cycling coach Ellen Sherrill on June 5 from 5:30-7:30pm.

Road Cycling 101 & 102 courses are designed to strengthen one’s overall cycling ability and knowledge. Road Cycling 102 covers more complex group ride dynamics, and more advanced concepts in climbing, descending, cornering, and cycling training. All skill levels are welcome.

Cost is $15 per clinic (cash or check only).

Riders meet outside Barton Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine (2170 South Ave. South Lake Tahoe) at Barton Memorial Hospital. All riders must have a road bike, helmet, proper attire and water.

To register, call (530) 543.5896

This person is suspected of stealing a $7,000 bike.

Shop cameras caught the suspect in the upper right corner.

El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies are trying to track down the man who broke into a West Slope bike shop and stole equipment worth about $7,000.

The suspect on May 20 entered into Town Center Bike and Tri in El Dorado Hills early that morning. Deputies said he looked around the shop before taking off with a Trek, Speed Concept 7.5 bicycle (medium size, black with white accents), that had Zipp 808 black carbon fiber aftermarket wheels.

Anyone with information is asked to call (530) 621.7652.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Horizon casino’s parking lot in Stateline will turn into a carnival June 13-16.

There is no entrance fee. The carnival is offering $25 wristbands for unlimited one-day passes for all rides. Buddy day is June 13 when unlimited ride wristbands are two-for-one at the gate entrance.

There will be rides for all ages, food and interactive games.

For info on the carnival, call (775) 790.1544.

The Truckee-Tahoe Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association will be hosting three Young Eagles events this summer.

Their monthly pancake breakfast in conjunction with Young Eagles Flights is June 8 at Truckee-Tahoe Airport between 7:30-10an. Children ages 8-17 who attend with their parents have the opportunity to fly free Saturday morning.

Additional dates for Young Eagles flights are:

July 7 at the Truckee-Tahoe Airport. Registration for this event takes place on July 6 at the Truckee Air Fair. All participants for this event must register in advance.

Aug. 25th at Lake Tahoe Airport. Registration for this event takes place on Aug. 24 at the Lake in the Sky Airshow. All participants for this event must register in advance.

The EAA Young Eagles program was launched in 1992 to give interested young people an opportunity to experience flight in a general aviation airplane. These flights are offered free of charge and are made possible through the generosity of EAA member volunteers.

For additional information, contact Michael Golden at Mooney217RN@yahoo.com.

By Brady Dennis, Washington Post

Who needs coffee for breakfast when you can pour Wired Wyatt’s caffeinated maple syrup over your Wired Waffles? Remember Cracker Jack? This year saw the advent of Cracker Jack’d Power Bites, with as much caffeine per serving as a cup of coffee.

Americans, it turns out, are willing to gobble up caffeine in all kinds of foods — from potato chips to sunflower seeds to beef jerky. Not to mention gummy bears and marshmallows. ­Energy-boosting foods racked up more than $1.6 billion in domestic retail sales last year, up nearly 50 percent from five years ago, according to the market research firm Euromonitor International.

The trend, experts say, reflects a rush by food manufacturers to cater to consumers’ increasingly frenetic lives — and to cash in on the popularity and profitability of high-caffeine energy drinks.

“This is something that’s going to continue to grow,” said Roger Sullivan, founder of Wired Waffles, based in Marysville, Wash. He says his product is popular with endurance runners, long-haul truck drivers and ­sleep-deprived college students. “It’s definitely a market where I think a lot of large companies are figuring out how to jump in.”

But the growing interest of big food companies might mean the party is over, at least for now.

The Food and Drug Administration threw a wet blanket on the caffeine-laced food craze recently when it asked foodmakers to take a timeout. Concerned about the potential health effects on children, as well as Americans’ cumulative caffeine intake, officials said they want to investigate whether new rules are needed to govern caffeine in foods.

“It’s a trend that raises real concerns,” Michael Taylor, the FDA’s top food safety official, said in an interview. “We’re not here to say that these products are inherently unsafe. We’re trying to understand, what are the right questions to be asking? … We have to figure out, what are the right ways to approach this?”

The agency, which has watched the proliferation of caffeinated foods with increasing alarm, took action after Wrigley launched a caffeinated gum, Alert Energy, in late April with full-page newspaper ads, a promotion at 7-Eleven stores and a NASCAR car plastered with the gum’s logo. Each stick contains the caffeine of half a cup of coffee.

“When you start putting [caffeine] in these different products and forms, do we really understand the effects?” Taylor said, describing the concerns he and others shared with Wrigley executives who met with FDA officials shortly after the rollout of Alert Energy gum. “Isn’t it time to pause and exercise some restraint?”

The company, which declined an interview request, quickly pulled its new gum from the market. While noting that it had put the caffeine content on the label and marketed Alert Energy only to people over 25, Wrigley said in a statement that it was halting production “out of respect for the FDA” while the agency developed “a new regulatory framework” for caffeinated food and drinks.

Taylor said FDA officials have long been aware of smaller manufacturers making niche caffeinated food. He said the agency became concerned when food giants such as PepsiCo — which owns Frito-Lay, the maker of Cracker Jack’d — and other companies began dipping their toes into the caffeinated food market.

“Dig into Reading” this summer. The Douglas County Public Library Lake Tahoe branch is having a Dinosaur Dig on June 13 at 1:30pm.

Listen to Miss Maria read dinosaurs stories. Afterward, go outside and dig for “dinosaurs” around the library. Bring a plastic shovel or pail if you have one. Young children must be accompanied by an adult.

The Lake Tahoe library is located at 233 Warrior Way in Zephyr Cove.

By Susan Wood

MONTEREY – Still evolving while turning 30 in 2014, that’s the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The Central Coast’s famed aquarium plans to go dark Labor Day weekend on one of its most popular exhibitions to date – the Secret Life of Seahorses. The 15 species of these elusive creatures and kin – the surreal-looking sea dragons and alligator pipefish — danced and fluttered in their tank, spawning “ooohs and ahhhhs” among many visitors on a recent Saturday visit to the 322,000-square-foot attraction located alongside Monterey’s Cannery Row.

“It looks pretty leafy,” one man declared, staring at one of the spindly sea dragons.

The exhibit gets more fascinating at every turn. When they court, sea horses lock tails – as shown in a beautifully-crafted silhouette display that looks more loving than erotic. The pot belly males may butt heads to vie for a female’s attention. But then their warrior instinct transforms into the nurturing as they also later give birth. Yes, the males give birth. From that, a visitor also learns the young sea horses eat constantly.

A white-spotted jelly at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Many saucer-eyed children pointed and stood in awe alongside the adults. Beyond appreciating the sea life, all learned of the hazards these gentle creatures face – from the souvenir trade to fishing nets. An entire exhibit is dedicated to the perils of trash deposited in the ocean.

The aquarium is a kid’s paradise, with plenty of interactive displays such as a quiz that compares the number of baby bottles a young gray whale consumes in a day in contrast to a human – 2,000 versus six. Many displays are designed to pique children’s interest in the enjoyment and conservation of sea life along the Pacific Coast. And that’s no accident.

As public relations coordinator Mika Yoshida put it: “We start them young (with the message of protection).”

Moreover, the aquarium highlighting 35,000 creatures representing 550 species in 34 major galleries walks the talk by “greening” up the place. For example, plastic bags at the large gift shop are a no-no.

A big part of the aquarium’s conservation message focuses on its seafood watch – which comes with a handout of types of fish to avoid and others bearing no threat to overfishing or mercury content.

The Monterey Aquarium also backs up its signs in Spanish for a broader appeal.

Target marketing aside, the massive aquarium has brought in the masses, and apparently has shown no sign of slowing down during the recessionary years.

“We’re not seeing any impact because we usually end up getting a bump from locals and day trippers from San Francisco,” Yoshida told Lake Tahoe News in discussing any drop off of the destination visitor who may stay multiple nights.

Ken Peterson, the aquarium’s communications director, expanded the response.

“We’ve actually had a fairly strong attendance in recession years. For a lot of folks, Monterey and the aquarium are an affordable California vacation option in years when they aren’t going to plan a big cross-country trip,” he said.

Last year, the aquarium recorded 1.8 million visitors. Many have taken in the psychedelic “Jellies Experience,” which opened in March 2012 as one of three evolutions of jellyfish displays. The aquarium even built a laboratory to grown its own.

Each visitor could spend hours at the practically laid-out, airy site — taking in puffins and penguins swimming and waddling over their turf, capitalizing on special, behind-the-scenes tours or experiencing the magnitude of a three-story kelp forest benefitting by the aquarium pumping in a billion gallons a year of seawater from the bay.

It’s like having the ocean within walls.

One can even get up-close-and-personal by touching bat rays or starfish.

“They’re slimy,” was the common response when touching the rays.

The touching pools host large crowds around them.

“These are whatever we find in tide pools in the bay,” said Roberta, one of the aquarium’s 1,200 volunteers who support the 425 staff members. “They’re OK to touch, but just don’t move them. You wouldn’t want to be moved from your home,” she reminds a group.

Much of the aquarium’s recent activity has occurred outside its walls.

“We’ve had a lot of whale activity,” volunteer Fred said. He was managing transmitters on the patio overlooking Monterey Bay that record sightings of sea life. That morning, dolphins, seals, sea lions and sea otters made the list.

The sea otters are the stars of a new auditorium program launched this year.

Another star is of the culinary variety. Chef Cindy Pawlcyn has substantially upgraded the aquarium’s oceanfront restaurant. (Foodies will know her from Fog City Diner in San Francisco, Mustards in Yountville and her two other restaurants in St. Helena.) Menu choices follow the seafood watch guidelines and use many types of local produce, dairy and proteins.

If you go:

• Off Highway 1, south of the Bay Area

• Tickets: $35 adults; $31.95 students; $21.95 children; kids under age 3 admitted free

• Information: (831) 648.4800.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder Click on photos to enlarge.

• Kirk Ledbetter is now chairman of the board for Barton Health. New board members are Mike Bradford and Keith Swanson. Returning are Greg Bergner, John Cefalu, Paul J. Fry II, Rhonda McFarlane, Terry Orr, Paul Rork, Chuck Scharer and Dena Schwarte.

• Megan Arneson on June 29 at 2pm will present a history of the Slow Food Movement and how it is growing in the Lake Tahoe area. The free talk is at South Lake Tahoe library, 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd..

• Truckee real estate research firm Clear Capital is expanding to Roseville where it plans to hire up to 80 people.

• Here is the El Dorado-Tahoe roadwork schedule for this week.

• Live bats are coming to the South Lake Tahoe library (1000 Rufus Allen Blvd.) on June 28 at 2pm for a free presentation.