By USSA

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — World Championship bronze medalist Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley) was third Sunday in the final super G of the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup “regular season.”

Mancuso finished just ahead of discipline leader Tina Maze of Slovenia to push the title to the final race of the year. Maze leads Mancuso by 55 points with a max of 100 super G points up for grabs at the March 11-17 World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Julia Mancuso

Austrian Anna Fenninger won the race, pushing local favorite Maria Hoefl-Riesch to second.

Mancuso’s result, coupled with her second on Friday and Laurenne Ross’ (Bend, Ore.) second in the downhill capped a three podium weekend for the U.S. Ski Team.

It was Mancuso’s fifth super G podium of the season and second in three days at Garmisch. She was second in the first SG Friday.

“I am happy to be on the podium, just trying my best every day. I am enjoying it with the sun out. I wish I could have gained some more points on her (Maze), I need all the luck on my side. I need to win the (last) race and then anything can happen,” Mancuso said.

Mixed rain and snow at lake level, with light snow falling above 7,000 feet.

There is plenty to do today. The North Lake Tahoe Snowfest continues through March 10, today is the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics at the Hyatt Beach in Incline, the final run of the Rahlves’ Bonzai Tour at Squaw and the 37th anniversary of Great Ski Race starting at Tahoe Cross Country.

Here is the March 3 ski report.

— Curtis Fong

“Old Long Skis” is a contributor we see often here on Lake Tahoe News. OLS (aka Bob Rockwell) has lived here since 1962 and he’s sharing with me historic photos of some local businesses.

One of those was the Tahoe Drive In Theatre where he worked. It closed in 1984.

I’ve added related photos, mostly depicting the original movie marquee atop the frame which still stands today at Herbert and Highway 50.

It was OLS’s job to climb a ladder and straddle the adjoining roof to post the red plastic letters on that marquee each time the movies changed. He also trained to be the projectionist.

The marquee is visible above the red convertible in this frame from Winter-A-Go-Go which was filmed at South Shore in 1965. I saw that movie at the Tahoe Drive In. Ah, those days when a night at the movies meant two full features, cartoon, and newsreel.

The footprint of the drive in theater is still evident today in the 1350 block of Glenwood Way in Bijou as seen in this Google aerial photo.

If I remember correctly, the city of South Lake Tahoe at one time intended to make it a snow-play park.

— Bill Kingman

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – GoPro is a storyteller. No words needed. Sometimes not even sound is necessary. It’s all about motion evoking and provoking emotion.

The little silver cameras are changing the way people participate in sports, view their lives and socialize with family and friends. It’s impossible to visit a Tahoe ski resort without seeing them used as a helmet-cam. And now snowboarders are putting them at the end of what looks like a ski pole, but is more like a tripod, to allow for more than helmet angles.

There’s even an app people can use to see what the camera is seeing so the person knows if they would want to adjust the camera wherever it’s mounted.

GoPro Marketing Vice President Paul Crandell speaks Feb. 28 at Harveys during Tahoe Snowcial. Photo/Kathryn Reed

GoPro founder Nick Woodman is a 36-year-old billionaire. The humble beginnings of the company started somewhat by accident. Woodman wanted to document his buddies catching waves so he mounted a disposable camera to a surf leash. That led to what consumers know today as GoPro.

“GoPro enables people to self-document moments during their favorite activities,” Paul Crandell said.

Crandell, vice president of marketing for GoPro, spoke Feb. 28 on the first full day of the four-day Tahoe Snowcial confab at Harveys.

The fifth annual South Shore event sponsored by Heavenly Mountain Resort, and Harrah’s and Harveys Lake Tahoe is designed to bring together technology, social media and snowsports enthusiasts who are looking to increase their knowledge base and connect with other brands in the digital world.

“We’ve democratized content capture. We want to capture content sharing,” Crandell said. That is the company’s next goal. What that will look like Crandell would not divulge. But he did say there is enough innovation at the San Mateo-based company to keep their product fresh for the next three to four years.

Crandell, who came to GoPro from Red Bull, said what the two companies have in common is a focus on athletes and passion for the outdoor lifestyle.

“We built the brand through athletes. It took a lot of relationship building and working with these athletes. That’s the commonality between Red Bull and GoPro,” Crandell said. He said Red Bull’s approach was to be a sponsor to anything a bank wouldn’t. The energy drink company has risen to the top of its industry in short order.

Much of the video Crandell showed involved the use of more than one GoPro camera. This ensures not just your friends are in the final product, but so are you. It also allows for more angles, more footage – and more editing at the end of the day.

“We are becoming a media company by default,” Crandell said.

GoPro sends video press releases that media outlets are using in newscasts.

Five years ago companies were creating social network teams. Now they are putting together video teams to share their story. And GoPro, naturally, wants the story told with their product.

Crandell had a camera strapped to his chest while he was on the stage. The red light was a clear indicator everyone in the audience was being filmed. While it would be boring to watch the group taking notes on their various devices, it showed that the GoPro camera can be a business tool beyond action sports.

South Lake Tahoe has launched the Tahoe Heritage Program in honor of the city’s 50th anniversary on Nov. 30, 2015.

This program is being organized to record the oral history of Lake Tahoe’s early history by some of the original families which settled in the South Shore.

The city envisions the creation of partnerships to include an anniversary book and special event celebrations throughout the year.

Another idea is to create fireside chats at Lakeview Commons during the summer months. Community members would be encouraged to attend to share their Tahoe stories while roasting marshmallows and sipping on hot cocoa around the fire pit.

Volunteers for the Tahoe Heritage Program can be longtime local or new community members. The only requirement is to have a passion for the South Shore’s history.

To volunteer for this program, call Tracy at (530) 542.6093 or via email tfranklin@cityofslt.us.

Through fun writing prompts, lively discussions, and in-depth readings Creative Writing: Exploring the Creative Process is designed to be a playful and productive class to open your mind to new approaches to your own creative process.

Experiment with catalysts for inspiration from the Surrealists and Oulipo to art and cross-genre works. This class is for all levels of writers looking to find new connections and infuse imagination into their writing.

Karen Terrey has an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College. She teaches English as an adjunct professor at Lake Tahoe Community College, and works as a writing coach in Truckee through her business Tangled Roots Writing.

The four-week class will be on Thursdays from 6-8:30pm starting April 4. Cost is $89. It will be at Sierra College’s Truckee campus. To signup, call (916) 781.6280 or email ghage@sierracollege.edu.

The Yosemite Twin Valleys Waterfall Workshops on May 3-6 offers unique opportunities for photographers and outdoor enthusiasts to compare and contrast natural and geological features of Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy landscapes.

Activities will include photography field sessions and a two-day plein air painting workshop. Other highlights include interpretive natural history hikes and birding walks throughout the “Twin Valleys” of Yosemite National Park.

James McGrew returns as the leader of the annual four-day event, and he will be joined by several local Yosemite professional photography guides and naturalists. McGrew and David Lukas will each lead an interpretive hike on May 3 that will serve as an introduction to the landscape and its rich history. A two-day combined plein air painting and naturalist workshop conducted by McGrew will begin on May 4 and will span both valleys. Alternately, several options of morning and evening light photo field sessions will be available on all four days from a faculty of well known Yosemite photographers.

Central to all programs will be a focus on the waterfalls during their peak season. National Geographic photographer, Phil Schermeister will be directing a waterfalls class from Yosemite Valley. Robb Hirsch will share elements of composition with aspiring photographers in Hetch Hetchy while Yosemite veterans Al Golub, Gabriel Mange, and Joshua Cripps will guide daily photo sessions from various shooting locations.

For more information about YExplore, contact Lindsey Beedlel at lbeedle@christiecomm.com or  (805) 969.3744.

By David Porter, AP

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge upheld a 21-year-old law prohibiting sports betting in all but four states, dealing a setback to New Jersey’s attempts to revive its struggling casino industry by grabbing a piece of what has become a multibillion-dollar industry, both legal and illegal.

The ruling published late Thursday night marked the second defeat for New Jersey in a lawsuit filed last year by the four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA. In a December ruling, U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp denied the state’s claim that the leagues and the NCAA didn’t have standing to bring the suit because they couldn’t demonstrate tangible harm to their products if New Jersey were to allow sports betting.

“We believe firmly in the principles of our position on sports betting and that the federal ban is inequitable, violates New Jersey’s rights as a state and is unconstitutional,” Gov. Chris Christie said.

State Sen. Ray Lesniak, the prime sponsor of the sports betting bill, said New Jersey would appeal Shipp’s “patent misinterpretation of the Constitution.”

This week, Christie signed a bill making the state the third in the nation to allow gambling over the Internet. New Jersey’s casino industry has seen revenues decline steadily over the last several years in the face of competition from neighboring states. Atlantic City’s newest casino, Revel, announced last week that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection next month, about a year after it opened.

New Jersey voters passed a sports betting referendum in 2011, and last year the Legislature enacted a sports betting law that limited bets to the Atlantic City casinos and the state’s horse racing tracks. Bets wouldn’t be taken on games involving New Jersey colleges or college games played in the state.

The NFL, NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the NCAA sued the state last year, and the NCAA has moved several of its championship events out of New Jersey because of the sports betting law.

New Jersey, represented by former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, among others, had attacked the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA, on several constitutional levels. In filings, the state argued the law unfairly “grandfathered” Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware, which already have some form of sports gambling.

On Thursday, Shipp said that although some of the questions raised in the case were novel, “judicial intervention is generally unwarranted no matter how unwise a court considers a policy decision of the legislative branch. As such, to the extent the people of New Jersey disagree with PASPA, their remedy is not through passage of a state law or through the judiciary, but through the repeal or amendment of PASPA in Congress.”

By KTVN-TV

The Nevada Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal motorcycle accident south of Reno Saturday afternoon.

The motorcyclist sustained fatal injuries March 2. Photo/Rachel Mosley/KTVN

Troopers say it happened about 2pm on Geiger Grade. Troopers say the unidentified man on a sports bike was driving down the road heading toward Reno from Virginia City.

Troopers say he was traveling at a high-rate of speed when he passed a car on a curve. He sideswiped the car and lost control of his bike.

He was taken by a Careflight helicopter to Renown Regional Medical Center where he later died.

The driver of the Suburu was not injured.

Paul Crandell, VP of marketing for GoPro, talks Feb. 28 during Tahoe Snowcial at Harveys in Stateline.