Barton Hospice invites everyone to celebrate the memory of a loved one through Light up a Life (formerly Tree of Remembrance) on Dec. 6 from 5:30-6:30pm at Inn by the Lake (3300 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe).

Light up a Life is an annual interfaith ceremony that provides the opportunity to gather as a community and honor those of who have died.

This year’s ceremony will be outdoors (weather permitting) with an indoor reception immediately following. Music and songs will be performed by Steve Miller and Sean Cummings. Special handmade ornaments will be available for purchase. All proceeds will go to Barton Hospice services.

For more info, call (530) 543.5614.

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – The two Tahoe Regional Planning Agency board members who have the most issues with the Regional Plan update chose not to listen to the 2½ hours of public testimony on Thursday.

Claire Fortier, who represents South Lake Tahoe on the Governing Board, called out Mara Bresnick and Byron Sher for not taking the time to hear what the locals had to say. It’s their job to listen — even if they don’t like what is being said. (Bresnick is the California Assembly speaker appointee and Sher is the California Senate Rules Committee appointee.) Bresnick attended the morning session Nov. 15.

“It should speak volumes to the community and the state that the two members who are most vocal are not here to hear the locals,” Fortier said at the end of public comment. “We need to stop catering to those who do not live here. Science has proven we can fix the environment. It is entirely doable. Let us do it.”

She told Lake Tahoe News afterward it was not a planned speech – she didn’t even have notes to read from. The room was eerily silent as she spoke.

And then Fortier’s impassioned tongue lashing of her colleagues was met with applause.

When it comes time to vote on the Regional Plan next month, it will take a minimum of four yes votes from each state for it to pass.

Before public comment was taken Thursday at Harveys, the Governing Board went over issues the Regional Plan Update Committee discussed the previous day. Bresnick and Sher, who are not on the committee, had seven points to make. They each mentioned how they were bringing forth concerns of the Tahoe Area Sierra Club.

While the League to Save Lake Tahoe has in the past been in lockstep with the Sierra Club, that is not the case with the Regional Plan update. No one from the League spoke either day this week. The League has been at the table as the conservation industry’s voice. A TRPA employee said Darcie Goodman-Collins, executive director of the League, has made positive contributions throughout the process.

The board, with Sher and Nancy McDermid not present for the vote, agreed to the committee’s recommendation to the Regional Plan update that parcel level best management practices will be required for any redevelopment or new construction until the area-wide BMP project is completed.

The committee was split as to whether a few words should be changed to bring clarity. The board voted to make the changes, with Fortier the lone dissenting vote.

Imperfect. That word was often used by people to describe the Regional Plan update. It’s because no one entity or person has gotten everything they want.

What is different from this plan compared to the one approved in 1987 that the basin is still governed by is that the next one will be updated as needed, not overhauled in 20 years.

Those who for the past two days advocated for the Governing Board to approve the document next month said it is time to adopt the plan and move forward – that the status quo would be worse. Those who have issues with the plan contend it does not protect lake clarity, it would increase development and would create high-rises – that more work is needed before it’s adopted.

Jennifer Quashnick with the Tahoe Area Sierra Club on Nov. 14 spoke about how there is no air quality monitoring going on. Regarding this, TRPA Executive Director Joanne Marchetta was visibly perturbed. She said her agency monitors the air at six sites in the basin at an annual cost of $165,000.

Earlier in the day fire officials spoke about the threat to prescribed fire operations if the Bresnick-Sher proposal were added to the Regional Plan update.

The committee voted not to adopt the Sher-Bresnick proposal.

Twenty-eight people spoke at the Nov. 14 meeting in Incline Village, while 50 people gave input a day later in Stateline.

While all the comments are recorded, no further study of any of them will be done. All the hours of talk were about swaying the Governing Board — at least those who chose to attend. No more meetings of the board or any committee involving the Regional Plan update are scheduled between now and the Dec. 12 vote of the Governing Board. (That meeting will be at Harveys in Stateline, though the time has not been set.)

People, including the economy, vs. the environment are in large part what continue to divide those who have not found consensus. Those for the plan believe the environment, economy and people are tied together. Those who are against or are wary of the plan believe the environment trumps everything else.

• Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort terrain park staff partnered with New York Cares, the largest volunteer organization in New York City, to provide new and slightly used jackets to people who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

• Tahoe Resource Conservation District board member David Antonucci is stepping down after 10 years.

• Abra Teague, who owns the South Lake Tahoe and Jackson Jamba Juices, has opened one in the Carson Valley Plaza.

• John Brady of TopRetirements.com assembled a list of the 10 best places to retire if weather is the main concern. Carson City came in at No. 4.

• Barton Memorial Hospital’s emergency department’s waiting room hallway has a Sports Wall of Fame dedicated to athletes who have been treated in South Lake — including Julia Mancuso, Darren Rahlves, Hannah Teter and Elena Hight.

The Third and Incline Creeks watershed discharges more damaging fine sediment into the lake than any other watershed in Nevada.

To help curtail the amount of sediment reaching Lake Tahoe, the Tahoe Fund has given $10,000 to the interagency team responsible for implementing the restoration project. The grant finances a pedestrian bridge over Incline Creek to provide a recreational amenity in the heart of Incline Village and support the environmental improvement program.

The Incline Village General Improvement District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Nevada Division of State Lands completed the first two phases of this project in 2009 and 2010. Portions of Third Creek were restored, culverts were replaced, and bridges built. The final phase includes stream restoration improvements on Third Creek from Lakeshore Drive to Lake Tahoe, and on Third and Incline Creeks from Incline Way to Highway 28.

Christmas in the Sierra Concert, featuring David John and the Comstock Cowboys returns to the historic Genoa Town Hall on Dec. 8.

This musical stage performance is in the Old West style.

There are performances at 5pm and 8pm. Tickets are $20. Seating is limited.

A no host bar will be in the Town Hall.

Each ticket holder receives 10 percent off of dinner purchased at Genoa restaurants including Tombstone Tap & Grill, Genoa Station Bar and Grill, and Walley’s 1862 Restaurant located at the 1862 David Walley’s Resort. Genoa Country Store will offer the discount to guests attending the 5pm show only as the store will close at 5pm. Show your ticket or ticket stub for your discount.

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (775) 782.8696.

Knee injury prevention is key to staying active all winter.

Orthopedic surgeon Robert Rupp and Ryan Solberg, M.S.P.T., on Dec. 6 at 6pm will give a talk about knee injury awareness, as well as surgical and non-surgical approaches to injury treatment.

The lecture will be at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village (Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, Room 139).

The event is free.

By Lori Knowles, Canoe.ca

She’s the fastest female skier in the world.

U.S. alpine racer Lindsey Vonn — born in Minnesota, now based in Vail — is a four-time overall World Cup champion in ski racing and an Olympic gold medalist. Vonn, 28, is a female force so dominant, she made a recent bid to race against men at the Lake Louise World Cup in late November. (The request was denied.)

What makes Vonn want to ski so fast?

“I met (former Olympian) Picabo Street when I was 9,” she says. “As soon as I met her, I knew I wanted to be an Olympian.”

Which is why, two decades after meeting Street, Vonn has found her own way to inspire young female skiers. She has developed a learn-to-race program called Ski Girls Rock on the slopes of Vail.

“I know how much of an impact female role models can make,” Vonn says. “Picabo made a huge impact on me. She was so positive, so charismatic. But when I was young I also met some people who were not so friendly and it traumatized me as a kid. Picabo was the perfect role model for me, and that’s what I’m trying to give back with the Ski Girls Rock.”

Ski Girls Rock is a day camp aimed at girls — from 7-year-olds to teenagers — vacationing in Vail this winter. In a program designed by Vonn, coaches use fun and fast skiing to inspire girls to push beyond their comfort levels — to race slalom gates, to try steeper runs, to improve edging, and to learn techniques that will make them more aggressive and more successful on the ski hill.

“It’s not about a structured program,” Vonn insists. “It’s not about ‘ski school.’ Ski Girls Rock is about girls getting out there, being active, building self-esteem. I think that’s most important for girls this age.”

A day in the life of a Ski Girls Rock camp goes something like this: In a flurry of pink, intermediate and advanced skiing girls meet their female coaches — former competitors trained personally by Vonn to impart her philosophies. The girls are given white-and-pink ski racing bibs (numbers), then in a massive pack, they take off down Vail’s soft-powder-filled runs, dipping into the trees, jumping over bumps, whooping and hollering their way down the mountain.

While the girls are at many different levels — some ski like experts, others still novice — the coaches manage to keep the group together. The girls eat lunch as a group, engage frequently in giggling and tickling sessions, and high-five each other en masse when they make it successfully down a Vail slalom course. The girls are also given tips from Vonn on how to improve race times, what she thinks are the most effective training exercises and stretches — even what tunes she likes to work out to.

The World Cup champion drops in on the Ski Girls Rock program when she can, mostly in the fall and spring when she’s not active on the World Cup circuit.

In her absence, Vonn has added a new element for the 2013 ski season, which what Vail calls “EpicMix Racing” courses.

Girls are given an opportunity race a special EpicMix course, then compare their pace with Vonn’s. EpicMix (a mobile and web application to track and share ski data) adjusts the girls’ finish times according to age and ability, and assigns each racer a “Seconds Behind Lindsey” score.

When asked for whom Ski Girls Rock is best suited, Vonn says it’s a day camp for all girls, regardless of their ski-racing background.

“There isn’t an ideal ski girl,” she says. “They’re all here having fun and that’s the exactly the point. It’s about them going out there and finding out who they are, and what they want to do, and just being girls.”

By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times

It pays to shop around for car insurance. California rates can vary by as much as a third for the same driver in the same car at the same address.

An analysis by CarInsurance.com, an Internet car insurance clearinghouse, looked at rates for an unmarried 40-year-old male who commutes 12 miles to work each day.

The hypothetical insurance had policy limits of $100,000 for injury liability for one person, $300,000 for all injuries and $50,000 for property damage in an accident and a $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive coverage. This hypothetical driver had a clean record and good credit.

The average annual premium from six national carriers in all ZIP codes was $1,277 for a 2012 Honda Accord. However, the least expensive premiums averaged $870, or 32 percent less. The analysis looked only at price and did not consider customer service variations between insurers.

In California the average cost for the policy was $1,428, but the least expensive was $960, or 33 percent less. The biggest swing was in Ohio where the lease expensive policy was 56 percent below the average.

“No two insurance carriers have the same way of calculating rates,” said CarInsurance.com managing editor Des Toups. “In some places the difference between the most expensive and least expensive is thousands of dollars — and the rates in our study are for low-risk drivers.”

The differences are even greater for high-risk drivers, he said.

By KTVN-TV

Employees at Alpine Meadows are mourning the loss of one of their own.

Officials said on Saturday Annalise Kjolhede, a ski school instructor, was skiing the mountain before the resort opened when she hit a rock. She suffered serious neck and head injuries and passed away from her injuries on Nov. 13.

Alpine Meadows in a statement said, “…Though she was part of our team but one season, Annalise was a valued member of Alpine Meadows’ Kids Ski School. Her outgoing personality, passion for working with kids and friendly nature will be remembered and missed by all of her friends and colleagues here at Squaw and Alpine. Her passing is a tragic loss for our team and community.”

Kjolhede was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

I had a great day skiing Heavenly on Wednesday. Conditions are better than expected. Take your good skis.

Kirkwood and Squaw scheduled to open Friday and Sugar Bowl for the weekend.

Homewood’s job fair is on Saturday.

Here is the Nov. 15 ski report.

— Curtis Fong