By Hannah Madans, Sacramento Bee

WILTON – When Josh Brones turned on his pickup truck, Tanner, Sequoia and Dollar began to bark.

The three are treeing walker coonhounds, and these hunting dogs were ready to hunt. As Brones let them out of their kennel one by one, each ran a lap around the truck and then jumped into a crate in back.

“They’re living animals with this overwhelming desire to get out and run and get out and hunt, and it would be tremendously selfish to deny them that opportunity,” Brones said Tuesday. He was about to take them to a Glenn County spot just west of Maxwell where he often hunts.

His canines, and others like them, are central to the controversial practice of using dogs to hunt bears and bobcats. Senate Bill 1221, by Democratic Sen. Ted Lieu of Torrance, would ban their use. The Senate narrowly passed the measure, 22-15, in May. It’s now pending in the Assembly.

“Using dogs to hunt bears and bobcats is cruel to the dogs,” Lieu said in an interview Thursday. “It is cruel to the bears. It is cruel to the surrounding wildlife, and it violates what is known as fair chase.”

It’s a hot-button issue, with Brones and the 5,200-member nonprofit called California Houndsmen for Conservation, of which he’s president, opposing the bill. Joining them are hunting and sportsmen’s groups as well as cattlemen’s associations. Opponents have packed Capitol hallways and legislative committee rooms during hearings.

Just as fervent on the other side are the Humane Society of the United States, which sponsored the measure, and other animal and environmental organizations.

Read the whole story

The Live at Lakeview Summer Music Series is seeking volunteers to help break down the venue and pick up trash after each Thursday night concert.

Volunteers are also needed every Monday at 8am for the Live at Lakeview Neighborhood cleanup.

To get involved, call (530) 600.2233 or email Leslieallison33@gmail.com.

If you are not able to volunteer, but want to show support for these community events, purchase a beer or two at the beer garden.

The Live at Lakeview Summer Music Series is a completely free event every Thursday from 4:30‐8:30pm at the Lakeview Commons on the corner of Lakeview Avenue and Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe.

Friends of the Library is having a book sale Aug. 18 from 10am-3pm at the library meeting room.

All members of Friends of the Library are invited to a preview of the book sale, from 9-10 am. New members are welcome to signup that morning.

For additional information, call (530) 573.3185.

South Lake Tahoe branch library is at 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd.

By Nick Wingfield, New York Times

WASHINGTON — When Evan Wilder went flying onto the pavement during his bicycle commute one morning here, he didn’t have time to notice the license plate of the pickup truck that had sideswiped him after its driver hurled a curse at him. Nor did a witness driving another car.

But the video camera Wilder had strapped to his head caught the whole episode. After watching a recording of the incident later, Wilder gave the license plate number to the police and a suspect was eventually charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

“Without the video, we wouldn’t know who did it,” said Wilder, 33, who was bruised and scraped in the crash.

Cyclists have long had a rocky coexistence with motorists and pedestrians, who often criticize bike riders for a confrontational attitude, and for blowing through stop signs or otherwise exempting themselves from the rules of the road. Now small cameras — the cycling equivalent of the black box on an airplane — are becoming an intermediary in the relationship, providing high-tech evidence in what is sometimes an ugly contest between people who ride the roads on two wheels and those who use four.

Video from these cameras has begun to play an invaluable role in police investigations of a small number of hit-and-runs and other incidents around the country, local authorities say. Lawyers who specialize in representing bicyclists say they expect the use of cameras for this purpose to increase as awareness of the devices goes up and their prices, now starting at around $200, come down.

Some riders even argue that the technology will encourage cyclists to keep themselves in check during dust-ups with drivers.

“I know my actions before and after some event are going to be recorded if I’m the one being a jerk,” Wilder said. “It makes me want to be careful.”

Read the whole story

By Sam Levin, Denver Westword

Three days after Jeremiah and Lindsay Wheelersburg escaped the Century 16 shootings in Aurora unharmed, the couple got some unexpected news: They are having their first child.

For the pair from Aurora, Colo., it’s strange and wonderful news that gives them new perspective on one of their most traumatic experiences.

“The Lord brings beauty from ashes,” says Lindsay, 26. “Even in the midst of tragedy and so much lost life, the very next day, the Lord created life as well. It’s kind of been helpful for me to cope with it. I’ve been playing the scene that night over and over in mind. I’ve got this to replace all that.”

The couple, who met at Calvary Chapel Aurora and now lives in South Lake Tahoe, got one of the final tickets for the midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” late Thursday night last week. They were part of a group of more than thirty church members who bought tickets to the screening and ended up in theater eight, next door to theater nine, where accused gunman James Holmes eventually fired shots that killed 12 individuals and injured dozens more.

We spoke to Jeremiah, 25, on Friday outside of Gateway High School, where he and his brother Joel, a youth pastor in Aurora, had come the following morning to offer support to some of the survivors and witnesses recovering from the tragedy. At the time, Jeremiah told us that one of the scariest parts of the whole experience was the image of his wife panicking.

Read the whole story

By Melissa T. Schultz, Huffington Post

For my birthday seven years ago, I received a diagnosis of breast cancer. It wasn’t the kind of present a girl wants to get — not like a pair of earrings, or a pretty nightgown or a bouquet of fresh flowers wrapped in colored tissue. For a while after my cancer, I couldn’t stand the sight of birthday cake. How could something so sweet leave such a bitter taste?

Then, one September morning five years ago, unable to sleep and anxiously awaiting a doctor’s appointment later in the day, I found myself staring down at a plate full of white cake with buttercream frosting, spread to resemble the ocean’s waves. The cake had called out to me the day before from the refrigerated case at the bakery — the same case I’d walked past countless times and never once noticed its contents.

It’s not as if I was going to eat the whole thing in one sitting, mind you. I cut the enormous slice of icebox-cold treat in half, placing one portion on a plate and carefully returning the rest to the refrigerator. Alone at my kitchen counter I ate slowly — savoring every luscious bite, washing the cake down with hot black tea which I drank from a tea cup that once belonged to my grandmother. When I was done, nary a crumb remained, though my anxiety about the day ahead lingered.

The lump I’d found on my neck weeks before was still present and accounted for, serving as a constant reminder that life can be unfair. It led me to my oncologist — a man with a kind face and tender touch despite his occupation in the dark arts — who directed me to make an appointment with a specialist, which prompted me to walk by that bakery case in the first place. Since my original diagnosis of breast cancer, every lump and spot that surfaced anywhere on my body has been examined under a microscope. I’ve been biopsied and X-rayed, then generally left to stew over a long weekend awaiting the results. Each time, I told myself I couldn’t affect change by worrying, and needed to press on with life. So I organized drawers and emergency contact lists, in case I needed to turn over the reins of mothering in an instant, and watched reruns of I Love Lucy till the world felt like a happy place again.

Read the whole story

By Eryn Brown Los Angeles Times

According to a survey of more than 4,000 young adults, a large proportion of Generation X isn’t all that concerned about climate change.

Writing in the quarterly Generation X Report — which details findings of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, a yearly survey of Americans who entered 7th or 10th grade in 50 U.S. public school systems in the fall of 1987 — University of Michigan research scientist Jon D. Miller said that the “surprising” results indicated that “many young adults do not see [climate change] as an immediate problem they need to address … and that many young adults prefer to focus on more immediate issues.”

The survey identified awareness about climate change among interviewees, most of whom are now 36 or 39 years old. In 2008, the research reported, 28% of participants in the Longitudinal Study of American Youth said that they were “very interested” in climate change issues; 55% said they were “moderately interested” and 17% said they were not interested at all. That same year, 57% of respondents said they were “very interested” in the economy and in local school issues.

When asked about their levels of concern about climate change in 2009 and 2011, between a fifth and a quarter of study participants indicated a “high level” of concern, and nearly 60% considered themselves well- or moderately informed on the issue. But Gen Xers reported high levels of uncertainty and ambivalence about a series of statements about climate change included in the 2011 survey, Miller wrote.

Respondents were asked to rate how strongly they agreed, on a scale from 1 to 10, with the statements. Seventy percent “expressed mixed feelings” about the statement “If the present rate of coal and oil use continues, serious long-term environmental damage will occur,” Miller said. More than half of those either had no opinion about the statement or said they didn’t understand the issue well enough to offer an answer.

Analysis of survey responses suggested that nearly a quarter of the Gen Xers interviewed were “alarmed” or “concerned” about climate change and that about a tenth were “doubtful or dismissive” about it, the report said. That leaves two-thirds “disengaged or cautiously on the sideline.”

“The climate issue appears to attract fewer committed activists — on either side — than I would have expected,” Miller said in a statement.

The activists tended to be better educated than the disengaged respondents. People who did not have children were slightly more alarmed about climate change than parents were.

Read the whole story

South Lake Tahoe patrol officers are switching from four 10-hour shifts to three 12-hour shifts.

Police Chief Brian Uhler said this would provide better coverage on the streets as well as save the city money when it comes to overtime.

He told the City Council last week he expects the savings to be $25,000 a year, while the police association believes the savings to be $90,000 per year.

Mayor Claire Fortier and Councilman Tom Davis expressed concerns about fatigue and insisted Uhler report back in three and six months about how the change in hours is working – in terms of fatigue and if money is being saved.

This is not the first time, though, that SLTPD has worked 12-hour shifts.

The four hours officers will get paid for but are not scheduled to be on the street will in part be used when they need to work overtime, as well as for training hours.

— Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe Recreation Facilities Joint Powers Authority at its July 27 9am meeting at Lake Tahoe Airport will be presented with ideas about how to spend money to improve bike trails and fields within its jurisdiction.

The three-member board could take action that morning or defer a decision.

It is being recommended that new planks for the two bike bridges in South Lake Tahoe be replaced and that the softball field at South Tahoe High School be completed.