TOCCATA — Tahoe Symphony Orchestra — continues its summer season with a program that includes the Grieg Piano Concert, opera arias from Turandot and Carmen, and the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony.

The first concert is July 26 at 7pm at St. Theresa Catholic Church, South Lake Tahoe. Other concerts in the series will be presented July 28 and July 30, though the locations are not determined.

Tickets are $25 adults, $20 seniors, and $5 students with youth under 19 free. Preferred seating is $35.

For more information, call (775) 313.9697.

By Capital Public Radio

Data suggest climate change is bringing an increased risk of more severe forest fires, but warming temperatures may cause other complex ecosystem changes. Local agencies are already planning ways to mitigate and adapt, but making policy based on models that show global trends over the next century is not an easy task.

On a recent brisk sunny morning at Lake Tahoe, the waters sparkling their iconic blue. Scientists from UC Davis’s Tahoe Environmental Research Center take the boat out to Tahoe Buoy Three, a floating concrete island about 10-feet in diameter with scientific instruments bolted to its tripod structure.

“When you have a long-term record, especially going back more than 40 years , you can start to see these long-term trends,” said Geoff Schladow, the director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center. “So now springtime defined by the peak of the spring runoff, is occurring two weeks sooner than it did 40 years ago.”

Lake Tahoe is an outdoor labratory that could help predict the future. Photo/LTN file

Data from these buoys show that the lake has warmed about 1 degree Fahrenheit on average over the last four decades.

But it’s not the average that’s worrisome. The concern is that the surface has warmed much more than the depths. So that makes the surface water much lighter.

“We’re finding on average that density difference is getting larger, meaning more energy is needed to mix that water,” Schladow said.

Historically Lake Tahoe mixes all the way from top to bottom about once every three or four years. The mixing helps move oxygen throughout the lake’s water.

“What the model suggests is that in the coming decades, it’s going mix to that depth less often,” Schladow said. “And possibly in the second half of the century, that mixing may cease altogether.”

Less water mixing could bring a cascade of changes to the ecosystem. There have already been some periodic increases in surface algae. This could reduce zooplankton, which are a critical food source for fish. And reduced mixing could cloud Tahoe’s famous water clarity.

That’s the tricky thing about climate change. Science can point to some concrete trends — water and air temperature warming; or more precipitation falling as rain, not snow — but scientific models can’t tell what will happen next year. Or exactly how climate changes might affect the ecosystem.

Andy Wirth, CEO of Squaw Valley, says they can’t base their business plan on suggestions that snowpack might be reduced by half in the next 50 years.

“Those are horizons that are very difficult to manage to. And I would really make effort to have everyone understand how seriously we take this,” Wirth said.

Read the whole story

Hot August Nights will be on the South Shore Aug. 3-5.

There will be daily show-n-shines with cash and trophy awards, poker walks with cash awards to the winners, a cool car showroom, a classic car auction, automotive exhibits, special night time cruising, vendors, a sock hop and free ’50s and ’60s style live entertainment daily on all of the outdoor stages.

Car registration is open to all 1972 and older American and European cars and trucks.

For more information, go online.

The California Highway Patrol and South Lake Tahoe Police Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint on July 6 on Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

• The July issue of Sunset magazine has a good spread on Lake Tahoe, but locals are not apt to learn anything.

• Squaw Valley is having movies starting at 8:30pm every Thursday in July and August in the Events Plaza of the village.

• Marni Elise Perschnick of South Lake Tahoe recently graduated from George Fox University with a bachelor’s in social work.

• Vegan Creations in the Basin – Tahoe’s first vegan café – opens July 3 in the Swiss Village Center in South Lake Tahoe.

• Bruce Eisner, an icon with the California Tahoe Conservancy, was honored by the board at the June meeting for his years of service. Although technically he is retired, he is working part time for the agency.

By Anjeanette Damon, Las Vegas Sun

As Nevada gaming lobbyists diligently lay the groundwork for what might be a final end-of-the-year push for federal legislation legalizing online poker, perhaps the biggest wild card is a man who has vowed to spend as much as $100 million influencing this year’s election.

Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has spent $26 million on the presidential race and is likely to sink resources into Nevada’s U.S. Senate race — in which his longtime nemesis, Democrat Shelley Berkley, is running.

And Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., doesn’t like online gambling. At all.

Berkley’s Republican opponent, Sen. Dean Heller, stands to benefit from the substantial influence and money Adelson will bring to the race. But Heller continues to favor online poker.

“Sen. Heller continues to support legalizing Internet poker and has been working closely with both Sen. (Harry) Reid and Sen. (Jon) Kyl on legislation to achieve this goal,” Heller’s spokesman, Stewart Bybee, said in a written statement.

Bybee said Heller wasn’t available for an interview for this story.

Jan Jones, vice president of public affairs for Caesars Entertainment, which has been actively lobbying for passage of online poker legislation, echoed Bybee’s statement.

“Sen. Heller has been excellent,” Jones said. “He’s fully engaged and understands the importance of the legislation to Nevada.”

As a Republican in the Senate, Heller could play a role in winning over skeptical members of his party — those who worry about the proliferation of gambling if Congress legalizes online poker. Indeed, some blame former Sen. John Ensign for failing in that role in 2010 when he was in the thick of the scandal surrounding his extramarital affair.

Kyl, an Arizona Republican, had been a roadblock to the legislation but has since been convinced that gambling proliferation would be worse if individual states jump into the business, creating a patchwork of licensing and regulatory schemes.

That’s starting to happen now in the wake of a Department of Justice opinion that the federal Wire Act prohibits only online sports betting, not all online gambling.

Nevada companies are ramping up in preparation not just for federal legalization, but also to enter markets in states that legalize online play. Station Casinos this month launched Ultimate Poker, a free play site, on Facebook. Also this month, the Nevada Gaming Commission issued online betting licenses to Bally Technologies and International Game Technology.

Although Nevada gaming companies stand ready to take advantage of individual state markets, they are better poised to capitalize on a national market, where their name-brand sites are familiar.

But even as lobbyists rush to convince lawmakers that a federal law legalizing online poker — and outlawing other types of Internet gambling — is needed, many say it’s Adelson who should be worked. Adelson’s influence with Republican leadership in the House, especially Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is more of a threat to online poker legislation than the money he is spending to back Heller, lobbyists say.

“Eric and Sheldon talk all the time; it’s an ongoing dialogue,” one industry lobbyist said. “Dean is one vote, where Eric controls the agenda.”

The question is how engaged Adelson decides to become on the issue.

Read the whole story

A 16-year-old male was arrested by South Lake Tahoe Police Saturday afternoon for allegedly stabbing a man in the arm during an altercation on 11th Street and Eloise Avenue on Friday.

Following up on leads, police found the juvenile suspect around 12:30pm Saturday in an apartment on Blackwood Trail after identifying it as the apartment of a parolee, according to Sgt. Josh Adler of South Lake Tahoe Police. Earlier, during their investigation police took into custody a 17-year-old male from a location on Kokanee Trail in El Dorado County who was allegedly also involved in the incident. Police say Sonya Klempner was also at that location and obstructed the investigation and was also arrested.

Police say the stabbing does not appear to be gang related.

On Friday, police and fire personnel responded to a call and found a 22-year-old male who said he had been riding a bicycle and got into an altercation with a male riding a skate board who stabbed him in the arm and then fled west across Emerald Bay Road. The victim was taken to Barton Hospital for treatment and police, with the assistance of the El Dorado County Sheriff and California Highway Patrol, searched the area but were unable to locate the alleged assailant at the time.

Sgt. Adler told Lake Tahoe News the victim is in stable condition after surgery.

Police are still investigating the crime and said anyone with information should contact them at (530) 542.6100 or Secret Witness at (530) 541.6800

Orthopedic surgeon Kyle Swanson will talk about what’s new for treating shoulder arthritis on July 11.

The 6-7pm lecture will be at Lake Tahoe Community College, 1 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe.

For more information, call (530) 543.5537.

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

• Reno’s month-long Artown festival is in full swing. Find concerts, performances and other events online.

• Placer County Animal Services is offering half off the cost of all animal adoptions at its shelters in Auburn and Tahoe Vista through Aug. 31. For more information, including shelter hours, call (530) 886.5540.

• California State Park Rangers and West Shore Sports are offering an evening kayak tour launching from Ed Z’berg-Sugar Pine Point State Park on July 2. No experience is necessary and all ages are welcome. The tour is $25 per person and includes park entrance, kayak rental, life vests and instruction. Wear synthetic clothing rather than cotton (swimsuit, shirt, shorts, lightweight pants, jacket and warm cap). Bring water, retainer strap for glasses and water shoes. Proceeds benefit the Sierra State Parks Foundation. Meet at the North Boathouse on the Day Use side of the park at 7:30pm.  Reservations are required; call (530) 525.9920 by noon to reserve a spot. 

The Wanderlust Festival, a one-of-a-kind yoga and music festival, returns for a fourth year to Squaw Valley July 26-29.

The yogis teaching and speaking at this year’s North Lake Tahoe festival include Baron Baptiste, Shiva Rea, Jonny Kest, Baxter Bell, Adam Rinder and Seane Corn.

The music lineup includes the reggae sounds of Ziggy Marley, Beats Antique who got their start in the San Francisco underground performance art scene and MC Yogi with their dose of hip hop, reggae, dancehall and dub sounds. Also playing at Squaw Valley is Shpongle Presents the Masquerade, a new world of traditional sounds, acoustic guitars, Moroccan drums, Turkish operatic singing, cello, double bass, backing vocals and silver flute blended together with computer wizardry.

The Wanderlust Festival will also host a high-end dining experience at Squaw Valley’s High Camp July 26 and July 27, 7:30pm. This food journey is comprised of the freshest ingredients and flavors from area growers, including the Carson Valley and nearby Grass Valley.

The onsite Wanderlust Healing Sanctuary at Squaw Valley offers healing services from some of the most talented healers across the country, with each of the trained practitioners devoted to supporting festivalgoer’s unique journey and experience.

Kids get in the mix too with the Wanderkind Kids Program, geared for ages 4-10 years, that includes yoga, live music, hooping, as well as arts and crafts.

For more information about the Wanderlust Festival in Squaw Valley, a complete lineup of events, photos and videos, as well as to register, go online.