By Brittany Anas, Daily Camera

Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett dished his views on Colorado’s medical marijuana laws to CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Monday after the television newsmagazine sent a crew to town to interview the prosecutor for an upcoming segment.

“My emphasis is always public safety,” Garnett said in an interview prior to Monday’s taping. “I don’t see the public safety benefit in prosecuting law-abiding dispensaries or making low-level marijuana cases much of a priority.”

Garnett — who was interviewed by “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft in a Boulder courtroom — said he is under the impression the segment will be about the business of medical marijuana in Colorado, and that it also will include interviews with dispensary owners. He said he expects the segment to air in the fall.

Kevin Tedesco, a publicist for “60 Minutes,” declined to comment on the piece.

“We don’t discuss stories we’re working on,” he said.

Read the whole story

• Camino’s Madrona Vineyards’ 2009 Cabernet Franc has been selected by the New York Times Wine Club to be included in its shipment of wines.

• Bob Ellis of Truckee has been elected VP of racing for the Far West Ski Association for 2012-13.

• Lakeland Village in South Lake Tahoe received a 2012 Certificate of Excellence award from TripAdvisor for having four out of five outstanding user reviews posted worldwide.

• On Saturdays from 11am-1pm is Ask the Gardener at Blue Angel Café in South Lake Tahoe where Mountain Girl Jax offers gardening tips.

• David Hansen of Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe has joined the Sierra Nevada Alliance board of directors.

By Mandy Kendall

It is an unfortunate fact of life these days that it is likely you at least, know someone who has been affected by cancer in some way.

When cancer affected my family recently I spent time researching the current thoughts on treatments, but equally important, preventative measures for cancer.

Mandy Kendall

I found pretty much everything you can imagine, from the wild to the whacky, but many overriding themes appeared time and time again and are based on basic, common sense, health advice that is well worth repeating.

During my research I found an article written by doctor Joseph Mercola that encompassed most of what the rest of the health and wellness community is recommending. (Whether you agree or disagree with his marketing, his articles are founded and based on fact and science). I usually like to try highlight one aspect of another author’s work in my Qwik-e tip pieces, but Mercola’s article outlines everything I would have wanted to say so I decided to post a summary of the article over the next two weeks.

Mercola on his website says, “It’s important to realize that cancer is for the most part a man-made disease, primarily influenced by lifestyle and toxic environmental exposures. Prevention truly is worth a pound of cure when it comes to cancer, and the following healthy lifestyle strategies can help you avoid ever becoming a cancer statistic.”

His tips are:

1. Avoid sugar and fructose. This is largely due to its relation to insulin resistance. As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day, including fruits.

2. Optimize vitamin D. Researchers within this field have estimated that about 30 percent of cancer deaths — which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000 in the United States — could be prevented each year simply by optimizing the vitamin D levels in the general population

3. Get plenty of natural vitamin A. Your best sources are organic egg yolks, raw butter, raw whole milk, and beef or chicken liver. However, beware of supplementing as there’s some evidence that excessive vitamin A can negate the benefits of vitamin D.

4. Exercise regularly. One of the primary ways exercise lowers your risk for cancer is by reducing elevated insulin levels, which creates a low sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells. Most important of all is to make sure you include high-intensity, burst-type exercise.

5. Normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats. Do this by taking a high-quality krill oil or fish oil and reducing your intake of most processed vegetable oils.

Until next time.

Mandy Kendall operates Health Connective in South Lake Tahoe. If you have any questions, would like some advice, or would like to request some Qwik-e tips on any health and wellbeing topic, please feel free to drop me an email at healthconnective@gmail.com, visit us on Facebook, or keep an eye out on Lake Tahoe News for regular Qwik-e tips on how to make healthy changes one Quick and Easy step at a time.

By Carlos Alcalá, Sacramento Bee

Volunteers are needed to take care of baby birds at Sierra Wildlife Rescue in Placerville.

The wildlife care center has about 100 birds that were orphaned of injured and are in need of volunteers to handle feeding and care.

Hands-on training is available at Sierra Wildlife Rescue, 3030 Newton Road, every Wednesday at 5pm.

Trained volunteers can sign up for two- or four-hour shifts between 7am and 7pm.

To register for training, call Barbara Barker at (530) 621.2650.

If you find an orphaned or injured baby bird in El Dorado County, call the nursery at (530) 621.2020.

By Paul Begala, Newsweek

As the poet predicted, the center cannot hold. But it’s not because both the right and left are tearing at it equally. In an age in which journalism and punditry are terrorized by the demands of false equivalency, it is time to speak a simple truth: conservatives are to blame.

It was not liberals who ended the career of Richard Lugar. The longest-serving Republican in the Senate was unceremoniously dumped last week by the Tea Party fringe. He was not, as the saying goes, caught with a dead girl or a live boy. He was just too doggone moderate, too ready to compromise with the Democrats. Thanks for that, Senator Lugar. Oh, and you’re fired.

Today’s Republicans are different. They truly have put partisanship ahead of patriotism, as the political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann document in their book, Even Worse Than it Looks. “The GOP,” they write, “has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”

Careful, guys, they’re going to revoke your pundit license. Don’t you know you’re supposed to say “Both sides are to blame”? Their response is powerful—and as damning of conventional media analysis as it is of the GOP: “‘Both sides do it’ or ‘There is plenty of blame to go around,’” they write, “are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias.” They describe the standard calculus of compromise—both sides moving toward the middle—as “a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.”

Sure, the Democrats hated George W. Bush. But when he wanted to meet them halfway on education, even Ted Kennedy helped him. And when he wanted to make an impressive commitment to fighting AIDS, TB, and malaria in Africa, Harry Reid and Joe Biden—along with Richard Lugar—made it happen.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

PLACERVILLE – “Look at me as if I’m the judge.”

“You have to look like you want to win.”

“A big point will be how hot it will be. We need to bring squirt bottles.”

All of these words of wisdom are from Marcia Deane, swine project leader.

Do they know what's next after they are judged at the El Dorado County Fair? Photos/Kathryn Reed

Before the El Dorado County Fair opened she and her charges were practicing Wednesday for today’s judging. It’s all about the 4-H kids today, whereas on Thursday the pigs were being judged for their meat.

Deane was trying to instill confidence in these youngsters who range in age from 9 to 19. For most, this fair is the first time they’ve been in an arena with one of their animals under the scrutiny of professional judges.

The swine weigh between 215 and 280 pounds. One of the girls leading around a pig looked like she weighed about 70 pounds.

A sneak preview Wednesday night of this annual event in Placerville showed a different side of the fair than what people will see for the next three days. (The fair is June 14-17.)

Vendors are putting up their displays in the exhibit halls. Boxes full of stuffed animals are being unloaded as rewards in the games of chance. Lights from the midway are twinkling, but the carnival sounds are not on.

But what can’t be turned off is the baying of goats, the oinks of pigs and moos of cows.

It wouldn’t be a county fair without the farm animals. While Tahoe doesn’t have much in the way of farming anymore, cattle rustling and cowboys are a strong part of the basin’s history.

On the other side of the county farm life is thriving. What’s going on is not a throwback to a different era, but instead is a way of life for people on the West Slope.

Shanley Bruscino, 12, is feeding alfalfa to her myriad goats. This makes their milk taste better than if they were to eat grass.

Her mom, Tammy, explains how they raise a variety of goats on their 10 acres in Shingle Springs.

“The goats are not grazers, they are browsers. They don’t like grasses,” Tammy Bruscino said.

All have registered papers, and are tattooed or microchipped to comply with judging regulations.

“It’s just like a dog show. It’s very intense,” Bruscino said.

These year’s theme is The Grapest Show on Earth. A number of wine events are part of the festivities.

“The theme is always to share something special about El Dorado County,” county Supervisor Norma Santiago says while she sits with Lake Tahoe News on preview night. This year it’s the county’s 53 wineries that are being highlighted.

Tom Davis, South Lake Tahoe city councilman and fair board director, is also at the table. He brings a trailer down each year and sleeps nearby the carnies for the four-day event.

One of Davis’ favorite events is the wheelbarrow race. (June 17, 5pm) This is the 68th year for the John M. Studebaker Wheelbarrow Race. After all, Studebaker started in Placerville manufacturing wheelbarrows.

All ages can compete, but it takes some strength to put the wheelbarrow over logs, with what could be 50 pounds of sand, then through neck-high water, in mud – oh, and it’s supposed to be 94 degrees in Placerville on Sunday.

It’s also a spectator sport, so to speak.

“It’s brutal,” Davis said of the course.

—-

Notes:

• El Dorado Transit is offering free shuttle service for the El Dorado County Fair from 11:30am to midnight today, 9:30am to midnight Saturday and 11:30am to 10:30pm Sunday. For detailed information, go online or call (530) 642.5383.

• More information is on the fair’s website.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The dam gates are open and the river is flowing, and rafting along North Lake Tahoe’s Truckee River is open.

Tahoe City-based Truckee River Rafting opened June 12. Truckee River Raft Company, also in Tahoe City, opened June 14. The companies offer self-guided, five-mile floats down the Truckee River.

Most trips are leisurely and take two to three hours to complete, with patrons exiting at River Ranch Lodge near Alpine Meadows Road along Highway 89.

People enjoy floating down the Truckee River near Tahoe City on June 14. Photo/LTN

Guests can park in Tahoe City and take free shuttles back to their vehicles after the float anytime before 6pm.

South Lake Tahoe is having a Fourth of July parade starting at 10am.

The parade will start at Stateline Avenue, go up Highway 50 and end at Rufus Allen Boulevard at the city’s rec center for a party.

For more information, go online.

By Marek Warszawski, Fresno Bee

Pack station owners serving Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California are breathing easier this week after a federal judge allowed the parks to issue permits for commercial stock use effective immediately.

“We’re going full-speed ahead,” said Tim Loverin, owner of the Cedar Grove Pack Station. “It’s going to be an early season because of the low snowpack, so now that we’ve got the permits we can finally get going.”

Presiding over a 3-year-old lawsuit between the High Sierra Hikers Association and the National Park Service, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg issued a temporary authorization May 23 that set permits for commercial horse packers at 80 percent of use levels from 2007.

A final written ruling will follow as Sequoia and Kings Canyon officials prepare a wilderness stewardship plan that will establish the extent to which commercial services such as pack stock belong in wilderness areas, which make up 97 percent of the jointly managed parks.

Seeborg’s previous ruling on Jan. 24 stated that the NPS violated the federal Wilderness Act because its 2007 general management plan for Sequoia and Kings Canyon fell short of doing so. This, in effect, halted all permits for commercial horse packing, threatening to cripple more than a dozen pack stations as well as other businesses that rely on stock use.

As an example, the Bearpaw High Sierra Camp canceled all guest reservations from June 15-30 due to the uncertainty over permits. The backcountry tent camp, which depends on pack mules to ferry supplies and haul out trash, will open June 29.

Read the whole story

The year’s first Music on the Lawn is a special one.

South Tahoe High School will open the celebration with a 20-piece band. Classics from the ’40s swing era along with a few newer pieces that everyone will know will be featured June 17 from noon-2pm at Valhalla

Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

The music is free, though donations will benefit the South Tahoe High School music department and Tahoe Tallac Association.

Following the STHS Band, Exceeding 55 will perform. All long-time Tahoe locals, Exceeding 55 features acoustic guitar, bass, and drums. Specializing in a blend of three-part harmony, the band creates a unique take on a variety of songs from the 1960s forward, with an occasional original for fun.

For more information, call (530) 541.4975.