March 1 at 6pm is Napa Classics Tasting at Après Wine Company in South Lake Tahoe.

Cost is $25 advance, $30 at door. It includes five

wines and appetizer pairings. Discounts on wines tasted. RSVP to (530) 544.9463.

Feb. 22 at 6pm is Wines Under $15 A Bottle tasting at Après Wine Company in South Lake Tahoe.

Cost is $15 advance, $20 at door. It includes five wines and appetizer pairings. Discounts on wines tasted.

RSVP to (530) 544.9463.

Feb. 15 at 6pm – France vs. Italy, Round 2 is a tasting at Après Wine Company in South Lake Tahoe.

Cost is $25 advance, $30 at door. It includes five wines

and appetizer pairings. Discounts on wines tasted.

RSVP to (530) 544.9463.

On Feb. 12 at 11am is a free snowshoe tour at Sugar Pine Point State Park, the lakefront and the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion estate.

It starts near the restrooms in the day-use side of the park (lakeside entrance off Highway 89). Parking fee is $8. For more information, go online.

Rep. Tom McClintock will be the keynote speaker at the annual Placer County Republican Party Lincoln Reagan Dinner on Feb. 12.

The Republican candidates for the 4th Assembly District special election are also on the agenda.

The event is from 6:30-8:30pm at the Timber Creek Ballroom at Sun City in Roseville. Cost is $60/person, $110/couple in advance.

For more information, call (916) 672.8446.

Join Annie Caires in an exploration of the deepest areas of Lake Tahoe and learn about the biological community that lives within its abyss.

Caires will present a public lecture from 6-7pm March 1 at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences. The event will be held in the assembly room 139-141, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, .

Tickets cost $5 for the general public and no charge for students with valid student identification. Prior to the presentation UC Davis offers a no-host happy hour with wine, beer and food for attendees.

Researchers from UNR and UC Davis have recently found substantial change has occurred at the bottom of Lake Tahoe over the past four decades. What is happening on the lake bottom and what changes are being found in the plant and animal communities that inhabit deep areas of the lake? What is causing this change and how will it impact the overall health of the lake?

The team of scientists and volunteers initiated a comprehensive investigation of the lake bottom, the first since the 1960s. They used dredges to collect 400 samples from deep areas of the lake to detect changes since the 1960s survey. Looking for elusive native species, they found critters that live only in Lake Tahoe. These species include a blind shrimp that normally lives in dark caves and a stonefly that, unlike other stoneflies, lives its entire life in the lake. Meet these interesting species and learn why they might be the “canaries in the coal mine” for the health of Lake Tahoe.

Join Marco Molinaro in learning about the field of biophotonics.

Molinaro will present a public lecture about the science of biophotonics from 7-8pm April 13 at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences.

The event will be held in the assembly room 139-141,291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village.

Tickets cost $5 for the general public and no charge for students with valid student identification. Prior to the presentation UC Davis offers a no-host happy hour with

Biophotonics can be defined simply as the study of the interaction of light with biological material – where “light” includes all forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. In biophotonics we generate and harness these photons to image, detect and manipulate biological materials as well as detect and cure disease.

With revolutionary advances in biomedical science, the understanding of the mechanisms of human health and disease has extended into the regime of cellular and molecular structure and function.

Author Scott Lankford will present a public lecture from 6-7pm June 1 at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences about what lurks beneath the surface of Lake Tahoe.

The event will be in the assembly room 139, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village.

Tickets are $10 for the general public and no charge for students with valid student identification.

“Tahoe Beneath the Surface” brings the hidden history of America’s largest mountain lake to life through the stories of its most celebrated residents and visitors over the last ten thousand years. It mixes local Washoe Indian legends with tales of murderous Mafia dons, and Rat Pack tunes with Steinbeck novels. It establishes Tahoe as one of America s literary hot spots by tracing the steps of more than a dozen authors including Bertrand Russell, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Michael Ondaatje.

“Tahoe beneath the Surface” reveals how the lake transformed the lives of conservationists like John Muir, humorists like Mark Twain, and Hollywood icons like Frank Sinatra. It even touches upon some of the darker aspects of American history, including anti-Chinese racism and the Kennedy assassination.

Despite the impact Lake Tahoe has had on America, environmental threats loom large, and Tahoe Blue a term that Lankford uses to encompass the whole range of life, beauty, and meaning the lake represents grows increasingly vulnerable. In “Tahoe beneath the Surface,” human history and natural history combine in a most engaging way, one that will both inform and inspire all who would keep Tahoe blue.

The 35th annual Great Ski Race, the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue fundraiser cross-country ski race, is March 6 at 9am.

It starts at the Tahoe Cross Country Center in Tahoe City and finishes at the Cottonwood Restaurant in Truckee.

Tickets are $55 through Feb. 15, $65 Feb. 16-March 5, $75 on race day; $25 for youths. Information is online.

The annual Disabled Sports Ability Bash is March 26 from 6-11pm at the base lodge of Alpine Meadows ski report.

Gourmet food, live music, and a silent auction are part of the fun.

Individual tickets are $100.

Call (530) 581.4161 for tickets or more information.