Tahoe Institute for Natural Science is putting on a five scotch tasting and dinner fundraiser in February.

The scotches will be accompanied by a four course meal designed to complement the flavors of the evening, with rib-eye steak as the main course.

The tasting will be led by Evan Fletcher, a scotch enthusiast and certified spirits specialist, bringing over 10 years experience in the spirits industry.

The single malt scotches of the evening are:

• Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask
• Aberlour A’Bunadh
• Glenmorangie The Taghta
• Mortlach Rare Old
• Bruichladdich Port Charlotte.

The event is Feb.  28 at 6:30pm at the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation building, 948 Incline Way, Incline Village.

Tickets are $225 and must be purchased by Feb. 21. Go online to purchase tickets.

• Registration is open for the June 7 America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride – 72 miles around Lake Tahoe. Click here for more info.

• An electronic copy of the South Lake Tahoe’s 2014-15 budget document is available online.

• Lake Tahoe Community College Foundation’s Speaker Spotlight Series on Jan. 28 features Bruce Armbrust, a mathematics and physics instructor at LTCC. Armbrust will present Worlds Beyond Our Own, a look at the history and science behind the search for other planets. The free event starts at 6pm.

• Coldwell Banker McKinney & Associates is celebrating 30 years as an affiliate of the Coldwell Banker network.

• Guild Mortgage opened an operations center in Reno to process, underwrite and fund loans for its Nevada branches, including Lake Tahoe.

Benjamin and Lynette Hart of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine will present information on breed-specific and gender-specific behavioral profiles of dogs most commonly chosen as companions in the mountains including golden Retrievers, Labrador retrievers, German shepherds, Rottweiler’s, boxers and chihuahuas.

The program will begin at 6pm Feb. 19 at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village.

They will also share information about timing a spay or neuter procedure to reduce the likelihood of joint disorders and some cancers, and where there are major breed or gender differences.

Benjamin Hart is a distinguished professor emeritus at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where he was chief of the Behavior Service. He now leads a research project studying the adverse effects of spay/neuter with regards to breed, gender, and age of neutering. Lynette Hart is a professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where she teaches and does research on human-animal interactions. She is a collaborator on the spay/neuter project.

Cost is $5.

South Lake Tahoe is looking for people to help with its 50th anniversary bash.

There will be meeting Feb. 5 at 5:30pm at Lake Tahoe Airport.

Volunteers are needed for:

• Open house committee
• Time capsule and treasure hunt event committee
• Float-homecoming committee
• Dinner event committee
• Invitation committee
• Book committee.

For more info, contact Tracy Franklin at 530.542.6093 or tfranklin@cityofslt.us.

Some fresh faces and seasoned veterans were appointed Tuesday by the South Lake Tahoe City Council to a variety of commissions.

• Michael Siracuse was appointed for a two-year term on the Airport Land Use Commission. Former Councilman Ted Long also applied. The council opted to have a vacancy on the commission instead of appointing Long.
• David Huber, Ketih Cloutier, Chip Henderson, Dale Rise and Randy Vogelgesang are on the Building/ADA Board of Appeals. This board still needs two physically handicapped members.
• Eleven applied for five Parks & Recreation Commission spots. Appointed were Rebecca Bryson, Peter Fink, Steven Knoll, Bonnie Turnbull and Scott Valentine.
• Fourteen applied for the Planning Commission. The appointees are Scott Blumenthal, Judy Brown, Shannon Eckmeyer, Dale Rise and Craig Woodward.

The council all rejiggered assignments for members.

• Hal Cole: City Selection Committee, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Abandoned Vehicle Abatement JPA, Tahoe Prosperity Center, Successor Agency.
• Wendy David: Cal-Tahoe JPA, Clean Tahoe, Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce (non-voting), South Tahoe Public Utility District (liaison).
• Tom Davis: California Tahoe Conservancy, Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce.
• JoAnn Conner: Cal-Tahoe JPA, League of California Cities, Recreation JPA, Waste Management JPA.
• Austin Sass: El Dorado County LAFCo, Tahoe Transportation District, South Lake Tahoe Lodging Association.

The council kept with tradition of having the mayor and mayor pro tem be the Finance Committee. Davis and Conner will continue with the Airport Subcommittee Master Plan. New committees created Jan. 20 include: Parks-Recreation Master Plan Implementation Committee — Sass and Davis; Economic Development — Sass and David; LTUSD-LTCC Negotiating Committee — David and Conner; Development Committee — Cole and Sass.

• Barton Foundation raised $63,000 during the Festival of Trees and Lights for Barton Hospice.

• The former Bank of America building in Stateline is about to be an El Dorado Savings Bank, which will leave a vacancy in the Bijou Center in South Lake Tahoe.

• Lack of snow has forced Tahoe Donner Cross County to close. To stay updated, go online.

• Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District’s board meets Jan. 22 at 6pm at the Lake Valley Fire Station on Keetak in Meyers.

•  South Tahoe High School basketball teams play Lowry on Friday. The boys are are 6-2 after round one, STHS is 5-3. Girls tip off at 6pm, boys at 7:30pm.  STHS girls are 4-4 and Lowry is 8-0. STHS girls are fighting hard for one of four playoff spots.

BloodSource is having a blood drive in South Lake Tahoe on  Feb. 2 from noon-6pm.

It is sponsored by the Barton Memorial Hospital Auxiliary.

Walk-ins are welcome. Blood drive participants will receive a parking validation for the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel parking lot at the blood drive check in.

Donors must weigh at least 110 pounds, be 17 years old (16 year olds need a signed BloodSource Parental consent form) and be generally healthy. There is no upper age limit. Donors must bring a photo ID and should drink plenty of fluids before donating. Potential marrow donors can register for Be the Match through BloodSource.

For more information, call 800.995.4420, ext. 60039.

Soul House Project in Truckee will host an all-ages event called the Super Soul Party on Feb. 1.

From 3-8pm participants may watch the Super Bowl from comfortable couches on the Soul House Project’s 150-inch screen. Unlimited beer is available for $10, and for $20 attendees may eat food from Kellen’s Kitchen. There will be mini contests throughout the game.

Proceeds from the Super Soul Party will benefit the High Fives Foundation – supporting the dreams of mountain action sports athletes by raising injury prevention awareness, while providing resources and inspiration to those who suffer life-altering injuries.

The Soul House is at 10116 E St., Truckee.

• The Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe is one of 18 hotels in California to receive AAA’s five diamond rating

• The Swiss gas station on Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe is going on the auction block Feb. 11 because the owner Sarbjit Kang has refused to pay his bills.

• Bar of America in Truckee has reopened after an extensive remodel.

• Coyote Grill in Round Hill is hosting a charity chili night for Clean Tahoe on Jan. 22 from 5pm-closing. All you can eat chili is $3, with a portion of proceeds benefitting the nonprofit.

• Dave Teter, 48, of Cameron Park, has been reappointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the California Commission on Emergency Medical Services, where he has served since 2010.

• 968 Park Hotel in South Lake Tahoe will be featured in an episode of Travel Channel’s “Hotel Showdown” on Jan. 27 at 9pm.

• The Kiwanis Sunrisers Club’s 33rd annual Beach Party and Crab Feed is Jan. 30 at 6pm at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe. Tickets are $38 each – 530.541.5900.

• University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s 4-H Youth Development Program is looking for adults to mentor youth. For more info, contact Samantha Shoupe at 775.336.0270 or shoupes@unce.unr.edu.

• Here are the El Dorado-Tahoe and Sierra roadwork schedules for the week.

• Sugar Bowl turns 75 this year. Check out this video: