• Lake Tahoe Humane Society is having a bingo fundraiser March 15 at 5:30pm at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center.

• Evangeline Elston has been hired to be director of the Valhalla Art, Music and Theater Festival.

• Truckee is launching of OpenCounter: Truckee. It is a web-based tool to help entrepreneurs interested in starting a business in Truckee estimate the time, costs and processes necessary to set up shop. For more info, go online.

• There will be a study session with Truckee’s Planning Commission on the Coldstream Specific Plan on March 18 at 6pm in the Council Chambers at Truckee Town Hall. For more information contact Jenna Endres at 530.582.2922 or jendres@townoftruckee.com.

• The Rubicon Trail is open.

• The next Meyers Area Plan workshop is March 19 from 6-8pm at the CCC building. A summary of comments is on county’s website.

• Matthew Brown has been hired as communications program manager for Reno after being managing editor of Nevada magazine for the last seven years.

• The grand opening for the Aspens housing project in South Lake Tahoe is March 27 at 3pm.

• National Geographic has named Reno one of the top 10 emerging ski towns. This is the second year in a row Reno has earned this designation.

• ValuePenguin.com analyzed annual premiums for a basic liability policy to give drivers an idea of car insurance costs in the Golden State. Markleeville came in at 28, South Lake Tahoe 46 and Placerville 52.

California Public Utilities Commission, Sierra Economic Development Corporation and El Dorado County are looking at ways to help bring broadband service to densely populated rural communities.

There will be a community meeting on the topic on March 17 from 6-7pm at the Holiday Market Meeting Room, 5030 Ellinghouse Drive in Cool. This meeting is for citizens living in the Cherry Acres area and surrounding neighborhoods.

The Gold Country Broadband Consortium is one of 14 regional consortia in the state funded by the California Advanced Services Fund Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia grant program to leverage regional, state and national resources as an investment in improving and expanding broadband access.

For more information, call 530.823.4703 or email randy@sedcorp.biz.

• March 12 at 7pm is the Spring String Fling Concert at South Tahoe Middle School. The free concert includes elementary and high school students.

• Placer County’s Department of Child Support Services continues to offer free monthly information sessions for those interested in learning more about the department’s programs and services. For more info, call 916.435.5706.

• Alan Heyvaert of the Desert Research Institute will present research findings and recommendations that address threats to Lake Tahoe’s aquatic near shore environment on April 3 from 5:30-7pm at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village. Cost is $5.

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

• South Lake Tahoe resident’s Alley Tinsley’s photograph “The Three Graces” won recognition as one of the 100 best photos of 2013 from Nikon.

ACT is sponsoring a bowling might at Tahoe Bowl to fund the spay-neuter program.

It is March 26 from 6-9pm. A portion of the proceeds will benefit ACT’s spay-neuter program and the El Dorado County Tahoe animal shelter.

There is a $5 entrance fee, and there will also be a raffle.

Teams must sign up in advance. Call (530) 400.4766.

The Animal Coalition of Tahoe is an all-volunteer nonprofit corporation that raises funds to help local residents spay and neuter their dogs.

This week El Dorado County will begin rehabilitation of the deck and walkway of the Mount Aukum Road Bridge at the North Fork of the Cosumnes River. The rehabilitation process requires closure of one lane of the bridge.

This closure will be in effect through May.

The work will affect the northbound and southbound lanes of Mount Aukum Road at different times. To facilitate traffic movement across the bridge, temporary traffic signals will be installed at both ends of the bridge. These signals will allow one-lane with alternating one-way traffic to move across the bridge. Portable changeable message signs will be in place to advise approaching motorists of the exact date of closure.

Questions regarding the project or the lane closures should be directed to Monika Pedigo at 530.621.5954 or monika.pedigo@edcgov.us.

Amanda Weavil, a doctor with Barton Health, will be giving a lecture on female chronic pelvic pain on April 1 from 6-7pm.

Attendees will learn about the causes of chronic pelvic pain and how it can affect your fertility, as well as what can be done to help alleviate chronic pelvic pain as well as surgical and non-surgical treatment options.

The free lecture is at Lake Tahoe Community College’s board room.

Shannon Skarritt, with the Tahoe Rim Trail Association, will give a presentation April 22 at the South Lake Tahoe Library.

She will introduce people to a snippet of TRTA’s 33-year history as well as its many programs, volunteer projects and more.

The free talk is at 5:30pm.

The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office warns area residents about an emerging phone scam in which people are posing as local law enforcement personnel to  money from innocent victims.

“Our Office has received a number of calls in the last couple of days about scammers, using names of legitimate law enforcement personnel, who use the threat of imprisonment unless the victim pays,” Undersheriff Tim Kuzanek said in a statement.

Kuzanek said that scammers tend to target vulnerable people such as the elderly and those who are new to the country. Scammers telephone potential victims and identify themselves as a representative from a local law enforcement agency such as the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. They may represent themselves as being with other local law enforcement agencies as well. The scammer tells the person there is a warrant out for their arrest for a certain amount of fine. The reason for the warrant is represented as being anything from a traffic violation to failure to pay full income tax requirements to the Internal Revenue Servic

“Although the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office will sometimes make calls to inform someone about a warrant, we never ask for payment over the phone or negotiate for payment in lieu of arrest,” Kuzanek said.

Anyone who has been a victim of this scam, or who receives such a call, is encouraged to take down as much information as possible, such as a name and call back number, without giving any information away. Then contact the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office at 775.785.9276.

Hector Ruiz, a 20-year Silicon Valley mogul in microchip technology, will speak at the Olympic Village Lodge on April 19.

Ruiz will focus on life, leadership, innovation, and fair competition. Ruiz’s recent book “Slingshot: AMD’s Fight to Free An Industry From the Ruthless Grip of Intel” focuses on the $1.25 billion settlement that Intel paid to AMD regarding Intel’s predatory business practices while elaborating on his humble upbringing as well as advice and lessons learned from his relatives and teachers. Ruiz has also worked for Texas Instruments and Motorola.

Doors at 5:30pm, event starts at 6:30pm.

After the event, Squaw Valley Institute will be offering an all inclusive, three-course dinner with Ruiz at Graham’s. Event tickets are $15. Dinner and event is $75. Go online to purchase tickets.