• North Tahoe Fire Station 51 has been awarded LEED gold certification for new buildings by the U.S. Green Building Council.

• Rahlves’ Banzai Tour returns to Squaw Valley this weekend and Alpine Meadows March 8-9.

• Ski season has wrapped up for area high schools: South Tahoe High girls placed first, Incline second and Whittell third. For the boys, North Tahoe took first place, Truckee second and STHS third.

• The Division IV state boys basketball championship is Saturday night at 7:45pm. Whittell will take on Virginia City.

• North Tahoe Public Utility District’s annual Snow Fest Pancake Breakfast is March 8 from 8:30-10:30am at the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach. Cost is $8 for adults, $3 for children. Proceeds benefit Dog Day in the Park and the future Tahoe Unleashed dog park at North Tahoe Regional Park.

Artists may submit original artwork for the 2014-15 California duck stamp art contest put on by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Submissions will be accepted from April 25 through May 23.

The contest is open to U.S. residents who are 18 or older. Entrants need not reside in California.

The winning artwork will be reproduced on the 2014-15 California duck stamp. The top submissions will also be showcased at the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association’s art show in July.

The artwork must depict the species selected by the California Fish and Game Commission, which this year is the scaup (lesser or greater).

All entries must be accompanied by a completed participation agreement and entry form. These forms and the official rules are available online.

• There’s a free blues show at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe every Tuesday at 7:30pm.

• Viking Construction of Rancho Cordova has been awarded the contract to construct a bridge on Highway 50 at the Sly Park Road undercrossing in Pollock Pines. Viking submitted the lowest bid at $5.2 million. The total cost of the project is estimated at $7.6 million. Construction will start in April. During construction, one lane of Highway 50 in each direction will remain open at all times.

• Design Workshop is hosting a Nevada wayfinding workshop March 17 from 4-5pm in the conference room of the Douglas County offices in Stateline.

• Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s March 18 Tech Tuesday is about email marketing via Constant Contact. The meeting is from 5-7pm in the chamber’s conference room in Stateline.

• North Tahoe Fire Protection District received a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for $1.6 million over two years. This grant will allow the district to hire nine additional firefighters and increase coverage at two of the five fire stations that are currently staffed part time.

• The Economic Development Division of El Dorado County is having kickoff for the Web Portal project on March 5 from 9am-noon in the Board of Supervisors meeting room, 330 Fair Lane, Placerville.

• T.G. Sheppard will be at the Carson Valley Inn on March 28. Doors open 6:15pm and the show starts 7pm. Tickets are $22; (775) 783.6606.

• Truckee has launched a survey to collect input from the community on the Truckee Trails and Bikeways Master Plan Update.

• Truckee Police Department’s annual report is available online.

• While Colorado legalized marijuana, it’s not allowed on most ski slopes. But it would be hard to know it based on the segment below from Inside Edition. After it aired Vail Resorts and the U.S. Forest Service confirmed that a number of structures associated with prohibited marijuana use and constructed illegally on USFS lands within the permitted boundaries of the company’s four Colorado resorts were destroyed.

South Tahoe High School wrestling coach Ryan Wallace has recently been bound to a wheelchair because his prosthetic leg has been a major source of trouble for a long time.

He had his right leg amputated after he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone disease.

The wheelchair is preventing him from being able to coach. A fund-raising campaign is under way to help Wallace get a new leg. The goal is to raise $25,000.

To contribute, go online.

Washoe County Sheriff’s Office’s Forensic Science Division is having an open house April 24 from 8:30am to 4pm.

Visitors will get to see how a real lab works. Lab staff will show people how latent prints are developed, test for the presence of blood, get a DNA profile, determine whether a white powder is cocaine, and other types of testing.

There will also be an opportunity to solve a crime via a mock crime scene.

The lab is at 911 Parr Blvd. in Reno.

RSVP to (775) 328.2800.

Monopalooza is an annual gathering of monoskiers.

This year it is in South Lake Tahoe Feb. 27-March 2. Feb. 28 is dedicated in the memory of Tom Wendell who died last year.

Wendell was known as Doc Mono. There will be a short memorial for him Feb. 28 at 2pm at the bottom of Chair 6 at Kirkwood Mountain Resort.

• Squaw Valley is planning a Welcome Home Celebration for all of the region’s Olympians on March 21. More details will be coming.

• Slow Food Lake Tahoe and Mamasake are putting on an event March 5 at 6pm to raise consciousness about sustainable seafood. The $45 tickets are available online.

• The grand opening for the Aspens at South Lake Tahoe affordable housing project scheduled for Feb. 27 at 3pm has been postponed to an undetermined date because of the weather forecast.

• Mark Carlson is now the administrative services director for South Lake Tahoe.

• Caesars Entertainment, owner of Harveys and Harrah’s at Lake Tahoe, was recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency for its Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management-Goal Achievement.

Child advocates of El Dorado County is having its annual box lunch fundraiser April 10.

Volunteers will deliver 3,000 lunches from Pollock Pines to Rancho Cordova by noon that day.

Funds raised will help pay for recruiting, training and supporting new advocates to help more abused and neglected kids in El Dorado County get into safe, permanent homes.

CASA is a nonprofit organization providing court mandated advocate services to approximately 350 children annually removed from their homes by the juvenile court system due to abuse or neglect.

For more information, go online.

It’s possible the South Lake Tahoe Mental Health Commission will be abolished.

On Feb. 26 at 5pm the county commission may vote on consolidating the commission into one entity. This could mean the South Shore would have less of a say.

There is a movement to make the appointment an at-large countywide group of mental health commissioners. It was this way years ago, but was changed so Tahoe could have a say in what goes on with its patients.

Email addresses for the Board of Supervisors may be found online.