Washoe County Regional Animal Services is looking for volunteers to join the Animal Rescue Team.

Animal Rescue Team members are a group of volunteers who assist Animal Services staff during times of disaster, help out during special events and participate in day-to-day operations.

When animals are threatened as part of a natural disaster or other emergency, Animal Rescue Team members work side-by-side with Animal Control Officers to help with the evacuation and care of animals that are in the path of danger. Members are also required to work eight shifts per year at the shelter and eight shifts per year on patrol with Animal Control Officers.

Applications are available online. The application deadline is Feb. 25.

Volunteers are required to attend a series of four Saturday training classes. Classes are scheduled from 8am-noon on March 1, March 15, March 29 and April 12.

• Are you a paid subscriber to Lake Tahoe News? If not, here is the paid subscriber form. Your contribution keeps the news flowing every day; after all, LTN is the only place to get news about Lake Tahoe seven days a week. The first 10 people to send in $25 or more will also receive a Lake Tahoe News T-shirt. Just put your shirt size on the form.

• Truckee has funding available for two economic development programs. More info is online.

• The Rahlves’ Banzai Tour returns to Kirkwood Feb. 22-23.

• Sports America Tours lists Heavenly Mountain Resort as one of the top five most romantic ski resorts.

Squaw Valley’s 5th annual Kid-O-Rama celebration returns Feb. 15-22 to the Village at Squaw Valley.

It includes street parties, kids’ concerts, face painting, balloon art, s’mores, snowtubing and Big Truck Night.

The weeklong event caters to families with children and provides an array of kid-friendly activities the whole family can enjoy.

Big Truck Night gives kids the opportunity to explore a helicopter, firetruck, snowplow, grooming machine and tractor. It is Feb. 20 from 3-5pm.

For a full schedule of daily events, go online or call 800.403.0206.

“Vagina Monologues” will be staged in South Lake Tahoe on Feb. 28 and March 1 at 7pm.

The Eve Ensler production will be at Blue Angel Café in South Lake Tahoe at 7pm.

Cost is $15. Tahoe Youth & Family Services, Live Violence Free, CASA and Zawadisha are the beneficiaries.

“The Sex Show”, a Jeopardy-style sex education game show, is Feb. 13 at 8:30pm at Himmel Haus in South Lake Tahoe. Tickets are $5.

V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of “Vagina Monologues” and other artistic works.

• South Lake Tahoe pro snowboarder Elena Hight shares these ab workouts with Women’s Health magazine.

• Former South Tahoe High grad Chris Grant has been fired as general manger of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

• Here is the Sierra roadwork schedule from Caltrans.

• South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center will be hosting a mental health forum Feb. 13 from 6-8pm.

• Elephant Revival will be at Crystal Bay Club on March 8 at 10pm. Cost is $15 in advance, $18 at the door. For info, call (775) 833.6333.

The AARP Tax Aide Program offers free income tax preparation for California and Nevada residents of all ages.

Returns are prepared by IRS trained volunteers.

Services are offered on Thursdays 1:30-6pm, Fridays 9am-1pm, and Saturdays 10am-2pm through April 12 at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

No appointments are necessary. Bring ID, Social Security cards, pertinent tax documents and last year’s tax return.

For more info, call (530) 573.3050.

Chocolate: Heritage of the Americas is the topic of a lecture in Incline on April 10.

Louis Grivetti will present the social history of chocolate and its cultural role at various periods in U.S. history, with special attention to California, and a brief overview of chocolate as medicine.

No-host bar opens at 5:30pm and the program begins at 6pm.

The talk is at Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village. Cost is $5.

El Dorado Community Foundation is giving out money to various organizations, however the amounts have not been disclosed.

Recipients are:

Boys & Girls Club Western Slope, EDC Community Health Center, Center for Violence-Free Relationships, Partners In Care, South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center, city of Placerville, El Dorado County Academic Decathlon and Sierra Community Access TV.

These grants are possible only through the generosity of the donors to this fund.

Diamond Peak Ski Resort is moving forward with its Master Plan update, with the goal of being a year-round community recreational resource.

The Master Plan, created by the SE Group, explores opportunities for maximizing the existing winter business, while assessing the potential for new summer activities that will generate additional revenue.

The Master Plan will serve as a blueprint for future development of multi-season activities at Diamond Peak. There will be presentation of the draft Master Plan on Feb. 12 at 3pm at the Chateau in Incline Village.

A brochure touting Tahoe Paradise. Photo/Theresa and Darrell Eymann

The proposed Tahoe Paradise Inn. Photo/Theresa and Darrell Eymann

Tahoe Paradise proposed development. Photo/Theresa and Darrell Eymann

In the early 1960s, developers promoted a planned recreational community in Meyers which they named Tahoe Paradise.

A promotional brochure shows the plan included a long, covered moving walkway leading to a proposed Tahoe Paradise Inn, a riding stables, hot springs, water service, recreation club, and a new Highway 89 link toward Camp Richardson.

Today’s Pioneer Trail was proposed then as “Alternate U.S. 50” to Stateline.

Tahoe Paradise and Meyers today. Photo/Google Earth

Remaining today includes Tahoe Paradise Golf Course and the divided four-lane stretch of Lake Tahoe Boulevard between the South Lake Tahoe city limits and Sawmill Pond and Tahoe Mountain Road, which was intended to serve what the developers hoped would be a large population in Tahoe Paradise.

— Bill Kingman