Laura Veirs, k.d. lang and Neko Case delight a full house July 7 at Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater in Reno. Photo/LTN

By Kim Wyatt

RENO – That voice.

Legendary vocalist k.d. lang stole the show at a revelatory concert under the stars Thursday night in Reno. Lang, touring with Neko Case and Laura Veirs, blew away a sold-out crowd with an intimate, powerful performance at the Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater at Bartley Ranch Regional Park.

The concert on July 7 was part of the Artown citywide arts festival that lasts through the month of July.

The 16-song set, followed by two encores, featured songs from the newly formed supergroup’s June 17 release, “case/lang/veirs.” A playful lang led veteran musicians Case and Veirs through love lost and found, howling dervishes and do-wop with swagger, all while barefoot in what looked like very comfortable dark pajamas. Although the stage, a simple backdrop of the album cover artwork by Elliott Green, was designed to be egalitarian, highlighting the collaboration as well as each of the musician’s oeuvres, a charismatic lang easily commanded the crowd.

“We’re going to lay a little healing on you, ’cause we all need it right now,” lang said, kicking off the concert. Song after song showcased the strengths of each performer: lang crushed it on a cover of Neil Young’s “Helpless,” casting a spell as the moon rose and bats flitted in and out of trees. The alchemic Case brought the crowd to its feet with the hit “Man” from her latest album. Folk artist Veirs was the workhorse of the group, a guitar in hand for each number. New to me, Veirs’-led songs, like “Best-Kept Secret,” are deceptively simple toe-tappers, yet complete stories. Although the women co-wrote all 14 songs and share lead vocals on their excellent debut album, Veirs received co-songwriting credit on every song. So while lang’s vocals and Case’s metaphors captivate, perhaps Veirs keeps the wheels on the bus.

One song I won’t soon forget is “Blue Fire,” named after the hottest part of a flame. No one does unrequited love like lang. In full crooner mode, she lets loose a honeyed voice that penetrates your chest and makes you want to break your own heart so you can feel that deeply again.

The intimate setting at the amphitheater complemented the show, with mountains and big sky the backdrop. So many of the songs had celestial themes, with stars, sky and constellations anchoring heartbreaking lyrics. If you’re going to have big emotions in public, this is a good place to do it.

Their trio’s top-notch band—Johnny Sangster on guitar, Lex Price on bass, Barbara Gruska on drummers and keyboardist Steve Moore—provided a formidable and rich counterpart; at times I looked for instrument that weren’t there. The band elevated the trio’s vocals, and when their harmonies worked, they really worked. One could see why lang invited Case and Veirs to make an album and take their show on the road.

The earnest opening act, Loch Lomond, hit the jackpot when invited to open for the super group. The vibe at the amphitheater was pleasant, and the food great, especially a vegetarian taco platter and cheese plate that I would order at a restaurant. Let’s hope the Collaboration Catering works out the bugs and returns.

The concert ended with the controlled chaos and wild vocals of “Georgia Stars.” Two encores later, the concert ended in exactly the right place, with “I Want to Be Here,” paean to the world’s artists and misfits: lovely, hopeful and musically interesting. Lang introduced the song by acknowledging the shooting of Philando Castile. The world is a terrible place today, she said, and then offered this tender number as atonement.

We’re a long way from healing. But musicians like lang, case and veirs are doing something about it, bringing us together to share what’s broken inside and out. And they’re doing it beautifully under the stars.

Kim Wyatt is the owner of Bona Fide Books.

By Kathryn Reed

In a split vote, the Placer County Planning Commission said no to the developer who wants to build 760 units on 6.6 acres near Brockway Summit.

Sierra Pacific Industries owns the land, with Mountainside Partners the developers. The development would be just outside the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Commissioners on July 7 voted 5-2 to deny the project. Their biggest issues were traffic and evacuation plans in the event of a fire or similar emergency.

This meeting was a continuation of the June meeting that was also standing room only and a bit contentious. People had signs that read “Deny Martis Valley West.”

Only the developer, their reps and county staff spoke in favor of the project.

“The Martis Valley West project reflects a truly unique combined conservation and development plan that relocates future development to an area adjacent to existing development, significantly reduces the amount of allowable development and serves to complete a remarkable conservation vision,” Blake Riva, managing partner with Mountainside Partners, told Lake Tahoe News. “We believe the project should be approved based on its merits.  We look forward to the Martis Valley West project proceeding to a vote of the Placer County Board of Supervisors later this summer.”

The ultimate decision will be up to the Board of Supervisors. A meeting date has not been set.

“Today’s vote is great news for everyone who loves Tahoe” Tom Mooers of Sierra Watch said in a press release. “It’s not necessarily the end of the road for the project, but it’s a clear indication that it has no place in North Lake Tahoe.”

This has been a closely watched project by people in Lake Tahoe even though the project is in Truckee’s boundaries. Highway 267 is a link between the two areas and is already congested.

Besides more vehicles on the roads, air quality is another concern. So is the ability to get to safety in the event of an emergency.

First responders who spoke had some concerns about the ability to get everyone out.

“There’s no question in my mind that first responders can pull off an evacuation of any area in the basin if they were called to do so,” said John McEldowney, program manager for the Placer County Office of Emergency Services. “I’m not saying it’s going to go perfectly, but I have full confidence in our first responders to get it done.”

The League to Save Lake Tahoe has come out against the project.

“A vote to approve this project is a vote against the lake,” Shannon Eckmeyer with the League to Save Lake Tahoe told commissioners.

Many would like the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to weigh in even though it is outside its jurisdiction. This is because the project will impact the basin.

This is a rendering of the preferred alternative for Regan Beach. Drawing/Design Workshop

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – People need to decide if they want the status quo or to make the investment.

That was the overriding message South Lake Tahoe City Manager Nancy Kerry delivered July 6 to Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe.

Pictures told the story as much as her words. A collage of where the city has been, where it is and where it could go filled the screen.

She is a proponent of doing things and not just developing a plan that sits on a shelf. Kerry also credited leaders in the city and community, as well as partner agencies for helping create a vision for what the South Shore as a whole can become.

The city is on the cusp of truly embracing recreation as its economic engine. To do so will require more investment in infrastructure. It has started to do so by adding playfields near Lake Tahoe Community College that will be ready for action in a year.

Two major improvements would be replacing the more than 30-year-old recreation center and overhauling Regan Beach. The community has weighed-in at multiple meetings about each site to the point conceptual drawings have been developed and preliminary budgets sketched. It could take $30 million to build the rec center people envision.

It would be twice the size of what is there now. This would include four basketball courts that could be transformed into meeting space, a new swim center that offers activities for all ages – and not just serious swimmers, exercise equipment not held together by duct tape, a bay door that would open to outdoor recreation, and more.

There is also talk of having the local Boys & Girls Club be partners so those youth would have a place to play.

The renderings Kerry provided are like nothing that is currently available in the basin. It would be state-of-the-art, with modern technology, aesthetics that are modern and mountain, and functionality for a variety of sports.

To pay for it the city is putting a tax proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot to raise the hotel tax by 2 percentage points. The local lodging association group already backs this idea.

The caveat is that the additional money raised will go toward recreation – and only recreation. It will take 66 percent of the voters to make this happen.

The city would then seek bonds to actually pay for the rec center, with the transient occupancy tax paying that debt.

If voters say yes, construction could begin in 2018. It would likely be a two-year build-out.

Also to be funded from the TOT hike would be Regan Beach.

Tony Magliari

Former Lake Tahoe Unified School District Superintendent Anthony J. “Tony” Magliari passed away at his home in Ridgecrest, Calif., on June 14, 2016, at the age of 85.

Born in Los Angeles on Oct. 5, 1930, Mr. Magliari, the son of an Italian immigrant, graduated in 1948 from George Washington High School, where he served as student body president.

While attending Los Angeles City College, Mr. Magliari enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was called into active duty during the Korean War in 1951.  Honorably discharged three years later, Mr. Magliari resumed his studies at UCLA where he earned his bachelor’s of arts degree in 1955.  That same year he married Dorilee June Woodworth and moved to Torrance, Calif., where he began his career in public education as a fifth-grade teacher at Peter Burnett Elementary School.

After receiving his master’s in education from UCLA in 1959, Mr. Magliari relocated the following year to Riverside where he taught sixth grade at Arlanza Elementary in Arlington before serving three years as the principal of Wells Intermediate School.

In 1964, Mr. Magliari moved to Tahoe Valley, an unincorporated community that soon became part of the newly formed city of South Lake Tahoe. There, Mr. Magliari became principal of South Tahoe Intermediate School (1964-65) and then performed double duty as associate superintendent of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District while serving as principal of South Tahoe High (1965-66).  In 1966, Mr. Magliari became the district superintendent and, five years later, earned his doctorate in school administration from USC in 1971.

During his 14-year tenure as superintendent, Mr. Magliari presided over the construction of the current South Tahoe High School campus as well as the opening of Al Tahoe, Meyers, and Sierra House elementary schools. He also led the district’s successful $7 million school bond campaign in 1971 and secured voter approval of three school tax increases in 1970, 1974, and 1977.

Mr. Magliari served as the Region II president of the Association of California School Administrators and as chairperson of the Community College Study Committee that resulted in the founding of Lake Tahoe Community College in 1975.

Always engaged in civic affairs, Mr. Magliari was an active member of the South Lake Tahoe Rotary Club and a charter member of the Lake Tahoe Community Concert Association.

After leaving South Lake Tahoe, Mr. Magliari served as superintendent of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District in San Diego County (1980-83) and the Sierra Sands Unified School District in Ridgecrest (1983-91).

Mr. Magliari was preceded in death by his parents, Fortunato “Frederick” Magliari and Jennie Tecca, and sister Esther.

He is survived by his wife, Dorilee; brother John; sons Michael (Karen Nissen), Gregory (Cindy), and Dana; daughter Diana (Tom Campbell); and his four grandchildren, Dominic, Jesse, Monica, and Dante.

A funeral Mass will be said at 11am July 30 at St. Ann Roman Catholic Church, 446 West Church Ave., Ridgecrest.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to a favorite charity.

By Science Daily

Droughts in California are mainly controlled by wind, not by the amount of evaporated moisture in the air, research has found.

The findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, on June 30. The research increases the understanding of how the water cycle is related to extreme events and could eventually help in predicting droughts and floods, said lead author Jiangfeng Wei, a research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences.

“Ocean evaporation provides moisture for California precipitation but is not the reason for droughts there, although the ocean evaporation is slightly lower during droughts,” Wei said.

The researchers analyzed 30-year data sets that recorded precipitation, ocean evaporation, surface wind speed and atmospheric pressure on and near the west coast of the United States. These are all factors that influence the water cycle in California. One of the difficulties of studying the water cycle, Wei said, is that the water sources for precipitation cannot be directly observed, so the team also used a mathematical moisture-tracking method and high-resolution model simulations.

Read the whole story

Many say the courthouse in downtown Placerville has outlived its usefulness. Photo/LTN file

By Joann Eisenbrandt

It took a year for Placerville Historic Preservation League to be told it lost the challenge to stop the El Dorado County courthouse project in Placerville from proceeding.

San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Garrett L. Wong on July 1 denied the writ that was submitted by the group in July 2015 that challenged the Judicial Council’s approval of the New Placerville Courthouse Project.

The project will relocate Superior Court functions on the West Slope into one new three-story, six-courtroom, 88,000-square-foot facility next to the existing county jail off Forni Road in Placerville. Currently, court services are split between downstairs in Building C at the county Government Center on Fair Lane and the historic courthouse on Main Street in downtown Placerville.

Since 2002, all California courts have been under the management of the state, overseen by the Judicial Council.

The Judicial Council chose not to comment.

This council is the lead agency on the Placerville courthouse project and is responsible under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for preparing an environmental impact report (EIR) outlining any potentially significant environmental impacts of the project and proposing mitigations for those impacts.

A list of “immediate and critical need” projects was created by the state once funding became available for renovations of existing court facilities or relocation and consolidation. This project is on that list.

It made that list, the EIR states, because Building C and the Main Street Courthouse fail to meet current standards for security and other court services. The Main Street Courthouse, built in 1913, has issues with its water system, asbestos, mold, limited handicapped access, an aging elevator, the lack of secure holding areas for in-custody defendants and no secure parking for visiting judges. Consolidating services in a location next to the exiting jail would allow for secure and more efficient transfer of those in custody for judicial proceedings and provide an overall cost reduction, the EIR explains.

The Placerville Historic Preservation League does not agree with the EIR’s conclusions that consolidating court services in a new Forni Road facility is the best or even the most cost-effective alternative, but it focused its challenge to the EIR on one main point. “The EIR failed to adequately disclose, analyze and/or mitigate the project’s economic impacts to the businesses in historic Placerville on Main Street,” their request for a writ of mandate states. “That will lead to urban decay and blight.”

The Main Street Courthouse, the Preservation League contends, is an essential component of the downtown Placerville economy and brings significant financial benefits to Main Street businesses from the steady stream of courthouse visitors and jurors, and from the courthouse staff and the staff of other court-related entities on Main Street such as the District Attorney’s Office and private attorneys’ offices. If court services leave Main Street, so will the money they bring to downtown, is their contention.

In his July 1 decision denying the writ, Judge Wong wrote, “Petitioner has not met its burden in this case. Substantial evidence supports the Judicial Council’s conclusion that moving the courthouse operations from Main Street to their new location less than two miles away would not cause downtown Placerville to fall into urban decay.”

Depending on how a writ challenges a public agency’s CEQA document, the court uses different standards of review. In this case, since the Placerville Historic Preservation League challenged the Judicial Council’s factual determinations, such as the methodology employed, the significance of the conclusions reached and the amount and type of analysis in their final EIR, the “substantial evidence” standard of review of the writ’s allegations was applied.

Under this standard “the Judicial Council’s determinations are given substantial deference and are presumed correct. Petitioner bears the burden of proving otherwise.” The court assumes that the Judicial Council followed the law and did not “prejudicially abuse its discretion.”

CEQA is focused on significant physical impacts to the environment, not economic ones. Economic or social changes are evaluated by CEQA only if they result in physical changes as well, such as the “urban blight” and physical deterioration of an area filled with unsightly, abandoned, boarded-up buildings left behind after a large number of business failures.

Wong determined that this would not happen to downtown Placerville, stating, “Even assuming downtown businesses rely on the courthouse for 5 to 20 percent, or up to 30 percent of their income, absent from the records is any evidence that such a loss in income would cause long-term vacancies leading to physical deterioration of the downtown and urban decay.”

The Placerville City Council had several meetings on this issue and eventually wrote a letter to the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) supporting the Forni Road location. Wong’s decision mentioned this letter from then-Placerville Mayor Patty Borelli, quoting from the document that there was “overwhelming support for the current proposal to relocate the court operations and repurpose the historic courthouse in downtown.”

Wong also pointed to the creation of a Blue Ribbon Committee by the city of Placerville and El Dorado County to find ways to “repurpose” the courthouse for other uses. The Judicial Council put out a request for proposals for a consulting firm to work with the Blue Ribbon Committee to analyze what would be realistic new uses for the historic courthouse building. According to Placerville City Manager Cleve Morris, the Blue Ribbon Committee last met in November 2015 and no future meetings are scheduled.

Kirk Smith, spokesperson for the Placerville Historic Preservation League, told Lake Tahoe News he has “serious problems with the (court’s) decision.” Smith pointed to what he sees as deficiencies in the administrative record provided by the Judicial Council to the court which prevented the Preservation League from submitting additional evidence on the economic impacts of removing court services from the Main Street building. Smith also noted that the Blue Ribbon Committee has rarely met and expressed doubts that an economically-viable suitable re-use for the courthouse could easily be found. “No adequate replacement could ever be built in time to take up the loss created by closing it.”

Smith challenged the accuracy of the “overwhelming support” for the project in the letter from Borelli to the AOC, noting that more than 60 Main Street merchants submitted a petition to the Judicial Council expressing their desire to retain some court services on Main Street and outlining the negative impacts removing them would have on the continued viability of their businesses.

Of the denial of the writ, Smith said, “It will be appealed.”

According to Placerville Historic Preservation League Attorney Don Mooney, if an appeal were filed, it would be to the First Appellate District Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The last day to file an appeal is Aug. 30.

By Sandra Chereb, Las Vegas Review-Journal

CARSON CITY — Allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives, lowering Nevada’s gambling age and authorizing public marijuana venues are among the 108 early bill draft requests submitted by legislators for possible consideration by the 2017 Nevada Legislature.

The list released Friday offers a snapshot of some of the issues lawmakers will debate when they convene Feb. 6 in Carson City for a 120-day session held every two years. The list provides just snippet descriptions of what the proposals entail. Written details are not revealed until bills are actually introduced in the Senate or Assembly.

More than 1,000 bills are typically introduced during a session, but not all of them are heard in committees or voted upon.

Read the whole story

Update July 11, 2016, 4:20pm:

By Kathryn Reed

An infusion of cash from new owners of the Hard Rock Lake Tahoe has made the lawsuits go away that involved contractors who renovated the public areas of the Stateline property.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has approved brothers Jon and David Park’s request to sell half of the assets to an affiliate of Paragon. Las Vegas-based Paragon HRLT is managing the property. The proposal was brought the Gaming Board in February.

The trial date with the general contractor who did the casino and lobby area is no longer on the court docket.

Neva One, the company the Carson Valley brothers formed as the umbrella of the Hard Rock, has been under fire almost since it was announced the former Horizon would undergo a $60 million facelift.

The hotel-casino reopened as the Hard Rock on Jan. 28, 2015. By many accounts it was a rush job. Finishing touches were being made as the media was getting a tour before the doors opened to the public later that day.

Soon thereafter the lawsuits started to be filed and employees began jumping ship. General contract SMC Contracting out of Reno said it was owed $10 million. That figure was later reduced to $6.4 million. The Park brothers balked at this, saying they had no idea the project costs were escalating to that amount. SMC said they let the owners know each step of the way, and the overruns were to make the deadline and add things the brothers wanted.

Savage & Sons in Reno, which did the plumbing at the property, filed a lawsuit trying to recover $820,000 from Neva One. Tahoe Specialty Flooring & Window Design of Tahoe City alleged it was owed $68,000.

No one from the three firms returned calls.

In all, 16 subcontractors who did work for SMC filed liens against Neva One.

The specifics of the settlement agreements have not been disclosed.

What hasn’t been resolved is the issue with the contractor and subs who did the work on the hotel rooms.

The Park brothers also did not return calls.

Since the Parks got rid of the initial management firm the exodus of employees has lessened. The duo’s lawsuit against Warner Hospitality alleging mismanagement and breach of contract has been resolved, but the details are unknown. The trial date was taken off the court calendar in June.

The pool, which has been off-limits almost since the get-go, is expected to be open in August. The 200,000-gallon pool was losing 5,000 gallons a day before it was drained. It was refilled this spring. To maintain their permit from Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District the Hard Rock has to have the pool filled – it’s a source of water in the event of a fire.

By Lake Tahoe News

Change is coming to the Lake Tahoe Community College board of education no matter the out come of the November election. Fritz Wenck is saying goodbye.

When Wenck’s term expires in December he will leave with the distinction of being the longest serving board member. Not only that, he was also one of the original board members for the two-year college in South Lake Tahoe.

Fritz Wenck

He and Roberta Mason were first elected in 1974. She retired in December 2014.

With the college now having board members be elected by geographic district, it meant Wenck and Karen Borges were in the same district. The options were neither would run, they face-off against each other, or just one incumbent would be on the ballot. The latter will occur.

Wenck has seen plenty of changes during his 42-year tenure on the board. Classes were first taught in a hotel on Highway 50. Now the 164-acre campus off Al Tahoe Boulevard is undergoing a bit of a renaissance with the voter-approved bond infusing cash into the facility.

At the start there were 500 students, while today there are more than 5,000. Class offerings were limited, now there is a robust curriculum.

While there is plenty of work to be done in the next five months, one key vote he might have the opportunity to cast is who the next president of the college will be. This is because President Kindred Murillo tendered her resignation earlier this year, with the goal be being gone by early next year at the latest.

He is the current board president, a role he has had multiple times in the last four decades.

Wenck isn’t likely to be bored when he no longer has to attend the monthly board meetings. After all, he is still a dentist. Before opening his practice in South Lake Tahoe in 1970, he was a dentist for the Navy from 1966-70. He later spent 29 years in the Navy Reserves, retiring as a captain.

The Optimist Club has been a passion of his. He’s also an active host for foreign exchange students, including members of the local hockey team.

Between Wenck and his wife, Patience, they have seven children and 10 grandkids.

Sue Westphal’s 5 pounds of trash collected from Kiva Beach on July 5. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

CAMP RICHARDSON – On a normal weekend it takes crews 60 to 90 minutes to clean up the trash at the U.S. Forest Service beaches on the California side of the South Shore. After a holiday weekend like today they need twice as long.

By 9am July 5, Paul Cleveland and Matt Diamond had emptied their cart three times. These bear box containers are emptied every day, so this was just one day’s worth of garbage.

When asked if he’s found any weird items, Cleveland told Lake Tahoe News, “You don’t want to know about them.”

They don’t grip the plastic bags from the bear boxes from the bottom in case there are needles.

This is year eight that Cleveland has been a summer volunteer with the Forest Service. In the last few years he’s noticed people are beginning to leave less trash at the beach.

Paul Cleveland and Matt Diamond empty the trash from the bear boxes on July 5 at Kiva. Photo/Kathryn Reed

A lot of this has to do with a lawsuit filed in 2013 by a Marla Bay couple who were tired of the fireworks debris that kept floating on their property. The following year groups like the League to Save Lake Tahoe started organized beach cleanups. This has clearly helped get the beaches clean.

Meyers resident Kenny Curtzwiler was ahead of the curve. He started rallying his staff to 2000 to clean the majority of El Dorado Beach, along with Regan Beach and the walkways surrounding Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe.

Now there is also a greater effort to get people to clean up after themselves. The Take Care campaign that was launched in 2015 through the Tahoe Fund is one effort.

Sue Westphal of San Jose was one of the League’s volunteers at Kiva Beach on Tuesday. She picked up a trash bag of trash. Apparently the next step is to convince people to actually take their garbage with them.

Hikers and backpackers are familiar with the motto: Pack it In, Pack it Out. Beachgoers, not so much.

Gina Hunt with the League weighs the trash Greg Psilopholos collected. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The League’s 330 volunteers collected nearly 1,600 pounds of trash on July 5 from nine beaches in the basin. They were scouring 4.5 miles of shoreline at Kiva Beach, Tallac Historic Site, Regan Beach, El Dorado Beach, Timber Cove, Nevada Beach, Zephyr Shoals, Kings Beach, and Commons Beach on the North Shore.

In that cache were 7,738 cigarette butts. Single use plastics such as straws, plastic bottle caps and bottles also turned up in high numbers.

“There was plenty to pick up (at Nevada Beach), but it’s not the worst I’ve seen it,” Chris Carney of the League told Lake Tahoe News.

That’s the beach Greg and Patty Psilopholos of South Lake Tahoe worked at last year. This July 5 they hauled in 20 pounds at Kiva. Nearly a case of empty Coors cans, clothing, a towel, snorkel, mask and other items were retrieved.

Alexa Burke of South Lake Tahoe brought out 2½-year-old Connor to Kiva for the clean up.

“It’s a good activity with the little one,” Burke told Lake Tahoe News. “You play at the beach and it’s like a scavenger hunt.”

Mostly what they were finding were cigarette butts.

Alexa and Connor Burke are in search of trash at Kiva. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Paul Klempner of South Lake Tahoe was with his 10-year-old granddaughter, Sophia Arias of Sparks, at Kiva.

“The best part for me was to clean up trash that people didn’t cleanup after themselves. And to keep Tahoe clean,” Sophia told Lake Tahoe News.

The heaviest item in her 2 pounds of litter was a Jack Daniel’s bottle.

Lots of bags of dog poop were also found at Kiva; apparently people didn’t realize just bagging isn’t enough.