By Matt Weiser, Water Deeply Chemical fire retardants are considered a vital wildland firefighting tool, helping to slow the spread of flames while ground crews move into position. But as their use increases, the harmful side effects of these chemicals are coming under increasing scrutiny. The chemicals, usually dropped from low-flying aircraft, largely consist of ammonia […]
Read more
By Kathryn Reed OLYMPIC VALLEY – November skiing is always something to be thankful for in the Sierra because Mother Nature seems to be so fickle in the fall. Out of the last five years, this is the most terrain Squaw Valley has had open this time of year. It’s obvious there has been a […]
Read more
By Alicia Barber, KUNR Today’s ski resorts generally run like clockwork, every day whisking thousands of skiers high up the mountain in electric-powered chair lifts and sending them down slopes that are flattened and smoothed every night by massive grooming machines. It’s no small task. But for sheer human effort, today’s preparations are nothing […]
Read more
By Debbie Arrington, Sacramento Bee This year’s Christmas trees really appreciated last year’s wet winter. Visitors to Northern California tree farms can see the difference. Their favorite firs look fresher, the leaves plumper, the branches fuller. What a difference water makes. Five years of drought stunted many trees – and prevented farmers from planting more. […]
Read more
By Kathryn Reed OLYMPIC VALLEY – Eighty years after Wayne Paulson envisioned linking Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows ski resorts, his dream may become a reality. The founder of Squaw thought he could realize it in his lifetime. Not so. But those falling in his footsteps are now the closest to bringing this to fruition. […]
Read more
By Adam Ashton, Sacramento Bee Gov. Jerry Brown got most of what he wanted when he carried a proposal to shore up the state’s underfunded public employee pension plans by trimming benefits for new workers. Five years later, he’s in court making an expansive case that government agencies should be able to adjust pension benefits […]
Read more
By Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette-Journal I’ve stayed in the luxurious Jacuzzi Suite on the 25th floor of Reno’s Atlantis hotel where from the hot tub you can gaze at the Sierra Nevada through floor-to-ceiling windows. I’ve also soaked in hot spring-fed stock tanks in remote Nevada valleys where instead of expecting room service people can expect to […]
Read more
By Kathryn Reed PARK CITY, Utah – The name of a business can be incredibly powerful; the words that are chosen and the ones left behind. Such is the case with the National Ability Center in Utah. Disability is hardly in the staff’s vocabulary. They work with people who have orthopedic, spinal cord, neuromuscular, visual […]
Read more
By Laurel Rosenhall, CalMatters With a declaration that “public servants best serve the citizenry when they can be candid and honest without reservation in conducting the people’s business,” lawmakers passed the California Whistleblower Protection Act in 1999. The idea was to protect workers who report misconduct, so that they can blow the whistle on bad […]
Read more
By David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle For 10 days in October 2007, wildfires riding hot Santa Ana winds swept across Southern California, forcing nearly 1 million people to flee and killing 10. When the ashes cooled, investigators found that many of the blazes had been caused by electrical lines swaying or falling in the […]
Read more