By Laurie McGinley, Washington Post

PHILADELPHIA — Flyer, a 70-pound golden retriever, lies patiently on her left side on an examination table as technicians scurry around, placing little sandbags on her legs and neck to keep her still. She’s getting chest X-rays to answer a critical question: Has a deadly bone cancer spread to her lungs?

When the session is over, Martha MaloneyHuss, a veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania’s Ryan Veterinary Hospital, glances at the images. “I don’t see anything hugely obvious,” she says, “but we’ll see what the radiologist says.” Oblivious to the good news, Flyer hops down the hall on three legs, eager to find her owner.

After the 8-year-old retriever began limping last year, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a painful, aggressive cancer that often strikes Great Danes, Irish wolfhounds and other large breeds. At Penn Vet, she got the standard treatment: One of her left legs was amputated, and she underwent chemotherapy.

Flyer is part of a burgeoning field called “comparative oncology.” It focuses on finding new ways to treat cancer in pets, mostly dogs, in an effort to develop innovative treatments for people and animals.

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By Jenny Kane, Reno Gazette-Journal

Burning Man is increasing the ticket prices for next year’s weeklong Black Rock Desert gathering.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco-based arts nonprofit announced that general admission tickets will cost $425, $35 more than the 2016 price.

The increase is one of the largest since Burning Man organizers first sold tickets in 1992 for $25, an increase that Burning Man representatives said is necessary to cover their growing costs.

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Ollie Hayden

Oliver Wendell Hayden was born at home Nov. 18, 1927, in Nicholson, Pa., to Hallie I. Hayden and Leta Cooley Hayden; the fifth of seven children. He passed way Dec. 17, 2016, at Carson Tahoe Medical Center in Carson City. He was 89.

Ollie graduated from Nicholson High School in 1945, and entered the U.S. Navy where he served as bugler aboard the aircraft carrier USS Leyte.

He acquired his life-long passion for classical music during that period.

Ollie entered the field of media marketing in the late 1940s, working for three newspapers on Long Island, N.Y. In 1954 he changed his focus to broadcasting, becoming an account executive at WNBF AM-FM in Binghamton, N.Y. During that time he also undertook higher learning education, taking courses mainly in the arts at Syracuse University’s extension school at Endicott, N.Y. (Harpur College). In 1956 he was promoted to a similar position at WNBF-TV, where he served until 1962.

He moved to California in 1962, taking a position as account executive at KSBW-TV in Salinas, followed by KGO radio in San Francisco. In 1965 he moved into national sales with CBS Radio spot sales. He was transferred to the Chicago sales group in 1966 and in 1968 was awarded a double promotion, first to the New York sales team, and in July of that year named general sales manager at KCBS, San Francisco.

In 1972 he became general manager of KRE, Berkeley, and following that held similar positions at KTIM, San Rafael, and KTHO, South Lake Tahoe, all in California. He became part owner and president of the latter station from which he retired in 1992.

For the next several years he continued to work, doing fieldwork for Ridge Tahoe and Selective Properties in Stateline and Zephyr Cove.

He was a member of the Tahoe-Douglas Rotary Club and served as president in 1995-96.

Ollie was an avid reader and his main interests outside of work were in the areas of classical music, history and travel. Over many years he had collected more than 700 CDs and a large library of history, military history and music reference books. He also enjoyed downhill skiing and hiking.

Ollie was a kind and thoughtful man and was loved and respected by all who knew him. He will be greatly missed, but we will treasure the wonderful memories of the life he shared with us.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Nancy Oliver Hayden of Carson City; children Dean of Long Island, N.Y., Stuart of San Jose, Michael of Albany, Calif., and Jai of Seattle; grandson Kai DeSpain of Seattle; sister Carol Vest of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; stepsons John Oliver of Reno and Mark Oliver of Bell, Texas; and several nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by two sisters, Lucille Lewsader and Betty Hartman, and three brothers, Edward, Hallie Jr. and David.

At his request no services are planned at this time. A celebration of life will take place at a later date.

By Erin Ross, NPR

Homeopathy has been around since the 1700s, but despite having devoted followers, there is no scientific evidence that it works. Soon, packages for homeopathic products might say just that.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission released an enforcement policy statement about labeling for over-the-counter homeopathic products. Homeopathic treatments have increasingly been marketed in drug store and supermarket aisles, alongside Food and Drug Administration-approved over-the-counter medications like Tylenol and Mucinex.

Some homeopathic remedies have disclaimers that say their products aren’t regulated by the FDA. Some don’t have any disclaimers at all. One product even claims that homepathic remedies are regulated just like other medicines, which is not true.

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The Craig Empowerment Center, an 800-square-foot addition to the CR Johnson Healing Center in Truckee, opened this week.

The center not only adds space and top-of-the-line training equipment, but also provides additional training resources from Craig’s specialized therapy staff.
 
The CR Johnson Healing Center is a training facility that provides resources for athletes in recovery from life-altering and sport-related injuries. The Healing Center attracts more than 3,700 visits a year from community members and athletes supported by the High Fives Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises injury prevention awareness
while providing resources and inspiration to those who have sustained life-altering injuries.
 
The addition of the Craig Empowerment Center gives athletes unique access to important strength-training technologies such as the FES Bike, Freemotion EXT Dual Cable and Parallel Bars, and gives them more space for important workouts.
 
The Craig Empowerment Center is available to High Fives athletes and the local community.
 

Men and women of various ages and types are needed for Lake Tahoe Community College’s winter quarter production of the comedy “Love/Sick” by John Cariani.

Auditions are Jan. 10 at 7pm in LTCC’s Duke Theatre. Performances of “Love/Sick” take place March 17-26.

This is a collection of nine short plays. Set on a Friday night in an “alternate suburban reality,” the play explores the pain and joy that comes with being in love.

Auditions will consist of readings from the play. Scripts are available on reserve at the front desk in LTCC’s Roberta Mason Library, which will reopen from the college’s holiday break on Jan. 3. Audition information and character breakdowns may be found online.

Getting from Truckee neighborhoods, Northstar, and Squaw Valley to and from downtown Truckee during the holidays just got a whole lot easier with free shuttle service.

From Dec. 26-31 there will be free, convenient shuttles. 

Free neighborhood shuttles between downtown Truckee will be available those days from noon-2am. The neighborhood shuttles will service: Donner Lake, Sierra Meadows, Brockway, Prosser, Tahoe Donner and Glenshire.

Connections between the neighborhood and resort shuttles can be made at the Truckee Train Depot.

Free nightly resort shuttles will be provided between downtown Truckee to Northstar and Squaw Valley between 6pm and 2am daily.

Connections between holiday shuttle routes and TART daytime service can be made at the Truckee Train Depot. Connections between holiday shuttle routes and TART’s free night service can be made nightly at Northstar and Squaw Valley.

For schedules and additional information, go online.

Lucille

Thank you to the many people who have adopted dogs and cats from the Meyers shelter this year. December has been an especially busy month, as adoptions have been sponsored by a kind person. Many local homeless pets, plus pets who were transferred to Tahoe from other, overcrowded shelters found new homes. The shelter has just two dogs and six cats right now awaiting adoption. Help us find new families for all these pets.

In addition to cats and dogs, the shelter also occasionally has other types of pets that are available for adoption — meet Lucille the corn snake. Corn snakes are one of the most popular of all pet snakes and for good reason. They have gorgeous colors and patterns, are easy to care for, and have generally docile dispositions. The size of mature corn snakes is just right: big and hardy enough to accept regular handling, yet not large enough to intimidate a novice or child. Lucille comes with her own tank, but her adopter will need their own lighting and heating equipment.

Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

By Howie Nave

After seeing the latest “Star Wars” epic one has to ask: Was it even necessary for George Lucas to make the prequel trilogy leading up to his original “Star Wars” movie back in 1977 with “A New Hope”?

Did we really have to see a young Anakin Skywalker from the planet Tatooine in the first of those three prequels, “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” and subjecting us to a Jar Jar Binks in the process? Well, with “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” this latest outing in the continuing franchise I feel is the perfect alternative to a prequel leading up to episode four. But then I imagine there would have to be another two prequels to complete the thread.

For you fellow diehard “Star Wars” fans you can’t help but think where does this one fit in exactly? In “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” (the best of the prequel trilogy) we see the Death Star still under construction yet with “Rogue One” the Battlestar is already complete (not giving anything away here as it’s in the trailers and posters).  

That said, the latest Star Wars story could be a standalone all by itself, which sounds weird because of course one can’t dismiss all of the other seven films while viewing this chapter in one of the most incredible and successful franchises in movie making history. Director Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”) still takes us to a world set “long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away” but, unlike all the other films we don’t get that long scrawling text that opens all of the other Star Wars stories. Also missing is the familiar John Williams score, but new composer Michael Giacchino definitely borrows some riffs from the original putting his own spin on it musically to as not sample too much from the original. 

Our main heroine is Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones who was nominated for an Oscar in “The Theory of Everything”) who learns the evil ways of the Empire at a very young age because it was her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) who was responsible for the planning and construction of the Death Star.

Here’s where it gets interesting and, yes, even though he’s responsible for building the ultimate weapon of mass destruction he himself is a rebel and it’ll be 15 years later when we see why Jyn has inherited that side of her father and her purpose for being: to steal the plans of her father’s creation. Right then you get the feeling that this movie so perfectly leads into what will be Lucas’ groundbreaking original, “Star Wars: Episode 4 – A New Hope.”

Of course Jyn can’t do this alone and she gets assistance (starting when she was very young) from Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a friend of her father’s. Later on as a young woman Jyn is introduced to the dashing Capt. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and, yes, in a parallel Star Wars world you do see hints of a Princess Leia and a Han Solo, but I digress. 

As with any really good action flick you need a solid supporting cast that kicks some serious butt … literally! Huge kudos for casting Donnie Yen as Chirrut Imwe, a blind warrior monk whose mantra is reciting “I’m with the force and the force is with me” branding the franchise and Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook, an Imperial pilot now working with the Rebellion. But it’s Alan Tudyk who steals every scene he is in as the voice of K-2S0 (Kaytoo to his masters), a security droid with a very sarcastic attitude. To him (I’m assuming it’s a him in the robotic world) it’s all about numbers and the percentage of winning or losing battles which, like Han Solo, Cassian Andor likes to defy the odds and just go for it. 

But it’s the new and familiar faces (and voices) of the evil Empire that kept this filmgoer on the edge of his seat in anticipation of what was to come. Darth Vader, although not the centerpiece of the movie, is obviously a force to be reckoned with and thankfully the great James Earl Jones, the original voice remains. His voice never ages. What is amazing to me is how masterfully some actors were brought back to life after they’ve long since left this planet. Case in point: rather than recast the role of the Empire’s Grand Moff Tarkin (originally played by the late Peter Cushing) director Gareth Edwards and the wizards from Industrial Light and Magic digitally re-created the actor. The effect will blow your mind.

However, the final scene of the movie (and I won’t reveal who it is) you’ll see a very familiar face who in fact is a real actress and not a digital recreation. 

When you do see “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” ask yourself if you feel this would have been a more perfect prequel to “Star Wars: Episode 4 – A New Hope.” I do have to snicker some because there is a major continuity problem having this as a prequel to the original 1977 classic. Times have changed in Hollywood and “Rogue” offers up one of the most ethnically diverse casts ever, making this movie very appealing and universal. Then as it leads into the 1977 Lucas debut of “Star Wars” the cast (as with most of Hollywood back then) is very white and you find yourself asking, “What happened to all of those people of color from the movie I just saw leading up to this one, huh?” Just an observation folks, not a political statement. 

Howie Nave is the host/emcee of the Improv inside Harveys Casino and has his own radio show, “Howie’s Morning Rush” on KRLT 93-9 The Lake Monday through Friday. You can also follow him on Twitter @ Howie Nave Comedian and has a podcast with different comics on every week, Howie’s High Sierra Comedy Vault Podcast @ Howienave.com 

The first Ice Palace was next to the Truckee Hotel. Photo/Truckee Donner Historical Society

By Abby Stevens, Moonshine Ink 

In the autumn of 1894, snow came to Truckee earlier than usual. The temperatures dropped to sub-zero in the evenings, but despite the cold, one man stood over a pile of manmade ice while looking out over Truckee from the famed Rocking Stone and his mansion on the hillside.

For weeks following the snowfall he twisted chicken wire, shoveled snow, and each night watered his creation with tender loving care. Why was this man watering ice, you may ask? His son asked him the same question but the man wouldn’t tell.

Charles McGlashan, the ice maker, wasn’t just avoiding household chores — the giant icicle was his idea of economic expansion for Truckee. 

At first, locals were skeptical about whether people living in the Bay Area would ever travel up to Truckee in the winter, even for a festival. 

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