By Mike Tierney, New York Times

As broadband Internet service becomes increasingly widespread and free in public places, it has remained, to travelers’ frustration, stuck in the slow lane on airplanes.

But with recent developments in technology, sluggish in-flight Internet speed is starting, however fitfully, to change. Still, it might not catch up to passengers’ expectations, as many are accustomed to a superior Internet experience on the ground.

“The thing that they must realize is that in-flight Wi-Fi is still a very new product, and the expectation that you’ll get a good, strong signal like you do at home or office needs to be reined in,” said Chris McGinnis, founder of TravelSkills, a blog that focuses on the business passenger, and an inveterate user of Wi-Fi while airborne. “Airlines are partially to blame for inflating expectations.”

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Two poets will be reading from their works at Lake Tahoe Community College on Nov. 13.

Poet and journalist Ilyse Kusnetz, and Julia Shipley, teacher, farmer, and poet, will also answer audience questions about their writing process, and sign copies of their books for sale that night.

Kusnetz is the author of “Small Hours”, winner of the 2014 T.S. Eliot prize from Truman State University Press, and “The Gravity of Falling” (2006).

Shipley is the author of a full-length poetry collection, “The Academy of Hay” that was published by Meyers-based Bona Fide Books. She was the winner of the Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize. She is also the author of four poetry chapbooks.

The 7pm event is free. It will be in the college’s library.

By Kathryn Reed

In two weeks the Tahoe Women’s Community Fund has raised $20,000 to be invested on the South Shore and has signed up 125 members.

This nonprofit entity was launched last month with the goal of securing money from members that will then be doled out to entities roughly from Glenbrook to Meyers to Camp Richardson. While the members may come from anywhere, the money is staying on the South Shore.

Kathy Haven took the reins to start the fund after hearing a talk last spring by the leader of the El Dorado Community Fund. Bill Roby spoke about the different funds that come under his foundation’s umbrella, and told Haven for some time he has wanted to develop a fund specific to this side of the county that would be similar to the women’s found in El Dorado Hills.

Women’s funds have existed for decades. They were born at a time when women didn’t have as much of a voice as they do today. It was a bonding, a way to help one another.

While these types of funds in many ways have the same purpose, today members are also men and boys or men may be the beneficiaries. Businesses may also join, but would still have just one vote.

A big difference from a fund like this compared to a service organization is there aren’t regular meetings, no lunches one has to attend and really no work. It’s about raising money, deciding where to allocate it and then writing the checks.

The Tahoe Women’s Community Fund has three annual membership levels — $100, $250 and $1,000. A percentage of each of these will go into an endowment fund to help sustain the organization. A portion – probably 5 percent – of the endowment will go toward the overall pot that is available each year to be distributed.

The Tahoe Women’s Community Fund will have the El Dorado Community Fund be its fiscal agent so it doesn’t have to go through the whole process of becoming a 501(c)3, but still has the benefits of such a nonprofit. There is a 1.5 percent annual fee to El Dorado Community Fund for this agreement.

In addition to Haven, the founding members of the local fund are Wendy David, Anita Eades Castles, Greta Hambsch, Jamie Orr, Sara Pierce, Cynthea Preston, Delicia Spees, Jennifer Stafford and Tere Tibbetts. They are the initial leadership team. The intent was to bring together a diverse group who would represent varied interests.

Everyone who joins has been asked where they think the money should go. There have been 75 responses ranging from focusing on homeless, to children, to poverty. In the next few weeks the founding members will whittle the ideas down to about 10 areas. (Ultimately a grants committee will be formed.) Anyone who is a member by Nov. 15 will have a vote in the first allocation that will be distributed in late spring or early summer.

After the first of the year the community fund will put out a request to nonprofits, including schools, for them to apply for the grants. It will be up to the leadership council to decide how many grants and of what value will be distributed each year. The members get the final vote.

The plan is for the members to gather twice a year – for a dinner like what was convened last month as a celebration and opportunity to build community, and when the money is distributed. Organizers envision people who will benefit from the donation telling their story and not just the leader of the nonprofit. While it’s not written in stone yet, there is talk of limiting beneficiaries to every other year.

“It’s a collective giving unit. We hope to make a big impact in this community,” Haven told Lake Tahoe News.

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Notes:

·      Tahoe Women’s Community Fund has a website.

·      Here is the membership form. It is possible to pay in monthly installments.

·      The email address is: TWCF@eldoradocf.org.

Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and director Rob Schneider will host a screening of his most recent project, “Real Rob”, at Sierra Nevada College on Nov. 9 from 5-7pm.

It is an upcoming Netflix original series slated to drop Dec. 1. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Schneider, hosted by SNC writer in residence Chris Millis.

Schneider is a veteran of the NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”; his best known character was Richard Laymer, an officer worker whose desk was stuck beside the photocopier, who addressed each of his fellow employees with an endless stream of annoying nicknames. Schneider went on to a successful career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedy films “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo”, “The Hot Chick”, “The Benchwarmers” and “Grown Ups”.

The event is free.

Author Chris Millis will read from his work on Nov. 6 at Sierra Nevada College’s Tahoe’s Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences building, room 139.

The free event is from 7-9pm.

On Nov. 7, Millis will put on a writing workshop 10am-noon. Cost is free for students, $50 for others. Go online to register.

Millis is the Sierra Nevada College visiting writer and distinguished professor for 2015-16. He is a prize-winning novelist, screenwriter, producer, and cartoonist. His first novel, “Small Apartments”, won the 23rd Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest, and became a feature film starring Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, Johnny Knoxville, James Caan, and others. His most recent novel is “God and California”.

MontBleu Convention Center is about to be transformed into a winter wonderland with trees and wreathes decorated by schoolchildren and local designers. The seventh annual Festival of Trees and Lights is Dec. 2-6.

All proceeds will support prevention programs and trauma services for Barton Memorial Hospital’s Level III Trauma Center.

During the day, as well as Friday evening, attendees can watch live holiday performances, purchase holiday gifts at Mrs. Claus’s Gift Shop, and bid on items in the silent auction. Each child receives a teddy bear and is invited to visit the Teddy Bear Hospital for an animal-friendly check-up. Barton Health’s nurses and doctors will be available to hear teddy bear ailments and provide X-rays, assessments, and bandages. Children can also write a letter to the North Pole, create crafts at the Gingerbread Junction, or take a family photo with Santa Claus.

Adults interested in an elegant evening may attend the gala on Dec. 5, Barton Health’s largest annual fundraiser for community health. It features a formal four-course dinner, a live and silent auction, and dancing.

Children, along with their parents, are encouraged to bring their teddy bears to a Teddy Bear Brunch on Dec. 6. Every child will receive a goody bag and a visit to the teddy bear hospital.

For a day-by-day schedule and more information, go online.

Entrance for public viewing is $3 for children or seniors and $5 for adults. The Teddy Bear Brunch and Gala, which typically sell out in advance, can be purchased online.

November is National Novel Writing Month, and the South Lake Tahoe library is inviting teens and young adults to meet up with fellow writers for an afternoon of free socializing, discussion, and – of course – writing.

Bring whatever it is you happen to be working on, whether it is a book, poem or short story.

Some laptops will be available for use in the library. Snacks will be provided.

The writing sessions will be every Saturday this month (Nov. 7, 14, 21 and 28) from 3-4pm.

Local artist and teacher Catherine Lockner will share techniques for how to create a quick portrait.

This free art demonstration will take place as part of the Tahoe Art League’s monthly meeting on Nov. 11 at 6pm at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center.

Lockner, a professor of art and art history at Lake Tahoe Community College, works primarily in oil
and watercolor with a focus on portraiture. She will be teaching watercolor painting at the college
in winter quarter.

In her demonstration, Lockner will explore how to capture the likeness of a live model, in oil, while
preserving vibrant colors and not overworking the image.

By Kevin Schultz, San Francisco Chronicle

Suzanne Kisting’s burly 10-year-old, 120-pound St. Bernard, Moose, hobbled down the 40 stairs of her former San Francisco apartment every morning, crippled by pain from severe arthritis.

Kisting tried everything she could to ease it, buying expensive prescriptions drugs and taking him for acupuncture treatments.

But none of it worked the way she hoped.

Then she caught word of a possible new treatment: medical pot.

It’s a controversial approach to treating pain in animals that has drawn criticism from everyone from the ASPCA to the Food and Drug Administration to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

In California, medicinal marijuana is legal, but the dosing of pets still lands in a gray area.

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Betty Duke

Longtime South Lake Tahoe resident Mary E. “Betty” Duke died Oct. 29, 2015. She was 90.

Betty was born on Feb. 27, 1925, in Monroe, La., to Albert and Clara Olsen.

Betty was an active volunteer with many organizations. She enjoyed reading, traveling, playing piano and accordion, dancing, and the outdoors, but especially anything involving her family.

She is survived by her husband of 64 years Jim Duke; children Laurie (Chris) Sheppard, Scott Duke, Shelley Bailey, Mark (Shannon) Duke; five grandchildren, Crystal, Charlie, Hannah, Emily and Sam; three great-grandchildren, Juan, Anthony, and Alani; sisters Elaine (Harold) Crane and Alberta Sehnert; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be Nov. 8 at 1pm at Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church in South Lake Tahoe.

Donations may be made to the Betty Duke Scholarship Fund – AOPI Foundation (for deserving young women at UNR); mail to Birdie Hanson, 2940 Santa Inez Drive, Minden, NV 89423.