By Robert J. Hawkins, San Diego Union-Tribune

SAN DIEGO — As early as mid-July, downtown San Diegans should begin spotting a ghost from a past most never knew.

A painstakingly restored electric streetcar, the likes of which last ran here in 1949, will begin operating on a downtown loop on weekends and holidays.

When state regulatory approval is given, the streetcar will run on what will be called The Silver Line, a clockwise loop starting at the 12th & Imperial Transit Station to America Plaza, east on C Street to City College before returning to 12th & Imperial.

The Silver Line streetcar will run on existing track in between Blue and Orange line trolleys. A special stop at the 12th & Imperial station will have a canopy that echoes the coloring and design of the streetcar era.

The stylishly art-deco streetcar, which once plied the streets of San Francisco, was among three purchased in 2005 and 2006 from a South Lake Tahoe entrepreneur whose vision of a lakeside trolley system never materialized.

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By Howard Kurtz, Newsweek

ABC’s Martha Raddatz was minutes from taking off for Afghanistan when her BlackBerry buzzed with a colleague’s message that Osama bin Laden might be dead. She dragged her luggage off the plane, sat down on the floor of Dulles airport, and started making calls.

It was 9:45pm on May 1 as the veteran correspondent, a phone in each hand, learned details—they had bin Laden’s body!—that she provided on the air from Terminal C. She drove to the office at 3am and kept on working.

The network had run more than a dozen drills for precisely this moment. “News is the ultimate defibrillator for an organization,” says ABC News president Ben Sherwood. “We get shocked to life and go right into action.” The problem: after the Tucson shootings, the Egypt and Libya uprisings, the Japanese nuclear catastrophe, and now the death of the mastermind of 9/11, ABC has blown through most of its multimillion-dollar emergency fund set aside for unexpected events. That is rare and could force the network to ask the Disney bosses for more, though an executive says there is “no blank check.”

Big media organizations pull out the stops for game-changing stories, but they may be bleeding themselves to death in the process. The lumbering old news dinosaurs have slashed their staffs and watched online rivals eat their lunch as ratings and circulation inexorably slide downward. There are fewer ambitious projects, reduced scrutiny of government, more journalistic recycling.

Brian Williams is proudly old-fashioned. Having landed in London for the royal wedding, he immediately flew home to chase the killer tornadoes in Alabama. The NBC anchor was in his Connecticut kitchen that Sunday night when White House spokesman Jay Carney called to say he should get to the chair: “Close hold: we got bin Laden. Tell no one.”

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Dirk Yuricich will show his new photo series Aspen Lupine at the Ski Run Marina gallery.

The opening reception is June 8 from 5-8pm.

Refreshments will be served and all attendees can take part in a free raffle to win a matted photograph of one of the Aspen Lupine images.

Dirk Yuricich

The Aspen Lupine opening reception is be part of Midweek at the Marina in which the art galleries at the Ski Run Marina have various events and activities each Wednesday evening from 5-8.

Parking is free for the first hour at the Ski Run Marina parking lot. There is unlimited free parking at Ski Run Boulevard and Paradise Avenue.

For further information, call Dirk Yuricich Photography Gallery at (530) 542. 2000 or go online.

Dirk Yuricich Photography Gallery is at Ski Run Marina, 900 Ski Run Blvd., Ste. 105, South Lake Tahoe.

The 28th annual Carson City Rendezvous, the area’s largest special event, returns June 10–12 to celebrate the Wild West and Civil War era history.

The 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s presidential inauguration is one of many new events for the free three-day Civil War-era living history set at Mills Park.

The opening ceremony will be a special re-enactment of the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s 16th president, at Mills Park that Saturday at 10am.

To commemorate the Lincoln presidency, Rendezvous participants and encampments will join in a pageant of costume and theater, followed by a special swearing in of U.S. citizens by the U.S. Naturalization and Immigration Department. The opening ceremony will feature a special re-enactment of the inauguration Abraham Lincoln.

The Rendezvous is noted for portraying the lifestyle of early Nevada settlers, complete with gun skirmishes, mountain man encampments and trapping demonstrations. Organizers this year have moved the famous Civil War-era gun battles from afternoon to dusk, to capture the backdrop of live-fire, flash-bang rounds exploded from muskets.

The event is where the authentic and re-enactment collide, whether it’s the lingering smell of gunpowder after musket battle demonstrations, the boom of Civil War-era cannons or the taste of beans and bacon cooked in cast-iron dutch ovens over an open fire.

The all-ages event runs Friday from noon-9pm, Saturday from 10am-9pm and Sunday, 10am-5pm.

For more information, go online or call (775) 687.7410.

Fifteen artists from the area are going to Alpine County to capture some of our local beauty in their paintings.

From June 21-25 the public is invited to the Markleeville Plein Air Event. “En plein air” is a French term meaning “in the open air” or out-of-doors.

While many artists make sketches while outdoors and use photographs to work from, the plein air artist sets up an easel in a desirable spot and works each of the many steps involved right there. All of the artists at this event will be capturing landscapes while dealing with winds, heat or cold, wildlife, changes in sun and shadow, and people watching over their shoulders.

Host and organizer Evelyn Yonker will help people find the artists at various key locations in the county. She will have a map and information available at the Markleeville Art Gallery, 14841 Highway 89, next to the Markleeville Post Office.

Location information will also be posted online.

Many artists prefer the light conditions of early morning or evening, as that light lends more color than the noon sun.

Some of the spots will be Hope Valley and Woodfords Canyon, the East Fork of the Carson River, Markleeville Falls near Grover Hot Springs, and downtown Markleeville. Artists may choose any spot any day, except Saturday morning when all artists will be working in the town of Markleeville.

On June 25 from 2-4pm, there will be a reception at the Stone Fly Restaurant in downtown Markleeville with the artists and art collectors. The cost is $25 and space is limited. Call (530) 694.2787 to make a reservation.

All artwork produced will be for sale through the Markleeville Art Gallery. The gallery will exhibit the finished paintings to the public on June 25t from 6-9pm. The artwork will be at the gallery until July 31.

The gallery will be open daily from 10am until 6pm throughout the summer and fall.

All 15 artists are: Charles Muench, Thaleia Georgiades, Randall Tillery, Michael Bagdonas, Lady Jill Mueller, Bonita Paulis, Ray Freeman, Ron Schlorff, Sandy Baenen, Peter Chope, Kit Night, Ida Glazier, Erik Holland, Emma Auriemma-McKay and Greg Drinkwine.

By Liz Benston, Las Vegas Sun

The small, unassuming Alamo and Topaz casinos in Northern Nevada have a leg up on the best of Las Vegas’ glittering resorts – at least by the standards of blackjack.

Whatever the Alamo in Sparks and the Topaz in Gardnerville lack in pizzazz they make up for in favorable blackjack games, according to this month’s issue of Casino Player magazine. The two were the only Nevada casinos to make the magazine’s list of properties offering the nation’s best blackjack games.

Both casinos offer blackjack that’s played with a single deck of cards, increasing the player’s ability to gauge when certain cards will appear. The casinos also allow players to surrender their initial two-card hand provided the dealer doesn’t have a blackjack, among other player-friendly rules.

Las Vegas once offered the best blackjack anywhere but has since muddied the water with games that pay 6-5 odds on blackjacks rather than the traditional and more favorable 3-2 odds, said gambling writer Henry Tamburin, who compiled the magazine’s list. Many Las Vegas casinos also have unfavorable rules and blackjack variations with a higher house edge, he said.

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By Susan Skorupa, Reno Gazette-Journal

Phillip and Jean Moore Earl became captivated more than 40 years ago by an unique style of folk art found in the aspen groves of the Eastern Sierra.

After years of collecting the artwork cut into aspen trees by Basque sheepherders in the early 20th century, the couple has produced “Basque Aspen Art of the Sierra Nevada,” (Baobab Press, $32.95 paperback), which collects more than 100 images made by copying the raised pictures onto muslin cloth by rubbing with wax or crayon.

The Earls discovered Basque aspen art in 1969 at an exhibit at the University of Nevada, Reno featuring black and white tracings of images on aspen trees. They asked Frances Wallace and Hans Reiss, who had produced those tracings, where to find the trees with the pictures.

With directions in hand, the Earls set off for the Sierra aspen groves. They’ve spent the past 40 years exploring the sites and recording the art using black rubbing wax to put copies of the carvings on cloth. Over the years, they’ve collected more than 130 images.

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By Kathryn Reed

When students at Mt. Tallac High School graduate a week from day, they will have left behind a collection of work that is compelling and heart-wrenching. The subject matter in many cases deals with issues these teens this early in their lives should not even know exist.

Some of the material delves into issues they are interested in, other subjects hit close to home. The topic can be anything, but most are about a serious subject.

Estefany Flores with her daughter. Photo/Provided

“I decided to make my project on teen pregnancy because I went through a lot of the same experiences I discussed in my project,” explained Estefany Flores. “For example, being confused, feeling alone, feeling sad, and even thinking about having an abortion. I also did this so girls going through this realize that they aren’t alone.”

This is her PowerPoint on teen pregnancy.

Teacher Eileen McEwen has her students make a proposal, research the options and then create a PowerPoint about the subject.

“The PowerPoint project allows them to meet state requirements and have real world skills,” McEwen said.

Besides learning a skill set that will last them a lifetime, part of the project’s goal is to identify a problem and find a solution for it.

“If we don’t find answers, we just have more problems,” McEwen explained.

Jennifer Marroquin had shaken baby syndrome as her topic.

She is one of the Tallac students who has presented her PowerPoint to the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board to demonstrate the skills they are learning at the continuation high school.

Denisse Robles this school year had fetal alcohol syndrome as her topic. It talks about how this is the leading cause of mental retardation for babies born in the United States.

“It shows the wonderful things the (South Lake Tahoe) Women’s Center does,” McEwen said of that PowerPoint. That’s part of the research component — talking to local agencies about what they do to help people with particular problems.

In the process of creating the PowerPoint the students figure out visually what works in terms of using colors, fonts, point sizes, lighting, background, text over photos and other graphic elements.

Music is also integrated into many of the presentations.

They also learn about being able to tell a story, so to speak, through the slides. They must incorporate 500 words of their own writing – not just statistics – into the PowerPoint.

Besides being graded by McEwen, the PowerPoints are subject to peer review by fellow students. And to ensure plagiarism has not occurred, McEwen will run some information through a website that checks for cheating.

Mt. Tallac students graduate June 10 at 11am on the football field at South Tahoe High School.

Tahoe Arts Project is hosting its 10th annual Art Festival July 9-10 at South Tahoe Middle School. Admission is free.

The festival will feature more than 40 local and visiting artists, food, children’s art projects, face painting, entertainment, raffle and auction prizes and fun for the entire family.

Denise Mancour was selected as the feature artist for the festival and her image “Dusk at Tahoe” will be available for sale on T-shirts. TAP will also be raffling off a framed print of the image.

New to the festival this year is Viridiana Chavez-Bautista from Oaxaca, Mexico. She will be showing and selling hand-woven wool rugs. Each of these rugs is handmade in Teotitlan Del Valle, a small Zapotec village famous for this remarkable handicraft and located about 15 miles south of Oaxaca.

Local entertainers will be performing and there will be raffle and auction prizes, including items donated by the Festival artists.

The festival is a fundraiser for Tahoe Arts Project, a nonprofit organization that brings professional performing arts to more than 5,000 K-12 students and the community of South Lake Tahoe. For more information call (530) 542.3632.

Karla Alayne (Lanz) Coburn, at the young age of 34, died in her home May 21, 2011.

She is survived by her three vibrant and amazing children: Dana, 10, Katie, 7, and Drew, 5, two adult siblings, Shenja Lanz and Bethany Lanz, and her parents Nan and AI Lanz.

Karla’s entire daily livelihood and fulfillment came in the form of motherhood. She would be happy to know that her children will be cared for by the family members they’ve been closest to, their loving grandparents Nan and AI.

Karla has been known to be a pillar of strength and a well of courage. She has always stood as an example of the power of our personal will. Karla experienced many challenges and struggles in her life and turned them all into stepping stones to create greatness in her spirit. All who’ve known her have learned from her in this regard. The family wishes to thank everyone who has always provided love to the Coburn family and especially the care of her children.

A native to South Lake Tahoe for 20 years, Karla moved to Klamath Falls in 2007 for her children to have the opportunity to grow closer to their natural grandfather Dana Coburn Sr. of Bonanza, Ore. She graduated from South Tahoe High School in 1995. As a devoted wife and mother, she spent many days volunteering at her children’s schools and attending to their complete health and joy. Karla was a beautiful person who was so very loved. She will be missed by all who knew her.

A funeral will be June 4 at 1pm at Davenport’s Chapel of the Good Shepherd, 2680 Memorial Drive, Klamath Falls, Ore. (541-883-3458), which is in charge of the arrangements.