Recent changes to state laws in California and Nevada legalizing the recreational use of cannabis have led to confusion among employers. One key question is whether employers are required to accommodate an employee’s use or possession of cannabis at the workplace.
 
What should an employer do, for instance, if a new employee tests positive for cannabis? These issues and more will be addressed at a Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce workshop on Sept. 20, noon-1:30pm at the Stateline office.

This workshop is designed to enable employers to properly handle recreational cannabis in the workplace. MOBO Law will facilitate this workshop.

Be sure you bring your own “brown-bag” lunch.

Cost is $10 for members, $20 for others.

This fall the FBI Sacramento field office will offer high school juniors who attend school within the 34 counties the office serves to gain insight into the 109-year-old law enforcement agency at its FBI Teen Academy.

The class will be Nov. 17 at the field office headquarters in Roseville.

The one-day academy offers students a unique view into the FBI and its mission, values, investigations, partnerships with local, state and federal law enforcement, eligibility requirements, many career available paths, and more. Throughout the day, participants engage in activities and discussions with FBI personnel. Discussion topics may include cyber safety, terrorism, active shooter situations, cyber investigations, and civil rights investigations. Activities may include simulated experiences with the FBI’s evidence response team, special agent bomb technicians, and special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team.

Students will also engage in candid conversations about online communication and its risks as well as the lifestyle choices required to be eligible for careers at the FBI.

Applying to and attending the FBI Teen Academy class is free.

The deadline to apply is Oct. 12. The application is online.

Nevada students are invited to showcase their artistic talents and promote radon awareness by entering the 2018 Nevada Radon Poster Contest. The contest ends Oct. 31.

The contest is open to all children ages 9 to 14 enrolled in public, private, territorial, tribal, Department of Defense and home schools. Children can also enter through a sponsoring group, such as art, computer, library, reading, science, scouting, youth or 4-H clubs.

Radon is a radioactive, colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that comes from the decay of uranium. It accumulates in homes and can cause lung cancer. This type of lung cancer risk is preventable, and the only way to know if a home has elevated levels is to test for it.

Cash prizes for the top three entries are $75 for first place, $60 for second and $45 for third. The top three entries are also awarded cash prizes for their teachers or sponsoring organization’s representative toward classroom supplies. The first-place entry also goes on to compete in the National Radon Poster Contest.

Posters in this year’s poster contest should convey one of these messages: 1) What is radon? 2) Where does radon come from? 3) How does radon get into our homes? 4) Radon can cause lung cancer, and 5) Test your home for radon. Posters will be judged on content accuracy, visual communication of the topic, reproducibility and originality. They can be created with crayon, markers, paint, collage, pencil, photographs or computer graphics.

There is no fee to enter, but each child is limited to one entry. Entries must be received at 4955 Energy Way, Reno, NV 89502 by Oct. 31.

Contact Nadia Noel, radon education coordinator for Cooperative Extension, at 775.336.0252 or noeln@unce.unr.edu for more information on the contest.

By Associated Press

RENO — Nevada has legalized recreational marijuana, but it’s still not OK for tens of thousands of Burning Man fans to light up this year.

Voters in the state passed a marijuana legalization measure in 2016, and sales began at retail stores on July 1.

But consumption is allowed only in private and even possession remains illegal on federal lands, including the stretch of Black Rock Desert managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management where the counter-culture festival began Sunday and continues through the weekend about 100 miles north of Reno.

Read the whole story

By Paul Harasim, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada’s Medicaid program, caught in the political crossfire over rising health-care costs, is far different than the limited federal-state health insurance partnership for the “deserving poor” that President Lyndon Johnson unveiled in 1965.

As documented in the first installment of the Review-Journal’s Hard Medicine series, Nevada has a lot riding on the debate over Medicaid. The Silver State is one of 31 states and the District of Columbia that used a provision of the Affordable Care Act to expand their Medicaid programs. As a result, 637,795 Nevada residents — about 20 percent of the total state population — now get some or all of their health-care costs paid through the program.

Republicans have vowed for years to “repeal and replace” the ACA, better known as Obamacare, which they consider fiscally and socially irresponsible. They have not yet been able to do so, but if they eventually succeed, Nevada will have to replace $300 million in annual federal Medicaid funding, dump 224,381 people as of March from the program’s rolls or find some middle ground that would increase costs and eliminate coverage for fewer recipients.

Read the whole story

Beautifuf

Beautiful is a fun, playful 8-month-old kitten. She will do well in just about any home.

Beautiful is spayed, microchipped, tested for FIV, and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes.

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 or call the animal shelter. Vouchers are available there also: bring $25 and a copy of a photo ID and a local utility bill.

— Karen Kuentz

Nationally known sound healer, educator and author Diáne Mandle will be performing at Tahoe Yoga Shala on Sept. 27 at 7:30pm.

The event will be a sound immersion with ancient Tibetan bowls, gongs and percussion to soothe, inspire and awaken the body, mind and spirit.

The concert is designed to relieve stress, enlighten the mind and bring people into a transcendent state of being.

Mandle is a frequent presenter at the Deepak Chopra Center, the Golden Door and Rancho la Puerta. She has presented workshops for cancer patients and oncologists and has developed a sound meditation program for incarcerated veterans with PTSD.

Tahoe Yoga Shala is located at 585 Tahoe Keys Blvd., Suite F1A, South Lake Tahoe.

Sound immersion is $25 in advance, $30 week of event. Bring a mat to lie on. For more info, call 530.543.1400.

The Douglas County Public Library is hosting a local author gathering at the Minden branch on Sept. 19 from 4:30 to 6:30pm. 

Meet and chat with local authors as they sell and sign books. 

Todd Borg and Mike White will be featured alongside authors Jay Crowley, Karen Dustman, Sally Mooney, Bonnie Nishikawa, Jerry Pattison, Kat Simmons, Elaine Snyder, and Anne Thomas. 

The Minden Library is located at 1625 Library Lane. 

Sierra Nevada College’s Tahoe’s Writers in the Woods kicks off with author Sunil Yapa on Sept. 15.

Yapa’s first novel, “Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist,” set during the Seattle World Trade Organization protests of November 1999, is this year’s Common Read and a 2016 Time magazine Best Books of the Year, an Amazon 2016 Best Books of the year, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick, and an Indies Next Pick.

Yapa will give a free reading at the campus library from 7-9pm. He will conduct a workshop on Sept. 16 at 10am. To register, go online.

The Writers in the Woods Literary Speaker Series brings well-known poets and writers from all over the country to the campus for intimate readings and workshops, where audience members can meet and exchange ideas with the guest writers.

The 39th annual Freakers Ball will be Oct. 28 at MontBleu at Stateline.

Tickets, which are $30 if purchased in advance, $35 if purchased the week of, and $40 if purchased the day of the ball, give guests access to three spook-tacular parties.   

Fun-seekers can experience Halloween celebrations at Opal Ultra Lounge, Blu Nightclub, and the MontBleu Ballroom. It all starts at 8pm. Must be 21 to attend.

There will be go-go dancers, a live band, disc jockeys, and drink specials. Come in costume for a chance to win a share of $10,000 in cash and prizes.

Tickets go on sale Aug. 29 at the casino or via Ticketmaster.