By Lindsey Bever, Washington Post

A Southern California shoe company has recalled a model of military-style work boots after a customer complained that the tread leaves swastika stamps on the ground. 

The faux pas was brought to the attention of Conal International Trading Inc., the city of Industry company that manufactures the lace-up boots, after a Redditor posted a picture on Imgur showing the footwear alongside its swastika imprints.

Conal International Trading said it has recalled the Polar Fox boots and stopped selling them.

In a revised statement Friday, the company said that it had imported the offensive footwear.

Read the whole story

By USSA

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah – The 2017 USANA FIS Nordic Junior World Championships came to a close on the Olympic venue of Soldier Hollow with hotly contest relays under bright skies and warm temperatures. Sunday morning the Russian team took gold over France, with the U.S. women taking their first medal ever with bronze.

In the afternoon, Norway and Russia battled right down to the wire before Norway picked up gold. France took bronze.

In the men’s relay under soft track conditions, Germany and France took the early lead on the first classic leg building a 10-second margin back to Russia and Norway. On the second classic leg, Norway and Russia setup their battle that would remain through the finish. A big gap built between Russia-Norway and the chasing French team, which skied alone the remainder of the two freestyle legs.

Coming into the stadium, it was a tight battle between Norway’s Thomas Helland Larsen and Russia’s Vladislav Vechkanov. Larsen found himself on the outside of the 180-degree turn into the final 100 meters. But he had strong momentum and made the pass to setup a finish spring. Larsen kept pace and made his move at the finish line to take the gold by four-tenths of a second.

In the women’s relay, Germany took a first leg lead with classic skiing of Antonia Froebel to hold a 17 second lead over Russia. That evaporated in the second classic leg as a race developed between Italy and Russia for the lead with Germany dropping well off the pace. 

Moving into the skating legs, the lead group remained Italy-Russia with France, Sweden and the U.S. battling for third. On the final climb coming out of Cabin Hollow, America’s Hannah Halvorsen (Truckee) of the Sugar Bowl Ski Team put on a quick charge to move the U.S. into third. She gave back the spot coming into the stadium fourth, handing off to teammate Katharine Ogden (Landgrave, Vt.) of Stratton Mountain School, bronze medalist two days earlier in the skiathlon.

While Russia and Italy battled for gold, Ogden made a move on France to take the lead, adding to her time to build a large gap coming into the stadium. Russia did the same over Italy, taking gold by 20 seconds over Italy with USA winning bronze just 26 seconds behind Russia.

By USSA

MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN – American snowboarders were dominant at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe event on Sunday, sweeping the men’s podium and taking two of the top three spots for the women.

Shaun White (Carlsbad) won for the men, while Kelly Clark (West Dover, Vt.) took the win for the women. Ryan Wachendorfer (Edwards, Colo.) was second and Louie Vito (Bellefontaine, Ohio) was third for the men, while Hannah Teter (Meyers) rounded out the women’s podium in third.

Teter in her first run scored 36.25 with a backside air, frontside 540, backside 540, frontside 720, Cab 360, frontside air, backside 900 crash. She fell hard on the backside 900, not taking a second pass.

Weather made an impact on the 2017 event, with snow throughout the week and high winds canceling the men’s halfpipe qualifiers on Saturday. The full field of 29 men took two runs in the final on Sunday. The women were able to get their qualifiers off on Wednesday, but three of the six women were unable to stay for the final, including Americans Chloe Kim (Torrance) and Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), which was rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday. Another Sierra storm descended upon the riders as they competed in the final on Sunday, with conditions deteriorating throughout the comp.

It was a big win for both Clark and White, who are the two most dominant halfpipe riders in snowboarding history, but had not seen the podium yet this season.

“I didn’t have the nicest contest at X (Games),” White said after his first run scored a 94.7, “so I was excited to come here and be the normal me—put some runs down.”  

It was also a huge result for Wachendorfer, who scored his first major podium after finding success on the Toyota U.S. Revolution Tour. He’s also the reigning USASA national halfpipe champion. “I’m actually staying for Rev Tour,” he said when asked where he was headed next, “so I’ll be here for another week.”

By Tony Berendsen

What’s your Cosmos?

“Cosmos often simply means ‘universe.’ But the word is generally used to suggest an orderly or harmonious universe, as it was originally used by Pythagoras in the 6th century B.C.” — Webster’s dictionary.

All of us are traveling together on this planet orbiting a star once a year within the Milky Way galaxy. Our planet is small, the Earth is only one-millionth of the size of our star, and although one yearly orbit seems like a long period of time for us, it is a wink of the eye in time compared to the orbital period of our star around the galaxy; about 250 million years.

Each of us experience life uniquely, and so all of us interpret the cosmos differently.

Hubble’s 25th anniversary image of the Westerlund 2 Cluster. Photo/NASA

This week I asked a couple people at the UNR about their cosmos:

Dan Ruby, director of the Fleischmann Planetarium, said, “Space is unimaginably big, containing more than we can comprehend. As our knowledge of the cosmos grows, our share of understanding shrinks. Thinking about our place in space doesn’t make me feel small or insignificant; in fact, the opposite is true—studying the vast universe beyond the thin envelope of Earth’s atmosphere makes me feel like an integral part of it, and I’m excited about the prospect of having a lifetime of new things to learn.”

Nasim Emadi, student of mechanical engineering at UNR: “The cosmos is where we live in the large scale, but I am concerned about my day-to-day life here on earth, I don’t think about the cosmos very much.”

Those are two very contrasting statements about the cosmos. Our sense of place in the cosmos is affected by the many aspects of our lives; how and where we were educated, our religion, our culture, our family values, even significant moments in our lives.

How do you define your part in the cosmos?

In the next Star Guide I will feature 10 statements of “What is your Cosmos” from the readers of Star Guide. If you would like to have your perception of the cosmos published in the article, please send a short statement (one or two sentences only, with your full name and occupation) to tony@tahoestartours.com.

In return, I’ll include my perception of the cosmos in step with the words of contemporary poet Galway Kinnell who was quoted, “To me, poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment.”

Tony Berendsen runs Tahoe Star Tours. He may be reached at 775.232.0844 or tony@tahoestartours.com.

Rangers are leading two hikes at Washoe Lake State Park this month

The full moon hike will be Feb. 11 from 6-7:30pm. It is a moderate 1.5-mile hike to the gazebo on the Deadman’s Creek Trail. Reservations are required; call 775.687.4319 or email washoelake@hdiss.net. The hike is free after the park’s entrance fee of $7 per vehicle. Nevada residents receive a $2 discount. 

The sand dunes hike is a moderate three-miler on Feb. 19 from 1-3pm. Meet at the Equestrian Pavilion. This event is free after the park’s entrance fee of $7/vehicle.

Wildlife officials ready the bears for their return to the wild. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

If only these cubs could talk. What would they say about the treatment they received for nearly seven months at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care? Do they remember their mom being hit by a car last summer in Yosemite?

No more being poked and prodded by needles. That has to be a good thing. But no more watermelon either. They will have to forage for every meal.

Tom Millham with Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care puts ointment in one of the bear’s eyes. Photo/Kathryn Reed

While LTWC has 99 percent of all animals’ diets be natural, it isn’t always what they’d find in the wild. Watermelon and grapes are two things almost all critters like. These bears were fed a lot of fish, but kokanee isn’t something they’ll find in Yosemite.

For now, the three Yosemite cubs that came in at 8, 8 and 10 pounds are back in the national park. They left the South Shore animal rehab facility last week weighing 62.9, 80.4 and 94.5 pounds.

“They are at a better weight than we had hoped for,” Tom Millham told Lake Tahoe News. He and his wife, Cheryl, are the founders of LTWC.

The size of the bears’ paws have grown substantially since their arrival to Tahoe in July. Photo/Kathryn Reed

On this particular day a bevy of activity is going on. Veterinarian Kevin Willitts is taking blood and performing one last exam on these bruins. Three Yosemite officials are doing what’s needed to ensure the bears have a restful ride back to the park. They take hair samples, measurements, weight, make sure that their collars fit just right and that all the paperwork is in order.

Normally only bears weighing more than 100 bears receive GPS collars. This is the only study beyond the one on the East Coast where bears weighing less than that minimum are being tracked. The collars are programmed to come off six months from the day they were put on.

GPS collars will provide national parks officials with data on the bears. Photo/Kathryn Reed

As with all animals brought to LTWC, the goal is to return them to the area they came from. Because the bears are going into a wilderness area, it required teams of men and women on skis to haul the animals to their den on separate sleds. The goal is they will sleep together the rest of the winter and then wakeup in their old/new home. For their safety, the exact location is not being disclosed.

The collar will tell researchers if the two males and one female travel the same or different distances, if they stick together, who comes out first and a slew of other data.

South Lake Tahoe vet Kevin Willitts is an integral component to LTWC animals returning to the wild. Photo/Kathryn Reed

A website is expected to be launched in March that will provide information about the bears. It will regularly be updated about their activity. LTWC plans to have a link to it from its website.

Once the collars come off they will be retrieved, refurbished and used again.

These were the last of the five bear cubs brought to LTWC in 2016 to be released. Another bear that arrived earlier this year will stay in Tahoe through the winter.

By Wes Siler, Outside

“The 20 Best Dog Breeds for Runners,” “The 20 Best Active Dog Breeds,” “The 10 Best Hot-Weather Dog Breeds,” “The 10 Best Cold Weather Dog Breeds,” “The Best Family Dogs,” “How to Pick the Perfect Dog for You”… I pulled all these article titles off the first page of a Google search for dog articles on Outside.

We’re far from the only publication to run a series of pieces like this. But the thing is, any advice telling you to choose a pure-bred dog as an outdoor companion is inherently wrong.

The best dog, for any person, doing any activity, is a mutt.

Read the whole story

By Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal

While New England Patriots star Tom Brady looks to break the record for most Super Bowls won by a quarterback Sunday when his team takes on the Atlanta Falcons, Nevada sports books are eyeing their own record: largest handle in Super Bowl history.

A record $132.54 million was bet on Super Bowl 50 – a 24-10 win by the Denver Broncos over the Carolina Panthers. That total surpassed the record of $119 million set in 2014. But the wagers laid down leading into this year’s game has left local sports book managers optimistic last year’s mark will be surpassed.

Ben Knutson, William Hill’s local area manager who oversees 30 of the bookmaker’s 108 statewide books, believes the game will set a record handle.

Read the whole story

The Eldorado National Forest will be submitting applications for off highway vehicle cooperative funds.

The public’s ideas are important for developing the proposals. There will be an open house Feb. 8 from 4-7pm to discuss the proposed preliminary grant applications. It will  be at the Eldorado National Forest Supervisor’s Office, 100 Forni Road, Placerville.

The USFS plans to put a strong emphasis on trail maintenance and repair, law enforcement across the four ranger districts, printing and distribution of the motor vehicle use maps, restoration of impacted areas, planning, and education.

Once completed, the preliminary grant applications will be available on the OHMVR website from March 7-April 3.

The public may provide comments by emailing both Michelle Zuro-Kreimer at mzurokreimer@fs.fed.us and ohvinfo@parks.ca.gov. 

Washoe County Sheriff’s Office release the following tips for people hiking/snowshoeing and like this time of year:

1. Dress like an onion. Be sure to dress in layers. Since temperatures vary from the trailhead to the summit, a variety of insulating clothing will help you regulate your body temperature.

2. Start small and start early. Be prepared for the distance and difficulty of the trail. The sun sets earlier in winter months so plan to be off the trail before dark. Keep in mind an injury or accident could happen any time due to terrain. Have a plan if you do get injured.

3. Bring safety gear. Aside from basic hiking gear, be sure to include a few basic items such as your cell phone, GPS/compass, pocket knife or mini tool, first aid kit, and rain poncho and/or foil blanket.

4. Check the weather. Look at precipitation, wind speed, avalanche reports and daylight hours.

5. Learn to use crampons. If the trail is icy, crampons can make the difference in preventing injury. If you are new to crampons, try them on easier trails first.

6. Let someone know where you are. Let a friend or family member know specific and accurate trail information of where you are as well as when you are expected to return.

7. Take an experienced friend. Hiking with friends is always the way to go, especially in winter. Not only is it more fun, but also safer to be with a group.

8. Water, water, water. It is essential to bring plenty of water when hiking in the winter, as dehydration is a common problem.

9. Invest in good gear. There are some basics every hiker should have: crampons or snowshoes, waterproof/resistant pants and jacket, knee-high gaiters, waterproof/resistant boots, a lightweight backpack, and sunglasses.

10. Be prepared to turn around. Legendary mountaineer Ed Viesturs once said, “Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory.” Don’t hesitate to turn around if you run into conditions that look dangerous.

11. Don’t hesitate to call SAR if in trouble. If you get lost, call 911.