To the community,

As the Bread & Broth dinner guests were lining up outside of St. Theresa Church’s Grace Hall, the volunteers from the Tahoe Sierra Kiwanis Club were busy helping the Bread & Broth volunteers prepare for the evening’s free meal on Jan. 12.

As the evening’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment sponsor, Kiwanis Club members Carolyn Willford, Carmen Delgado, Mike Foster and Pat Frega took the opportunity to help people in need.

“Kiwanis serving at Bread & Broth is one our most rewarding experiences,” Foster said.

As the host for the evening, the Kiwanis Club provided the funds which covered the cost of the evening’s meal of over 100 servings of ham and sausage sauerkraut stew, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, apple sauce and a wide variety of desserts.

Due to sponsorship donations of $250, B&B is able to serve healthy, well-balanced meals every week and to purchase fruits and vegetables to add to the groceries donated by stores and business for give away bags for those attending the dinner. As she was filling up “to go” containers with leftovers from the meal, Delgado was asked about her first time volunteering at a B&B dinner. She responded, “Very nice, very rewarding, enjoyed every minute.”

The B&B volunteers always looks forward to the annual sponsorship of the Tahoe Sierra Kiwanis Club and their members who always make the evening so enjoyable with their great attitudes and desire to improve the lives of others.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Jan. 18, 2015, Las Vegas Sun.

After Gov. Brian Sandoval’s State of the State speech last week, some people said he sounded like a moderate Republican, others said he sounded like a conservative Democrat.

We thought he sounded like a classic Nevada governor, the type we have known in years gone by, the type that set aside the partisan rhetoric once an election was over and governed for the good of all Nevadans.

Sandoval on Jan.15 outlined what’s being called an ambitious agenda to bolster education and prepare the state to compete in an increasingly technical world. The price tag looks big — roughly $1 billion in new and extended taxes, with most of it going toward education.

But what makes it ambitious isn’t the size of the taxes or the proposals to improve the schools. The ambition — sadly — comes in trying to persuade the Legislature to sign off on this.

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Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Jan. 21, 2015, Los Angeles Times.

Today, the 42nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe vs. Wade, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill to ban abortions at 20 weeks. The bill is expected to pass the House and may pass the Senate as well, although it is almost certain to be vetoed by President Obama.

But even if it won’t ultimately become law, it is worth pausing for a moment to think about what this bill is about. Under Roe, women have a constitutional right to an abortion up to the point of viability of the fetus outside the womb, which is about 24 weeks.

The bill would flout that, based on the claim that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks — an assertion rejected by most medical experts who have studied the issue and who have concluded that all the neurological elements necessary to experience pain are not completely in place and functioning at that point.

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By John L. Smith, Las Vegas Review-Journal

At least we now know why the Democrats didn’t recruit a substantial candidate against Gov. Brian Sandoval in the last election.

It would have been hard to find anyone capable of running to the left of our popular Republican. But given the sorry state of Nevada’s public education system, that might actually be a good thing.

The state possesses few viable Democrats with politics more progressive than those espoused Thursday by Sandoval in his State of the State, in which he called for a $7.3 billion two-year budget. That includes $1.5 billion in additional revenue: $580 million in the “endless sunset” tax extension, $80 million in increased cigarette taxes, and $440 million from a new fee on business licenses.

A Republican suggesting a big bump in a business tax?

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By Jeff Baldwin ad Asher Sheppard, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Human population is often overlooked when we think about climate change. Yes, industrialization brings the greenhouse gases now warming the Earth, but it also affects world population, the proportions of young and old, where people live, what they consume and how their food is grown. Today, technology- intensive industrial agriculture is producing the food for many of Earth’s billions.

The link between industrialization and climate change is well known. The shift from muscle power to energy from combustion of fossil fuels releases vast amounts of carbon that living organisms took from the atmosphere hundreds of millions of years ago. Energy stored in the coal, oil and gas of Earth’s crust powers large-scale industrialization, while the accompanying greenhouse gas emissions warm Earth’s climate.

The relationship between industrialization and demographic changes in the developed world is less widely known. As Western Europe, North America and Japan industrialized, farmers were pushed off their lands and moved to cities. Large families became problematic, particularly with the passage of child labor laws and as women went to work outside the home. Education and the ability to control fertility have combined with these societal changes to cut fertility rates markedly in the developed world.

Yet in many developing countries today, women commonly have more than five children. Many of these will be among the 2 billion additional people at the global dinner table by mid-century — most too poor to buy enough food should prices rise.

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By Tom Hanks, New York Times

In 1974, I graduated from Skyline High School in Oakland, an underachieving student with lousy SAT scores. Allowed to send my results to three colleges, I chose M.I.T. and Villanova, knowing such fine schools would never accept a student like me but hoping they’d toss some car stickers my way for taking a shot. I couldn’t afford tuition for college anyway. I sent my final set of stats to Chabot, a community college in nearby Hayward, which, because it accepted everyone and was free, would be my alma mater.

For thousands of commuting students, Chabot was our Columbia, Annapolis, even our Sorbonne, offering courses in physics, stenography, auto mechanics, certified public accounting, foreign languages, journalism — name the art or science, the subject or trade, and it was probably in the catalog. The college had a nursing program that churned out graduates, sports teams that funneled athletes to big-time programs, and parking for a few thousand cars — all free but for the effort and the cost of used textbooks.

Classmates included veterans back from Vietnam, women of every marital and maternal status returning to school, middle-aged men wanting to improve their employment prospects and paychecks. We could get our general education requirements out of the way at Chabot — credits we could transfer to a university — which made those two years an invaluable head start. I was able to go on to the State University in Sacramento (at $95 a semester, just barely affordable) and study no other subject but my major, theater arts. (After a year there I moved on, enrolling in a little thing called the School of Hard Knocks, a.k.a. Life.)

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To the community,

The Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce thanks the community for supporting local food banks at the annual BAHM for Charity at Riva Grill on Jan. 15.

Over 100 people attended and together we raised $3,650 for charities Christmas Cheer All Year and Bread and Broth. We couldn’t have been more pleased with the turnout and the amount of donations we received.

We’d like to thank Riva Grill for hosting the event and providing the generous spread. We’d also like to thank Lauren Lindley Photography for providing a mobile photo booth that allowed guests to try on costumes and take fun photos to remember the night. A special thank you to all of the business that provided great raffle prizes, including Tahoe Production House, Lauren Lindley Photography, Dollar Signs & Graphics, FATFACE Skincare, Blue Angel Café, Lucky Beaver Bar & Burger, Ken’s Tire Center, Tahoe Bowl, Gunbarrel Tavern & Eatery, Harrah’s & Harveys Lake Tahoe, My Tahoe Chef and Lake Tahoe Cruises-Zephyr Cove Resort.

This event wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our members and the community. We look forward to seeing you next year.

Shannon Earley, chamber communications coordinator

To the community,

My name is Morgan and I’ve been in search of my grandfather for the past 10 years. I was hoping if I provided some information maybe someone would remember him.

The story takes place in Zephyer Cove between 1961-1963 at what was once The Shoals restaurant owned by Jean and Herman Strucker. There were two chefs during this time; John Ross and Max Jones. The gentleman I’m in search of was the restaurant’s manager who went by the name of Chuck. From what I understand he also owned a used car lot in Carson city off Highway 395.

If anyone has information on this person, please email me at Morganamell06@yahoo.com

Thank you,

Morgan Amell

By Casey Beyer

As the incoming chair of the 15-member Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, this promises to be a hopeful and exciting year. 2015 will be full of opportunities, but also challenges, for the continued protection of Lake Tahoe.

The No. 1 priority among our challenges is funding shortfalls. Federal and state funding that has paid for environmental restoration and protection efforts at Lake Tahoe for years is drying up and new approaches need to be pursued.

Casey Beyer

We must work together to find creative resources from our federal, state, local, and private sector partners to continue completing environmental improvement program (EIP) projects. Over the last two decades, the EIP has built bike paths, improved the health of our forests, reduced stormwater pollution, and halted a decadeslong decline in Lake Tahoe’s mid-lake water clarity.

Our environmental efforts must include Tahoe’s near shore. That area of the lake is the focus of a new monitoring and research program because it continues to experience water quality problems even as mid-lake clarity has stabilized. Addressing threats from pollution, algae growth, and the spread of invasive species are top priorities for us.

We must find long-term funding sources to continue our mandatory boat inspection program to prevent the introduction of new aquatic invasive species into Lake Tahoe, and to control as best we can the impact of damaging invasive species that are already in the lake.

We are seeing many transportation improvements in the Tahoe basin, with major local projects such as the Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project, Harrison Avenue Streetscape Improvement Project, and Incline Village to Sand Harbor Bike Path all taking shape. But we must do more to improve our transportation corridors.

Transportation projects offer some of the best return for our dollar in terms of community revitalization and improved mobility, access, and recreation. They also offer tremendous environmental benefit by creating safer and more convenient ways for people to get around on foot or bike and by reducing the amount of fine sediment and other pollution that washes into Lake Tahoe with rainfall and snow melt.

Part of our transportation challenge is educating policy makers in Washington, D.C. Federal funding formulas allocate money for roadwork based on our small rural population, and fail to account for the millions of visitors who travel to Tahoe each year from nearby cities. Upgrading our transportation infrastructure and transit systems in the basin, so critical to the health of Lake Tahoe’s environment and communities, as well as the experience of visitors, requires changing those formulas.

As a native of Nevada and a California governor appointee, in my three decades of public service in California and Nevada, no assignment has been more important to me than when I was appointed to the TRPA Governing Board in September 2009. In the last five plus years I have worked to build a bi-partisan bridge of trust between two states and gained the respect of California Gov. Jerry Brown and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. There is no question that California and Nevada share the responsibility to protect this national treasure.

Growing up in Reno, Lake Tahoe was my playground and backyard and I spent every spare moment I could enjoying it. Skiing and swimming in the lake’s crystal clear water and hiking the Rim Trail before it was recognized as a recreational wonder were all part of growing up. It’s these activities that turned me into a young environmental steward in the 1960s at the same time the TRPA was being created.

For years, unproductive interactions between the stakeholders at Lake Tahoe stalled progress and did little to improve the lake’s environment or our communities. Fortunately, times are different today.

In December 2012, we turned a page in Lake Tahoe’s history by approving a widely supported Regional Plan. Implementation of the plan will improve Tahoe’s natural environment and the health, sustainability, and economic vitality of our communities. A variety of groups with different opinions are setting aside their differences to focus on our challenges and seeking solutions for the mutual interest of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Winston Churchill once said, “If we open a quarrel between the past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.” I want everyone to be a part of solving the challenges we have before us, because meeting them head on will benefit our lake and the opportunity will be our legacy to future generations. That does not mean we will agree on every issue, but when we stay engaged, bringing our different views and opinions to bear on problems, keeping the big picture in mind, we will find common solutions.

Casey Beyer will serve as chair of the TRPA Governing Board from January 2015 to December 2017.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Jan. 3, 2015, Fresno Bee.

One of the worst droughts on record forced California lawmakers and voters to implement far-reaching initiatives intended to change how the state manages water. And while the policy shifts last year were remarkable, Californians did not achieve the goal of conservation set by the governor.

The disconnect is baffling, considering how much California accomplished in water policy last year. Voters approved a $7.5 billion water bond in a landslide, and legislators passed historic legislation that finally will lead to groundwater regulation.

Lawmakers also approved a $687 million drought-relief package to assist farmworkers impacted by the drought, provide water for communities facing shortages and fund storm water capture and recycling.

Progress was extraordinary, given that water has been a source of perennial conflict in the Golden State.

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