The Douglas County Library is celebrating Teen Read Week with an art contest.

Enter a drawing, photograph, or story with a fall theme. Bring entries to the Minden or Zephyr Cove libraries between Oct. 6-17.

Winners will be announced at the Teen Mystery Party. Winners and honorable mentions in each category will receive candy. Their entries will be posted on the library’s Facebook page and displayed in the teen area.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Douglas County Public Library.

The libraries are located at 233 Warrior Way in Zephyr Cove and 1625 Library Lane in Minden.

By Suzy Strutner, Huffington Post

You know the feeling: you wake up after a long night’s sleep in a hotel bed, slip into your fuzzy hotel-issued slippers and hotel-issued robe, step onto the fluffy hotel carpet and think “WHY is this so amazing?!”

The question is certainly intriguing. So we asked a handful of HuffPost editors for their favorite hotel bed experiences. And the more we researched, the more we realized that all blissful hotel experiences have one important detail in common:

All the best hotel beds are white.

You’ve probably never thought about it, but try to imagine an ideal hotel bed that isn’t white, and you’ll see what we mean. And yet we all spend time trying to find colorful quilts and crazy bohemian-print sheets for our bedrooms at home … what’s the deal?

Turns out white is a symbol of luxury, and the bet is that you’ll feel more luxurious — and sleep more luxuriously! — in a white bed.

Read the whole story

Lake Tahoe Community College board of trustees approved a policy that prohibits smoking within buildings or facilities owned or leased by the district, and has designated marked outside areas on campus for smoking.

All other smoking and tobacco use in and on the LTCC campus is prohibited except in personal vehicles.

Individuals who refuse to comply with the college’s smoking policy will be disciplined. For the purposes of this policy, “smoking” means all uses of tobacco, including cigar smoking, cigarette smoking, pipe smoking, e-cigarettes, and chewing tobacco. The sale of tobacco products is also prohibited on college property.

The policy applies to all LTCC employees, students, vendors, visitors, and other people who use the college’s vehicles and facilities.

Midfielder Hector Hernandez, No. 15., goes for the ball Sept. 15 at LTCC. Photo/Jessie Marchesseau

By Jessie Marchesseau

Lake Tahoe Community College kicked off the 2014-15 school year with a new mascot, the coyote, and two new soccer teams to wear it on their jerseys.

LTCC has been devoid of an intercollegiate athletic team since it did away with Nordic skiing in 2001. Volleyball and cross country running were discontinued a few years before that. More than a decade later, re-entering the collegiate athletic field was no snap decision. The new soccer program has been years in the making, with numerous proposals, discussions and studies along the way.

Ultimately, LTCC President Kindred Murillo believes the addition of a soccer team fit perfectly into the college’s new vision and goals for increased enrollment.

“It started out of our desire to reach into local high schools, and expanded into fitting our desire to be a destination college,” she told Lake Tahoe News.

Murillo sees the soccer team as a way for LTCC to meet its goal of attracting more students from local and nearby high schools by offering athletes a means to continue playing soccer without having to travel far away.

She also pointed out how students and young adults often come to Lake Tahoe from other areas because they enjoy a variety of outdoor sports. By offering the opportunity to play intercollegiate soccer Murillo hopes the college can tap into the supply of potential students already considering a move to Lake Tahoe.

And so far, it seems to be working.

“I believe we hired the coaches that will bring this program to the forefront of California community college soccer and bring student athletes to the program,” said Tim Johnson, LTCC physical education and health department chair, who originally proposed the idea of a soccer team to the school’s administration.

The head coach for the women’s team, Chris DeLeon, coached at South Tahoe High from 2001 to 2013. With such deep-rooted connections in the local soccer community, it is no surprise that 15 of the 21 players on the women’s roster hail from South Lake Tahoe.

“One of our biggest goals for starting teams was giving local flavor a chance to play,” DeLeon told Lake Tahoe News.

On the men’s side, head coach Benjamin Wade came to LTCC from Lassen Community College in Susanville. He brought 12 players from Lassen with him, chose a handful more at tryouts and used his web of international soccer connections to fill out the men’s team with 18 international players originating from Europe, Australia and South America.

The athletes, no matter where they come from, are not eligible for athletic scholarships, a variation from four-year institutions. This means every new player results in additional tuition dollars for the school.

In all, DeLeon said the soccer program brought in more than 50 students this year. About 20 of those were from other countries.

The unexpected influx of international students for the teams even influenced LTCC to implement an international student program. These international students are a welcome addition to the school for more reasons than one.

First of all, Johnson said, they bring different cultures and a more worldly air to the campus. In addition, they pay a significant amount of tuition to the school.

But, still, Murillo said she would like to see more local players and students.

“I think it’s surprising to local students how rigorous your life is going to be being involved in a college sport,” she said.

Many potential players struggled with balancing work and school schedules. Murillo said they are learning as they go, and the school may make some changes for next year to encourage more local athlete involvement.

Overall, the program has exceeded the expectations of pretty much everyone involved. From the turnout of more than 150 spectators at the first women’s home game, to the men’s team being ranked as high as No. 1 in the state in recent weeks, LTCC Coyotes soccer is off to a running start.

“It opens that door to the possibility of exploring another sport,” Johnson said.

This may happen sooner rather than later. Murillo indicated they are not leaning toward one sport or another, but the administration may begin exploring other intercollegiate athletic options as early as this winter.

The next Coyote soccer home game is Oct. 3. Team schedules are online.

To the community,

On Nov. 4, I will vote yes on Measure F to provide much-needed funding to maintain and modernize Lake Tahoe Community College. I am asking you to join me in supporting our local college — a key institution in our town whose future is so closely tied to the entire South Shore community’s hopes for the future.

I have been a part of the South Lake Tahoe community since 1989, and am now a permanent, full-time resident. I’ve served on the Lake Tahoe Community College Foundation for two years, raising money to help hundreds of local college students reach their potential and meet their academic goals. I’ve seen firsthand the clear connection that exists between providing local access to a quality, modern college education, and the health and growth of our community.

For 40 years now, Lake Tahoe Community College has been a valuable community resource, providing generations of residents access to a low-cost, high-quality college education to prepare for transfer to four-year universities, and to train for better careers. As the cultural and educational hub of our community for four decades now, LTCC’s buildings and infrastructure have seen constant and heavy use. By voting yes on Measure F, we can better prepare our local students for jobs and transfer by modernizing the college’s classrooms, science labs, technology, and facilities. The campus will become more energy efficient while also providing students with the technology they require to succeed in tomorrow’s workplace. It will also expand access to university courses by creating a university center, and will bring a public safety training center to campus that will expand the college’s educational offerings and provide the South Shore with a crisis center during emergencies.

The benefits of passing Measure F are numerous for the larger community as well. Local construction and technology jobs will be generated from the college’s 10-year, $107 million facilities and technology construction plan. There is the potential for $52 million in funding to come from outside the community, through state grants and opportunities, to match the up to $55 million generated locally from the bond. This 10-year plan will generate local construction jobs for the long term, and as the college’s facilities are improved, our local economy will get a boost in the form of jobs and economic investment into local businesses that support the community’s growing workforce.

Measure F will also help to attract a larger student population at LTCC. This growth will have a spillover effect for local businesses, landlords, and other service providers. In other California communities, college bond measures have improved local home valuations. On top of that, the modern classrooms, labs and technology Measure F will deliver can lead to more highly qualified job seekers in more industries right in our community. Measure F is a small price to pay that offers a huge return on investment: the bond’s cost for a $300,000 home valuation is just $75 per year.

I hope you’ll join me on Nov. 4 in voting yes on Measure F, for our college and our community’s future. When our local college succeeds, our entire community succeeds.

Sincerely,

Leon Malmed, South Lake Tahoe

By Fenit Nirapril, AP

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed the nation’s first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores, driven to action by pollution in streets and waterways.

A national coalition of plastic bag manufacturers immediately said it would seek a voter referendum to repeal the law, which is scheduled to take effect in July 2015.

Under SB270, plastic bags will be phased out of checkout counters at large grocery stores and supermarkets such as Wal-Mart and Target starting next summer, and convenience stores and pharmacies in 2016. The law does not apply to bags used for fruits, vegetables or meats, or to shopping bags used at other retailers. It allows grocers to charge a fee of at least 10 cents for using paper bags.

State Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, credits the momentum for statewide legislation to the more than 100 cities and counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, that already have such bans.

The law marks a major milestone for environmental activists who have successfully pushed plastic bag bans in cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Austin and Seattle. Hawaii is also on track to have a de-facto statewide ban, with all counties approving prohibitions.

“This bill is a step in the right direction — it reduces the torrent of plastic polluting our beaches, parks and even the vast ocean itself,” Brown said in a signing statement. “We’re the first to ban these bags, and we won’t be the last.”

Plastic bag manufacturers have aggressively pushed back through their trade group, the American Progressive Bag Alliance, which aired commercials in California blasting the ban as a cash-giveaway to grocers that would lead to a loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

“If this law were allowed to go into effect, it would jeopardize thousands of California manufacturing jobs, hurt the environment and fleece consumers for billions so grocery store shareholders and their union partners can line their pockets,” Lee Califf, executive director of the manufacturer trade group, said in a statement.

Padilla, the bill’s author, said Californians would reject a referendum effort and quickly adapt their behavior to help the environment.

“For those folks concerned about the 10 cent fee that may be charged for paper, the simple elegant solution is to bring a reusable bag to the store,” Padilla said.

Shoppers leaving a Ralphs supermarket Tuesday in downtown San Diego were divided as they weighed the legislation’s environmental benefits against its costs. San Diego does not ban plastic bags.

“With the amount of waste that we produce, we can try to help out by slightly inconveniencing ourselves,” said Megan Schenfeld, 29, whose arms were full of groceries in plastic bags after leaving reusable bags at home.

Robert Troxell, a 69-year-old former newspaper editor, said the fees are more than an inconvenience for retirees living on fixed incomes like him. He shops daily because he has only a small refrigerator in his hotel for low-income seniors.

“It becomes a flat tax on senior citizens,” said Troxell, who lives off social security and other government assistance. “I have not disagreed with Jerry Brown on anything — until this.”

The American Forest and Paper Association, a trade group representing paper bag makers, says the bill unfairly penalizes consumers who use their commonly recycled products, while holding reusable plastic bags to a lower standard for recyclable content.

Responding to the concerns about job losses, the bill includes $2 million in loans for plastic bag manufacturers to shift their operations to make reusable bags. That provision won the support of Los Angeles Democratic Sens. Kevin De Leon and Ricardo Lara, who had blocked earlier versions of the legislation.

Lawmakers of both parties who opposed SB270 said it would penalize lower-income residents by charging them for bags they once received for free. The bill was amended to waive fees for customers who are on public assistance and limit how grocers can spend the proceeds from the fees.

Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico also have pending legislation that would ban single-use bags, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The annual Fall Fish Festival is Oct. 4-5 at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center on Lake Tahoe’s South Shore.

It focuses on a variety of fish species that live in Lake Tahoe and its streams, including the federally threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout, little-known smaller fish, such as Speckled dace, and the Kokanee salmon.

The weekend events feature children’s activities, food vendors, educational booths, streamside information and the return of the Kokanee Trail Runs on Sunday sponsored by the Tahoe Mountain Milers.

The festival runs from 10am-4pm each day.

Black bears in the area feed on the spawning salmon. Remember do not approach them – bears are wild animals and may attack if threatened.

The Fall Fish Festival and Oktoberfest at Historic Camp Richardson Resort occur the same weekend, so the parking lot at the visitor center fills quickly. The U.S. Forest Service encourages attendees to bike, walk or take public transportation to the event.

By Ryan Frank, Las Vegas Sun

Reno had a problem in 1998. Lots of problems, in fact.

“The Biggest Little City in the World” long had been surpassed by Las Vegas and Atlantic City as a gaming destination, and tribal casinos had taken over Reno’s monopoly on northern California gamblers.

Lance Gilman, a music promoter-turned-real estate mogul, had a solution. While others focused on the warts of boarded up casinos, Gilman saw Reno’s potential as a hub for warehouses, manufacturers and data centers. And he had the cash to make a big bet on the region’s future.

Gilman and his partner bought a parcel of land east of town that was so big it covered more ground than the city of Las Vegas does today. On it, they planned to build what they described as the world’s biggest industrial park.

Sixteen years later, Gilman has the world’s attention.

Tesla Motors announced this month it would build an electric car battery plant in Gilman’s industrial park, the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center. It’s expected to be one of the biggest buildings in the world and, if all goes as planned, deliver up to 22,000 jobs, $100 billion in economic impact and a new industry to help power Nevada’s economy.

Gov. Brian Sandoval said the deal “changed the trajectory of Nevada forever.” State lawmakers agreed, approving four Tesla bills, 240-0, including more than $1 billion in tax breaks and incentives.

Southern Nevadans may wonder why Tesla landed in tiny Storey County when Clark County has 30 times more land mass and 500 times more people. The lesson for Las Vegas is that the Reno region won because it had the right mix of strategy, location, geography and people.

Northern Nevada’s civic leaders accepted the reality that tourism wasn’t coming back and embraced Reno’s new identity as a remote suburb of San Francisco, rich with wealth, talent and tech. Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble picked the region so their trucks could reach every major market in the West with one-day shipping.

Read the whole story

Updated Sept. 30 5:15pm:

The South Lake Tahoe bicyclist struck by a vehicle on Sept. 29 has been identified as 62-year-old Robert Klein.

He is at Renown Medical Center in Reno. Police Lt. Brian Williams told Lake Tahoe News he has “significant head injuries.”

Klein was lying in the traffic lanes of Emerald Bay Road near McDonald’s at the Y when police arrived about 5:40pm Monday. Klein was not wearing a helmet.

Carmel Jennings, 57, of South Lake Tahoe was arrested on felony driving under the influence charges.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Amber Phillips, Las Vegas Sun

WASHINGTON — As much as anyone, Harry Reid is responsible for building modern-day Nevada. He has leveraged political savvy and well-placed Washington friends to pave bike lanes, build solar plants and land Tesla Motors’ battery factory.

But Reid could lose something important this fall: His power to control the U.S. Senate.

Republicans are rising in Senate races across the country. Who controls the Senate next remains a toss-up. If Republicans take six seats back in the Nov. 4 election, Reid will lose his seven-year grip on the majority leader’s chair.

Conventional wisdom says Nevada will suffer if its senior senator loses his hold on the Senate’s top position. But the consensus of more than a dozen veteran Democratic and Republican insiders say conventional wisdom is wrong. Reid, a former boxer, has proven to be a such a skilled Senate tactician that his political capital weighs more than his title.

“I think Sen. Reid is probably the most powerful person in Washington, D.C., whether in the majority or minority,” said Tom Skancke, president of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance and a longtime Reid supporter.

Read the whole story