Zephyr Cove Tennis Club is closing out the season with Spook-tacular-themed mixer.

Players are encouraged to dress in a Halloween costume Oct. 1. The best dressed will win a prize. Play starts at 5:30pm.

The doubles mixer is for adult players of all abilities.

The Hump Day Mixers are $10 for club members, $15 for non-members, and $5 for the meal only. The fun includes a barbecue, raffle prizes, and lots of tennis. Participants of Hump Day events are encouraged to bring a side dish or dessert, as well as beverage of choice that does not come in a glass container. No advance sign-up is required.

The club is on Warrior Way off Highway 50 in Zephyr Cove.

By Paul A. O’Keefe, New York Times

We have all had to work on tasks we detest: Calculus homework, for example, is boring and hard. As soon as we start, we feel mentally exhausted, and the quality of our work suffers.

Now imagine you are an aspiring architect. Learning how calculus can help you design more creative and ambitious structures could be fascinating. Instead of feeling exhausted by your homework, you might feel energized and could work on it all night. The same work, but with a very different psychological effect.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist at the Claremont Graduate University, has been studying this latter phenomenon for decades. He calls it flow: the experience we have when we’re “in the zone.” During a flow state, people are fully absorbed and highly focused; they lose themselves in the activity.

In our research, we asked a group of undergraduates to work on word puzzles. Before they began, we had them tell us how exciting and enjoyable they thought the task would be. Then they read a statement that framed the task as either personally valuable or of neutral value.

Those who read the first statement, and who also thought the task would be enjoyable, solved the most problems. Moreover, their work didn’t flag, meaning they did not perform best simply because their interest made them want to work on it longer, thereby causing them to solve more problems. Instead, their engagement was more efficient. In other words, they were “in the zone.”

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This Carnelian Bay house is no longer on the market. Photo/Provided

Home buyers are focusing on lakefront properties in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

“Lakefronts have outperformed other sectors of the Tahoe basin market this year as compared with 2013,” Linda Granger with Granger Group, Alain Pinel Realtors said in a statement.

In  July, five homes on the California side sold for more than $2 million — all were lakefront. One was the highest priced home sold in the Tahoe-Sierra MLS this summer at $9.25 million. That six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half bath home with 120-feet of lakefront property and private pier including boat lift
is in Carnelian Bay.

On the other side of the lake in Homewood a $2.575 million house was originally built in the 1920s. It is a remodeled three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath, lakefront home with a private buoy, shared pier and boat lift.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Jeff Wheelwright, National Geographic

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK — This great park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California attracts a million visitors a year, who come mostly in summer to see the largest trees on Earth. After Labor Day the heat and the tourists dissipate. So does a less welcome visitor: air pollution.

By a misfortune of topography, Sequoia National Park sits above an industrial-agricultural basin, the San Joaquin Valley, whose dirty, sun-baked air has nowhere to go but up. Along with its neighbor, Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia has the worst air quality of any park in the country. In 2013 it exceeded the national health standard for ozone on 59 days, according to measurements taken at the Ash Mountain entrance station, at 1,400 feet. Up at 6,500 feet, where the giant sequoias grow, excessive levels of ozone occurred on 41 days.

On such days visitors arriving from Fresno or Los Angeles, among the most polluted cities in the nation, are greeted at the Sequoia visitor center by the same “code orange” air quality alert they left back home. Hiking or biking in parks that are almost entirely designated as wilderness, “untrammeled by man,” they may find themselves wheezing or suffering chest pain. (Read “Fifty Years of Wilderness” in National Geographic magazine.)

And yet the air is much better than it used to be.

The health standard for ozone is 75 parts per billion (ppb), averaged over eight hours. Recently the staff of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended that the standard be lowered to between 60 and 70 ppb — sparking the usual heated debate in Washington between business representatives and environmentalists. The argument may seem a million miles from Sequoia-Kings Canyon, but Annie Esperanza, the air resources specialist at the parks, is cheering the regulators on.

“We tell them, if they do the work, we’ll see it here first,” Esperanza says. “We’re the canary in the coal mine.”

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Those who made the climb on Sept. 11, 2014, top row from left, Michael Taormina (firefighter SLTFD), Daniel Vallejo, (firefighter SLTFD), Chuck Malone (captain LVFPD), Michael Anderson (firefighter LVFPD); bottom row from left, Michael Mileski (firefighter SLTFD), Brennen Davis (firefighter SLTFD) and Scott Blasser (firefighter SLTFD). Photo/Provided

By Scott Blasser

On Sept. 11, 2001, our country was attacked. It forever changed our nation in countless ways. In 2009, four firefighters from the Sac Metro Fire Department established a 9/11 Memorial Climb to honor the 343 firefighters that gave their lives on 9/11. The climb is symbolic in nature: 343 died that day, 343 climb to remember.

I am a firefighter for the city of South Lake Tahoe. This year six of my fellow basin firefighters and myself had the honor to make this climb. We donned our turnouts and ascended the staircases of the Renaissance Tower in Sacramento four times to equal 110 floors (the journey
to the top of the once standing Twin Towers). The climb was hot and stifling. Some stopped for breaks to avoid passing out. Some of us poured water on our heads to avoid heat exhaustion.

Our final ascent placed us at the top of the building where we placed the name of the firefighter we carried in a memorial sculpture. We hung their names and stood for a moment contemplating  the sacrifice given. The memorial said simply: Never Forget.

On 9/11, 343 firefighters climbed toward one common goal of putting the fire out. The country watched in horror at the events. What I hope the country learned that day is there is no emergency the fire service will yield to.

I have the honor of working with some of the most generous, loyal and funny individuals I know. We love to serve the public. The best part of any shift has and always will be a community member approaching us and striking up conversation. We take complaints and praises alike.
More than anything, we want the public to know we are here for any reason to help. If we don’t have the answer, we will find it.

I believe the public appreciates what we do. We report to duty, train, maintain equipment, run calls and into the evening we wait. It appears simple. In many ways it is. In so many more ways it is not.

We see life and death up close. We see people lose all their possessions. Even worse we see them lose their loved ones. I believe this experience makes us unique. We see a side to life most are unfamiliar with. You might think this makes us callus, but it is very much an opposite effect. A shift that is physically and emotionally challenging sends us home thankful. Thankful we have the privilege to serve. Thankful we are alive. Thankful we could help.

Thirteen years ago tones went off in every fire station throughout New York — 343 firefighters answered that call. They gave their lives going into those towers. They went in with a simple goal: put the fire out.

The city of South Lake Tahoe Fire Department as well as Lake Valley Fire Protection District answers those same tones daily along with every other fire department across our nation. No matter the need we will be there. Further our brothers and sisters in law enforcement give just
as much. We thank the public for their trust.

To close, I would ask the following:

• Never forget the sacrifice given that day.
• Never forget we are here to serve this community 24-7-365.

It is our honor to serve the city of South Lake Tahoe. Know that when the tones go off we will be there to put the fire out.

Scott Blasser is a South Lake Tahoe firefighter.

The third annual Fall Festival and Chili Cook Off will offer opportunities for the community to support several local nonprofits.

The event is Sept. 13 from 10am-4pm at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Complex on Rufus Allen Boulevard.

Buy a bowl of chili and vote for your favorite one. Proceeds will be donated to Bread & Broth, a local volunteer organization that offers hot meals to those in need. Admission is free and will feature live entertainment, vendors, door prizes, fun for the kids, and much more.

South Tahoe Refuse has donated a drawing prize of a crock pot and a certificate for the use of a dumpster. The Lion’s Club collect old eyeglasses to repurpose. Golden Bear Events will give an extra door prize ticket to anyone who brings a donation for Christmas Cheer.

For more information, call JoAnn at 530.544.7412.

By Ana Ley, Las Vegas Sun

Nevada ranks sixth in the nation in the rate of women killed by men, according to a study published by a gun control advocacy group.

A nationwide analysis of 2012 homicide data by the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., shows that nearly two female victims are killed at the hands of male victims for every 100,000 residents in Nevada.

Nationwide, 1,706 women were murdered by men in 2012, at a rate of 1.16 per 100,000.

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LTWC volunteer Wayne McKnight throws a golden eagle into the air as way to exercise it. Photo/John Adamski

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

Half of all bird species in North America — including the bald eagle — are at risk of severe population decline by 2080 if the swift pace of global warming continues, the National Audubon Society concluded in a study released Monday.

“The scale of the disruption we’re projecting is a real punch in the gut,” said Gary Langham, chief Audubon scientist.

Langham led an Audubon study that examined more than 500 bird species and determined that more than 300 in Canada and the United States face large climate shifts that could reduce their habitat by half or more by 2080. The changing environment will force birds to adapt to new habitats with different temperature and precipitation rates if they are to survive.

The first comprehensive species study of its kind, it will be used to help federal wildlife officials develop improved strategies to conserve bird species, whose abundance and migratory patterns depend on specialized habitats, such as forests, grasslands and coastal areas.

By 2080, the bald eagle, the national symbol of the United States, could see its habitat decrease by 75 percent, the report says.

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To the community,

It was a special evening for the guests at Bread & Broth’s dinner on Sept. 1. Thanks to a generous donation by Robert Stiles, an agent with Chase International, and the outstanding efforts of the evening’s hardworking B&B cooks, the guests were treated to vegetarian pizzas which were made from scratch and served with a delicious alfredo pasta dish.

As the evening’s “Adopt A Day of Nourishment” sponsor, Stiles’ donation of $250 fed over 100 happy and appreciative diners. Stiles’ friend, Lydia Zuniga, cheerfully worked alongside the B&B volunteers on the serving line, preparing the drinks and dessert tables and helping with the meals take down and clean up.

“What a great opportunity to help others,” said Stiles. “I challenge you to do the same.”

As a nonprofit, all volunteer organization, Bread & Broth relies on the generosity of the members of the South Lake Tahoe community such as Stiles to finance the two weekly meals that are provided to the less fortunate members of our community. For almost 25 years, B&B has served a full course meal at St. Theresa Grace Hall every Monday evening, and in the last five years, Second Serving”was added to provide soup and pasta dinners on Friday evening at Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church.

Bread & Broth would like to thank Stiles for his financial support, donating his personal time to be actively involved in the evening’s dinner and for challenging his fellow community members to help the needy of our community.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

By Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post

Pre-rolled marijuana joints are pictured at the Sea of Green Farms in Seattle, Washington June 30, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Redmond
Teenagers who smoke marijuana daily are over 60 percent less likely to complete high school than those who never use. They’re also 60 percent less likely to graduate college and seven times more likely to attempt suicide. Those are the startling conclusions of a new study of adolescent cannabis use out today in The Lancet Psychiatry, a British journal of health research.

Researchers gathered data on the frequency of cannabis use among 3,725 students from Australian and New Zealand, and then looked at the students’ developmental outcomes up to the age of 30. They found “clear and consistent associations between frequency of cannabis use during adolescence and most young adult outcomes investigated, even after controlling for 53 potential confounding factors including age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, use of other drugs, and mental illness.”

Significantly, they found that the risks for negative outcomes increased with the frequency of cannabis use. In a conference call, study co-author Edmund Sillins said that the relationship between cannabis use and negative outcomes is significant even at low levels of use (e.g., less than monthly), and that “the results suggest that there may not be a threshold where use can be deemed safe” for teens.

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