The El Dorado County Health Services Department, Public Health Division, is conducting a community flu shot clinic today in South Lake Tahoe from 9am to noon at the Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

For those individuals who cannot attend or who missed the recent series of community flu shot clinics sponsored by the Health Services Department, the seasonal flu vaccine is now also being offered by appointment at Public Health clinic locations in Placerville and South Lake Tahoe. To schedule an appointment, or for more information, call (530) 621.6100 in Placerville or (530) 573-3155 in South Lake Tahoe.

The cost for the vaccine is the same at both the community flu shot clinic and through the Public Health clinic appointments. The seasonal flu vaccine will be offered free of charge to children 6 months through 18 years of age, and Medicare Part B will be billed for people age 65 and older. There is an administration fee of $15 for people age 19 through 64, but no one will be turned away due to inability to pay. People who are severely allergic to eggs and egg products, and infants under the age of 6 months, should not get the vaccine. Individuals should consult with their physician if they have specific questions about getting the flu vaccine.

Shop — it’s a four letter word in a super negative way for so many people this time of year.

With the economy being what it is, household incomes such as they are and the pressure to buy, buy, buy this time of year, let’s help each other out.

Twenty dollars. What if that were the maximum amount you could spend on a gift? What would you buy? What would you make? What would you sell someone?

Send your suggestions to info@LakeTahoeNews.net. Put “holiday” in the subject line. Suggest ideas to other readers about what $20 or less can buy, who it might be good for if that’s not obvious, where to buy it, how to make it. Make the ideas as Lake Tahoe or Sierra Nevada oriented as possible. If you have a picture of the item, the store, yourself, then send it along as a jpeg. Include your name and contact information in case we have questions. If you are OK with your name being credited with the suggestion, indicate it’s fine to publish it. Your phone number and/or email address will not be published.

Keep what you write to 150 words or so.

Keep the ideas family friendly and legal.

Lake Tahoe News reserves the right not to print all of the suggestions and to edit them.

• Do you have tickets for the various Festival of Trees and Lights events? For a complete schedule, to purchase tickets or for more information, go online or call (530) 543.5909.

• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reappointed Amy Horne, 56, of Truckee to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, where she has served as a member since 2006. Jack Clarke, 68, of Apple Valley also is back on the board. He’s been a member since 1996. Peter Pumphrey, 64, of Bishop is a new member to the board.

• Tahoe Truckee Unified School District board member Kristy Olk will resign effective Dec. 8. If you are interested in serving, call (530) 582.2500.

• Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest casino company, has changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Corp.

• North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection Chief Mike Brown for the second year in a row refused a hike in his salary.

Thank you for reading Lake Tahoe News.

Now the question is – are you a subscriber? If yes, thank you so much and feel free to move on to the next story. If not, keep reading, this is short.

Subscriptions are free. Just go the bottom right of the home page and enter your email address. Then you will receive a confirmation email. After that you will receive an email every morning listing what has been posted in the last 24 hours.

You can peruse the headlines or click on one to get the full story.

This feature means not having to navigate Lake Tahoe News to figure out where something is.

It is also a great tool when traveling – you are kept up-to-date with all the headlines (and stories) while you are out of town.

Other ways to follow LTN are on Facebook and Twitter. Click on the icons on the bottom right of this page.

Remember, Lake Tahoe News is the only place to get news about Lake Tahoe seven days a week.

Weidinger Public Relations received four Awards of Excellence at the Public Relations Society of America, Sierra Nevada Chapter’s 24th annual Silver Spikes program.

The South Shore agency won the category “Internet Based Communication” recognizing social media efforts for growth of the Lake Tahoe Visitor Authority’s social media website. WPR acquired the LTVA Facebook page with 61,000 fans and increased the fan base by more than 23 percent to 79,000 within one year (data as of September 30, 2010). The page has continued to grow and is now boasting 83,900-plus fans.

The WPR team takes pics after the awards at a booth full of costumes. Phil Weidinger, (l-r) Marissa Schriver, Jenn Boyd, Julie Koster .

WPR’s American Century Championship entry for the category of “Ongoing Programs with Budget over $25,000” received an Award of Excellence. The success of the celebrity golf tournament’s PR efforts stemmed from collaboration between WPR and Vizion Group of Philadelphia.

WPR also received acknowledgment in the “Special Events & Observances with Budget over $25,000” category for the annual Golf the High Sierra Media Tour.

The fourth Award of Excellence was in the category “Ongoing Programs, all-inclusive budget of $25,000 or less” for the firm’s campaign focused on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

Shop — it’s a four letter word in a super negative way for so many people this time of year.

With the economy being what it is, household incomes such as they are and the pressure to buy, buy, buy this time of year, let’s help each other out.

Twenty dollars. What if that were the maximum amount you could spend on a gift? What would you buy? What would you make? What would you sell someone?

Send your suggestions to info@LakeTahoeNews.net. Put “holiday” in the subject line. Suggest ideas to other readers about what $20 or less can buy, who it might be good for if that’s not obvious, where to buy it, how to make it. Make the ideas as Lake Tahoe or Sierra Nevada oriented as possible. If you have a picture of the item, the store, yourself, then send it along as a jpeg. Include your name and contact information in case we have questions. If you are OK with your name being credited with the suggestion, indicate it’s fine to publish it. Your phone number and/or email address will not be published.

Keep what you write to 150 words or so.

Keep the ideas family friendly and legal.

Lake Tahoe News reserves the right not to print all of the suggestions and to edit them.

• Jim Tarwater, superintendent of Lake Tahoe Unified School District, will be part of a webinar on Dec. 15 about technology in classrooms.

• Weidinger Public Relations of Stateline is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

• Fifth-graders at the magnet school in Meyers are having a Gingerbread Festival Dec. 1 at 7:30pm. It includes chili dinner, decorating gingerbread houses and cookies, ornament making and more.

• Ernie’s is hosing a burger night Dec. 1 from 5-7pm for the South Tahoe High School boys basketball program. For tickets, call (530) 543.5472.

• Eastbound Interstate 80 from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe has been named one of the most congested roads in the United States.

• The Family Resource Center’s tamale fundraiser is now. Tamales are $15 per dozen, sold only by the dozen, and are available in chicken, sweet (pineapple), and cheese. The deadline for orders (JoJo Conroy garten777@gmail.com) is Nov. 29 at noon. Tamales will be available Dec. 2 from noon-5pm.

The public is invited to a meeting to address design features of the Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project on Dec. 1 at Kings Beach Elementary School, 8125 Steelhead St., Kings Beach, from 6-8pm.

The contract for the design phase of the project, which is more than a decade in the planning and approval process, was approved by the Placer County Board of Supervisors in September. Construction will likely begin in the spring and the project is expected to take three building seasons to complete.

When done, Highway 28 through the center of Kings Beach will be transformed into a three-lane highway which utilizes roundabouts at two key intersections to slow traffic through the North Lake Tahoe community. The project will significantly improve water quality on the North Shore, in addition to improving bicycle and pedestrian access and safety. The project will also improve the aesthetics of the area.

In addition to the Dec. 1 meeting, there will be a series of additional public meetings on various phases of the design process. Those meetings will be announced when firm dates have been scheduled.

Barton Health’s second annual Festival of Trees and Lights is seeking eager volunteers to help kick off the holiday season at the MontBleu Convention Center Dec. 3-5.

Festival volunteers may participate as costume characters, tree angels, Polar Express assistants, Teddy Bear breakfast and hospital helpers and much more.

The festival will feature nonstop holiday entertainment with trees decorated by local designers and businesses, Barton employees and local schools.

For more information on volunteer opportunities, please call Denise Earls at Barton Foundation (530) 543.5909 or  sign up online.

• Jeff Marsolais has left his job as recreation and land staff officer in the Inyo forest to lead the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the U.S. Forest Service. He will be in South Lake Tahoe for 120 days. His official title will be acting supervisor – that’s as of Dec. 5.

• The Sierra Nevada Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America presented Bethany Drysdale of the Nevada Commission on Tourism with the Mark Curtis Sr. Professional of the Year Award at the organization’s annual awards ceremony last week.

• The intersection of Mount Rose Highway and Highway 28 in Incline will be a roundabout. NDOT plans to bid the project in the spring.

• An unnamed person paid at least $1.1 million (the minimum bid) for Carson Nugget’s gold collection. The Carson City collection included 170 specimens of gold.

• South Tahoe Middle School is one of five schools in the country to be part of a pilot program for Teen Truth Live to measure curriculum (much of it focused on bullying) that will be outcome based.

• Applications for the 2011-12 school year are being accepted by Camino Science and Natural Resources Charter School. The El Dorado County school will be operated by Camino Union School District. For more information, call (530) 644.4552, ext. 213.