The California Department of Public Health is offering free radon test kits to households in California throughout the month of January, or until supplies run out.

Radon is a naturally occurring, odorless, colorless, and tasteless radioactive gas, which results from the decay of uranium or thorium naturally present in soil and bedrock. Low levels of uranium occur widely in Earth’s crust and it can be found in all 50 states. Radon gas enters a house the same way air and other soil gases enter: from the soil around and under the home and through cracks in the foundation, floor or walls; hollow-block walls; and openings around floor drains, pipes and sump pumps. Radon has been detected in new and old homes, with and without basements. Homes with high radon levels can be fixed with simple and well-established venting techniques, reducing levels in the home by up to 99 percent.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, according to the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for Disease Control and Prevention. Exposure to elevated levels of radon increases the risk of lung cancer; the longer the exposure, the greater the risk. Because it cannot be seen or smelled, the only way to determine the radon level in a home is to test for its presence.

Limited test kits are available at Environmental Management’s South Lake Tahoe office; call 530.573.3450 for availability.

Artist, poet and naturalist Obi Kaufmann brings his best-selling “California Field Atlas” to the South Lake Tahoe Library on Feb. 27 at 6pm.

Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of hand-painted maps and wildlife renderings and based on his decades of walking the backcountry of California, Kaufmann’s “California Field Atlas” is a testimony to the natural world of the Golden State, unlike anything that has come before. Full of character and color, the “California Field Atlas” has quickly become a new classic, being hailed as a “gorgeously illustrated compendium” that “…will provide you with a greater appreciation for the state’s ecological jewels and landmarks.”

Kaufmann will be presenting the book with a Q&A session and then offer signed copies for sale.

The talk is free.

Area high school and college students are invited to attend a free career workshop at the Truckee Airport on Jan. 18 at 5pm.

The career mentoring program, officially known as the Truckee Tahoe Flight Plan, is designed and conducted by Pathways to Aviation, a nonprofit organization seeking to inform, inspire, and engage the aviation’s next generation. Thursday’s workshop is the first of four workshops taking place at the airport through April.

Students are not required to have an interest in working in the aviation industry. While each workshop will connect students to aviation executives, who will describe various aspects of the industry, they will teach considerable career planning best practices. Students who attend all four workshops will have a greater understanding of job searching, skills identification, resume writing, and networking, as well as a numerous great new professional references.

The Truckee Tahoe Flight Plan is open to all high school and college students and entirely free of charge. For more information, go online.

Through the AARP Tax-Aide Program, California and Nevada taxpayers of all ages with low-to-moderate incomes  may receive free tax return preparation.

There is no appointment necessary.

Bring your Social Security card, photo ID, 2017 tax return documents, and a copy of your 2016 tax return. All tax returns are prepared and filed on site with no cost to the taxpayer.

The last client is taken 30 minutes before closing. The service is available Feb. 8-April 14 on Thursdays from 10am-3pm, Fridays 9am-2pm, and Saturdays 9am-2pm at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

By Karlene Lukovitz, Marketing Daily

Gold medalist Maddie Bowman’s awesome freestyle skiing skills are on display in two new TV spots for Milk Life’s 2018 Winter Olympics campaign.

This is the second Team USA outing for Milk Life — the tagline for The Milk Processor Education Program’s umbrella marketing campaign since 2014 (when it replaced “Got Milk?”). 

In the main national TV ad (30-second version below), Bowman’s mom is heard in a phone message, reminding her daughter that she’s been on skis longer than she can even remember, and that everything she needs to succeed is already insider her. Home movies of the Meyers skiing as a child, along with current-day action footage, back the conversation.

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Rosemount Lodge in winter 1957. Photo/Vonderheide Collection

By Alison Bender, Tahoe Quarterly

Reindeer Lodge, located on a horseshoe curve along Mount Rose Highway between the ski resorts and Reno, has seen much in its 60 years of existence.

It’s seen the old Reno Ski Bowl morph into Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe. It’s seen generations of UNR students as they drank hot-buttered rums and danced to popular music. It’s seen huge snowstorms, like in the spring of 1958, when residents and guests were trapped, the highway buried under several feet of snow.

Change came to the lodge, as well.

What was once the Rosemount Lodge, an upscale establishment catering to local skiers, changed names and operators multiple times on its path to becoming the funky property known as Reindeer Lodge. In the record-breaking winter of 2016–17, after years of disrepair, the roof collapsed, feet of snow caving in around the fireplace that had for decades warmed skiers coming off the slopes.

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North Face athlete Hilaree O’Neill will highlight the fourth installment of Alpenglow Sports’ 12th annual Winter Film Series.

The show is at 7pm on Feb. 8 at Squaw Valley’s Olympic Lodge.

In the first part of her show, “The Wildest Winter,” O’Neill travels between the San Juan Mountains in Colorado and the Sierra Nevada. Taking full advantage of the record-breaking snow year during the winter of 2016-17, O’Neill spent the winter skiing some of the most legendary lines in the Western United States.

However, these hard earned lines were just training for the main events.

In May 2017 she made the first descent of the 21,125-foot Peak of Evil in the Punjab Himalaya, and in June skied the Messner Couloir of Denali. O’Neill followed this with a five-day climb of the 8,000-foot Cassin Ridge on Denali’s south buttress.

In the second part of her show, “The Road Less Traveled,” follows her successful first descent of the Peak of Evil in the Himalaya. On her first expedition as a young, emerging professional skier, this peak, seen from afar, captivated O’Neill. In four expeditions over 14 years, she was only met with failure. Unable to let go of her obsession, Hilaree, along with climbing partner Jim Morrison and photographer Chris Figenshau, set out in May 2017 to change her luck.

A raffle with donations from Hilaree’s sponsors will benefit the Tahoe Food Hub.

The event is free.

Luna

Luna is a beautiful 2-year-old German Shepherd who has lived with children and loves to play with other dogs. She is house broken and walks nicely on her leash.  

Luna would do best in a home without cats, and needs to be on a runner when in the yard as she is very athletic.

Luna is spayed, microchipped, tested for heart worm, and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter. 

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet. For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online. 

— Karen Kuentz

The 18th annual Snowshoe Thompson Ski & Snowshoe Celebration will be Feb. 24 from 9am-1pm.

This event is for the whole family. It is a guided, interactive historical re-enactment tour over the snow on snowshoes or skis at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course in Meyers.

Bring snowshoes or cross country skis. Snowshoes will be available for rent ($15) while supplies last. A donation of $20 is requested for the event; children under 12 are free. Lunch is included and there will be a no host bar. Registration is from 8:30-9am.

Entertainment includes local legend Martin Hollay, author/raconteur Frank Tortorich, performer Steve Hale as Snowshoe Thompson, musician/entertainer Richard Blair, longboard ski demonstration by Nina MacLeod, and a Snowshoe Thompson exhibit by the Lake Tahoe Historical Society.

To RSVP or for more information, contact Nina at 530.573.8940 or email norskenina@sbcglobal.net.

This is a benefit for Friends of Snowshoe Thompson to promote awareness and to maintain his statue in Genoa. 

By Associated Press

Though his voice was silenced nearly 50 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of nonviolence still resonates and inspires.

Decades ago, the famed civil rights leader – also regarded as one of America’s greatest orators – recalled driving one night from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee, with his brother A.D. at the wheel. Most cars in the opposite lane failed to dim their lights, and his brother angrily vowed to keep his bright lights on in retaliation.

“And I looked at him right quick and said: ‘Oh no, don’t do that. There’d be too much light on this highway, and it will end up in mutual destruction for all. Somebody got to have some sense on this highway,'” King told the congregation at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., during a 1957 sermon.

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