environment

Open to all kids grades K-12, auditions for Youth Theater Carson City's performance of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be held Saturday, Jan. 24, 10am in the Carson City Community Center. Auditioners should prepare a one minute song and be prepared to learn a dance. Tuition is $100; Scholarships available upon application.

Carson Tahoe Health is now providing patients with a new state-of-the-art system that identifies and treats lung cancer earlier and more accurately than ever before. The new superDimension™ Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy (ENB) system enhances patient outcomes by using GPS-like technology to detect lesions, stage suspicious areas for biopsy and treat cancers found in the lungs.

Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms indoors is a fast-growing hobby. A colleague used to grow them in her bathtub. The North American Mycological Association says, “You too can grow mushrooms at home. It’s easier than you think.”

Flexing the power of the West Coast’s largest snowmaking system, Heavenly Mountain Resort opened new terrain Friday for the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday weekend, including Groove Terrain Park and Mombo Trail, resort officials announced Friday.

Located on the California side off of Groove Chair, Groove Park is Heavenly’s most popular progression park, providing a solid learning environment for beginners with a variety of features including five rails, one bonk and two jumps.

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 number one 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.

Here is the full text of Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval's speech delivered to the Nevada Legislature Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015.

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Members of the Legislature, Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court, Constitutional Officers:

The Nevada Department of Agriculture has updated its organic program forms for the state’s organic producers and handlers and is hosting statewide workshops about the new changes.

All NDA organic certified operations are required to use new forms starting with the 2015 renewals due March 31, 2015.

Carson Tahoe Health and Sierra Surgery Hospital have earned a three-year accreditation by the Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality, officials announced Tuesday.
The accreditation process is voluntary and includes a rigorous, unannounced on-site survey administered by CIHQ.

If you love Tahoe and you love to ski or ride, now is the time to take advantage of the “Plates for Powder” program.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Carson City Open Space Advisory Committee and the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee.

There are two open positions “Citizen-at-Large” and “Business Operator or Property Owner" for the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee. Each for terms that will expire Jan. 1, 2018.

While we’ve experienced fits of bitter cold weather around Western Nevada this winter, many local water ways may indeed have thin layers of ice on them but venturing out on that ice at any time, regardless, is dangerous and should never be tried, a Nevada Department of Wildlife official said.

The University of Nevada, Reno’s College of Business and the College of Education received recognition this week from U.S. News & World Report as offering some of the top online graduate programs in the country.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and the U.S. Forest Service will continue prescribed fire operations this week on Kingsbury Grade near Buchanan Road, Ski Run Boulevard near Heavenly, Luther Pass and Spooner Summit. Operations will last through the next several weeks as conditions allow.

The Nevada Department of Agriculture is recommending that bird owners in Nevada adopt extra healthy hygiene practices after avian bird influenza was found in Oregon and Washington.

While health risks to humans are low, the United States Department of Agriculture’sAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service is warning people to avoid contact with sick or dead poultry or wildlife.

Nevada State Veterinarian Michael Greenlee said that the highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza virus has been found in birds in various parts of the world but has not been shown to cause any human infection.

Carson City Health and Human Services is offering free flu shot vouchers to anyone who donates two cans of food between Jan. 5 and 9, 2015.

The vouchers are redeemable at Carson City Health and Human Services, 900 East Long Street, any Thursday in January from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., while supplies last. The food will be donated to Friends in Service Helping.

Leapin' Lizards, it's Youth Theater Carson City! The popular comic strip heroine Little Orphan Annie takes center stage in ANNIE JR., an adaptation of one of the world's best-loved and most-performed musicals, Jan. 9, 10, and 11 at the Bob Boldrick Theater in the Carson City Community Center. Show times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday and Sunday.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is making preparations for the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebration at Lake Tahoe starting on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014.

Due to the ordinarily high volume of celebrants within the Stateline casino core area during the event, U.S. Highway 50 may be closed to vehicle traffic in the evening if necessary for public safety. If that should occur, vehicle traffic will be diverted around the Stateline casino core area using upper and lower Lake Parkway Drive.

Staff at the Carson City Library should be able to operate more efficiently and better serve patrons after a series of training sessions this year.

“I would like patrons to come in and feel like they got the help they needed so they return,” said Director Sena Loyd. “The library is a community resource. They’re already paying for it through their tax dollars, so it’s important that they’re able to take advantage of it.”

The training sessions were designated by the library’s board of directors to take place on a Friday — when hours are typically shortened — every other month.

Come join Youth Theatre Carson City's Showstoppers as they present their Showstoppers' Holiday Spectacular this weekend at the Bob Boldrick Theatre at the Carson City Community Center.

Showtimes are 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20 and 2 pm Sunday, Dec. 21. Join the Showstoppers as they sing your holiday favorites. Matt Wilkerson as Elvis Presley will also perform.

Forty-five years ago, in December 1969, President Richard Nixon signed a unique Bi-State Compact approving California and Nevada’s plan to create the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. It was the first such undertaking of its kind, uniting two states, six local jurisdictions, and the federal government in a shared mission to protect Lake Tahoe’s sensitive environment from overdevelopment.

That effort has shaped the Tahoe we know and love today, and will help shape the Tahoe that we bequeath to future generations.

The partnership between California and Nevada that created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency turns 45 years old today, marking nearly a half-century of progress in the protection and restoration of Lake Tahoe and its treasured environment.

President Richard Nixon signed the Bi-State Compact creating TRPA on Thursday, December 18, 1969. Nixon’s signature followed the compact’s ratification by Congress and its approval by both states’ legislatures and former governors Ronald Reagan in California and Paul Laxalt in Nevada.

Kimberly Parsons, a Carson High School senior and dedicated member of the Key Club, organized and implemented a fundraising campaign for area cancer patients as her senior project. In doing so, Parsons sold cancer awareness themed t-shirts, wristbands, and baked goods throughout the campaign, raising a total of $1,245.

Parsons presented a check to the Carson Tahoe Health Foundation in Carson City on Tuesday, generously donating proceeds to benefit area cancer patient support which is then distributed through the Carson Tahoe Cancer Center.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife in conjunction with the Reno community radio station KXNV 89.1 FM announces the launch of a weekly, hour-long radio program designed to take an in-depth look at issues impacting wildlife. The program is also available through podcast statewide at NevadaWild.org.

The Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation has granted the League to Save Lake Tahoe $35,000 to support its land-use planning program, which ensures strong environmental regulation surrounding development at Lake Tahoe. The foundation has also bolstered its named endowment at the League with a $200,000 donation.

The success of the pilot program for fire cameras at Lake Tahoe has prompted the University of Nevada, Reno’s Nevada Seismological Laboratory to pursue funding to build out its fire camera network that rings the majestic mile-high lake.

“We’ve seen the system avert potentially large fires this summer at Tahoe, even with its minimal presence,” Graham Kent, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, said of the prototype system with its four cameras. “It makes sense to build this system out now to help protect the basin from devastating fires.”

Four new heating, ventilating and air conditioning, furnaces and four programmable thermostats with sensors were installed at a reduced cost at Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern Nevada, a Reno non-profit that serves as a “home-away-from-home” for families with children in area hospitals.

Sierra Air, Inc., Carrier Corporation and Sigler Wholesale Distributors coordinated the procurement, transportation and installation of the energy-efficient components, providing approximately $23,209 of cost savings in equipment, material and labor.

A few months ago my neighbor found 4 kittens in her back yard. They were skin and bones and very frightened so she did what most of us would do, she began feeding them. When I got involved they had filled out considerably and two of them had started warming up to humans. Unfortunately, my neighbor is allergic to cats and my home was full-up with three dogs.

As the keynote speaker at last month’s National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation in Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell emphasized the central role collaboration must play for America to protect its natural resources, balance economic needs, and address emerging environmental challenges such as climate change.

“We are moving into an era of epic collaboration,” Jewell said, explaining that regional partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries are more important than ever for the federal department that manages 20 percent of our nation’s land.

Never before has such a grand combination of iconic ranch, lakefront and forestland been offered for sale at once in Lake Tahoe’s rich history. This rare offering includes: historic Shakespeare Ranch with 133 acres of lakefront ranchland; Squaw Valley Homestead, arguably the most coveted landholding in Squaw Valley; and High Canyon Ranch, encompassing 321 acres of one of the last remaining privately owned large acreage parcels in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

It's the best of the season in one spectacular experience. Join Youth Theater Carson City for their extravaganza of holiday song and dance, featuring traditional holiday music as well as selections from Disney’s Frozen, The Nutcracker, White Christmas, Glee, and much more. It’s a new holiday tradition for the whole family.