Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 08/05/2025, Written by Leah Carter

The investigation into the exact details and impact of the Incline Village fireworks barge is still underway, but water quality is now deemed safe around the beaches where the incident occurred. 

Diamond Peak General Manager Mike Bandelin offered an outline of what has taken place so far, and what staff expect to see next during the July 30 Incline Village General Improvement District board meeting. Staff have been compiling the cost of the clean-up and debris removal efforts, with total costs nearing $10,000 so far. They are still compiling data on the cost of closures of food and beverage operations on the beaches. 

“The report also includes narratives related to the environmental aspect of the incident,” said Bandelin. It looks at “debris, cleanup efforts at the beaches as well as a non-regulatory water quality monitoring plan specifically targeted at detecting perchlorate, a chemical found that may be of concern to public drinking water systems,”  he said.

READ MORE >

Photo credit: Chris Talbot

Originally published in Moonshine Ink, 08/05/2025, Written by Luke Zinn

Fox Cultural Hall, a nonprofit and community culture hall that opened in 2023 in Kings Beach, closed its physical venue and is transitioning back to its former name, Arts for the Schools, as of Aug. 1. 

Originally started in 1984 with the mission of providing art and culture to rural schools that lacked robust arts programs, Arts for the Schools provided arts funding; took performers, music, and art into classrooms; and put on cultural assemblies for Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District schools. The opening of Fox Cultural Hall venue gave Arts for the Schools a new way to achieve their mission by sharing culture at a community hub.

The organization merged its name with the hall while still providing arts education to the schools by bringing students into a culture-filled space. According to newly appointed Executive Director Linday McIntosh, a lack of funds, growth in the Tahoe Basin, and age-old troubles with bus transportation caused the success and accessibility of Fox Cultural Hall programming to waver.

READ MORE >

President Teddy Roosevelt called Chautauqua, “The most American thing in America.” Then along came Vaudeville and Chautauqua faded away, but guess what, it’s back, and it’s the wave of the future! 

Just this year, The Legend of the Valley, Kim Harris, hosted The First Annual Summer Chautauqua Showcase at Dangberg Ranch, featuring Youth Chautauquans from Douglas County Historical Society, Al Capone, Calamity Jane and Lucille Ball. And what a smart weekend it was. Home Ranch was filled with instruction and delight. I’m still in a good humor from having had a front row seat…

Chautauqua is destined to diminish adverse effects of the modern-day smart phone. People are craving eye contact, subtle signals of body language, and the sound of a live human voice.

Then there is the historical value of Chautauqua, the benefit of bringing historical characters to life, and sharing those historical lives, adventures and accomplishments with a live audience.

Typically, an 45-minute presentation of the character is followed by a lively Q&A session with the historical character, followed by a Q&A session with the Chautauquan. At the end of an hour an appreciative live audience goes away smarter and satisfactorily entertained.

Some Chautauquans are actors, others are educators in a costume, but all Chautauquans are entertainers. History has never been so much fun.

I encourage all retired folks, and those who might be about to retire, to find a person in history that you admire, study that person’s life, and bring that person to life in various classrooms, tents and lecture halls. You won’t regret it. It will give you a second life, and one life is not enough.

An extra added attraction of Chautauqua is hanging out with other Chautauquans when you are off duty. I’ve had the pleasure of dining with Julia Child, Will Rogers and Julia Bulette to name a few…

So I would ask you to start thinking about who you might like to be. There are so many wonderful characters we know nothing about that deserve to be brought to the forefront and appreciated. It might even be an uncle or an aunt of yours who is looking down on us as we commune.

Enveloping yourself in another century can be comforting and satisfying. You will be pleasantly surprised how many modern little annoyances don’t bother you anymore because you have removed yourself from the reach of their influence…

History is so much more interesting when presented firsthand by the character who lived that history and can put muscle and blood into the telling of the story. You might be thinking, “I could never do that,” but you could, if you found it to be a most interesting challenge, which is exactly what will happen. 

So I invite you to give it some thought. You just might get swept away into another person’s life, another person’s time, that will thrill and entertain you to no end…

By David Vomund

The task of building Artificial General Intelligence is said to be on a scale similar to the Manhattan Project.  Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, made reference to the Manhattan Project when his company was developing the now famous ChatGPT product (did he notice the irony in that analogy?).  AI will dramatically change how we live and work.

In her book, Empire of AI, Karen Hao details her view that one consequence of AI is that the gap between the powerful and everyone else will widen.  The power/influence of the largest technology companies (i.e. the hyper-scalers) will continue to grow.  Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft will spend approximately $320 billion this year on AI.  These hyper-scalers are spending more money on AI data centers than all the others combined.  And they are hiring the best talent from the smaller upstart companies.  Good luck to those trying to compete with them!   

Their investments are working.  The market capitalization of these four companies ranges from $1.8 trillion to more than $3 trillion!  As a comparison, the market-cap of Walmart is $760 billion.

The gap between today’s powerful leaders that run the AI companies and to the rest of us is also widening.  Those running the hyper-scalers see their wealth growing at the same time that many others struggle to pay their rising utility bills thanks in part to AI’s need for energy and water.  This year, electricity bills for some 67 million customers are projected to surge by over 20 percent in 13 states from Illinois to New Jersey, the region with the most AI data centers.  Closer to home, NV Energy is expanding their infrastructure to provide power for two Alphabet data centers.  Will Nevada residents be competing with Alphabet for electricity?  

And what about jobs?  Many workers, especially entry level white color workers, are at risk of being replaced by cost-saving AI tools.  Look no further than to Microsoft, which has laid off 15,000 employees this year without seeing a drop in their strong financial performance.  While they say efficiency gains from AI were not a predominant factor in the layoffs, they acknowledge that over the long term AI will reshape jobs at Microsoft and everywhere else.  AI will boost productivity and profits, but are most people better or worse off?  I wonder.

When it comes to AI there is another kind of power:  the power needed to run AI.  Remember when the public was concerned that crypto currency mining required too much energy?  Even Elon Musk worried about its environmental impact.  We no longer hear about that.  Why?  The energy required for crypto currencies pales in comparison to what is needed to run Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers.

My last article focused on the power of the AI companies and those who run them.  Now we’ll cover a different type of power – the power needed to run AI.  The energy required for AI data centers is expected to grow 50 percent a year through 2030 and in just three years it is expected to consume 13 percent of electricity demand.  Efforts to fight global warming be damned.

This column is about investing and when it comes to investing, in AI there are the usual suspects.  AI chip designer Nvidia leads the pack.  Then there is Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet.  But those are already well owned.  What are the best under the radar AI stocks?  That’s hard to know.  In early internet days companies like AOL and Ask Jeeves seemed unstoppable … until they were stopped.  

Instead of trying to choose who will benefit from AI, I prefer the more predictable approach of investing in the companies that are needed to build and power the AI data centers.  Most of those stocks have already rallied, but the need for more power is in a grand supercycle.   

The most direct AI power play might be GE Vernova (GEV).  It is the leading provider in natural gas turbines and it also has exposure to small modular nuclear reactors.  GEV is the second-best performing S&P 500 stock in 2025 so Wall Street understands its attractive position, but the general public isn’t aware, not yet.  Speaking of nuclear, Vistra Corp (VST) is the second-largest nuclear operator in the U.S. and it also supplies natural gas, solar and battery storage facilities.  Knowing which nuclear stock will benefit the most is difficult so I’m happy to simply own VanEck Nuclear and Uranium ETF (NLR).

One of my largest client holdings is Williams Cos. (WMB).  Unlike the volatile choices above, Williams has a steady income stream and an attractive 3.5 percent yield.  Williams is the prominent pipeline company that transports one-third of U.S. natural gas, which is then used to generate electricity for power centers and other uses.  Last month regulators approved a Williams 400-MW natural gas-fired power plant in Ohio to serve a Meta Platforms data center.  Their pipelines serve others, too.

David Vomund is an Incline Village-based Independent Investment Advisor.  Information is found at www.VomundInvestments.com or by calling 775-832-8555.  Clients hold the positions mentioned in this article.  Past performance does not guarantee future results.  Consult your financial advisor before purchasing any security.

Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 08/01/2025, Written by Katelyn Welsh

In less than a month, a former Navy SEAL and 11 other highly trained veterans will embark on a 220-mile endurance race across Sierra Nevada mountains, including the Tahoe Rim Trail loop to cultivate awareness around the daily number of veteran suicides.

“We need Americans to know the issues that we face if we’re going to be able to solve them,” race founder and former Navy SEAL, Liam Cogan says. That’s why you’ll see 22 as a repeating number throughout the race parameters.

The inaugural event begins Aug. 22, involving veterans racing 22 miles ten times over, with a 22-pound pack—symbolizing carrying the burden of those 22 veterans who commit suicide every single day.

READ MORE >

Originally published in TRPA newsletter, 08/01/2025

Every four years, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) compiles the Threshold Evaluation Report, a science-based snapshot of the environmental health of the basin. Today, nearly 80 percent of environmental standards adopted more than 40 years ago are being met, and more than 90 percent are stable or improving. The science shows that Tahoe is on the right path—thanks to decades of collaborative, data-driven work.

Ten environmental threshold categories, ranging from water quality to wildlife, frame the region’s long-term environmental goals and standards. We measure the standards through science-based indicators and policy work. Together, they ensure Lake Tahoe stays protected for generations to come.

READ MORE >