Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 07/15/2025, Staff Report

In partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno School of Music, Classical Tahoe presents Chamber Connections, an immersive residency for music students from the University of Nevada, Reno. Held from July 25 – 27, 2025, this residency is designed to elevate performance through direct collaboration with Classical Tahoe’s world-class musicians.

Over the course of three days, 14 students from the University of Nevada, Reno School of Music within the College of Liberal Arts will attend Classical Tahoe Festival concerts and participate in masterclasses led by Classical Tahoe musicians. Students will also have the opportunity to perform side-by-side with three faculty members from the University and twelve Classical Tahoe musicians, professionals from some of the nation’s top orchestras. This unique opportunity offers students invaluable feedback and guidance from Classical Tahoe’s seasoned professionals. In addition to this unique mentorship opportunity, students will attend the opening session with Classical Tahoe’s Principal Guest Conductor Eric Jacobsen, rehearsals, and “Beethoven Unbound” and “Music In Motion” concerts in late July.

“Chamber Connections provides a golden opportunity for Classical Tahoe to partner with our host institution: the University of Nevada, Reno,” said Laura Hamilton, Classical Tahoe artistic director. “We see it as a win-win for both organizations, for the professional musicians, advanced students and University of Nevada professors who will be participating. At the side-by-side concert on July 26, we will present three beautiful, interesting, and seldom-performed works for large chamber ensembles.”

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Photo: Tahoe Daily Tribune

The Reno Jazz Orchestra’s 2025 summer concerts will present A Tribute to Quincy Jones.  The first performance is on July 21; the show starts at 7:30 pm at Sand Harbor State Park and is part of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival Partner Series. On July 22, the Tribute starts at 6:00 pm at the UNR Quad on campus; this is a free show presented by Artown. Tickets are available at RenoJazzOrchestra.org.

“Quincy Jones gave us gifts of everlasting memories and music that we will be honored to reignite on stage with our 17-piece orchestra and vocalist performing the best of his jazz, soul and pop vocals and award-winning compositions,” said Greg Johnson, Reno Jazz Orchestra’s Music Director.

For seven decades, Quincy Jones’s genius emerged as a master musician, composer, arranger and producer. His brilliance evolved performing with Lionel Hampton, traveling the world as Dizzy Gillespie’s music director, arranging for Count Basie and Frank Sinatra and producing Lesley Gore’s 1960s hits. 

Sharing the stage with the orchestra are vocalists Tashe and Danille Pollard who will open the show with “We Are the World” which is one of Quincy’s most historic recordings. Other tunes include “Soul Bossa Nova,” “I Can’t Stop Lovin’ You,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “The Midnight Never Sets,” and “Rock With You,” among other chart-topping hits.                        

I discovered a letter today that I had written to my dear mother from Buzzards Bay away back in 1979, when I was news director of WOCB Radio…

Hi Mom, yesterday was such a pretty spring day here on Old Cape Cod, I decided to celebrate with my first sailing adventure on the Sound. So I tied a bandana around my head and drove to Sun Fish Rental on the shore of the Bass River, where I was asked if I knew how to sail. As you know I had never sailed before, but I did remember what Uncle Bo once told me, “The pointy end is the front.” 

So boldly I lied, “Yes.” (I will never tell another fib like that again…)

I was instructed to sail into the wind going out, with the wind on my way back home, and to be back before the rising tide at five. Thereupon, not unlike Captain Cook, I shoved off to where no man had gone before. I meant to make Nantucket mine, and I named my little Sun Fish the Endeavour! Well, I saw the Cape like no man has ever seen it before, at least no son of Barbara Layne’s.

Mesmerized and captivated by the wonder of it all, I lost track of time, and suddenly realized I needed to turn around to get back by five if lucky. So I swung the boom thingie around so fast that I got knocked almost into the water, but now we were heading with the wind back to Sun Fish Haven. 

What I failed to take into account was the fact that when the tide rises the bridges lower themselves, and I had three of them to duck under. I cleared the first two, but I could see the Endeavour was going to be too tall to clear the third. So I determined to hike her over as far as I could and go for it. Well, for a fleeting moment it looked like we were going to make it, but the wind died beneath that third bridge, and the mast thingie shot straight up, impaling the bridge and pinning us there. As I was grabbing superstructure, I saw the tiller thingie float away, followed by the centerboard thingie.

A small crowd of Good Samaritans gathered atop the bridge and a few actually climbed down to help me free the Endeavour, and I blew them a kiss as we drifted free in the direction of Sun Fish Haven, where they had launched a crew to find us.

Don’t tell Uncle Bo, Mom, but that tiller doodah and centerboard doodah cost me $85. And yet I should feel lucky, for as Captain Cook met his maker on a beach over there in the Sandwich Islands, I arrived home from my circumnavigation to a Cape Cod Cocktail in front of a warm fire…

Much love and good fortune from your son the sailorman…

Audio: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Fhv4PrH1UuwlhbnTT23zO

Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 07/10/2025, Staff Report

The North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (NLTFD), in partnership with the Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID), is initiating the Worm Wildfire Fuels Mitigation Project, a two-phase effort to reduce wildfire risk and enhance community safety in the wildland-urban interface above Highway 431.

The project—named “The Worm” due to its winding, elongated shape. The project spans 142.6 acres of IVGID-owned land and is designed to create a 132-foot-wide buffer zone of intensively managed vegetation between forested areas and residential neighborhoods.

• Phase 1: Covers 64.5 acres, scheduled to begin the week of July 14, 2025, and be completed in 4 to 5 weeks.
• Phase 2: Will treat an additional 78.1 acres, with completion expected in the summer of 2026.

The primary objective is to reduce the brush component within the project area while retaining 10–15% of native brush to preserve the natural forest aesthetic and support wildlife habitat. This fuels break will serve as a critical line of defense in the event of a wildfire, improving firefighter access and reducing fire intensity near homes.

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Originally Published in Moonshine Ink, 07/10/2025, Written by Jon Grant

A shipwreck on a foreign land. A girl disguised as a boy who falls for a duke. A duke who pines for a countess who swoons for the girl (disguised as a boy). The gluttonous drunkard Sir Toby Belch. And Feste, the fool with the wisdom to somehow tie it all together.

Twelfth Night — with its entanglements, its absurdities, its romance — headlines the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival’s 2025 season, returning to Sand Harbor’s outdoor, lakeside stage 7 nights a week from July 5 to Aug. 25.

“It’s one of Shakespeare’s great comedies,” said Sara Bruner, the organization’s producing artistic director designate. “Our production in particular explores its deeper notes of tragedy and loss while celebrating the joy of the play.”

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Photo Credit: Moonshine Ink

New satellite studio expands local news coverage and student opportunities in Tahoe region

KUNR Public Radio has officially opened a new satellite studio on the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe campus, marking a significant step toward expanding news coverage and student journalism opportunities in the Tahoe Basin.

The studio, located inside the Prim Library building, is already active. KUNR reporter Maria Palma is now reporting directly from Incline Village, covering topics ranging from proposed environmental legislation to wildfire preparedness and the growing concern around harmful algal blooms in Lake Tahoe.

“Having a local studio means we can show up more often, respond faster and tell stories with more depth, and that’s what public media is all about,” said Maria Palma, KUNR’s Lake Tahoe reporter. “At a time when public media is under threat, being present in places like Tahoe shows our commitment to keeping people informed and connected.”

Support from the University helped make the studio and office space a reality. In addition to housing the station, the University is funding the full-time reporter dedicated to the Lake Tahoe region for the first two years.

“Thanks to this studio in the Prim Library building, our reporter Maria Palma will be able to help fill a news desert in North Lake Tahoe by providing public service news and information for all of our listeners,” said Brian Duggan, general manager of KUNR. “This studio will also be a home base for Reynolds School of Journalism students who will have opportunities to report about Lake Tahoe, too.”

The new space also anchors the Lake Tahoe News Project, a student internship program focused on multimedia reporting. Through the project, students at the Reynolds School of Journalism gain hands-on experience reporting on critical topics including the environment, local government, education and energy—both for broadcast and digital platforms. Coverage is available in English and Spanish.

The studio’s opening represents a deepening of KUNR’s presence in the region and a strategic effort to expand coverage in a part of the state often underserved by broadcast outlets.

KUNR Public Radio is a nonprofit, non-commercial, listener-supported public radio station licensed to the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. The station has broadcast from the University’s Reno campus since October 7, 1963, and became an administrative unit of the Reynolds School of Journalism in 2018.

To hear KUNR’s latest stories from the Lake Tahoe region, visit kunr.org or tune in live.

– @unevadareno –

The University of Nevada, Reno is a public research university that is committed to the promise of a future powered by knowledge. As a Nevada land-grant university founded in 1874, the University serves 21,000 students. The University is a comprehensive, doctoral university, classified as an R1 institution with very high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Additionally, it has attained the prestigious “Carnegie Engaged” classification, reflecting its student and institutional impact on civic engagement and service, fostered by extensive community and statewide collaborations. More than $800 million in advanced labs, residence halls and facilities has been invested on campus since 2009. It is home to the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine and Wolf Pack Athletics, maintains a statewide outreach mission and presence through programs such as the University of Nevada, Reno Extension, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Small Business Development Center, Nevada Seismological Laboratory, and is part of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Through a commitment to world-improving research, student success and outreach benefiting the communities and businesses of Nevada, the University has impact across the state and around the world. For more information, visit www.unr.edu.

The North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (NLTFPD), in partnership with the Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID), is initiating the Worm Wildfire Fuels Mitigation Project, a two-phase effort to reduce wildfire risk and enhance community safety in the wildland-urban interface above Highway 431.

The project—named “The Worm” due to its winding, elongated shape. The project spans 142.6 acres of IVGID-owned land and is designed to create a 132-foot-wide buffer zone of intensively managed vegetation between forested areas and residential neighborhoods.

• Phase 1: Covers 64.5 acres, scheduled to begin the week of July 14, 2025, and be completed in 4 to 5 weeks.
• Phase 2: Will treat an additional 78.1 acres, with completion expected in the summer of 2026.

The primary objective is to reduce the brush component within the project area while retaining 10–15% of native brush to preserve the natural forest aesthetic and support wildlife habitat. This fuels break will serve as a critical line of defense in the event of a wildfire, improving firefighter access and reducing fire intensity near homes.

Burnbot Inc., a wildfire risk reduction company, will begin working in the designated areas of the Worm Project starting July 14. Residents may notice remotely operated mastication machines which are extremely low impact will be utilized. Please do not be alarmed—these efforts are part of a planned and carefully managed wildfire mitigation strategy.

A map of the project area is available to the public and highlights the scope of both phases. The treatment corridor winds through key areas above Incline Village, reinforcing the region’s wildfire preparedness strategy.

For more information or to view the project map, please contact NLTFPD Forester Jason Furmaniak at jfurmaniak@nltfpd.net.

Originally Published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 07/08/2025, Staff Report

Volunteers were greeted by blue skies and clean beaches this morning as they arrived to participate in Keep Tahoe Blue’s July 5th “Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue” Cleanup at sites ringing Lake Tahoe. Today’s event marked 12 years of the region’s largest volunteer cleanup event and continued movement toward cleaner beaches, more people practicing environmental stewardship, and improved beach management around the Fourth of July holiday.

“This is the direction we love to see — less litter and more people leaving the beach better than they found it,” said Marilee Movius, sustainable recreation manager for Keep Tahoe Blue.

653 volunteers found 26% less litter today than at last year’s event, totaling just under 1,375 pounds.

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Photo: Tahoe Daily Tribune