Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Here’s what Air New Zealand is promoting on long-haul flights: a “skycouch.” We’ve all stretched out in empty seats, but this is a more comfortable-looking space. Except, of course, when you have to keep your seat belt fastened the whole time. I can’t comment on the sheep outfits (or don’t want to).

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Here’s the latest on an issue we’ve been following. Another one of The Union’s sister papers erecting a “paywall” for online content:

“Once upon a time, websites were the outlier in the media business. Newspapers produced their bread-and-butter print editions and enjoyed healthy profits. Some news was posted to the outlier — the Internet — to reach an additional audience,” according to the Greeley Tribune, a sister paper of The Union in the Nevada-based Swift Communications chain.

“Enter changes in the market, new technology and a whopper recession. The print cash cow began to bleed and totter. Most significantly, the outlier, where news could be viewed for free and is the preferred medium to younger readers, gradually became a more dominant force in how readers consume the news.

“In an environment where readers grew conditioned to free content, print subscriptions began to decline. The result: downsizing and a handful of newspaper closures — mostly at major metros — across the land.

“It’s because of this shift that newspapers, including The, Tribune, are beginning to charge subscribers to read the online content — installing a “paywall,” as it’s called in the industry.

“The newspaper will begin charging for some of its online news content in November, just as it does for the print edition, said Publisher Bart Smith. The paid subscription model will launch Oct. 4, but readers will be given a free guest log-in and password through the month of October.

The rest of the article is here.

Exit question: Would you pay to read this kind of local news in The Union? The article is here.

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“If you’ve got fundraising muscle, it pays to be tea party,” according to Politico.

“That’s the takeaway from recently released financial reports for five of the biggest conservative groups that latched onto the small-government movement.

“The groups — Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Leadership Institute and Tea Party Express – raised $79 million last year. That’s a 61 percent increase from their haul in 2009, when the tea party first started gaining traction, and an 88 percent increase over their tally in 2008, according to a POLITICO review of campaign reports and newly released tax filings.

“And the two biggest groups — Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks — tell POLITICO they’re planning to raise and spend a whopping $156 million combined this year and next, laying the groundwork for what could be a massive tea party organizing push against Democrats and the occasional moderate Republican in 2012.

“It’s an entirely different story for the ragtag local groups that form the heart of the tea party, which struggle to raise cash.

“The imbalance is worrisome to some grass-roots tea party activists, who warn that the movement is at risk of becoming dependent on the type of centralized, top-down political structure that contributed to tea partiers’ distaste for both political parties, as well as Washington’s conservative establishment.

The rest of the article is here.

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“With gold prices up more than 600% in the last decade, corporate prospectors are revisiting dormant mines worldwide: a South Carolina mine that funded the Confederacy; abandoned mines in the hills of Transylvania; Roman mines that haven’t been active for 2,000 years,” according to the L.A. Times.

“Among the seekers is Thomas Kaplan, a New York billionaire who’s a paradox himself, a shrewd commodities investor with gold mining ventures on five continents and co-founder of a conservation group that seeks to preserve big cat habitat in China and India, among other countries.

‘”If I’m given a choice between conservation and business, conservation wins, always,’ Kaplan, an Oxford-educated historian, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek last year. He once spent $12 million to relocate a Bolivian village — its people, buildings, church, cemetery — to make way for a silver mine.

“One of Kaplan’s companies, Cougar Gold, is eyeing the Paramount claims in the Bodie Hills, a mix of private and federal land. The interest has reignited a debate in Mono County over whether this raw swath of high desert is more valuable as protected wilderness than as a source of mineral wealth.

“The split can be seen in the county seat of Bridgeport, whose fortunes have been tied to the area’s mining camps for 150 years.

“Some in town see today’s gold rush as a lifeline to good-paying jobs. Others sense a rerun of the past when the boom times were relatively brief, the bad times drawn out and the environmental damage lasting.”

The rest of the article is here.

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Here is an issue we discuss here regularly — challenging the tax-exempt status of certain political groups. BTW, “Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes,” as the group notes on its website:

“A campaign finance reform organization has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service challenging the tax-exempt status of four high-profile political committees, including one that recently made headlines in California,” according to California Watch.

“The challenge is the latest, and likely not the last, attack on a new regime of campaign finance rules that came into focus after a series of court decisions last year. Under the new rules, corporations and interest groups have the power to spend unlimited amounts in support of their favored candidates.

“Last week, the Washington D.C.-based campaign reform group Democracy 21 sent a letter to the IRS arguing that the political activities of four committees should disqualify their tax-exempt status.

“Each of the committees has been a prominent player in the run-up to the 2012 elections: Crossroads GPS, an organization founded by conservative strategist Karl Rove; Priorities USA Action, which was founded by former aides to President Barack Obama; American Action Network, which bills itself as a center-right advocacy group; and Americans Elect, which aims to have voters nominate a third-party candidate directly and recently submitted 1.6 million signatures to qualify for the ballot in California.

“The organizations are incorporated under a section of the tax code that allows them to engage in political activities as long as they do not constitute the organization’s ‘primary activity.’

“Under that designation, known as 501(c)(4), the groups are supposed to be formed with the purpose of serving ‘social welfare.’ Such groups can raise unlimited amounts of money and do not have to disclose their donors.”

The rest of the article is here.

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WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING ABOVE 7000 FEET…

A WINTER STORM WATCH ABOVE 7000 FEET REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING.

* TIMING: HEAVIEST MOUNTAIN SNOW LATE TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING… WITH SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUING INTO WEDNESDAY EVENING.

* POSSIBLE SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: UP TO 10 INCHES ABOVE 7000 FEET ALONG THE SIERRA CREST… WITH A FEW INCHES POSSIBLE AT LAKE LEVEL.

* WINDS: SOUTHWEST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH. RIDGE GUSTS UP TO 90 MPH.

* SNOW LEVELS: 8500 FEET FALLING TO 6000 FEET BY WEDNESDAY MORNING.

* IMPACTS: SLICK AND SNOW COVERED ROADS WILL MAKE TRAVEL HAZARDOUS IN THE SIERRA… ESPECIALLY OVER PASSES WHERE ROAD CONTROLS AND DELAYS ARE LIKELY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY CREATE HAZARDOUS WINTER DRIVING CONDITIONS.
More Information

… FIRST WINTER STORM OF THE SEASON…

.A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL DROP INTO THE WESTERN U.S. TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY… BRINGING STRONG WINDS AND MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY VALLEY RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW TO THE REGION. HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION WILL FALL TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY… WITH ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA. THOSE PLANNING TRAVEL OVER THE SIERRA THIS WEEK SHOULD PREPARE FOR WINTER CONDITIONS NOW TO AVOID BEING CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY THIS EARLY SEASON STORM.

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Saturday, October 8

Come join in on the 9th Annual Auburn Wine & Food Festival; the Northern Sierra’s premiere wine and food event.

The annual festival is hosted in the historic town of Auburn; a quaint berg located between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.

Each year the town celebrates the harvest and crush by hosting 25 local Wineries and 25 exceptional Restaurants from in and around Placer County.

Wineries and restaurants are thoughtfully paired to showcase the finest marriage of food and wine from the region. Tables are set up in unique businesses throughout town, so expect some great shopping for one-of-a-kind, jewelry, art and more!

Come stroll the Wine & Food Festival, held in beautiful Downtown and Old Town Auburn the second Saturday in October.

Or hop on one of the free shuttle buses, which run regularly throughout the event, between both charming districts.

Come for the event, stay for the weekend.

For more information, please email info@auburnwineandfood.com

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