2014

California Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon has appointed Belinda Valles Faustinos to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board. Her appointment follows the recent resignation of Governing Board member Elizabeth Carmel, a fine art landscape photographer who represented the Speaker’s office on the board for the last three and a half years.

A major restoration project of the Upper Truckee River channel and surrounding meadows is about to be completed, three years and $7 million later. Known as Reach 5, the U.S. Forest Service project is improving the river channel stability and aquatic habitat along 1.2 miles of the river adjacent to the Lake Tahoe Airport.

Another goal of the project is to restore surface and subsurface channel connectivity to 120 acres of floodplain, increasing deposition of fine sediments and nutrient uptake on the floodplains as well as raising the ground water levels in the meadow.

For the past several months there has been no official SLEDNET servicing the South Shore, and today it was announced that the drug task force that has been serving the community since 1988 has dissolved.

Local resident Brittani Curtis has joined the staff of the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce (Tahoe Chamber) as Communications and Marketing Coordinator.

For reasons unknown, Lake Tahoe Unified School District Trustee Ginger Nicolay-Davis has resigned from the board position she has held since December, 2014.

During their monthly meeting on Tuesday, August 23, the LTUSD board will officially announce the opening on the board and their intent to appoint a new trustee who must reside in Trustee Area #2.

Nicolay-Davis resigned effective August 9.

South Shore ambulance service has been a hot topic both locally, and across the county with growing concern over the costs and resulting manpower shortage of providing interfacility transfers (IFTs) to facilities outside of El Dorado County.

To understand the recent actions of the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors (BOS), a look at the past year is warranted.

The City of South Lake Tahoe Wants Out of the Ambulance Business

Lake Tahoe experienced a year like no other in 2015, according to scientists from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center in its annual Tahoe: State of the Lake Report, released this week.

Lake Tahoe is experienced warming water, a 4.8 foot drop in clarity, increased algae and a lowering water level.

Thanks to global climate change, Lake Tahoe is warming faster than ever according to the report which covers results from tests conducted on the lake in 2015 concerning water temperature, clarity, invasive species and more.

Dr. Annie Davidson filed Thursday to run for school board member of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District serving Trustee Area 1.

A self proclaimed golf junkie, NBA Most Valuable Player and Golden State Warrior Steph Curry, is enjoying his return to Lake Tahoe to golf in the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe. This, his second visit to the tournament is special as he is playing with his dad, retired NBA player Dell Curry.

Unknown to many, including those in the ice cream business, today is National Ice Cream Day! Celebrated on the third Sunday in July, the holiday was declared by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 as a way to promote the economic well-being of the U.S. dairy industry.

While most don't need a reason to enjoy ice cream, Reagan's move called for the people of the United States to use ceremonies and activities to pay tribute to ice cream.

Why argue with this proclamation? It sounds reasonable!

The establishment of a world record of a Women’s Longest Drive at Elevation will be made during next week's American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe.

Champion long ball artists Heather LeMaster and Blair O’Neal will be making the attempt prior to the 27th annual tournament on July 19 at Edgewood Tahoe.

The Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) will be saying good by to Dr. Fritz Wenck this December as he leaves the LTCC Board of Trustees after serving for 42 years. Wenck is the current President and one of the longest-serving trustees in California’s community college system.

Lake Tahoe homes are often found in the limelight. This month an Lake Tahoe East Shore home is in exclusive company as it finds itself on HGTV’s Ultimate House Hunt.

The Glenbrook estate, listed by Chase International’s Mike Dunn, is one of only eight properties in the world to be selected for the waterfront category. The contest takes place online through July 8.

The number of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada are now at historic levels and have fueled the risk of catastrohpic wildfires according to the U.S. Forest Service.

They announced Wednesday that they have identified an additional 26 million dead trees in California since October 2015, bringing the total to at least 66 million dead trees in the state. The most recent additions are located in six counties across 760,000 acres in the Southern Nevada region.

The historical American character and humorist, Mark Twain is returning to Nevada and Lake Tahoe California, so be on the lookout for an elderly man with a distinctive mound of unruly white hair, wearing a white suit with an ever-present cigar in his hand. Actually, Rob Alvey, a professional geologist and adjunct Professor at York College in NYC is coming. Alvey, an award winning geologist with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund Division is well regarded for his unique sense of humor and an uncanny resemblance to Samuel Clemens alter ego, Mark Twain.

The South Lake Tahoe community pulled together behind Ryan Wallace in 2014 when he needed to buy a new prosthetic leg, which even at a discounted $25,000 was out of reach for the native man.

At the age of 19, Ryan had to have his leg amputated due to a rare form of bone cancer. The leg he received was wearing out after ten years, and the community helped Wallace buy the new one so he could walk and get back to coaching wrestling to the youth of the town.

The California State Primary is Tuesday, June 7, and there are a few local items on the ballot.

The following are summaries of what voters on the lake side of El Dorado County will be voting on. If people are unsure of their polling place, visit this site, input your address and birthdate: http://elections.edcgov.us/lookup.fwx

Measure A - The preamble of the County Charter will be changed if passed. The proposed wording is below, with :

On September 12, 2001, advertising luminary Allen Kay coined the phrase, “If you see something, say something.”[1] In the wake of horrific events the day before, Kay recognized that no matter how well trained, equipped and staffed, law enforcement can’t do it alone. Within a relatively short period of time, the slogan was plastered on New York City transit vehicles. Over time, the Law Enforcement and Homeland Security slogan has become so well known it has been described as the equivalent of Nike’s “Just do it” advertisement.[2]

To improve security at the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, a new security fence is being installed.

In the plans since 2014, the black metal fence with three rows of razor wire at the top should be completed by the beginning of July.

"This is a need we've had for a long time," SLTPD Lt. Brian Williams told South Tahoe Now. "We received support from the City Council and City Manager, and the fence has been a long held desire for this department."

There is a balancing act needed to provide quality transportation, protect Lake Tahoe, keep clean air and meet the needs of the communities around the lake, but that is what Tahoe Transportation District is trying to accomplish with a series of pubic outreach efforts.

On Tuesday night in South Lake Tahoe, staff from the TTD, Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization (TMPO) and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) held an open house at the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel to get a pulse on the feelings of the public about transportation.

"Nerves of steel, patience of a saint," is how Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) Transportation Supervisor Christy Blach described the bus drivers entrusted with carrying the community's children around in the big yellow school buses.

On Tuesday evening, LTUSD honored driver Coral Lathrop with their Bus Driver of the Year award. Lathrop has been driving full time since 2014, and is a favorite amount parents, kids and fellow drivers.

Don Ashton, the El Dorado County Director of Health & Human Services, was appointed Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) during the Board of Supervisor's meeting in Placerville Tuesday.

When Sue Novasel, the South Shore representative on the Board of Supervisors was asked why Ashton was chosen, she said his 23 years of experience in the public sector is extensive, and he'll know how to take the county to the next level.

While the official grand opening isn't until May 26, the doors have opened and office spaces are filling up at the new Tahoe Mountain Lab in South Lake Tahoe. What was once the Tahoe Daily Tribune offices on Lake Tahoe Blvd. is now home to 24 private offices, shared work spaces, tables and desks as well as the local paper's new office.

Sheriff Ron Pierini has announced the recent graduation of two Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies from the State of Nevada Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Law Enforcement Academy.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Deputies Jose Guerra and Bruce Jacobsen graduated from the academy on Thursday, May 12 after attending the academy at the State of Nevada Stewart Training Facility in Carson City for four months.