Awareness

According to the California Department of Justice, Human Trafficking is a $32 billion a year global enterprise and the fastest growing criminal industry. It is a form of modern day slavery that profits from the exploitation of our most vulnerable populations. California's Attorney General Kamala Harris is focused on combating the pervasive issue of human trafficking in California and has made it one of her top priorities.

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Mountain Resort Television reporter Nicole Marsel talks about future updates to the Lake Tahoe Senior Center, the Loop Project, and a local woman running across the country to raise awareness about obesity.

Students in Class 10 of the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy are shaving their heads to raise money to find cures for childhood cancers during the annual St. Baldrick's Foundation fundraiser on March 5 at Heavenly Mountain Resort, and they are seeking the community's support.

St. Baldrick's is a volunteer-powered charity that shows solidarity with young cancer patients through annual head-shaving events around the world that raise awareness and money for cancer research.

With the ever-changing and rapidly evolving technology around us, dating practices and expectations have changed. Nowadays, there are a myriad of communication mediums to balance including texting, sharing photos and videos, various social media apps, and actual face-to-face interactions. As a result, adolescents have adopted these enhanced dating expectations which shift signs of care and affection away from traditional Friday night movie date to a constant stream of selfies, texts, emojis, and virtual relationship statuses. Teen Dating Violence (TDV) is growing as fast as technology.

Reporter Austyn Harrington covers Heavenly Mountain Resort's Ski with a Ranger Program, speaks with forecasters of Sierra Avalanche Center to learn about the importance of avalanche awareness and safety, and Willy Mac's donation needs for surgery at S.F.A.R.

Three local community groups were recently awarded grants form the South Lake Tahoe Rotary Club. The Drug Store Project was given $1,000, H.E.R.O Scholarship Fund $2,000 and the Sierra House Elementary 5th Grade Nature Bridge $1,500.

The Drug Store Project, which is operated under the guidance of Tahoe Youth and Family Services will use the money to continue its annual youth drug awareness and avoidance program in 2016. This is program is designed to reduce future drug experimentation/use/abuse and increase student knowledge about the dangers of drug and alcohol use.

Douglas County and Lyon County Sheriff's Officers are joining law enforcement from around the state in a Click It or Ticket campaign to remind motorists that seat belts save lives and that failing to buckle up can result in costly ticket fees.

In a community with many needs, the Barton Foundation today donated $35,500 to ten different agencies that provide services to the residents of South Lake Tahoe during their annual Philanthropy Day. For the seventh year, the Barton Foundation gave away money raised through their annual fundraising efforts which include the annual Festival of Lights.

Exciting news for South Lake Tahoe, the cycling community and local tourism today when it was announced that the Amgen Tour of California will be returning to the South Shore for both men's and women's events.

Professional cyclists will return to the lake for the men's Stage 5 finish and the women's Stage 1 start on Thursday, May 19, 2016. The men will take off in Lodi, Calif. and finish at Heavenly Mountain Resort’s California Base Lodge in South Lake Tahoe. The women will also start/finish at Heavenly Mountain Resort on May 19.

October is pumpkin spice and jack o lanterns and crisp mornings and pink ribbons. It is Halloween and homecoming and races “for the cure”. For people like me, with metastatic breast cancer, it is “Pinktober” and a reminder that we will never be cured, because despite 30 years of awareness and fundraising, 40,000 Americans still die every year from metastatic breast cancer, just as many as died in 1970.

For the month of October, members of the South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue Department will be wearing their pink shirts in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

"We will wear pink from October 1 to October 31," said Captain Tyler Jack, a 8.5 year veteran of SLT Fire.

This is the third year for the pink, a program spearheaded by the firefighter's association. They used to sell the shirts with half of the proceeds going to fight the battle against breast cancer, but with a change in their logo they didn't order new shirts according to Jack.

Cakes by the Lake will be creating delectable cupcakes in October to help Hard Rock Lake Tahoe raise money for Susan G. Komen Northern Nevada.

People can choose from pink lemonade cupcakes with pastel pink lemon cream cheese icing, pink colored vanilla cupcakes with pastel pink butter cream, orange cupcakes with pink orange zest cream cheese, almond cupcakes with pink amaretto whip topping and spice cupcakes with pink plain cream cheese, all topped with pink heart shaped or pink breast cancer ribbon sprinkles.

Its becoming a concern at beaches and venues around the country: increased trash left behind. Lake Tahoe sees massive amounts of trash on beaches after big weekends, especially the 4th of July, but the basin is not alone.

Headline in North Carolina: Residents upset with beach equipment and other trash left behind on shores.

Headline in Los Angeles: Trash left behind from the Made in America festival in downtown Los Angeles.

Headline in Indianapolis: Trail of trash left behind at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Volunteers from the South Shore community have stepped up to adopt, and maintain, the decorative gateways signs that welcome motorists to the Lake Tahoe basin.

The signs read, “Entering the Lake Tahoe Watershed – Help Protect It!” They are meant to remind the millions of people who visit Tahoe each year that they are entering a special place and share a duty to help protect its famously clear waters and unique environment.

The early bird catches the worm – and in this case, the early bird gets special pricing for tickets to Tahoe’s only farm-to-fork festival Sample the Sierra! Early bird tickets for Sample the Sierra are available until August 1 and allow you to attend the festival for just $30 to fully experience dozens of restaurants, wineries, distilleries and breweries. Tickets will be priced at $40 per person from August 1 until the festival on September 6.

Dogs on the Run, a South Lake Tahoe non-profit, is hosting their monthly Wag, Waddle and Walk event on Monday, July 20 at 5:30 p.m.

The monthly dog walking activity brings together dog owners for a little exercise, optional competition and socializing. The on-leash walk starts at Al Tahoe Post Office parking lot and finishes at Sierra Pizza on Al Tahoe Blvd.

This family friendly event is for non-aggressive canines and people. Dogs must be on-leash and up-to-date on their vaccinations.

5:30 Meet at Al Tahoe Post Office Parking Lot
Sign waiver

History shows time and time again our greatest accomplishments at Lake Tahoe are achieved when people work together. In the past, Tahoe was known as a place where unproductive interactions between stakeholders led to a stunning decay in our environment and our economic vitality, creating a region that seemed frozen in time.

We face major environmental challenges at Tahoe, including the uncertainties of climate change. And as Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

The aftermath of the thousands of people who flocked to South Lake Tahoe's beaches last Fourth of July was a ghastly sight. South Lake Tahoe made headlines around the world for the embarrassing amount of trash left on the beaches. It took hundreds of volunteers days to pick up the thousands of pounds of garbage left on the beautiful beaches.

Join community members on Wednesday, June 24 at the next 'Tahoe Talks' session when the topic will be "Law Enforcement Strategies to Improve Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety."

Someone from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department will be on hand to provide discussion and answer questions after the viewing of a short webinar produced by the Association of Pedestrians and Bicyclists.

Webinar presenters:
Jim Curtin, City of Seattle Department of Transportation
Brian Dougherty, City of Seattle Department of Transportation

We face some big, daunting environmental restoration challenges here at Lake Tahoe. But helping our environment every day can be as simple as riding a bike, walking, or taking transit. And the hundreds of people who participated in the Tahoe Bike Challenge this June, including many of our employees at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, are showing how big of an impact our individual actions can have.

During the two weeks the Tahoe Bike Challenge is going on in Lake Tahoe, there are community events almost every day, including yoga, group rides and movies. .

Here is the full list from the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition:

Group Rides to Kick-off Party | North Shore | Free
May 30 | Noon - 1 p.m.

Community members joined Rotarians on Saturday as they walked the streets of South Lake Tahoe to show support and raise awareness of Rotary International’s effort to eradicate polio in the world. Over 300 people joined in the 3k walk which proceeded along Highway 50 in Stateline, past Edgewood Tahoe, by Lakeside Beach and back to the beginning at the corner of Stateline Avenue and Highway 50 at McP's Taphouse.

- Many children go undiagnosed and unidentified; they are penalized for inappropriate behavior though symptomatic.
- 42% of diagnosed students graduate with a high school diploma.
- 48% of diagnosed students drop out of school.
- 50% will serve jail time after leaving school; 20% serve sentences prior to leaving school.
- Currently 12 % of children in America under the age of 18 have a diagnosable
mental illness.
- Among the US population, mental illness impacts 1 in 4 individuals.
- 50% of adult cases of mental illness had signs and symptoms by age 14.

Up until the 1970s and 80s, people with severe mental illness were housed in institutions by the hundreds of thousands. Replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services became the norm, and it created a whole new set of issues.