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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - – The South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) Board of Directors adopted a temporary COVID-19 Rate Relief Program during their last meeting to assist residents and businesses that are facing financial hardship due to the pandemic. This new program offers a 50 percent credit to one quarterly sewer bill for customers in need.

“This pandemic has impacted some in our community more than others,” said STPUD Board Presdient Randy Vogelgesang. “We felt that we needed to do our part to help our customers who need it the most.”

MEYERS, Calif. - Three businesses are trying to get awarded the single cannabis retail license being offered in the Meyers Community Center District. After the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted in May to add two Meyers Area Plan zoning districts that would allow cannabis business, the process began to award a license.

Vail Resorts CEO, Rob Katz, and his wife, Elana Amsterdam announced the grant recipients of their previously announced $1.5 million donation to support youth organizations in cities surrounding Vail Resorts’ locations. Each of the 14 nonprofits receiving grants work to strengthen communities and support youth of color in urban centers across North America, including Boston, Baltimore, Chicago and Minneapolis, among others, as well as Lake Tahoe and Truckee.

Placer County fell off the state's County Data Monitoring List for COVID-19, with the rate of new positive cases in the county now dipping below that state monitoring metric.

If Placer County remains off the list for at least 14 days, K-12 schools could potentially reopen for in-person instruction. However, no other businesses would be allowed to modify their operations until the state modifies the state order.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City of South Lake Tahoe has released their emergency order that will require masks worn in the city limits starting Friday, August 21, 2020. Below are facts, questions and answers:

What is the mask mandate?

Governor Newsome mandated all Californians wear a mask in certain circumstances to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For more details on that order click here.

How does the administrative fine work?

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The message was clear during Tuesday's emergency City Council meeting: Disregard the safety of people in South Lake Tahoe - Face a fine.

For almost four hours the South Lake Tahoe City Council listened to several residents commenting on a desired city response to the pandemic. While many other discusses will be coming up in the near future, the council took steps towards protecting the community with leverage and enforcement.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - An emergency meeting of the South Lake Tahoe City Council has been called to discuss the impacts of tourism during the pandemic on the community and steps they can take to mitigate the problems associated with the increase of visitors.

The meeting will be held virtually at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18.

Now, as much as ever, our local community is coming together for the health and wellbeing of our residents and businesses. We are all being affected in different ways by COVID-19 and our local businesses are working to navigate this pandemic safely and successfully.

The South Shore of Lake Tahoe is in uncertain times, but we want to let you know that you can count on:

Businesses taking extra precautions to keep their staff and customers safe.
Residents are coming together to support local businesses.

Local businesses rely on the support of local residents.

Join the Tahoe Chamber this Friday, August 7, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for a Virtual Town Hall Q & A on public health protocols for businesses. This important meeting will answer businesses' questions on how they need to react to unique situations surrounding employees testing positive for COVID-19 or being exposed, closing and cleaning guidance, new health inspection procedures, and more.

Attendees are invited to come with questions for El Dorado County and Douglas County health officials.

Register in advance: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-zx3qA3CT2escMUY-QxqkQ.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - During their May 11 meeting, the South Lake Tahoe City Council approved $200,000 to be used in the South Lake Tahoe community through business grants, COVID-related expenses, and a restaurant voucher program to help regain momentum and recover costs during the pandemic.

The grant money has been disbursed through the El Dorado Community Foundation, the restaurant vouchers are currently being redeemed at local restaurants and local businesses are being reimbursed for expenses incurred through COVID-related purchases.

People around the country are receiving mysterious seed packets in the mail from China. While the shipping package may be mislabeled as jewelry or other merchandise, the contents are instead unlabeled seeds.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has become aware of a number of reports regarding these seeds.

Some have been mailed to homes in El Dorado County.

El Dorado County Department of Agriculture officials are instructing residents not to open, plant, or dispose of any unsolicited seed packets received, but to contact their office.

Ildefonsa Balwing, age 65, passed away on July 22, 2020 in Riverside, California after a short, but hard fought, cancer diagnosis. She was born January 23, 1955 in Tanay, Rizal in the Philippines and was the tenth of eleven children in her family.

It is undeniable that the areas hit the hardest economically by the COVID-19 pandemic are those heavily reliant on tourism. South Lake Tahoe is unquestionably one of these areas, suffering not only because of the closure of its tourist economy but suffering higher infection rates due to the very tourism it relies upon. It is for these reasons that so much of the focus of the El Dorado Community Foundation, who serves all of El Dorado County, has been directed toward South Lake Tahoe. We recognized very early on that South Lake Tahoe would be the hardest hit region in the county.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Years of work by a team of professionals and public outreach has led to the release of the Draft State Route State Route 89 Recreation Corridor Management Plan.

Those who have been on this congested segment of roadway around Lake Tahoe are aware of the long list of issues including traffic issues, parking issues, and safety issues during the summer and popular weekends.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Great American Outdoors Act today, a piece of bi-partisan legislation that will fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and provide much needed funding for the crippling $12 billion deferred maintenance backlog at national parks.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has limited the distribution of coin currency due to the Covid-19 Virus.

"Business and bank closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coins. While there is an adequate overall amount of coins in the economy, the slowed pace of circulation has reduced available inventories in some areas of the country," says the Federal Reserve (read more here).

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - City Council approved unanimously at their meeting Tuesday to send what is being called the "South Lake Tahoe Fire Protection, Emergency Response, City Services Measure" to the ballot in November.

If voters approve the measure, a one-percent sales tax increase will be added in the City of South Lake Tahoe to all taxable purchases to meet funding shortfalls, according to the City.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The next meeting of the South Lake Tahoe City Council will be on Tuesday, July 14 starting at 9:00 a.m. It will be a virtual meeting and log on/comment instructions are at the end of the story.

On the agenda:

Council will vote on a measure, that if approved by voters on November 3, will add a local one-cent sales tax for general city purposes. There has been outreach done with local residents and finding out what their highest priorities are, and this proposed tax increase would meet those requests:

GENOA, Nev. - For the past 100 years, the Town of Genoa has held a Candy Dance but the 101st event is being canceled due to COVID-19. In a 5-0 vote Wednesday, the Genoa Town Advisory Board decided to forego the event due to health and safety concerns for residents, vendors, staff and sponsors.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - With concern over the increase in COVID-19 cases in El Dorado County, the Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting on Thursday, July 9 at 2:00 p.m. to meet with Public Health Director Dr. Nancy Williams and discuss options to keep the communities and residents safe.

The board will receive an update on the status of COVID cases in El Dorado County and provide direction to staff regarding enforcement against businesses and individuals who fail to comply with state and local health requirements.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - In the past three days there have been an additional 36 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in El Dorado County. Of those cases, two are under the age of 18, 18 are in the age group 18-49, 11 in the 50-64-year-old groups, and five 65 and older.

Eighteen are in the Lake Tahoe region, seven in El Dorado Hills, four in Greater Placerville, three in Cameron Park/Shingle Springs/Rescue, two in Pollock Pines/Camino/Kyburz, and two in Diamond Springs/El Dorado.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The first cannabis dispensary to operate under the new City of South Lake Tahoe rules and regulations is now open.

Embarc Tahoe has opened its doors and held an official ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday with Mayor Jason Collin, Mayor Pro Tem Tamara Wallace, members of the Embarc Tahoe team and the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce.

Owner Christy Wilson moved into what was once Tahoe Teriyaki and has since been several different businesses.

Independence Day has a long tradition of bringing family and friends together from near and far to enjoy many of the things that make us uniquely American. Along with all of the freedoms we enjoy we share a strong national conscience. Part of that conscience is accepting responsibility for fulfilling, as individuals,
our civic duties. In these times of pandemic, perhaps our most important civic duty is to ensure the health and safety and wellbeing of ourselves, our families and our community.

The Resilience Fund-Tahoe has funded its first local loan to Freshies Tahoe. The funds helped save their outdoor patio deck, which was in desperate need of repair and will be critical to ensuring their future success serving customers outdoors.

“After many months of unsuccessfully trying multiple federal avenues for support of Freshies during the business disruption caused by the pandemic, we are thrilled to have qualified for this very generous Resilience Fund loan! We are ready to get our deck open! Thank you so much,” said owners Erik and Melodie Ulman.