Congress

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, California – The Saturday Show of Support Series continues with a “Sound and Vision” celebration of Art and Music on Record Store Day at Keynote Used Records and Books, 2660 Lake Tahoe Blvd., in support of the Tahoe Art League. Please join us from 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday, August 29th for a masked and socially distanced viewing of works by Tahoe Art League member Cherie Pinsky and a live performance by Turtle Park, featuring former Turtle’s guitarist Al Nichol and Park Kinnear on 12 and six-string guitar.

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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.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - On May 7, 2020, South Lake Tahoe lost a steadfast advocate for safe, clean drinking water and reliable wastewater services. James R. Jones, 77, a local engineer and avid sailor, served on South Tahoe Public Utility District’s Board of Directors for 39 years (1977-1989, 1993-2020). During his tenure on the Board, Director Jones focused on building for the future, instead of 'kicking the can down the road.’

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - Lake Tahoe transit providers Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) and Tahoe‐Truckee Area Regional Transit (TART) will be getting a boost from the federal government after they received word that $8.6 million form the CARES Act is headed their way. Transit services are especially critical to essential workers during this COVID crisis, the agencies said today.

These funds will help sustain free transit services for the public.

It’s been three weeks since the coronavirus shut down most of Tahoe, South Shore and North, abruptly putting a huge number of families in crisis.

Many were already living paycheck to paycheck, and now their paychecks have disappeared. It could be months before many citizens here earn money again. Even when businesses re-open, the tourism industry here will likely be deeply depressed long afterward.

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It is time for Tahoe to have a new representative in Congress. Tom McClintock has represented our region in congress since 2009. During that time he has not promoted our interests.

1. He never moved into our district. He continues to live in a gated community in Elk Grove. Is our district not nice enough for him to live in? After all, we are paying his salary.

2. He has not had a town hall in the Lake Tahoe District during the past 4 years.

3. His votes are not supportive of our local needs. His votes that do not represent our community are represented by the following votes:

Did you know that Medicare has an ombudsman to help you resolve complaints you may have about your healthcare?

Congress created the job of Medicare Beneficiary Ombudsman to assist people with Medicare with their inquiries, complaints, grievances, appeals, and requests for information.

The Medicare Beneficiary Ombudsman also shares information with Congress, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and other organizations about what works well and what doesn’t work well to improve the quality of the care you get through Medicare.

The end of daylight saving time is on Sunday, November 4, but could it be the last one in California?

On Tuesday voters in the state will be deciding the fate of Prop. 7, the advisory measure that, if passed, encourages the legislature to consider instituting year-round Daylight Saving Time. The country has had the March-November Daylight Saving time since World War II, and it was voter-approved in California in 1949.

Signing up for a health insurance plan can be daunting and time consuming. As a Certified Enrollment Counselor, my job is to make it easier for South Lake Tahoe families and individuals to navigate Covered California and enroll in a health care plan.

With all the talk the about health care, I have heard rumblings and rumors about what is happening with the Affordable Care Act and what is changing with insurance. Get informed! Make a free one-on-one appointment with me or one my fellow enrollment counselors, have your questions answered, and get enrolled for 2019.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There were no seats available and people were standing along the sides of the Lake Tahoe Community College board room Sunday, all to see Congressional Candidate Jessica Morse.

Last month, the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center released the Tahoe: State of the Lake Report, which included their finding of an average of 59.7 feet depth of water clarity for 2017, the lowest since they began taking measurements. In advance of the 2018 Lake Tahoe Summit, the following is from Darcie Goodman Collins, PhD, chief executive officer for the League to Save Lake Tahoe, on the findings:

There are four people running for El Dorado County Supervisor for the 5th District on June 5: Incumbent Sue Novasel and challengers Kenny Curtzwiler, Norma Santiago and Jeffrey Spencer. The 5th District covers Pollock Pines to South Lake Tahoe and Tahoma.

South Tahoe Now asked each candidate the same questions, and here are all of their answers, exactly as they were presented to us.

Sue Novasel
Occupation: El Dorado County Supervisor – District V
Past political history:
2015 – Present: County Supervisor, District V

Jessica Morse is the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party running for US Congress, District 4. She will be at Lakeview commons on Monday, May 7 at 5:30pm. Come meet Jessica to learn about her views on the issues, particularly on issues relevant to the Lake Tahoe basin.

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Fifty years have elapsed since the release of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which creatively tried to make sense of the past and speculated about the future.

Northern Nevada lecturer Mike Thomas will review that 1968 blockbuster film and its impact on a generation during his presentation on Saturday, April 14 at Western Nevada College’s Jack C. Davis Observatory in Carson City. Thomas will also provide a lecture on “Old West Lawmen” on Friday, April 13 at the observatory.

Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe honored three local women as winners of their annual Violet Richardson, Live Your Dream and Ruby Awards.

Last year, more than 1,500 wildfires burned over 640,000 acres on National Forest System lands in California, including the Thomas Fire, the largest fire in California’s recorded history. The surrounding communities are still dealing with damage from debris flows caused by a charred and barren landscape that no longer has the protection of trees, grass and other vegetation. We see and empathize with those affected, and are working to reduce the potential for future loss by performing hazardous fuel reduction treatments which include thinning overstocked forests and prescribed burning.

Signing up for a health insurance plan can be daunting and time consuming. As a Certified Enrollment Counselor, my job is to make it easier for South Lake Tahoe families and individuals to navigate Covered California and enroll in a health care plan.

With all the talk the about health care, I have heard rumblings and rumors about what is happening with the Affordable Care Act and what is changing with insurance. Get informed! Make a free one-on-one appointment with me or one my fellow enrollment counselors, have your questions answered, and get enrolled for 2018.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Lake Tahoe Community College joins the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley in denouncing the White House’s action on Tuesday to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Igniting on June 24, 2007, the Angora Fire rapidly spread to over 3,100 acres, destroying 254 homes, 75 commercial structures and resulting in more than $141 million in damages. In response to this disaster, an Emergency California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission was formed to conduct a comprehensive review of the laws, policies and practices that affect the vulnerability of the Tahoe Basin to wildfires.

The Republican Party’s decision on March 24 to pull the vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was met with disappointment and relief. While backers of the newly proposed legislation were disappointed that they could not find sufficient support, residents who depend on the Affordable Care Act’s medical protections and insurance options felt relief. Hope continues for a broad bipartisan approach to change this complex legislation resulting in improved coverage balanced with affordability for our citizens.

Over the last two decades, the Lake Tahoe Region has become a national leader in fighting the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) that threaten to harm its world-renowned environment and the $5 billion recreation-based economy it supports.

The Lake Tahoe Region is working with other partners throughout the American West to better safeguard waterbodies and improve national invasive species policies. We are also working with the boating industry to help manufacturers design watercraft that are less likely to carry AIS and are easier to inspect and decontaminate.

As an estimated 200,000 people will join the Women's March on Washington Saturday, January 21, and hundreds of thousands of others march in their own towns across the country. Not to be left out, South Lake Tahoe will be having their own march to highlight issues important to the community, an event that organizers hope will attract a few hundred supporters.

Late Friday night, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate in passing the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act of 2016, which will bring $415 million in future funding to Lake Tahoe over the next seven years. The decision brought cheers from many local agencies, including the League to Save lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Vail Resorts has called on the United States Congress to approve the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2015. This Act provides $415 million in funding and reauthorizes important Lake Tahoe restoration activities that began in 1997 and refocuses federal, state and local efforts toward reducing wildfire threats, improving water quality and clarity, and combating invasive species. All of these are important to the local economy at one of the most visited lakes in the world.