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Local curling and skeleton bobsled athlete, Larry Sidney, will be featured as a guest reporter for Mountain Resort Television and their Lake Tahoe News Line featured on South Tahoe Now and seen on KAME-TV, My21TV.

Larry, a South Shore resident, is a member of Lake Tahoe Epic Curling, competing internationally with the Israel Curling Federation, and a competitive skeleton bobsled athlete for the Israeli team.

In honor of April Fools Day, here is a reprint of our 2016 story.

Mike Bradford knew the April Fool's Day ad campaign was a hit when people started calling him to complain about Lakeside Inn's plans to turn Rabe Meadow into Lakeside Ranch. People took their rants to social media as well.

The headline read, "Lakeside Inn and Casino returns cattle grazing to historic Lake Shore Meadow." The story that followed outlined the casino's plans to raise prime Angus beef so their restaurant, Latin Soul, could put new meaning to the term, Farm-to-Table.

Rarely do I use this space to comment upon political issues within our community. That said, with the “politicization” of the US Hwy 50 South Shore Community Revitalization Project I felt the need to share some background and perspectives for consideration.

The South Shore of Lake Tahoe is divided by lines. These state, county, and city lines work well on a map, but they do not define the day-to-day reality of the people who live and work in this community. In the last decade we have seen definitive projects reshape South Shore – Heavenly Village, Lakeview Commons, Harrison Avenue Streetscape. We have seen new bike trails and the opening of a bi-state park.

The building is old and worn out, but the coffee, bagels and treats inside have kept both locals and visitors happy for over two decades.

Rude Brother's Bagels is located on the bottom floor of a building located at 3117 Harrison Avenue in South Lake Tahoe. The current owners of the popular coffee and bagel shop, Jim and Lisa Gosh, have been in the same location since 2001 after buying the business from Steve Rude.

Lake Tahoe, Stateline, NV – The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will conduct travel surveys with visitors and residents at several recreational and commercial locations throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin starting Friday, Feb. 19, 2016.

It started with a spark of energy provided by Diana Hankins in December of 2013, and Thursday night two years of constant work and determination were celebrated at the Tahoe Warm Room during an Open House.

The Tahoe Warm Room opened their doors on December 18, 2015, and since then they have served 74 different people who have come in from the cold to keep warm, get clothing and blankets, a hot cup of coffee and meet with a social worker, if desired.

Winter has been welcomed back to the Lake Tahoe basin after a few years of drought and less-than-average snowfall, but a resurgence of winter brings with it not only more visitors to enjoy the snow, but poor traveling conditions for the driver.

The next cast for the Tahoe Arts Project's Dancing with the Tahoe Stars has been announced, and the list contains ten South Lake Tahoe business owners, educators, police sergeant, and other well known locals.

Professional dancers will be working with the "celebrities" to teach them each a dance they'll bring to the MontBleu stage on Saturday, March 5, 2016.

The Stars:

Dr. Kelly Shanahan will be teamed up with Rainer Herm to dance Disco.
Iris Kahm is teamed up with Jorge Favio Orozco to dance Salsa.

Dr. Chris Pavich, who was born and raised in South Lake Tahoe, has returned to his hometown to open Kingsbury Chiropractic.

After attending the University of Nevada, Reno and earning his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Life West Chiropractic College, Dr. Pavich opened his office located at 276 Kingsbury Grade #1050 in Stateline.

He will be celebrating the new office with a Tahoe Chamber ribbon cutting event on January 28, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. The Grand Opening is from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Pavich is the grandson of Sierra Ski Ranch founder Vern Sprock.

Recently, I had the chance to visit the much-hyped Tahoe: A visual History at the Nevada Museum of Art. Located in the hip, CalAve District wedged between downtown and midtown Reno, the museum offers locals to the region a taste of world-class art collections. During events like Art Town (a marathon of a hundred-or-so art related events in Reno during the month of July), the museum offers innumerable pieces from local and global artists alike.

A ski trip to South Lake Tahoe by a group of friends from the San Francisco Bay Area turned into a trip to the hospital after one of them fell while skiing on December 29, 2015.

Ski accidents do happens often, but the international attention the victim's accident got from a news source in Ireland gained attention from South Lake Tahoe locals following the photo and story on social media that the injury was from a bear attack.

The Loft opened on December 16 in South Lake Tahoe, offering the area's first indoor year-round live theater which also includes a lounge and Italian dining room.

Designed by PR Entertainment, the $1 million complex features 107-seats, a separate dining area serving authentic Italian cuisine, bar and upscale lounge, all on the top floor of Heavenly Village above the movie theater.

Magic and illusion fans will appreciate "Magic Fusion," The Loft's show staring Tony Clark, winner of the coveted Magician of the Year award and numerous television appearances.

During the holiday season many South Lake Tahoe locals and business owners want to help out agencies who deal with members of the public who are facing some sort of struggle, whether its financial, housing, counseling or something else.

Tahoe Youth and Family Services has found an easy way for the community to help out their agency with every day needs.

Are you, or someone you know, in need of emergency food supplies, especially for Thanksgiving? The Food Bank of El Dorado County, in partnership with California Emergency Food Link, will be in South Lake Tahoe to host a Mobile Food Pantry Distribution on Wednesday, November 25, 2015, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. to bring food to those who need it most.

The Loft at Heavenly Village has been in the works for months, and now it's just a few weeks from opening day on December 15.

The new indoor, year-round live theater is in a newly created space above the current Heavenly Village Cinemas created by PR Entertainment. It will include a bar and lounge, 107 seat theater and Italian restaurant featuring Chef Lisa Devenchezi-Miller, who also owns of Capisce? in South Lake Tahoe.

El Dorado County Supervisor Sue Novasel recently laid out the County's focus on developing a three-year strategic plan, and how she and her fellow Supervisors want the public to weigh in.

While many may head into Carson City on October 31 to celebrate the state's birthday and parade, thousands of Northern Nevadans will be heading over the Sierra into El Dorado County to enjoy time at the county's winery and Apple Hill regions.

Why you ask?

Nobody really knows the answer, but the El Dorado Winery Association is embracing it.

"It took us several years to figure out why we were so busy on Halloween," said Paul Bush, the owner and winemaker of Madroña Vineyards.

For almost four decades, Halloween in South Lake Tahoe has been a party like no other with the Freakers Ball bringing people in from all over to demonstrate their creative talents in costume creations. We reflected on the origins of this annual tradition last year, with Brian Williams, Tim Haloren and Jim Rogers having a Halloween costume party for adults at the now long-gone Tahoe Chinese Palace.

On June 14, 2014, the South Lake Tahoe City Council voted to delay the implementation of the second phase of the plastic bag ban in the city. Originally slated to begin on October 15, 2014, the Council, by a vote of 3-2, moved the start date out one year to October 15, 2015.

Now that the second phase of the ban has started, Mayor Hal Cole wants to revisit that portion of the ban.

Cole said he wants to undo the ban on plastic bags for retail stores and asked for the topic to be on an upcoming agenda.

The City of South Lake Tahoe has been involving the community in several planning sessions, from the Tahoe Valley Area plan to the Recreation and Airport Master Plans. On Tuesday night, the latest plan for the Regan Beach area were unveiled to a group gathered at the South Lake Tahoe recreation center.

While attendance hasn't reflected a very large portion of the community, several dozen locals have played active roles at the meetings.

A ground breaking ceremony at Edgewood Tahoe brought out community and political leaders, all wanting the celebrate their new project, the Lodge at Edgewood Tahoe.

Rain brought the ceremony indoors, but spirits weren't dampened as people speaking at the ceremony highlighted the major impacts the new project on the state line will make on South Shore's economic and community revitalization, as well as important environmental and recreational enhancements in the area.

The South Lake Tahoe community is doing what they do best, helping out others when needed.

With the Butte Fire forcing hundreds out of their homes while destroying over a hundred of them, and burning tens of thousands of acres, people in that community are in need of assistance.

Enter into the picture Monica Nichols and dozens of other locals as they spearheaded a donation drive and are now taking them into the burn area.

Community Outreach: During the month of August, we concluded our “Coffee with a Cop” program. Members of the public expressed support for the program but several asked for us to do the same thing at the Starbucks located at the “Y” to help give locals who frequent this location a chance to participate. This said, our plan is to do another session for a month during the winter at the “Y.” When we have specific dates and times, we will forward this information.