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Sunny skies and warm weather are in store for Lake Tahoe through the July 4 holiday and well into the weekend, according to the latest from the National Weather Service in Reno.
Here's the forecast:
Independence Day: Sunny, with a high near 80. West wind between 5 and 10 mph.
Wednesday night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 78.
Thursday night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 80.

Heavenly Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe honored five recipients of the Heavenly Mountain Resort Community Scholarship Program at a luncheon Wednesday at Tamarack Lodge, located at the top of the Heavenly Gondola.
For the ninth consecutive year, Heavenly Mountain Resort awarded $4,000 scholarships to five recent high school graduates, bringing the resort’s overall commitment to the Heavenly Mountain Resort Community Scholarship Program to $180,000. The scholarships are designed to help further the education of local area students.

Although they are still an unfortunate rarity, more green gyms are popping up in the United States. They are considered green because their carbon footprint is much lower than the typical huge box gym packed with walls of televisions, rows of cardio equipment (which also have a whole additional slew of TVs), and thousands of tons of carbon-unfriendly stationary equipment. These green gyms tend to be smaller, with the primary carbon footprint generating from their electric usage. Just one treadmill can use anywhere from 500 watts to 1 kilowatt per hour while in use.

Location

What do you get when you jam twelve community leaders in a small van and send them on the road for three days? In addition to lots of laughs and too many unanswered texts, this merry van of road warriors got a collective awakening to the positive power of change. The road trip, sponsored by www.Tahoechamber.org, was an eye-opening view of how other communities solved what seemed insurmountable problems and, in doing so, prospered.

A Memorial Day service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Happy Homestead Cemetery, 1261 Johnson Blvd., in South Lake Tahoe. The service will recognize veterans past and present and will be followed by cake and coffee at American Legion Post 795, 2748 Lake Tahoe Blvd.
The following was submitted by Gold Star Mom Patty Smith:

I used to wonder every time Scott Kennedy boarded an airplane if he thought he was heading someplace or staying within the boundaries of this country? He's back from Iraq and Kuwait for the 55th...

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s Office of the Military figured it would be money ahead after entering into a contract with a firm to build solar panels on three of its sites around the state to supply it with electricity.
But today officials with the office won approval from the state Board of Examiners to seek $46,284 from a legislative contingency fund to pay excess utility costs. The reason is because the solar energy being provided under the contract is costing the agency more than if it purchased electricity directly from NV Energy.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help in locating family members of elderly twins, Patricia and Joan Miller, 73, who were found dead in their South Lake Tahoe home on February 26. The nature of their deaths hasn't been determined, however, foul play has been ruled out, said Sheriff's Lt. Bryan Golmitz. The cause and manner of death is still being investigated by El Dorado County Sheriff’s detectives and the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

COLEVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Most families returned to a military housing complex outside a remote U.S. Marine training base in Northern California on Sunday, two days after a propane gas explosion tha...

The following is the complete text of President Obama's State of the Union address as written.
Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery
State of the Union Address
"An America Built to Last"
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Washington, DC

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

GARDNERVILLE - The date has been set for the seventh annual cioppino feed fundraiser for Feb. 11. The proceeds from this fundraiser supports men and women in the military, veterans, and related ...

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY — Gov. Brian Sandoval honored three Pearl Harbor survivors today on the 70th anniversary of the attack that brought the United States into World War II.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - South Lake Tahoe equipment company Alpine Smith, Inc. will offer free snow removal services for families with a member currently deployed in the armed forces, according t...

By the California Department of Fish and Game
The California Department of Fish and Game reminds veterans that service-related injuries need not keep them from enjoying wildlife and the great outdoors.
America’s disabled veterans get a break on the price of sport fishing and hunting licenses and are provided some special opportunities.
DFG offers reduced-fee hunting and fishing licenses to both resident and nonresident disabled veterans.

By Jake Sunderland
CARSON CITY, Nev. – Consumers who have suffered an “extraordinary life event” may now ask their insurance company to provide an exception to the use of their credit information for underwriting and rating purposes, which may otherwise result in an increase in their premium rate.

“This is an important chance for some Nevadans who have suffered an unfortunate event to find relief during these trying economic times,” said Commissioner Scott J. Kipper of the Nevada Division of Insurance.

Terror in Tahoe, a new event for South Shore, culminates this weekend.
Hosted by the City of South Lake Tahoe Community Services/Parks and Recreation, and the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, organizers have prepared a haunted trail in the woods behind the ice rink at the Campground by the Lake on Highway 50, dead in the center of South Lake Tahoe.

Garrett Fant, the 21-year-old U.S. Army soldier who died Sept. 26, 2011 in Afghanistan, left a legacy South Lake Tahoe can be proud of, friends and family say.  The young man, who attended South Tahoe High School and considered South Lake Tahoe his home, will be remembered for his personable nature and affable character. For as young as he was, he was a gentlemen and treated everyone around him with dignity and respect, including those he didn’t personally know. 

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - U.S. Army Spc. Garrett Fant scored so high on his military entrance exam that he could have done any job in the armed forces, even those would have kept him out of the...

A gunman who opened fire inside a Carson City restaurant has torn a hole through the South Lake Tahoe community, taking the life of a long-time local woman, maiming her disabled husband, and sending shock waves in the community after learning the gunman has family business ties in town.
The brutal murder that happened inside the International House of Pancakes this week claimed the lives of three U.S. Army National Guard personnel and Lake Tahoe Keys resident Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67. Shooter Eduardo Sencion, 32, of Carson City turned the automatic weapon he was packing on himself and left both communities stunned and asking questions about why such a senseless act of violence happened.

CARSON CITY –The Nevada Military Support Alliance (NMSA) has established a way to donate to the families of the Guard members killed in Tuesday’s shooting rampage in Carson City. Those interested in making a donation to support the families of the fallen may do so at www.nvmilitarysupport.org.
Once on the page, click the red “Nevada National Guard Victims of 9/6/11” button.
In the middle of the next page, choose “NEVADA MILITARY Support Alliance” from the drop-down menu. Fill-in the fields and then press the “submit” button.

Florence Donovan-Gunderson and her husband Wally Gunderson, who split their time between Southern California and their home in the Tahoe Keys, were having breakfast at IHOP in Carson City Tuesday morning when a gunman shattered their lives forever.

According to a family friend, Florence was killed inside the restaurant, along with three Nevada National Guard members, while Wally was wounded. A man interviewed by KRNV 4 described how he applied first aid to Wally, while his wife was obviously killed instantly.

The Carson City Sheriff's Office held a news conference at 9 a.m. this morning to officially release the names of the victims.

Suzy Krzaczek, a teacher at South Tahoe Middle, said her and the victim's families had been close friends for more than 30 years. She said that Wally had called her mother yesterday from the hospital to take care of the couple's dog before he was wheeled into surgery.

12:10 p.m. update: The Associated Press is reporting that the Carson City Sheriff's Office has confirmed that the shooter in the Carson City IHOP incident has died of his self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Update 11:45: At least three people, two uniformed members of the National Guard, have died in a shooting this morning shortly before 9 a.m. at the International House of Pancakes, IHOP, in Carson City, according to Sheriff Ken Furlong. In all, 10 people were shot, with three dead as of 11:30 a.m.

The suspected shooter, reportedly using an automatic weapon, apparently shot himself and is clingling to life, Furlong said during a press conference. Three police chaplains have also been called in to respond to and speak with families of the shooting victims. The shooting on South Carson Street has the roadway closed at both sides of Highway 395 and at Eagle Station Lane.

A couple inside the restaurant, Howard and Evelyn MacDonald from Southern California who were visiting family from Carson City, both managed to escape with other customers out of the back door of IHOP when bullets began flying. The MacDonalds said they had been eating their breakfast when they heard several shots being fired, windows breaking and an employee who came out of the kitchen yelling "Get out now!" said Howard MacDonald.

"I'll never forget that sound," said Ellen MacDonald.

Across the parking lot at Locals' BBQ, owner Ralph Swagler said witnessed much of the shooting. He said that he and his son were inside his restaurant when he saw a man pull into the IHOP parking lot i a blue minivan, where he began shooting outside the restaurant. Swagler said he then saw a body on the ground next to a motorcycle, as the male shooter began shooting from the front of the restaurant to the inside. Swagler said the weapon was a fully automatic assault-style weapon, in which he said the man fired off an entire clip, reloaded and then walked inside the IHOP and began shooting.

The shooter then walked outside restaurant, saw Swagler and his son as they attempted to lock the Locals' BBQ door, then began shooting at the restaurant, he said. And then Swagler said the gunman began shooting at the H&R Block office next door.

Stray bullets have been found all over the area, in between the McDonald's building and Casino Fandango, as well as throughout the IHOP parking lot.

Law officers from agencies around Northern Nevada are responding to scene, with officers asked to respond to Carson Tahoe and Renown Medical Center in Reno to speak with and identify the victims, according to police scanner dispatch.

Developing ....

By Cheva Heck
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A crew of military veterans who are preparing for future employment while they're helping to protect Lake Tahoe communities from wildfire were visited today by U.S. Forest Service and California Conservation Corps officials.