neighborhoods

MEYERS, Calif. - Traffic through neighborhoods in the Meyers area has become unbearable to many residents as vehicles leaving South Lake Tahoe to take to side streets in an effort to circumvent Highway 50 traffic over Echo Summit.

In an effort to find solutions to a problem that keeps Meyers residents from their homes for hours at a time, a townhall-style meeting was held on Friday night.

Two drug traffickers were sentenced today to a total of 16 years in federal prison after a traffic stop in Carson City for speeding led to the discovery of large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin in their car.

Danny Lyle Jensen II, 39, and Kimberly Lopes, 37, both of Henderson, Nevada, were sentenced to 130 months and 63 months, respectively, and five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Howard D. McKibben. They previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine.

RENO, Nev. - Keeping the community safe is the number one priority of law enforcement working on four recent murders in Reno and Douglas County. This was the message from Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam during a press conference late Thursday afternoon.

Two elderly people, a man and a woman, were killed in a home in southwest Reno. Their bodies were discovered on January 16 after concerned neighbors called law enforcement after not seeing the residents. Their names and ages have not been released pending notification of next of kin.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Chad Donnelly, CEO of SnowGlobe Music Festival, and Lauren Thomaselli, SLT Recreation Superintendent, will brief the Council about the recent 2018 SnowGlobe Music Festival held from December 29 – 31 at the Community Playfields and Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) during the January 15 Council meeting. Donnelly will share his perspective and observations about this year’s event and Thomaselli will summarize the perspective and observations from all City departments and other governmental partners involved in the production of the event.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A study on the health needs of the South Lake Tahoe community has once again put mental health and mental disorders at the top of the list, followed by substance abuse, and access to healthcare services.

Every three years Barton Health conducts a Community Health Needs Assessment to identity the key health issues facing the area. They use a systematic, data-driven process to determine the health status, concerns, and needs of residents in the South Tahoe community.

The 2018 results are a follow-up to similar studies completed in 2012 and 2015.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - It was a historic turnout for a midterm election across El Dorado County, and now the results have been finalized for the November 6, 2018 election.

The final report was released at 2:36 p.m.

The most watched issued for South Lake Tahoe voters was Measure T, the citizen generated measure to ban vacation home rentals from residential neighborhoods starting in 2021.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It takes a tragedy to bring people together, no matter their politics, their income or twitter handle.

Many in the South Lake Tahoe and Meyers community remember where they were at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, June 24, 2007 and what happened in the days that followed. The Angora Fire quickly tore through neighborhoods, destroying 251 homes and burning 3,100 acres. While it seems small in comparison with the monster fires of 2017 and 2018, it took everything from so many local families.

The community came together to help their friends and neighbors.

The following was sent to South Tahoe Now early Wednesday morning as the second set of results were posted:

Election season can be an exciting time of year with anticipation of the possibilities, but this year in South Lake Tahoe election season is full of negativity that has pitted neighbor against neighbor. One year ago I wrote an editorial "Use the election to create a community of collaboration and teamwork," and today I urge continuance of community, collaboration and teamwork.

Local public safety employees hosted the eighth and final South Lake Tahoe City Council candidates' forum on October 25 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

It was a full house at the event which was hosted by the South Lake Tahoe Police Officers, the California Nurses and the South Lake Tahoe Firefighters associations and gave everyone a chance to hear from the nine candidates about their views before the November 6 election. Each association gave them two questions a piece, plus a couple asked by audience members during the two-hour long forum.

Progress for Tahoe, a grassroots group of concerned local citizens who gathered together to address the most pressing issues in Tahoe, have endorsed the following for South Lake Tahoe City Council, Measure T, El Dorado County Supervisors and U.S. Representative California District 4:

South Lake Tahoe City Council – Wendy David, Devin Middlebrook and Tamara Wallace

Warming temperatures pose major challenges for Lake Tahoe's environment, communities, and the outdoor recreation that drives its economy. Research by University of California, Davis's Tahoe Environmental Research Center, University of Nevada, Reno, and Desert Research Institute clearly shows Lake Tahoe is warming.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, the first-time candidate Tamara Wallace gives her responses as she seeks a seat on the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, the first-time candidate Devin Middlebrook gives his responses as he seeks a seat on the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Chad Donnelly, the CEO of the SnowGlobe Music Festival, was in South Lake Tahoe last week to show his new sound mitigation expert the venue at the Community Playfields on Al Tahoe Blvd. He also met with Mayor Pro Tem Tom Davis and three members of the No Globe Alliance, a citizen-formed group against the noise generated by the three-day outdoor festival, and Al Frangione of Lake Tahoe Community College.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will be continuing their July 17 discussion and voting on the new cannabis ordinance at their next meeting on Tuesday, August 21.

If approved, the new ordinance will replace the existing medical marijuana ordinance.

To enter the cannabis industry in South Lake Tahoe, businesses will have to obtain a Use Permit, a Development Agreement and a Public Safety License.

No more than two retailers, two microbusinesses and two cultivators. No person can own more than one cannabis business, and no more than one cannabis business can exist on a lot or parcel.

Everyone knows what goes downhill, but the South Tahoe Public Utility District knows how to recycle it into 381,000 kilowatts of electricity per year. A recent feature article by the Association of California Water Agencies pointed out that STPUD is one of only a handful of utility districts in the entire world that can claim 100% reuse of wastewater and bio solids. Here’s how. We use centrifuges instead of the usual pollution causing burners. That allows us to make fertilizer for ranch land.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Join local public safety agencies on Tuesday, August 7 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for National Night Out at Regan Beach. South Lake Tahoe Police Department, El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, California Highway Patrol, South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue, El Dorado County, Barton Heath, California Conservation Corps and the South Lake Tahoe Action Teams are all involved again this year.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Public comment closes this week on plans released by the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) that address issues the agency is facing to be sustainable. Major changes are in store for riders.

Four plans were created as bus service cannot continue as it currently is due to several factors, including the cost of fleet replacement and improvement, funding availability and forecasted funds, regulatory compliance, and keeping and attracting drivers and staff.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Your chariot has arrived!

The League to Save Lake Tahoe has teamed with Chariot to bring a new microtransit service to the South Shore starting on Monday, July 9. They will use the busy summer traffic-congested tourist area to test a solution for transportation issues around the lake.

There are important regulations to be aware of when visiting and living in Lake Tahoe, and not all jurisdictions have the same rules.

City of South Lake Tahoe

No outside fires are allowed in the City unless it is a cooking fire with charcoal in a barbecue or in a fire pit with gas piped in, or one that uses liquid petroleum. Anything that creates embers is banned, including wood burning fire pits and backyard bonfires.

Even if wood fire pit has mesh lid, it is banned. No open burning is allowed at this time, including the burning of pine needles are yard debris.

Lake Tahoe is one of the clearest lakes in the world, known around the globe for its spectacular scenery. The lake’s water clarity is one of the many attributes that make the Tahoe Basin such an amazing natural resource and a mecca for outdoor recreation.

Palm Springs voters have resoundingly rejected a measure that would have banned vacation rentals in the city's residential neighborhoods.

As of Wednesday morning, with all precincts in the city reporting, no on Measure C had received 68 percent of the vote. The measure called for phasing out rentals of fewer than 28 days in Palm Springs' single-family neighborhoods over the next two years.

Bruce Hoban, co-chair of anti-Measure C group We Love Palm Springs, said that with 6,764 votes counted against the vacation rental ban, his group was declaring victory.

Two South Lake Tahoe community groups have submitted petitions to get their vacation home rental (VHR) initiatives on the November, 2018 ballot. The first group, Tahoe Neighborhoods Group, submitted 1,651 signatures to the City Clerk on April 30, and the second group, Sustainable Community Alliance, turned in 1,827 signatures on May 21, less than 30 days after they started collecting them.