pot

With the passage of Proposition 64 in November, South Lake Tahoe and other cities around the state are taking a look at their codes and regulations to be consistent with requirements that came with the legalization of marijuana for personal use. Californians voted 57.13 percent in favor of the proposition. On a local level, the vote was very close in El Dorado County with 50.07 percent of the voters against the legalization of marijuana.

Worried that California might legalize recreational marijuana, the state’s third-largest city by population has voted to ban pot sales ahead of Tuesday’s election.

San Jose isn’t alone in scrambling to block the possible effects of Proposition 64, which would legalize pot but also allow local bans on sales.

Dozens of cities and counties from tiny Blue Lake in the heart of Northern California’s pot-growing mecca to National City near the Mexico border have either imposed or are contemplating tough restrictions on recreational marijuana sales and cultivation.

It was just another day of work for Chase, a K-9 who works with the Placer County Sheriff's Office. On Thursday, October 13, Chase and his handler, Deputy Josh Buckley, were called in to assist the California Highway Patrol with a traffic stop on Interstate 80, just west of Highway 267.

One there, Chase's nose took control and he ended up sniffing large vacuum sealed boxes which contained a total of 54 pounds of marijuana.

The driver of the vehicle was arrested by CHP.

The arrests continue around the country in response to the January, 2016 murder of 40-year-old Dennis Wright at the Beverly Lodge in South Lake Tahoe. In an apparent drug deal gone bad, Wright was shot to death in the motel's parking lot after allegedly bringing 100 pounds of marijuana to town to sell.

The following is a recap of activity the South Lake Tahoe Police Department responded to 194 calls between May 3 and May 9, 2016.

Calls Resulting in Arrests:

5/3
"Other" Misdemeanor in the 2400 block of Lake Tahoe Blvd

5/4
"Other" Midemeanor in the 2100 block of South Ave
Unlicensed driver in the 2900 block of Sacramento Ave

5/5
Warrant in the 3100 block of Harrison Ave

5/6

To televise or not televise, that was the question in front of the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Tuesday, April 19. While live streaming of the Council meetings is not required by law, it is something the City has done on both the internet and television since May, 2007.

The agenda item was added after discussion arose during the April 5 meeting when Mayor Wendy David asked that they stop televising the public comment portion of the meetings. Her comment caught many by surprise, even by some of her Council members.

Mountain Resort Television reporter Ashley Lindner interviews the City of South Lake Tahoe's Chief of Police, Brian Uhler, and the Chair of the Drug Free Coalition, Hannah Greenstreet, about the Control, Regulate, & Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

PDF of proposed initiative.

A 20-year-old South Lake Tahoe man was arrested Monday on felony drug charges after he allegedly used pepper spray on a homeless man and then called 911 dispatch to report what he had done, a Carson City sheriff’s deputy said.

Dennis Wright, Jr of Amador County has been identified as the man who died after being shot Saturday night at the Beverly Lodge in South Lake Tahoe.

There have been two home invasion robberies in El Dorado County in the last nine days, and in both cases the thieves were after money and marijuana.

On November 28 at 1:15 a.m., sheriff's deputies responded to a home invasion robbery in the 3000 block of Winter Creek Road in Mount Aukum. The unidentified male caller said his wife was the victim and she was home alone. He went home and met deputies there.

Ohio voters soundly rejected a marijuana initiative Tuesday that would have legalized recreational and medicinal use of the drug, and would have limited commercial growing to a small group of investors who drafted and promoted the measure.

The initiative was failing 65% to 35%, with nearly 90% of precincts reporting.

“Issue 3 has been soundly defeated!” Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies crowed on Twitter. “No marijuana monopolies in this state!”

The Reno Gazette-Journal filed a lawsuit Friday against the city of Sparks in an effort to compel them to release the names of medical marijuana business licensees.

As the newspaper expands its coverage of Nevada’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry, the RGJ has requested and collected copies of current business licenses for cultivation centers, dispensaries and production facilities in the area. Reno and Washoe County both have policies to release all of the information that the licenses entail.

Talking about marijuana with your kids can be difficult – especially these days, with the drug becoming legalized in some states and the increasingly casual presence of weed in the media and pop culture. But with the right tools and skills, you can have easier, more productive conversations with your teen about marijuana, despite these unique challenges.

California took the first step June 5 to regulate its nearly 20-year-old medical marijuana industry, one that lawmakers said currently resembles something out of the “wild, wild West.”

AB266 merges what were two competing bills and attempts to set up state regulations that will pass muster with the federal Department of Justice. It was one of dozens of pieces of legislation advancing through the Legislature Thursday as lawmakers faced a Friday deadline to move bills out of their house of origin.

California cannabis growers may be making millions, but their thirsty plants are sucking up a priceless resource: water. Now scientists say that if no action is taken in the drought-wracked state, the consequences for fisheries and wildlife will be dire.

"If this activity continues on the trajectory it's on, we're looking at potentially streams going dry, streams that harbor endangered fish species like salmon, steelhead," said Scott Bauer of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

There’s no shortage of views on the question of legalizing recreational marijuana in California.

That much was evident at a series of focus groups earlier this year, where 48 men and women representing a cross-section of the state filed into rooms with one-way mirrors to share their opinions. The research is aimed at shaping an expected legalization initiative for the 2016 ballot.

Legal marijuana was a $700 million dollar industry in Colorado last year, according to a Washington Post analysis of recently-released tax data from the state's Department of Revenue. In 2014, Colorado retailers sold $386 million of medical marijuana and $313 million for purely recreational purposes. The two segments of the market generated $63 million in tax revenue, with an additional $13 million collected in licenses and fees.

In this photo can you tell which candies are made from marijuana and which ones are made with sugar and sold in all stores? The answer will be later in the story.

With marijuana now legal in many states, issues are arising that may have been overlooked in the eagerness to make marijuana legal.

Marijuana (cannabis) candies are hitting the market like a storm, and more people are now ending up in the E.R., or even dead, after ingesting them as well as brownies and cookies made from cannabis.

Tucked deep inside the 1,603-page federal spending measure is a provision that effectively ends the federal government's prohibition on medical marijuana and signals a major shift in drug policy.

The bill's passage over the weekend marks the first time Congress has approved nationally significant legislation backed by legalization advocates. It brings almost to a close two decades of tension between the states and Washington over medical use of marijuana.

The 3rd Annual Fall Festival and Chili Cook Off is at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Center Saturday, September 13 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

There will be live entertainment, a cake walk, raffles, vendors and a chili tastings as well as events for the whole family. Admission to the event is free. More information can be found on the website at www.goldenbearevents.com.

Local non-profits will benefit from the event. The South Tahoe Cancer League, Lion's Club, American Legion Post 795, Christmas Cheer and the Lake Tahoe Humane Society are among the recipients.

More than 64 pounds of marijuana was seized last Tuesday from a couple heading down US 395 from South Lake Tahoe to Rancho Cucamonga last Tuesday, according to reports by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Record Courier.

Mono County Deputies stopped the suspects near Bridgeport, CA. They were identified as driver Mark Bishop, 55, of Claremont, CA, and Heather Davis, 25, of Alta Loma, CA.

Learning about how to run a business in South Lake Tahoe isn't always the easiest task, but the City took one step closer to stream lining the process at a community meeting Wednesday night.

City Attorney Tom Watson led a discussion group in the City Council chambers, trying to find out what issues businesses have with the City and the City Code.

Rat poison used on illegal marijuana grows is killing fishers in the southern Sierra Nevada, according to a recent study conducted by a team of scientists from the University of California, Davis, the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station, UC Berkeley, and the Integral Ecology Research Center in Humboldt County, Calif.

The 5th Memorial Celebration in Honor of Sgt. Timothy M. Smith will be on Sunday, April 7, at Sierra-at-Tahoe.