solar

The South Lake Tahoe chapter of the Citizen's Climate Lobby recently asked all ten of the candidates their views on climate change, green buildings and our carbon footprint and how they can make a change if elected.

The Citizen's Climate Lobby is an organization focused on national policies to address climate change, and the South Lake Tahoe chapter is one of 354 in the United States and abroad.

Patricia Sussman of the local chapter said just five of the candidates responded to their questions.

Douglas County residents who are not registered as Republicans will not have a say in who the next Douglas County Commissioners will be.

Why?

Because of a new Nevada law that says: If all candidates for an office are from the same party the election for that office will be completed in the primary election. Only those affiliated with that party will be able to vote.

The 5th annual Lake Tahoe Home and Garden Show will be held April 22 and 23 at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Complex on Rufus Allen Blvd. The show will begin on Friday at 4:00 p.m. and run until 7:30 p.m. Saturday hours will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission to the show is free, and each attendee will receive a small gift and be entered into a chance to win a door prize.

South Lake Tahoe locals and visitors utilizing transit opportunities have seen some recent changes including new buses, lighting, signage and a new scheduling system for those with disabilities and over the age of 60.

The Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) responded to input from the public and added the changes.

Zawadisha's annual Holiday Bazaar is back again, and this time in a new location. Join them at the Blue Angel Cafe on Saturday, December 5 to knock out your holiday shopping while helping to change the world at the same time. The event will be held in the loft upstairs at the restaurant located at 1132 Ski Run Blvd. from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Entrance is free and all ages are welcome.

The students at Mt. Tallac High School may not be experiencing the traditional path to graduation, but they are now going to experience a new one focused on work ethic and careers.

The dynamic duo team of Holly Greenough and Amy Jackson are beginning Phase Two of what they started last year, a program that takes students from school to career. The students that attend Mt. Tallac are the ones that stay in town, unlike others who take the college path and leave town and start a career and families elsewhere.

A proposed solar panel project on 260 acres of Park Cattle Company land won approval by the Douglas County Planning Commission in May, but residents opposing the solar farm with its 148,277 panels are fighting back. They are taking their complaints to the July 2 meeting of the Douglas County Commissioners led by local residents Steve and Mary Walker who filed an appeal right after approval of the planning commission.

There may soon be two new solar projects in Nevada, one nearby in Minden and the other near Luning in Mineral County.

Liberty Utilities announced Friday that they filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proposing to build two separate solar projects that would be built in Nevada and provide renewable energy to Liberty’s customers via NV Energy’s transmission lines.

The Tahoe Citizens Climate Lobby will present legislative solutions to climate change. The Sierra Club will discuss their Beyond Coal Campaign and how it effects Liberty Energy. Solar options will also be offered by Tahoe Solar Designs. All our welcome.

April 2nd - 7pm
Unity at the Lake Center
1195 Rufus Allen Blvd

Location

First the aurora borealis and now a solar eclipse — what a week for skywatchers! Plus it occurs Friday (the first day of spring) and the same day as a Supermoon. Some people will have the chance to experience a solar eclipse, supermoon and spring equinox all in one day!

The kick off event for this weekend's Sample the Sierra will be a fundraiser for the Geodome/Grow Dome at Sierra House Mountain Academy.

Pop-Up Dinner will be held at the Lake Tahoe Community College from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The menu is curated and cooked by Chef Stephen Moise, the Executive Chef of The Ridge Tahoe and former Corporate Chef for Tommy Hilfiger. The meal will highlight local ingredients, including produce from the University of Nevada-Reno, ribs from the Carson Valley and crayfish from Tahoe Lobster Company.

It's that time of year again. The county fair, full of funnel cakes, carnival rides, animals, music, exhibits, wheelbarrow races, wine and beer competition and good old fashioned fun.

The El Dorado County Fair opened on Thursday and runs through Sunday, Father's Day at the fairgrounds in Placerville. The theme this year is "Photos, Fathers and Fairs."

The County Sheriff's Office invites community members to stop by their booth and see the brand new state of art patrol vehicles. They'll have a new SUV and sedan on display so people can see inside and check out their new features.

Douglas County Sheriff's Investigators have spent the last several months investigating the thefts of solar energy equipment around the region. On Tuesday they arrested 40 year-old Geoffrey Earl Meudt of Reno (a former Douglas County resident) for possession of stolen property, which is a felony charge.

Between November of 2013 and April of 2014 there were five separate thefts of solar panels and associated solar system components in Douglas County.

The equipment was sold by Meudt to unsuspecting buyers who thought the items were the result of a solar energy upgrade project in Reno.

The main mass of a rare meteorite that exploded over California’s Sierra foothills in April 2012 will be preserved for current and future scientific discoveries, thanks to the collaborative efforts of five U.S. academic institutions.

Nevada son and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a joint session of the Nevada State Legislature today in Carson City. Here is the text of his speech:

A meteorite that exploded as a fireball over California’s Sierra Nevada foothills April 22 and heard throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin was among the fastest, rarest meteorites known to have hit the Earth, and it traveled a highly eccentric orbital route to get here.

An international team of scientists presents these and other findings in a study published Friday, Dec. 21, in the journal Science. The 70-member team included nine researchers from UC Davis, along with scientists from the SETI Institute, NASA and other institutions.

CARSON CITY – It took all of about ten minutes for Sen. Dean Heller and Rep Shelley Berkley to mix it up in their first debate in the U.S. Senate race Thursday, criticizing each other on campaign issues ranging from ethics to Medicare to big oil subsidies.
The hour-long debate on KNPB-TV in Reno was the first chance for many voters to see the two candidates spar on the issues, most of which have already been the focus of campaign attacks in the race to date.

UPDATE MONDAY: Saturday's grand opening of Bonanza Park brought community members of all ages to hear the dedication from Chuck Scharer, President and CEO of Edgewood Companies and South Lake Tahoe Mayor Claire Fortier.
Youth immediately began playing on the park equipment and the basketball court was ready to host its first game while hot dogs and hamburgers were grilled for the crowd of families and dignitaries to enjoy.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is pleased to welcome Tim Carlson as the new Presidential Appointee to TRPA’s 15-member Governing Board.
Carlson brings with him more than 40 years of government and business development experience to the non-voting seat on the Governing Board. His out-of-the-box business style has resulted in the development of many public/private partnerships and business-to-business joint ventures.

On June 5 2012, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, also known as SDO, collected images of the rarest predictable solar event — the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.

On Tuesday Venus will pass across the face of the sun, producing a silhouette that no one alive today will likely see again. See the latest Youtube clip from NASA's SOHO spacecraft below.

Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs separated by more than a hundred years. This June's transit, the bookend of a 2004-2012 pair, won't be repeated until the year 2117. Fortunately, the event is widely visible. Observers on seven continents, even a sliver of Antarctica, will be in position to see it.

NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory team took this near Bishop, Calif. at around 6:45 p.m.

A solar eclipse will occur over the western United States today during the late afternoon and early evening with Lake Tahoe being a good location for careful viewing. This event will begin as a partial eclipse around 5:15 p.m., then peak as an annular eclipse around 6:30 p.m. for less than five minutes in all gray shaded areas on the map, and finally return to a partial eclipse which will end around 7:30 p.m.