News

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - The South Tahoe Public Utility District is holding a special board meeting on Thursday, February 1 at noon. The meeting is being held to conduct a rate study workshop.

The workshop will be held in the District Board Room, 1275 Meadow Crest Drive, South Lake Tahoe.

The agenda:

1. CALL TO ORDER SPECIAL MEETING – PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (At this time, please silence phones and other electronic devices so as not to disrupt the business of the meeting.)

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It wasn't the ski trip to Lake Tahoe that Monica Laso planned on having, but it certainly isn't going to be one she soon forgets.

Laso was skiing with friends on her first visit to Heavenly Mountain Resort last Thursday, January 25, when she became separated from them. According to interviews she's been giving to media outlets, Laso said she approached gondola operators at 4:58 p.m. to get a ride down the mountain. At 5 p.m., she said the lifts stopped for the day.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - In a one-day trial Monday, former Whittell High School teacher Michael John Ismari was given a sentence of 180 days for the stalking of an ex-girlfriend. He will serve 30 days with 150 days suspended for two years.

Tahoe Township Justice of the Peace Michael Johnson imposed the sentence after hearing from the victim, her friends, deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, and Ismari himself. Through his attorney, Ismari asked to start the sentence in ten days, but Johnson had him remanded into custody as soon as sentenced.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Lake Link, the free on-demand micro-transit service on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe has expanded its service area. Lake Link launched in July 2022 and is operated by the South Shore Transportation Management Association (SSTMA).

TUESDAY UPDATE: The Placer County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) investigations unit has identified 26-year-old Luis Sanchez-Cabada as a person of interest in the shooting that occurred on Monday in Homewood on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe. More info here.

HOMEWOOD, Calif. - Deputies from the Placer County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) are on the scene of a shooting near the 5000 block of West Lake Boulevard in Homewood on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Warm and dry conditions will persist through most of Wednesday as high pressure traverses the Sierra and western Nevada, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Reno. Winds will begin to increase Wednesday afternoon as a storm approaches the West Coast. That storm will bring much colder temperatures, heavy wet Sierra snow, and valley rain Wednesday night into Thursday. Snow showers may linger at all elevations Friday into the weekend.

The weekly forecast for South Lake Tahoe from NWS Reno:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Community members of all ages are invited to join in a family-friendly Winter Operations Open House on Saturday, February 10 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Complex.

Check out the City’s new snow removal equipment and be able to take a peek inside and see how it all works. Also, learn about the enhancements to this year’s snow operations.

Plus, kids can enjoy hot cocoa and cookies, games, crafts, and taking a photo with a fairy princess and snowman.

The Recreation Complex is located at 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The following is a list of calls the South Lake Tahoe Police Department responded to during the week of Jan. 8-14, 2024. Location Checks are when officers search an area at a certain address. Transient/Homeless arrests/citations and calls are those normally categorized in other columns (Drunk in Public, Trespassing, etc.) but stats are collected separately.

Log for Jan. 8 - Jan. 14, 2024

1/8

Arrests
None

Other Calls

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Dennis T. Machida Memorial Greenway (Greenway) is a multi-use trail planned to provide a paved trail from the Tahoe Sierra neighborhood to Van Sickle Bi-State Park as a backbone of the overall trail network throughout the Lake Tahoe south shore area. Previously known as the South Tahoe Greenway Shared Use Trail, the 3.86-mile trail links neighborhoods on the south shore to each other and to public amenities and facilities.

UPDATE 1/27: The suspect in yesterday's incident involving California State Parks has been identified as 29-year-old Vinton Miller, according to the Placer County Sheriff's Office. Miller was staying in the Tahoe area on a work visa from Jamaica. They are still actively investigating this case and will continue to release further information as the investigation continues.

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - The US Forest Service is looking for the bear-napping culprit who removed Smokey Bear from the roadside sign on Spooner Summit on US50.

Earlier this week, US Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) fire prevention officers discovered the Smokey Bear fire Danger sign on Spooner Summit had been vandalized and Smokey Bear is missing. These fire danger signs are strategically placed along highways around Lake Tahoe to alert the public to the current fire danger rating.

They are also not cheap to replace.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - The Tahoe Resource Conservation District, a member of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team, is encouraging homeowners and residents at Lake Tahoe to participate in the Tahoe Network of Fire Adapted Community program in 2024. The initiative focuses on creating Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) through a multifaceted approach that includes physical measures like home hardening and defensible space, as well as prevention, planning, and education.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - A former firefighter who has already served two prison sentences for wildland fire arson, was arraigned in El Dorado County Superior Couty on 12 felony charges related to the detonation of improvised explosive devices.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Lake Tahoe City Council updated the members of the Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission.

Five residents applied for the two-year open terms for the Planning Commission and a one-year term. Incumbent Gavin Feiger, Julia Lucksinger, and Jackson Realo were appointed. It took a few motions to get one passed as there were so many qualified candidates.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Caltrans has rescheduled a public meeting this week on a proposed $27.1 million project on U.S. Highway 50 (Lake Tahoe Boulevard) in the City of South Lake Tahoe. To avoid a conflict with a scheduled City of South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting on Tuesday, Caltrans has rescheduled this meeting virtually to Wednesday, January 24
from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Attendees can join the meeting at:
https://cadot.webex.com/cadot/j.php?MTID=m15985a73b37c20cb1512af24f53df68e

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The community showed up in force at the Flightdeck Sports Bar and Grill at the Lake Tahoe Airport this past week after learning it was going to close. Owner Sheila Benson put the word out on social media about its pending closure and hopes that someone interested in being a partner or investor would come along.

After two years in business, Benson said she couldn't keep the doors open any longer due to multiple reasons - labor, taxes, insurance, cost of goods, delivery fees, and more. Those costs kept rising but revenue was dropping.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The winter of 2022-23 highlighted the traffic issue created by people driving to Heavenly Mountain Resort for a day on the slopes during a storm. Heavy snow, excess vehicles, and a lack of visible controls led to backups and cars parked wherever they pleased. The situation has been an issue for years, but the epic winter highlighted it more.

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD), the City of South Lake Tahoe, and officials at Heavenly worked together over the summer to create a plan that would hopefully eliminate the problems of last winter.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Lake Tahoe City Council will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, January 23 at 5:30 p.m. Agenda items include a discussion and possible vote on raising the fine on vacation home rental (VHR) violations, citizen appointments to commissions and boards, and an extension for completed plans for a 14-unit condominium project.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following calls only pertain to the South and West Shore, including Meyers, South Lake Tahoe, Meeks Bay, Tahoma, and the Echo Summit area. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at the time of the story.

January 11 - January 17, 2024

1/11

06:35 ORDINANCE VIOLATION REPORT - Occurred on Lake Tahoe Blvd, in South Lake Tahoe. Disposition: ASSISTED.

Netflix has released the three-episode documentary "American Nightmare" which focuses on the 2015 kidnapping of Denise Huskins from the Vallejo, California home she shared with her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn.

On March 23, 2015, Huskins was kidnapped by a masked intruder who tied up Quinn and drugged him, then took her. The Vallejo Police Department focused on Quinn as being responsible for the kidnapping. After 18 hours of interrogation, Quinn asks for a lawyer as he sees the conversation going nowhere.

UPDATE: The meeting has been rescheduled due to a conflict with the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting. It will now be held on Wednesday, January 24 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Attendees can join the meeting at:
https://cadot.webex.com/cadot/j.php?MTID=m15985a73b37c20cb1512af24f53df68e

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Snow is in the forecast for the Lake Tahoe Basin, but most of it will be falling above lake level. Storms begin to push into the Sierra on Friday night, with periods of rain, high-elevation snow, and gusty winds persisting into early next week. With daytime highs in the 40s in South Lake Tahoe, more rain will be seen but expect heavy snow above the lake.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Reno has issued a Winter Weather Advisory and Winter Storm Watch:

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - The approval of a ban on short-term vacation rentals north of Cave Rock in the Douglas County portion of Lake Tahoe has brought forward a petition for judicial review to be filed in the Ninth Judicial District Court of Nevada. Several residents and Glenbrook property manager Kevin Kjer filed the petition to reverse the Douglas County Board of Commissioner's December vote to ban the 13 vacation home rentals (VHRs) in that region starting January 1, 2025.

The homeowner's group is represented by Alling and Jillson.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - Members of the Tahoe Fire & Fuels Team (TFFT) will continue prescribed fire operations this week at Lake Tahoe, conditions and weather permitting. Smoke may be present throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin and surrounding areas. View smoke management tips and the current air quality index at AirNow and the U.S.