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The public will have a chance to learn about sustainable landscaping in Lake Tahoe at the 8th Annual Conservation Landscape Tour on August 19. The tour will begin at the Lake Tahoe Community College Demonstration Garden and continue down Pioneer Trail towards Meyers Station.

Ready to get "color"ful? Ready to have fun, a little outdoor exercise and help the local community while at it?

Tahoe Youth & Family Services (TYFS) has held South Lake Tahoe area colors in the past, but this is the first year they are adding a COLORBLAST! Fun Run in the Carson Valley into the mix.

On Saturday, August 13 they are holding their annual fun run from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. during the Carson Valley Medical Center Health Fest. The center is located at
1107 Highway 395 in Gardnerville, NV.

Expect high winds and waves up to four feet on Thursday as a low pressure weather system drops from the Pacific Coast and passes through the Lake Tahoe basin. Winds will be 15-20 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.

With an increase in winds also comes an increase in fire dangers.

Dry condition paired with gusty winds can cause fires to get large before responders can get to them.

The Red Flag warning is from August 13 at 2 p.m. to August 14 at 11 a.m.
The Lake Wind Advisory lasts from August 13 at 2 p.m. to August 14 at 5 p.m.

Join the community as they support the Tahoe Arts Project on the beach for an evening of music and dancing.

Artists Trey Stone, Niall McGuinness and John Shipley will once again provide the night's entertainment on the shores of the lake behind the Tahoe Lakeshore Lodge & Spa located at 930 Bal Bijou Road.

Watch the sunset over beautiful Lake Tahoe, listen to music with your family and friends while supporting arts in the community.

Bring food, beverages, blankets and low back chairs. There will be a raffle and bake sale too.

Suggested donation $10 per person.

There will be an escorted processional from South Lake Tahoe to Placerville on Thursday to honor 21-year-old Mikey Hallenbeck. The young U.S. Forest Service firefighter, and Sierra-at-Tahoe employee, died while fighting his very first fire on Saturday

The U.S. Forest Service and cooperating fire agencies will escort Hallenbeck from the "Y" in South Lake Tahoe to his final resting place. The procession will start at approximately 10 a.m. and proceed westbound on Highway 50 up Echo Summit, through Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort, down to Placerville. It is expected to end at 2 p.m.

The underwater scenes could be straight out of "Creature of the Black Lagoon." Long feathery tendrils of green plants, growing at alarming rates in the Tahoe Keys and attracting fish not before known in the crystal blue waters of the lake.

The plant described here is better known as the Eurasian Watermilfoil. It is joined by another nuisance non-native plant, the curlyleaf pondweed, in creating problems in the waters of the Tahoe Keys.

A passenger who died in a Sunday night vehicle crash has been identified by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office as 33-year-old Rachelle Piparo of Georgetown.

Piparo was riding in the front seat of a pickup and was killed when driver Joseph Piparo, 33, rolled the vehicle and flatbed trailer it was towing east of Georgetown.

Joseph Piparo, of Georgetown, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and booked into El Dorado County Jail.

A California woman was sentenced to 130 months in prison for her role in a half-million dollar Costa Rica-based “sweepstakes fraud” scheme that victimized hundreds of U.S. residents.

Patricia Diane Clark, 57, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Clark was also ordered to pay $642,032 in restitution and to forfeit the same amount jointly and severally with her co-defendants.

An 18-year-old male was airlifted to Renown Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon after being hit by a car on Ski Run Blvd.

The teen, who had recently moved to South Lake Tahoe, was riding his bike southbound near Spruce Drive just before 4 p.m. when he made a left hand turn into the path of a northbound car driven by a South Lake Tahoe woman.

The unidentified cyclist hit the front of the car on the driver's side. He was airlifted with undisclosed injuries.

The driver of the car was uninjured and is cooperating with police.

The first thing Justin Zunino will have to do is exchange all of his purple clothing for a wardrobe in blue and gold as he starts his new job as Vice Principal at South Tahoe High.

Well, maybe that will be the second thing, first will be buying a home.

Zunino and his wife Nicole are moving to South Lake Tahoe from Oroville, CA where he worked for 17 years, 13 of which were spent teaching and coaching baseball at Oroville High School and the rest as the Vice Principal. Nicole was the school's counselor.

Tickets to board THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride via the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, the annual Carson City family holiday tradition, go on sale online beginning August 20. (www.vtrailway.com)

Sierra-at-Tahoe will hold a candlelight vigil for Michael Hallenbeck on Wednesday, August 12 at 7 p.m. The 21-year old U.S. Forest Service firefighter lost his life on Saturday while fighting a lighting-caused fire south of Echo Summit.

Hallenbeck, known by friends and family as Mikey, was a Sierra-at-Tahoe employee for the past two seasons and a local firefighter for the U.S Forest Service.

“His flame burned bright,” friends speak of Hallenbeck. “Thank you for your
brave, courageous soul.” Hallenbeck is considered a local hero who could “make

The Nevada Department of Transportation will begin overnight work to apply a top sealant coating to U.S. 395 between south Carson City and Gardnerville.

While many may not know the name of Lillian Virgin Finnegan, they probably know the Genoa Candy Dance.

Lillian is the woman who started the Genoa Candy Dance in 1919 to raise money to purchase street lights for the town. The dance was held at the Raycraft Hotel, and Lillian and other Genoa women made candy to serve at the dance. In the years that followed, the annual dance continued as a way to raise money to pay the town's electric bill for the street lights. It was considered the "Big Event of the Season" by the people in the Carson Valley, Reno and surrounding communities.

Burning Man is always changing, and this year is no exception.

Some of this year's changes are pretty major, however, and have both attracted applause and criticism from invested Burners and other groups who are tied in some way to Burning Man.

Since last year's Burn, here are some of the changes in how the event operates:

1. No for-fun drones

8:00 p.m. update 8/9/15

The 21 year-old firefighter who died in Saturday evening as he was working on the Sierra Fire has been identified as Michael Hallenbeck of Shingle Springs, CA.

Hallenbeck was a member of Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) Organized Crew 36.

Most teens start school too early in the morning, which deprives them of the sleep they need to learn and stay healthy, a new study says.

The American Academy of Pediatrics last year urged middle schools and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. in order to allow teens — who are biologically programmed to stay up later at night than adults — to get the recommended 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night.

While many bicycle enthusiasts enjoy riding the dirt trails of South Lake Tahoe, there is now a new way to enjoy the ride: in the dark. You've heard of Critical Mass...now it's Critical Glow, Tahoe style.

Tahoe Games Bike Nights have quickly become the "go-to" family friendly event at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course. They are cross-country bike races on a custom-made illuminated set of trails, 6 miles in all.

Ride the fairways, sand traps and into the rough as the race takes riders over bridges, along the river and back to the clubhouse.

Once considered rundown and dirty, Reno, as well as neighboring Sparks, is experiencing a staggering rebirth. Only eight percent of their economy now comes from the gaming and tourism industry, with the remainder coming from a boom of the relocation of manufacturing and distribution companies.

What is evident is that the Reno of today is not the Reno of 25 years ago. It isn't even the same Reno of four years ago.

The City of South Lake Tahoe invites the community to participate in the City’s 50th Anniversary Parade on Saturday, September 19, 2015. This will be a unique opportunity to showcase organizations, service groups, athletic teams, schools, etc. while joining with the entire community in celebrating 50 years of South Lake Tahoe history. The theme of the 2015 parade is Past, Present and Future.

Long considered a nuisance in South Lake Tahoe, the abandoned cars being stored at Runnels Automotive in South Lake Tahoe must be removed following a ruling by El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Daniel Proud on Thursday.

The Judge issued an order granting the City of South Lake Tahoe’s application for abatement to remove the abandoned vehicles stored at the automotive shop located at 986 Emerald Bay Road, which is the corner of Highway 50 and Lake Tahoe Blvd commonly known as the "Y."

Two from South Lake Tahoe were arrested Thursday on felony drug trafficking and other charges after a traffic stop led to the discovery of methamphetamine and heroin, a Carson City sheriff’s deputy said.

Elizabeth Gosh, 30, and Kyle Leake, 48, were taken into custody at 7:04 p.m. and booked into Carson City Jail. According to the arrest report, deputies with the Carson City Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Team were patrolling in an unmarked car and observed a white two door sedan with California plates run through a solid red strop light at the intersection of Roop and Long streets.

The following is a recap of activity the South Lake Tahoe Police Department responded to from July 27 to August 2, 2015. They responded to 284 calls during the 7 day period.

Calls Resulting in Arrests:

7/27

Spousal Abuse in the 4100 block of Pine Ave
Violation of Court Order in the 900 block of Modesto Ave
Spousal Abuse in the 3600 block of Pioneer Trail
Warrant in the 900 block of Park Ave

7/28
Drunk in Public in the 2200 block of Lake Tahoe Blvd
Battery in the 1000 block of Echo Rd

When Governor Jerry Brown told the residents of the state to cut back their water usage, he had the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) tell each region how much to cut back. That benchmark in South Lake Tahoe was 20%.

For the past three months, residents have cut much more than that. In May, water use at South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) was down 34%, followed by 24% in June and 27% in July. This is on top of the 27% reduction in water use that the district's customer have accomplished since 2007.