2016

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The three member visiting accreditation committee from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) finished up their review at South Tahoe High School (STHS) today, parting with very positive comments about their experience.

"It is amazing what I've seen in two years," said Cheryl Townsend, Director of The Reach School in Sebastapol, Calif., and the only member of the accreditation team that originally reviewed the school in 2016. "There is a great level of intensity and quality at this school, give yourselves a hand."

Sierra Watch, Mountain Area Preservation, and the League to Save Lake Tahoe are celebrating a court decision handed down Monday that halts the controversial Martis Valley West Project, a massive North Tahoe development proposal.

Mountaintop cameras from the University of Nevada, Reno spotted or tracked 240 fires in Nevada and California in 2017. This helped to keep firefighters more situationally aware and able to mount appropriate responses more rapidly over tens of thousands of square miles of forests and rangelands, including rural communities.

This is a new and expanding tool for fire managers who oversee the wildland and wildland/urban interface.

Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Detectives are looking for information that would help locate a 60-year-old man who has been missing for more than a week.

Thomas Arthur Kraft was last seen in Reno on February 3, 2018. On that date, Kraft told a roommate that he was driving to Victorville, California to attend the funeral of a family member. He has not been seen since and was reported missing by his roommate on February 7.

Kraft was driving a 2016 Dark Grey Jeep Compass with paper license plates 1175960 NV.

With the voter-approved legalization of marijuana in Nevada in 2016, local governments have been working to implement requirements of state law. Washoe County is seeking public input related to zoning, business licensing and public safety of legalized marijuana in unincorporated Washoe County.

Currently there is one dispensary in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe with Washoe County locations in Reno, Sparks and Sun Valley.

Gaming revenue for the State of Nevada during the month of December was less than one percent off of their totals for the same month in 2016. The $960,384,350 in net win by the state's casinos was just .44 percent over from last year according to figures released Wednesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

On the South Shore, the $18,489,949 in gaming revenue earned by the casinos was down 1.24 percent from 2016. The Carson City and Carson Valley had a "win" of $9,333,656, up 9.97 percent.

The Nevada Department of Transportation’s dedicated bridge inspection and rehabilitation program has helped Nevada bridges to be named the nation’s best for the fifth consecutive year.

Edgewood Companies has announced that Corinna Osborne will be Edgewood Tahoe’s new general manager.

The Massachusetts native has more than 15 years of experience in the local hospitality industry. Prior to joining Edgewood Tahoe, Osborne has worked at MontBleu, served as general manager of Horizon Resort and was part of the rebranding and opening for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe where she was the director of non-gaming operations.

The cumulative results of Liberty Utilities’ quarterly Customer Satisfaction Surveys in 2017 show improvements in corporate citizenship and communications. The survey also showed overall customer satisfaction increased by six points compared to first quarter results.

The online survey is independently conducted by JD Power, and Liberty Utilities’ results are compared with comparable electric utilities in the west. Some highlights of the 2017 survey results show:

South Shore resident Larry Sidney narrowly missed earning a spot on the historic Israeli Olympic Skeleton team headed to PyeongChang in February.

"It's amazingly exciting to be part of it," said Sidney on his return to Lake Tahoe after months of traveling the world and participating in skeleton races in pursuit of an Olympic spot.

Earth’s global surface temperatures in 2017 ranked as the second warmest since 1880, according to an analysis released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Earth's long term warming trend continued, with the average temperature last year was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean. Second only to the prior year, 2016, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

There is free tax return preparation available for California and Nevada taxpayers of all ages with low-to-moderate incomes through the AARP Tax-Aide program February 8 through April 14 at the Lake Tahoe Senior Center.

No appointment is necessary! You must bring your social security card, photo ID, 2017 tax return documents, and a copy of your 2016 tax return. All tax returns are prepared and filed on site with no cost to the taxpayer.

Location

The question I get asked the most when sharing that I’m a member of PATH (Partners Against the Trafficking of Humans) is: Is human trafficking happening here in South Lake Tahoe? The answer is yes, although solid numbers are hard to come by. Recently, it was reported in local media that 14 people were arrested and one 17 year old girl rescued from a trafficking ring in El Dorado County that included South Lake Tahoe, Placerville, and El Dorado Hills.

As the tents are taken down, the stage removed and all other components of SnowGlobe disappear for another year, an evaluation of the Community Play Field and other aspects of the seventh annual event in South Lake Tahoe are being made. There may be negatives to the popular event that draws in 20,000 people a day, there are also many positives to be celebrated.

There is more to the three-day festival, SnowGlobe, than music and crowds, a side of the event many aren't aware of.

The Nevada Departments of Transportation and Public Safety are reminding Nevadans to share the road after Nevada pedestrian traffic deaths rose in 2017 amid a decline in overall statewide traffic deaths.

In 2017, Douglas County had a rise in all deaths on the road: Fatal crashes up from 5 to 9, fatalities up from 5 to 11, alcohol fatal crashes up from 1 to 2, and number of fatalities in those crashes up from 1 to 3.

Kirkwood Mountain Resort has been fined $754,732 after their snow removal practices resulted in asphalt pavement grindings to get into drainages that flow into Kirkwood Creek and Kirkwood Meadows during the winter of 2015-16.

The financial settlement was with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board over the alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act, the Board announced on December 28.

There will be a lot more Cal football fans in South Lake Tahoe over the next four years after McCallan Castles signed his letter of intent to play for Coach Wilcox and the University of California Bears Wednesday.

The highly recruited South Tahoe High School (STHS) senior had 18 Division 1 schools trying to get him to sign with them. He narrowed the list down to Utah, Washington State, Duke and Cal before making the decision, something that was easy the moment he stepped onto the Berkeley campus.

In their annual reorganization, the South Lake Tahoe City Council has voted in a new mayor and mayor pro tem for the year 2018.

Wendy David returns as mayor, a position she held in 2016. She was mayor pro tem during 2017.

Tom Davis returns as vice mayor for the fifth time.

"I want to thank the Council for your support," said Mayor David. "I want to look at how we want to move forward and focus on community conversation. It's what brings us together. Community conversation is the most important thing we'll do next year."

Arctic sea ice loss of the magnitude expected in the next few decades could impact California’s rainfall and exacerbate future droughts, according to new research released December 5, 2017 led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists.

The study said the melting ice could leave California vulnerable to a recurrence of the severe drought suffered in recent years, as a result of high pressure systems that push away rain-bearing storms, according to the LLNL press release.

Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) released their October figures today and they show revenue for casinos on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe were up $2,293,554 over the same month in 2016. That is a 16.19 percent gain.

They showed a gaming "win" of $16,462,763.

The "win" represents the computed income of casinos before business expenses and taxes.

The Nevada Highway Patrol will be joining other law enforcement agencies, looking for drivers and passengers who are not wearing their seatblets as well as children not properly secured in booster seats.

Deputies and troopers across the state will be stopping drivers for different traffic offenses and issuing citations for seatbelt violations through December 2, 2017 in their "Joining Forces" campaign to save lives. .

What is currently six portable buildings at the Al Tahoe school site could be a new home for the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe (BGCLT). That is the idea Jude Wood presented to the school board Tuesday night.

Wood, the BGCLT Executive Director, spoke in front of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District's Trustees, giving them a look into a proposed partnership and future facility use agreement with the District with a new Clubhouse built on District owned property. The Club would fully fund the new building.

11-15-17 update can be found here: http://southtahoenow.com/story/11/15/2017/update-recovered-bodies-fallen-leaf-lake

Bruce's Legacy, the underwater search and recovery team from Wisconsin, was at Fallen Leaf Lake recently, searching the water for a missing person. What they found was more than expected when bodies of both a man and woman were recovered.

Signing up for a health insurance plan can be daunting and time consuming. As a Certified Enrollment Counselor, my job is to make it easier for South Lake Tahoe families and individuals to navigate Covered California and enroll in a health care plan.

With all the talk the about health care, I have heard rumblings and rumors about what is happening with the Affordable Care Act and what is changing with insurance. Get informed! Make a free one-on-one appointment with me or one my fellow enrollment counselors, have your questions answered, and get enrolled for 2018.