agencies

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Lake Tahoe natural resource and law enforcement agencies remind residents and visitors to practice proper food storage and trash disposal at all times while in bear country. Intentional or unintentional feeding of bears can result in unwanted bear behaviors, increased human-bear conflicts, and public safety issues, as well as fines and possible jail time for violators. Each year law enforcement and state wildlife officers respond to hundreds of calls in which bears may pose a public safety threat or are damaging property. In some cases, the bear must be euthanized.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Naloxone, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid and heroin overdoses, is carried on police and deputy vehicles, ambulances and fire engines, giving first responders the chance to save lives. The problem of these overdoses is so widespread most medics and ambulances have administered the medication dozens of times, even in South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding counties.

On July 17, 1982, the body of a woman was found off of a hiking trail in the Sheep's Flat area near Mt. Rose just a few miles above Incline Village, was found. There was no identification or jewelry on the victim and investigators could tell by her clothing she may have been headed to Lake Tahoe when she was murdered.

And there was no suspect.

For over three decades, both her and her killer's identity have been unknown but with new DNA technologies, hard work by a team of law enforcement investigators and genealogists, the case has been solved.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, Lake Valley Fire Protection District, CAL Fire, and the US Forest Service will be hosting a community evacuation drill for the Golden Bear Residential Tract on Saturday, May 18. The drill will take place from 8:00 a.m. to about 12:00 p.m.

The following is the third in a series of stories on being a community that is prepared for wildfire.
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Fire knows no boundaries, no city, county, or state lines, so why should those fighting the fires be limited by an unseen line? Fire chiefs across the country manage their fire departments based on need and available staff, but what happens when their resources aren't enough to fight a fire in their own backyard?

The following is the second in a series of stories on being a community that is prepared for wildfire.
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Vegetation fires are natural and were normal before policies were created to suppress them for fear of uncontrollable and destructive wildfires as seen in the late 1800s. When some of the first residents arrived in Lake Tahoe between the Gold Rush and Silver Strike, it was common to see just six-seven Jeffrey Pines per acre. Trees in the Tahoe Basin were clear cut to provide the lumber for building mines under Virginia City.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - City Manager Frank Rush writes a community monthly newsletter and shares it on South Tahoe Now. The following is the May 1, 2019 edition:

Sign Up for the Brand New City Newsletter

For the past 18 years, volunteers have been monitoring water quality conditions across the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River watersheds, collecting data at a single point in time to better understand the area as a whole. It is a bi-state collaborative that can achieve a larger watershed approach to successful data collection.

On May 17 and 18, 2019, volunteers will once again head out and perform a variety of tests including temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, algae, and nitrogen.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - The suspect arrested in Douglas County after engaging law enforcement in gunfire after a pursuit Friday night is now the suspect in three Bay Area homicides.

Stefon Jefferson, a 43-year-old man from the San Francisco area, started Friday off by allegedly fatally shooting a man in Oakland at 10:14 a.m., another in San Francisco at 1:27 p.m. and a third in Berkeley at 2:40 p.m.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - In January 2019, the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD), in collaboration with agency partners, launched ONE TAHOE, an initiative focused on achieving the full funding necessary to transform the community transportation vision into reality.

ONE TAHOE seeks to gather community input on funding solutions to implement the Regional Transportation Plan Vision.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A home at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road in the historic community of Phillips is a total loss after a fire ripped through it Friday night.

At 11:15 p.m. on April 12, Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) crews were called out to the scene along with several other agencies. Upon arrival, they found the home fully engulfed. Inside the home had been two women, one male, two dogs and two cats.

The male was transported to Barton Hospital with smoke inhalation and one cat was lost to the fire.

Weather permitting, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and the USDA Forest Service may continue prescribed fire operations over the next several weeks in the Tahoe Basin.

The following areas are scheduled to be treated at this time:

Kingsbury Grade, off Granite Springs Drive - 2 acres to be burned by Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit 4/8 - 4/12

Behind South Tahoe High School - 15 acres to be burned by Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit 4/8 - 4/12

Adjacent to Sawmill Pond -10 acres to be burned by Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit 4/8 - 4/12

The Tahoe National Forest family suffered the tragic loss of one of their own on March 27 when Capt. Daniel Laird was tragically killed in a helicopter crash during a prescribed fire on the Sam Houston National Forest in Texas.

Tragedies of this nature serve as a reminder of the honorable work and sacrifices made by firefighters like Daniel, who daily commit themselves to support and protect communities around the country. Forest official are gathering all of the details of this tragic event and will share them as soon as possible.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - On Tuesday, April 2, 325 6th graders from South Tahoe Middle School, Zephyr Cove Elementary School and home-schooled youth, will spend the day at Lake Tahoe Community College going through the 16th annual Drug Store Project.

Since 2004, middle school students in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) have gone through the Drug Store Project (DSP), a day-long comprehensive drug prevention program designed to educate youth about the dangers of substance use and abuse.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A 45-year-old South Lake Tahoe man has been arrested after allegedly stabbing an employee of Jim Bagan Toyota and carjacking a white Dodge Durango he'd taken out for a test drive.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – A donation from Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz and his wife, Elana Amsterdam is allowing the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless (TCH) to offer more mental health services to those experiencing homelessness on the South Shore.

In December, the Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust made more than $2M in contributions to support emotional wellness programs in nearly every mountain resort community in which Vail Resorts operates, including South Lake Tahoe.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - Giving people a positive experience as they travel along the west shore of Lake Tahoe will require removing congestion from the roadway is one of the goals of the State Route 89 Recreation Corridor Management Plan.

A collaboration of 17 agencies and organizations have been working on the plan which covers the stretch from 15th street in South Lake Tahoe to the Placer County line at Sugar Pine Point State Park. Along the plan area are popular areas to view scenery, hike, bike and visit beaches along a 12 mile stretch of undeveloped shoreline.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - After Richard Solbrig told the South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) Board of Directors he was retiring in January 2019 after 29 years with the agency the hunt was on for a new general manager.

It turned out they didn't have to look far.

John Thiel had been hired by Solbrig in 1992 as a staff engineer and he worked his way up through the ranks over the last 27 years until the Board chose him as the new general manager.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) was found in drinking water wells in South Lake Tahoe near the "Y" in 1989, and it remains in the groundwater today, forming a containment plume from the intersection of Highway 50 and State Route 89 and heading toward Lake Tahoe through the Tahoe Keys.

We are stronger at Lake Tahoe when we work together. Everyone benefits when people of different interests, backgrounds, and perspectives agree to bring their ideas, energy, and creativity to the table to shape solutions for a healthier, more vibrant, and sustainable Lake Tahoe.

Working together can be hard, of course. But we’ve built a spirit of collaboration at Lake Tahoe and it’s growing. Through it we are achieving things that once seemed impossible, things that we could never achieve working on our own.

While the rate at which trees died in California has slowed, an additional 18 million trees (mostly conifers) have died in the state, bringing a commitment from both the USDA Forest Service and CALFIRE to make forest health their top priority.

The USDA Forest Service announced today over 147 million trees have died across 9.7 million acres of federal, state, local and private lands in California since the drought began in 2010. Since 2016, federal, state, and local partners have felled 1.5 million dead trees, primarily those posing the highest hazards to life and property.

The following is a letter created by the four agencies currently working together to try and find a solution to the traffic problem in Meyers as visitors exit Lake Tahoe after a weekend. A public meeting was held on Friday night and that story will be carried on Saturday.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – California State Parks and the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District will continue prescribed fire operations over the next several weeks in multiple locations around Lake Tahoe, weather, staffing, and conditions permitting.

Six areas are currently scheduled for burning -

1. DL Bliss Campground - Acreage: 17 (Ongoing)
2. D. L. Bliss Gateway - Acreage: 4 (Ongoing)
3. Sunset Stables East - Acreage: 10 (Ongoing)
4. NV State Lands - Lower Kingsbury - Acreage: 5 (Planned start January 30)

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It's almost a perfect storm for traffic in Lake Tahoe: extra visitors in town for the holiday weekend and epic ski conditions with snow and chain requirements over US50 and Echo Summit.

On Monday, locals and visitors alike were part of that storm, leaving motorists stranded along US 50, Lake Tahoe Blvd., and all surface streets in Meyers that have a link to the highway over Echo Summit.