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More than a dozen reports from the public about a phone scam prompted the Washoe County Sheriff's Office to issue an alert.

The callers claim to be a person's grandchild and they are in need of financial assistance because they're in jail, or have been involved in an accident. It is not unusual for scammers to use personal information about a potential victim’s family members in order to sound credible. This type of information is often easily obtained via the Internet or social media.

You've seen them every year at the corner of Lakeview Avenue and Lake Tahoe Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe, filling local homes with Christmas spirit while also helping local youth.

The Optimist Club of South Lake Tahoe has opened their tree lot for the 49th year, and those looking for that special tree to decorate can find it there Monday-Friday noon to 7:00 p.m. and weekends from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

They have a wide selection of Grand Fir, Douglas Fir, Silver Tip and Noble Fir trees but get in early for the best selection.

The grand hall at MontBleu Casino Resort has been turned into a holiday paradise, a winter wonderland with the main attraction being the specialty Christmas trees.

On Thursday, local celebrities and media strolled by each of the designer trees, selecting those that won top honors of Most Elegant, Best Theme, Most Creative and Best of Show.

The excellent work on each made it almost impossible to come up with a winner, but four were chosen after much deliberation. Each tree will be paired with a special prize package during a live auction at Saturday's Gala.

As a parent, you may be concerned about how to pay for your child’s future higher education expenses. You want what’s best for your child and to help them fulfill their dream of becoming whatever they want to be. However, as we all know, the cost of college is getting more expensive each year. By the time your children are ready for college, it may be even more expensive than you thought.

Conservation efforts are seeing the return of black bears into the Great Basin of Nevada, an area that hasn't seen the mammal for over 80 years according to a study released this week by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), and the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR).

Prior to this study, most of the state's black bears could be found around Lake Tahoe and the Pine Nut Mountains after being forced from the Great Basin by unregulated hunting and conflicts with domestic livestock.

Winter is upon us as we begin to see light snowfall and cold, icy conditions. Every year families travel to South Lake Tahoe for Thanksgiving and Christmas, leading to congested roadways and an increase in pedestrian traffic. Many of these travelers are foreign to winter weather and do not have much experience driving in icy conditions. The South Lake Tahoe Police Department reminds motorists to be alert and courteous so that everyone can arrive at their destination and enjoy the holiday season with their friends and loved ones.

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors have voted for a temporary ban of commercial licenses for both medical and recreational cannabis in El Dorado County with the exception of medical cannabis dispensaries allowed to operate under ordinance 4999.

At the same time, they voted to create a new ad hoc Cannabis Advisory Committee to study and create ballot measures for different cannabis commercial uses tied to
taxation for a local election.

Supervisor Sue Novasel, who represents the South Shore will join Supervisor Ranalli on the new committee.

Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District christened Marine 24 Monday, giving Lake Tahoe its first year-round firefighting boat.

At a cost of almost $500,000, Marine 24 is able to fight fire from hoses on board as well as hooking up to pipes along lakefront homes in Douglas County and piping water from the lake into water tenders. The boat can send water 300 feet, but their main function will be to pump water into pipes at the shore that water tenders will hook up to.

The next election is around the corner and civic life in America is as fragile as our generation has ever seen it. Let's decide now to rally around leaders who prioritize care for others above personal gain or party lines. Let's rally around caring for our earth, for people, for communities. This feels like a new idea because care challenges the perverse rationale of greed and the foolish habit of partisan divisions we are so used to. We must actively resist the messages of the market that say we need to stay hooked on getting more things to be happy.

The Sierra is at average precipitation for this date, below last year's epic winter at this time, but its still early. Will a storm system heading to Lake Tahoe be enough to put those totals higher?

Probably not this storm. It brings with it strong winds but not much snow or rain.

Many of South Lake Tahoe's roads are decades past their prime, and Measure C is in front of voters November 7 to increase taxes by one-half percent to pay for their maintenance and repair.

I support Measure C and let me tell you why, but it will have to start with a look back to see how we got here.

Startup Weekend Tahoe is back and headed to the South Shore November 3-5, 2017/

Take that idea you've had and see if you can build a business surrounded by the beauty of Lake Tahoe! Don't have an idea? That's okay, too!

Get ready for a weekend-long, hands-on experience where you will learn what it takes to launch a startup, meet others with the same shared passion for entrepreneurship, and maybe even create a new business!

Location

A Winter Storm is forecast to move into northern California and northern Nevada by Friday with snow impacting travel over the Sierra Saturday and Sunday. Windy conditions and periods of rain and snow are possible for western Nevada.

* What can we expect in the Sierra? Gusty winds, rain and snow
starting Friday afternoon with heavy snow possible Saturday and
Sunday. Travel could be difficult at times.

* How about western Nevada? Gusty winds Friday into Saturday with
some light rain possible. Best chance for rain is Saturday into

It’s that time again. The Battle Born state celebrates its admission to the United States on the last Friday of October, with the annual Nevada Day parade on Saturday. New this year is a ‘Passport to Downtown’ event on Friday. Also new this year is the one-night-only curated art show, Capital Collage, on Friday night featuring over 20 diverse artists and organizations.

Award winning photography by South Tahoe High School (STHS) students is now on display at the Lake Tahoe Airport's art gallery.

Some of the photographers were on hand a reception hosted by the City of South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Arts Alliance on Monday, the second since the gallery was opened in June of this year. Work of local artists will hang on the walls at the entrance of City Hall at the airport throughout the year and will be rotated quarterly.

An Affordable Housing Task Force has been formed to assist Douglas County in its efforts to develop quality affordable housing opportunities. This has been in the works since July when they entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nevada Rural Housing Authority “For Creating a Viable Path to Achieving Affordable Housing for Douglas County, Nevada.”

Part of the Board of County Commissioners Strategic Plan includes evaluating the potential of offering affordable housing development incentives through the update of the Housing Element of the Master Plan.

Charles Thompson of Fair Play, California has been missing since 2015 and the El Dorado County Cold Case Take Force is asking for help from the public in solving the case.

The Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce (Tahoe Chamber) is holding their annual Blue Ribbon Awards dinner on Thursday, November 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Harrah's Lake Tahoe Ballroom. This gala event honors businesses, organizations, and individuals for civic contributions, tourism experiences, customer service, and entrepreneurial achievements. Tickets for the award ceremony are currently available online at www.TahoeChamber.org.

If anyone thought they knew how the South Lake Tahoe City Council was going to vote on the proposed Vacation Home Rental (VHR) Ordinance on Tuesday they were most likely surprised with the turn of events after hours of public comment and Council discussion.

City staff had two weeks to create a new Vacation Home Rental Ordinance based on input and bring it to the Council to vote on a first reading October 17.

The City Council has sought to create an ordinance that both recognizes and protects the City's vibrant VHR industry while also improving the quality of life of the citizens.

Before that question can be answered, we need to understand what a mega fire is. To be a mega fire it needs to meet these five points:

1. Starts near or in a high fire danger area during approaching or actual red flag conditions,
2. Escapes the initial attack,
3. Develops into a campaign fire covering a large area,
4. Requires thousand of firefighters and extensive additional resources to bring final containment,
5. Often cause huge property and other cultural losses in addition to vegetation destroyed.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU), along with partners Camp Richardson Resort and the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association (TAMBA), were recognized by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) with two “Best in Basin” awards for the Camp Richardson Resort and Campground BMP retrofit and the Kingsbury Stinger Trail Project.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and two events are planned by Live Violence Free to raise not only awareness, but funds for their South Lake Tahoe programs.

On Thursday, October 12, enjoy the Purple
Party at McP's starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 online and $15 at the door. Free appetizers, live music and contest for best purple costume. There was going to be a parade, but dropping temperatures have moved the party inside.

McP's is located at 4125 Lake Tahoe Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe.

The Tahoe Regional Young Professionals (TRYP) will be holding their October Mixer on October 11 at Lake Tahoe Pizza Co from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Join them for a fun evening of networking over some delicious pizza! One free drink (beer or house wine) is included along with pizza.

Lake Tahoe's uniquely inspired Pizza Parlor. Voted Best of Tahoe: 15 years. Family Owned and Operated Since 1973 is located at 1168 Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe.

When I ran for City Council, I ran on a platform of repairing and maintaining our local roads in South Lake Tahoe. I knew our community needed a solution to fix the dangerous potholes and cracks that endanger drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. After much planning and thought, I voted yes to place Measure C, a half-cent sales tax measure, on the November 7, 2017 ballot to fix our roads once and for all.