education

Ninety-two different nonprofits recently received cash or product donations from Vail Resorts through their EpicPromise grant program. The beneficiaries all serve communities around Northstar, Kirkwood Mountain and Heavenly Mountain resorts.

January is National Radon Action Month, and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s Radon Education Program is offering educational presentations and free radon test kits across the State of Nevada.

One presentation is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) offices in Stateline, 128 Market St. University of Nevada Cooperative Extension has partnered with the California Radon Program, so free radon test kits will be available at the event for residents of both states.

The very popular Monsignor Wallace Classy Crab Dinner will be held at St. Theresa Church's Grace Hall in South Lake Tahoe on Saturday, February 3, 2018 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. For 24 years church volunteers have been putting on the fundraising event, always a "must do" on many calendars.

Starting at 6:00 p.m., attendees will not only get a crab dinner but also be treated to a silent auction, raffle, and the "famous and lively" dessert auction at 7:45 p.m.

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.

For the past week, South Lake Tahoe's homeless have been able to get out of the cold at the Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church, but come January 1 they will be moving into their new home.

The Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless will open their warm room at 1195 Rufus Allen Blvd, the City owned property that once housed Unity at the Lake. Their operations will begin at 7:00 p.m. The will be open daily from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. until April 1, 2018.

Five ski resorts in the United States are official training sites for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team, and now for the next five years Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows is one of them. They join Mammoth Mountain in California, Deer Valley in Utah, Copper Mountain in Colorado and Timberline Lodge in Oregon. In addition to being an Official Training Site for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team, Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows is a U.S. Ski & Snowboard High Performance Center and U.S. Ski & Snowboard Development Site.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) is one of just a handful of educational providers in the state to win a $500,000 grant from the California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI) to help build and launch culinary pre-apprenticeship programs in South Lake Tahoe. LTCC was recently notified of the award, which will be used to help better prepare South Lake Tahoe’s workforce and to improve local residents’ ability to secure in-demand jobs and progress to higher-wage careers in the Tahoe Basin.

EpicPromise grants and donations were given away on Wednesday to dozens of non-profits who serve the communities around both Heavenly Mountain Resort and Kirkwood.

Grants and donations are given by Vail Resorts in all of the communities where they have operations and go to programs who serve youth or environmental initiatives.

This year's recipients:

Alpine County Unified School District
Alpine Watershed Group
American Youth Soccer Association #282
Austin's House
Barton Memorial Hospital Foundation (3)
Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe
Bread & Broth
CASA El Dorado

The 2018 Winter Trek conservation program for fifth-grade students will run from January 9 to March 29, and sign-ups with U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) for the popular program begin December 18.

Fifth-grade teachers may reserve a spot by calling the Forest Supervisor’s office at 530-543-2789, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Field trips are generally three hours long and are offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, weather permitting.

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.

A Lake Tahoe resident for many years, Egon was a native of Austria.

The Lake Valley Fire Protection District Board of Directors has appointed Brian Hogan as a board member-at-large, replacing the seat recently vacated by Robert Rossi.

Hogan is the Regional President for U.S. Bank's Central California and Northern Nevada Community Banking Region and has been employed with the bank for the last 25 years. As regional president, he oversees the banking groups in the region including Commercial, Retail, Business Banking, and Private Banking. He holds Bachelor of Science degrees in both Economics and Government from California State University Sacramento.

LAKE TAHOE - In an ongoing effort to make snowboarding accessible to every kid, Burton Learn to Ride, Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe and Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows hosted local kids Wednesday, November 8 for an hour of indoor snowboarding with video instruction from Olympic halfpipe snowboarding champion Kelly Clark, Burton’s Jeff Boliba and instructors from Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows.

Taxpayer Watchdogs For Dan Dellinger Recorder-Clerk will be hosting a “Campaign Launch” fundraising reception at Crystal Basin Winery in Camino on Wednesday Evening November 15 from 5:30 p.m to 9:00 p.m. Donation is $60 couples and $35 for singles with the proceeds going to help pay for important campaign material such as signs and voter education brochures to help elect Dellinger. All people interested in helping Dellinger improve County government and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, are encouraged to attend and support Dellinger’s election.

Two military veterans have become the newest deputies for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

During a ceremony on November 6 in front of family and friends, Deputy Kendrick Ta and Deputy Jose Gutierrez were sworn in as peace officers in the State of Nevada.

Have you ever made a decision that took you down the wrong path in life? Boy. I sure have.

Have you ever stumbled and fallen when facing challenges that seemed insurmountable? I’m raising my hand.

Did life ever throw you a curveball that you didn’t see coming, and perhaps you reacted in a way that didn’t serve you well? This has happened to me more times than I can count.

Do you or someone close to you struggle with addiction or mental health challenges? My family and personal relationships certainly haven’t been immune to either of these troubling issues.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Monday is the last day to buy tickets for the Tahoe Women's Community Fund (TWCF) annual Membership Celebration Dinner on Thursday, November 2 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Harvey's Lake Tahoe.

Ticket sales will close at noon. They can be purchased for $35 HERE.

The Tahoe Prosperity Center will host the first annual Tahoe Economic Summit on
Monday, October 30, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe. The theme of the summit is “Building Community through the Sharing Economy.”

The Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) Board of Directors approved several funding agreements with local entities Friday which will provide free rides for several groups including Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) students, employees and guests of the Ridge Tahoe and associated properties, as well as Heavenly Mountain Resort employees.

The agreement between TTD and Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) to allow current students with a valid Lake Tahoe Community College identification card to ride all local transit services at no charge during the academic year ending June 30, 2018.

The City of South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Arts Alliance are partnering for the second art gallery reception on Monday, October 23 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at City Hall located at 1901 Airport Road.

The Tahoe Arts Alliance connects artists, businesses and organizations on the South Shore, and the City’s lobby serves as a blank canvas to display local artists. The art will be rotated throughout the year and all art will be available for purchase.

The City Art Gallery reception will include a meet and greet with displaying artists and city officials. All are welcome to attend.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The accreditation team visiting Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) left town Thursday, but not before speaking to a gathering of the school's administration, staff, students, board members and community partners.

"You guys do a great job," said Mike Claire, President at College of San Mateo and leader of the visiting accreditation team from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). "We have never found a college more well prepared than LTCC."

Lake Tahoe Unified School District is looking for volunteers to help them in their quest to help students with a healthy lifestyle as well as their efforts to be sustainable and use of renewable energy.

Community members with an interest or expertise in any of these areas are encouraged to join one of the following committees:

Wellness Committee – Nutrition, Wellness Committee – Physical Education and Activity, and Renewable Energy and Sustainability Committee

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Three local employees were cited by a recent decoy operation to catch people selling alcohol to minors.

On September 28, 2017, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, through a grant form the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), conducted the minor decoy operation where minors under their supervision attempted to purchase alcohol from 19 different establishments.

Its time for the Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation's Food Fest on Saturday, October 7 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Hard Rock Tahoe Hotel and casino. This fundraiser raises funds for grants to support enrichment programs for the Lake Tahoe Unified School District.

Also a fun time, this year's Food Fest has a new twist, Silent Disco! Event goers can check out a headset tuned to the one of three varieties of music allowing everyone to dance to their own preferred tunes while letting conversations flow among the rest of the crowd.