education

Tahoe Women’s Community Fund (TWCF) has announced their inaugural Grants Gala on Friday, June 3, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Tahoe Beach Retreat in South Lake Tahoe.

ALL community members are invited and encouraged to attend to learn more about what the 170 members of TWCF are contributing to the community. Tickets are $35 and may be purchased
HERE.

Tickets will be available on line until May 27 and cannot be purchased at the door.

South Lake Tahoe will celebrate Earth Day with a full day of education, live music, arts and crafts and with local vendors and food at Bijou Community Park on Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Recognize and celebrate our region’s unique beauty while being educated about local environmental issues. The public is invited to the free event where they will learn about ways to counteract global climate change through recycling and composting, alternative energy, water conservation, sustainability, and reducing our ecological footprint.

Coaches are needed for the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Department's new Junior Giants program for ages 5 to 18.

As a benefit, all coaches who sign up now will get two tickets to the Giants vs. Diamondbacks game on April 19, 2016 at 7:05 p.m. at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The 170 women that make up the Tahoe Women's Community Fund recently voted to give away $22,000 to four local groups that met the criteria in four different categories.

Focus Grant Recipient for $10,000 in the category of Children and Youth: Bread and Broth for Kids

Impact Grant Recipient for $4000 in the category of Education and Literacy: Sierra House School, Tahoe Valley School, and Bijou School (LTUSD)…Books for School Libraries and Classrooms

"It was a sign that I need to retire," said Dr. Kelly Shanahan.

Shanahan sat down with me recently, to reflect on her 22 years in South Lake Tahoe, and the almost 10,000 babies she's delivered in her career.

The sign?

Without putting her office up for sale she received a phone call from a local realtor, asking if she'd like to sell the building that houses her Emerald Bay Center for Women's Health.

The potential buyer came to look at the property, and shortly after, a vacationing doctor called to see if she'd like to sell her practice.

New "Welcome to Nevada" signs designed by high school students will start appearing on the state's roads this summer.

In a contest presented by the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Governor Brian Sandoval’s office, the Department of Education and the Department of Transportation, high school student designers have been called upon to create the new signs.

Time is running out and all entries need to be submitted by March 25, 2016.

"These are always tough cases," said El Dorado County Judge Suzanne Kingsbury Friday as she handed down an unexpected sentence to the 78-year-old man who killed a bear near his South Lake Tahoe home on July 10, 2015.

Gilbert Alan Wetenkamp pleaded no contest on March 11, 2016 to the misdemeanor charge of unlawfully taking of a bear.

The very popular Sports Medicine program at South Tahoe High School just got a new counterpart, a Strength and Conditioning program and center. While Sports Med teaches students how to help athletes after injuries occur, the strength and conditioning program will teach students how to train in a way to prevent injuries.

At Tuesday's Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board meeting, the board voted 4-1 to add the Strength & Conditioning center with accompanying classes at STHS.

The Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) is proud to announce Dusty LaChapelle as the District’s Firefighter of the Year and one of the Tahoe-Douglas Rotary Club’s Community Hero Award recipients. The Community Hero Award recognizes local police, fire professionals, and others in the community who embody the Rotarian motto, “Service Above Self.” The award will be given March 11, 2016 at the Tahoe-Douglas Rotary St. Patrick’s Celebration at Harrah’s Tahoe.

The agenda for the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday, March 8 is a full one. Board members will be addressing the new state law concerning immunizations, new lights for the soccer field at South Tahoe Middle School, a conditioning room and new flooring at South Tahoe High, student privacy, finances, a 4.5% raise for employees, and discuss a tuition agreement with Douglas County Schools. The meeting begins at the District Office at 5:00 p.m. with closed session, with the public portion beginning about 6:00 p.m.

Immunizations

The following is the ski, snowboard and weather report for Friday, February 26, 2016 for South Lake Tahoe brought to you by Lake Tahoe SkiBum.

Lake Wind Advisory from 4 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday.

Weather - South Lake Tahoe will have a high today of 56 and a low tonight of 36. Today:Mostly sunny, with a high near 56. South wind 5 to 15 mph. Tonight: A 20 percent chance of rain after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 36. Southwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Education Research Center (TERC) is expanding their successful Science Expo program to South Lake Tahoe through funding they were awarded last week by Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe.

Through a partnership with the Lake Tahoe Unified School District, TERC will host three days of the expo March 30 through April 1 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

During the day the expo will be presented to students in South Lake Tahoe and the community is invited to a public session March 31 from 4:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Patagonia's Jumbo Wild Movie Screening
Mar 10, 2016, Doors open at 6:30 pm | Program begins at 7 pm
Beach Retreat & Lodge at Lake Tahoe
3411 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe

For decades, First Nations, conservationists, backcountry skiers and snowboarders have fought a proposed large-scale ski resort on pristine land deep in the Purcell Mountains of British Columbia. After 24 years of opposition, what more will it take to keep Jumbo wild for good?

Location

With the massive traffic jam created by travelers trying to get out of South Lake Tahoe during the snowstorm January 31, several options have been discussed to prevent a repeat, especially with a large holiday crowd this weekend.

Nevada Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller have announced that Katherine "Kate" Krolicki has been chosen to be one of 104 student delegates who will be attending the 54th annual United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) in Washington, D.C.

"I never thought it'd happen," Krolick said of her being selected. "It's right up my alley and I am so excited to go back to Washington."

The Whittell High School senior has worked in Washington, D.C. twice, once as page for Senator Reid in 2014, and as Senator Heller's intern in 2015.

It's always a sign of crab season when the St. Theresa Catholic Church holds their annual crab dinner in South Lake Tahoe. This year marks the 22nd year they've held the fundraiser.

This year, the dinner will be held on Friday, February 12. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. with their famous dessert auction at 7:45 p.m.

Tickets are $45 in advance or $50 at the door. Tickets are being sold at the Rectory Office located at 1041 Lyons Ave. and at the Religious Education Office at 1081 Lyons Ave., both in South Lake Tahoe. Must be at least 21 to attend.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) will “make a real difference for families and communities” struggling with drug addiction, U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said Saturday. He spoke about the bill, which has bipartisan support, in a weekly Republican address.

“This epidemic does not discriminate,” Senator Portman said. “Zip codes don’t matter. It’s affecting our cities, suburban areas, and rural counties. Young or old, rich, middle class or poor, black, white, Hispanic or Asian. The grip of addiction affects all of us.”

Closed due to declining enrollment since June of 2004, Al Tahoe Elementary School could reopen if a $9 billion bond measure passes in California this November. There is now an increase in enrollment in grades K-5 in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District, with an average grade size of 300, compared to an average of 274 students in grades 6-12. Its because of a growing lower grade population and a movement towards children starting school at the age of 3 that Al Tahoe would be used to house the younger students.

Just about a year ago, Lake Tahoe Unified School District Superintendent Dr. James Tarwater was contacted by the Larry King show, In View, to be one of 12 school districts in the state to be featured on the FOX Business Network program.

The show will be a special edition, half-hour program focusing on the state of education, but just released is an eight-minute demo on South Tahoe High.

It's been almost two-and-a-half years since South Lake Tahoe native Mitch Underhill died unexpectedly at the age of 34. The firefighter/paramedic with Lake Valley Fire Protection District was passionate not only about his family and career, but for the mountains and community he left behind.

In his memory, the Mitch Underhill Mountain Fund has been created at Lake Tahoe Community College.

"He was so loved in the community," said his widow Sarah. "He was an inspiration."

Lake Tahoe Community College faculty member Dr. Walter Morris will give a talk on what science has revealed about exercise during the school's next featured lecture, “Exercise: A Potent Medicine?” on Wednesday, January 27 at 6:00 p.m. in the Board/Aspen room.

Imagine getting a group of 19 of your closest friends together to rent a large and high end vacation home in South Lake Tahoe for a ski week over the holidays, just steps from Heavenly Mountain Resort. You've found the right place, and for $8,000 for the week, it's yours. The inside elevator will take you and all of your buddies up into three floors of bedrooms, a pool table, hot tub, chef's dream of a kitchen and several living rooms and fire places. You leave San Diego for the ten hour ride to Tahoe.

While California figures are not in yet, Nevada has released a report on their traffic fatalities for 2015.

Preliminary data shows that there were 321 Nevada traffic deaths in 2015, an increase by 30 deaths over the previous year.

When compared with the number of miles driven in Nevada, though, traffic deaths have dropped from an average of 1.54 deaths per every 100 million miles traveled in 2008 to 1.13 fatalities per 100 million miles in 2013. Statewide, traffic fatalities reached an all-time high of 432 in 2006.

The business of second chances is everyone’s business. Choose your path!

Dear Mrs. Murdock, I’d like to thank you for taking your time to come every Monday morning to help me with all my work. Thank you for caring about my education and for driving across town to help me even when I am not always welcoming and sometimes don’t want to do any work. It honestly means a lot to me that you’re helping me on getting all my work done so I can catch up on my credits and graduate. It may not seem like it all the time but I count on your support and am grateful you don’t give up on me.