federal

8:00 a.m. update 10/12/15: Authorities spent Sunday removing parts of the plane that remained in trees surrounding the crash site that claimed the lives of two people in South Lake Tahoe.

Investigators say the plane hit trees before crashing behind a home on Tionontati Street just before 5:36 p.m. Saturday, October 10. A fire started which scorched the home.

The force of the crash broke a large tree just feet away from the house.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment today against Matthew D. Muller, a 38-year-old disbarred lawyer from Orangevale, charging him with one count of kidnapping.

Muller is charged with kidnapping physical therapist Denise Hoskins at the Vallejo home she shared with her boyfriend on March 23 and keeping her captive for two days before dropping her off near her mother's house in Huntington Beach. He allegedly demanded a $15,000 ransom.

Matthew Muller, the man who was tracked to South Lake Tahoe after a home invasion robbery in Dublin, plead no contest to the crime this week in Alameda County Court.

Got your fingers crossed for a wet, white winter ahead?

The chances have just improved even more. Updated federal government forecasts Thursday raised the likelihood to near certainty for an El Nino event noted for bringing stormy winters in the past as witnessed in the historically strong El Nino winters of 1982-83 and 1997-98.

U.S. and Nevada regulators have fined Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s bankrupt unit a total of $9.5 million for deficient anti-money-laundering controls at its Caesars Palace VIP rooms, which cater mainly to Chinese high-rollers.

A Sacramento County man accused of kidnapping a Vallejo woman in March allegedly confessed to the crime in a recorded jailhouse interview and said he did it alone, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court.

Matthew Muller, 38, of Orangevale, is charged with kidnapping physical therapist Denise Hoskins at the Vallejo home she shared with her boyfriend on March 23 and keeping her captive for two days before dropping her off near her mother's house in Huntington Beach.

Top experts in the Western United States’ fight against aquatic invasive species are gathering at Lake Tahoe this week as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency hosts the annual conference of the Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species September 2-4.

The Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species includes representatives from state, federal, and tribal agencies as well as from many academic and nonprofit entities. It was formed by a provision in the National Invasive Species Act of 1996.

Lawmakers from Nevada and California met Monday on the shores of Lake Tahoe to discuss how to protect a national treasure as it faces continued threats to water clarity, invasive species, wildfire and drought.

Ever since President Bill Clinton held the first meeting in South Lake Tahoe in 1997, the annual focus of the Lake Tahoe Summit is to protect what Mark Twain called "the fairest picture the whole world affords."

Decisions made in Congress over the next few months may well determine the extent to which Lake Tahoe remains blue and clear, with healthy forests, resilient watersheds, and its ecology protected from the threat of new aquatic invasive species.

For two decades, the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) has provided guidance for the shared investments made by our federal, state and local governments, homeowners, and businesses to restore and protect Tahoe’s unique environmental qualities and enhance its diverse public recreation opportunities.

El Dorado Hills resident Jeffrey Lamson, 51, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to embezzle money from his former employer.

According to court documents, from at least 2009 through 2011, Lamson embezzled over $400,000 from a company located in Placer and Sacramento Counties while he served that company as controller. Lamson used company funds to make unauthorized payments to himself and others and made payments to a fictitious vendor, controlled by Lamson, for services that were never performed.

More than 1,500 people flocked to Gardnerville on Saturday for one of the biggest gatherings of 2016 presidential candidates in Nevada since campaign season started.

Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s Morning Nevada PAC hosted the first Basque Fry featuring five GOP contenders on the Corley Ranch southeast of town. Republican hopefuls including businesswoman Carly Fiorina, Dr. Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker each made pitches to the crowd as to why they should be the nominee. Former New York Gov. George Pataki was slated to appear, but did not.

A California woman was sentenced to 130 months in prison for her role in a half-million dollar Costa Rica-based “sweepstakes fraud” scheme that victimized hundreds of U.S. residents.

Patricia Diane Clark, 57, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Clark was also ordered to pay $642,032 in restitution and to forfeit the same amount jointly and severally with her co-defendants.

An updated Lake Tahoe Basin Community Wildfire Protection Plan will be presented to the public during the Lake Tahoe Environmental Summit on Monday, August 24, 2015. This new Community Wildfire Protection Plan was collaboratively developed by the 18 member organizations of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team (TFFT) and is the culmination of a three-year planning effort.

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) is inviting the public to comment on planned transportation projects and improvements that include bicycle and pedestrian paths, buses systems, sidewalks and the V & T railroad.

In the Carson City area alone there are over $9 million in proposed projects.

Nevada Senator Dean Heller is hosting the 19th Annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Monday, August 24 at Round Hill Pines Resort from 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The them of this year's meeting of the community, political partners and government agencies will be "Connecting Lake Tahoe's Environment and Economy through Innovation and Transportation."

History shows time and time again our greatest accomplishments at Lake Tahoe are achieved when people work together. In the past, Tahoe was known as a place where unproductive interactions between stakeholders led to a stunning decay in our environment and our economic vitality, creating a region that seemed frozen in time.

We face major environmental challenges at Tahoe, including the uncertainties of climate change. And as Albert Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

This week, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency voiced its strong support for legislation to reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act that has been introduced in Congress by Tahoe’s Senate delegation.

Sponsored by U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada) along with Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Dianne Feinstein (D-California), and Barbara Boxer (D-California), the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act would authorize up to $415 million in federal funding over 10 years to help continue critical environmental restoration work at Lake Tahoe.

After years of planing and months of public input, the new Airport Master Plan for South Lake Tahoe was presented to the community on Tuesday. About a dozen people attended to see and hear what the final plan might look like.

Since buying the Tahoe Valley Airport from El Dorado County in 1983 for $1, the City of South Lake Tahoe has been supporting its operation which at one time saw almost 300,000 people a year pass through.

Fire restrictions on National Forest System lands in the Lake Tahoe Basin begin on Wednesday, July 1, 2015, and will remain in effect until the official end of fire season.

Twice in the last week, people flying drones disrupted wildfire operations in Southern California, causing federal, state and local wildfire managers to come out with a warning to the public, "Do not fly unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) within or near wildfires."

The long-range forecast doesn’t bode well for the interior West as it chokes on a fourth year of drought and smoke from wildfires.

With the fire season ramping up and temperatures starting to soar, drought and fire dominated the discussion at the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting being held this week at Incline Village on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, who has chaired the group for the past year, made drought his signature initiative, bringing together water experts and managers to develop best practices for water management and drought preparation.

California took the first step June 5 to regulate its nearly 20-year-old medical marijuana industry, one that lawmakers said currently resembles something out of the “wild, wild West.”

AB266 merges what were two competing bills and attempts to set up state regulations that will pass muster with the federal Department of Justice. It was one of dozens of pieces of legislation advancing through the Legislature Thursday as lawmakers faced a Friday deadline to move bills out of their house of origin.

The Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee (LTFAC) is scheduled to meet from 9 a.m. to noon, June 22, 2015, at the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Forest Supervisor’s office, 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 96150. LTFAC will address issues related to federal activities at Lake Tahoe.

Items on the agenda include an overview of committee history, review of committee charter, update on status of Lake Tahoe Restoration Act and Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, and discussion of Committee’s future strategy.

Recent rains have Lake Tahoe lapping at its natural rim and while it may stay there for a time, the lake should soon start dropping again during this year of drought.

Thursday, the lake level was officially measured at just a few hundredths of an inch before its rim but a trickle of water flowed from the lake and toward the Truckee River. Similar conditions have existed since Monday, the first time the lake was so high since dropping below the rim last October.

“It’s basically at the rim,” said Federal Water Master Chad Blanchard. “Right now it’s at its peak that we’ve seen.”