investment

This winter at Lake Tahoe ski resorts marks the latest progression in merger mania. The Vail Corp. now owns Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood, while KSL Capital Partners is investing in acquisitions Squaw and Alpine Meadows. Even independent Sugar Bowl is getting into the act with a recently inked agreement to operate the Royal Gorge Cross Country Resort.

After attending the State of the South Shore Economy Public Forum held on October 23rd, 2012 I was inspired to draft a response to the questions about economic revitalization that were asked at the meeting. I feel like our group had many salient ideas that were not properly represented. Also, I have noticed that people are quick to offer ideas like “reduce unemployment”, “beautify the city”, and “improve recreation”, but they are typically unable to offer suggestions on how to make those ideas a reality.

U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. sentenced Lori Zoval, 47, of South Lake Tahoe, Friday to three years and eight months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for embezzling client money while employed as a licensed investment broker with a brokerage firm in Folsom, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. A hearing was scheduled for November 2, 2012 to determine the restitution amount.

Progressive or provincial? That is the crux of the issue facing our south shore community during this election and well into the next decade. Do we want a viable, prosperous community that our children and grandchildren are proud to call home? Or do we want the Tahoe of yesterday—only older and shabbier, with fewer families and more boarded up businesses?

The nomination period is open for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s 2012 Best in the Basin awards program, which annually recognizes environmentally compatible projects in the Tahoe Basin that stand out as the best designed, planned and implemented.
For more than two decades, the Best in the Basin awards program has recognized those property owners, contractors, architects and planners whose work and investment should be held up as examples to follow.

CARSON CITY – The state Board of Economic Development Wednesday unanimously signed off on a package of tax breaks to bring Apple to Reno, but the panel found it had little authority over the deal reached after several months of closed-door negotiations.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, will visit Barton Memorial Hospital on Monday as part of a tour visiting health care facilities in California and Nevada. The visit coincides with the FCC's Rural Healthcare Pilot Program, in which Barton Health received funding.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval on Thursday defended the secretive process that led to a decision by Apple to build a data center and related facilities in the Reno area that will bring $1 billion in investment to the area over the next decade.

CARSON CITY – Local elected officials representing the Northern Nevada workforce development agency have endorsed a plan to restructure the delivery of job training funds to Nevadans, including eliminating the two local boards now involved in the process.

CARNELIAN BAY — Results of a new U.S. Geological Survey study found that faults west of Lake Tahoe, Calif., referred to as the Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone, pose a substantial increase in the seismic hazard assessment for the Lake Tahoe region of California and Nevada, and could potentially generate earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 6.3 to 6.9. A close association of landslide deposits and active faults also suggests that there is an earthquake-induced landslide hazard along the steep fault-formed range front west of Lake Tahoe.

CARSON CITY — A state agency announced Tuesday it plans to consolidate three separate boards that oversee workforce development into one, resulting in $5 million more in federal funds directed annually to helping train job seekers to find employment.
The plan, “Moving Nevada Forward: A Plan For Excellence in Workforce Development,” was released by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR).

CARSON CITY – A little-known benefit of Nevada’s public employee pension plan is the right to purchase up to five years of service towards retirement.
Referred to by some as “air time,” or the ability to add years of retirement without actually putting in the time in a public sector job, the benefit can allow state and local government workers to retire early, collecting annual pensions years before they would be eligible otherwise.

With mortgage interest rates below five percent and housing prices at record lows, local first time house hunters with modest family incomes may benefit from El Dorado County’s First Time Homebuyer Loan Program.

CARSON CITY – The state Board of Finance was told today that Nevada now expects to receive between 30 and 33 cents on the dollar in recovery from a $50 million investment loss when Lehman Brothers unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy in September 2008.
Nevada state Treasurer Kate Marshall said the state initially expected only 10 to 11 cents on the dollar when the firm filed for bankruptcy protection during the height of the nation’s financial crisis.

CARSON CITY — Treasurer Kate Marshall announced today that a request for proposals for a manager to oversee a new investment program using up to $50 million from the state Permanent School Fund has been issued by the Nevada Capital Investment Corporation (NCIC) Board of Directors.

Budget cuts and temporary taxes were on tap this morning in California Gov. Jerry Brown's State of the State address. Below is a transcript of his speech. Go here for an audio version and post-speech analysis moderated by Marianne Russ with Jean Ross, Executive Director of the California Budget Project, former Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello, media/political analyst Barbara O'Connor.

The previously announced transaction between KSL Capital Partners and JMA Ventures which joins Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows under one operating company has officially closed. This announcement affirms that skiers and riders can access Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows’ 6,000 acres, 44 lifts and over 270 trails on one lift ticket or season pass. The two resorts will be connected by convenient, complimentary shuttles that will provide transportation between the two resorts.

“Since announcing the merger, the Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley joint pass products –the Tahoe Super Pass and Tahoe Super Six, and Squaw Valley’s $50 million Renaissance, the response from our guests has been overwhelmingly positive” said Andy Wirth, Squaw Valley’s president and CEO.“The opportunity to experience these two incredible mountains, each with their own unique spirit and character, through one pass and one ticket has resonated deeply with our guests,” said Wirth. Wirth will take the helm as the president and CEO of Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, LLC, the newly formed parent company of both Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.

Edgewood Companies’ plan to erect a spacious lodge costing upwards of $100 million represents the most significant private investment at South Lake Tahoe in several decades — and the investment can’t come too soon, say private and government executives who work at South Lake Tahoe. Skimpy capital investment on both sides of the state line means many hotel properties and retail centers have fallen behind other gaming and destination markets, say concerned executives.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A South Lake Tahoe investment broker has pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud for embezzling about $25,000 from investors, according to a Friday statement from ...

A South Lake Tahoe investment broker who in July pleaded not guilty to wire fraud switched her plea Oct. 21 to guilty. Lori Zoval, 46, was indicted in July 2010 on three charges of wire fraud stemming...

Reinvention: We're all in this together.
This is the vision of the proposed Edgewood Tahoe Lodge at Stateline.
The plan by Edgewood Companies is to create a unique world-class destination that delivers significant economic, environmental and community benefits to South Shore Lake Tahoe.  
“That is one of the things that investment can bring to the community, said Patrick Rhamey, vice president of Real Estate for Edgewood Companies. “We have continued to re-invest our property over the years and hope to be a pathway for others to follow.”

By Sean Whaley / Nevada News Bureau
Scott Beaulier is no fan of states borrowing money, but in his new working paper on transitioning public pensions to 401(k) style plans to reduce taxpayer liabilities to pay retirement benefits, the Troy University professor says it is an option worth considering.

League to Save Lake Tahoe Executive Director Rochelle Nason has resigned today, effective October 2011, after nearly 20 years of working to protect and restore Lake Tahoe.

League Program Director Carl Young will serve as interim executive director, with Nason serving as a senior advisor, until a new executive director has been selected.