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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) and its new Mobility Hub won the Tallac Achievement Award during the 13th annual Blue Ribbon Awards Thursday evening.

The award is given to an exemplary infrastructure project that revitalizes and enhances the economy and community of Tahoe’s South Shore.

All power was restored by 8:50 p.m. Friday.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Liberty Utilities is reporting 3,725 customers in South Lake Tahoe are without power Friday evening.

At this time the cause of the outage is unknown but their website estimated restoration by 10:30 p.m.

Residents are reporting outages in the Sierra Tract to Montgomery Estates neighborhoods and areas surrounding those.

We will keep you updated....we are without power too!

This Saturday I will drive a good friend with 93 years of knowledge to our voting place where we will cancel each other out. It's the American way. Voting is the most American thing we do. My mother and father took great delight in canceling each other every four years without damaging their sweet relationship in the least.

I tend to spend more time in the 19th century than the 21st, so call me a dreamer, but I like to remember how Stephen Douglas characterized Abraham Lincoln prior to their great debate, "a kind, amiable and intelligent gentleman, a good citizen and honorable opponent."

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers will be published in the order received.

Today's candidate is John Friedrich

Profession: Founder and Director, Tahoe Green Jobs Initiative

How many years in SLT: 15

11:20 p.m. UPDATE: Power is still out to 301 Stateline customers of Liberty Utilities and six NV Energy customers in the area. South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue responded to Stateline Avenue after smoke was seen coming out through a manhole cover.

The cause of the outage and smoke is under investigation.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Crews from Liberty Utilities are working on a power outage Sunday evening in the Stateline area of South Lake Tahoe, one that is affecting 426 customers.

Liberty Utilities does not anticipate implementing a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) for its customers in the Sierra. PG&E to the west of Lake Tahoe has implemented PSPSs and there was concern of Liberty customers that the same would happen around Lake Tahoe.

Below is what was posted to the Liberty Utilities social media channels and on our website. The weather situation and conditions are being monitored very closely and the public will be informed should things change.

NV Energy is urging its electric customers in both northern and southern Nevada to conserve electricity Tuesday and Wednesday between 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. in order to offset energy supply issues caused by record-breaking heat throughout the Western United States. Conservation is the best way to reduce strain on the local power grid.

Liberty Utilities gets some of its power from NV Energy so they too are asking for customers to limit unnecessary power use and stay prepared for potential outage.

Effective measures to conserve energy during this time period include:
 Turn off lights

Tahoe Magic wants to thank the hundreds of donors who have contributed during this COVID-19 crisis. We have received $236,893 to date in donations since mid-March and, in turn, we have helped more than 300 families, about 1500 individuals, with assistance totaling $204,094. We are spending your contributions almost as quickly as we are getting them. Every donation has gone directly back into the South Lake Tahoe community to support those needing help with basics: shelter, food and utilities.

On our last day of school at South Tahoe Middle School, we look back with gratitude to the many individuals and organizations that helped to enrich the lives of our students throughout the 2019-2020 school year. Despite finishing the school year off-campus with remote learning, we were able to envision and execute some wonderful programs and activities including:

● The new STMS robotics team
● AVID college field trips
● High-interest books for classroom libraries
● New books for the school library
● Mountain bikes, parts & tools for PE
● Science magazine subscriptions

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - As residents face not only health uncertainties but also financial and employment uncertainties, three utility companies have announced they have suspended service disconnections for non-payment due to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 health emergency.

So far, Liberty Utilities, Southwest Gas and NV Energy have all made this announcement, but each has different procedures at this time.

Liberty Utilities has suspended service disconnections for non-payment. This temporary suspension, through at least May 1, 2020, includes residential and business customers.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There were 185 wish lists hanging on the tree inside Live Violence Free this year, all from clients who have been served over the past year. The nonprofit agency in South Lake Tahoe provides advocacy and education to promote a violence-free community.

Each client wrote down three gift ideas with ages and likes, and people picked out a hanging ornament with that list, all amounting to about $50 per child.

We participated in the recent climate strike and were moved and inspired by the large crew of South Tahoe High students that hiked the four miles from the High School to Lake View Commons with a clear and unified demand for climate action. It is also encouraging to live in a City that has resolved to transition the City’s entire electrical grid to clean energy by 2032, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below baseline by 2040.

3:45 p.m. update: Crews have been able to re-route power to re-energize most customers. The remaining customers are expected to be re-energized by 5:30 pm and then crews will focus on the long term repairs through the night.

3:20 p.m. update: Power has been restored to about half of those affected by the earlier outage. Liberty Utilities says the remaining 3,184 customers should have power restored by 3:41 p.m.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Liberty Utilities is hosting a first-ever Customer Appreciation Day on Friday, September 27, 2019, at the South Tahoe Liberty Office from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

They want to say "Thank you" to their customers.

They will have games, prizes, snacks, electricity demonstrations, and people can check out electric vehicles and e-bikes. Attendees also have an opportunity to speak with representatives of your local electric utility.

Liberty Utilities is located at 933 Eloise Ave., South Lake Tahoe.

Following their Adopt-A-Day (AAD) of Nourishment sponsorship on August 26, Liberty Utilities sent another great crew on September 2 to assist the Bread & Broth volunteers with another AAD dinner. Just as they provide incredible service to their customers, the Liberty Utilities AAD sponsor crew members, Jennifer Guenther, James Martin, Kate Marrone, Chad Sousa and Kelsey Zieba, also provided the same spirit of service in helping others at their sponsorship dinner.

1:45 p.m. Update - Power has been restored for all customers in North Lake Tahoe.

12:45 p.m. Update - A tree has been found in the primary source line and the backup line is currently being inspected by helicopter. Liberty Utilities has an estimated restoration time of 3:00 p.m. for the over 80 customers affected.

11:40 a.m. Update - Due to fire risk, Liberty Utilities crews must inspect the entire line before energizing the backup power source. The good news is they have commissioned a helicopter to expedite this process and there will have eyes in the air soon.

MEYERS, Calif. - Many people were without power for several hours overnight Sunday after a car driven by a suspected drunk driver collided with a power pole on North Upper Truckee Road just before midnight.

According to the California Highway Patrol, a 24-year-old woman from Yerington, Nevada was heading south on the road about 200 feet north of its intersection with US50 when she ran into a power pole.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There are two new groups of buses heading to South Lake Tahoe, one bringing 35-foot overhead electrically-charged buses and the other bringing 16-passenger battery-charged buses.

The Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) has received a grant for $2.1 million grant to help bring new electric buses to South Lake Tahoe. During their meeting Friday in Incline Village, the Board approved the purchase of three battery-electric buses, two pedestal chargers and two overhead chargers, all to be done through grant funds.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – As we move into the warmest and driest days of summer and early fall, the threat of catastrophic wildfire increases throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin. High winds, low relative humidity, and dry vegetation are a dangerous combination. When dangerous fire weather is forecasted, the National Weather Service may issue a Red Flag Warning.

The Optimist Club of South Lake Tahoe recently held a fun and successful Day in Paradise at Tahoe Paradise Park. Part of the day's festivities were the duck races with 156 decorated business entries.

The Business Duck Best of Show went to Lukin's Water Company and they chose to donate their $100 prize money to High Sierra Softball. First runner up was Base Camp Pizza, followed by SLT Mini-Storage with both of their entries in the top four, and honorable mentions went to Soroptimists International of Tahoe Sierra and Azul Latin Kitchen.

Update 4:30pm: Highway 50 has reopened.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A crew working on the new Highway 50 project struck a gas line Tuesday at 2:44 p.m., prompting evacuations of businesses at 2717 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue has two engines and a battalion chief at the scene, and as of 3:30 p.m. they are waiting for Liberty Utilities to arrive to shut off the power. According to SLTFR Battalion Chief Karl Koeppen, there is a large electrical box adjacent to the gas line and they wanted power clamped off before addressing the gas issue.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With electrical transmission lines found to be at fault in recent California fires, agencies responsible for supplying electricity to communities have been creating plans to prevent fires in the future.

Both companies that supply power to Lake Tahoe, NV Energy and Liberty Utilities, have announced new mitigation efforts to reduce the risk of fire.

UPDATE: 10:00 a.m. - From Liberty Utilities on their Twitter page: "After further investigation we have discovered that the cause of this morning's power outage in South Tahoe was a crow that got into the capacitor bank at the substation. Out of respect for the crow's family we will not be posting pictures."

UPDATE 7:40 a.m. - Power has been restored. No cause for the outage has been reported.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -Liberty Utilities reports over 3.200 customers in the South Lake Tahoe area are without power this morning.

LAKE TAHOE, Nevada – Five people were recognized at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) meeting Wednesday for their commitment to protecting and enhancing Lake Tahoe’s unique natural environment.

Since 2011, TRPA has awarded the Lake Spirit Awards to individuals from both the North and South Shores who are either citizens or agency representatives/environmental scientists.

Building trails, promoting climate change awareness, organizing beach cleanups, and preserving cultural resources are some of the ways this year’s award winners show their dedication to Lake Tahoe.