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1/1/17 update 3:20 p.m. - A local restaurant manager has been identified as one of the victims in the South Lake Tahoe New Year's fire that destroyed both sides of Round Hill duplex.

Joanna Janowicz, manager of Casey's, an American Cantina at the Round Hill mall, her five-year-old son and boyfriend were out to dinner when fire broke out in their home, destroying all of their belongings and killing their three pets.

NV Energy is reporting a power outage in the Douglas County portion of the South Shore, affecting 1,505 customers.

1,193 of those customers are in the 89448 zip code area and the remaining 311 are in the 89449 area.

It is an equipment problem that was reported at 8:19 a.m. and NV Energy expects to have all back up by 11:00 a.m.

One person died early Sunday morning as fire swept through their Incline Village home on Tomahawk Trail, north of SR28.

At 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 7, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office deputies and fire personnel were dispatched to a structure fire. Upon arrival they found the condominium fully engulfed in flames.

After several hours of firefighting efforts, crews were able to enter the structure and discover a subject deceased in the home.

Two South Lake Tahoe businesses lost almost $1,000 each this past week when scammers called them, demanding payment of an electrical bill or their power would be shut off.

In both cases, individuals claiming to represent Liberty Utilities called the businesses and demanded payment. The business owners were directed to purchase a prepaid credit card and then call them back with the card number.

Liberty Utilities representatives will not place calls to customers for payment.

NV Energy is proposing to replace the electrical transmission line that runs from Foothill Rad in the Carson Valley to Tramway Drive near Heavenly Mountain Resort, and a public comment period has been initiated.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is seeking public input on 634 Line Rebuild project. The draft Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzes the proposed replacement of the transmission line that serves the Kingsbury substation, which provides electricity to Heavenly Mountain Resort and the surrounding Kingsbury Grade area.

A proposed solar panel project on 260 acres of Park Cattle Company land won approval by the Douglas County Planning Commission in May, but residents opposing the solar farm with its 148,277 panels are fighting back. They are taking their complaints to the July 2 meeting of the Douglas County Commissioners led by local residents Steve and Mary Walker who filed an appeal right after approval of the planning commission.

Every year, South Lake Tahoe fire agencies prepare to fight fires around the basin but they rarely get to practice evacuations of residents.

That opportunity came on Monday when the Tahoe Douglas Fire District and Skyland Fire Adapted Community executed an inter-agency wildfire evacuation drill in the Skyland neighborhood.

The drill simulated a real evacuation event to give residents the opportunity to practice evacuating from their homes and getting to the designated safe zone.

Liberty Utilities no longer wants to receive energy produced by coal so they have asked to end their contract with NV Energy's North Valmy Coal plant. Instead they are asking for a new contract that excludes all coal-fired resources.

Up to 20% of all power currently sent to Lake Tahoe comes from the large coal plant in Nevada as part of the existing contract with NV Energy, which ends in December.

Wind gusts that reached up to 150 mph last weekend knocked over power poles and toppled trees onto live electrical wires throught the Liberty Energy territory in Northern California.

“Basically, crews have been working non-stop since the first storm arrived on Friday,” according to Mike Smart, Liberty Utilities-CA President. “For the past four days, we’ve reset poles, restrung wire and even made repairs to another utility’s infrastructure because it affected our ability to serve our customers.”

Liberty Utilities is reminding customers to always be prepared for winter storms and possible power outages that may result from them.

“Although we’ve made significant progress in reducing electrical outages since acquiring the utility nearly four years ago, the reality is that a really big winter storm can impact our ability to keep the lights on,” according to Mike Smart, President of Liberty Utilities-California.

With the approaching winter storm, Liberty offers the following outage preparation tips:

Three fires were started in the Gardnerville area in the early morning hours of Sunday.

The first fire started at 1:39 a.m. in a vacant lot behind 1309 Langley Avenue in Douglas County. The fire ignited a power pole next to a 16 unit apartment building. While on the scene, fire fighters were called to a second fire just south of the first fire, behind the Frontier Telephone Exchange.

As fire fighters responded to that fire, a third fire was reported nearby in a vacant field further south along Tillman Ave.

All three fires were extinguished quickly.

10:20 pm update: The Nevada Highway Patrol has reported that 26 of the 66 cows on board the truck were killed in the accident. An initial investigation has determined that the driver of the cattle truck is at fault and failed to yield at a traffic light when the truck collided with a Subaru driving through the intersection, NHP Sgt. Gabor Visnovits said. The cattle truck driver was transported to Renown where it is reported that he had injuries to his upper extremities. No other injuries were reported. The road was expected to be opened by 9 p.m. Tuesday.

UPDATE 1:15PM: About 266 customers remain without power Sunday afternoon in the area of Upper Kingsbury Grade, NV Energy confirmed.

Earlier there were approximately 1,300 customers without power in areas that extended to Bigler Court, Boulder Court, Quaking Aspen and Ridge Club Drive.

A NV Energy spokesman said crews were able to make some switching of power cables to get most of the customers back.
It was not determined as of 1:15 p.m. when full power would be restored to the remaining 266 customers.

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Nevada son and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a joint session of the Nevada State Legislature today in Carson City. Here is the text of his speech:

About 5,000 NV Energy customers were without power from Stateline to Cave Rock after the failure of four circuits at the Round Hill Substation 5:30 a.m. today.NV Energy spokesman Karl Walquist said...

UPDATE: Power was fully restored to the Kingsbury Grade area at around 2:50 p.m., said NV Energy spokesman Karl Walquist. A blackout earlier this morning affected about 5,00 Lake Tahoe customers from Stateline to Cave Rock and both upper and Lower Kingsbury Grade.

UPDATE: Most NV Energy customers in the Stateline and Zephyr Cove areas are back online this morning but about 500 customers in the lower Kingsbury Grade area continue to be without power as of 10:30 a.m., according to NV Energy spokesman Karl Walquist.
The areas affected are from Pony Express to the intersection of Highway 50, Walquist said. The Round Hill substation remains without power and crews have been able to route specific areas to get most of the customers back on line. Power went out at around 5:30 this morning to about 5,000 customers.
It remains unknown at this time what caused the blackout.

NV Energy says scammers are calling customers to say power will be cut if the person doesn't pay up.The utility company says they've heard reports of scammers identifying themselves as NV Energy em...

With Nov. 16 as its opening day, the countdown is on at Heavenly Mountain Resort. From intense competitions and events to the return of the halfpipe, excitement is stirring at Lake Tahoe’s largest winter playground.

CARSON CITY — With U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s 5th annual National Clean Energy Summit set to kick off today in Las Vegas, the debate over alternative energy development and the government’s role in its future rages on.

UPDATE 9PM: A power outage that affected NV Energy customers in Round Hill, Zephyr Cove and Glenbrook has been restored, according to the power company. Electricity was restored at around 8:40 tonight after reportedly going down at around 5:45 p.m. The preliminary cause of the outage was a bad piece of equipment in a substation, said NV Energy spokesman Karl Walquist.