service

The Barton House is scheduled to be demolished and with its destruction there will be a loss of the history of South Lake Tahoe.

I understand that the house is proposed for demolition to make way for implementation of the Tahoe Valley Area Plan. I support the plan and its implementation because I think it has been done with care, good public input, and thoughtful discourse between landowners, residents and business owners and operators. The planning process in the City has been transparent.

Families can visit with their Local Superheroes at South Lake Tahoe Library. Superheroes will include SLT Fire Department, SLT Police Department, South Tahoe Refuse, and US Forest Service Wildland Firefighters.

Location

It has been a wet May in South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area, but, unfortunately, it has made little impact on the long term drought.

Precipitation has been just above normal for the month of May, but the year-to-date figures are still falling shy of average.

On the map pictured here, the purple areas are now 200%-800% above average.

The forecast through Memorial Day from the National Weather Service shows a chance of rain every day:

In a move to increase revenue by $13.571 million, Liberty Utilities filed an application Monday with the California Public Utilities Commission to raise rates to their 49,000 customers in the Lake Tahoe region by 17.34%.

The change would begin on January 1, 2016. Liberty Utilities said in a press release that the projected new residential rate of 16.73 cents per kwh (compared to the current 14.26 cents per kwh) is still equal or less than residential rates for neighboring electric utilities.

What are homeowners in the Tahoe Keys doing to fight aquatic invasive species (AIS)? How successful was the pilot research project to reduce the Asian clam population in Emerald Bay, and what does it mean for future control projects? What does the latest research say about whether quagga mussels could survive in Lake Tahoe?

Rain may have moved the ceremony indoors, but spirits weren't dampened as the South Lake Tahoe Police Department honored some of their own on Thursday in honor of National Peace Officer's Memorial Day.

"We are normal people who are asked to do extraordinary tasks," SLT Police Chief Brian Uhler told the audience of the officer's families, friends, City Council, city staff, community members and other area law enforcement including the El Dorado County Sheriff, CHP and the FBI.

Heavenly Mountain Resort has received the final approval needed for its major expansion of on-mountain summer activities. After Vail Resorts gained approval from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) on March 27, they needed the blessing of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Board, which they received today.

There is more snow in the forecast for the Sierra for elevations above 7,000 ft Thursday through Friday.

The National Weather Service in Reno says to expect winter driving conditions and possible chain controls over Sierra passes, especially at night or during heavier snow showers. Higher elevation routes including Sonora, Tioga, Ebbetts and Monitor passes may be closed later this week and possibly into the weekend.

The Barton Health Public Relations department enjoyed hosting the 4th annual Mom's Morning Out on Saturday, May 2. Thank you to all the women who attended and to our business vendors and Zen room specialists for making the event a success!

The City of South Lake Tahoe would like to extend an invitation to participate in the City’s 50th Anniversary Parade planned for Saturday, September 19, 2015. This will be a unique opportunity to showcase organizations, service groups, athletic teams, schools, and more, while joining with the entire community in celebrating 50 years of South Lake Tahoe history.

The theme of the 2015 parade is Past, Present and Future.

Dr. Frederick “Fritz” Wenck, a longtime local dentist and Board of Trustees member for Lake Tahoe Community College for 41 years, was recently honored for his service by the Community College League of California. During their Annual Trustees Conference last weekend the League honored community college trustees with 20, 30 and 40 years of service from around the state.

Dr. Wenck was the only trustee to be recognized for four decades of commitment.

Not only are eight South Lake Tahoe Police Department employees being honored during a ceremony on Thursday, May 14, two K9s will be officially sworn in.

The annual ceremony is held in conjunction with National Peace Officer’s Memorial Week. This year, the awards will be given during part of the City of South Lake Tahoe's 50th Anniversary celebration.

"This is astounding and I have not seen anything to this degree in the years I've lived here." Those were South Lake Tahoe City Councilwoman JoAnn Conner's words after hearing how several agencies will work together to make the Middle School Connectivity Plan a reality.

Her sentiments were echoed by her fellow council members and the mayor after seeing how multiple agencies can leverage their funds and plan together for a network of connecting trails through South Lake Tahoe that will keep pedestrians and bikers off unsafe roadways.

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department cited three clerks for selling alcohol to minors during a minor decoy operation on Saturday, May 2.

Clerks at Beverages and More (BevMo), CVS in Bijou, and Safeway all sold the minor alcohol. One unidentified store did not sell the decoy alcohol.

A 24-year-old employee at BevMo, a 21-year-old employee at Safeway and a 35-year-old employee at CVS were all cited. At each store, the employees involved were women.

The ongoing drought, warmer-than-usual weather conditions and the fuel for fire those conditions produce could lead to a “perfect storm” this summer where multiple states in the West could be having large, simultaneous fires, state and federal fire officials told Gov. Brian Sandoval Monday.

“The system is going to be heavily taxed this year,” said Kit Bailey of the U.S. Forest Service. “We have preparedness levels of one through five and I’m a little concerned that we may get to an unprecedented level, a level six, and that is kind of a worst-case scenario.

Kites will take to the skies above historic Dangberg Ranch over the weekend of May 16-17 during the "Something in the Wind" festival. Expert kite flyers, kite making and other children's crafts, as well as wind artists will be featured.

This is a celebration of the Washoe Zephyr, the seasonal diurnal winds that are in Western Nevada.

There will be eight expert kite flyers from the Rogue Valley Windchasers Kite Club from Brookings, OR at the two day event along with Balloon Nevada with their hot air balloons on display.

Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17

All local business owners with an ABC license are invited to bring their employees to a free seminar presented by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) on Thursday, May 28 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Hosted by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, the LEAD (Licenses Education on Alcohol and Drugs) seminar will provide information on what is acceptable I.D., the best way to check I.D., how to refuse service, signs and prevention of illicit drug activity, and more.

In South Lake Tahoe every year, many new species are brought in and out of the Lake. While some locals have boats, only some use them in other lakes. The city of South Lake Tahoe regulates wildlife brought in and out of the basin and lake by requiring boats to get inspected, but neglects the need to educate the future community about the harmful animals that can be brought into the lake. These are the new workers and people that will be living and giving to the community.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month: Treatment Not Jails

Across the nation, many counties are investing huge sums of money to house people with mental illness in jails, with little return for the community in terms of public safety or treatment for people who need it most. A new national initiative, Stepping Up, provides an opportunity for counties to get support in addressing this problem.

The community is invited to an evening of celebration and honor, maybe a little roasting, and lots of good cheer for Joanne Shope, who has been the backbone of Christmas Cheer All Year for the past 20 years.

The celebration will take place at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course, located at 2500 Emerald Bay Road in South Lake Tahoe, CA.

Roadside stations for inspections and decontaminations of motorized boats and watercraft are officially opening for the 2015 boating season. Locations, hours of operation and opening dates are as follows:

Opening Thursday, May 1st:

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., 7 days a week

• Meyers: at the junction of US 50 and Highway 89

• Spooner Summit: at the junction of US 50 and Highway 28 in Nevada

• Alpine Meadows: Highway 89, off Alpine Meadows Road north of Tahoe City *

*Road construction on Alpine Meadows Road: Go to placerroads.com or call 530-581-0471

Computer models have drastically shifted their projections for Friday night and Saturday according to the U.S. National Weather Service in Reno. Instead of a glancing blow with only light precipitation across far northern California and Nevada, precipitation is expected on Friday Night and/or Saturday.

Most of northeast California and western Nevada will see precipitation and p to 2.5" of snow in South Lake Tahoe. Folks traveling over the Sierra for the weekend should consider leaving during the day Friday if possible to avoid lengthy travel times Friday night and Saturday morning.

Tahoe Chamber, the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, El Dorado County, South Tahoe Alliance of Resorts and Sacramento International Airport would like to thank all of the attendees of Tuesday’s Tourism Forum at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel. Over 100 people attended to get more information on upcoming recreation projects, hear lessons learned from Park City courtesy of keynote speakers Ken Fisher and Jonathan Weidenhamer, and to learn about the opportunities businesses may seize to target and accommodate the recreation guest.

"You got to do something as doing nothing is costing you money," City of South Lake Tahoe Fleet Manager Ron Corbett told the City Council Tuesday.

The 260 vehicles and equipment maintained by Corbett's tea of master mechanics have a continually rising age. The City's police cars have an average age of 10 years, the Fire Department's vehicles are an average of 11 years old and the rest of the fleet has been around for an average of 17 years. If the fire and police departments hadn't just purchased new vehicles the ages of vehicles would have been much higher.