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The reminder to schedule a breast cancer screening test comes on strong during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. This month, let each splash of pink you see be an encouragement to get screened with a self-exam, physician exam, or a mammogram.

It’s also a good time to get a feel for your own unique breast density, and establish a baseline to help identify warning signs of breast cancer, including:

- A lump in the breast or armpit
- Swelling or thickening of all or part of the breast
- Dimpling or skin irritation of breast skin
- Localized, persistent breast pain

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - El Dorado County Animal Services is looking for information from the public about a Cocker Spaniel dog that was abandoned on the side of the road in South Lake Tahoe. The severely neglected dog was found on August 22, 2020, by a Good Samaritan who brought the dog to the El Dorado County Animal Services Shelter in Meyers.

The female Cocker Spaniel is about eight-years-old with tan fur. She wasn’t wearing a collar or identification tag and was found lying on the side of the road on Spruce Avenue by Bijou School in South Lake Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Many nonprofits have had to cancel their fundraisers due to the coronavirus, but the ladies of the Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra (SITS) club in South Lake Tahoe weren't going to let the virus stop them.

Their 31t annual Elegant Evening was slated to be held at Harrah's Tahoe on April 18 with a sit-down dinner, live music, and dancing, raffle, and auction. The venue closed and restrictions on meeting in groups of over 10 people were created, so what do you do with an event that brings together 500 community members?

Move it online, of course.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With the arrival of winter, El Dorado County Animal Services is reminding residents to take precautions with their pets.
“Winter in our county regularly brings freezing temperatures, frigid wind, ice and snow,” said Henry Brzezinski, Chief of El Dorado County Animal Services. “These conditions can adversely affect animals in numerous ways, and even threaten a pet’s life. A few simple steps can ensure your pet’s safety.”

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen is heading to Lake Tahoe! The celebrated multi-Michelin star chef and television personality will be opening the third restaurant in his chain inside the historic Sage Room at Harveys Lake Tahoe. It is planned to debut in late 2019.

The Sage Room isn't going away though, it's moving upstairs to the 19 Kitchen & Bar location.

Similar to the other Hell's Kitchen restaurants, design and menu elements will be pulled directly from the long-running hit FOX reality show.

Summer is here and after a snow-packed winter, locals and visitors alike are ready to get out and enjoy Lake Tahoe. Whether out on the water, lounging on the beach or hiking to a rock outcropping to take a plunge, there are important precautions to keep in mind with water surface temperatures and cold water immersion.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - "Instead of trying to find a way to eliminate the homeless, we now have the ability to change homelessness with a new approach - and it is working," said current El Dorado County Sheriff's Office (EDSO) Detective Chris Macras when South Tahoe Now spent a day with him and the EDSO HOT team in 2017.

STATELINE, Nev. - There was an altercation between two members of the Douglas County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, May 16 at a meeting in Stateline at Lake Tahoe.

The incident happened at around 5:55 p.m. and involved two board members, Commissioner Chairman Barry Penzel and Commissioner John Engels.

According to a Douglas County Undersheriff Ron Elges, the Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the commissioners meeting at Stateline for a heated argument. A few minutes later an altercation broke out. Both parties were separated on their own, only minor injuries were reported.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Angel More is missing the first two days of her junior year at Menlo High School, but there is a very good reason.

She'll be swimming 21.3 miles across Lake Tahoe.

The 15-year-old Bay Area resident is after the California Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming, and when she gets out of the water Saturday morning she'll be the youngest person to do so. Only ten people have completed the Triple Crown, the youngest of that group being a 38-year-old man.

It's time for week two of the summer-long music series on the beach in South Lake Tahoe, Live at Lakeview.

On Thursday, June 28 from 4:30 p.m. 8:30 p.m., music will fill the shores at Lakeview Commons as two Tennessee artists perform.

Jack Berry, an artist with “a voice that could scare the venom out of a rattlesnake,” as Consequence of Sound describes it, makes his Live at Lakeview debut this Thursday. This Nashville-based alt/blues rocker happens to
originally be from Reno, Nevada so his headlining show is both a homecoming and a debut.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) is joining the South Lake Tahoe Fire and Lake Valley Fire medics in having their personnel carrying medication used to block the effects of opioids. Narcan (commercial name for Naloxone) can be given to persons suffering from suspected or accidental opioid overdoses at the earliest possible time to minimize overdosing.

The first El Dorado County case of West Nile virus has been confirmed in South Lake Tahoe. County health officials received confirmation this week that a Stellar Jay found on May 7 has tested positive for the virus.

This bird was the first one for the county in 2018. Besides El Dorado COunty, West Nile virus activity in dead birds has been reported in two other California counties, San Mateo and Santa Clara.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The man burned in Wednesday's engine explosion on Kingsbury Grade has been identified as Ronald Svetlik of Stateline. He is currently in critical condition at the U.C. Davis Burn Center with third degree burns over 30 percent of his body, including his scalp, face, eyes, lips, hands, palms, arms and legs.

In the 18 years that Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care have been caring for bear cubs, 96 have passed through their doors. Most of those 96 have wintered at the facility on Cherry Hills Circle, and today, Layton, left his temporary home in South Lake Tahoe and went back Laytonville, Calif., the area he was found in.

Late in the evening on June 23, 2017, Layton arrived at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care after being found alone, full of mites, foxtails, ticks and underweight. He weighed in at 15 pounds and was about four or five months old.

A bird found on the west slope of El Dorado County has tested positive for West Nile virus, the second for 2017. The bird found near Garden Valley, an Acorn Woodpecker, was tested on September 29 and county health officials just received confirmation this week it had the virus.

To date there have been 463 dead birds to test positive in 38 counties in California. Nearby Sacramento has had 86 birds and Placer County, three birds.

Have a blast with lots of color being thrown about while raising money for Tahoe Youth and Family Services during their annual ColorBlast 5k Run on Saturday, August 19 during Carson Valley Medical Center’s Health Fest 2017.

Runners get covered from head to toe in several different colors as running/walking a 5k course. As participants pass each 1K marker, the color lets loose! All of the colors are safe and even edible as they are corn starch based.

LAKE TAHOE - Boating, rafting, kayaking and paddling are just a few ways to enjoy beautiful Lake Tahoe, but they come with simple safety precautions and preparations to ensure that day is complete and enjoyable.

"People are very excited to get on the water," said Edwin Lyngar, Nevada Department of Wildlife's (NDOW) Water Educator. "Take safety precautions as you can't depend on luck."

Lyngar as well as both California and Nevada water safety experts were at Sand Harbor last week to inform the public about how easy it is to be safe on the water.

With recent water tragedies in Lake Tahoe we are republishing this 2016 article.

The most common misunderstanding about swimming in Lake Tahoe is that people can suffer from hypothermia, which leads to death. The real truth is that "cold water shock" will kill much quicker than hypothermia ever will.

"The sudden lowering of skin temperature on immersion in cold water represents one of the most profound stimuli that the body can encounter." Golden and Tipton in Essentials of Sea Survival

Members of the California Teacher's Association (CTA) and California Federation of Teachers (CFT) across the state brought out the posters and wore red on May 1 to advocate for public education and immigrant students.

South Lake Tahoe teachers joined in and greeted parents and students as they arrived for school Monday, displaying posters and letting students know they all had a right to quality and free public education, and asking all to take the pledge (as seen below).

Dear Henry,
I’m new to the area and not sure about how to deal with the cold weather and my dog, do you have any tips for us?
Thank you,
Bethany

Purrfect timing for this question as we are getting a winter this year! Here are some winter tips for all pets.

Being gay and a high school student in South Lake Tahoe in 2005 was challenging.

"It was a scary, dark place at the time," said Alex Boyar, who 'came out of the closet' at age 14. "Its a much different environment today."

Boyar, along with his mother Dr. Virginia Berry and sister Christina Boyar, stopped by South Tahoe High Thursday to talk to the students of Ally, the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at the school that he co-founded in 2005.

Dear Henry,
I’m new to the area and not sure about how to deal with the cold weather and my dog, do you have any tips for us?
Thank you,
Bethany

Purrfect timing for this question as it actually looks like we are going to get a winter this year! Here are some winter tips for all pets.

Keep your cats inside. During any time of the year, cats that are allowed to stray can become lost or stolen, injured or killed. They can also be exposed to infectious diseases, including rabies, from other cats, dogs and wildlife.

With the cool fall weather approaching, it’s important to think about a very important vitamin we can absorb from the sun: vitamin D. According to city data, South Lake Tahoe boasts an average of 249 days of sunshine per year so we should all be quite abundant in our vitamin D stores. However, many of us spend hours indoors and nutrition research shows about 40 percent of adults are lacking this vitamin.

Below are some common questions about vitamin D and how to get the most from this important nutrient.

What is vitamin D?

With higher than average temperatures in the Sierra this week it is important to know the warning signs of too much exposure to the heat. It is important to stay hydrated and limit times outdoors in the direct sun.

Heat Exhaustion: According to WebMD, heat exhaustion is a heat-related illness that can occur after you've been exposed to high temperatures, and it often is accompanied by dehydration.

There are two types of heat exhaustion:
Water depletion. Signs include excessive thirst, weakness, headache, and loss of consciousness.