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Local nonprofits in the South Lake Tahoe area were presented with a record $250,000 in donations from the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority and American Century Championship as a result of money raised during the 2020 celebrity golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe.

Just as the popular golf event was unique and held without fans due to COVID-19 this year, it was a different type of ceremony handing out the money and the presentation of checks held virtually. Representatives from 53 nonprofits awarded the money were on the Thursday Zoom call.

ZEPHYR COVE, Nev. - The Zephyr Cove Elementary Parents Club and Whittell Boosters are reaching out to the community for support in the safe reopening of the two Douglas County Lake Schools on August 31.

Both of the schools will begin the 2020/2021 school year on Aug 31 with in person, daily instruction utilizing social distancing and other safety protocols.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - School districts across the country are working on how to safely open for the fall term. Some are going completely digital, some are electing to have in-person classes, and other are considering a hybrid of both types of learning. Besides guidelines from states, districts have to consider further guidelines from local health officials as they create a plan.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With the Class of 2020 having a graduation experience unlike any in history, parents and faculty are trying to still create a remembrance now that traditional graduation ceremonies are canceled.

For South Tahoe High School (STHS), all 226 graduates received yard/window signs over the past few days. Principal Carline Sinkler, teachers, staff, and other volunteers visited each home in South Lake Tahoe with the signs provided by the Barton Foundation.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A new nonprofit organization based on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe has been formed to help high school seniors apply for colleges by picking up the application fees.

The CAPP Fund was opened in 2020 with a goal of increasing access to higher education by helping high school seniors at both South Tahoe High School and George Whittell High School with the costs of a four-year college application. Each application costs between $60 and $100 and the costs can add up when seeking the college(s) of their choice.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Dr. Todd Cutler is officially the new superintendent for Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD). The Board of Trustees unanimously approved his contract and he was introduced to the standing room only crowd that gathered to meet him.

He and his wife Dee Dee were at the meeting to meet the community.

"This is a dream come true," said Dr. Cutler. "I have always wanted to come home. This is such a cool place."

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - "You're the Black Mamba, but I'm the White Mamba," said a trash-talking 13-year-old in 2011 at the Kobe Bryant Basketball Academy in Santa Barbara.

"I would constantly approach Kobe at any opportunity, even when I wasn't supposed to, pestering him to play me one-on-one," says a now 21-year-old Palmer Chaplin. "I berated him with trash talk about how I could beat him and he entertained it, saying stuff like 'that's not a game, that's a destruction."

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - The Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) recently concluded a month-long fundraiser to raise money for the Suicide Prevention Network (SPN).

#NoShaveNovember raised just over $3,672 for the nonprofit that provides families and individuals with support and education within the community.

Involved with the judging was Trish Hamilton who lost her son Dalton Warswick to suicide in September of this year. Dalton had attended both Whittell and Douglas High Schools.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Danny Francisco was still in high school when he enlisted to serve his country, and just days after graduation he was on his way to train.

The 95-year-old Army Air Corps veteran was given a chance to fly again in a B-17, 75 years after his last flight.

Phil Ward of South Lake Tahoe was delivering meals to local senior citizens when he met Danny and heard his story. Phil's son Eric created the video in this story which features an interview and flight.

STATELINE, Nev. - During the 2019 American Century Golf Championship, Edgewood Tahoe teamed up with three South Lake Tahoe are nonprofits teamed in providing food to the over 60,000 attendees to the tournament. The three groups volunteered their time in staffing food tents for the popular July 9-14 event, and, as a thank you, Edgewood Tahoe presented each with a $20,000 check.

On August 27, 2019, Edgewood honored Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation, Lake Tahoe Community College, and Rotary Club of Tahoe-Douglas in an intimate ceremony where the groups received their checks.

The 30th annual American Century Championship is just one week away, July 9 – 14, 2019. Celebrities from the world of sports, television, comedy and more are headed to Edgewood Tahoe once again. Here are 30+ fun facts about the popular celebrity golf tournament.

1. CLEAR BAG POLICY

There are two from the Northern Nevada area who competed in this week's Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland.

Morgan Salvador, a 12-year-old 7th grader who attends George Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove was Speller No. 284, while Morgan Bumgardner, Speller 275, is a 13-year-old Dayton Intermediate School student. He is listed as being from Mound House. Both students were, unfortunately, eliminated as they worked their way into the finals.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - During the winter that keeps on giving. local students have already had more than an average number of days off of school due to snow.

For Lake Tahoe Unified on the South Shore, students will not be going to school Tuesday, their sixth so far this year. The closed schools due to the "blizzard and Extremely low visibility."

Tahoe Truckee Unified School District on the North Shore is also closed Tuesday.

Incline Village schools will hold a Digital School Day.

Douglas County Schools at the Lake (Zephyr Cove Elementary and Whittell High) are closed.

Due to heavy snowfall this weekend, all schools in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District will be closed on Monday, February 11 to allow the district, city, county, and state snow removal crews time to make roadways safe for students and staff to get to and from school.

Both Douglas County schools at Lake Tahoe, Whittell High and Zephyr Cove Elementary, are closed.

Also closed or have late starts:

Camino Union School District
Pollock Pines Elementary School District
Silver Fork School District

Ten senior girls at South Tahoe High School and Whittell High Schools were honored by the Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe club on Wednesday for their service to the community and their leadership, athletic and academic achievements.

For over 30 years the club has honored local students via their "Women of Distinction" award program.

This year's recipients:

South Tahoe High - Emily Dilts, Summer Furrer, Rita McCann, Megan McGill,
Kylie Pilkinton, Zyena Tolhurst

Whittell High - Brianna Johns, Rebecca Petty, Melanie Sanchez, Anna White

The Tahoe Chamber and South Lake Tahoe community members stopped by two ribbon cutting ceremonies on Friday, one at Doob Lake Tahoe in the Heavenly Village and the other at TaCo. Cantina and Restaurant at Harveys Tahoe.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - During their annual community grant EpicPromise celebration, 93 local nonprofits were awarded a total of $1.9 million in cash as well as additional in-kind product support. Across the company, Vail Resorts will give $11.4 million in support to more than 250 community non-profits over the upcoming year.

Each year Vail gives away money and product to groups serving the communities they have resorts located. For Kirkwood, Heavenly and Northstar, support was given to support the health and resilience of the Truckee and South Lake Tahoe communities.

We are all aware of the large donations Lisa Maloff has made to Barton Health, Lake Tahoe Community College, Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, Whittell High School and numerous nonprofits around the basin.

To date Ms. Maloff, known as the "Angel of Tahoe," has donated $40 million throughout the South Shore. Now her loyal friend and companion Ricky Reich is spreading holiday cheer to dozens of local radio listeners.

A new chapter for Lake Tahoe Community College started Thursday, 32 years after ground broke on the South Lake Tahoe campus, moving the school from an old motel into a new home on Al Tahoe Blvd. Construction is now complete on the $5.8M Lisa Maloff University Center and the doors are open, ready to welcome students enrolled in upper division classes with Sierra Nevada College, Brandman University and Washington State.

On August 16, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to officially open the center, located adjacent to Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC).

South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) had their hands full on Tuesday before, during and after the first of two Phish concerts at the outdoor arena at Harveys Lake Tahoe.

Trash including empty alcohol bottles and beer boxes littered much of the open space surrounding Stateline and Cedar Avenues where hundreds of fans lined the streets. In addition to the trash, pop-up tents with vendors starting selling clothing and other items illegally.

The owner of the corner property, chateau at the Village, sent out crews to help clean, according to SLTPD Lt. David Stevenson.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Eight graduating students from across the South Shore and Carson Valley were awarded a combined $16,000 in scholarships from the Barton Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. The annual scholarship program was open to local high school and community college students focusing their higher education in a medical field of study.

The Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra club members got together this week to give away 3.200 books to K-8 students in Lake Tahoe Unified School District, and at Zephyr Cove Elementary and Whittell High School.

This is an annual project for the club, spearheaded by long time member Cookie Rork. Literacy is a key goal of the club, and a book bag and book to take home for the summer encourages reading for fun.

Teachers provide the club with individual reading levels of their students and the orders are filled.

In an ever more vitriolic, self-centered and money hungry culture, the magnificent moments appear to be farther and fewer between. However, in Tahoe, a constant bright spot has been found over the past several years with Ms. Lisa Maloff’s numerous charitable donations. Illustrated by the exhaustive list below, it is overwhelming to envision the impact she has had on our little community. And, while most would argue that the money has all the power to change everything, I disagree.

The Lake Tahoe Historical Society turns 50 this year, and to help celebrate this occasion they are holding a gala presentation of Chautauqua at Lake Tahoe 2018 on Saturday, August 18 at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Duane L. Bliss (DL BLiss), George Whittell, Jr. and Lillian Virgin Finnegan will come back to life through their character portrayals by the esteemed cast of Doug Mishler, Kim Harris and Steve Hale.