The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on April 27 presented Lake Spirit Awards to four people based on their commitment to preserving Lake Tahoe.

The Lake Spirit Awards honor people making real progress at restoring Lake Tahoe.

Awards were given in two categories, exemplary citizen and exemplary agency representative. This year’s winners are:

Exemplary Citizen

South Shore: Ben Fish is president of Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association and Bijou Bike Park Association. Through his work, Fish has led hundreds of volunteers over thousands of hours to build and maintain bike trails around the lake while advocating for sustainable trail use. In addition to his advocacy for the mountain bike community, Fish was the impetus behind the Bijou Bike Park.

North Shore: Cyrus Miller is an Eagle Scout candidate from Troop 228 of the Boy Scouts of America. Although Miller lives in the Bay Area, he regularly visits the North Shore. On one of his visits, he noticed an old rusted pipe laying on the drought-exposed lakebed just south of Tahoe City. Miller decided to make removing this pipe his Eagle Scout candidacy project. After seven months of planning with local agencies and property owners, he and the rest of his troop spent two days last June removing the pipe section by section from the lake. In total, the Scouts removed 730 feet of pipe and restored the lakebed to a more natural state.

Exemplary Agency Representative

South Shore: Beth Quandt works as the science program coordinator with the Lake Tahoe Unified School District. She is the lead organizer for the South Tahoe Environmental Education Coalition, which implements hands-on outdoor science programing in local schools. The programs Quandt leads serve roughly 14,500 students, teachers, and volunteers each year.

North Shore: Lisa Wallace is executive director for the Truckee River Watershed Council. For 20 years, she has worked to protect, restore, and enhance the Truckee River Watershed. She has guided the council’s efforts by implementing hundreds of projects, leading thousands of volunteers, and fostering public-private partnerships. Wallace also played a key role in the implementation of the Truckee River Operating Agreement, which affects all waterbodies and water users.

By Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee

With legalization looming on the horizon, California lawmakers are already grappling over how to treat marijuana in a state with some of the strictest tobacco regulations in the country.

A bill from Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, would extend to medical marijuana a 2011 law that permitted landlords to prohibit the smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products on their rental properties. If voters pass a November ballot measure legalizing recreational use, it would apply to all marijuana.

California law already prohibits smoking medical marijuana anywhere tobacco is banned, which includes most public places. But the bill sponsor, the California Apartment Association, said it is important to give landlords explicit authority to forbid pot smoke on their properties, since it can create tension among tenants.

Read the whole story

Residential burn permits from CalFire’s Amador-El Dorado Unit will be required beginning May 1.

These permits are free, valid for three years from the date of issuance and allow for the burning of dry landscape vegetation (not household trash) that originates from the landowners property. Permits are available at most of the local staffed fire stations.

Use of burn barrels is no longer legal in Amador or El Dorado counties.
Quick tips about landscape debris burning:

• Make sure pile is no larger than 4 feet by 4 feet
• Scrape a 10-foot wide ring around pile down to bare dirt
• Have a shovel and water supply (garden hose) close by
• Make sure an adult is present at all times until pile is dead out
• Be sure to call to ensure it is a permissive burn day.

For more info, call 530.621.5842.

After collecting and destroying 5.5 million pounds — 2,762 tons — of unused prescription drugs in the past five years, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is continuing its efforts to take back unused, unwanted and expired prescription medications.

The DEA on April 30 in partnership with local law enforcement is having a collection day. This service is free of charge, with no questions asked.

The public may find a nearby collection site by going online, clicking on the “Got Drugs?” icon, and entering their ZIP code into the search window. Only pills and other solids, like patches, will be accepted. Liquids, needles or other sharps will not be accepted.

According to the DEA, in the previous 10 take-back events, approximately 302,427 pounds or 151 tons of unused medication were collected from Northern California and Central Valley residents.

A fourth suspect in the January murder of an Amador County man was arrested this week.

Tevarez Lopez, 33, of Georgetown was already in custody in El Dorado County on an unrelated when South Lake Tahoe officials caught up with him April 27.

Dion Jermaine Randolph Vaccaro is wanted on a murder warrant.

He, along with Domenic  Randolph, 22, Tristan Batten, 18, and Harvest Davidson, 20, is charged with murder in the killing of 40-year-old Dennis Wright.

Wright, according to officers, was selling 100 pounds of marijuana from his vehicle that was parked in the Beverly Lodge lot on Jan. 30. He was shot multiple times and later died at Barton Memorial Hospital.

An arrest warrant for Dion Jermaine Randolph Vaccaro, 26, a former resident of Vallejo, is still active. He is 6-feet tall and weighs 200 pounds.

Anyone with information is asked to call the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at 530.542.6100 or Lake Tahoe Secret Witness at 530.541.6800.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

A Douglas County man is behind bars accused of kidnapping his wife.

Jessica Albericci, 29, of Gardnerville was found unharmed Wednesday afternoon on Blue Lakes Road in Alpine County.

Sheriff’s deputies were called out to a residence in the Gardnerville Ranchos on April 27 at 10:45am regarding a domestic dispute between Albericci and her 32-year-old Joshua Albericci.

She fled to a friend’s. He followed her and was able to get her into his vehicle at gunpoint, according to deputies.

At 12:35pm, Alpine County deputies found the vehicle. Following a short standoff, Joshua Albericci was taken into custody and booked on kidnapping, false imprisonment, possession of an assault weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, destruction or concealment of evidence, obstructing or resisting arrest charges. Bail was set at $300,000.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE —  It’s working.

That was the message Dennis Zabaglo, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s aquatic resources program manager, delivered to the Governing Board on April 27 about the boat inspection program.

The program started eight years ago without everyone being on board. Since then, though, other lakes have started inspection programs, boaters have learned the importance of having a clean boat and invasive mussels have not reached Lake Tahoe.

In 2015, there were 6,800 local inspections, 2,300 decontaminations and 40 boats with invasives intercepted. These numbers are similar to 2014, but less than previous years. This is attributed to the low lake level keeping people away.

Zabaglo said the decrease in decontaminations is also attributable to boaters understanding the “clean, drain, dry” philosophy so invasives are not transported from one water body to another. Boats are the No. 1 way aquatic invasive species enter a lake.

Lake Tahoe is home to clams, weeds and fish that are invasive. To date, though, the more dangerous quagga and zebra mussels have been kept at bay. Last year investigators stopped one boat with an invasive mussel. In prior years about a dozen came through the inspection line. Most of those were from the Great Lakes area.

With Nevada officials implementing a screening of all boats leaving Lake Mead, that, too, is curtailing the spread of the mussels.

The mussels can ruin water supplies, filtration systems, the ecosystem, watercraft and potentially the economy.

TRPA is continuing to work with Truckee on inspections in waterways just outside the basin like Donner Lake.

Zabaglo said the five- and 10-year goals include creating more enhanced, permanent inspection facilities, which in turn would pay for themselves. Some could be like mini visitors centers. A grant is being applied for that would fund these.

The boat inspections resume May 1 from 8:30am-5:30pm.

They are located at:

• Meyers: The junction of highway 50 and 89, seven days.

• Spooner Summit: Junction of highways 50 and 28, seven days.

• Alpine Meadows: Highway 89, off Alpine Meadows Road north of Tahoe City, Thursday-Sunday.

• Truckee-Tahoe: Highway 267, off Truckee Airport Road, Thursday-Sunday, opens May 19.

Fees are staying the same. They have not changed since 2014. Boats only accessing Tahoe pay $30, while boats coming in and out of Tahoe pay based on the length of the vessel, with the most common price being $86.

Inspections also are necessary for Fallen Leaf and Echo lakes users. Boaters need to get inspected and decontaminated prior to going to those ramps, with Meyers being the closest loction. Neither of those lakes has any invasives.

The inspection program costs about $1.5 million a year. Half of that comes from the inspection fees, the other half is divided equally between California and Nevada. This is the first year the states have funded the inspections. Prior to that more than half came from the feds via the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act.

One board member asked if it’s possible for boaters to sneak in when inspectors are not on site.

“Boaters are compliant. They understand,” Zabaglo said.

TRPA also did a “secret shopper” scenario last year with an outside agency to test inspectors. They all passed. That type of oversight will continue.

Ex-San Francisco 49er coach Jim Harbaugh is returning to the American Century Championship in July.

The Michigan football coach last played in the celebrity golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe in 1998 when he was a player in the NFL. Harbaugh also played in 1997.

The 27th annual tournament is July 19-24.

Returning notables include Charles Barkley, Justin Timberlake, Aaron Rodgers, John Elway, Jerry Rice, Dan Quayle and Steve Young.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Golden Tate is a newcomer to the list that usually includes about 80 stars from the world of sports, music, and Hollywood.

While Steve Kerr tries to lead the Warriors to another NBA championship, the coach has committed to play in the ACC. No word yet if his star player Steph Curry will join him. Curry played in the Stateline tournament two years ago, but skipped last year as his wife was expecting. He also has a knee injury and playoffs to contend with now. In 2014, he tied for 13th.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Associated Press

State officials say Nevada gambling revenue was down 3 percent in March compared with the same month a year ago because of lower winnings in the Las Vegas area.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board said Thursday that the state’s casinos won $951 million in March.

Revenue fell in the areas with the most gambling activity. Strip gambling revenue was down 4 percent to $487 million last month, and downtown Las Vegas was down 4 percent to $51 million.

The picture was rosier in the north. Reno casino revenue was up 1 percent to $47 million, and Stateline revenue was up 23 percent to $17 million in March.

The state collected almost $73 million in tax money based off the winnings, which is down 8 percent from the same time last year.

                                                  Source: USFS

Start paddling now because a popular section of the Upper Truckee River is going to be off limits for most of the summer.

The U.S. Forest Service and California Tahoe Conservancy will resume work June 13 on what is now the fourth year of creating a new channel for the river. The river and meadow will not be open to the public.

The river in the work area will closed from June 27-Oct. 15. This will start at Elks Club and go past Lake Tahoe Airport.

The goal of the project is to have the river meander how it did prior to being straightened years ago when ranching was prevalent in the area. The eroding banks carry sediment to Lake Tahoe, thus making is less clear.

Part of the work includes building a bridge and relocating native mussels. The bridge will be built starting June 13. This will impact those re-creating on the water, too. They will have to portage their vessel until the ban takes effect two weeks later.

Next season kayakers and the like will be on the new channel.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report