September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month.

During the month, the South Lake Tahoe Library is encouraging people to showing their existing library card or sign up for a new one in order to be entered in a drawing.

Elementary school students who use their cards or sign up for one during September will be entered into a drawing for a Jamba Juice Party for their class and $75 for their teacher to use on classroom supplies.

Teens and adults who sign up for a card or use their existing card will be entered into a drawing for Jamba Juice gift cards.

For additional information, call the library at 530.573.3185.

By Paul Nelson, KTVN-TV

The water level at Donner Lake is at its lowest since 1994, but hydrologists say the reservoir is not being used for water supply.

The lake is about 65 percent full as a result of four years of exceptional drought. Last winter simply did not offer enough snow to fill the lake.

The Truckee Meadows Water Authority has been using drought reserves for most of the summer, but they say that water is coming exclusively from Boca and Stampede Reservoirs.

TMWA owns the top 12 feet of water in the reservoir, used for drought reserves. They say the lower levels are not a result of customer use.

Read the whole story

By Devin Henry, The Hill

Democrats in the California congressional delegation are urging state lawmakers to pass two sweeping environmental bills this legislative session.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer sent a letter to members of the California Assembly on Wednesday urging them to pass the bills before their legislative session ends next month.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and 25 other congressional Democrats endorsed the measures on Friday, as well. Lawmakers are considering a bill that would codify Gov. Jerry Brown’s climate goals into law and another to cut the state’s oil consumption over the next 15 years.

Read the whole story

For the second time this week the Nevada Department of Wildlife euthanized a black bear in Lake Tahoe.

A female bear, about 18 months old, was trapped between Thursday night and Friday morning in the Kingsbury Grade area.

The trap was set earlier this week after a bear in the area, fitting the description of the bear caught Aug. 28, had entered two houses in search of food. The bear was euthanized as a threat to public safety.

It was the fifth bear euthanized this year as a threat to public safety. A 9-year-old male bear was captured and euthanized this past Aug. 25  in Incline Village as a threat to public safety.

“We hate having to do this, but a bear entering a house is a dangerous bear and the Nevada Department of Wildlife is obligated to manage the situation,” NDOW spokesman Chris Healy said in a press release. “We have an obligation to public safety that we do not take lightly. People have called and asked us to move the bear, but we cannot move a bear that we know to be dangerous, that just would not be prudent.”

Healy advises that people in “bear country” have a special obligation to not attract bears to their property.  “Garbage that is carelessly managed and left available to bears is what creates situations like today. If you want to keep bears alive and wild, then you need to not attract them to your property where they become habituated to human sources of food.”

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

·       Here is the agenda for the Aug. 31 El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting in South Lake Tahoe.

·       Sawmill Road in El Dorado County was supposed to open this week. However, utility conflicts have led to unforeseen delays, according to officials. No date has been set for when it will reopen. The bike path should be open in early October.

·       The School of the Arts at UNR has more than 35 events that are open to the public for the 2015 fall semester. Details are online. 

·       Tahoe Truckee Unified School District is launching the Athlete Committed program to support athletes, coaches and parents. It is designed to optimize athletic performance and health and wellness by educating coaches and athletes on the impact of nutrition, sleep, character, stress and chemical health.

·        Can Do Multiple Sclerosis is the beneficiary of the 27th annual Alpen Wine Fest at the Village at Squaw Valley on Sept. 6 from 2-5pm. Entry into the event is $40 in advance or $50 that day.

By Bettina Boxall and Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times

After Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a 25 percent reduction in urban water use statewide, regulators spent much of the spring chastising water districts for not conserving enough during California’s stubborn drought.

Data released Thursday suggest the message is getting through.

Californians cut back their urban water use last month by nearly a third compared with July 2013, aided by rare summer storms and stepped-up local enforcement. And the number of water districts deemed to be severely out of step with the state’s demands — those falling 15 percentage points or more short of their conservation goal — dropped sharply.

The 31 percent statewide reduction is even better than the 27 percent recorded in June, the first month the targets were in effect. And so far state officials have not needed to carry out their threat of stiff fines to get the attention of local agencies.

Read the whole story

Narcotics officers arrested several people in South Lake Tahoe this week on drug charges, and confiscated meth and heroin they said was scattered about the residence.

Members of the South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team searched the house on Tallac Avenue on Aug. 24 at 3pm where they arrested seven people.

Officer also said they found packaging and scales, spoons commonly used to reduce heroin into a liquid form by heating them, small cotton pieces commonly used to filter drugs before injection, and hypodermic needles and syringes. Glass pipes commonly used to smoke methamphetamine were also recovered.

The following are the names of the people arrested and the charges they face:

·       Richard Martin: Maintaining a residence for sale of narcotics, possession of narcotics paraphernalia.

·       Joshua Martin: Possession of a controlled substance, maintaining a residence for sale of narcotics, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, violation of probation.

·       Marty Beaman: Possession of methamphetamine with intent to sale, possession of heroin with intent to sale, maintaining a residence for sale of narcotics, possession of narcotics paraphernalia.

·       Shawn McGrath: Maintaining a residence for sale of narcotics, possession of false compartment to conceal narcotics, possession of heroin with intent to sale, possession of narcotics paraphernalia.

·       Gabrielle Cooley: Possession of heroin with intent to sale, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sale, maintaining a residence for sale of narcotics, possession of narcotics paraphernalia.

·       Rachel Neill: Maintaining a residence for sale of narcotics, possession of false compartment to conceal narcotics, possession of heroin with intent to sale, possession of narcotics paraphernalia.

·       Angela Zimmerman: Loiter for the purpose of narcotics activity.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Stateline casino revenue dropped 7 percent in July compared to the previous year, while statewide the decline was less than 1 percent.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board released the figures Aug. 28. July revenue on the South Shore was at $23 million; throughout Nevada it was at $922.8 million.

Most of Northern Nevada saw year-over-year gains, with Washoe County gaming revenue up 4.8 percent. In just Reno, the revenues increased 6 percent. The Carson Valley saw gains of 10.3 percent.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency, Public Health Division will begin conducting low-cost community flu vaccination clinics on Sept. 23, with additional clinics offered through mid-November.

Seasonal influenza vaccine will be available in nasal mist and flu shot forms at the clinics.

Shot are recommended for people 6 months of age or older. In addition to the flu vaccine, the newly recommended pneumococcal vaccine for seniors called PCV 13 (which protects against pneumonia), will also be available at the flu clinics for those who medically qualify.

The cost per vaccine is $10, but no one will be denied service due to inability to pay; cash or check accepted. Parents should bring their child’s immunization records.

South Lake Tahoe dates:

Sept. 23, Sept. 30, Oct. 14 and Oct. 28 from 9:30am to 12:30pm at the Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

Oct. 14 and Oct. 28 from 3:30-6:30pm at Bijou School, 3501 Spruce Ave., in the teachers’ lounge.

Nov. 4 from 3-6pm at Lake Tahoe Airport, 1901 Airport Road.

Zalanta will break ground this summer in South Lake Tahoe.

Zalanta – meaning spiritual mountain – is the name of the first hotel project that will be built at what has been known as the Chateau project.

Zalanta Resort at the Village has replaced the name Chateau at the Village.

Construction will begin any day on the 32 condos. This full ownership lodging facility will give owners the opportunity to put their units into a rental pool; so the property will also be operated like a hotel. Sales of the condos will begin after the permit from the state Bureau of Real Estate is in hand.

This is one of two hotels – per the original TRPA permit – to be built in South Lake Tahoe on the 11-plus-acre site near the state line.

Tahoe Stateline Ventures, a subsidiary of Owens Financial, is owner and financier of the project that includes a pool; 19,477-square-feet of retail; upgrades to the streetscape; and public fire pits on 3.4 acres.

This segment of the development should be finished by spring 2017.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report