By Todd Prince, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The focus at the World Game Protection Conference in Las Vegas turned from cheaters to active shooters this year following deadly incidents in the Philippines, Chile and Las Vegas.

The annual show, which attracted about 600 security and surveillance professionals from around the world, held presentations on how to prevent and handle active-shooter situations and robberies. The conference included an active-shooter simulation on the Strip.

Casinos surveillance and security systems have traditionally focused on preventing scams and theft on the gaming floor, but the jump in violence over the past years is redirecting attention, said Willy Allison, the show’s organizer.

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By KCRA-TV

Daffodil Hill will not be opening for the 2018 season, the Ryan Family said Tuesday.

“Since the end of February we have had rain, hail, and snow every week. The early flowers are gone and the ones that are up are badly damaged,” the ranch owners posted on Facebook.

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By David Crary, AP

Suddenly, America is on the march.

Saturday’s March for Our Lives, planned for Washington and hundreds of other locations, is just the most recent sign that an extraordinary number of Americans are taking to heart the old truism that democracy should not be a spectator sport.

In numbers not seen since the tumult of the 1960s and ’70s, multitudes are venturing off the sidelines and into the game in a remarkable surge of political and social activism. Their ranks include high school students angered by gun violence, teachers fed up with low pay, and women energized by a range of grievances — notably pervasive sexual harassment and the longtime dominance of men in political power.

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The annual Kings Beach Snowfest Parade this month featured 27 entries from community nonprofit organizations, government agencies, service groups and local businesses.

This year’s parade was attended by more than 1,700 spectators. It featured live music, fire trucks, candy, and more.

The 2018 parade winners are:

• Best Tahoe Spirit Award: North Tahoe Public Utility District Parks and Recreation
• Best Children’s Entry: Gonsalves & Company
• Most Entertaining Entry: Jazzercise
• Best New Entry: FHP Automotive
• Best Overall Entry: The Grid Bar & Grill
• Honorable Mentions: Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe and Friends of the Kings Beach Library.

Lake Tahoe Community College will be having auditions on April 10 at 7pm in LTCC’s Duke Theatre for four one-act plays.

A variety of parts for all ages is available for the college’s spring production consisting of four one-act plays, with performances slated for June 14-16 and June 21-24 in the Duke Theatre. Auditions will consist of readings from the play scripts, which are available on reserve in the Roberta Mason Library.

For the dark comedy “The Father Clock,” written by Walter Wykes and directed by Kelly Cassidy, three actors are needed: a woman in her 20s or 30s to be the stage manager character; a man in his 20s or 30s to play Snub Drub; and a man in his 40s or 50s to play Snub’s father, Flub Drub. In this play, two actors and a stage manager attempt to pull off a show together after their director disappears.

For the comedy “Compromising Positions,” written by Michelle Benson and directed by Jeff Witt, four actors are needed: a man in his 50s or 60s to play Harold, a slightly overweight but handsome father and husband; a woman in her 50s or 60s to play Alice, a beautiful woman married to Harold; a woman in her 20s or 30s to play Johanna, the daughter who still lives at home; and a man in his late teens or early 20s to play Jake, the son. The play tells the story of Harold and Alice, an aging couple who decide to get frisky one evening in the living room and end up stuck on the recliner. Teenage son Jake and grown daughter Alice must come to the rescue.

For the comedy “Squirrels,” written by Peter J. Stavros and directed by Brandon McCarthy, eight actors are needed. Four of the parts in this play are squirrels, and they can be played by actors of any gender or age. The other parts can be played by actors between the age of 25 and 45. They are: Jim, an office worker who is looking for a way out; Ted, Jim’s high-strung, ill-tempered co-worker; Veronica, Jim’s supportive wife; and Roderick, a mild-mannered human resources representative. The play focuses on Jim, who has been working for the same company for so long, he’s actually lost track of the years. With the threat of layoffs coming, Jim’s safe job might be coming to an end.

For the fourth short play, the romantic comedy “New Year’s Eve 1932,” written and directed by Murray Smith, 11 actors are needed: five parts are available for women in their 20s, 30s or 40s, and six parts for men in their 30s, 40s or 50s. This play picks up where the 1938 Hollywood movie “Holiday”, starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, leaves off. Cupid misfires an arrow, causing Johnny Case to re-examine his engagement to Julia Seton and to start considering her younger sister, Linda, as a love interest. This screwball comedy is set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, when money, position and class all get a fresh look.

Actors are encouraged to audition for as many parts as they would like. Rehearsals will be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. For more information about these plays and available parts for actors, contact LTCC Theatre Department instructor David Hamilton at hamilton@ltcc.edu. For those interested in set, lighting or costume design, submit your name and a description of your experience or a resumé to Kurt Munger at munger@ltcc.edu. More information about the plays can be found online.

By Matthew Daly, AP

A spending bill approved by the House includes a bipartisan plan to create a wildfire disaster fund to help combat increasingly severe wildfires that have devastated the West in recent years.

The bill sets aside more than $20 billion over 10 years to allow the Forest Service and other federal agencies end a practice of raiding non-fire-related accounts to pay for wildfire costs, which approached $3 billion last year.

The House approved the measure Thursday, with Senate action expected soon after as Congress faces a Friday night deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.

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Washoe County sheriff’s deputies issued more than 300 citations for speeding violations during a statewide Joining Forces traffic safety event in early March.

From March 2-18, 2018, the sheriff’s office, along with the Reno and Sparks Police Departments, and the Nevada Highway Patrol dedicated extra officers to enforce speed safety laws as part of ongoing efforts to increase safety on Nevada’s roads and highways.

Sheriff’s Office staff assigned to this event initiated 434 traffic stops. Although a driver may be stopped for one violation, several other violations may be observed during the subsequent investigation making it possible that a driver may be issued citations for numerous violations.

The total number of violations cited and warnings issued during this event was 565. Of those, 317 citations were issued for speeding. Violations cited by the Sheriff’s Office during this campaign include:

• 317 speeding
• 45 cell phone use/distracted driving
• 54 registration violations
• 46 no insurance
• 31 driver’s license violations
• 9 equipment violations
• 3 fugitive arrests
• 3 red light violations
• 3 seat belt violations
• 2 failure to yield
• 1 child seat violation
• 1 reckless driving
• 1 pedestrian violation/driver at fault
• 4 other violations
• 45 warnings.

Sheriff’s office participation in this Joining Forces speed enforcement campaign was made possible by grant funding received from the Nevada Department of Public Safety/Office of Traffic Safety.

·      South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue is hosting a training class on March 31, noon-1:30pm on bleeding control. It will include instruction for the layperson on how to control bleeding to save a life. The free class is at 1100 Lyons Ave. For more information, contact Kim George at kgeorge@cityofslt.us or 530.307.9596.

·      Big Blue Adventure Half Marathon and 8 Miler will be June 10. The start and finish lines are at the Village at Squaw Valley. Go online to register.

·      Meeks Bay Marina will not open this year. The U.S. Forest Service is conducting an environmental analysis to assist in developing a proposal to improve water quality at the marina. Public scoping on a proposed action is anticipated to begin this summer.

·      Diamond Peak ski resort will host an Easter egg hunt April 1 as soon as the lifts open at 9am. Participants must have a lift ticket. Eggs will be all over the mountain.

·      On March 25 from 6-9pm there will be a thank you party for Nancy Kerry at Outpost Brewing, 932 Stateline Ave., South Lake Tahoe.

By Megan Harrod, U.S. Ski Team
 
Olympian Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.) opened his Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships week off with an alpine combined national title, laying down an impressive super-G run and a fast slalom run on the tough Baldy slope in Sun Valley, Idaho. On the women’s side, the young, talented A.J. Hurt (Carnelian Bay) – who started in her first FIS Ski World Cup this season at Killington at just 16 years old – won her first national title.

Cochran-Siegle – who started finding his groove and confidence prior to the 2018 Olympics, then skied with consistency in downhill (23rd), super-G (14th) and giant slalom (11th) in PyeongChang – noted that he has been able to build confidence little by little to get him where he is now.

“Starting with a few good results in combined right around the New Year, I was able to stop focusing on the pressures of Olympic qualifications, and really began to get a feel for my skiing across all disciplines,” reflected Cochran-Siegle. “Skiing well personally at the Olympics also provided me with that extra confidence needed to move up. Since then, I’ve felt that I have nothing to lose, and can put a lot on the line mentally come race day. This gave me a great result in the Kranjska Gora GS World Cup, and a little bit of trouble later in the Kvitfjell World Cups…but I know my competitive skiing is there. I feel that I’m skiing the best I have ever skied, in all events, and am just trying to ride this wave as long as it lasts.”

This is Cochran-Siegle’s second national title in as many years. Last year at Sugarloaf, Maine, he emerged victorious in the super-G, and will be looking to defend his title in Friday’s super-G here at Sun Valley. After a commanding lead in the super-G portion of the alpine combined on Wednesday, the future is looking bright.

Hurt, who skis for the National Training Group, hails from Squaw Valley. She’s cruisy-cool, inspects faster than Bode Miller, and skis with no fear. She put together both a solid super-G and slalom run to take her first national title home. At a mere 17 years old, this is Hurt’s second U.S. Alpine Championships, after competing in her first last year at Sugarloaf and finishing ninth in slalom and seventh in super-G.

After winning a NorAm race in Copper Mountain in November 2017, she made her World Cup debut in Killington and followed that up by another NorAm win at Panorama in December. She had two more World Cup starts this season, at Lienz, Austria, and Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

El Dorado County CAO Don Ashton on March 21 talks finances. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

MEYERS – Out of a $550 million annual budget the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors only gets to decide how a fraction of that is spent. It’s the approximately $150 million General Fund that they have a say over. The rest is state and federal money that has strings attached.

And even though $150 million is a lot of money, it’s not enough to do everything people in the county would like done.

“It is not possible to be small and rural, with low taxes and high levels of service. You get to pick two out of three. It’s all about choices,” CAO Don Ashton said.

Ashton is making the rounds through the county, speaking to groups and at town halls to give a glimpse into the county’s finances. Budget hearings for the 2018-19 fiscal year begin in April, with the preliminary budget taking effect July 1.

While other gatherings have been well attended, the one in Meyers on March 21 was somewhat of a bust. There were three employees of Lake Valley Fire Protection District and a former South Lake Tahoe City Council member in attendance. Still, the intimate setting allowed for a free flow of dialogue.

Unfunded mandates from the state continue to escalate and therefore drain the precious resources. The prison realignment from 2011 has people in the jails who are doing time well past the one-year maximum that county jails were designed for. These are more hardened criminals. Counties are feeling the financial burden.

“The biggest and scariest issue is CalPERS,” Ashton said.

Retirement costs through CalPERS is escalating, with the hit to the county estimated to be another $20 million in the next four years. Ashton described it as being “out of our control for the immediate future.”

Only the state Legislature can do something to change the system.

The county’s unfunded liability is $160 million.

“How we get through these next few years will be scary,” Ashton said.

Obligations surrounding mental health also take a toll on the county’s budget. Per state law counties must provide mental health services. However, what comes from the state is not enough to cover all the bills.

And if a local resident has to be housed in a facility outside El Dorado County because there isn’t a bed here, local taxpayers foot that bill.

El Dorado County is also being hurt by the state gas tax not producing as much revenue as was forecast. And if voters repeal it in November, it’s possible the county could lose about $5 million a year in anticipated revenue.

If the robust economy takes a turn, that, too, would be bad for county coffers. This is because taxes make up 71 percent of the General Fund revenue, with property taxes being 62 percent of that total. For every dollar people pay in property tax, the county gets about 23 percent.

During the Great Recession property values plummeted and the county suffered.

The electeds have contemplated increasing various taxes to generate income. All tax proposals must go to the voters.

A half-cent sales tax could generate $6 million a year. Today the rate is 7.25 percent in the county. This compares to South Lake Tahoe’s rate of 7.75 percent.

Raising the hotel tax from 10 to 12 percent is being studied, though transient occupancy tax is not a huge piece of the pie at $3.4 million a year. Still, the rate is lower than the county’s neighbors. South Lake Tahoe charges 12 or 14 percent depending on the location.

Supervisor Sue Novasel, who was at Wednesday’s meeting, has brought up the idea of assessing TOT at campgrounds, just like South Lake Tahoe and other jurisdictions do. She has gotten push back on the West Slope.

What is unique about the county is that 5 percent off the top of all TOT collection goes to the Veterans Commission, then it’s divvied up with 49 percent going to the General Fund and 51 percent to tourism/economic development. There is talk of taking the veterans out of the TOT pot and instead making that allocation a separate line item in the General Fund. This way if the TOT is raised, that group is not getting an automatic increase.

Novasel is a proponent of there being a nexus between a tax and what it is then spent on. Veterans and TOT don’t fit that qualification.

Most of the General Fund money goes to law and justice (sheriff, district attorney, probation) at 58 percent, or $74 million. Of that the sheriff’s office gets the bulk – 68 percent, or $51 million.

That figure doesn’t include the $60 million state-of-the-art facility that will break ground this month. It will cost the county about $2.6 million a year for 40 years to pay for it. Where that will be in future budgets remains to be seen.

Supervisors only have control over the dollar amount in the sheriff’s budget, not how he spends it. He’s asking for four more deputies even though he has 14 vacancies.