By Associated Press

A former Douglas County sheriff’s deputy is among three Nevadans named as fugitive suspects in the armed takeover of a tribal casino in California last month.

The U.S. Marshall’s office in Reno identified the Nevadans Tuesday as 38-year-old Brian Auchenbach of Gardnerville, 46-year-old Timothy Tofaute and 35-year-old David Dixon, both of Sparks.

Authorities say the three have extensive experience in the military, private security and firearms testing, and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Tofaute is a former Navy Seal. Auchenbach was a Marine before becoming a deputy.

They’re among 15 suspects in the Oct. 9 takeover of the Chukchansi Indian Resort and Casino in Coarsegold.

They’re accused of kidnapping, false imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon in what investigators say is part of a power struggle between tribal factions.

By Candace Taylor, Wall Street Journal

A home on Lake Tahoe with more than 600 feet of sandy beach is seeking $34.5 million.

The property was once owned by the family that founded Hills Bros. Coffee.

In 1998, real-estate investors Carole and Robert McNeil purchased 5 acres for $10 million, and have since added to the property. The McNeils tore down the original house and built a bigger home around 2001.

Read the whole story

By Devon Jackson, Outside

Imagine a food-playoff system wherein watercress, a decent if unremarkable little vegetable long overshadowed by broccoli, kale, carrots, and many other veggies, not only makes it to the Sweet 16 but comes out on top. Improbable?

According to a new ranking put out by the Centers for Disease Control, watercress is the powerhouse vegetable among powerhouse fruits and vegetables (PFV). It’s a ridiculous designation that highlights just how useless “superfoods” ratings actually are.

First, let’s look into what constitutes a powerhouse fruit or vegetable anyway. The CDC defines PFVs as “foods providing, on average, 10 percent or more daily value per 100 kilocalories of 17 qualifying nutrients.” So if a 100-calorie serving of a certain food has a higher than usual amount of 17 nutrients, including potassium, fiber, protein, calcium, and iron, the CDC calls it a superfood. Researchers ultimately identified 41 of these nutrient-dense eats.

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By J.D. Morris, Las Vegas Sun

Ultimate Gaming, one of Nevada’s three legal online poker providers, announced last week that it’s ending operations in the state.

The move comes about two months after Ultimate Gaming withdrew from New Jersey.

In a news release, the company referenced some of the online gaming industry’s overall struggles as reasons for its closure: namely, sluggish revenue and a limited pool of players.

“As has been the case in other jurisdictions, online poker revenues in Nevada have fallen far short of original projections,” Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling said in the release. “Moreover, the state-by-state approach to online gaming has created an extremely cost-prohibitive and challenging operating environment. These factors have combined to make the path to profitability very difficult and uncertain. Consequently, we have decided to cease operations.”

The closure is effective immediately upon complying with regulatory requirements, according to the news release.

Read the whole story

By Edward Wyatt, New York Times

WASHINGTON — With a goal of fiber-optic lines reaching to every school and a Wi-Fi connection in every classroom, Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is expected on Monday to propose a 62 percent increase in the amount of money the agency spends annually to wire schools and libraries with high-speed Internet connections.

Wheeler will propose that the annual cap on spending for school Internet needs be raised by $1.5 billion, to $3.9 billion, according to an F.C.C. official who spoke on condition of anonymity but was authorized to release details of the proposal. The initiative is part of a continuing overhaul of the Universal Service Fund and its educational component, known as E-Rate.

The new spending would lead to an increase of roughly 16 percent in the monthly fee on consumers’ phone bills. The fee is used to finance the Universal Service Fund, an $8.7 billion effort that provides phone and broadband connections for low-income populations, rural areas, and schools and libraries.

Read the whole story

Headliners of this year’s SnowGlobe Music Festival include Skrillex, Zedd, Flume, Disclosure (DJ SET), and Porter Robinson.

The event returns Dec. 29-31 to the ball field next to Lake Tahoe Community College for the fourth year.

Also on the bill are Atmosphere, Phantogram, Flux Pavilion, Odesza, Emancipator Ensemble, Bro Safari, Justin Martin, Cherub, Thomas Jack, The Floozies, Branchez, Djemba Djemba and others. More musicians/disc jockeys will be added in the next month.

Tickets are available online.

Benjamin Hatchett from UNR’s Nevada State Climate Office will be speaking Dec. 4 at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences on the campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village.

Past climates in the region characterized by ice ages or droughts leave clues that are etched into the mountain slopes. These records remain today for people to uncover in the field, laboratory, and through computer modeling efforts.

Hatchett will share ongoing weather and climate research in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin and how it shapes scientists’ understanding of the greater Earth system.

The program will begin at 6 pm. Cost is $5.

For more information or directions, call 775.881.7566.

By Kathryn Reed

Thinning the forest and controlled burns are never going away. Those were two of the messages that were delivered by fire officials last week during an open house at the Forest Supervisors office in South Lake Tahoe.

The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team has been created to put out a coordinated message to the public about what is happening in the basin in regards to fire – including prescribed fire.

In addition to the fire departments in the basin, other stakeholders like the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, state parks from California and Nevada, and other public landowners are part of the group.

Representatives from county and state air districts also attended the Nov. 12 meeting.

One of the most common questions the public asks is: Why are the controlled burns occurring on a windy day?

Kit Bailey is the fire guru for the U.S. Forest Service in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Photo/LTN file

“It’s a lot better fire effect when the wind is blowing. You get less scorch and mortality,” Kit Bailey, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit fire management officer, told Lake Tahoe News. “And it gets the smoke out.”

It’s also common to start the fires before precipitation falls.

Bailey said a successful burn requires a great deal of preparation and planning.

There are still critics of the Forest Service for how the Glenbrook burn a couple years ago was handled. Driving east up Spooner Summit the scar from that burn on the left side of the road is still visible.

“Had it burned in an uncontrolled manner, we would have lost the whole canyon,” Bailey said. “That area is still overstocked.”

The thinking is that a good winter will help that hillside look better. The drought is putting stress on all trees because the groundwater is being depleted.

Public questions centered on how much longer burns would be occurring (seasonally, but forever) and if it’s normal to see flames (yes).

The open house was a way for the various agencies to all be in one room and for the public to get their questions answered.

To the community,

Both Colleen and I are humbled and grateful for the encouragement we have received over the past year. Thank you to all the supporters of El Dorado County and voters in District 4. I couldn’t have done it without you.

This race was never about Michael Ranalli. This election was about changing the way our county operates, bringing common sense leadership, transparency, and integrity back into the county decision making process.

On day one, I am committed to “Preserving our past and Securing our future”. I am confident that with your continued support and trust we can do just that!

See you around town.

Michael Ranalli, Lotus

The Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe is launching its first Giving Tuesday campaign this year.

The agency is hoping to catch the attention and hearts of local animal lovers by putting Pickle in the spotlight.

Weighing less than 5 pounds, Pickle was found abandoned in the middle of nowhere. Very fragile, suffering from an upper respiratory disease and a severe case of mange, she was brought to HSTT.  Outfitted with state-of-the-art medical equipment in their in-house treatment room and new facility, along with the help of foster homes for special cases, Pickle was nursed back to health.

The Giving Tuesday campaign has secured a matching donor up to $10,000, boosting the fundraising possibilities to $20,000. Every dollar brought in on Dec. 2 will be matched by an anonymous donor.

For more information about how to give on Giving Tuesday, go online or call 530.587.5948.