Harrah’s expects people to read all of these signs. Photo/LTN

Updated Dec. 15, 3:35pm:

By Kathryn Reed

A day of skiing at Heavenly Mountain Resort could end on a bad note from now on for those parking at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

The Stateline casino as of Dec. 14 is no longer allowing anyone – not just skiers – to park in the lot unless they are customers of their property.

“We’ve been getting a lot of complaints from guests and players that there is no parking,” Harrah’s spokesman John Packer told Lake Tahoe News.

Regular gamblers are given surveys by parent company Caesars Entertainment. Customer service is a huge area of importance. The local casino is regularly dinged on parking, which falls under customer service.

That in large part is why Harrah’s after 17 years is finally saying no more freebies for those taking the Heavenly gondola.

While Heavenly acknowledged it has a parking agreement with MontBleu for their employees, even they often want to be closer and use the Harrah’s lot.

Harrah’s-Harveys instituted paid parking during the summer at peak times and during events. There is no plan to initiate paid parking for skiers. There’s just a ban.

The signs say people will be cited or towed. Packer said they’ll be towed.

However, to start with there is a bit of an education campaign with Sierra Patrol in the lots talking to people and information left on windshields.

There were plenty of skiers and snowboarders at the end of the day Thursday getting in their vehicles at Harrah’s despite the signs.

Skiers are taking a risk by continuing to park at Harrah’s. The vehicle may not be there when they return. Photo/LTN

While there are a lot of signs, they are rather high on posts. And in some cases there are three signs about various dos and don’ts. That’s a lot of reading. Sandwich board signs at the entrances like the old Crescent V shopping center often uses might be a better warning so those pulling in aren’t in for a rude surprise when they come off the slopes.

Harrah’s said sandwich boards are in place, though that was not the case Thursday at the entrance near the loop road.

Paid parking is available at the city-owned garage at Heavenly Village as well as behind Raley’s.

Otherwise, at least with early season access to Heavenly, it means going to Stagecoach to park for free.

By Associated Press

Loss of water from rocks during drought caused California’s Sierra Nevada to rise nearly an inch in height from October 2011 to October 2015, according to a new NASA study made public Wednesday.

The study also found that in the following two years of increased snow and rain, the rocks in the range regained about half as much water as was lost during the drought and the return of the weight caused the height of the mountains to fall about half an inch.

“This suggests that the solid Earth has a greater capacity to store water than previously thought,” study leader Donald Argus of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, said in a statement Wednesday.

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Charan Ranganath, director of the UC Davis Memory and Plasticity Program and professor of psychology, will give a talk in Incline Village on Jan. 18 about the cutting-edge of human memory research.

Recent discoveries in neuroscience have revealed significant insights into how we remember and how we can remember better. Evidence shows that the very act of remembering can sometimes help you retain information with important discoveries about why this happens. Research also shows the surprising ways that motivation and curiosity can influence memory. These studies lay the groundwork for practical ways to improve learning and memory in education and possibly in patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders that affect memory.

Registration for this event is required. The program will begin at 6pm, with refreshments and no-host bar from 5:30-6pm at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center on the campus of Sierra Nevada College.

A $5 suggested donation will be collected at the door.

·      Stephen Graves and Eric Jenkins are Douglas County Sheriff’s Office’s newest deputies.

·      The Aviation Roundup Airshow on Oct. 13-14, 2018, at the Minden airport will feature the Navy’s Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron.

·      El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency, Family Caregiver Support Program will present a free Aging & Caregiver educational series in Placerville in January. For more info, go online.

·      Douglas County Library in Minden will be closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

·      A second free movie has been added to the entertainment lineup at Lake Tahoe AleWorX in South Lake Tahoe on Dec. 16. “Christmas Vacation” will be shown at 5pm, with “Tight Loose” at 7pm.

By Tali Arbel and Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press

In a vote along party lines, the federal government has ended sweeping net-neutrality rules that guaranteed equal access to the internet.

The Thursday vote at the Federal Communications Commission will likely usher in big changes in how Americans use the internet, a radical departure from more than a decade of federal oversight. The move not only rolls back restrictions that keep broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from blocking or collecting tolls from services they don’t like, but bars states from imposing their own rules.

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By Rebecca Worby, High Country News

On Sept. 14, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue officially declared that the 2017 fire season was the Forest Service’s most expensive ever, with costs topping $2 billion. Perdue noted that fire suppression, which accounted for just 16 percent of the agency’s budget in 1995, now takes up over 55 percent.

“We end up having to hoard all of the money that is intended for fire prevention,” he wrote in a press release, “because we’re afraid we’re going to need it to actually fight fires.”

The Forest Service’s fire funding is subject to a budget cap based on the average cost of wildfire suppression over the last 10 years. But even as that average increases, the agency’s overall budget remains relatively flat.

So when costs go higher, the agency, in a practice known as “fire borrowing,” must pull from funds intended for other programs — including those that help reduce fire danger, like prescribed burns, thinning and insect control. This vicious cycle has continued for years.

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The Nevada Department of Transportation wants public input on the State Management Plan, which defines the administration of federal funding to rural transit services.

Nevada’s local transit services provide more than 5 million rides a year.

Each year, NDOT utilizes nearly $10 million in Federal Transit Administration funds to support local transit, including purchasing more than 400 buses and other vehicles for local transit providers over the past 35 years.

The plan is available online for review and and commenting. Select the “Planning” link under “Public Transit.” Comments may be sent to jmabry@dot.nv.gov. They are due Jan. 11.

A South Lake Tahoe homeowner averted disaster after pine needles started smoldering from heat tape that had been left on.

Firefighters responded Dec. 14 to a report of a fire in the eves of a house.

The occupant used a extinguisher to put out flames.

Officials said the roof and gutter were full of pine needles and debris.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Alpine County administrative offices dry out. Photo/Provided

Alpine County offices were closed two days last week because of water damage from a frozen pipe.

Authorities said a fire sprinkler line broke. This surprised everyone because it was believed to have been dry.

It took 30 minutes to turn the water off. In that time, carpets in the lobby, corridor, assessor’s office, clerk’s office and board room were soaked.

Everything was operational again by Dec. 7.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Truckee’s Danny Davis is soaring toward the Olympics. Photo/Tom Zikas

By David Bunker, Tahoe Quarterly

For someone who has lived his life in the snowboarding spotlight, Danny Davis seems utterly comfortable sipping coffee in a tucked away corner of downtown Truckee’s Dark Horse Coffee Roasters.

It’s a crisp October day, a world away from screaming X Games fans and the international stage of the Winter Olympics. The leaves have fallen from most of the cottonwoods along the Truckee River and the feel of winter is in the air. But for now, Truckee is stalled between summer and winter—that glorious transition where everything slows before the onslaught of snow.

Davis is in transition himself. A Truckee resident for the last decade, the Michigan native has become one of the most accomplished and recognizable halfpipe snowboarders in the world. He’s stood on X Games podiums, won the Dew Tour and Grand Prix events, and competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Today, he seems totally content to be home for a rare break, healthy and looking ahead to what could be one of his last halfpipe seasons. It could include a final Olympics appearance if he competes well against a stacked class of younger halfpipe competitors.

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