By Sean Whaley, Las Vegas Review-Journal
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that a state law requiring both parties to consent to a recording of a telephone conversation does not apply when the recordings are made by a party located outside of the state.
The unanimous decision, dated Thursday, was in response to a request for an interpretation of Nevada law from the U.S. District Court.
Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park will take applications for firewood permits now through Sept. 22 from 8:30am-4pm.
Applications will only be taken by phone, by calling 775.831.0494.
On Sept. 23, park staff will select a random list of names from among the applications received. Selected applicants will be contacted the following week to make an appointment to pick up firewood on one of the following dates in October: 14, 15, 21 or 22.
Payment for firewood will be collected at the time of pickup. There is a limit of one cord per household. The wood sells for $65 per cord. The wood is available in the round and is a mix of fir, lodge pole pine and Jeffery pine. Cash, check or money order only.
Firewood will be picked up at Spooner Lake State Park.
By Las Vegas Sun
When will they stop running and start governing? It’s a question voters increasingly have been asking themselves for at least four decades.
Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell first described the phenomenon in 1976, and it was explored more thoroughly by journalist Sidney Blumenthal in a 1980 book, “The Permanent Campaign.” Those who have been elected immediately govern with an eye toward re-election and those who were vanquished look for a way back as soon as the votes are counted.
What had been a latent instinct for politicians developed in the cable news era and accelerated in the internet age with shorter news cycles to be “won.” The same day he was sworn in as the 45th president, Donald Trump filed with the Federal Election Commission to become a candidate for re-election in 2020.
So, no, it’s not too soon to consider how the 2018 midterm elections will unfold. With the balance of the U.S. Senate in part dependent on the Nevada race and a wide-open race for governor, here are key questions about the 2018 elections.
Three people were injured and one arrested after the vehicle they were in struck a tree on Pioneer Trail on Sunday.
Amber Sabourin, 21, of Novato was driving east on Pioneer Trail on Sept. 17 about 1:25am when she told California Highway Patrol officers she saw an animal and swerved to miss it. She missed it. But in doing so the vehicle left the road and came to a stop against a tree.
Sabourin was taken to Barton Memorial Hospital with a broken leg. She was later arrested on charges of driving under the influence.
A 27-year-old passenger from Las Vegas sustained facial lacerations and a 26-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident who was also a passenger broke an arm.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
The California Highway Patrol office in Meyers is offering to check car seats for free.
On Sept. 23 from 9am-1pm a certified child safety technician will ensure the seats are installed correctly.
The CHP office is located on Hopi Avenue.
Contact Officer Ruth Loehr at 530.577.1001 for questions and to make an appointment.
To the community,
I live in a part of South Lake Tahoe with many vacation rental properties. Most are rented to people who just want a nice outdoorsy vacation. But not all. Most are registered with the city and pay appropriate taxes and fees. But not all.
There is a debate now, with many residents concerned about noise, parking and trash associated with rentals, VHR owners and Realtors resistant to change, and city government struggling to improve the situation while enraging the smallest number of people.
There are signs of change – positive things. City government is becoming less responsive to the financial interests of absentee-owners and more to quality of life concerns of residents. There are now online databases of rental properties, and of city responses to complaints about VHR properties. Clean Tahoe continues to do a fine job of cleaning up after the careless, sloppy, and furry. Best of all, enforcement of existing VHR regulations is improving.
City Council has studied our VHR situation, and sought input. For this they should be complimented, but this is a polarizing issue. Council is offering compromise. It’s a large improvement, but it doesn’t always go far enough. For example, here are some VHR listings in my neighborhood (from the city database), street addresses and allowed occupancy:
3478 Saddle Road – 16
3639 Saddle Road – 20
3739 Saddle Road – 22
1321 Ski Run Blvd. – 18
1399 Wildwood Ave. – 18.
Do people build vacation homes to sleep 22? No. These are hotels, built in residential areas, and they shame us all. A maximum occupancy of a VHR should be included, and should not be based on number of bedrooms. That’s the definition of a hotel.
A few weeks ago the city sent me a notice of a nearby vacation home rental application. It went to all homeowners within 300 feet of the applying property, along with a map. Curious, I looked on the city database of VHRs to see how many were already within that 300 feet. And the answer? There are already 21 in the city database, plus one which isn’t. Twenty-two VHRs within 300 feet of the applicant, and the city is considering another. A maximum density limit is a must, and should be much lower than current.
Property rights are a frequent rallying cry, as in “I get to do what I want with my property.” The proper (polite) response is “nonsense,” zoning laws are here to stay, and communities require concessions to neighbors.
Surely the pro-VHR community has the most to lose. Lacking some restrictive compromise it’s likely that the issue will end up on a ballot in the near future. In California, ballot initiatives usually involve lots of misinformation, and one can foresee large limitations on VHRs, if not at least a partial ban. Without the VHR taxes, the city would be in financial difficulty. People who bought homes intending to rent would feel victimized. My home would decline in value. Most of us would lose in this situation, but if I’m forced to choose between more of the same or a total VHR ban, I’m voting for a ban.
I’m grateful for the efforts of people who have spent time on the issue. There is a problem, the VHR community need to make many concessions, and by their present intransigence are doing their best to maximize their loss.
Josh Benin, South Lake Tahoe
By Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee
While abandoned bicycles at Burning Man, an annual weeklong counterculture event in the Nevada Black Rock Desert, is a normal – if undesired – occurrence, event organizers said this year 3,000 to 4,000 bikes were left and given to charitable groups.
Burning Man draws 70,000 attendees, including 15,000 people living outside of the United States, according to the group’s 2016 census data. Having a bike at Burning Man is essential equipment, with attendees riding multiple miles daily across the vast temporary city.
Many attendees – foreign and otherwise – buy inexpensive bikes specifically for Burning Man. In 2016, some 39 percent of attendees were there for the first time. Leaving no trace is one of the event’s key principles.
By Melissa Siig, Moonshine Ink
When Kila Properties purchased the dilapidated Henrikson building in 2013, the majority of Tahoe City residents and businesses breathed a sigh of relief. The run-down Henrikson building, built in the late 1950s (much of it without permits), today is only partially occupied and serves as an eyesore at a key location — the west gateway to Tahoe City.
Kila Properties’ plan to demolish the crumbling building and replace it with the 118-room Tahoe City Lodge, complete with a restaurant, rooftop pool, and bar, met with widespread community support. At the end of 2016, as part of the Tahoe Basin Area Plan, it was unanimously approved by the Placer County Board of Supervisors and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and even received the hard-to-come-by endorsement of the League to Save Lake Tahoe. Demolition was set to occur this spring.
And then it all came to a grinding halt.
In January, the Davis-based California Clean Energy Committee (CCEC) filed a lawsuit to stop the implementation of Placer County’s Tahoe Basin Area Plan, claiming that the environmental analysis of traffic impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was inadequate. The lawsuit named the Tahoe City Lodge as a party of interest.
Updated 5:15pm:
The French Fire burning near Shingle Springs grew to 136 acres and is now 75 percent contained.
It started in the afternoon of Sept. 17 off French Creek Road.
CalFire says forward progress has been stopped.
The cause is under investigation.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
To the community,
On Sept. 11, Kirkwood Mountain Resort base operations team members joined Bread & Broth volunteers serving the dinner guests who came to Grace Hall for a delicious meal and the companionship of fellow diners. The diners were in for a real treat when the B&B cooks whipped up fried catfish and French fries, which received rave reviews from the meal’s guests.
The nutritious and tasty dinner was made possible by Kirkwood’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment sponsorship, which is just one of the many ways that Vial Resorts gives back to the Lake Tahoe South Shore community. Encouraging employee volunteerism is an integral part of Vail’s commitment to its resort communities. B&B always looks forward to the amazing Vail team members who assist at the sponsorship meals.
Kirkwood’s base operations sponsor team crew was no exception. The team consisted of Brian Bigley, director; Christian Neville, administration; David McCullers, security manager; Tim Edison, transportation/parking manager; and Branden Gardella, building maintenance manager.
“We are proud to work together with this wonderful organization giving back to our community” was the collective response from this awesome team.
B&B is thrilled to have this on-going partnership with Vail and its committed and hardworking employees.
Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth