By Emma Court, Market Watch

 The Affordable Care Act was among the likely factors that assisted with a big decrease — nearly 50 percent — in personal bankruptcy filings in the last six years, according to a Consumer Reports analysis.

Other factors, including new bankruptcy laws, a rebounding economy and tighter credit requirements, also likely helped with the reduction, with filings dropping from 1.54 million in 2010 to 770,846 last year.

There’s no way to know what made the biggest difference in that drop, since those filing for personal bankruptcy don’t state a specific reason for it.

Read the whole story

By Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee
 
Nevada County this week became the latest municipality – and the first in the Sacramento region – to reach an agreement allowing the fast-growing vacation housing website Airbnb to collect and pay transient occupancy taxes on behalf of its hosts.

The San Francisco company says it has worked out deals with 275 jurisdictions across the world to collect local taxes.

The Nevada County agreement – which does not include incorporated towns – could double the county’s transient occupancy tax receipts, said Tina Vernon, the county treasurer and tax collector.

Airbnb represents a growing share of Lake Tahoe’s short-term housing. Airbnb said its hosts in the Lake Tahoe region collected $32 million from Nov. 15, 2016, to April 15, 2017 – up 50 percent over the prior year.

Read the whole story

North Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Douglas fire protection districts, California State Parks, California Tahoe Conservancy, and the U.S. Forest Service may continue prescribed fire operations beginning May 8. 

If conditions are favorable, operations may take place near Sugar Pine Point, Brockway Summit, Incline Village, Glenbrook, Lower Kingsbury Grade, Ski Run Boulevard, Lake Tahoe Airport, Fallen Leaf Lake and Meyers. Operations may continue over the next several weeks, weather permitting. 

To receive prescribed fire notifications, send an email to pa_ltbmu@fs.fed.us.

Smoke from prescribed fire operations is normal and may continue for several days after an ignition depending on the project size and environmental conditions.

By Seth Borenstein, AP

WASHINGTON — A robot zaps and vacuums up venomous lionfish in Bermuda. A helicopter pelts Guam’s trees with poison-baited dead mice to fight the voracious brown tree snake. A special boat with giant winglike nets stuns and catches Asian carp in the U.S. Midwest.

In the fight against alien animals that invade and overrun native species, the weird and wired wins.

“Critters are smart — they survive,” said biologist Rob “Goose” Gosnell, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s wildlife services in Guam, where brown tree snakes have gobbled up nearly all the native birds. “Trying to outsmart them is hard to do.”

Read the whole story

Updated May 7:

The following statement was issued by Washoe County Sheriff Chuck Allen this morning after learning that the bear from the May 6 incident has died: “I am saddened to hear of the passing of the bear from yesterday’s incident in Incline Village involving one of our deputies. We appreciate the efforts made by the Nevada Department of Wildlife. The sheriff’s office will thoroughly review the incident and take whatever measures are deemed appropriate.”

—–

An Incline Village bear is recovering from a gunshot wound.

A Washoe County sheriff’s deputy intended to shoot a rubber round to scare the bear away, but instead loaded a live round.

Officers had been called at 10:45am May 6 to deal with a group of bears near residences in the area of Driver Way and Village Boulevard. They found a mother bear and three cubs.

“This group of bears had been previously identified as food aggressive and deputies have had numerous encounters with this group in recent weeks,” the department said in a press release.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife was notified and arrived on scene at approximately noon. NDOW transported the adult bear to a veterinarian for evaluation and treatment. NDOW says the cubs are old enough to be on their own and that NDOW will formulate a management plan for the cubs.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Team Tahoe, a local nonprofit, has produced a series of eco-tourism videos promoting bicycling in the Tahoe-Reno region as part of its eco-friendly initiative.

The first video, Bike Tahoe: One Place. Many Paths is a collection of popular bike rides highlighting mountain biking, road cycling and bike path cruising in the region.

The purpose of this video, and the subsequent ones, according to Ty Polastri, executive producer, “is to provide local businesses with a live brochure they can use to connect with their customers in a new and exciting way. For many businesses, this video features bike rides near their business and makes a logical and compelling proposition for how visitors and their customers can conveniently shop, play or stay at their business without the reliance of an automobile.”

Businesses can download or embed the video on their website, blog, or include it in the email newsletters with no restrictions.

·      Lake Valley Fire offers CPR classes for the community the last Saturday of every month. Call 530.577.3737 for more information.

·      Mottsville Lane in the Carson Valley is closed indefinitely because of water on the road.

·      Truckee’s next cannabis workshop is May 11 at 6pm at the airport. Taxation, personal use and possession are the topics.

·      U.S. Forest Service campgrounds in the Lake Tahoe Basin are scheduled to open May 12. However, campgrounds on the West Shore still have a large amount of snow at lake level, which will delay their opening. Meeks Bay Campground will open May 19, and Kaspian and William Kent campgrounds on June 2. Fallen Leaf Campground will open May 12.

·      El Dorado County’s annual great bike ride is May 23, 11:30am-1pm. Meet at the government center in Placerville, building A. Lunch will be provided by Placerville Bike Shop. RSVP to jrice@edctc.org, include T-shirt size.

The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a flood watch from 1pm May 6 to 5am May 7 for the greater Lake Tahoe area, as well as the Carson Valley, Carson City and Reno.

Moderate to heavy rain is expected Saturday afternoon and evening. A half-inch of rain is possible in South Lake Tahoe.

“With rivers, creeks, and streams already running high due to snowmelt from recent warmth, it will not take much to bring renewed flood concerns,” forecasters said. “Areas likely to see the greatest impacts include, but are not limited to, any creeks and streams in the Tahoe basin and those flowing out of the Carson Range.”

People are being advised to stay away from these fast moving bodies water that are extremely cold. Even so, a man on Thursday was using a rope swing to plunge into the Upper Truckee River.

The Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek are already beyond their banks in many locations on the South Shore. The Truckee River has flooded sections on the North Shore.

The moisture could bring down rocks onto roads.

Snow levels will be between 7,500 and 8,000 feet, with several inches possible on Sierra passes into Sunday.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Tahoe Rim Trail Association is celebrating National Trails Day with a free hike and celebration.

The nationwide event on June 3 encourages individuals to get out and discover their local trails.

The local day will feature free admission to Spooner Lake State Park, workshops, guided hikes, raffle prizes and more. The celebration is from 9am-3pm. To register, go online.

This is also a work day. TRTA, Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association, and the Biggest Little Trail Stewardship will be making repairs on the Thomas Creek Trail near Galena Regional Park. To sign up, go online.

Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall

By Bill Lindelof, Sacramento Bee
 
A man has been identified as the suspected killer of two El Dorado County camp counselors who were shot and killed while in their sleeping bags on a Sonoma County beach nearly 13 years ago.

Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas said at a May 5 news conference that Shaun Gallon, 38, of Forestville in Sonoma County is suspected in the deaths of Lindsay Cutshall, 22, of Ohio and Jason Allen, 26, of Michigan. Gallon has not been arrested in their killings but is in jail as a suspect in an unrelated homicide.

On Aug. 13, 2004, Cutshall and Allen left the Rock-N-Water camp near Coloma, where they served as rafting and climbing leaders. When they didn’t return three days later, a search began.

Read the whole story