By Marcella Corona, Reno Gazette-Journal

Nevada lawmakers want to abolish the death penalty because of concerns over costs, sparking opposition from prosecutors and some victims’ families.

Nevada is among 32 states that allow death as a sentencing option. But no inmate has been executed since 2006 and none likely will be any time soon as the state struggles to replenish its supply of execution drugs.

Assemblyman James Ohrenschall and state Sen. Tick Segerblom, both Democrats, proposed Assembly Bill 237 in late February. The bill would end capital punishment and leave life without the possibility of parole as the state’s strongest punishment.

Currently, there are 82 death row inmates, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections. But the state has only executed 12 prisoners since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977.

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Some ski towns like Vail have mega houses that are seldom used. Photo/LTN

By Megan Michelson, Powder
 
Take a drive through any ski town, and chances are you’ll find a lot of dark houses. Fancy homes where nobody lives, million dollar crash pads where the lights shine just a few times a year.

In Mammoth, it’s not just ski bums and twentysomethings who can’t find places to live. Cops, teachers, and nurses are struggling, too. According to a recent Mammoth housing study, 52 percent of homes are empty most of the year—used intermittently by vacationers. Of properties in the full-time rental pool, less than 2 percent are vacant, meaning if you want to score an apartment, you better call within minutes of the ad being posted and be prepared to compete.

The same thing is happening in ski towns across the country: Not only is housing overpriced, but it’s practically impossible to find. In Tahoe, 76 percent of locals fork over more than the nationally recommended 30 percent of their income on housing and the wait time for affordable units can take up to two years.

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By Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal

For decades, the folks who owned NFL teams hardly portrayed themselves as bastions of progressive thought. There weren’t many John Deweys running around the fraternity house of billionaires.

Perhaps more amazing than owners voting 31-1 on Monday in favor of allowing relocation for Davis and his Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas were topics of discussion that arose before the official announcement.

Or, more important, didn’t.

Several sources confirmed that gambling was barely mentioned — a few said not at all — and that the one thorn in the side of owners thought too big for Las Vegas to land a franchise was no longer visible.

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By Carlos Tejada, New York Times

The corporate owner of Sears and Kmart said there was “substantial doubt” that it could continue operating as brick-and-mortar stores continue to face challenges in an e-commerce world.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the corporate owner, Sears Holdings Corporation, cited its efforts to cut costs, sell property, tap new funding sources and make other moves to stanch the flow of red ink. Still, it reported a $2.2 billion loss for last year and said it had to use money from its investments and financing activities to fund operations.
 
The disclosure is a setback for the company and for Edward S. Lampert, the hedge fund manager who engineered the combination of the two legends of American retail 13 years ago. Lampert has shut down stores, reshuffled the company’s organization and pushed to have a greater online presence. Still, Sears Holdings has lost more than $5 billion over the last three years as sales have declined.

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Gregory Tirdel, medical director at Barton’s Sleep Studies Laboratory, will be giving a free talk April 5 about the lab.

This lecture will include a discussion of the causes and treatment of insomnia, a review of lifestyle habits to ensure better sleep, and the recognition, evaluation and treatment options for sleep apnea.

The talk will be at Lake Tahoe Community College starting at 6pm.

Federal money is on its way to help Douglas County and the Washoe tribe recover from the Feb. 5-22 storms.

President Trump this week approved the funding via the major disaster declaration for Nevada.

This is the second round of funding for Northern Nevada. Money has also been allocated for the storms that hit Jan. 5-14.

Douglas County’s roads, mostly in the Carson Valley, have been hard hit by the deluge of water, which including significant flooding.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Reed

“The problem with the status is something we are taking very seriously.”

Those are the words of Bob Grant about accreditation at South Tahoe High School. Grant is essentially second in charge of Lake Tahoe Unified School District,

The district office and staff at STHS are focusing much of their attention on getting the school off probationary status and to be accredited without any blemishes.

The board received an update on accreditation on March 28, nearly two months after the district found out the appeal had been denied.

Only one parent was in the audience. He sat there for hours, then was told because he didn’t fill out a form to talk he would not be allowed to do so.

Officials from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges will be back next school year to make another report. They could remove the probation, add another year to the two-year probation or withhold accreditation.

It was about a year ago that STHS learned it received the two-year probationary accreditation. The district believes there were procedural flaws involving the visiting committee. That is what the appeal was based on.

It was stressed that the probationary status has no impact on colleges at this point because STHS is still fully accredited.

It will not be a full assessment this next go-round. Instead the review team will analyze whether the district has made strides to improve upon the weaknesses that were identified by the WASC group as well as what the school said needed addressing.

Grant said it is important to figure out why something wasn’t being done or wasn’t working and then work on how to fix the problem.

To monitor things locally, a task force has been put together of staff, administrators, parents and students.

“They said we didn’t have enough data,” Grant said. “We need to create tests to gather data.”

With Common Core being the rule of the land these days, students are only tested by the state as juniors.

Teachers at STHS are working collaboratively to design tests so all students in Common Core classes are judged in the same way.

When it comes to accountability, live pacing guides are going to become the norm. This is to ensure teachers of the same subject are at the same place throughout the semester so it’s easy to tell the standards have been taught.

Board member Angela Swanson asked if the probationary status would limit the pool of principal candidates. The answer was no. Chad Houck has the job until the end of the school year. The thinking is that the pieces will be in place for the start of the next school year so a new principal can step in and take over the leadership and see the accreditation process to a better outcome.

·      South Lake Tahoe Earth Day is April 29 from 10am-3pm at Bijou Community Park.

·      Scratchdog Stringband will be at Divided Sky in Meyers on April 22 at 9pm. Cost is $5.

·      The inaugural Carl Howell Memorial Music Festival in Carson City will be Aug. 19. This is a fundraiser for the children of fallen Carson City sheriff’s Deputy Carl Howell. For more info, go online.

·      There is a new app to help people reach their elected officials easier. Go online for info.

·      California Invasive Species Action Week is June 3-11.

Tahoe Yoga Shala has been raising money for area nonprofits since September through two weekly donation based yoga classes.

Donation classes meet on Monday from 3-3:45pm and on Wednesday from 9:30-11am. All are welcome and no one is turned away for lack of donation.

The Monday class with Kacey Davy is focused on yoga philosophy, giving students an opportunity to connect with Sanskrit’s timeless sounds through the chanting of the Bhagavad Gita and other selected texts. The Wednesday Ashtanga Level 1 class explores basic yoga postures and breath practices with the Shala owner Laura Josephy.

All donations made in place of Shala membership fees benefit a rotating organization. To date the Shala has collected more than $2,500 in donations that have benefited the League to Save Lake Tahoe, Mitch Underhill Mountain Fund, Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless, and Sierra Avalanche Center.

During April and May, the Shala will be raising awareness and funds for Firefly Yoga International, a no-profit whose mission is to develop the first international network of yoga teachers trained to provide yoga to trauma survivors at the point of care.

Tahoe Yoga Shala is located at 585 Tahoe Keys Blvd., Suite F1A, South Lake Tahoe.

By Todd Dewey, Las Vegas Review-Journal

In the equivalent of a two-minute drill, the NFL changed its view of Las Vegas and legal sports betting.

Less than two years ago, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was forced to cancel a fantasy football convention here because of the NFL’s policy against players being associated with gambling. But on Monday, the league’s owners overwhelmingly approved the Raiders’ relocation from Oakland to America’s gambling capital by a 31-1 vote.

A confluence of factors has led to the growing mainstream acceptance of legal sports betting, from expanding national media coverage to NBA commissioner Adam Silver emerging as a vocal proponent.

But the biggest factor in overcoming the stigma of sports betting and bringing an iconic NFL franchise to Las Vegas was money. As Raiders owner Mark Davis said in April 2016, the team and city made the NFL an offer it couldn’t refuse in the $750 million in taxes that was approved by the Nevada Legislature for construction of a $1.9 billion domed stadium near the Strip.

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