By Karen Pierog, Reuters

Caesars Entertainment Corp.  said on Wednesday it proposed along with its private equity backers a settlement offer with an added $1.6 billion for creditors of its casino operating unit, raising hopes of an end to the subsidiary’s costly bankruptcy.

Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital Management, the private equity firms that control the Las Vegas-based casino company, will fund the bulk of the deal by contributing their stock in Caesars, which was estimated to be worth $954 million.

Caesars is the parent company of Harrah’s Tahoe and Harveys at Stateline.

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Washoe County is having an open house about the Tahoe Area Plan on Sept. 28.

This is an opportunity for people to weigh in about the future of Incline Village/Crystal Bay development plan.

Washoe County planners will be available to explain and discuss the text of the draft area plan, the Development Code Article 220 that is being rewritten to assist in implementing the updated Tahoe Area Plan, and to distribute copies of the draft plan, discuss the plan, answer questions and take comments.

The event is from 3:30-5:30pm at the Chateau, 955 Fairway Blvd., Incline Village.

The regular meeting of the Incline Village General Improvement District will follow at 6pm.

By Abby Stevens, Moonshine Ink

When John Muir visited Lake Tahoe in 1888 and saw the devastating effects of the loosely regulated timber business, he felt deep-seated sadness, and grieved for the loss of the old growth forests. By 1897 Muir was crusading to make Tahoe a national park. He knew it would be a gritty and uphill battle.

Scott Lankford, a professor at Foothill College in Silicon Valley, delves into the argument behind the effort to turn Lake Tahoe into a National Park in his 2010 book “Tahoe Beneath the Surface”. He describes how in order to achieve his goal, Muir formed unlikely alliances behind closed doors with powerful businessmen.

The main targets Muir needed on his side were Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin, owner of the Pacific Stock Exchange and the newly opened Tallac House on the South Shore, and Edward Harriman, the powerful and rich owner of Southern Pacific Railroad. Muir convinced both of these men that if Tahoe were to become a National Park, tourism would increase, benefitting both of their businesses. After some persuasion, the two men agreed.

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By Neal Morton, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The U.S. Department of Education will send Nevada a $415,783 grant to help cover the cost of Advanced Placement exams for low-income students.

Estimates are the grant should pay for all but $15 of the cost of each exam, which students can take to earn college credit while in high school.

The College Board, which administers the tests, charges $93 for each exam, though the organization offers a $31 discount to students from low-income households.

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The American Legion Post 795 of South Lake Tahoe is hosting an Oktoberfest celebration that includes a traditional German meal and live music by the Cash Only Band on Oct. 1.

Food will be served from noon-5pm. Cost is $10.

The American Legion Hall is located at 2748 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

For more information, contact Carol Olivas at 530.544.1306.

South Lake Tahoe’s regional adult education network, Advance, will debut a culinary boot camp this fall, rolling out a workplace skills program to align with the beginning of the winter hiring season.

Developed with the guidance and input of local culinary industry leaders and employers, this 40-hour program will offer participants an intensive, hands-on experience learning the basic skills, terminology, and practices of a professional kitchen. Topics will include kitchen sanitation and safety, knife skills, butchery, baking, cost controls, and more. Students will prepare a series of meals in Lake Tahoe Community College’s full-sized commercial kitchen, studying each step from planning and preparation to completion and cleaning.

There will be two schedules. A one-week program will offer participants an immersive experience working eight hours per day, and a five-week course with a pair of four-hour meetings each week.

This workshop is intended both to familiarize prospective chefs with basic culinary skills and to provide a refresher course to current employees or those seeking promotion

For more information, contact Josh Sweigert at 530.541.4660, ext. 672 or sweigert@ltcc.edu

By Associated Press

A federal judge has ruled against environmentalists who sued the U.S. Forest Service claiming the agency was letting Nestle pipe water out of forest land on an expired permit.

U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal said Tuesday that the permit by Nestle Waters North America “is still valid.” The judge noted that Nestle’s predecessor contacted the Forest Service to renew the permit before the old one expired in 1988, but the company never heard back from the agency.

The ruling was a setback to environmental groups, which sued the federal government last year to halt the piping of water in the San Bernardino National Forest unless a new permit is obtained.

The groups estimated Nestle siphoned 98,000 gallons of water a day from springs in the forest last year. The water is then trucked to a nearby plant, where it is bottled as Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water.

Last year, the Forest Service began an environmental review of Nestle’s spring water pipeline as part of the permit renewal process. The agency had said Nestle’s permit was in full force during the renewal period.

Nestle, which wasn’t a party in the case, said it is pleased with the latest decision.

Arrowhead has been sustainably bottling “water from the springs in Strawberry Canyon for more than 121 years — since before the creation of the San Bernardino National Forest,” the company said in a statement.

Environmentalists said the prolonged drought and water withdrawal in the San Bernardino National Forest are affecting wildlife.

“The court’s decision is disappointing, but the real tragedy lies in the fact that Strawberry Creek is drying up, dooming the plants, fish and animals that have relied on it for tens of thousands of years,” Ileene Anderson of the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement.

A message asking for comment from the Forest Service was not immediately returned.

·       Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., is now Nevada state chairman for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

·       Street Vibrations Motorcycle Rally is under way. More than 50,000 motorcycle enthusiasts will take to Northern Nevada streets through Sept. 25.

·       Tahoe Adventure Film Festival presents the 11th year of Reel Rock Film Tour at Lake Tahoe Community College’s Duke Theatre on Oct. 7. A full lineup of this year’s films is online. Doors open at 5:45pm and show starts at 6:30pm. Tickets are sold at the door.

·       Wildflower enthusiast Lisa Berry will give a free talk and slideshow presentation on Sept. 30 at 7pm in the Aspen Room at Lake Tahoe Community College. She will share tips on where and when to find the best displays. Joining Berry will be author and botanist Julie Caville.

·       UNR was again ranked in the top tier of “best national universities” by U.S. News & World Report, in addition to being cited as one of the nation’s fastest growing flagship universities, according to a Washington Post analysis.

The Fall Fish Festival is Oct. 1-2 at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center on Highway 89.

Hosted by the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit in collaboration with the Tahoe Heritage Foundation, the festival is an opportunity to learn about the variety of fish species that live in Lake Tahoe and its streams, including the federally threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout.

The festival is from 10am-4pm each day.

Festival mascots Lulu the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout and Sandy and Rocky Salmon will make appearances. There will also be a special appearance by Smokey Bear.

Festival events feature children’s activities, food vendors, educational booths, streamside information and Kokanee Trail Runs on Sunday sponsored by the Tahoe Mountain Milers.

The Fall Fish Festival and Oktoberfest at Historic Camp Richardson Resort occur the same weekend, so the parking lot at the visitor center fills quickly.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit in collaboration with the California Tahoe Conservancy will host a field trip for the public on Sept. 28 at 5:30pm to observe progress on the Upper Truckee River Reach 5 Restoration Project.

The project to replace the existing stream channel with a new channel that is more stable and connected to the adjacent floodplain, will provide a better aquatic habitat, support a healthier meadow ecosystem, and reduce the amount of fine sediment that reaches Lake Tahoe, according the Forest Service.

Meet on Onnontioga Street, just south of the Omaha Street intersection at 5:30pm. Onnontioga Street is located off of Washoan Boulevard on Pioneer Trail.  Sturdy shoes are recommended.

LTBMU and CTC staff will be on hand to answer questions and provide information about the project.