By Dusty Wunderlich, Reno Gazette-Journal

This month’s low job report sent shock waves. While pundits pontificate on stalled job growth despite relatively low unemployment and the impact both might have on capital markets, they may be overlooking a much bigger issue crippling the U.S. economy.

Entrepreneurism is on the sharpest decline in the U.S. in recent history and Nevada ranks as the state with the lowest percentage of business owners per capita. As fewer businesses enter the marketplace, large corporations naturally take a greater share of the market, contributing to greater wealth and power concentration.

The percentage of business owners has steadily declined since 1996, according to the2015 Kauffman Index on Main Street Entrepreneurship. Considering small business accounts for 63 percent of U.S. employers, economists know jobs are just part of the picture.

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By Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle

Death-penalty supporters submitted signatures on a ballot measure last month aimed at speeding up executions in California, setting the stage for voters to decide in November whether to retain and overhaul the state’s death penalty or abolish it.

Prosecutors, law enforcement groups and victims’-rights advocates turned in 593,000 signatures for the initiative, which would attempt to fix a system plagued by delays and high costs by tightening legal deadlines and requiring more lawyers to take capital cases. Last month, opponents of the death penalty submitted 601,000 signatures for an initiative to repeal capital punishment and replace it with life in prison without parole. Each measure needs 365,880 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

A recent Field poll indicated that Californians were closely divided, with 48 percent in favor of speeding up executions and 47 percent preferring to eliminate them. If both measures win majority votes, a provision in the pro-death penalty initiative says only the one receiving more votes would become law. That has been the rule for conflicting ballot measures in the past, but a leader of the campaign to abolish the death penalty argues that a majority vote for the repeal measure would override any vote for the rival proposal.

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Heavenly Mountain Resort is offering free access to Epic Discovery to 2,000 kids from Lake Tahoe schools and regional nonprofits.

Epic Discovery Kids is a program created through the partnership of EpicPromise, Vail Resort’s charitable giving program, and Epic Discovery, Heavenly’s new on-mountain summer experience. Epic Discovery Kids will immerse children in activities that will challenge themselves physically, guide them to explore and better understand their natural surroundings, and ultimately ideally create lifelong memories.

Heavenly will offer 50 spaces for nonprofits from Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, Carson Valley and Reno to enroll kids in a hands-on environmental learning experience with activities such as tubing, ziplining, an alpine coaster and a 60-minute environmental education tour with a U.S. Forest Service representative. The non-profit summer program will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9am-noon.

During September, Heavenly will offer every fourth- and seventh-grade class in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District an opportunity to experience Epic Discovery.

By Don Thompson, AP

Counties will get another $270 million for jail construction under the budget approved by California lawmakers this week, even though opponents say the money could be better spent on rehabilitation programs.

The state has provided $2.2 billion to build jails since 2007, including $1 billion since California began keeping lower-level offenders in county lockups instead of state prisons in 2011.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal for an additional quarter-billion dollars this year was rejected by Assembly and Senate budget committees and the Legislative Analyst’s Office, which said the Democratic governor failed to show the need for more construction money.

“There’s gonna be an end to the jail construction binge and we ought to look at more cost-effective ways of reducing recidivism and reducing crime,” said Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, who voted to remove the funding.

But it’s back in the final budget at the insistence of the governor and county governments that say they need the construction money to update antiquated jails.

The need has grown, they said, since the state began sending more serious, long-term and mentally ill inmates to local jails instead of state prisons.

The competitive grants will be available to 20 of the state’s 58 counties that received only partial funding in previous years or never had state help in replacing or renovating jails.

“The need is clear, that there are counties that have applied for prior rounds and have been unsuccessful or have not applied in the past and still have needs, and this gives them another chance to make the appropriate upgrades that will provide needed space for programming, education, treatment and rehabilitation,” said California State Sheriffs’ Association spokesman Cory Salzillo.

The budget also includes $20 million earmarked for Napa County’s jail, which was damaged in a 2014 earthquake.

“It’s just really shocking that after both subcommittees rejected the jail construction funds that it would come back in this way,” said Lizzie Buchen, co-coordinator of Californians United for a Responsible Budget, which opposes prison and jail spending.

The budget does include $67.5 million for grants to counties that prefer not to build new jails and want to offer more mental health and addiction treatment facilities.

“Not every county wants to build jails,” said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, chairman of the Senate budget committee. “There are some that want to address similar populations in a different way.”

A year ago, the state Senate similarly objected to $500 million for jail construction money only to see it revived in the final budget agreement.

The legislative analyst earlier this year said the additional money might not be needed in part because of a 2014 ballot initiative that lowered penalties for certain drug and property crimes. The state’s jail population dropped by 10,000 inmates after voters approved Proposition 47.

Salzillo said money is needed if sheriffs are to provide the sorts of rehabilitation programs that lawmakers and voters envisioned when they approved legal changes in recent years.

The budget also includes another $28 million on top of nearly $40 million that Brown previously set aside for mental health and substance abuse treatment, crime victims and school truancy programs under Proposition 47.

The legislative analyst has projected that about $130 million would be saved in the first year by reducing the prison population through lesser penalties.

“This budget reflects increasing support for smart approaches to safety and justice,” John Bauters, policy director for Proposition 47 proponent Californians for Safety and Justice, said in a statement.

The state budget was approved by the Assembly and Senate. Brown is expected to sign it into law.

·      Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Garden Valley, is having a town hall June 28, 5pm at Turtle Rock Park Community Center in Markleeville.

·       Geoff Schladow with the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center in Incline Village will be giving a presentation July 28 about the most important factors that affected the health of Lake Tahoe last year. Cost is $5. The talk is from 5:30-7pm on the campus of Sierra Nevada College.

·       There will be a hike June 26 at 10am for people and their dogs at Spooner Summit. Dogs must be leashed. This is a flat, two-mile hike. Sign up by emailing spooner.ranger@gmail.com. Park entry fees are $8 for Nevada residents, $10 for non-residents.

·       Scott Schuster, a PGA teaching pro, is now with Incline Village General Improvement District.

·       In May, the High Fives Foundation granted $37,186 to 11 High Fives athletes.

To the community,

The proposed zoning change from single family-residential, to recreation business needs to be denied by the TRPA board.

Whatever happens at an exit from a highway like Highway 50, onto an artery road like South Upper Truckee Road, determines what happens in the neighborhoods off that road. It is called sprawl and TRPA needs to fight the sprawl in Tahoe that has been the ruination of so much of California.

This is a major change, a gigantic business development, in a rural residential neighborhood, with the proposed project not having been noticed to the area residents.

The impacts on people, infrastructure and the environment have not been determined on the proposed project.
An old permit (21 years) couldn’t possibly foresee what the impacts will be from this entirely new use that is inconsistent with any previous use or surrounding uses.

The “initial environmental checklist” that TRPA did that determined that an EIR is not necessary is unacceptable with the scope of the project to include 21,617 new square feet of building coverage that would take the coverage to a total of 66,903 square feet and necessitate a new waterline across Echo Creek.

Saying there are no negative impacts is ludicrous and unacceptable.

Sprawl of this type (a business by any name is still a business) needs to be prevented in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Please deny the zoning change.

Linda Witters, Meyers

Two performers with distinctly different personalities are coming to MontBleu in July.

Nick Swardson, well-known for his trademark blend of character and comedic acting, will perform for the first time in Lake Tahoe on July 1. Emmy-nominated actor-comedian Rob Schneider, will perform his stand-up routine on July 22.

Swardson first found success by writing “Malibu’s Most Wanted” for Warner Brothers and by featuring in the hit Comedy Central series “Reno 911”. After catching the attention of Happy Madison Productions, he quickly became a fixture in the company, writing or co-writing and producing such projects as “Grandma’s Boy,” “Benchwarmers” and co-producing “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” with Adam Sandler and Kevin James. More recently Swardson has performed in movies such as “That’s My Boy,” “Blades of Glory,” “30 Minutes or Less,” and “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star,” which he wrote, starred in, and produced.

His Comedy Central Special, “Taste It!” premiered last April on Comedy Central. He also recently co- starred in the animated film “Hell And Back” with TJ Miller, Bob Odenkirk and Mila Kunis. Most recently, he co-starred in the most-watched movie on Netflix to date, “The Ridiculous Six” starring Adam Sandler and Will Forte. Next Swardson will be seen in Sandler’s second film for Netflix “The Do-Over” starring Adam Sandler and David Spade.

After a nearly 20-year break, Schneider recently made a return to standup. He is receiving rave reviews for his international comedy tour, and has joined “Saturday Night” Live friends, Adam Sandler and David Spade for their Do-Over Tour this summer.

Schneider recently voiced the title role of Norm, in “Norm of the North”, an animated film for Lionsgate. He most recently starred in the summer hit “Grown Ups” for Sony.

Schneider began writing jokes as a teenager, appearing at local venues. After opening for comedians such as Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld, he made his major network television debut in 1987 on “The David Letterman Show.” In 1990 Lorne Michaels saw Schneider’s appearance on HBO’s “13th Annual Young Comedians Special” and hired him to be a regular on “Saturday Night Live.” During his four seasons at “SNL,” Schneider was nominated for three Emmys and a Peabody Award.

For both shows, doors open at 7pm, show begins at 8pm. Tickets for Swardson are $27.50, $35 and $45. Tickets to Schneider start at $25. Call MontBleu at 775.588.3515.

By Darlene Superville, AP

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — President Obama said Saturday that climate change is already damaging America’s national parks, with rising temperatures causing Yosemite’s meadows to dry out and raising the prospect of a glacier preserve without its glaciers someday.

“Make no mistake. Climate change is no longer just a threat. It’s already a reality,” Obama said from a podium, with Yosemite Falls, one of the world’s tallest at 2,425 feet, as a backdrop.

At the California park, where Obama was spending the weekend with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, the president also talked about how a rabbit-like animal known as a pika is being forced farther upslope at Yosemite to escape the heat.

“Rising temperatures could mean no more glaciers at Glacier National Park. No more Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park,” he said, adding that a changing climate could destroy vital ecosystems in the Everglades and threaten such landmarks as Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Obama spoke near Yosemite’s Sentinel Bridge, where views of Half Dome, a well-known rock formation in the park, and Yosemite Falls created a picturesque background behind him under a sunny, blue sky.

After a night with his family in a rented cabin in the popular park, Obama stuck to his usual routine by rising early Saturday and heading to a recreation center on the grounds for his daily gym workout.

Obama’s weekend in the great outdoors was planned to encourage more people to appreciate and visit many of the nation’s parks. The National Park Services manages more than 400 sites around the country and celebrates its centennial in August.

By Chris Kudialis, Las Vegas Sun

Although Nevada law allows the sale and use of medical marijuana, attorneys in the state could soon face punishment for professional misconduct if they get involved in the business.

The Nevada Supreme Court is considering revising the rules of professional conduct for attorneys by adding a clause saying that the sale, use or possession of marijuana — even when allowed by state law — is prohibited by federal law and could result in misconduct actions. The court is seeking comments on the proposed addition and is scheduled to review it July 7 in Las Vegas.

“Marijuana is still considered an illegal substance under the feds,” explained Michael Sommermeyer, spokesman for the Nevada Supreme Court, “and federal law trumps state law.”

The hearing came about at the request of the State Bar of Nevada, “seeking guidance” from the court on the role of attorneys in the industry under its “Rule of Professional Conduct,” Sommermeyer said. It follows a 2014 comment on the same rule, which upheld Nevada attorneys’ right to provide counsel to clients in the industry.

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To the community,

The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority would like to thank the volunteers, businesses, spectators, sponsors, and partners who helped to make the 2016 Amgen Tour of California a success for our community.

We are grateful for your support and generosity:

North Lake Tahoe, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Harrah’s/Harveys Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel, 968 Park Hotel, Aston Lakeland Village, Rachelle Atherton, Barton Health, Beach Retreat and Lodge, Cakes by Grace, Cal Tahoe Emergency Services Operations, California Highway Patrol, city of South Lake Tahoe, city of South Lake Tahoe Department of Public Works, Boyd Dangtongdee, Deerfield Media/Mountain Resort Television, Douglas County Recreation Department, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Edgewood Tahoe, El Dorado County Department of Transportation, El Dorado County Planning Department, Hard Rock Café, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe, Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau, Inn by the Lake, Margie Kovarik-Maxhimer, KRLT 93.9FM/KOWL 1490AM, Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, Mark and Dawn Luke, Judi McCallum, MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, Nevada Barricade and Sign Company, Nevada Department of Transportation, Nevada Highway Patrol, North Tahoe Fire Protection District, On Tahoe Time, Merick Rickman, The Ridge Tahoe, Ski Run Boat Company, Ski Run Marina, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, South Tahoe Refuse and Recycling, Sean Sweeney, Tahoe Chamber, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, Tahoe Lakeshore Lodge & Spa, Tahoe Seasons Resort, Tahoe Tallac Association – Valhalla Tahoe, Thran’s Flowers, Travel Nevada, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Brian Williams, and many others — you know who you are.

Anne Sutterfield, Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority