A three-car accident in South Lake Tahoe on Tuesday afternoon that included one vehicle being flipped on its side resulted in no injuries and one arrest.

Traffic was backed up for a bit as officers cleared the scene, which included sweeping up lots of glass.

Sharon Nolanmaloff, 53, of El Dorado Hills was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after the May 15 2:43pm crash.

South Lake Tahoe police Lt. David Stevenson told Lake Tahoe News the suspect was pulling out of the Grocery Outlet parking lot onto Highway 50 when she her vehicle struck a van traveling east in the rear of the vehicle. This caused the van to roll and end up on the side of the road.

A passing motorist traveling west witnessed the collision and pulled into the store’s parking lot.

Stevenson said the suspect tried to back up after hitting the van and in doing so hit the witness’ vehicle.

Had there been any injuries, Nolanmaloff would be facing felony DUI charges.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report

What will happen to your children, your business or finances if you are not around? Will your assets go to the people you want? Do you have creditor protection for yourself and your beneficiaries?

Barton Foundation is sponsoring a free presentation by Julia Gold, tax and estate planning attorney, to learn how to protect assets and secure your children’s future if you are not around.

The event is May 31 from 5:30-7:30pm at Kahle Community Center in Stateline.

Space is limited. RSVP to jeane@parasol.org or (775) 298.0184.

A 23-year-old South Lake Tahoe woman has been missing since she went on break from work Tuesday morning. Michaela Vandenberg, is white, with brown hair, 5-foot-7, 140 pounds.

Vandenberg was last seen at work in the area of Takela Drive and 3300 block of Lake Tahoe Boulevard.

Michaela Vandenberg

She was wearing black pants, blue shirt, black blazer, with black high heel shoes.

She was last seen when she went on a break at about 10:20am May 15. She has not been seen or heard from since. She left behind personal property.

Anyone with information on Vandenberg is asked to call the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at (530) 542.6100.

By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times

They sifted through about 800 programs to prevent and fight obesity–to find the ones most likely to counter the nation’s growing girth. In the end, a panel of independent experts asserted that only by implementing many of those initiatives at once can the nation make real progress.

Reversing the nation’s “obesogenic,” or fat-promoting, culture will require sweeping changes across all aspects of daily life, “modifying factors that shape individual choices and incidental behaviors,” the Institute of Medicine concluded in a report issued Tuesday. Changing circumstances in one sphere of an individual’s life to counter the problem without instituting changes in all spheres of life will set the nation up for failure–and for a future of rising healthcare bills, shorter lifespans and sicker, unhappier people–the report said.

If more people participated in activities like the Bay to Breakers, maybe obesity would be less of a problem. Photo/LTN file

The panel recommended that schools position themselves as gateways to obesity prevention, ensuring that children get at least an hour of physical activity daily, barring access to foods and beverages high in calories, and offering all students healthful, nutritious foods and instruction in the fundamentals of healthful eating and living.

Read the whole story

By Mark Robison, Reno Gazette-Journal

Actions by Nevada voters in 2000 and 2002 are costing the state tourism dollars now and may for decades to come.

The state’s constitutional ban on marriage by same-sex couples may also cost Nevada its reputation as the marriage capital of the world.

It’s possible that Nevada’s voters find same-sex marriage a bigger threat than a faltering tourism industry, but if we prefer to strengthen our tourist trade, then time is running short.

For decades, Nevada has been ahead of the rest of the country on marriage and divorce.

Other states required blood tests, waiting periods or both before couples could marry. Nevada didn’t get in the way of love, however impulsive.

And divorce, too. Other states made divorce onerous and only doable for certain narrow reasons. Nevada said almost any excuse could be given for divorce — with no proof — if only you lived here for a few weeks.

Women and men took up temporary residence here, bringing money they spent at casinos, hotels, bars and “divorce ranches.” Arthur Miller famously stayed at Pyramid Lake Ranch until his divorce could be final so he could marry Marilyn Monroe.

The state moved away from its reputation as being more libertarian than the rest of the nation with regard to marriage when voters in 2000 and 2002 overwhelmingly approved adding a sentence to Nevada’s constitution: “Only a marriage between a male and female person shall be recognized and given effect in this state.”

At the time, supporters said they worried that someday schools might teach children that homosexual relationships are moral and that Nevada would have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states — never mind that Nevada once benefited from other states having to recognize the unconventional, quickie marriages performed here.

Read the whole story

By Jayne Clark, USA Today

Missoula, Mont., and Durango, Colo., are the latest towns to make “gold” status in the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Communities rankings. The group’s annual list comes out today as a kick-off to National Bike to Work Week.

The program annually awards towns and cities with gold, silver or bronze status according to how well they promote cycling, provide infrastructure, enact pro-cycling policies and support related education programs.

South Lake Tahoe is known for bike routes that abrupty end. Photo/LTN file

With the latest round of entrants, the organization has now certified 214 locales in 47 states as bike-friendly. In general, communities in the Mountain West lead the pack.

In Missoula, protected bike lanes, signage, and new bike parking serve an estimated 7% of residents who commute by bike. Durango boasts 300 miles of mountain bike trails and a growing network of city bike lanes., and cycling is “integral to the town’s culture and identity,” the league said in a statement.

Read the whole story

Tourism, transportation and the environment will be among the topics explored during the Pathways to Prosperity Trek being organized by Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce in partnership with North Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce and the Tahoe Prosperity Center.

Basin business and civic leaders will travel by bus to Monterey Bay, Livermore and Sacramento in an effort to learn how other communities have succeeded in their quest for prosperity and environmental sustainability. The communities to be visited have faced similar challenges to those in the Lake Tahoe Basin, including moving a highway, sub-standard wages, high unemployment, environmental challenges and diverse populations with disparate interests.

The trip is June 5-7.

Space is limited. Reserve your space by calling (775) 588.1728. The cost is $650 per person. Deposit and registration are due May 24 with final payment due May 31. For those willing to share a room there is a $100 reduction in cost.

The South Lake Tahoe branch library is beginning the Summer Reading Club with a kick-off party on June 22 at 2pm that will featuring game, crafts and book give-aways.

Summer events at he library include”

Gboze — June 29 at 2pm, traditional West African dancing and drumming.

Bohart Museum of Entymology — July 6 at 2pm, Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

Puppet Art — July 13 at 2pm, dragon tales.

Brian Scott — July 20 at 2pm, magic, comedy and pure fun.

Python Ron — July 27 at 2pm, snakes and reptiles from around the world.

Call the library at (530) 573.3185 for more information

May is 31 tidbits about Lake Tahoe News month.

LTN tidbit No. 15:

We like to say: If you aren’t reading Lake Tahoe News, you don’t know Lake Tahoe. We say this because we have broken a number of stories in the past couple years. And some stories we have written have only been on LTN.

Lake Tahoe News was the first Tahoe publication to write about South Lake Tahoe City Manager Tony O’Rourke looking for a job and accepting it; we were the first to report the convention center site being out of bankruptcy; the only to report on another lawsuit being filed regarding the old Meyers Landfill; the only to report on the ice rink owners and city at odds over a 20-year contract; we broke the story about the Nevada Fire Safe Council not being able to pay fire departments and private tree contractors; and we are the only ones to write about chamber President B Gorman not paying her TOT taxes – and then reported when she did write the check.

Other things Lake Tahoe News has written about: a 12-part series on the 10-year anniversary of Sept. 11, South Tahoe High grads and their experiences with the Peace Corps, the only publication to cover all the snow surveys this winter, we attend meetings and conferences around the lake, and we have done in-depth stories on budget-salary-pension issues related to various agencies and government entities.

And there’s still more to come.

Here is information about becoming a paid subscriber.

To the community,

The recent announcement of City Manager Tony O’Rourke’s leaving can only be viewed as a positive direction for the city of South Lake Tahoe. In May 2011, we informed the city of an approximately $500,000 a year loss in transient occupancy tax collections. We spent five to six months working with the city to develop a program to audit and verify the proper payment of transient occupancy tax by rent by owners.

After the city’s implementation of the reporting forms by the Finance Department, Mr. O’Rourke backed his staff that there were too many objections to the form and therefore they abandoned the project. Mr. O’Rourke made a statement in a meeting with our company staff that they could procure any number of companies that would monitor and collect the tax owed the city and that this could be achieved through penalties and fines at no cost to the city.

We were to receive notification of the request for proposals from the city on or after the middle of December.

Here we are, a year has passed since the city was notified of the potential loss of over $40,000 per month for failure to pursue TOT collections and still no action by the city. Maybe now the council can act without their star manager who has moved on to greener pastures.

Let’s hope.

Jim Morris, Lake Tahoe Accommodations