Live Violence Free’s annual Sunset Gala is Oct. 21 from 5-8pm at Edgewood Tahoe in Stateline.

For more information, go online.

By Paul Takahashi, Las Vegas Sun

U.S. News and World Report is looking into a local high school’s ranking as the nation’s 13th-best public high school after its principal questioned the data used by the national magazine.

U.S. News’ Best High Schools rankings were released Tuesday, with Green Valley High School in Henderson earning a lofty ranking among the nation’s top high schools.

But even before the school could celebrate, Green Valley Principal Jeff Horn questioned the validity of U.S. News’ list of best schools, pointing to several incorrect data points that are key criteria in the methodology used in determining the rankings.

The U.S. News rankings showed that the Henderson school had 477 students and 111 teachers, making its student-teacher ratio 4-to-1. The school also had a 100 percent passing rate on the Advanced Placement exam, according to the rankings.

Green Valley actually has 2,850 students, a student-teacher ratio closer to 24-to-1 and a 64 percent AP passing rate, Horn said. He added that he believed the data for several other Las Vegas high schools were incorrect in the U.S. News rankings.

Furthermore, U.S. News’ state profile of Nevada had several incorrect data points.

Read the whole story

Tahoe Rim Trail Association this summer has several free trail talks planned in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin.

These one-hour informational talks are designed for trail enthusiasts to meet like-minded users and learn about what the TRTA does from trail improvements, numerous educational opportunities and providing a world class trail experience.

Upcoming Trail Talks:

May 16th – Explore Tahoe, 4114 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, 11:45am-1pm

June 6 – El Dorado County Library, 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, 6:30-7:45pm

June 13 -Sundance Books, 121 California Ave., Reno, 5:30-7:00pm

June 26 – Tahoe Meadows Interpretive Loop, 11:30am-1pm

July 12 – 21025 Ames Lane, Reno, 5:30-7pm

July 17 – Incline Village Library, 845 Alder Ave., Incline Village, 1-2:30pm

July 24 – Van Sickle Bi-State Park, South Lake Tahoe, 11:30am-1pm.

Weight Loss Strategies for People with Diabetes is the subject of the May 17 6:30-7:30pm Barton Health lecture.

Weight loss strategies for people with diabetes will include healthy meal planning, high fiber food recommendations and exercise plans. Behavior modification techniques will be discussed to keep participants focused on their goal towards healthier living.

This class is free.

RSVP to Lynn Norton at (530) 543.5824 or email lnorton@bartonhealth.org

By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown today released a $91-billion budget proposal that sharply cuts health and welfare spending, reduces state payrolls by 5 percent and freezes construction of new courthouses.

Brown’s revised budget reflects a steadily worsening fiscal picture for California. On Saturday, he announced via YouTube that the state’s deficit had grown to $16 billion, nearly twice what he projected when he released his initial budget proposal in January.

The gap grew, the budget revision states, because Brown over-estimated tax revenues by $4.3 billion and the federal government and courts blocked $1.7 billion in cuts the state wanted to make. The remainder of the difference reflects an increase in the amount of money the state is mandated to spend on education under a complex voter-approved formula.

To close the wider gap, Brown has heightened the cuts he wants to make to Medi-Cal, to $1.2 billion, and maintained another $1.2 billion in welfare and child-care savings he proposed in January.

He also wants to slash payments to people who care for the disabled by 7 percent and reduce the state payroll through a shorter workweek or wage concessions. He proposed $500 million in cuts to the state’s struggling court system, including a one-year freeze on all new construction projects.

Read the whole story

By Loretta Kalb, Sacramento Bee

The Placer County Sheriff’s Department has identified the victim of a fatal head-on collision in a north Lake Tahoe community on Thursday as Thomas Heron, 67, of Carnelian Bay.

Heron died and a Tahoe City man was injured when their pickups collided at 11:43am near Ridgewood Drive on Highway 28.

According to a California Highway Patrol report, a Toyota Tacoma driven by Heron was headed eastbound when it drifted over a solid double-yellow line into oncoming traffic, striking the front of a westbound Toyota Tundra.

The 54-year-old driver of the Tundra was taken to Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, where he underwent an operation Friday for a broken hand, said a CHP spokesman.

Placer County sheriff’s Sgt. John Giovannini released Heron’s name Sunday, noting that the man’s family members had been notified.

Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, is returning to Kahle Community Park in Stateline on Aug. 11 from 11am-11pm.

For more information, call Maryon Tilley at (775) 586.8330 or Gary Newman at (775) 379.5297.

By Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee

In the past decade, red and blue states alike, from Mississippi to New York, have approved more than 100 tobacco tax hikes in a desperate hunt for budget revenue.

But not one has passed in California, whose 87-cent cigarette tax dropped from third-highest in the nation in 1999 to 33rd today despite the state’s ongoing budget woes.

That confounds health advocates, who otherwise consider California to be a trailblazer when it comes to bans on smoking in bars and restaurants, and public campaigns urging tobacco users to quit.

But longtime state budget watchers are hardly surprised. They largely blame the state’s supermajority requirement to pass tax hikes in the Legislature. That forces tobacco tax votes to the ballot, where industry can spend unlimited sums of money.

“Certainly the state has been looking in every place possible for new sources of revenues,” said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. “Most other places have a simple majority, and I think a two-thirds majority is a hurdle even for something seemingly as popular as a tobacco tax.”

The June ballot has a tobacco tax hike, Proposition 29, that would raise $735 million in its first full year, mostly for cancer and disease research. The Legislature could not tap the funds for 15 years, and even then not without meeting certain requirements.

Read the whole story

May is 31 tidbits about Lake Tahoe News month.

LTN tidbit No. 14:

Everyone has an opinion. Are you ready to share yours?

Lake Tahoe News calls its opinion section Voices because we want to get as many voices published as possible.

We print letters, thank yous and guest columns. The criteria are your full name must be published and either your hometown or title will be used.

The length does not matter. With it being online, we aren’t confined by space constraints. We suggest writing what it’s worth – short or long.

We reserve the right to edit it or not publish it.

We would like to run a photo or logo with the piece, so please send one as a JPEG.

The only items to date that have not been published are pieces that are really more of an ad.

Send submissions to info@LakeTahoeNews.net. Include your phone number so someone can verify you are the writer. Your number will not be published.

We also print columns, editorials and endorsements from other publications.

By publishing an opinion piece it does not mean anyone at Lake Tahoe News agrees with the words on the screen. We just strongly believe various ideas should be presented.

Here is information about becoming a paid subscriber.

Josie and Sophie came into the shelter together and would like to go home together if possible. Josie is a 3-year-old Chihuahua, and Sophie is an 8-yea- old cocker spaniel. They are best friends, and are very affectionate with people, too.

Josie and Sophie are spayed, microchipped and vaccinated. They are at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go online to see photos and description of all pets at the shelter.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet. For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz