Learn about the ideal plants and shrubs for sun and shade in a high altitude, cold climate area like Tahoe.

Master Gardeners of Lake Tahoe will demonstrate how garden maintenance is easier when you consider soil type, land slope, existing vegetation, sun and wind exposure, microclimates, mulching and more.

Dates:

• June 16, 5:30-6:30pm at Lake Tahoe Community College Demonstration Garden, 1 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe
• June 18, 5:30-6:30pm at North Lake Tahoe Demonstration Garden, Sierra Nevada College, 5:30-6:30pm at 999 Tahoe Blvd., Incline Village
• June 24 TERC Tahoe City Field Station, aka Historic Fish Hatchery, 2400 Lake Forest Road, Tahoe City.

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects in the Simpson’s Jewelry Store burglary.

The South Lake Tahoe shop had windows smashed and jewels stolen by four masked men April 29.

The suspects were driving a stolen Ford pickup that has since been recovered in the area.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Doug Sentell at 530.542.6100 or Secret Witness at 530.541.6800 to remain anonymous.

El Dorado County led the state in 2013 with an estimated 79 percent of families reading to their children on a daily basis, according to Children Now.

El Dorado County Library reaches nearly one in six children, ages birth through 5 annually, offering early literacy programs at all six branches, including outreach to preschools and child care programs throughout the county.

There will be an early literacy celebration May 22 at 10am at the Placerville Library, 345 Fair Lane.

Immediately following the recognition, people may participate in Mother Goose on the Loose story time with our families and “stay and play” at the mobile child development center.

By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee

El Dorado County Supervisor Ray Nutting was found not guilty today on three felony charges of political malfeasance, but was convicted of six misdemeanors for improperly raising bail to free himself from jail.

The charges stemmed from income Nutting received from a state fire safety program for clearing brush on his ranch. Prosecutors alleged that Nutting failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars, faced a conflict of interest when he voted to fund local resource agencies and took illegal loans from government employees to post bail.

Though the El Dorado Superior Court jury in Placerville found Nutting not guilty on three felonies, it was hung on a fourth felony count alleging that Nutting fabricated documents related to herbicide treatment for which he was reimbursed by the state.

Had Nutting been convicted of a felony, he would have had to relinquish his county supervisor post under state law. After the verdict, Nutting walked from his defendant’s chair into the courtroom gallery, hugged his wife and cried.

Read the whole story

By AP

After months of warning that drought-stricken California is facing a potentially devastating wildfire season, officials are telling residents it’s time to get serious about clearing brush from backyards, creating evacuation plans and exercising caution with equipment that can throw sparks.

CalFire declared fire season open in most of Northern California on Monday and planned to extend the designation to the rest of the North State next week. That is about a month earlier than normal and a reflection of the kindling-like conditions on moisture-deprived hillsides and in forests packed with dead greenery, agency spokesman Daniel Berlant said Saturday.

The official start of the fire season means staffing levels will remain at their peak and firefighting aircraft on standby until the heightened danger subsides, he said.

In Southern California, the fire season is already underway because the agency never ended the one that started in 2013, Berlant said.

State fire officials have been gearing up since January by slowly adding more temporary firefighters in the central and northern parts of California.

State water managers conducted their final survey of the Sierra Nevada snowpack on May 1 and found it was at 18 percent of average for the date. The snowpack accounts for about one-third of the state’s water.

“There is no doubt that the drought has left the grasses and the brush very dry and that has really set the stage for a very busy fire season,” Berlant said.

CalFire crews already have responded to nearly 1,300 wildfires across the state in 2014, more than twice as many as usual for this time of year.

Inspectors have started visiting fire-prone areas to remind property owners to remove branches, weeds and leaves from around their homes, but not to use lawn mowers, trimmers or power tools that could ignite a blaze after 10am.

David Antonucci will speak on “Fairest Picture – Mark Twain at Lake Tahoe” to the Carson City Leisure Hour Club on May 21.

Antonucci an an author and Lake Tahoe historian.

To attend the talk, call Dorothy Link at 775.885.2542 by May 17. The talk will be preceded by a buffet dinner at 6:30pm. Reservations for dinner are required.

Lake Tahoe Community College’s student-led business club, the Future Business Leaders of Tahoe, is hosting the inaugural LTCC Community Games on May 31 from 9am-9:30pm.

This event-filled day will include table tennis and dodgeball tournaments, a charity basketball game between the South Lake Tahoe Police and Fire departments, a raffle, barbecue, live music, and lots of representation from other LTCC student clubs.

The purpose of the LTCC Community Games is to raise money for student scholarships and to build a stronger bond between the college and the community.

The headlining event of the Community Games is the charity basketball game from 7-9:30pm in the fitness center.

In the morning there will be a double elimination individual player table tennis tournament from 9am-noon that is open to anyone. There is a $5 entry fee to play. Contact Jared Manninen at 612.788.0828 to register.

There’s also a single elimination dodgeball tournament from 1-5pm. There is a $30 entry fee for each six-player team. Contact Jose Perez at 530.318.0233 to register a team.

All fees and registrations to participate in either tournament should be submitted by May 20. Cash or check only

General admission to all Community Games events is $5, $3 for students with a valid ID, free for those younger than 10.

For more information about the LTCC Community Games, or to register, purchase raffle tickets, or to donate raffle prizes, email fblt.ltcc@gmail.com.

The Grand Hall’s front has new siding. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

For nearly 40 years the Valhalla Art, Music & Theatre Festival has been staged at the Tallac Site on the South Shore. But for the last few years music has not had equal billing. That is about to change.

“I want to get the music to the level of what the theater is so it will be a world-class festival,” Evangeline Elston told Lake Tahoe News.

Elston was hired this winter to be the director of the festival. While she has less than a one-year contract, she is hoping the improvements she brings to this year’s offerings will warrant a longer contract.

She grew up near Carson City, spent the bulk of her career in the Grass Valley-Nevada City area in the music world, and the last year in Austin, Texas, doing work for artists. She knew she wanted to return to the Sierra and that is how she landed in Tahoe.

Ginger Nicolay-Davis, president of Valhalla Tahoe (formerly Tahoe Tallac Association), admits the group has been running on autopilot when it came to music – booking acts that had been there before and not doing much more.

This season expect a more eclectic mix.

One of the first things Elston was able to get the board to agree to was upgrading some of the sound equipment in the Boathouse Theater, which is where the paid performances will be.

A paved walkway bisects the Twin Cabins.

Ray Bonneville will launch the 2014 season on June 25 at 7:30pm. Lance Canales and the Flood will also be on stage that night.

Grammy-nominated bluegrass duo Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum will play Aug. 6 at 7:30pm.

For the first time, Valhalla and Lake Tahoe Community College are partnering to put on a summer play. “August: Osage County” will be at the Duke Theater in July.

To balance this adult-oriented production, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” will be at the Boathouse earlier in July.

Four nights of Improv are on the schedule.

In conjunction with this being the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival will be at the Boathouse on Aug. 13. This is also going to be a membership drive event for Valhalla.

The nonprofit gets its funding from ticket sales and memberships. In a deal with the U.S. Forest Service, which owns the land, a certain percentage of the proceeds must be spent on upgrading the property.

In the last three weeks about $30,000 in improvements have been made. A walkway between the Twin Cabins, which are in front of the Grand Hall closest to the road, was completed May 12. The front of the Grand Hall and the side porch have been resided. The remaining siding will be replaced next year.

One of Elston’s goals is bring more public awareness to the partnership between Valhalla and the USFS, and how it’s not just a festival that is going on, but preservation of Tahoe’s past.

—-

Note:

• The event schedule for the 2014 season is available online.

• Membership information is also online.

To the community,

For many of us, the library was a magical place when we were children. There were so many books to enjoy, certainly more than our parents could afford to buy. Our own children learned to love the same books and were introduced to many more through patient librarians during countless story hours.

Now our visiting grandchildren select both old and new favorites from the shelves while also playing with local children in the housekeeping section and building architectural masterpieces at Lego parties. As our family has grown and changed, so has our wonderful South Lake Tahoe Library evolved into a true media center with many ways to deliver both good reading and needed information, including those nifty i-Pads that can be checked out and taken home.

On June 3, our South Shore community has the opportunity, and I believe, the privilege, to show support for this vital community resource by voting yes on Measure L. This measure continues the parcel tax that has been in place for 20 years, at a reasonable rate of $20 per parcel per year, with a small increase allowed each year for 12 years based on the Consumer Price Index.

Just as the library has been there for us, so do we need to make sure it is still there for the next generation. We can do that by voting yes on Measure L.

Jeanne Benin, South Lake Tahoe

California Tahoe Conservancy is partnering with the Tahoe Transportation District to apply for a grant that would help fund the South Tahoe Greenway bike trail.

Caltrans has consolidated state and federal non-motorized funding sources to create the Active Transportation Program.

If the grant is secured, it would be spent on the final design and construction of phases 1 and 2 of the Greenway, extend the West Shore Bike Trail from Sugar Pine to Meeks Bay, and realign that same trail to accommodate the changes to Highway 89 as it is reconstructed around Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City. The two entities are seeking $10 million. Only the Greenway is a CTC project.

Phase 1A of the Greenway is to break ground in 2015. It will be a shared use trail between Herbert Avenue and edge of Bijou Meadow at Glenwood Way. This section has the money to go forward.

The grant would allow for building the trail that connects to Lake Tahoe Community College as well as to Van Sickle Bi-State Park.

Sue Rae Irelan with the Conservancy presented the proposal to the CTC board last week. The board agreed to go forward with the grant application and to finalize rights-of-way agreements.

This trail that one day will link Meyers to Stateline follows the old Caltrans right-of-way that the Conservancy acquired in 2000.

It’s possible maintenance of the trail will be provided by money coming from Measure R, the recreation measure California property owners on the South Shore fund.

— Kathryn Reed