An argument on private property escalated to the point a gun was drawn Saturday morning.

South Lake Tahoe police officers said John Runnels saw a guy walk across his auto lot at the Y and then they got into an argument. Then the suspect allegedly shoved Runnels to the ground. Runnels, who has a concealed weapons permit, pulled his gun.

The suspect fled and Runnels called 911.

A description of the suspect has not been released. He is wanted on a battery charge.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

An argument on private property escalated to the point a gun was drawn Saturday morning.

South Lake Tahoe police officers said John Runnels saw a guy walk across his auto lot at the Y and then they got into an argument. Then the suspect allegedly shoved Runnels to the ground.

Runnels, who has a concealed weapons permit, pulled his gun. The suspect fled.

Runnels called 911.

A description of the suspect has not been released. He is wanted on a battery charge.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Samantha Schaefer, Los Angeles Times

The news of a Northern California couple’s discovery of more than 1,400 gold coins hidden on their property has experts, history buffs and regular folks speculating on the treasure’s origin.

Though officials said it is unlikely the coins were stolen in a turn-of-the-century theft at the U.S. Mint in San Francisco, some wonder if the cache could be one of many believed buried by the Knights of the Golden Circle.

The secretive, subversive Confederate group is thought to have hidden millions in ill-gotten gold across a dozen states to finance a second Civil War.

The coins very well could be a fortune buried by a wealthy businessman, but the time period, markers near the cache and manner in which the coins were buried fit the mold of the KGC, said Warren Getler, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who coauthored “Rebel Gold,” a book about the group.

Read the whole story

By Christopher Cadelago, Sacramento Bee

Republican Art Moore filed paperwork Friday to challenge veteran GOP Rep. Tom McClintock, casting himself as a pragmatic supporter of limited government with roots in the foothill-based 4th Congressional District.

Moore said it’s clear that the federal government is not working for the district, which he believes should be represented by someone with a completely different perspective on public service.

A graduate of Placer High School and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Moore brings to the campaign a combined 14 years of active duty and National Guard service. He spent 30 months deployed overseas and currently is a major in the Army National Guard, he said.

El Dorado County Supervisor Norma Santiago pulled papers for the race but did not file.

Read the whole story

By USSA

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia — Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety (Park City) captured a historic giant slalom victory Saturday in Kranjska Gora to become the first man in Audi FIS Alpine World Cup history to have won six times at the same venue.

The stunning 23rd win of his career also moved Ligety within 50 points of Austrian Marcel Hirscher, who finished fourth, for the 2014 World Cup giant slalom title. The title will be decided March 15 at the World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

The down-to-the-wire World Cup Finals battle will be for the fifth World Cup giant slalom title of Ligety’s career.

Ligety opened a 0.42 second first run lead and then held on to win the race by 0.18 over Austrian Benjamin Raich. Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen was third ahead of Hirscher.

Tim Jitloff (Reno) finished a solid eighth to jump to 19th in the giant slalom standings and qualify for the top 25 World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide.

Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.) was 24th in the race and can also race the giant slalom at World Cup Finals because he has more than 500 World Cup points.

A slalom will be contested Sunday in Kranjska Gora to close the World Cup regular season.

It’s almost time to spring forward an hour.

Daylight saving time begins March 9 at 2am.

This means to start with it will be a little lighter at night and darker in the morning. It also means losing an hour of sleep on the first day.

By Kathryn Reed

Voters will have a slew of decisions to make in June during the primary election.

The deadline to file for office for El Dorado County was March 7 at 5pm. That was the same for Placer County. However, for Placer the date is extended to March 12 if an incumbent has not filed. March 14 is the deadline to file for Douglas County races.

The following people are running for El Dorado County offices:

• Superior Court Office 1

Vicki Ashworth, David Combellack, Joe Weinberger

• Superior Court Office 3

Suzanne Kingsbury

• Superior Court Office 4

Steven Bailey

• Superior Court Office 5

Joseph Hoffman, Dylan Sullivan

• Superior Court Office 6

James Wagoner

• County superintendent of schools

Jeremy Meyers

• County supervisor District 4

Scott McNeil, Tim Palmer, Lori Parlin, Howard Penn, Michael Jon Pettibone, Winston Pingrey, Michael Ranalli, Dave Souza

• County supervisor District 5

Kevin Brown, Kenny Curtzwiler, Gerri Grego, Sue Novasel, Teresa Piper, Angela Swanson

• Assessor

Karl Weiland

• Auditor-controller

Joe Harn, Michael Owen

• District attorney

Judson Henry, Vern Pierson

• Recorder-clerk

Chris Amaral, Bill Schultz

• Sheriff

John D’Agostini

• Surveyor

Rich Briner

• Treasurer

Ron Briggs, C.L. Raffety.

Here are the candidates in Placer County:

• Superior Court Office 1

Charles Wachob

• Superior Court Office 2

Michael Jones

• County Superintendent of Schools

Gayle Garbolino-Mojica

• County supervisor District 1

Jack Duran

• County supervisor District 2

Regy Bronner, Robert Weygandt

• Assessor

Kristen Spears

• Controller

Andrew Sisk

• Clerk-recorder

Jim McCauley

• District attorney

R. Scott Owens

• Sheriff

Edward Neil Bonner

• Treasurer

Jenine Windeshausen.

California statewide offices on the June ballot include:

• Governor

• Lieutenant governor

• Secretary of state

• Controller

• Treasurer

• Attorney general

• Insurance commissioner.

In order to win the contest outright on June 3 a person must receive 50 percent plus one vote. If no one reaches that amount, then the top two vote getters will square off in November.

In addition to the individual races, there are a number of local and statewide initiatives that will be before voters in June and November. Plus, El Dorado and Placer residents will be asked to vote on a congressional race and Assembly.

On the November ballot will be South Lake Tahoe City Council candidates. The seats occupied by Angela Swanson, Brooke Laine and Tom Davis will be up.

November will be the first time Lake Tahoe Unified and Lake Tahoe Community College candidates are elected by district. This means people will vote for only one person.

South Tahoe PUD seats will also be up.

The filing for November opens in mid-July.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the March 2, 2014, Las Vegas Sun.

For several years, Southern Nevada lawmakers have complained about how our region has been slighted by state government and the Legislature, pointing to how taxpayer money and state resources have habitually been diverted north. Those complaints have solicited little more than shrugs or blanket denials from lawmakers from the rest of the state.

But Northern Nevada officials now appear to be changing their tune, at least slightly. In a recent series of reports by KSNV Channel 3 that examined the disparity in higher education funding between North and South, officials from Northern Nevada, without exactly admitting the problem, said things had changed to make funding more fair. They blame the late state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, for any disparity.

Their message was as clear as it was stunning: If there was a problem, it has been fixed, and don’t blame us, blame Bill Raggio.

Seriously? Blame Raggio? Everything is fixed?

They still don’t get it.

Read the whole story

By USSA

ARE, Sweden — Olympic medalists Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley) finished 20th and Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-VaIL) 24th in the last Audi FIS Alpine World Cup women’s giant slalom prior to the World Cup Finals.

Rain and high winds forced organizers to lower the start for each run, cutting at least 15 seconds off the run times. Austrian Anna Fenninger won for the second straight day to move into the overall World Cup points lead and jump within 14 points of giant slalom leader Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden. A slalom featuring Shiffrin, the current World Cup leader in the discipline, will be contested Saturday to close competition in Are.

Shiffrin, who has more than 500 World Cup points and is currently sixth in the giant slalom standings, is the only American woman qualified to race giant slalom at Finals.

Austrian Anna Fenninger won for the second straight day to move into the World Cup overall lead and cut Swede Jessica Lindell-Vikarby’s advantage in the giant slalom standings to 14 points.

Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg finshed second, followed by Vikarby.

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe has agreed to pay Leigh-Ellen Yarbrough $49,500 in what it calls a breach of contract case.

Her attorney says it was much more than that.

City Attorney Tom Watson said he had little to do with the case because it was handled by outside counsel and he was new to the city as the lawsuit was wrapping up.

While the council agreed to settle in November, the formal vote on the settlement was not taken until last month in closed session.

Several charges against the city were alleged in the lawsuit.

According to Jacqueline Mittelstadt, Yarbrough’s attorney, it all started when Yarbrough called 911 from the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena to report a sex offender being near children. Yarbrough was a temporary part-time employee at the rink when it was still operated by the city and had a contract with the city to be an independent coach.

That wasn’t the first time Yarbrough had warned authorities about the sex offender’s presence.

The sex offender’s wife was a member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission and said it was fine for him to be there because their daughter was skating.

Shortly thereafter Yarbrough was banned from the arena. And in the settlement agreement she is banned for the next three years.

During this time she lost her job, so part of the suit had to do with being wrongfully terminated.

“You can’t fire someone for whistle blowing,” Mittelstadt said.

The sex offender ultimately went to prison and the rec commissioner resigned.

“The community of South Lake Tahoe should be giving her a medal. For all we know she helped avert another Jaycee Lee Dugard situation,” Mittelstadt told Lake Tahoe News.

Mittelstadt said the most egregious part of the whole issue is “this is what every citizen should be doing to protect our children … calling 911 to protect our children. Nepotism and politics slammed this person.”

The city’s insurance company is footing the bill, according to Watson.