By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee

Alfred Villalobos, the former CalPERS board member accused of bribing pension fund officials, is having trouble collecting some of the fees he earned for his work.

Court records show at least one of Villalobos’ clients – Aurora Capital Group, the investment firm headed by Republican power broker Gerald Parsky – is refusing to pay $2 million.

That could cause headaches for state officials, who are trying to corral Villalobos’ assets as they pursue a $95 million lawsuit against him. In the suit, Attorney General Jerry Brown says the Lake Tahoe businessman bribed three CalPERS officials to steer investments to his clients.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

Who the next president of Lake Tahoe Community College will be may not be known for some time, but the board is likely to decide June 8 on a process for finding that person.

At a special board meeting Wednesday morning the board accepted the resignation of President Paul Killpatrick. His last day is July 16. He has taken a job with a community college in Washington.

At the meeting June 2, a large contingent of faculty and classified employees expressed a desire to have an interim president. The idea they proposed was to have Sue Niehoff, vice president of Business Services who has been at the college since February, and Tom Greene, who starts as VP of Academic Affairs and Student Services this summer, share the duties of president.

An interim president by statute could have the position for a year, with the possibility of extending it another year if certain criteria are met.

More public input will be sought next Tuesday.

With Killpatrick’s departure being six weeks away it would be near impossible to have a permanent replacement in place. The board will have to decide what to for the short term as well.

Other considerations are whether the search will be handled internally or via a consultant. With so many jobs having already been consolidated, the burden of being on a presidential search team could be too great.

Plus, the college is ramping up for the fall accreditation process, the introduction of an all-consuming software system and is in the throes of a budget crisis. Summer is not the ideal recruiting time for this level of position — December, into spring is when larger pools of candidates can often be found.

The meeting is at 6pm June 8 in the Aspen Room.

• The American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade association for the fireworks industry, ranks the Lake Tahoe South Shore the fourth best Fourth of July display in the country. New York, Chicago and Washington took the top three spots.

• Tahoe’s Robert Frohlich and Darin Talbot this month will receive the 2010 Warren Miller Award from the Far West Ski Association for outstanding service by cinematographers, photographers, radio or television broadcasters.

• Dragonfly Restaurant in Truckee is doing its part to support fellow merchants along Commercial Row by offering diners savings on lunch and dinner if they shop downtown in June. Spend at least $25 at any downtown merchant’s store, bring the receipt to Dragonfly and receive 25 percent off your lunch or dinner bill in June.

• California Department of Public Health officials are warning that the recent rise in illnesses due to pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, should serve as a call to action to ensure all age groups are appropriately vaccinated against this disease to protect the most vulnerable, particularly young infants.

• South Lake Tahoe’s Blue Ribbon Choir earned first place for High School Women’s Choir last month at the Music in the Parks Competition in Santa Clara.

By Frank X. Mullen, Reno Gazette-Journal

Scientists have identified a new type of marine reptile, which 240 million years ago roamed the sea that became the Nevada desert.

Judging by the size and sharpness of its teeth, the recently-discovered ichthyosaur was a fierce predator that ate various prey including his fellow fish-lizards, researchers said. When the find was reported at a conference in England in September, Science News said the specimen could be the “T-Rex of the seas.”

Nadia Frobisch, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Chicago, and her team unearthed the fossil in the Augusta Mountains of central Nevada in 2008 and are studying it. She said ichthyosaurs, Nevada’s state fossil, have been dug up in the region for decades, but the recent specimen is bigger than a killer whale and may be a new species or even a new genus.

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By Reno Gazette-Journal

Summertime is the biggest time of year for bands to head out on the road. It’s when the outdoor amphitheaters take on the big shows and the hottest tours take stages of all sizes. Tours big and small will hit Reno and Tahoe this year, from hitmakers such as Elton John, Rascal Flatts and Justin Bieber, to the smaller, but beloved acts such as Danzig, Ani DiFranco and Dropkick Murphys. While ticket prices aren’t coming down a whole lot from previous years, they’re not rising much, either. Here’s a look at what’s to come through Labor Day. Don’t see something you like? It never

Elton John

fails that the day we publish our preview, new shows are announced.

Read the whole story

The annual Sawmill Pond Kids’ Fishing Derby is June 5 from 8am to noon.

All kids under 14 are welcome to participate in the free derby. If you don’t have a fishing pole, the guides from Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters will have some loaners.

No lures can be used during the derby. In addition to the fishing derby, the Optimist Club will provide barbecue hot dogs and refreshments.

Note to Parents: If you’d like to donate prizes or volunteer to help, contact Mac-the-Naw at (775) 267.9722 or Victor Babbitt at the Tahoe Fly fishing Outfitters at (530) 541.8208.

Sawmill Pond is at the corner of Sawmill Road and Lake Tahoe Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe.

To the community,

The city of South Lake Tahoe has been notified that for the second year in a row, it has been awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers’ Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA). This national award ranks the proficiency of the city’s budget document in terms of a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device.

This year’s award rated “Outstanding” the following categories:

1. Financial policies;

2. Major Revenues (descriptions, assumptions, forecast);

3. Changes in Fund Balance/Equity;

4. Organizational Chart; and

5. Summary position Information

I am proud of the work of the Finance Director and her staff, the city’s department managers, and the strong City Council commitment to maintaining fiscal integrity of the City as we move forward in these uncertain economic times. Maintaining our strong commitment to serving our community, working on programs and relationships to diversify and build a stronger local economy, and maintaining the financial integrity of our city government will be a hallmark for future success.

Dave Jinkens, South Lake Tahoe city manager

Blue Angel Cafe on Ski Run Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe is the featured restaurant this week in Taste of Tahoe. The eatery will be donating a chunk of its profits to the local Relay for Life event through Saturday.

Each week a different restaurant on the South Shore is giving a portion of its proceeds to the event that helps raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The South Shore Relay for Life is the first weekend in August at Kahle Community Park in Stateline.

The eighth annual Corvettes at Lake Tahoe car show is June 18–19 at MontBleu in Stateline.

It is free.

Corvettes will be on display from 3–7pm Friday and 8am-5pm Saturday.

For more info, call Paul Anthony at (775) 267.1479 or go to www.laketahoecorvetteclub.org.

June 27 from 12:30-2:30pm Unity at the Lake guest speaker Kathy Zavada and workshop “Awakening to the Self through Love” at the Tahoe Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

This workshop is an invitation to recognize, realize and rest in our true nature as love itself. Through deeply conscious music, meditation, self-reflection practices, and loving guidance we will be supported in opening the heart fully, going beyond the mind and story, and feeling the wonder of our true, unlimited self.

Zavada is a gifted facilitator, speaker, teacher, musician, and healing presence who uses her gifts to deeply support the opening of the heart and awakening of the self. Visit her website at www.kathyzavada.com.

For more info, call (530) 544.2266 or visit www.unityatthelake.org.