By Jeanine Benca and Caterina Mellinger, Contra Costa Times

Kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard and her children have relocated to a safe, private location in a rural part of the East Bay, within driving distance of the house near Antioch where Dugard was kept most of her life, according to sources who have been helping the family.

For the past four months, donations from East Bay Fellowship — a Danville church whose leaders have a background helping victims of human trafficking — have been used to pay the rent on Dugard’s new home,

Jaycee Lee Dugard

said East Bay Fellowship Associate Pastor Mari Hanes.

Read the whole story

Forecast still calls for snow all day in Lake Tahoe. It’s dry at the lake on the South Shore this morning. Here’s the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

By Case Keefer, Las Vegas Sun

As far as Nevada is concerned, the 2006 Super Bowl comes in as the greatest ever.

Super Bowl XL, which paired the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks, generated a record $94.5 million worth of sports wagers in the state. At least one prominent sports book director in town thinks this year’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints could surpass that total.

“I believe that the total handle for the state will be a nice number,” said John Avello, race and sports book director at Wynn Las Vegas. “It could be the biggest number of all time.”

Read the whole story

Super Bowl Betting Totals

2009-$81.5 million

2008-$92 million

2007-$93 million

2006-$94.5 million

2005-$90.7 million

2004-$81.2 million

2003-$71.6 million

2002-$71.5 million

2001-$67.6 million

2000-$71 million

By Kathryn Reed

El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has awarded two contracts for work to be done at the toxic Meyers Landfill on the outskirts of South Lake Tahoe.

However, the decades-old lawsuit brought by the U.S. Forest Service against a slew of defendants must be resolved before work can begin. The feds own the land that the county used as a dump until the early 1970s.

The federal government filed a lawsuit almost 20 years ago when vinyl chloride was found seeping into the groundwater.

“They are working really diligently to settle it,” said Gerri Silva, director of the county’s Environmental Management Department, said of the lawsuit.

With the rule of no dirt being able to be moved until May 1 in the Lake Tahoe Basin, officials have their fingers crossed a settlement will be reached by then so the contractor can begin work on the cap. The cap on the old dump off Pioneer Trail could take all summer to construct.

Sukut Construction of Southern California was awarded the $2.6 million contract. This is much less than the more than $5 million the U.S. Forest Service had projected.

Sukut has worked on a number of landfill projects up and down California, with Jamestown the nearest site. Its website says, “Sukut is one of the nation’s top landfill constructor. We provide a full range of construction for all elements for private and public landfills through landfill expansion, landfill repair and landfill closures.”

The company is familiar with the South Shore, having been a subcontractor on work contracted by the county after the 2007 Angora Fire.

El Dorado also awarded a nearly $240,000 contract to Geosyntec Consultants to oversee quality control. The company is headquartered in Georgia, but has offices in the Bay Area.

This oversight is required for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) projects. Geosyntec has done work in the basin before for the Forest Service.

The case needs to be settled to have work begin because money is not in hand to honor the bids. A $750,000 grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board is all that’s secured. Much of what is being discussed by attorneys is who will pay what amount.

By Kathryn Reed

TWIN BRIDGES — Riding the same boardercross route that has enabled Joanie Anderson to become a world-class athlete did not deter or intimidate these riders. This particular group went up and over the rollers on Friday like they may follow in her footsteps.

The only difference is they will be doing it with prosthetics.

Mike Shea and Evan Strong are ready to tackle the boardercross at Sierra. Photos/Kathryn Reed

“It’s my first time to ride with other amputees. You learn from each other,” said Mike Shea, who lives in Castaic in Southern California. He comes to Lake Tahoe a few times a year to snowboard.

He was an able bodied snowboarder until a ski rope wrapped around his leg when he fell out of a boat severed his leg. Shea was back on the slopes a few months after the debilitating accident, but he admits he had to relearn the sport.

Brady Gunsch, who is a coach at Sierra-at-Tahoe, dispensed advice to the adaptive riders in advance of today’s race. Adaptive boardercross is part of the USASA’s list of events today at Sierra.

“They won’t change the rollers, but they’ll put a little more lip on it (for the race),” Gunsch told the handful of riders at the top of Smokey.

He told them they can rub against another rider, but pushing is not allowed.

Mike Shea, right, listens to Coach Brady Gunsch.

Evan Strong of Nevada City has been competing in skateboarding for years — even before his accident — so transitioning to snowboarding competitions has not been too difficult. This is his third winter on a board.

“I want to inspire abled and disabled to feel passionate about anything. To be alive,” Strong said.

He wants to see how far he can go with snowboarding.

Strong is headed to Vancouver in March to be part of the Paralympic Games. He’ll be in a skateboarding exhibition during the Opening Ceremonies in Vancouver. One day he’d like to compete for a medal in the Games.

All of these athletes came together because of Adaptive Action Sports. This group was founded by Daniel Gale and Amy Purdy to encourage people living with permanent physical disabilities to get active.

“The goal is to get people to qualify for the USASA Nationals (in April),” Brent Kuemmerle, the organization’s winter program director, said of today’s event. “We picked Sierra because they have a long standing tradition of putting out Olympic athletes.”

By Susan Skorupa, Reno Gazette-Journal

One good thing came from the death by avalanche of miner William F. Weir near Poker Flat in the western Sierra Nevada on Dec. 17, 1852.

Other miners learned that knowing how to ski could help them survive in the mountains.

Skis and sleds, snowshoes and Olympic competition form the core of new books by Lake Tahoe writers David C. Antonucci and Mark McLaughlin.

McLaughlin’s “Longboards to Olympics: A Century of Tahoe Winter Sports” (Mic Mac Publishing, $24.95 paperback) tracks the history of winter sports in the Sierra from Weir’s ill-fated meeting with an avalanche through the innovations and advancements of winter-sport racing and commercial ventures and the Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley in 1960.

Read the whole story

Homewood Mountain Resort’s Dress-Up Days’ dare skiers and riders to show up on Saturdays throughout spring clad in costume. Those who do will receive $5 off a full-day adult lift ticket.

Homewood Dress-Up Day calendar:

Feb. 13 – Retro Day (Decades flashback – 60s, 70s and 80s

Feb. 27 – Old West Day (Cowboys vs. Indians)

March 13 – Hawaiian Day (Grass skirts, coconuts for the brave)

March 27 – Pajama Day (Big bathrobes, plaid flannel, even a muumuu will pass)

April 10 – Nautical Day (Think sailor hat, white pants, stripes)

Homewood provides free live music from 1-4pm on certain Dress-Up Days:

Feb. 13 – Kate Gaffney

March 27 – The Dirt Floor Band

April 10 – Downbeat

Helly Hansen’s renowned all-mountain competition returns to Squaw Valley Feb. 20.

In its second year, this unique competition challenges teams of skiers and riders to explore their favorite resort from top to bottom for a chance to win an all-expense-paid trip to the finals in Aspen/Snowmass.

The Squaw Big Mountain Battle is one of seven tour stops. At each stop, teams of two take on courses designed by Jeff McKitrick and Helly Hansen. Teams (ski, snowboard, or mixed) must complete each of the hikes. Flaik GPS devices will track the performance of each participant.

Teams can ski anywhere for extra points once they have completed the designated bowls. The top three teams to complete the hikes, course and checkpoints in the fastest times are awarded prizes. Teams can win in the following categories after completing the designated bowls: Fastest Hike, Most Vertical, Most Runs and Most Lift Rides. The team to finish with the most points wins a trip to Aspen/Snowmass to compete in the Big Mountain Battle Finals on March 28.

The event pre-registration entry fee is $75 per team and includes two Helly Hansen LIFA® base layers valued at $45 each. Online pre-registration closes Feb. 18 at midnight, and check-in will be from 8-9:30am at a location TBD. Entry is limited to the first 100 teams, and registration on the day of the event is available for $10 more per person. The awards ceremony kicks off at 1:30pm at the Chamois.

For more information and to register online, visit www.bigmountainbattle.com.

By Micah Abrams, ESPN

Everybody can exhale. The Winter Dew Tour Slopestyle came to it’s final, inevitable, and thrilling conclusion Friday at Mount Snow in Vermont. In addition to handing out hardware for the tour’s third stop — the Toyota Championship — overall Dew Cup Slopestyle Champions were also named. Needless to say, excitement abounds.

Arguably, the day belonged to 19-year-old Jamie Anderson, who rebounded from a disappointing Winter X Games performance to earn both the event and overall win. “It’s unbelievable; I’m so excited to win the Dew Cup,” she said. “I’ve come close before so to actually get it this year is a great feeling.”

South Tahoe's Jaime Anderson wins the Dew Series in Vermont Feb. 5. Photo/Jen Kotter/courtesy Sierra Resort

Read the whole story

By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee

Jaycee Lee Dugard and the couple accused of kidnapping her as a child eventually became a family, taking vacations together, spending time at the library, raising pets and running a family business, court documents filed late Thursday claim.

The documents, made available this morning, were filed by Phillip Garrido’s defense attorneys and claim that sexual activity involving Dugard ended after she gave birth to her second child by Garrido.

Read the whole story