By Kathryn Reed

Police descended upon Broc’s Puppies this morning, arresting four South Lake Tahoe men and taking two dogs.

The arrests had nothing to do with the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office’s ongoing investigation into the South Lake Tahoe store on allegations it sells sick puppies from illegal puppy mills.

Detective Matt Harwood searches a Broc's Puppies' van Jan. 8 Photo/Taylor Flynn/Tahoe Mountain News

However, the owner of the store, David Franks, is one of the people in custody. He was arrested by El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies on a probation violation out of Nevada. Why he is on probation and what the violation was are not known.

Also arrested Jan. 8 were South Lake Tahoe residents: Octavio Trejo, 29, on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia and bringing a controlled substance into jail; Andres de la Torre, 26, on a parole violation and possession of a hypodermic needle; and James Rogan, 46, on felony and misdemeanor warrants out of San Bernardino County.

The dogs taken by Animal Control were not puppies for sale, but belonged to one of the suspects.

The store stayed open today with the assistance of Franks’ family members who did not want to make a comment.

South Lake Tahoe implemented an ordinance last year that bans the sale of dogs and cats. Broc’s is allowed to operate until spring 2011 based on that legislation.

The Lake Tahoe Humane Society sent this to the media today, “The LTHS and SPCA has been contacted by a buyer who had DNA testing performed on a puppy purchased at Broc’s. The test results contributed to a court judgment for damages, according to the buyer. The buyer would like interested parties to know that she is holding a demonstration in front of the Broc’s Puppies store beginning at 10 AM Saturday, January 9. She stated that the demonstration will continue until the judgment is paid. Signs will be available for those who wish to participate in support of the judgment.”

What is Jack’s Food Pantry? What does it do? Who does it do it for? Find out on Saturday at 10am by listening to KTHO FM.96.1/AM-590 (www.kthoradio.com) when Kathy Pavich answers those questions and then some.

Denver Business Journal

Vail Resorts Inc. said Friday its skier visits at its five winter resorts were down 2.7 percent through Wednesday from a year earlier, but the company said it was pleased with its results so far given light early-season snowfall.

The Broomfield-based winter-resort and hotel company (NYSE:MTN) operates the Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone ski resorts in Colorado and the Heavenly resort on Lake Tahoe in

Skier visits are down at Heavenly's parent company. Photo/Kathryn Reed

California and Nevada.

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The 10-day festival to celebrate Squaw hosting the 1960 Winter Olympics starts today. LTN has several stories — feel free to do a search for them on the site. Here is today’s ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

By Lindsey Sine, USSA

HAUS IM ENNSTAL, Austria — It was Lindsey Vonn’s (Vail, CO) day Friday as the World Champion showed that her bruised left arm was no problem, charging through flat light conditions to win the downhill Audi FIS Alpine World Cup in Austria.

“I needed this win today to get my confidence back on track and to feel like I could ski well again. It’s been a couple of bad races since my arm injury,” Vonn said. “I was able to concentrate really well on my run. I’m happy with the way the weekend is starting and hopefully I can keep the ball rolling and have a good race tomorrow and Sunday.”

It was the 26th career win and third downhill of this season for Vonn, who said her injured arm was not really a factor for her.

“It hurt, but thankfully the start is only five or 10 seconds of the course. After that I was able to concentrate on my run and not be thinking about my arm too much,” Vonn said. “I’m just thankful that it doesn’t hurt as bad in downhill as it did in slalom. Hopefully the self-confidence will transfer over into the technical events, too.”

After incredibly snowy conditions for the women’s downhill training on Thursday, Friday’s speeds were four to five seconds faster in the much clearer conditions. For Vonn, who regained the overall lead by 35 points, this meant having a different race.

“The downhill was really fun today. The snow was very good, it was just a little bit bumpy at the bottom and it made it a little bit difficult because the light was flat, but I just kept charging,” Vonn said. “I went in a complete snowstorm yesterday and today was a different track. When you’re going five seconds faster everything feels different.”

After Friday’s win, Vonn is looking to stay on top and hopes to be able to do so throughout the weekend.

“I need to look at the video, see where I can be more aggressive tomorrow and hopefully I’ll stay ahead of the girls,” Vonn said.

The day of racing in Haus also treated Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) and Olympic champion Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) well as each cracked the top 15 with Cook 13th and Mancuso 14th. The two were separated by only a hundredth.

“It was awesome and once Jules came down, no one could come between us. It was pretty cool to be in there with her,” Cook said.

For Cook, being able to follow through on her plans and overcome conditions was what brought her success on Friday.

“I think I executed my plan and skied well. The light was pretty flat, but that was luck of the draw. I had one of the best runs I could for the conditions,” Cook said.

Rookie Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) continued to shine with her third points-scoring downhill of the year, finishing in a tie for 21st.

There’s more racing in store for Haus with another downhill on tap Saturday, and a super G Sunday where weather may again be a factor with snow predicted. Women’s Alpine Head Coach Jim Tracy is hoping the weather forecasters are wrong.

“We’re all really happy with the way the girls executed today. We were a little bit leery about the weather and what it was going to do, but it held,” Tracy said. “A lot is going to be dependent on the weather now because they’re calling for snow. Hopefully they’ll be wrong and the girls can go and execute again tomorrow.”

Haus Im Ennstal, Austria, Jan. 8, Women’s Downhill

1. Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO, 1:38.84

2. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 1:39.19

3. Maria Riesch, Germany, 1:39.23

4. Nadia Fanchini, Italy, 1:39.68

5. Marion Rolland, France, 1:39.78

–

13. Stacey Cook, Mammoth Mountain, CA, 1:40.43

14. Julia Mancuso, Olympic Valley, CA, 1:40.44

21. Alice McKennis, Glenwood Springs, CO, 1:40.83

33. Chelsea Marshall, Pittsfield, VT, 1:41.10

48. Keely Kelleher, Big Sky, MT, 1:42.35

–

DNF: Leanne Smith, Conway, NH

By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee

Gilbert Maines’ on-again, off-again effort to represent Nancy Garrido in her kidnapping trial was off again Thursday after an appellate court in Sacramento upheld his removal from the case.

“This came as a complete surprise to me,” the Placerville attorney said shortly after the order was issued by the 3rd District Court of Appeal.

Maines was appointed to represent Garrido in August after she and her husband, Phillip, were arrested in the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard. Maines has been fighting since November to stay on the case.

Read the whole story

Soulrising will be at Divided Sky in Meyers on Jan. 16 at 10pm.

The Trespassers have been playing original, string band music together for five and a half years.

They will be at Divided Sky in Meyers on Jan. 29 at 10pm.

The band is most often described as a Bluegrass band, but the influence stems from many genres. Bronco Ben’s songwriting is gritty and gutsy.

Lavish Green will be at Divided Sky in Meyers on Jan. 15 at 10pm.

Living life and creating honest music for more than 14 years, Lavish Green continues to grind away and work hard to bring entertainment to a wide range of audiences. Whether it is on a huge stage fully blown, a high energy rock show or a more intimate unplugged setting, the band brings an original approach to finding places to sing and play our hearts and souls out.

Montana Slim String Band is an emerging newgrass string band from San Francisco.

They will be at Divided Sky in Meyers on Jan. 23 at 10pm.

Combining diverse musical backgrounds and influences, they have succeeded in creating a sound all their own. Built upon invigorating live performances, peppered with dueling melodic fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar improvisation, Montana Slim will have the dance floor swaying.

Passionate vocal harmonies, reflective lyrical tales, and solid foundational bass rhythms can all be found in Montana Slim’s original youthful interpretation of bluegrass.