By Patrick McGreevy and Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO — Internet users would get more protection for their confidential information under a bill that lawmakers sent Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday.

The legislators also want Brown to extend carpool-lane access for owners of hybrid plug-in vehicles and to toughen state rules for storing guns.

The Internet bill is an effort to keep up with technology, lawmakers said. Existing law requires that consumers be notified when database operators find breaches that disclose Social Security, driver’s license and credit card numbers or medical records.

But California does not require customer notification when passwords, user names or security questions and answers are breached.

Read the whole story

Geographical Divides: Finding Common Ground is an exhibit that explores the connections and dissimilarities between Northern and Southern Nevada cultures and geographies.

Sixteen Nevada artists – eight from the south and eight from the north — paired up with their geographical counterpoints to collaborate on art that commented on each others economic, environmental, political and social settings. The exhibit opens Sept. 14 and runs through Dec. 15 at the Comstock History Center, 20 North E S. in Virginia City. The center is open Thursday-Sunday from 11am-4pm.

The exhibit is free.

El Dorado County students in grades 8-12 are invited to participate in the juvenile justice system through the Teen Court program.

Volunteer training will be Sept. 26 from 5-6:30pm in El Dorado County Superior Court, Department 4, located at 1354 Johnson Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

Upon completion of the mandatory training, teens will serve as court personnel for real cases where a minor has committed an offense, admitted the offense, and chosen to be judged by his/her peers.

Pre-registration for the training is not required. Students must be El Dorado County residents and enrolled in grades 8-12; private school students and home schooled students are also welcome.

Teen Court hearings in South Lake Tahoe will begin Oct. 17 and continue through May 2014. Hearings will be on scheduled Thursday nights at the South Lake Tahoe courthouse.

For more information, contact Jorge Orozco at (530) 573.7964.

By Hudson Sangree, Sacramento Bee

Nearly 6,400 acres of land in the scenic Martis Valley between Truckee and Lake Tahoe would be preserved under an agreement announced Wednesday among conservation groups, landowners and developers.

The pine forests and sagebrush meadows to be protected flow down the slopes of Martis Peak, which borders the Tahoe basin and has striking views of Lake Tahoe and Donner Summit.

An agreement means less development and more open space in Martis Valley. Photo/LTN

If Placer County officials approve the deal, the land, now owned by lumber giant Sierra Pacific Industries, would be the largest parcel yet preserved in an effort to protect the 70-square-mile Martis Valley from large-scale development.

“This is the biggest piece of the conservation puzzle in Martis Valley,” said Tom Mooers, executive director of Sierra Watch. The conservation group helped negotiate the agreement and previously has been involved in similar deals in Martis Valley, including preservation of the 1,400-acre Waddle Ranch.

The efforts came about after Placer County approved the Martis Valley Community Plan in 2003. The plan would have allowed 6,000 homes along with commercial and recreational development on the county’s 45-square-mile section of the valley, once home to cattle ranches.

Read the whole story

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times

OAKLEY — Randy Pope is a conservative-tinged libertarian with a strong aversion to big government and the nanny state he sees “growing, growing, growing.”

“I can’t choose which toilet I want to put in my house. I can’t choose which light bulb I want to illuminate my living room,” he says, ticking off the outrages on his meaty fingers. “I can’t choose which shower head I’m going to use when I’m bathing.”

Pope is a city councilman in this Democratic-leaning suburb on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and if that seems unusual given his rightward bent, he is not alone. Four of the five Oakley council members are registered Republicans, like Pope, elected the same day that voters overwhelmingly backed Democrats Jerry Brown and Barack Obama and approved Proposition 30, the state tax hike initiative.

Over the last two decades, California has become a Democratic fortress, beyond the GOP’s reach in presidential campaigns and all but hopeless in statewide contests. Republicans are largely irrelevant in Sacramento, where the most important fights are between liberal and more moderate Democrats.

Read the whole story

The South Lake Tahoe City Council needs volunteers for city commissions.

The City Council will be appointing two American with Disability members to the Building/ADA Board of Appeals and one person to serve a two-year term on the Planning Commission.

Applications may be obtained at the City Clerk’s Office at 1901 Airport Road, South Lake Tahoe between 8am-5pm Monday through Friday. Applications may also be downloaded.

The deadline to apply is Sept. 25. The council will make appointments Oct. 1.

Updated 9:50am:

A red flag warning has been issued for the greater Lake Tahoe area, including western Nevada, until 11 tonight.

These warnings mean weather conditions are ripe for a fire occurring – high winds and low humidity. Winds are expected to be out of the southwest at 15 to 25 mph, with gusts up to 35 mph, 45 mph in wind prone areas and 65 mph on ridges.

Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake will have winds much sooner in the day than usual, according to the National Weather Service in Reno. By 8am gusts of 30 mph are possible on both lakes. A lake wind advisory is in effect for Lake Tahoe today from 8am-11pm. Waves could be 2-4 feet.

Smoke from the Rim Fire burning near Yosemite could continue to blow toward the basin.

The fire is now at 237,341 acres and is 80 percent contained.

Jerry Snyder with the U.S. Forest Service told the Associated Press that investigators have ruled out an illegal marijuana grow as being the cause.

AP on Thursday morning has stated the USFS is reporting the cause of the Rim Fire is a hunter’s illegal campfire.

Officials say to date it has cost $81 million to fight the Rim Fire. Full containment is expected Sept. 20.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

• This season marks the first time in five years that South Tahoe High has fielded three football teams – frosh, JV and varsity.

• Updates on the Village at Squaw Valley project are available online.

• Lake Tahoe Community College board of trustees is having a public hearing Sept. 10 at 6:15pm regarding the 2013-14 budget.

• Peter Brinckerhoff, executive chef for Riva Grill and the Tahoe Restaurant Collection, won the Sierra Chef Challenge at Sample the Sierra.

• As part of its commitment to sustainable operations, Raley’s selected energy-efficient LED lighting by Cree Inc. to illuminate its gas station, car wash and convenience store in South Lake Tahoe.

By Kathryn Reed

Sometime in October the T.J. Maxx building in South Lake Tahoe will be a water customer of South Tahoe Public Utility District’s instead of Lukins Brothers Water Company.

The STPUD board will get an update this afternoon at 2 about the property owner’s application for water service and the main line extension.

The Garfinkles own the building at the Y.

The water supply became an issue last fall just before the department store was about to open. It was discovered there was not adequate water pressure for the sprinkler system that had been installed. An emergency agreement was drawn up between the two water companies that would provide fire suppression by South Tahoe PUD if needed.

The T.J. Maxx building will switch this fall from Lukins to STPUD water. Photo/LTN

Original sprinkler plans had been signed off by the South Lake Tahoe fire marshal. But when it came time for inspection it was discovered that the system was of a higher grade that is more than the building needs and would require more pressure than Lukins could supply.

(The Garfinkles and the contractor are in a lawsuit regarding that issue.)

For months a resolution has been sought for a permanent supply of water in the event of a fire. The Garfinkles, who live off the hill, triggered a clause in their agreement that allows them to switch from Lukins to STPUD.

“I never thought it would come to that. It’s such an unfortunate situation,” Jennifer Lukins told Lake Tahoe News.

Switching water companies requires special circumstances like this. It’s not just something any customer may ask for and receive.

The Garfinkles have told STPUD they will have the necessary work done by Oct. 1.

Part of the reason for the switch is the money involved. STPUD was going to charge Lukins $147,500 for the fire only connection fee. This represents 36 percent of a full domestic 8-inch connection. Lukins in turn was going to pass the cost onto Garfinkles and not spread the expense to all of its customers.

South Tahoe PUD offered Garfinkles domestic and fire water for $97,469.

Richard Solbrig, STPUD general manager, said the total comes in part from the connection fee and then the following:

• The estimated 1-inch diameter domestic line for $11,389;

• Six-inch diameter for the sprinklers in T.J. Maxx for $953;

• A 4-inch diameter for the sprinklers in the other half of the building currently unoccupied for $477;

• A $2,500 water main extension agreement charge;

• A $2,000 time and materials deposit;

• A $150 administration fee.

“Note that both options provide the capability of extending the main further along James Avenue to accommodate redevelopment of the old AAA building on the adjacent parcel. This is currently being studied by the property owner,” Solbrig told Lake Tahoe News.

Lukins, though, said the neighboring building would remain one of her company’s customers.

By Laurel Ames

On the shore of Sand Harbor Beach two weeks ago, state and federal lawmakers joined former Vice President Al Gore to celebrate modest improvements in Lake Tahoe’s clarity over the last two years and to laud the “cooperation” between California and Nevada toward ensuring the lake’s future.

Lost amid the pomp and circumstance of the 17th annual Lake Tahoe Summit, however, is the fact that due to recent actions by the very politicians who praised one another in Incline Village, Tahoe’s future is now murky at best.

The lake that was once the bluest in America now faces the very real prospect of becoming increasingly clouded by pollutants, fast spreading algae and aggressive water plants, with its spectacular mountain ridgelines and shoreline obstructed by new tall buildings, increased traffic and congestion around the lake.

That is because last December, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency approved an innocent-sounding “Regional Plan Update” that upended more than three decades of carefully restrained growth rates and strong environmental protections. The old approach will be replaced with this radical increase in crowded areas and an equally radical reduction of protection measures.

Under the new plan, the planning agency all but abandons its primary mission: protecting Lake Tahoe. At the same time, the plan allows TRPA to cede its authority for planning and permitting to the same local governments that failed to protect Tahoe in the past.

The Coalition to Protect Lake Tahoe is speaking out to expose the fact that the plan allows more polluted runoff, traffic, smog, pavement and taller buildings – removing the firewall of environmental protection that the standards were intended to provide.

Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore, represented by lawyers from Earthjustice, are legally challenging the new plan and opposing California Senate Bill 630, which would formalize TRPA’s new approach of placing economic desires on an equal footing with environmental protection, because we are determined to protect Lake Tahoe.

While the Sacramento Bee’s editorial “Regional pact, however imperfect, is best chance to keep Tahoe blue” (Aug. 25) acknowledged that the plan is “imperfect,” the Bee hinges its hopes for the lake’s future on implementation of the plan and more federal funding.

Yet even the best designed “implementation” and more federal funding can’t solve fundamental flaws such as the lack of proper monitoring and enforcement.

While the editorial rightly acknowledges the need to reverse deterioration of Lake Tahoe, there is no margin for error when it comes to absorbing any new increase in pollutants. The Regional Plan update is pushing the lake to its tipping point – the moment when pollutants overwhelm the ability of the lake to be restored.

Laurel Ames is conservation co-chair of the Tahoe Area Sierra Club and member of the Coalition to Protect Lake Tahoe.