More people are coming down with hepatitis A after eating Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend frozen berries purchased from Costco.

El Dorado County health officials have identified one confirmed case associated with the hepatitis A outbreak. The individual, who lives on the West Slope, sought medical attention and is improving, according to county health officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting as of June 4 at least 49 people in seven states have gotten hepatitis A from eating the organic frozen berries. There have been no reported deaths.

The product has been recalled, and Costco has removed it from the shelves.

The California Department of Public Health is advising consumers not to eat the frozen berries and to throw away or return any unused product to Costco. People who have consumed the product within the last 14 days should consult with their health care provider to discuss possible hepatitis A prevention and treatment options.

Hepatitis A vaccine can prevent infection if given within 14 days of exposure.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Big Blue Concierge of South Lake Tahoe just released its “Concierge in Your Pocket” app for locals, visitors and vacation home owners in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The app includes hiking and biking trails, historical venues, dog friendly locations, homeowner services such as plumbers and electricians, restaurants, happy hours, discounts, shops, rentals, wedding vendors and more.

There is also a locals’ point-of-view blog on the app.

Paula Peterson, owner of Big Blue Concierge, has lived in South Lake Tahoe for 34 years.

The app can be found on the iTunes App Store under “bigbluec” and in the Google Play Store for Androids at “big blue concierge.”

For more information, call Peterson at (530) 307.0909, email paula@bigblueconcierge.com.

By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee

It was an awkward public spectacle Tuesday for El Dorado County Supervisor Ray Nutting.

One week after the district attorney had him arrested on four felony charges of violating political disclosure and conflict of interest laws, the veteran supervisor publicly declared his innocence. Then he recused himself from participating in nearly every vote by the Board of Supervisors indefinitely.

Free on $55,000 bail in a criminal case stemming from his alleged concealment of state income for brush-clearing on his family ranch, Nutting took his seat Tuesday with his fellow supervisors as usual.

But then he agreed not to vote on anything involving the county budget, state and federal contracts – or even approving minutes of board proceedings.

Ray Nutting

Wearing a gray suit, Nutting listened as County Counsel Ed Knapp delivered a lengthy address to the board asserting that it would be imprudent for Nutting to participate in any vote involving expenditure of taxpayer funds or any matter that could raise a specter of conflict of interest due to the supervisor’s criminal case.

“The county recognizes that all persons accused of a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” Knapp said at the opening of the board meeting. “However, the standards for the operation of the county’s business are different, and the county will take all necessary steps to ensure that the recent developments involving Supervisor Nutting do not interfere with the proper functioning of county government.”

A criminal complaint against Nutting, 53, charged that he broke the law by failing to list on statements of economic interest – required for public officials – that he received some $70,000 in income from the state in 2003 and 2009. He received the money from the California Forest Improvement Program for clearing brush at his 340-acre family ranch and is due to receive another $49,348 grant.

The supervisor also was charged with violating conflict of interest laws by failing to recuse himself from votes on county contracts with conservation districts that distribute the funds.

Nutting is due to be arraigned on the criminal charges next week. He said in an interview Tuesday, “I look forward to a speedy trial and being exonerated.”

At the board meeting, he promised to confine his votes to ministerial items – such as two declarations at Tuesday’s session in support of local Independence Day fireworks extravaganzas and a third item affirming an administrative list of surplus county property.

Nutting had pledged last week that he wouldn’t vote on any budget matters involving the District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting him. But Supervisor Ron Briggs, the board chairman, said supervisors were advised that no elected county officer facing indictments or complaints for political corruption could vote on county claims involving federal and state contracts.

In agreeing to recuse himself from most board votes, Nutting said Tuesday, “Although I am innocent, I believe my constituents want me to do what is in the best interest of the constituents – and protect those dollars.”

He added, “I do not believe there should be such a law that puts an innocent person in this situation.”

Amid sudden confusion over Nutting’s participation, the board on Monday had tabled a special hearing on the county budget. It also voted to hire the San Francisco law firm of Hanson Bridgett to advise the Board of Supervisors on how to handle the matter.

In his address to the board Tuesday, Knapp said that “due to the nature of the charges against Supervisor Nutting and various regulations involving use of state and federal funds, county counsel advises that Supervisor Nutting not participate in any board items that involve funding.”

Knapp also said Nutting should “recuse himself from any other items where his participation might give rise to an appearance of a conflict of interest.”

That infuriated one of Nutting’s constituents, Linda Columbo. A member of the Nashville-Sand Ridge Fire Safety Council in Nutting’s district, Columbo let the board have it for silencing his vote.

“I would like to see a little bit of fairness here, a little bit of compassion,” she told supervisors. “Stop the witch hunt. He (Nutting) represents my district and, for you to take away his right to represent me fairly, I can’t believe it.”

Nutting spent the day joining board members in passing noncontroversial items, honoring Boy Scouts and praising a presentation by a local skateboard park operator. But when most votes came up, he retreated to the audience or the hallway outside the supervisors chambers.

Nutting insisted Tuesday he will continue to work a full schedule. He outlined a public schedule including a community meeting tonight in Shingle Springs, where residents are protesting a proposed subdivision, and meetings with county school officials, the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce and local fire districts. He also will listen to community groups focused on mining and the federal Endangered Species Act.

“I’m trying to be as good of a supervisor as I can,” he said.

Then he recused himself from an afternoon discussion on a board letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the proposed federal status of the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog and the Yosemite toad.

Nutting said it was suggested to him that he sit this one out, too.

By Bill Lindelof, Sacramento Bee

A CHP helicopter crew made quick work in finding a lost grandmother in the woods of Placer County on Tuesday.

Dorothy Klishevich and her two grandsons, ages 12 and 13 years old, went hiking Tuesday in Lake Valley, about 20 miles west of Truckee. She parked her picku at the trailhead and the three began their hike through the mountainous area of small lakes, granite boulders and trees.

The boys got out ahead of Klishevich, eventually becoming separated from their grandmother, according to a California Highway Patrol press release. The woman used her cell phone to call 911 to report she was lost and could not find the children, the CHP said.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Department at 4:12pm requested help from the CHP helicopter crew. Pilot Mark Uhlenburg and flight officer-paramedic David White took off from the Auburn Airport and arrived at Lake Valley in 25 minutes.

The officers used the helicopter’s loudspeaker to call for the grandmother, instructing her to call 911. Klishevich heard their request and called 911 again.

With the help of a Placer County sheriff’s dispatcher, the helicopter crew found her next to a small lake. The helicopter landed on a granite slab and hiked a quarter mile to Klishevich.

She and a dog named Pluto that she had brought with her on the eventful hike were airlifted to a landing area on the west side of the Lake Valley Reservoir. She was turned over there to Placer County sheriff’s Sgt. Bill Walton.

The helicopter crew learned that the boys had found their way back to their grandmother’s pickup and were waiting for her to return. The group was reunited and went on their way, according to the CHP.

By Phil Benson, KPHO-TV

An arrest has been made in the 2012 murder of Stateline’s Matthew McMaster.

Vrouyr Manoukian, 22, was taken into custody without incident and booked into jail May 31 on a charge of second-degree murder.

The burned body of the 24-year-old McMaster was found July 28, 2012, along a highway in Phoenix.

A witness saw a Jeep SUV pulling a small trailer behind it fleeing from the scene of the fire, police said.

Vroury Manoukian

The medical examiner’s autopsy determined McMasters died from blunt force trauma to the head. Police connected the body to a missing person’s report.

McMaster had been living with Manoukian and Randall Lee Young. Family members said the victim, Manoukian and Young had been in a fight. Manoukian allegedly broke it up by striking McMasters in the head, family members said.

Police arrived at the home and saw a Jeep SUV and trailer matching the description given by the witness. Manoukian and Young were taken into custody for questioning.

Officers said the men placed McMasters on a love seat on the patio in the fenced backyard. Young talked Manoukian out of calling an ambulance, investigators said.

Manoukian admitted that the furniture recovered from the fire scene in the desert belonged to him, police said.

A search warrant was obtained and served on the home. Blood stains were found in the back of the Jeep SUV registered to Manoukian. The blood was sent to the lab and was matched to the victim, police said.

A cigar found near the burned body was analyzed for DNA. The profiles were traced back to Manoukian and Young, investigators said.

Investigators said they were able to tie Manoukian’s vehicle to the crime scene. Blood and several gas cans were recovered at the home.

The investigation is ongoing.

As part of Placer County’s efforts to update its Community and General plans in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the county will be conducting a charrette this summer for Kings Beach.

The intent is for the Kings Beach Vision Charrette to build upon the foundation established through the TRPA’s Pathway 2007 and Placer County’s Tahoe Community Plan Update visioning and community planning efforts to create a vision plan that illustrates the possibilities for the future of the Kings Beach commercial core and recreation areas as it evolves over the next 20-plus years.

Public workshops and sessions where community members will be able to meet and discuss their ideas with the project team include:

Kings Beach 3-Day Vision Charrette, July 16-18, North Tahoe Event Center,8318 North Lake Tahoe Blvd., Kings Beach.

Public sessions:

July 16 – noon-1:30pm and 5-6:30pm

July 18 – 5-6pm.

For more information, contact Crystal Jacobsen with the Placer County Planning Services Division at (530) 745.3000 or cjacobse@placer.ca.gov.

By Kathryn Reed

The nearly $9.5 million Aspens affordable housing project is likely to be the last such project to be built in South Lake Tahoe for decades.

This 48-unit development at the corner of Pioneer Trail and Ski Run Boulevard has been talked about for years. Then the state did away with redevelopment agencies. With that maneuver went $2.5 million the local redevelopment agency was going to put toward the project through the housing authority.

Then for a time it was thought the project would not get off the ground.

“The community should understand it has been a really long, arduous, expensive process,” Shellan Rodriguez, with Idaho-based Pacific Companies, told Lake Tahoe News. But in the same breath she praised the city and other agencies for staying at the table to make this a reality.

Work is under way on a 48-unit affordable housing complex in South Lake Tahoe. Photo/LTN

Ground was broken in May. It’s anticipated all the grading-type work will be done by the Oct. 15 deadline to stop moving dirt. During the winter the interiors will be completed, with the best-case scenario that leases could be signed in late spring 2014.

City Manager Nancy Kerry hopes this project will encourage others to step up their game to be more competitive. The neighboring Bart’s Tahoe complex has long been an eyesore and subject of fines, and was condemned at one time because several units were a health hazard.

Some of the more desirable affordable housing complexes in the city have waiting lists. Rodriquez anticipates that happening at Aspens, too.

This will bring the number of affordable housing units in the city to a little more than 300.

“We have more people who need that kind of low rent than we have supply,” Kerry told Lake Tahoe News. “I think people have varying perspectives for the need for controlled rent, which is what affordable housing is.”

There will be multiple buildings at the Aspens, with three-stories the tallest. The dormered roof is designed so it doesn’t appear that tall. They are energy efficient and being built to California’s Build it Green criteria.

“A community doesn’t want housing that looks low income and low income folks don’t want housing that looks low income,” Rodriquez said. This is a rendering of the Aspens project.

The company also has similar completed projects in Truckee, Mammoth and Carson City, as well as Jackson Hole, Wyo.

There is almost an equal number of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Based on today’s formula, which is set by the state and federal governments, the apartments would rent from between $330 and $840 a month.

To qualify for one of the units, people will have to meet certain income requirements. Service industry workers are most likely the people who will qualify to live at the Aspens. But it’s also possible a single parent at an entry-level professional job could meet the requirements.

Half of the project site will not be developed; it will be open space.

Other amenities include bike storage and bike parking, play structures for little and bigger kids, a community building that will have laundry facilities and a common fitness area.

While high-end appliances and the like are not being installed, neither is the cheapest product. After all, Pacific Companies expects to own the complex for the next 55 years, so it wants things that will last a reasonable time. That is the time period in which these units are deed-restricted low income.

Because these types of projects are government subsidized and California eliminated its funding mechanism when it dissolved redevelopment agencies, the projection is these types of projects are a thing of the past.

The Live at Lakeview Summer Music Series has released the lineup for the summer concert series that starts June 20.

Now in its second year, changes include a larger stage, larger beer garden, and a much larger free bike valet.

Vehicle parking is limited. Off-site parking is available at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Center, 1601 Rufus Allen Blvd.

The bands are:

• June 20 – Jelly Bread with special guests 4 Piece Puzzle (funk and soul)

• June 27 – American Jubilee Feat Brian Lesh and special guests Tracorum

(Americana)

• July 11 – Naive Melodies (live talking heads)

• July 18 – Achilles Wheel with special guests Lonesome Locomotive (rock, world beat, and blues)

• July 25 – Vokab Kompany (electronic funk)

• Aug. 1 – Polyrythmics with special guest Holy Ghost Tent Revival (world)

• Aug. 8 – 40 Watt Hype (Latin fusion)

• Aug. 15 – The Congress with special guests The Weekenders (rock)

• Aug. 22 – Lavish Green Tahoe Family Reunion with special guest Screaming Meg (South Shore)

• Aug. 29 – Arden Park Roots with special guests Island of Black & White (reggae)

More information can be found online.

By James Turner

A friend recently returned from a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada. His eyes shone as he described the opalescent sky, the vitality of wildlife in spring and the fun he’d had playing with his two young daughters during the mellow evenings. It had been a really good trip, an experience to treasure, he said.

I casually asked how long it took to get there. “Oh, it wasn’t too bad,” he said, and then caught himself, as if he’d said something wrong. “But we took the minivan this time, which I suppose means we weren’t so in tune with nature after all.”

I felt slightly hurt. I am an environmentalist — I work for Greenpeace. Did he think that makes me some moral arbiter of fun, sternly passing judgment on those who ignore the perils of climate change to enjoy a weekend in the mountains?

Of course, it wasn’t really about me. What my friend expressed was climate guilt, a feeling that many of us who care about environmental issues experience every day. I am not immune. We feel guilty about driving cars and watching TV and turning on lights, as if that makes us personally responsible for this gigantic threat that looms over us.

For years, caring governments and thoughtful corporations have communicated the idea that we’re all in this together, that if we each just do our bit we can solve this global warming mess. Duke Energy, a utility company that depends heavily on coal, points out that “saving the environment can be as easy as changing a light bulb.” It’s a gentle, brotherly tone. But there’s something in the subtext here too — a warning: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

In economics this would be called a barrier to entry, an obstacle that makes it difficult to gain access to a given market. In this case, rather than economic, the barrier is philosophical. If you aren’t taking mass transit, you have no right to oppose drilling for oil in the Arctic. Until you’ve cleaned up your act entirely, you’re not entitled to criticize the major oil companies for cashing in our children’s future.

Whether this “guilt barrier” is deliberately constructed or just innate to our psyches, it’s being exploited by the fossil fuel cartel. Its members are content to have us feel guilty, particularly if it contributes to a sense of helplessness. Where once companies such as Exxon Mobil denied that their products were causing dangerous levels of pollution, now they claim it is impossible to switch from them. “Look at your life,” this thinking goes. “You’re up to your neck in it. You really want us to turn off the tap?”

This accusation is based on a false premise: that all alternatives are equally accessible to consumers, and we’re all happily choosing fossil fuels. That’s simply not true, and nowhere is this more evident than in the case of the oil industry’s greatest threat: the electric car.

Despite encouraging news that the Toyota Prius has become the No. 1 selling car in California, fully electric vehicles remain out of financial reach for all but the most affluent families. And like most of America, our state lacks the charging infrastructure to support many such cars anyway. More barriers to entry.

Whatever my friend might personally think about climate change and air pollution, he has to stick to a budget that will support his whole family. Nor will he risk stranding them all along I-5. His “choice” of a minivan is in fact no choice at all. He’s left feeling disempowered, implicated and hypocritical. Any desire to act is supplanted by resignation. But whose fault is it?

Oil companies have made up the most powerful industry on Earth for the last 50 years. They have consistently lobbied against fuel efficiency standards. They’ve fought any taxes on the pollutants we must breathe. They’ve sneered at electric vehicles and insisted on a market so rigged that only one technology could ever win out anyway. They indefensibly refuse to pay for the carbon their products — though they would say “your cars” — spew into the atmosphere.

Maybe it’s time for us to remove the guilt. Yes, I drive a car that runs on gasoline. I fly for work when necessary and occasionally for vacation. But doing these things is not the same as admitting they are inevitable. Five years ago I flew more; now I use Skype. Bike lanes have been newly painted in my neighborhood, so I cycle to the store. In a couple of years, electric cars might come into my price range. In the meantime, I refuse to feel guilty.

In the battle against climate change, we should not be waging guilt trips on one another. Rather, we should take the fight to those who use our sense of personal responsibility against us. Climate change is a problem, and we must fix it. But it’s certainly not our fault.

James Turner is head of communications for Greenpeace International’s Save the Arctic Campaign. This column first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

By Peter Schmuck, Baltimore Sun

Baltimore’s homegrown all-time Olympic hero was willing to serve his golf apprenticeship in front of a cable television audience as part of the Golf Channel series “The Haney Project.” Now, Michael Phelps is ready to take his new avocation to another level.

Phelps has signed on to play in front of a national broadcast television audience in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship July 21-26 at the Edgewood Tahoe in Stateline. His commitment to play in the event was confirmed Tuesday morning by a tournament official and acknowledged on a conference call involving swing coach Hank Haney later in the day, but the official announcement will not be made until next week.

It’s not the U.S. Open, but it’s a real tournament featuring a number of terrific celebrity golfers, some good enough to play on the PGA Senior Tour. It’s also the event that made the horrible swing of basketball great Charles Barkley so infamous that Haney tried to fix it on the same show that recently showcased Phelps and his budding interest in golf.

Michael Phelps will make his debut at the ACC in Lake Tahoe in July. Photo/Channel Guide

Obviously, Phelps isn’t afraid to face his new sports challenges in front of the world. He showed up at Orioles spring training in February with Haney in tow to take batting practice with his hometown baseball team. He got off to a rocky start in his first few rounds, but eventually made some good contact and got some praise from manager Buck Showalter and Adam Jones.

Haney isn’t making any bold predictions about how Phelps might do on such a big stage less than a year after turning his attention from swimming to golf, but he said that Phelps has been a joy to coach.

“It’s obviously an advantage to coach anybody that’s used to having coaching,” Haney said on a conference call. “This year on my show with Michael Phelps, it was great because he’s been coached his whole career by Bob Bowman, who is obviously one of the greatest swimming coaches ever. Michael is so used to taking instruction and being coached that it’s a big advantage. And great athletes are easier to coach, there’s no doubt about that. Charles [Barkley] might be the exception. He’s a little tough, but when it’s all said and done he’s one of my favorite people in the world, so I love him and I love helping him.”

It’ll be interesting to see just how far he has come with his golf swing. He certainly didn’t win more Olympic gold medals than anyone in history by not preparing well, so it’s probably fair to assume that he’ll hunker down over the next few weeks getting ready to take on the likes of Michael Jordan, comedian Larry the Cable Guy and former Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer in an event that is at times a serious competition and at other times — usually involving Barkley — a theater of the absurd.

“Michael is obviously incredibly competitive,” Haney said. “I mean, he’s the greatest Olympian ever. I’ve seen him when he’s in competition, even when it’s just having a friendly bet with some friends. He can really turn it up, so I expect that he will give his best, but having said that, a year ago he was pretty much a beginning golfer.

“He played six times after the Olympics and shot between 98 and 117. Now, the last time we played he shot 85, but that wasn’t at the American Century Championship. … It wasn’t in front of all the people and with the television cameras on, so I don’t expect that he’s going to win the tournament, but I think he’s going to hit a lot of good shots and he’s going to show some improvement and I think everybody’s going to enjoy having him play in the tournament.”

Phelps was not available for comment, but will likely take part in next week’s official media announcement.