For a limited time, the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Placerville is offering $20 adoptions for adult cats now at the shelter to make room for the anticipated increase in felines.

Spring is traditionally the busiest time of the year, with lots of kittens coming into the shelter.

The limited-time $20 adoption fee for adult cats at the Placerville shelter includes a veterinary check, needed vaccinations, microchip, and spay or neuter.

Animal Services is able to offer the significant reduction in the adoption fee (normally $80) through the assistance of the local nonprofit organization People for Animal Welfare in El Dorado County (PAWED).

The shelter is located at 511 Placerville Drive in Placerville and is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30am-noon and 1-4:30pm.

Pictures and information about the cats available for adoption may be found online.

By Brian Nordli, Las Vegas Sun

Three suspects were arrested in Las Vegas on Saturday after a body believed to be that of Nevada’s chief insurance examiner was found in a river in Carson City.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said that although a positive identification and cause of death haven’t been established, investigators believe searchers found the blanket-wrapped body of William McCune in the Carson River.

William McCune

A fourth suspect was arrested in Carson City. Furlong said all four are from the Carson City area, but detectives were unsure of their relationship to the 62-year-old McCune or the motive for the slaying.

Investigators suspected foul play after finding evidence Thursday of a violent struggle in McCune’s apartment in Carson City. McCune had not reported for work and missed a scheduled work flight earlier that morning.

A Carson City Special Enforcement Team worked with Metro Police to arrest the suspects, Carson City Sheriff officials said. Three suspects — Makyla Blackmore, Anthony Elliot and Raul Garcia — were arrested near Spencer Street and East Warm Springs Road, and the fourth, Michael Evans, was arrested in Carson City.

Evans, 23, and Elliot, 20, were booked on murder charges. Blackmore, 20, and Garcia, 22, were arrested on burglary charges.

The incident remains under investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Scattered showers on-and-off today. Wind is affecting lifts higher on the mountain.

Here is the April 7 ski report.

— Curtis Fong

Until the early 1960s, this building on Highway 50 near Ski Run Boulevard housed Lawrence’s Department Store. Upon opening their much larger store (now Sports LTD) in the new Crescent V Center at Stateline, Lawrence’s rebranded this building as Lawrence’s Economy Store, as shown in this 1966 photo (courtesy of Bob Rockwell).

Ultimately it closed and was remodeled in the 1970s into Epominanda’s, part of the Eppie’s restaurant chain of Sacramento.

That later transformed into Carlos Murphy’s, approximately 1980, and today it is Chevy’s, as I’ve photographed here.

— Bill Kingman

By Kathryn Reed

OROVILLE – It was like walking on a carpet of tiny wildflowers. And, yet, looking in the distance it was like a watercolor.

Table Mountain is usually awash in color this time of year. And while the flora is more robust compared to anyplace in Tahoe now, the lack of rain in the North State is making this wildflower season a bit lackluster compared to some years.

Still, the array of flowers last weekend on this 3,400-acre ecological preserve owned by the state Department of Fish and Game was well worth the trek. The state acquired the land from cattle ranchers in two purchases – one in 1992, the other 1997.

It’s wildflower season on Table Mountain in Oroville. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Cattle still graze on this expanse of land. This, according to the two leaders of the hike, is a good thing because it keeps the non-native grasses “plowed” which allows the wildflowers to prosper.

Individuals, families and organized groups are scouring the landscape. Heads are bent down looking at the various flowers that create a mosaic. With this being lava country, the terrain is uneven – another good reason to keep looking down.

What keeps looking like a yellow carpet is actually various species of flowers. California gold fields is the most popular.

This area is also home to the Montana state flower – the Montana bitter root.

Brian Gilmore, who led this Fish and Game trek, said the Lewis and Clark expedition ate the bulb of this plant and that it has a succulent leaf.

Many of the plant species thrive in vernal pools. And while there are spots of water, where we walked last Saturday was dry and should have been under water in a normal March.

Table Mountain meadow foam, white tipped clover, cow bag clover, coyote thistle, butter and eggs, poppy, lupine, dwarf stone, blue-eyed gilia, California buttercup, jewel flower, purple owl’s clover, valley man-root, Larkspur delphinium – those are just some of the flowers we learn about.

A California horn lark could be heard nearby.

We catch a garter snake snacking on a Pacific chorus frog. This is a terrestrial snake – so after it swallows it needs to hang out on rock, which helps with its digestion.

In the nearby creek, Gilmore plucks a newt from the water. He enlightens the group that normally picking up bright colored amphibians is a bad idea because the color indicates it is poisonous.

Normally this time of year the six waterfalls in the preserve are flowing – not so now.

While Table Mountain is free to the public to access, to roam, to picnic, to fly kites, for those who don’t know their flowers, a guided hike is highly recommended.

—-

Note:

More info about Table Mountain, including tours, is online.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

April is nationally and locally proclaimed as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month. Live Violence Free will be hosting events throughout the month to increase awareness of the impact of violence.

Goals are to celebrate survivors and encourage the community to break the silence and become allies in the movement.

Live Violence Free will be hosting a Clothesline Project. The Clothesline Project is a visual display of T-shirts with messages or illustrations designed by survivors of violence or supporters of non-violence.

Shirt-making workshops throughout the month will provide a space for victims and allies to come together and create a shirt. They will be April 11 from 9-noon, April 19 from 9am-2pm, and April 24 (Denim Day) from 9am-3:30pm.

The Clothesline Project display will go up on April 29 from 9am-4pm. All workshops and display will be at the Live Violence Free office at 2941 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

The nonprofit will also be hosting self-defense training classes in collaboration with the Escobar Training Grounds and the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. They are April 12 and April 19 at the Escobar Training Grounds, 972 Tallac Ave.

To wrap up the month, the 5th annual Bowl-a-Thon fundraiser will be April 26 from 6-8pm at Tahoe Bowl.

For more information, contact Diana Meza Cabrera at dmezacabrera@liveviolencefree.org or (530) 544.2118, ext. 7628.

Do you or someone you know like live theater? Are you looking for a different gift to give mom this year?

Lake Tahoe News has two tickets to the May 16 performance of “Best of Broadway” being put on by the Truckee High School Drama Club.

Dancers from InnerRythms Dance Centre will be performing in a number of songs including “Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago.” Inner Rhythms’ director Elizabeth Archer is the choreographer for the musical.

If you don’t win these tickets, performances are at 7pm on May 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18 and there is a special Mother’s Day matinee at 2pm on May 12.

More info about the play is contained in this story.

The first person to accurately guess the favorite musical of LTN Publisher Kathryn Reed wins the tickets. If no one guesses correctly, the winner will randomly be picked from those who are part of the NEWS Team. Fill out this  paid subscriber form to be part of the NEWS Team.

The Tahoe Truckee Earth Day Festival is slated for April 20 from 11am to 5pm at the Village at Squaw Valley.

This all ages, community-sponsored event gives participants an opportunity to learn about recycling/composting, alternative energy, sustainability, watershed and forest health, and reducing ecological footprints via a diverse array of agency representatives and earth-friendly vendors.

It is the largest eco-event in North Lake Tahoe/Truckee area.

Earth Day is a Zero Waste event. Typical trash receptacles will not be available in an effort to drastically minimize waste. Booth participants are requested to minimize handouts and implement other forms of waste reduction. All food vendors will be using biodegradable take-out containers made of either paper or PLA. Food and biodegradable waste will be collected by volunteers and IVGID Waste Not and composted by Full Circle Compost in Minden.

This year’s theme is “Do Another Thing.” All participants are asked to consider and implement their pledge or DOT to help the environment. Participants can also help support the Tahoe Truckee Earth Day Foundation is by purchasing raffle tickets to win a selection of great prizes.

More info is available online.

By Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Friday rejected California’s motion to regain control of mental health care in its prisons, ruling that the quality of care failed to meet standards required by the Constitution. The move dealt a blow to Gov. Jerry Brown’s broader efforts to bring the prisons back under the state’s authority.

In a ruling handed down about 90 days after the state first argued that enough improvements had been made to mental health care after 18 years of outside control, Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of U.S. District Court in Sacramento wrote that there were “ongoing constitutional violations” and that court oversight “remains necessary to remedy those violations.”

In a statement, Deborah Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the judge had not given enough weight to experts and evidence showing that mental health care in the prisons was “a model for the nation.” She said the state will appeal.

Since January, Brown has made it a priority to regain greater control of the state’s 33 adult prisons, the nation’s biggest corrections system. In addition to mental health care, he is seeking to overturn an order by the United States Supreme Court to further reduce prison overcrowding. In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that conditions in California’s prisons were so poor that they violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In 2006, the state prisons held more than twice the population for which they had been designed.

On both issues, Brown has argued that federal oversight has led to unnecessary financial burdens on the state and that billions of dollars’ worth of improvements had been made. A hearing has yet to be held on court oversight over the prison population.

Michael Bien, a lawyer representing inmates who are against the state in the mental health case, said Friday’s ruling undermines the state’s bid to regain decision-making authority over the prison population.

“If the constitutional violations persisted in this case, there is no basis for the population reduction case,” he said. “The two motions were intricately intertwined.”

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

An investigation into marijuana sales in El Dorado County has resulted in six arrests, as well as seizure of approximately 60 pounds of processed marijuana and $80,000 in currency.

A three-month investigation by El Dorado County sheriff’s detectives regarding a conspiracy to sell marijuana culminated Thursday with the service of five search warrants.

The investigation centered around the sale of marijuana through two businesses. River City Wellness, also known as Right Choice Wellness, in Cameron Park and C4C in Shingle Springs were operated by 45-year-old David Sisson of El Dorado, his wife, 44-year-old Stacy Sisson, also of El Dorado, and David Sisson’s brother, 34-year-old Robert Sisson of Shingle Springs, authorities said.

David Sisson was booked into El Dorado County Jail on suspicion of conspiracy to sell marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Robert Sisson was booked on suspicion of conspiracy to sell marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, and Stacy Sisson was booked on suspicion of conspiracy to possess marijuana for sale.

Employee Mathew Wollman, 29, of Sacramento was arrested and booked on suspicion of possessing a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and another employee, Austin Lange, 26, of Cameron Parked was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to sell marijuana.

While detectives were serving a search warrant at one of the businesses, James Dungan, 50, of Santa Cruz arrived allegedly intending to sell processed marijuana to the business. Detectives arrested him on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale.

Sheriff’s officials said search warrants were served at each business and at the business operator’s home. The other two search warrants were for bank accounts. In addition to the processed marijuana and currency, detectives seized nine firearms and authorities said more seizures are expected.