By KTVN-TV

A pilot was killed in a small plane crash in Truckee on Thursday morning.

The Truckee-Tahoe Airport general manager says the crash happened as the plane was taking off about 8:15am.

He says he witnessed part of the crash and it seemed as if the plane was having difficulty climbing while taking.

Firefighters who responded say the single-engine plane actually crashed through the top of a hangar.

“The plane literally dropped in through the top of the hangar and a fatality is inside,” says Paul Spencer.

The pilot was the only person on board and died at the scene. His identity has not yet been released.

No one else as hurt.

Crews had to spend much of the day cleaning up a fuel spill caused by the crash.

National Transportation Safety Board is on the way to the crash site to take over the investigation.

Charges related to the Topaz Ranch Estates Fire have been filed against two Northern Nevadans.

Kim Carlin and Steven Cozad are scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 27 in the East Fork Township Justice Court on charges of willful or negligent failure to guard or extinguish a fire. The charges are misdemeanors.

Authorities believe the fire was started when an illegal controlled burn was not full extinguished and reignited with wind.

Both were arrested Aug. 2 and have posted bail.

The fire started May 22 in southern Douglas County. Two houses and 17 outbuildings burned in the 7,500 blaze.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report

By KOLO-TV

CARSON CITY — Sequoia King National Park officials in Inyo County are working to identify a body found during the search for a missing hiker from Carson City. That’s according to an Inyo County spokeswoman.

The body was found during the search Wednesday night for doctor Gary Dankworth, who has been missing since Sunday, when he told friends he was planning on climbing a nearly-14,000-foot peak in the Sierra Nevada.

Though the body has not been confirmed as that of Dankworth, Carson-Tahoe Health issued this statement:

“The Carson Tahoe family is saddened by the news of Dr. Dankworth’s death. The past several days have been difficult and we, like the rest of the community, have been hoping for the best. We are a small, close knit community and tragedies within our medical staff affect us all. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and we will do all we can to support them during this very sad time,” said Ed Epperson, President and CEO.

Dankworth, 60 left friends camped Saturday afternoon at Finger Lake in the John Muir Wilderness of Inyo National Forest to climb the 13,855-foot Norman Clyde peak, a difficult climb in the rugged Palisades section of the Sierra that contains four of California’s highest peaks.

Climbers must scramble off trail over boulder fields, past glaciers and along a ridge with steep drops to reach the base of the steep mountain to begin the actual ascent.

When Dankworth failed to return by Sunday morning, his friends hiked out and called for help.

High speed Internet has finally come to Alpine County and parts of Douglas County outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was in the area June 30 to recognize Frontier Communications’ efforts to expand broadband service to this sparsely populated area.

The cable company is partnering with NBCUniversal to broadcast the Olympics to mobile devices using broadband Internet.

Also on hand for the launch was Frontier Chairwoman Maggie Wilderotter.

The new service area is more than 700 square miles.

The countdown is on for the start of the 2012-13 school year and the Lake Tahoe Boys & Girls Club is busy making plans for after school programs.

There are programs for youth grades K-12. The club operates from two sites: the main site is located at 1100 Lyons Ave. (previously the Al Tahoe Elementary School), and at Bijou Community School.

After school programs are $35 for the whole school year. Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe offers homework assistance and enrichment activities Monday-Friday throughout the school year.

In order to join and sign up for the program parents are required to attend an orientation prior to their child attending. The orientations are each Monday from 5:30-6pm at the main site. Orientations will also be available at Bijou beginning Aug.27, 5:30-6pm.

By Wendy Hanson Mazet

The winter of 2012 went down in the record books for being dry, unseasonably warm and short. But what does last winter have to do with this year’s vegetable and flower gardens? Well, the very mild winter is the reason many gardeners are being inundated by unwanted critters this summer.

By the time gardeners got a jump-start on their gardens, ground squirrels and voles already were enjoying the mild temperatures and mating. Wildlife numbers are up this year with less die-off over the winter months. Our offices have been flooded with calls about cottontail rabbits, ground squirrels, voles and many other pests.

When deciding which mode of protection or control you are going to use, first you must determine what’s causing the problem. Gardeners living in town are most likely to have problems with quail, rats, raccoons, ground squirrels, moles and voles. People living on larger parcels near open space or sources of water have many other pests to add to the list, including cottontails and jackrabbits, chipmunks, skunks, deer, bears and others. Each critter is unique in its habits and the type of damage it can cause.

Once you have identified your pests, it is time to build a strategic plan to manage their impacts. There are seven main options for homeowners to explore: Use repellents, barriers, traps, baits, encourage natural predators, modify the habitat or simply choose to live with the damage.

Liquid repellents may work for short periods, but can become time-consuming and costly. Habitat modification and exclusion are the most effective defenses. A fence reinforced with chicken wire or hardware cloth deters many rodents, particularly when the wire is buried 12 inches in the ground and rise 2 feet above. Small, portable chicken-wire cages help protect seeds, new seedlings and small plants from feathered pests. Once crops grow 6 to 12 inches tall, birds tend to leave them alone and the cages can be moved to protect other crops.

Trapping and baiting work very well once you have properly identified the pest. There are several different types of kill traps and various styles of live traps. Remember, when choosing a live trap, you then must kill the animal humanely. Relocation of most wildlife is illegal and inhumane, as most live in colonies and territories. There are several baits on the market. Read the labels carefully as products are limited to specific pests and uses (indoor or outdoor).

Wendy Hanson Mazet is the Master Gardener coordinator for the Western Area of University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

• South Lake Tahoe’s George Drake has released “In the Service of Gaia: Trials to Trails”. For details about the book, go online.

• The Potlatch will host the next North Lake Tahoe Chamber/CVB/Resort Association Business Mixer along with a Jewelry Trunk Show on Aug. 3, 5-7pm, at 930 Tahoe Blvd., Ste. 401, Incline Village.

• Melissa Williams, a communications and public relations professional in the Lake Tahoe area, was recently hired by Switchback PR + Marketing as its director.

• Northern Nevada Development Authority has hired Maurice Washington as deputy director.

• Check out Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care’s webcam of the bears.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the July 15, 2012, Los Angeles Times.

So much for the Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2012. Earlier this month, lawmakers pulled the $11-billion bond measure off the Nov. 6 ballot because the time wasn’t right, which is another way of saying there was no way voters were going to approve a multibillion-dollar bond this year, and in the course of defeating it they were more likely to prowl for other tax or spending measures to reject, like the temporary sales and income tax increases on which Gov. Jerry Brown and Democrats in the Legislature are counting to make this year’s budget work.

If the bond sounded familiar, it’s because you may remember it as the Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010. The time wasn’t right two years ago either, and after leading a painstaking effort to negotiate among numerous parties and interests to reach a carefully balanced water deal, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger realized there was no way voters were going to approve a bond in the midst of the mortgage and budget meltdowns.

At the time the 2010 version got bounced from the ballot, the Times had not yet weighed in on the measure, also known as Proposition 18. Parts of the bond raised serious concern. The price tag was steep, especially in a state that has borrowed so much and pushed the boundaries of sound bonding policy. Why $11 billion? In part because it was fat with earmarks.

Still, it was disappointing to not be able to finally assess the measure and allow voters to accept or reject it, because it was the result of a concord brokered a year earlier among environmentalists, agribusiness factions, the Bay Area, Southern California and others, not exactly to break the state’s three-decade deadlock over water but to at least agree on a new framework that might allow us to move forward. The bond was integral to a deal that included the “co-equal goals” of preserving a reliable water supply and repairing the ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The bond, or at least the agreement that undergirded it, could have provided a measure of good faith and momentum to the rest of the process. As it is, with the bond dropped in 2010 — and now dropped again — it must work the other way around if it is to work at all. The rest of the process may have to provide momentum for a bond two years from now.

Read the whole story

New this summer, Squaw Valley is offering free guided hikes on the upper mountain every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 12:30pm and 2:30pm.

The guided hikes, which last about one hour, leave from High Camp and travel across Squaw Valley’s mountaintop meadow.

Squaw’s guided hikes are free with the purchase of an Aerial Tram ticket to High Camp. Tram tickets are $29 for adults, $22 for youth and seniors, and $10 for kids 12 and under. The guided hikes leave from the grassy area just outside the High Camp building. For more information or to sign up, call (530) 452.7273. Reservations are not required for the guided hikes.

El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency, Public Health Division is offering back-to-school immunizations for children.

Public Health can provide all childhood vaccinations required for school entry, including those needed for kindergarten entry, and the Tdap vaccine which is required for incoming seventh-graders and for those students in grades 8-12 who are transferring from another state or county.

Public Health also offers vaccines recommended for students entering college.

According to Cathy Dunbar, El Dorado County immunization coordinator, children entering prschool or a childcare setting are required to have received one dose of the Hib vaccine on or after their first birthday. The Hib vaccine protects against a particularly dangerous bacterial infection that mostly affects babies and children under age five, and can cause a severe form of pneumonia and bacterial meningitis.

Parents who do not have a health care provider and wish to have their child vaccinated through a scheduled appointment at Public Health may call the Public Health Clinic at (530) 621.6100 in Placerville or (530) 573.3155 in South Lake Tahoe. A $10 administrative fee is charged per shot at the Public Health Clinic buildings, though no child will be refused a vaccination due to an inability to pay. The Public Health Clinic buildings are located at 931 Spring St. in Placerville and 1360 Johnson Blvd., Ste. 103 in South Lake Tahoe.

Public Health is also conducting a series of free, walk-in vaccination clinics for children at designated locations throughout El Dorado County. For a list of dates and locations of the free, walk-in vaccination clinics, go online.