By Kathryn Reed “With all of the major fires burning across California, and the corresponding inundation of smoke in the Tahoe basin, complacency is at an all time low again.” And that has Gareth Harris, chief of Lake Valley Fire Protection District, worried. His colleagues throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin are worried as well. Most […]
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By Adam Nagourney, New York Times RACHEL, Nev. — The Little A’Le’Inn has been an unlikely tourist destination in the Mojave Desert for nearly 25 years, selling souvenirs — from green alien coffee cups to E.T. Highway T-shirts — dedicated to the notion that we are not alone. Understandably. Nine miles up a nearby dirt […]
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By Melissa Pandika, Los Angeles Times Anthropologists have puzzled for decades over why a complex patchwork of languages emerged in California thousands of years ago, but not in other parts of North America. New research now traces California’s linguistic diversity to its ecological diversity. A study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy […]
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By Kathryn Reed HOPE VALLEY – With each step, it seems like the landscape is changing. Smooth granite turns into coarse volcanic rock. Sandy footing becomes hardpack. Towering mountains and pines give way to 360-degree views. If this is anything what the entire 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail is like, it might be something I would […]
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By Anita Hofschneider, Wall Street Journal First, the bad news: Nearly 75 percent of 2013 high school graduates who took the ACT college readiness exam aren’t fully prepared for college, according to a report by the organization that administers the test. Now, the (moderately) good: Student performance has improved slightly since 2009, when just 23 […]
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By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times SACRAMENTO — Environmental and liberal activist groups are split over a pending pioneering bill that would regulate the controversial oil-extraction technique known as fracking. Legislation by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, would, for the first time in the nation, require oil companies to disclose details of the chemicals, locations […]
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By Kathryn Reed While the calendar says fall is still about a month away, the foliage throughout California is saying it’s on its way. Signs of autumn started appearing in earnest last week. Trees in the Lake Tahoe Basin are starting to turn yellow, with the change even more prominent at higher elevations. But it’s […]
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By Kathryn Reed A fire hundreds of miles from Lake Tahoe has forced the cancellation of the 24th annual Lake in the Sky Air Show. South Lake Tahoe City Manager Nancy Kerry said the FAA requires 1.5 to 3 miles of visibility and that as of Friday afternoon it is only at one mile. And […]
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By Christina Jewett and Will Evans, Center for Investigative Journalism SACRAMENTO -– California lawmakers ordered an audit this week to examine the extent of fraud in the state’s taxpayer-funded drug rehabilitation program and to assess why measures weren’t taken to stop it sooner. The review was spurred by Rehab Racket, a yearlong investigation by the […]
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By Kathryn Reed No one knows what the economic impact to all of El Dorado County would be if 7,000 houses are built on the West Slope. But more people would definitely further clog Highway 50, the main artery to the South Shore. Traffic is regularly choked getting out of South Lake Tahoe through Meyers […]
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