The FBI is seeking information to identify a man believed to have robbed four banks, including one in Stateline.

He is known as the Bandaged Bandit because he has made an effort to conceal his face by affixing bandages to his nose, chin, and other areas of his face and arms.

The Bandaged Bandit is wanted in four bank robberies.

The robberies were:

•  June 29, U.S. Bank located at 229 Kingsbury Grade, Stateline;
• July 1, Chase Bank located at 2215 Francisco Drive, El Dorado Hills;
• July 14, Wells Fargo located at 3935 Park Drive, El Dorado Hills;
• July 15, U.S. Bank located at 1850 Prairie City Road, Folsom.

The caucasian suspect is believed to be in his 20s or 30s, has blonde hair, is between 5-feet-8 to 5-feet-10 inches, with a large build.

The man approached the tellers with either a demand note or made a verbal demand for cash while threatening that he had a weapon. After receiving undisclosed amounts of money, the subject fled the locations on foot.

Individuals with information about this man may call 800.885.5984). Tips may also be submitted online.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

 Researchers believe tidal forces play a role in the timing of small, deep earthquakes along the San Andreas fault. Photo/U.S. Geological Survey

By Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times

The gravitational tug between the sun and moon is not just a dance of high and low tides: It can also trigger a special kind of earthquake on the San Andreas fault.

This phenomenon has fascinated scientists for years. Like sea levels, the surface of the Earth also goes up and down with the tides, flexing the crust and stressing the faults inside. Further study found that during certain phases of the tidal cycle, small tremors deep underground – known as low-frequency earthquakes – were more likely to occur.

“It’s kind of crazy, right? That the moon, when it’s pulling in the same direction that the fault is slipping, causes the fault to slip more – and faster,” said Nicholas van der Elst, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist and lead author of a new study on the subject published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “What it shows is that the fault is super weak – much weaker than we would expect – given that there’s 20 miles of rock sitting on top of it.”

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

A lawsuit has been filed to stop the loop road from ever going on the ballot.

Jason Collin, director of Home Health & Hospice for Barton Health and likely candidate for South Lake Tahoe City Council, filed the lawsuit last week. The city of South Lake Tahoe received notice late July 18; with council members then being notified.

Also named in the suit are Bill Crawford, Bruce Grego (also a presumptive council candidate), Laurel Ames and John Cefalu. Those four are the leaders of a movement to get an initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot regarding the loop road.

Today is the deadline for the council to decide whether to approve the ballot measure. The discussion will not begin until at least 2pm at Lake Tahoe Airport.

The council today will not be able to discuss the lawsuit because it is not on the agenda. A special meeting could be called, but that takes 24 hours’ notice at a minimum. Today the electeds have the choice to approve the language as is and adopt it as policy, request a financial study or place it on the ballot. Insiders say the latter is most likely to happen – despite the lawsuit.

It will then be up to a judge to decide if the question ever sees the light of day in November.

The four individuals and the city have 30 days from July 14 to respond to the suit.

Collin could not be reached late Monday, nor could City Attorney Tom Watson.

There had been speculation all along that the measure would face a legal change, though many figured it would not occur until after the vote had been taken.

At issue is whether any entity can prevent the council from doing its job.

The question loop road opponents want voters to decide is whether the council should be able to take action on the project without constituents first voting on a preferred alignment.

The loop road project would realign Highway 50 near the state line so it goes behind Harrah’s-MontBleu, starting at about Pioneer Trail. The current highway through the casino corridor would then become a city-Douglas County road.

Ultimately, the opponents want to derail the project.

It is Tahoe Transportation District that is spearheading the highway reconfiguration.

The suit calls the defendants’ initiative “flawed”, says it would “violate state law”, is “unconstitutionally vague” and that it would “strip the duly elected South Lake Tahoe City Council of its authority to take action, even administrative action, with respect to certain land use matters.”

There is also the question of whether the initiative by the four individuals violates the state Streets and Highways Code.

The suit goes on to say, “It would impermissibly hold hostage the city on all matters related to the loop road – binding the city’s hands until and unless the votes approve a General Plan amendment.”

There have been more than three property thefts a day in South Lake Tahoe this month.

Of the 54 thefts reported, 61 percent were a result of unsecured and/or unattended property. This is from vehicles, residences and at public places.

The theft locations include:

• 17 unattended/unsecured property (usually from public places)
• 10 unlocked vehicles (six in the last two days)
• 6 property stolen from business storefronts.

Tips not to be a victim:

• Install a vehicle alarm or mechanical lock for the steering wheel or ignition.
• Lock the doors and leave the windows rolled up.
• Activate any alarms or anti-theft devices.
• Keep valuables out of sight and/or remove them from the vehicle. Expensive items in full view invite theft even if the vehicle is locked.
• Do not leave money, checkbooks, or credit cards in the vehicle at any time.

Preventing bicycle theft:

• Keep bicycles locked any time they are unattended with a good “U” type lock that cannot be cut. Another choice would be a good casehardened padlock and thick cable. Be sure the “U” lock or cable goes through the front wheel, rear wheel and the frame, and secure it to a fixed object.
• Check the lock by pulling on it to make sure it is secure.
• Purchase Anti-Theft Dots from a local bike shop. Register the serial number with Anti-Theft Dots and add photos of your bike.
• Be sure to retain all evidence of purchase, including the serial number and have them available if your bike is stolen.
• Avoid parking a bicycle in a deserted or poorly lit area.

By Matt Weiser, Water Deeply

One thing the drought has brought to wider attention is the role of so-called atmospheric rivers in the state’s weather and water supply.

An atmospheric river is a narrow band of high-speed wind that sweeps across the Pacific Ocean, often dragging vast amounts of tropical moisture with it. Sometimes dubbed a “horizontal hurricane,” just a handful of these storms can bring California half of its annual rainfall every year. Indeed, an absence of very wet atmospheric rivers over the past few years is one reason California has experienced such a severe drought.

Atmospheric rivers are also responsible for the state’s worst flooding events.

Their influence on water supply and flood risk depends largely on where they make landfall, and for how long. But until recently, very little research has been devoted to understanding atmospheric rivers. These storms can lash around like an uncontrolled fire hose, and the mechanisms responsible for that behavior have been poorly understood.

Read the whole story

By Ben Botkin, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada’s largest gaming companies so far haven’t given heavily to presidential candidates or the political action committees that support them, Federal Election Commission filings show.

Records show just a smattering of relatively minor contributions to back presidential candidates, most of them candidates who have since dropped out of the race, including Republicans Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie.

So far, the gaming industry’s giving to presidential candidates and super PACs is low-profile, reaching only $113,261.

Read the whole story

Two small fires on the South Shore this weekend are still under investigation.

Without any lightning, it is clear they were human caused.

“We’ve had an exceptionally windy summer and people need to remember if they don’t properly maintain and extinguish their campfires or if they carelessly smoke in the forest, it’s easy for a wildfire to get started and spread under these warm and dry conditions,” Kit Bailey, fire chief with the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, told Lake Tahoe News.

The National Weather Service in Reno issued a red flag warning for today in the basin because of the threat of fire.

The fire in Round Hill started about noon July 17. It was across from the Tahoe Douglas fire station. Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District and the Forest Service responded and the fire was knocked down quickly. It was about one-tenth of an acre.

One of the Alert Tahoe cameras captured the smoke from that fire.

The other fire was near the Forest Service office behind Ross in South Lake Tahoe. The fire was approximately 5 feet by 5 feet.

“I’d also like to add folks need to remember the Lake Tahoe Basin is in fire restrictions and that means campfires are only allowed in approved locations and smoking is restricted to enclosed vehicles, buildings or exempted recreation sites,” Bailey said.

More info about fire restrictions is available online.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Daphne Chen, Deseret News

PARK CITY — Vail Resorts announced Saturday that it is dropping its controversial application to trademark the name “Park City.”

Bill Rock, Park City Mountain Resort’s chief operating officer, said the dispute had “clearly become a distraction that is pulling our collective focus away from the important work that lies ahead for our city on critical issues, such as affordable housing, parking and transit among others.

“As such, we have decided to withdraw our trademark application in an effort to move beyond this concern,” Rock said in a prepared statement.

The resort’s effort to legally claim the name was met with backlash from the ski town, with government leaders and residents expressing concerns that the resort could use the trademark to force local businesses to change their names.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

Both sides in a lawsuit involving the city of South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Pines Lodge say they won. Now they each want the other to pay their respective attorneys’ fees.

The property owner’s attorneys are seeking more than $1 million, citing evidence why the city should essentially be punished for how it handled the case.

“The court should award attorney fees to HF Lenders II, in care of Mr. Cobrae, in the amount of $6,159.87, and to Mr. Cobrae on his own account in the amount of $949,085.28. This substantial attorney fee is merited under the standards articulated, and is in the interest of justice to full incentive attorneys to litigate against the city in future attempts to illegally seize entitlements from other property owners,” court documents read.

Darren Cobrae bought the property in December 2014. Between then and when the city filed the lawsuit in February 2015, 41 administrative citations were issued. The city wanted Cobrae to cleanup and fix things, some of which were the result of fire damage, but there was also water damage, mildew, illegal construction, improper doors and some rooms without deadbolts.

Tahoe Pines Lodge has had issues with upkeep and problem guests for years. Photo/LTN

The city had issued a notification of substandard house to Sue Pebley, the prior owner, because she had run the place into the ground. It was Cobrae’s intent to fix the place up – and it has been.

“Since we filed the lawsuit all those items were corrected,” City Attorney Tom Watson told Lake Tahoe News. “Code enforcement is to apply the laws consistently on all of our properties for the protection of the people who live there.”

This property is more for long-term guests instead of tourists.

The city contends it took filing the lawsuit and the attempt to get it into a receivership for the health and safety issues to be fixed.

Cyrus Sanai, lead attorney for Cobrae, told Lake Tahoe News, “This is a pretty extraordinary case of abuse of power by the city against a small business man.”

Deputy City Attorney Nira Doherty in her opening statements earlier this year before El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Warren Stracener said the evidence a receiver should take over “comes in the declarations of the code enforcement supervisor and building official who stated that no repairs have been made to the property up until the time of the filing of the motion and petition. … The history of this property shows that there has been no attempt to correct any violations of this property until the receivership was filed.”

Sanai believes the city did all it could to take over the property, citing how the building inspector was not allowed at one point to go to the hotel.

An email that is part of the court record from building inspector Dave Walker to Cobrae says, “You asked if I could come by and inspect your property at 966 Modesto next week but I have been instructed by legal that request cannot be accommodated.”

In his deposition, Walker said it is unusual for anyone in the City Attorney’s Office to tell him not to inspect a property.

Eventually, the city dropped the case – saying all the infractions had been corrected. Dropping the suit is why Sanai believes his client won.

“We were willing to let this go because our position was we got what we wanted,” Watson said. That is why the city believes it won.

The case allows the winner to seek attorneys’ fees. Sanai filed for them first. The enhanced amount is because of the alleged egregious nature of the suit to begin with. Once those documents were filed the city countered, saying it had won and therefore owed $70,000 for its time involved.

A July 28 court date is scheduled before Stracener to decide the attorneys’ fees matter.

The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a red flag warning for July 18 in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Wind gusts as high as 40 mph and low humidity with little to no rainfall during the last two months will lead to high fire danger on Monday across much of western Nevada, the Lake Tahoe Basin and northeast California, the agency warns. Wind gusts of 30-40 mph will kick up around 10 am Monday morning and continue well into the evening.

“Under these dry conditions even a small spark can quickly grow into a large and dangerous wildfire before first responders can contain them,” officials said in a statement.

The Truckee Police Department issued this warning, “Extreme caution is necessary including no open flames. Hot engines from weed eaters, mowers and chains saws can start fires. Campfires should be out and cold to the touch. Report any smoke immediately to 911.”