The remains found over the weekend behind Barton Memorial Hospital have been identified.

It is still unclear how Inyowen John Shelton died or ended up at that location. Officials have called the case “suspicious.”

Shelton was a 2004 graduate of South Tahoe High School.

“The cause of death is still pending as the investigation is on going,” Jacob Groen with the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department told Lake Tahoe News.

People on a dog walk found the body on June 25.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Updated June 29, 4:15pm:

A wildland fire that started Tuesday in Placer County has spread to El Dorado County. As of Wednesday afternoon it was 5 percent contained.

Mandatory evacuations have been issued for residents who live in some of the 400 structures that are threatened.

Smoke is drifting into Truckee.

The Trailhead Fire started near Todd Valley along the middle fork of the American River at about 1:55pm on June 28. The cause is under investigation.

The fire began on the north side of the river canyon in Placer County and spotted over to El Dorado County on the south side.

Part of this 650-acre fire is burning on the Eldorado National Forest north of Georgetown.

Foresthill High School is being used as a shelter.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe is justified in charging the fees it imposes on vacation rental owners, according to a court decision.

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Steve Bailey on June 28 released his decision regarding the lawsuit that was filed in June 2015 by Jim Morris, owner of Lake Tahoe Accommodations.

“We are delighted with the results. It fully justifies what the council has said all along and that they have acted appropriately in setting the fees for vacation home rentals,” Tom Watson, city attorney, told Lake Tahoe News. “It is clear vindication for the city in this situation.”

The opposing parties had spent four hours in court in late April arguing their respective opinions.

Morris’ company manages more than 200 rentals on the South Shore. He filed the suit under the parent company of his business – Lake Tahoe Properties. His contention a year ago was “they violated the law in how they passed the ordinance. And they didn’t justify the money and how it is generated.”

Morris was unavailable for comment. However, his Sacramento-based attorney, Brigit Barnes, said, “I do not agree with the court that the city ever established a revised fee structure that matched what their anticipated costs were. And that was the basis of our case.”

The city has been tweaking the VHR ordinance almost since its inception, and even since the lawsuit was filed. Part has had to do with fees, and part with appeasing permanent residents.

In the court ruling Bailey said, “After reviewing and considering the administrative record, there is nothing in the record to suggest the City Council acted arbitrarily, or that its decision is devoid of evidentiary support. Instead, the record demonstrates that in adopting the VHR ordinance and resolution, the City Council exercised its best judgment based upon the evidence presented to them.”

Another part of the case is still to be decided. According to Barnes, this has to do with if it’s constitutionally allowable for VHR owners to be saddled with the fees as a penalty, so to speak, when VHRs are only responsible for 27 percent of the complaints.

Watson believes based on how Bailey has ruled so far that the city will prevail going forward.

Barnes had not spoken to her client as of Tuesday afternoon, so Morris’ exact course of action going forward is unknown. He could appeal.

Definitive solutions elude El Dorado County officials when it comes to fixing the road debacle in Tahoma.

County reps met with residents last week to discuss the ongoing problem on the more than 20 miles of roads that are crumbling because of a bad repair job in 2015.

To date 323 tons of the tiny black rocks have been collected. The county has been sanding the oily areas in an attempt to lessen the sticky, messy situation.

Test strips will be placed in some areas after the July 4 holiday week to cover the slick spots. The county hopes this is will hold through the winter so the roads don’t have to be completely resurfaced.

It is still unknown what caused the road to not seal correctly.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Two out of the eight registered sex offenders that Truckee police officers checked on this month were found to be violating the law.

The violations were for failure to update their current addresses. Both cases have been referred to the Nevada County District Attorney’s Office.

Several times a year detectives conduct sex registrant compliance checks on the registered offenders in Truckee. The purpose it to ensure the safety of residents.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Alexander S. Corey and Ben Botkin, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court’s deadlock in a major immigration case Thursday adds another dimension to an already hot election cycle.

The question: Will the court’s nondecision — which continues to prohibit thousands of undocumented Nevadans from receiving work permits — galvanize Latino voters angered by it?

Some believe that the Supreme Court tie — coupled with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s controversial statements on Mexican immigrants — could boost Latino turnout rates in the general election.

Read the whole story

A Bay Area woman hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone had to be rescued near Showers Lake on Sunday.

Jessica Drizen of Oakland called 911 on June 26 saying she was lost.

A California Highway Patrol helicopter found her standing near a reflective blanket. She was not injured – just not sure where she was.

Showers Lake is south of South Lake Tahoe.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

A slew of items filled the area between the two burning structures. Photo/Provided

A fire in South Lake Tahoe on Monday morning claimed the life a dog and caused substantial damage to one of two buildings that were ablaze.

“We have determined that the fire started in the travel trailer located between the two buildings on the property,” Fire Chief Jeff Meston told Lake Tahoe News. “The exact cause is unknown, but our investigation will remain open should some new information become available.”

Police were able to get the residents out of the Kubel Street dwelling just after it was called in about 6:54am June 27. They then left in an RV.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Sandra Chereb, Las Vegas Review-Journal

CARSON CITY — Most Nevada motorists will have to get new license plates every eight years under a new law that takes effect July 1.

Assembly Bill 484 passed by the 2015 Legislature and signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval was requested by law enforcement agencies because too many plates are unreadable or have lost their reflectivity to be viewable at night.

By law, license plates at night must be readable from about 100 feet, said Dave Wiley, services manager at the Department of Motor Vehicles and overseer of the inmate-staffed state license plate factory.

Read the whole story

A man drowned at Lake Tahoe on Saturday.

El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies were contacted June 25 at 11:35am about an unresponsive man in the water east of Meeks Bay with an unoccupied personal watercraft drifting close by.

The reporting party transported the victim to the Cave Rock boat ramp for medical treatment. There he was pronounced dead by paramedics. His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Detectives are trying to determine if the operation of the personal watercraft was the cause of the man’s death.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report