By Michael Doyle, McClatchy Washington Bureau

House Republicans intent on storing more California water and redirecting it to farms have resurrected some familiar and controversial ideas, this time as part of a must-pass spending bill.

The provisions, including a freeze on an ambitious San Joaquin River restoration program and mandated pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, are now folded into a Fiscal 2017 energy and water appropriations bill. It’s a new tactical move, designed for leverage.

The provisions included in the 82-page energy and water bill are a familiar wish list, largely reflecting previous California water legislative packages that have failed to clear Congress over the past four years. There are some differences, though.

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Crews on Friday finished skimming the entire cove at the Tahoe Keys where an oil spill was first reported on April 11.

“We have not identified a source or what exactly it was,” Cathe Pool with Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board told Lake Tahoe News.

Samples taken Monday and Thursday were sent to a lab for testing.

Several boats were looked at, but none was the source of the leak that caused a slick, thin sheen to cover much of the lagoon and boat slips near the professional buildings.

“[Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association] said when they first saw it, they could see rainbows. That’s typical of gas, but it didn’t smell like gas and we didn’t see the rainbows after that,” Pool said.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Caltrans intends to resume work on Highway 89 along the West Shore starting next week.

The $70.1 million water quality improvement project is building new drainage facilities to collect and treat stormwater runoff. It includes adding curbs and gutters, widening the highway and repaving an eight-mile section of Highway 89 between Tahoma and Tahoe City.

This season the focus will be on the remaining four miles between Eagle Rock and Granlibakken Road.

Caltrans has two other water quality improvement projects on Highway 89 that will be in construction this summer. A $24.4 million project from the Y in South Lake Tahoe to Cascade Road, north of Camp Richardson, is in its second season of construction and will be completed this fall.

Picking up where that project ends, the final segment of Highway 89 to be rebuilt for drainage improvements will be from Cascade Road to just north of the Eagle Falls viaduct over Emerald Bay. The $13 million project will take two seasons to construct.

Highway 89 from Tahoe City to Alpine Meadows Road will be repaved this summer as part of ongoing preventive maintenance.

Utility work on Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe will continue this season between the Y and Trout Creek. The utility work is in advance of a Caltrans EIP project that will begin next season and run through 2019.

By Marcella Corona, Reno Gazette-Journal

Nevada has the fifth highest rate of domestic violence homicides involving guns nationwide, according to a report released by the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence.

The report showed that Nevada women are 65 percent more likely to be shot and killed by their current or former partners than women in other states.

The report identified 46 gun homicides by intimate partners from 2010 to 2014, advocates said.

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By Tony Bizjak, Sacramento Bee

After a year of heavy lifting, California highway officials are nearly done with an improbable task on Interstate 80 in Placer County: raising seven freeway overcrossings between Loomis and Weimar, in some cases by more than 2 feet.

The $36 million “Raise 80” project has involved jacking up and repositioning 1,000-plus ton overpasses, many of them a half-century old, to comply with federal 16-foot-6-inch standards so modern supersized trucks and military vehicles can squeeze under them.

Caltrans spokeswoman Liza Whitmore said completing the project has taken a combination of brute strength and intricate choreography.

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Mark Zlendick

A former drug agent who stole more than a pound of methamphetamine and cocaine from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department’s evidence locker is going to prison for at least 10 years.

Mark Zlendick, 48, was sentenced this week to serve 10-25 years in prison and pay a $5,000 fine.

Zlendick was arrested in May 2015 in Gardnerville on what started as a domestic disturbance.

At the time of his arrest he was a member of South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Eli Segall, Las Vegas Sun

Despite a drop in overall foreclosure filings, lenders have repossessed a rising volume of homes in Nevada compared with last year, keeping the Silver State among the hardest-hit areas in the country.

One in every 236 homes statewide received a foreclosure-related filing in the quarter ending March 31, down 11 percent from the same period last year, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.

Nevada had the third-highest foreclosure rate in the country in the first quarter, behind Maryland and New Jersey.

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By Kathryn Reed

Lake Tahoe Community College President Kindred Murillo is a finalist for the presidency job at Santa Barbara City College.

The announcement came Thursday during the Southern California college’s board meeting.

Kindred Murillo

“Santa Barbara has a lot of the same characteristics as Lake Tahoe Community College. There is a strong sense of academic excellence, which is what I like,” Murillo told Lake Tahoe News.

In January she announced she would be leaving the South Lake Tahoe college some time between June 2016 and February 2017.  The 61-year-old has been at the helm of LTCC since July 2011.

She is one of five finalists for the Santa Barbara position. Board interviews are later this month.

Santa Barbara has 15,000 full time equivalent students, while LTCC has 1,800.

If Murillo were to get the job, she would be taking over for Lori Gaskin who is retiring after having that job for four years. Gaskin spent 17 years at LTCC as a dean of Instruction, then the vice president of Academic Affairs and Student Services.

Murillo is looking at other jobs as well.

“I think the issue for me is I’m kind of picky where I work. I like to be in a place that is a good fit,” Murillo said. “The ones I’ve applied for are good for my skill set.”

She did not disclose where else she has sent her resume.

As for leaving LTCC, she said it is a grieving process. Health reasons necessitate she moves out of Tahoe.

By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee

The late Alfred Villalobos, the central figure in the CalPERS bribery case, always insisted he did nothing wrong and he didn’t owe the state of California a dime.

Now it appears Villalobos and his defunct company won’t be paying the state anything to settle civil fraud claims filed six years ago, officials connected with the case said Tuesday.

Even as a federal bankruptcy judge Tuesday approved the state’s $20 million settlement with Villalobos’ defunct company, it was clear that the Villalobos bankruptcy estate doesn’t have nearly enough money to make good on the state’s claim.

Villalobos, who used to reside in Stateline, once estimated his worth as $62 million, but the estate wound up being considerably less.

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Northstar, with more than 400 inches of snow this season, has been busy. Photo Copyright 2016 Carolyn E. Wright

By Lake Tahoe News

Vail Resorts today said its ski mountain division is doing much better than a year ago.

The figures released April 14 from the Broomfield, Colo.-based company do not include the urban ski areas of Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton and Wilmot Mountain.

Results released Thursday:

·       Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue is up 19.3 percent compared to the prior year season-to-date period.

·       Season-to-date ancillary spending increased compared to the prior year, with dining revenue up 16 percent, ski school revenue 10.1 percent, and U.S. resort store locations 11.5 percent.

·       Season-to-date total skier visits increased 13.4 percent compared to the prior year season-to-date period.

CEO Rob Katz in a statement said, “Our momentum throughout the year continued across each of our Western geographies with strong visitation from destination and local guests throughout the spring. The season’s results highlight the experience we provide guests at each of our resorts due to the engagement of our employees and the investments we have made at each of the mountains and the success of our more sophisticated marketing efforts to drive season pass sales and overall destination visitation.”

He credited the stronger than expected results for March 7-April 10 to conditions being good in Tahoe and Colorado. Ample snow has fallen this season in the Lake Tahoe area, where Vail owns Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood. This is a huge change from the previous three winters.

The abundance of snow is also helping spur people to buy 2016-17 season passes.

“To date, we have seen very strong overall results with significant continued growth on top of the record results we saw last spring and good momentum across all of our critical geographies,” Katz said of pass sales for next season.