By Sarah D. Wire, Los Angeles Times

The Republican members of California’s delegation are demanding a government plan to store the deluge of water that could come with El Niño this winter.

Fourteen GOP lawmakers sent a letter to President Obama and Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday asking for specifics about how federal and state agencies expect to capture, save and transport water.

A new federal forecast released last week showed El Niño is continuing to strengthen, with experts saying it’s on track to potentially produce record rainfall across the state.

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Firefighters contain flames to one structure on Oct. 24 in Kings Beach. Photo/Provided

A commercial studio was destroyed by fire Saturday night in Kings Beach.

Flames and heavy smoke were billowing out of the commercial structure on Speckled Street with North Tahoe firefighters responded about 10pm Oct. 24.

There were no injuries and the cause is under investigation.

Fire personnel said it was a 500-square-foot studio with no business name.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board at its Oct. 28 meeting is expected to levy a $7,500 fine against the owners of the Tahoe Keys Marina for unauthorized grading and construction of a temporary parking area.

The marina was doing so to create more parking for a boat show.

The South Lake Tahoe marina began creating the lot in July 2014 without a permit or permission from the California Tahoe Conservancy, which owns the land.

The marina owns the paved area. The Conservancy owns the dirt area. A fence separates the two.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Baron, Hechinger Report

MODESTO — When Emily Littleton was growing up, she was often awoken at night by the sound of her younger sister wheezing and struggling for breath from an asthma attack. Littleton would grab the nebulizer, hook it up for her sister and get her dad.

The experience remained deeply rooted in Littleton’s memory, resurfacing several years after she graduated from high school as a calling for a career. The first time she attended community college, Littleton said she vacillated from major to major finally earning a two-year degree in natural sciences. Then, while working at an assisted living facility, she heard about the respiratory therapy program at Modesto Junior College, and her past echoed, directing her choice of a career. In December, Littleton and her 23 classmates will graduate with their associate’s degrees.

But those degrees are already on the verge of becoming obsolete as respiratory therapy and other skilled fields increasingly require a higher level of education in order to meet rapidly expanding demands for greater technical know-how and knowledge. An associate’s degree just won’t cut it anymore.

“I’ve been watching with great concern the fact that many employers who previously required associate degree level training now require bachelor’s degree level training,” said Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District.

Carroll helped launch a campaign to make it easier for students to earn bachelor’s degrees in these key areas. Last year, after two failed efforts, the state Legislature gave the go-ahead for some community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees on a limited basis.

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Mark Hounsell was a K9 handler during part of his tenure at South Lake Tahoe Police Department. Photo/LTN file

By Seth A. Richardson, Reno Gazette-Journal

A procession of police officers, firefighters, family and friends escorted Mark and Jeanne Hounsell underneath a flag hanging high over Stephanie Way in Minden to their memorial service.

Mr. Hounsell, 42, and Mrs. Hounsell, 34, died Oct. 17 in a rollover accident on Highway 50 near Fallon. Laura Fisher, 33, of Washington, Ill., also perished in the crash.

Mourners gathered at LifePoint Church on Saturday to remember the Hounsells. Media were not permitted to enter the service. Dozens of cars, police and civilian alike, were adorned with commemorative stickers that looked like the Chicago Cubs logo – Mr. Hounsell’s favorite team – with “MH 189” for his initials and badge number.

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The remaining $4.9 million needed to reroute Highway 89 around Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City has been secured from the state.

The California Transportation Commission is providing $4.9 million of the $33 million needed for the project. Other funds include $25 million from the Federal Lands Access Program and $3 million from Placer County.

The project is expected to break ground in 2016 and take two years to complete. It will include a new two-lane bridge, similar in size to the existing Fanny Bridge, east of the existing Caltrans yard.

The existing section of Highway 89 between Fanny Bridge and the eastern roundabout on West Lake Boulevard north of Granlibakken Road will become a county road.

By Daniel Bendtsen, Deseret News

Cities have used mapping to help smooth traffic snarls for years.

But tackling poverty with maps? That’s a tougher issue. For a time, analysts only had “sad maps,” which showed that the city’s slums had a uniform concentration of poverty-related variables.

“Maps for crime rates, school retention and infant mortality measures all tell similar geographical stories: the darkest shades of the map, indicating the most severe disparities, represent the same few neighborhoods,” according to economist Matthew Tyler.

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Several cases of E. coli have been traced back to unpasteurized apple juice purchased from High Hill Ranch in El Dorado County.

The Camino business has voluntarily recalled apple juice produced on or after Oct. 6.

El Dorado County was notified this week by Sacramento County officials of at least seven cases of E. coli that have been trace back to the unpasteurized apple juice from High Hill Ranch.

— Lake Tahoe News report

By Herb Scribner, Deseret News 

Chances are you’re unhappy with your job.

A report from Gallup found that 70 percent of Americans report feeling unhappy, uninspired and less engaged in their job. This has led American workers to be less productive, costing the United States anywhere from $450 to $550 billion a year, the report said.

To find this, researchers sent out questionnaires to thousands of employees and asked whether they felt they were engaged or not.

Engaged workers tended to be more loyal to their companies and were “responsible for the most innovation within their organization,” according to CBS News.

Meanwhile, those who said they were less engaged also were more likely to take out their unhappiness on their co-workers by “undermining what their engaged co-workers” accomplished, according to CBS News.

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By Kyle Roerink, Las Vegas Sun

After his company faced criticism for proposing to build a $1 billion power plant, NV Energy CEO Paul Caudill outlined the near-future plans on the 706-megawatt project, according to testimony he filed with the Public Utilities Commission.

The company has asked regulators for $2.4 million to study building the $1 billion plant and described it as part of a “preferred plan” for the future. Solar, environmental and small-business groups in the state have already shown opposition.

The proposal first appeared in a 4,493-page report that details the company’s energy supply plan for the next 30 years. The commission has jurisdiction to decide if the utility can fund the study and will do so by January.

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