By Lance Williams, Reveal In the final months of 2014, the nation’s plastic bag manufacturers spent $3.1 million to sidetrack a California law that sought to ban throwaway bags. But that political spending spree may be a small down payment on what could be a hugely expensive environmental fight on the state ballot in 2016 […]
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By Kim Smuga-Ottoksmugaotto, San Jose Mercury News FOLSOM — California’s electrical grid has a problem — a nice problem, but a problem nonetheless: The state often has too much power. Nearly 23 percent of California’s energy now comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar, and the state is on track to reach its […]
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By Associated Press The California Energy Commission has awarded a $200,000 grant to help develop a plan for the expansion of charging stations for electric vehicles around Lake Tahoe. The commission recently approved the money for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to assess the current situation and identify public and private locations where additional charging […]
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By Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle The abominable snowpack in the Sierra Nevada reached an unprecedented low this week, dipping below the historic lows in 1977 and 2014 for the driest winter in 65 years of record-keeping. Electronic surveys show the water content of the snow throughout the Sierra is a shocking 8 percent of […]
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The California Transportation Commission has allocated $325.8 million to 142 transportation projects, including ones on the South Shore. Fifty-one biking and pedestrian projects throughout the state will receive $27 million in allocations from the Active Transportation Program. El Dorado County will receive $750,000 to construct a class I bike and multi-use path on Sawmill Road. […]
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By Patrick Clarke, Travel Pulse A recent study on vacation time conducted by economic analysis firm Oxford Economics and commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association reveals that many Americans are hurting themselves and their companies by refusing to capitalize on paid time off. According to Rachel Emma Silverman of the Wall Street Journal, Oxford Economics’ […]
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By Michael R. Blood and Kimberly Pierceall, AP Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to retire next year leaves no clear successor in his home state of Nevada, where a popular Republican governor appears reluctant to change jobs and the pending loss of Reid’s clout in Washington is causing anxiety over who might replace him. […]
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By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee State prison officials said Thursday that they are loosening some restrictions on where thousands of California sex offenders may live in response to a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this month. The new policy essentially means that state officials will review the cases of all 6,000 sex-offender parolees to determine […]
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By Kathryn Reed Another winter has gone by and still there is no place for the homeless in South Lake Tahoe to seek shelter. Frustration is beginning to show among those who keep meeting to talk about establishing a warming room in South Lake Tahoe. Without nonprofit status, it is impossible to apply for grants […]
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By Chris Megerian and Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times Not only will the $1-billion spending plan approved by lawmakers Thursday provide little immediate relief to drought-stricken Californians, state leaders are missing an opportunity to take more decisive action to restrict water use, conservation advocates said. “Until we have statewide mandatory restrictions … we’re not going […]
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