A Stateline man has been arrested by Reno police officers on charges of unlawful contact with a minor.

Jose Manuel Rosas-Rojas, 58, was taken into custody Oct. 22.

Jose Manuel Rosas-Rojas

Officers had been looking for a man who had been riding a bicycle in south Reno near Damonte Ranch and approached young girls. The first case was reported in January. Two composite sketches had similar characteristics as described by the 8- and 15-year-old victims. On Sept. 10 another report was filed with the Reno Police Department that had similar circumstances as the previous cases, and with the suspect matching the composite sketches.

On Sept. 16, detectives with the regional sex offender unit were checking the areas where the incidents occurred and contacted a Hispanic man who looked like the subject depicted in the composite sketches. The subject was identified as Rosas-Rojas.

Since contacting Rosas-Rojas, detectives have re-interviewed the four victims from the three reported cases involving young girls. Officers said Rosas-Rojas was positively identified as the suspect in the Sept. 10 case, and as a possible suspect in the first two cases.

Officers are asking parents to speak with their children about any suspicious encounters with anyone matching Rosas-Rojas and report it to the Reno Police Department at 775.657.4601 or Secret Witness at 775.322.4900.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Updated Oct. 22 8:53pm:

The owner of Sierra-Tahoe Ready Mix is scheduled to be in court Thursday to face four felony counts of fraud related to product he supplied to contractors working on projects on the South Shore.

Mike Wallace, who runs the South Lake Tahoe company, deferred comment to his attorney Jacqueline Mittelstadt.

“We look forward to proving that the allegations have been grossly exaggerated when compared to what actually occurred,” Mittelstadt told Lake Tahoe News. “Incidentally, Mr. Wallace has a lien outstanding against the city for work performed.”

In the complaint, El Dorado County Deputy District Attorney Cristy Lorente accuses Wallace of presenting a false bill for four projects.

In March, when the accusations were first leveled against Wallace, he told Lake Tahoe News that he changed the date of a mix because the customer, a firm hired by South Lake Tahoe, needed the paperwork immediately or else they said they would go elsewhere. Wallace said he changed the date to say it was the current year. However, Wallace said the concrete mix that was delivered was that year’s formula.

The projects in question include the Sierra Tract waterline replacement, Angora Creek sewer location, Pioneer Trail pedestrian improvement, and what the complaint called No. 1018.

In March, contractors who have used cement from this company defended the integrity of the material.

“Since these allegations first surfaced, Mr. Wallace has enjoyed vast support from his clients and others in the community as a result of his consistently high-quality work. His concrete mixes are precisely computer generated, and all of his completed work is rigorously tested,” Mittelstadt said. “Sierra-Tahoe Ready Mix has passed every test.”

Wallace is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 23 at 1pm in El Dorado County Superior Court in South Lake Tahoe where Mittelstadt said the intent is to plead not guilty.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times

The University of California is beginning to have second thoughts about its highly successful effort to bring more out-of-state students onto its campuses.

In a bid to boost revenue, the system five years ago began to aggressively recruit students from other parts of the country and from around the world. The significantly higher fees those students paid brought in about $400 million extra last year. But the effort stirred a backlash from California parents, who suspected that their children’s admissions chances were being hurt.

UC officials have taken great pains to argue that qualified California students were not losing slots to those from New York or China. But the complaints from parents and state legislators recently prompted UC President Janet Napolitano and other system leaders to consider putting limits on out-of-state enrollment.

Any such retrenchment faces its own set of complications.

In 2009, a year into the recession that badly hurt higher education funding, a commission on the future of the University of California recommended recruiting outside students whose tuition — triple what state residents pay — would help offset cuts in tax revenue.

Read the whole story

By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News

Yosemite National Park is known for its waterfalls, huge granite walls and stunning peaks.

The views may be priceless, but the cost of getting in could be going up.

On Monday, Yosemite officials announced plans to raise the park entrance fee from $20 to $30 per car, saying they need the money to pay for restoration and maintenance projects in the park. The 50 percent increase, which would take effect Jan. 1, is part of a new Obama administration proposal to raise fees at 130 of America’s 401 national parks.

Yosemite would join Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Glacier and six other high-profile parks as the most expensive in the United States. The last time Yosemite’s entrance fee was raised was in 1997, when it jumped from $5 per car to $20. Adjusted for inflation, that $20 today is equal to $29.64, Yosemite officials note, adding that each entrance fee is good for seven days.

Read the whole story

By David Siders, Sacramento Bee

The state’s largest nurses union said Tuesday that no California hospital is prepared to treat an Ebola patient, pressing Gov. Jerry Brown to require increased training and protective equipment for nurses.

The union’s call – and a rebuttal from the California Hospital Association – came as Brown met privately with nurses, public health officials and medical providers to discuss Ebola.

Though there are no known cases of Ebola in California, the virus has gripped public attention since an outbreak in West Africa and the infection of two nurses treating an Ebola patient who died in Texas earlier this month.

The Brown administration issued no mandates but said in a prepared statement that “officials are taking steps to help ensure health care workers, hospitals and first responders are prepared to treat and care for patients with Ebola.”

RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United, said California hospitals have failed to provide adequate training or equipment to nurses, a claim hospitals disputed.

Read the whole story

By Associated Press

NEW YORK — Full House Resorts Inc., the casino and hotel operator, said Wednesday that it is putting itself up for sale.

The company, based in Las Vegas, evaluated strategic alternatives and decided that a sale was the best move. It is working on finding a buyer.

Full House, headquartered in Las Vegas, owns the Rising Star Riverboat Casino in Rising Sun, Ind.; the Silver Slipper Casino in Hancock County, Miss., and Stockman’s Casino in Fallon. It also operates a Hyatt in Incline Village under a lease agreement.

Its shares are down nearly 55 percent since the beginning of the year. They closed at $1.27 on Tuesday.

This ridgeline located in Carnelian Bay is what East West wants to develop.

By Kathryn Reed

KINGS BEACH – Developing 112 acres of pristine ridgeline in Lake Tahoe is drawing the wrath of many North Lake Tahoe residents and environmental groups. Even the Placer County supervisor who represents the area has questions.

“I’m struggling with how the Lake Tahoe piece is consistent with the Regional Plan,” Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery said at the Oct. 21 board meeting. She asked for staff to explain it at a later date.

Paul Thompson with the Community Development Resource Agency on Tuesday gave supervisors an update on several Lake Tahoe projects. His request of the packed audience at the North Tahoe Events Center to not comment on the Martis Valley project was met with grumbles. He wanted comments to wait until the environmental documents are released.

Seven people voiced their outrage with the project, including representatives of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, Friends of the West Shore and the Mother Lode Chapter of the Sierra Club. Many at the meeting were wearing “Stop Martis Valley West” stickers.

East West Partners, which developed the Village at Northstar and Lake Tahoe Ritz-Carlton, is proposing to build housing on both sides of Highway 267 – some of which is in the basin and some in the Martis Valley.

“The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s most recent Regional Plan update states that new and redevelopment should be concentrated in urban town centers – areas that already have services such as schools, hospitals, banks, retail stores, and so on, plus infrastructure such as roads, sewer, water, and utilities,” said Ellie Waller, who was speaking on behalf of several people at the meeting. “Building on undeveloped forest land miles from any services is in direct contradiction of the Regional Plan. The negative effects are far reaching and will impact everyone who lives, works, or visits, Lake Tahoe.”

Others repeated that sentiment; each time it was followed by applause.

County officials pointed out that anyone could propose any project.

The environmental documents are where concerns will be ferreted out. But many opponents believe it will be a waste of taxpayer money and staff time to go through the environmental impact statement and environmental impact report process when the project doesn’t meet Tahoe Regional Planning Agency rules.

Opponents plan to be at today’s TRPA meeting to speak out about the Martis Valley proposal during public comment.

East West wants to build 760 residential units in the form of single-family homes, townhomes, cabins and condominiums. More than 6½ acres would be used for commercial. To make this happen acreage between the east and west parcels needs to be rezoned.

That is what has people upset because it would mean building on what is now a forested ridge in Lake Tahoe. Opponents believe it would be precedent setting in a negative way.

The west parcel is approximately 1,185 acres adjacent to Northstar. The east parcel is approximately 6,376 acres, of which 660 acres are zoned for residential and commercial development.

Today, the east parcel can have 1,360 residential units and 6.6 acres of commercial. East West wants to rezone 775 acres of timberland production on the west parcel to allow for the development. The 660-acres of the east zoned for development would be rezoned forest.

The end result is for no development on the east side and 600 fewer residential units fewer than currently allowed.

By Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown pitched his decades-long political career as an asset in tackling California’s vexing water problems in a speech at Stanford University on Monday, portraying this year’s major water legislation as a continuation of his first gubernatorial term nearly 40 years ago.

Amid the state’s crippling drought, water was a top policy priority this year, including the crafting of a $7.5 billion water bond now on the ballot as Proposition 1. Brown and lawmakers also pushed through the first statewide groundwater regulation law in California’s history, an accomplishment Brown called “quite heroic.”

Noting he began work on groundwater back in 1978, Brown said “this is not something for a flash in the pan. This is not just for a one-term governor. This is really the work of a four-term governor.”

Brown laid out a number of steps of his administration’s Water Action Plan, which includes water conservation, ecosystem restoration and fixing the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta.

Read the whole story

El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies are looking for this man.

The man accused of firing a gun at an El Dorado County sheriff’s deputy remains at-large.

He is described as a white male, approximately 6-feet-1-inch or 6-feet-2-inches, weighing approximately 200 to 250 pounds, with a goatee.

The incident occurred the morning of Oct. 17 on Cable Road in Camino.

There was a struggle between the two men. Then the suspect fired at the deputy, missing him. He then fled.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Updated Oct. 22 7:42am:

Police are looking for the knife that was used to stab a woman on Oct. 16 in South Lake Tahoe.

The weapon is described as being 10-inches long, with the blade being 6 inches. The knife has ornate etchings of an elk and/or a bear. It is likely the knife was abandoned while sheathed in a nylon cover of unknown color. The knife may have been placed under the end of a fallen tree root or older log.

Officers believe the knife was discarded in the outlined area.

Investigators believe the suspect discarded the weapon as he fled from the crime scene. Extensive searches of the initial scene and surrounding areas with two K9s have not turned up the knife.

Thomas Payne

Thomas Payne has been arrested on on attempted murder charges. His wife was taken to the hospital with life threatening injures. She has since been released and is doing well, according to officers.

If anyone discovers the weapon, they are asked to leave it and call immediately call police at 530.542.6100.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report