While no opening date has been announced for the shops at the Chateau in South Lake Tahoe, more businesses are making tenant improvements.

Lights can be seen at the retail center along Highway 50 near the state line. Mannequins and clothing racks are in some of the storefronts.

The city’s building division has received the following interior tenant improvement applications for building permits:

Night club – Mc P’s.

Unit C – Specialty clothing store.

Units D and E – Powder House. D will be a retail souvenir store and will be a retail sock store.

Units J and K – Powder House. J will be cowboy specialty clothing, and K will be ski rental and clothing.

Hoteliers are reportedly expressing interest in further developing the site, but officials connected with the project are not talking.

The permit is for two hotels to be built on the 11-plus acres.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Amber Phillips, Las Vegas Sun

Facing a contested re-election bid that is increasingly being framed around immigration, Rep. Joe Heck voted against a Republican bid to require the president to deport immigrants brought into the country illegally.

Heck was one of 11 House Republicans, including Rep. Mark Amodei of Northern Nevada, to defy their party in a much-politicized 216-192 vote to end President Obama’s program that defers deportations of some of those immigrants, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

There was confusion among House Republicans and Democrats about whether the law would allow immigrants whose deportations were waived to stay in the program.

The vote won’t see the light of the day in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Instead, it allowed Republican leaders to garner enough support from their ultra-conservative members to pass emergency funds aimed at stemming the crisis of migrants on the border.

But while the vote helped conservative Republicans, it put moderates like Heck, a two-term incumbent representing Henderson and Boulder City, in an interesting spot.

Read the whole story

A 21-year-old woman sustained serious injuries when she dove from the pier at Timber Cove into the shallow waters of Lake Tahoe.

About 6:30pm Aug. 1 Timber Cove staff and others rescued her from the water.

South Lake Tahoe paramedics transported her to Heavenly Mountain Resort’s California Lodge where CareFlight flew her to Renown Medical Center in Reno.

The name and hometown of the woman have not been released.

“The SLTFD was very impressed and appreciative at the level of care professionalism provided by the Timber Cove staff. They truly made a difference in this young girl’s life,” South Lake Tahoe firefighter Rob Hembree told Lake Tahoe News.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Reed

Nothing separates the South Lake Tahoe Police Department fleet from the public. No fence. Only a sign telling people they can’t park in that area.

Earlier this summer when the City Council was discussing capital improvement projects, No. 18 on the list was a perimeter security fence for the department. But it was never brought up for discussion at the meeting.

On the Aug. 5 council agenda is the five-year capital investment plan. It’s possible the council will approve it Tuesday. There is no specific mention of the fence.

While Police Chief Brian Uhler does not expect the security fence to be part of the 2014-15 budget, he hopes it will become a reality sooner rather than later.

“It’s on the list of things to be done. It is competing with many other projects,” Uhler told Lake Tahoe News. “It will be an item I will continually press forward.”

South Lake Tahoe police vehicles are not kept in a secure area. Photo/LTN

When he was hired a few years ago he couldn’t believe one did not exist. He said previous chiefs have lobbied for a fence, but it has never risen to the top of the priority list.

“It’s normal and customary for police to have secure parking for employees and the fleet,” Uhler said.

Uhler said known suspects have videotaped officers; this includes filming the officers’ personal vehicles. Officers’ vehicles have also been vandalized.

While there are video cameras in the parking lot, that doesn’t prevent someone from tampering with vehicles or filming officers. The cameras can only help identify the people. But it is not illegal to film officers.

“It would provide an extra layer of security when doing prison transports, drop offs and coming to the jail facility,” Uhler said of the fence.

He proposes a 6-foot fence with a mesh lining to prevent clear visibility of the vehicles. It would have a security gate that would need to handle opening and closing multiples times a day. Plus, if there is power outage, there needs to be a backup to make sure vehicles can get in and out.

While there is no official estimate on the cost, Uhler said the fence and gate are likely to be in the $100,000 to $200,000 range.

Candidates are slowly qualifying for the Nov. 4 ballot.

The filing period closes Aug. 8. It will be extended to Aug. 13 if an incumbent does not file or qualify.

New for Lake Tahoe Unified School District and Lake Tahoe Community College is that the five members now represent specific districts. That means people will only vote for one person for each of those entities.

Wendy David is the only South Lake Tahoe City Council candidate who has qualified for the ballot. Those who have taken out papers are Brooke Laine, Tom Davis, Angela Swanson, Bruce Grego, Austin Sass and Matt Palacio.

Dave Olivio has qualified for the ballot for city treasurer.

Suzie Alessi has taken out papers for city clerk.

Kerry David has qualified for District 1 for the LTCC board, Jeff Cowen for District 2, and Bob Grant and Michelle Sweeney for District 5.

LTUSD District 5 has Barbara Bannar on the ballot. No one has filed for area 2.

Chris Cefalu has qualified for director seat one for South Tahoe Public Utility District, Jim Jones for seat two, and Duane Wallace for seat five.

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

Two people suffered non-life-threatening injuries Friday afternoon when a helicopter assisting with the annual Jeepers Jamboree crashed along the Rubicon Trail.

Four people were on board. A man with head injuries and a man with leg injuries were flown to a Reno hospital, according the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. Two other occupants were able to walk away from the crash.

Deputies assigned to the trail patrol arrived at the scene and confirmed that a helicopter was down near Buck Island Lake, approximately 7 miles from Loon Lake. This area is accessible only by modified four-wheel-drive vehicles, helicopters or on foot, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

Read the whole story

A California couple may face child endangerment charges because their grandson who was in their care nearly shot his little finger off.

The name and hometown of the people involved are not being released by South Lake Tahoe police officers.

“That fact that he has special needs could be considered by the DA to be more compelling toward (child endangerment),” police Lt. Brian Williams told Lake Tahoe News.

The 10-year-old was left alone in a vehicle at Staples on the afternoon of July 31 while his grandma shopped and grandpa let the dog out. During that time the boy went from the back seat to the front, opened the glove compartment and shot his little finger, according to officers.

Williams did not know if the child would lose his little finger.

The gun belongs to the grandfather, who is in law enforcement in California. He is authorized to carry a loaded firearm in a vehicle. The glove box, though, does not have a lock.

Officers took possession of the weapon.

It will be up to the District Attorneys Office if charges are filed.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Andrew Alden, KQED-TV

Once upon a time, geologists tell us, a massive chunk of Lake Tahoe’s West Shore collapsed into the water in a tremendous landslide. The water responded by sloshing high onto the surrounding shores in a series of landslide tsunamis. A major new study in the journal Geosphere adds much new detail to that story, tracing massive features around and beneath the lake. And it places the date of the fearsome event near the time that humans first visited it.

Lake Tahoe is a peaceful mountain resort area today, but its geologic past has been long and violent. Its very presence is due to tectonic stretching of the Earth’s crust across Nevada, which has opened large basins from California’s Sierra Nevada crest all the way to Salt Lake City. The Tahoe basin has been there for roughly 3 million years, during which time it’s seen outbreaks of volcanism and countless major earthquakes.

Forty years ago the first sonar survey of Lake Tahoe showed evidence that bite-shaped McKinney Bay, in the middle of the lake’s western shore, is a scar left by a very large landslide and that huge pieces of that slide, as much as a kilometer long, are strewn across the lake bottom.

Since that time, as funding permits, geologists have sent submarine-mounted cameras into the lake and taken core samples of its sediment. They’ve also tramped the shores and mountainsides, mapping the signs the catastrophe left there.

The new paper in the August issue of the journal Geosphere, by veteran researchers James G. Moore, Richard Schweikert and Christopher Kitts, assembles the evidence old and new into a scenario of that convulsive day. Much of their paper represents significant progress on the Tahoe tsunami problem.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed   

When hot tubs are purchased and installed in the Lake Tahoe Basin no one explains where the water is supposed to go when it comes time to draining them – at least not for residents.

For commercial hot tubs and pools, the rules are more defined.

“Commercial hot tubs and pools are connected to the sewer and they pay a fee for that,” Ross Johnson, manager of plant operations for South Tahoe Public Utility District, told Lake Tahoe News. “For residential hot tubs I tell them to do the thing I always do which is irrigate your yard with the hot tub water.”

Draining hot tubs can pose problems in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Photo/LTN

Draining hot tubs is getting attention lately because just this week property owners on Wildwood Avenue in South Lake Tahoe let the water from their spa go down an embankment. This presents erosion concerns because ultimately the dirt that wound up in the street is likely to reach Lake Tahoe. And it is sediment that is the No. 1 cause of declining lake clarity.

A neighbor notified the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and other entities.

“It’s illegal to discharge chlorinated water into the city storm drains,” Jason Burke, stormwater program coordinator for South Lake Tahoe, told Lake Tahoe News.

In June, Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort notified Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board that its pool water was put down a storm drain.

While the resort admitted this, the city is contemplating what to do based on not having evidence of the infraction occurring. Burke said the city is working with TRPA on potential penalties for the hotel property.

Julie Regan with TRPA said their investigation is ongoing with the resort because the chlorinated water was also discharged into a stream environmental zone. This is never allowed.

Three people from the South Lake Tahoe hotel are no longer employed there because of this incident.

All the agencies agree commercial properties in the basin must tie their tubs and pools into a sewer line. These hot tubs are also a different grade than a residential one because they have stronger pumps and must have two drains.

TRPA in its best management practices handbook has a section addressing pools and hot tubs. The major concerns are if the chemicals in the water would harm animals or reach a water body, whether it’s a creek or Lake Tahoe.

“We are not enforcing how they empty personal hot tubs,” Regan told Lake Tahoe News. But doing so over grass or rocks so it does not create an erosion problem is highly encouraged.

A private hot tub can contain between 200 and 600 gallons of water.

Allen Miller with Lahontan said his agency doesn’t have a problem with residential units draining tubs for irrigation purposes.

“To use it to irrigate seems like a pretty good option, especially in drought conditions,” Burke said. “The only thing people should be careful is to not create erosion problems with all that water.”

He recommends letting a chlorinated tub sit without replenishing chemicals for a week or using dechlorination tablets before draining.

South Tahoe PUD doesn’t want private hot tub owners to start using the sewer system for multiple reasons. For one, it costs money to treat that water. Added costs to the district would eventually mean higher sewer bills.

Another concern is if people don’t know what they are doing, the sewer line can get contaminated with dirt or sewage could flow the other way.

While residents are not draining their hot tubs all that often, vacation rentals in some jurisdictions are supposed to in between each new rental. Those are not considered commercial tubs even though it is a business operation taking place.

Calls to vacation rental and spa businesses were not returned.

None of the agencies is addressing whether the gray water violates the Porter Cologne Water Quality Control Act. That federal law is what mandates all the treated sewer water in the basin must be exported. People in the Lake Tahoe Basin aren’t even supposed to collect water from a shower and use that for irrigation — even though that is a common drought busting tool.