Source: National Institute for Early Education Research

By William Selway, Bloomberg

Bill de Blasio won the mayoralty of New York City in part on a politically popular promise to expand access to pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds. In doing so, the 21st-century liberal embraced a 20th-century ideal: Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson created Head Start, a national program to provide education to young children, wagering that it would boost their chances of later academic and economic success. For two years running, President Obama has put proposals in his budget for “universal” pre-kindergarten for moderate-income as well as low-income children. The prospect of more kids heading to pre-K has re-opened debates over whether early exposure to school really makes a long-term difference.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo struck a deal to give New York City $300 million to expand pre-K starting in September, although without the tax increase on wealthy residents de Blasio sought to pay for it.

But across the U.S., preschool has taken a big hit from strapped budgets since the 2008 financial crisis. In 2012, state spending on preschool dropped 10 percent, the biggest decline ever. As a result of the across-the-board spending reductions, Head Start lost $400 million last year, the deepest cuts since the program’s creation. About 57,000 poor children were turned away during the current school year.

Obama’s call in 2013 to raise cigarette taxes to pump about $75 billion into preschool over 10 years went nowhere in the face of Republican opposition. This year, Obama added a new argument, focusing on early education’s potential to offset America’s growing income gap. As a separate debate rages over proposals to revamp U.S. schools, some educators point to a connection between preschool attendance and the scores on international tests that have raised fears about America’s future competitiveness.

Read the whole story

By Alexander Martin, Wall Street Journal

TOKYO —G lobal warming is having an impact on human and natural systems worldwide, scientists warned in a report Monday, calling for swift action to mitigate the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.

The report, released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is the second portion of a four-part report, and follows the September release of the first portion, which focused on scientific evidence for global warming.

“What happens in terms of impact of climate change in different parts of the world will be determined to a large extent [by how much] we are prepared and able to mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gasses,” IPCC Chairman Rajendra K. Pachauri said.

The report said that besides an increase in global average temperature, climate change was having a widespread impact on everything from water resources to food production and weather patterns.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

The California Department of Finance in its last audit of the California Tahoe Conservancy’s license plate program questioned the amount of money being used for administrative expenses.

“Because it does not separately account for direct or indirect salaries and operating expenditure, we are unable to determine compliance with the administrative cap,” the report says.

Out of four categories the Conservancy was compliant in two, not compliant in one and undetermined in one.

The undetermined is limiting administrative costs, marketing or other promotional activities related to the license plates to 25 percent of expenses.

In the report following the above graphic it says, “The total expenditure amounts included in the annual report to DMV are not supported by the Conservancy’s accounting records. … We recommend the Conservancy review and reconcile internal databases with accounting records to ensure accurate amounts are reported to DMV.”

CTC issues a specialty plate in California and Nevada. Vehicle owners pay an extra fee when registering a vehicle. That money is then put in the CTC’s account. Much of what is collected is used for recreation uses like bike trails.

The issue CTC is not compliant with is Vehicle Code 5060(h)(1) – preparing and submitting an annual accounting report to the Finance Department by June 30. The report is to include an accounting of all revenues and expenditures associated with the special interest license plate program.

“It was just an accounting issue. The folks in Sacramento like as many different accounts as possible to track our expenses and revenues,” CTC Executive Director Patrick Wright told Lake Tahoe News. “We get audited very frequently on all sorts of different things.”

The purpose of this audit was to make sure money from the plates was being used appropriately.

Wright said the audit findings were not serious.

“They want to make sure all of our money is spent the right way,” Wright said. And he said it is.

By Kara Fox, Moonshine Ink

A slew of small businesses on the North Shore have recently been targeted by a disabled attorney, claiming they are not in compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Scott Johnson, who is known around the state and locally for filing these types of lawsuits, has sued at least 45 businesses from Kings Beach to Tahoma since November.

He made the rounds on the South Shore a few years ago.

Johnson, who was hit by a drunken driver in 1981 that left him a quadriplegic, sends letters to businesses stating they are noncompliant with the federal law that requires a minimum level of access in all public places. His most recent accusations against local businesses have been that handicapped spaces are not properly marked, the ramps to the businesses are too steep, and/or the door handles are not push/pull handles, among other complaints. He is asking anywhere from $22,000 to $25,000 per lawsuit.

Johnson is no stranger to the Tahoe/Truckee area, having filed numerous lawsuits against small businesses locally a few years ago, even putting Donner Lake Kitchen in Truckee out of business in 2011. He has filed more than 2,000 federal lawsuits in the California Eastern District Court in Sacramento since 2004.

Read the whole story

By Cy Ryan, Las Vegas Sun

CARSON CITY — Nevada’s minimum wage will remain the same for the coming year.

Although President Obama has called for an increase in the federal minimum to $10.10 an hour, Gov. Brian Sandoval has said he would oppose such an increase because it would mean a loss of jobs.

Nevada’s minimum is $7.25 an hour — the same as the current federal minimum — for those offered health insurance by their employers. For those without health insurance, the minimum wage is $8.25 an hour.

Read the whole story

Proposed project sites are outlined in red.

By Kathryn Reed

Placer County and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency are putting together the notice of preparation to develop a segment of the Martis Valley and adjacent land in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

From there the environmental documents will be prepared.

Even though the Truckee Land Trust saved thousands of acres in the area, members are now behind East West Partners plans to develop a significant chunk of land and are not concerned with the 112 acres in the Lake Tahoe Basin that would be developed.

Some conservation groups are calling developing this Tahoe acreage precedent setting because there are currently no timeshare-condo developments on a ridge on the North Shore.

The project area is located between Truckee and the North Shore on both sides of Highway 267. Most of it is not under the purview of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. All but a small part is in Placer County; the other is in Nevada County.

The proposed project consists of a specific plan, TRPA area plan and various entitlements and approvals associated with approval of these plans.

The public has until April 28 to comment on the proposal.

The proposed project would shift 760 units and 6.6 acres of commercial from the allowed development of 1,360 units and 6.6 acres of commercial on the East Parcel to the West Parcel. In the process 600 units would be retired.

The West Parcel is approximately 1,192 acres next to Northstar ski resort. The area plan would apply to the 112.8 acres of the West Parcel that are located within TRPA’s jurisdiction and would designate this land resort recreation.

In the West Parcel 775 acres would be rezoned from timberland production to residential and neighborhood commercial. This would allow for 760 residential units and 6.6 acres of commercial. The remaining 417 acres on the West Parcel would remain forest.

The 670 acres of the East Parcel currently zoned for development would be designated forest. A conservation easement would be placed over the entire 6,376 acres, or it would be sold fee simple to conservation groups. Approximately 216 acres of the 6,376-acre East Parcel are located within Nevada County.

Build-out is expected to take 25 years.

An intersection on Highway 267 would be created to accommodate future development.

Hiking and biking trails are also part of the plans.

—

Other info:

• Comments may be emailed to cdraecs@placer.ca.gov.

• More info is available online.

• Scoping meeting on April 16 at 1pm, Cedar House Sport Hotel, 10918 Brockway Road, Truckee.

• Scoping meeting on April 16 at 5:30pm, North Tahoe Event Center, Kings Beach.

• TRPA Advisory Planning Commission, April 9 9:30am, 128 Market St., Stateline.

• TRPA Governing Board, April 24, 9:30am, 128 Market St., Stateline.

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe’s sex offender ordinance is being challenged by a group that is filing complaints and lawsuits throughout the state.

Janice Bellucci, president of California Reform Sex Offender Laws, believes the city’s ordinance violates state and federal laws.

“The underlying court case just came out in January and is still out on appeal,” South Lake Tahoe City Attorney Tom Watson told Lake Tahoe News. “The fact is the decision they are relying is from the court of appeals and is being appealed to the Supreme Court and there is no decision from the Supreme Court yet.”

As of April 2, Watson had not seen the actual lawsuit, but said he was made aware a complaint had been filed. He will likely bring the issue before the City Council in closed session at the April 15 meeting.

South Lake Tahoe’s ordinance prohibits registered sex offenders from residing or being within 300 feet of a slew of public and private locations including schools, parks, bus stops and swimming pools.

“The sex offender ordinance adopted by the city of South Lake Tahoe violates both the federal and state constitutions,” Bellucci said in a statement. “The South Lake Tahoe ordinance is based upon two myths: (1) that registered citizens have a high rate of re-offense and (2) that strangers commit most sexual assaults.”

El Dorado County in January altered its ordinance following a legal challenge.

By Jackie Calmes, New York Times

AURORA, Colo. — As the weather warms, Lizeth Chacon is anticipating a new season of registering Latino voters — yet dreading experiences like one late last year, when she came upon a skate park full of older teenagers.

“I thought, ‘The perfect age! They’re turning 18,’” said Chacon, just 26 herself, born in Mexico and now the lead organizer at Rights for All People, a local immigrant organizing group. But among the roughly 50 people she approached in this increasingly diverse city east of Denver, “not a single person” was interested in her pitch, including those already old enough to vote: “They were like, ‘Why? Why would I bother to vote?’”

Across the country, immigrant-rights advocates report mounting disillusionment with both parties among Latinos, enough to threaten recent gains in voting participation that have reshaped politics to Democrats’ advantage nationally, and in states like Colorado with significant Latino populations. High hopes — kindled by President Obama’s elections and stoked in June by Senate passage of the most significant overhaul of immigration law in a generation, with a path to citizenship for about 11 million people here unlawfully — have been all but dashed.

Read the whole story

Property and sales tax collections are better than projected in South Lake Tahoe, while hotel taxes are holding steady.

“We are hitting our budget. We are feeling confident as we go into summer,” Debbie McIntyre, financial services manager, told the City Council on Tuesday.

McIntyre presented the midyear budget to the electeds, which included making some adjustments.

Income and expenses have gone up since the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. But revenues are the larger number, so there is some wriggle room.

Revenues are up by $739,161 over projections. Property taxes are up $200,000, sales tax $300,000, $98,000 from raising the fee residents pay for 911, and $104,835 from rental properties.

The extra will be spent on repairs at the ice rink that are not covered by rent; June election; two dispatchers; a public works inspector; maintenance worker; permit center technician, Linear Park water, sewer and electricity; technology upgrades; two police vehicles; and roads.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

A Tahoe Vista residence is destroyed April 1. Photo/Provided

A two-story residence in Tahoe Vista was heavily damaged by fire Tuesday night.

North Tahoe Fire Protection District officials said the blaze started as a chimney fire.

The residents returned home about 10:25pm April 1 to find their home filled with smoke.

No one was injured. A dollar amount on the loss has not been released.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report