A Fresno man who controlled marijuana grows in El Dorado and Placer counties was sentenced April 15 to 17 1/2 years in federal prison for drug crimes. Uriel Ochoa-Espindola, 44, according to court documents, was the leader of a massive marijuana manufacturing operation and an interstate drug distribution ring. He and his partners grew tens-of-thousands […]
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Four South Lake Tahoe residents who were in Boston for the country’s oldest marathon escaped the bombings unharmed. Two bombs were heard going off near the finish line of the April 15 event just before noon Pacific time. Three people are confirmed dead and 144 injured. “We were between both bombs which were 100 yards […]
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By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the death of a teenager who was found critically injured in a roadway early Saturday morning. Deputies responded about 4:19am to a report of a man lying on Sand Ridge Road in south Placerville. When they arrived, they found a 17-year-old boy […]
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By Melody Gutierrez, Sacramento Bee Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to make California’s community college system more efficient and increase access for students hit a road block last week as lawmakers rejected his proposal to set a lifetime limit on the number of units students can take at reduced in-state rates. Budget panels in both houses […]
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By Cynthia Hubert, Phillip Reese and Jim Sanders, Sacramento Bee Over the past five years, Nevada’s primary state psychiatric hospital has put hundreds of mentally ill patients on Greyhound buses and sent them to cities and towns across America. Since July 2008, Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas has transported more than 1,500 patients to […]
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By Richard N. Velotta The director of the state Tourism Commission said that while many critics have pounced on Nevada’s new tagline, she’s confident the slogan will be embraced by residents and help attract tourists and businesses to the state. Gov. Brian Sandoval unveiled “Nevada: A World Within. A State Apart” Tuesday. “People are saying […]
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By Erik Eckholm, New York Times HOUSTON — As school districts across the country consider placing more police officers in schools, youth advocates and judges are raising alarm about what they have seen in the schools where officers are already stationed: a surge in criminal charges against children for misbehavior that many believe is better […]
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By Kathryn Reed Gangs, drugs, the threat of violence at schools, parents who are not engaged, and a crime rate that is increasing. Those were some of the topics South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler, El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum, and Steve Heggen with county probation touched on during this month’s […]
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Fire safety was a predominant theme at this week’s Placer County Board of Supervisors meeting. In the first action, supervisors approved the permanent expansion of the county’s hazardous vegetation abatement ordinance to all county unincorporated areas. In the second action, the board OK’d an update to the Community Wildfire Protection Plan. And the third action […]
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By Bryan Walsh, Time As environmental policy, improving energy efficiency isn’t just a no-brainer; it’s a no-loser. By limiting wasted energy, we reduce the number of power plants we need–along with their resulting pollution–and we save money. Cutting energy waste is first and foremost a data challenge. You can’t cut waste until you know what […]
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