2015

Being gay and a high school student in South Lake Tahoe in 2005 was challenging.

"It was a scary, dark place at the time," said Alex Boyar, who 'came out of the closet' at age 14. "Its a much different environment today."

Boyar, along with his mother Dr. Virginia Berry and sister Christina Boyar, stopped by South Tahoe High Thursday to talk to the students of Ally, the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at the school that he co-founded in 2005.

Former South Lake Tahoe Fire Captain Mark McLeod Wygant, 46, pleaded guilty in federal court today to transportation of child pornography.

Following an FBI and SLT Police Department investigation, Wygant was a
arrested on Jan. 29 2015 and has been in custody ever since. He had been immediately placed on administration leave but resigned just days after his arrest.

"I am pleased that Mr. Wygant plead guilty to his crime and the punishment will now in the hands of the criminal justice system," said SLT Fire Chief Jeff Meston.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just released their annual report this week, and there was some good news mixed with a fairly surprising fact: For the first time since 1993, Americans’ life expectancy has actually decreased and is now lower than Canada, Germany, France and other developed countries.

The life expectancy of U.S. residents in 2015 declined by 0.1 years to 78.8. While this figure isn't drastic, it is making news since its the first drop in life expectancy in more than two decades.

The 10 leading causes of death in 2015 remained the same as in 2014. Age-adjusted

A special benefit concert is being held at the Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) Duke Theater on Wednesday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m. to raise money to help a local woman battling aggressive brain cancer.

Students in the school's Rock Ensemble classes will hit the stage for an evening of classic rock n’ roll hits, some gospel, some country, and a little bit of heavy metal to raise funds for the Angie Peart Cancer Fund.

Angie Peart, who herself is a rock student herself, is the wife of the LTCC reprographics/phone operator Bob Peart. She has been battling brain cancer since 2015.

The House and Senate have agreed to include the bipartisan Lake Tahoe Restoration Act in the final bicameral Water Resources Development Act, titled the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, Nevada Sen. Dean Heller announced Monday.

The news comes just hours after Vail Resorts and the many members of the public made pleas for this to happen.

You're a group of teachers from San Francisco, visiting South Lake Tahoe for the weekend before heading back to wrap up the semester. You've come to Tahoe to ski for opening weekend. You're a group of friends from San Diego, looking for a mini-reunion.

The City of South Lake Tahoe promised to hire a company to provide a socio-economic study on the impacts of vacation home rentals (VHRs) on the city. Michael Baker Incorporated, a company that has studied the same impacts at Big Bear Lake, Morro Bay, Monterey and Avalon on Catalina Island, was hired to do the job.

Wednesday night, representatives from Michael Baker had stations around a room at the Senior Center to determine what the almost 100 people who were at the meeting thought was important, and not important, of several aspects of both the study and VHRs.

Since the Tahoe Valley Area Plan was approved in 2015, several projects are being either already in the works or being planned, and land is being opening for development.

During Thursday's Planning Commission meeting, one of those projects was approved.

Readers of South Tahoe Now's reports on local crime have seen an increase in reports of property crimes such as petty theft, theft from cars, auto theft and robbery.

Get a head start to the holidays and support health and wellness in the community at the 46th annual Holiday Faire on Sunday, November 13. Community members and visitors of all ages are invited to attend this festive event at St. Teresa Grace Hall from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Browse through the finest and fanciest holiday and winter treasures set aside from The Attic Thrift Store donations. Items include jewelry, books, holiday decorations, winter wear, crystal, dolls, purses, antiques, and collectibles.

There was great news from Washington D.C. back on September 14 when the U.S. Senate passed their $415 million version of 2015's Lake Tahoe Restoration Act by a vote of 95-3. It was part of the $10 billion Water Resources Development Act of 2016.

With a growing cocaine problem, not only in South Lake Tahoe but in the whole country, the U.S Coastguard and their interagency partners are being kept busy seizing the drug from ships in the Pacific Ocean headed to the United States.

The Coast Guard broke records over the last 12 months by removing more than 416,000 pounds of cocaine worth over $5.6 billion from boats and ships. Their previous record was 367,700 pounds seized in 2008.

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors have unanimously voted in favor of a resolution opposing the passage of California Proposition 64 which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and over in the state.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal panel is taking their courtroom on the road October 26 when they hold appellate court hearings in front of UC Davis law students. One of the two cases they'll hear concerns a disagreement between the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office and the South Lake Tahoe Police Department on how to investigate a fatal shooting by an officer.

This summer,the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association (TKPOA) has been both combating aquatic invasive weeds while also testing out methods for future eradication of the pesky plants from their channels. They will be hosting a public meeting to update the community on their ongoing efforts on Tuesday, November 1 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the South Tahoe Public Utility District board room.

The utility relocation work on Highway 50 through South Lake Tahoe the past two years has made way for a major, three-year long Caltrans project that will get underway next Spring.

The project, which is currently out for bid, will be starting in 2017 and will have crews working along U.S. Highway 50 from the "Y" intersection with State Highway 89 to the Trout Creek Bridge once again.

El Dorado County Undersheriff Randy Peshon has been re-appointed to the state's Judicial Council Collaborative Justice Court Advisory Committee after being nominated by Superior Court Judge Suzanne Kingsbury.

Peshon, who once ran the jail in South Lake Tahoe, has served in this capacity for the past three years and will begin a new three year term on November 1.

Income for casinos on the South Shore rose again in August, 2016, recording a 26.66 percent gain in gaming win when compared to income from a year ago. This was the biggest gain of any area in the state of Nevada, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Their gain in gaming revenues was $5,033,378, the highest percentage gain in Nevada. This is the second month in a row that the South Shore casinos posted the biggest increase in the state.

The gaming win represents the computed income of casinos before business expenses and taxes.

An old, blue building on the corner of Highway 50 and Sawmill Road adjacent to the Upper Truckee River is being demolished, and the sensitive land it sits on will be restored to natural wetlands.

The building is near the site of the historic Ethel's Pie Shop.

The 1.05 acre parcel was acquired by the California Tahoe Conservancy under its Tahoe Livable Communities Program in December 2015.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – As part of ongoing efforts to evaluate and use numerous tools to fight aquatic invasive plants in the Tahoe Keys, the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association recently announced its plans to apply for a permit for a small-scale demonstration of aquatic herbicides in 2018.

Social media was abuzz this week as South Tahoe High came is as the seventh most beautiful high school campus in the State of California according to the Texas based national driver's education company, Aceable.

The trip from Lake Tahoe to Reno will be a shorter one once the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) completes the final leg of the I-580 Carson City Freeway. As of Thursday, construction is 50 percent completed.

Those making the trip down Highway 50 to Carson City have seen almost one million cubic yards of earth excavated to make way for the future roadway that will be completed in 2017.

The excavation was needed to lower the elevation of sections of the freeway to bring the road below existing overpasses and reduce traffic noise.

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) will step up their pedestrian safety enforcement operations during the month of September as part of “California Pedestrian Safety Month.”

With a rapidly increasing number of pedestrians being killed and injured on roadways in the state of California, the Senate passed a resolution to bring attention to the 813 pedestrians killed on California roadways in 2015 alone. This was nearly 25 percent of all roadways deaths in the state, up from 17 percent just ten years earlier.

"We're here to celebrate because we love Lake Tahoe," Nevada Senator Harry Reid said at the 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit on Wednesday. Reid, who started the focus on Lake Tahoe along with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore with the first Summit in 1997.

"Like a World Series team who can't rest on their laurels," said Reid, "we need to build on progress."

Reid went on with his World Series antidote and introduced the "All Star Lineup" at the 20th Summit, his last in office as he won't be seeking reelection after serving the state in Washington since 1987.