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South Lake Tahoe Mayor Wendy David held her second "Community Conversation" on Wednesday, opening the avenues of conversation between government and the public. This time Councilmember Brooke Laine joined her.

During the first such meeting in January the crowd got too big for the chosen area, Peet's Coffee, so this month they moved to the SLT Senior Center. Everyone attending agreed the center was much more conducive to good conversation.

"I thought it went really well," said Wendy. "I really appreciate the respect everyone shows for each other and opinions can be shared freely."

High winds caused a tree to fall onto a duplex on Tahoe Vista Drive in South Lake Tahoe, just before 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 18.

Residents were home in both units and the tree narrowly missed hitting one of the residents according to SLT Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Karl Koeppen.

There were no injuries and one of the family's cat was rescued.

A peak wind gust at the South Lake Tahoe airport was measured at 56 mph as of 10:30 a.m., according to the National Weather Service, with average winds 24-32 mph.

After Tuesday's normally scheduled 9:00 a.m. meeting, they will move to the Tahoe Beach Retreat & Lodge for an evening Cannabis Workshop to discuss upcoming regulations concerning the sales of adult-use cannabis in South Lake Tahoe. They moved to the larger venue due to expected participation.

On February 20, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., members of the public can give their input on what an ordinance concerning the sales of cannabis in city limits should look like. Besides council members there will also be representative of the Planning Commission and Cannabis Subcommittee.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) had to use extrication equipment Friday after two vehicles collided at the intersection of 4th Street and South Avenue, sending two to the hospital.

At 4:35 p.m., both SLTFR and South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) responded to the crash. A two-year-old had been sitting on the lap of the passenger in the red car show in the photos. While the driver and toddler were able to get out, the passenger had to be cut out, the safer of the options available according to SLTFR Battalion Chief Tim Spencer.

A Truckee man died after falling more than 100 feet down a cliff Wednesday night, Placer County sheriff's officials said.

The Placer Search and Rescue and Nordic teams responded when they received a call of a fallen hiker at 10:00 p.m. near Squaw Valley.

The unidentified man was with two friends in the area of Big Chief, just east of Highway 89 and Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. The men, in their 20s and 30s, did some rock climbing during daylight hours and then went to hike to the top of Big Chief after dark with their headlamps on.

The Cannabis Community Committee gave a presentation to the South Lake Tahoe City Council Tuesday, outlining the work they've done and recommendations for the City's ordinance for cannabis sales.

Fifteen members of the community came together as the committee and met with Mayor Pro Tem Tom Davis, Councilwoman Brooke Laine, Police Chief Brian Uhler, City Attorney Nira Doherty and City Staff member Lisa Watson to discuss and research issues facing legal sales of cannabis in the city limits.

Human Trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others; a modern day form of slavery. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 20.9 million people around the world

And its happening outside our door.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was just 11 years old as she walked to the bus stop on the morning of June 10 in 1991 when she was abducted by two people. The Meyers and South Lake Tahoe community joined law enforcement in searching for the missing girls. As days turned into weeks, and then eventually years, parents searched for ways to teach their own children about safety and abduction.

Even with the recent snowfall, the monthly measurement of the snowpack at Phillip Station west of Lake Tahoe was just 14 percent of the historical average. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) manual snow survey found little snowpack there, two months into what is typically California’s wettest three months.

Measurements at Phillips Station revealed a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 2.6 inches at Phillips as measured there since 1964. SWE is the depth of water that theoretically would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously.

Vacation rentals in El Dorado County in the Tahoe basin outside the South Lake Tahoe city limits will see new regulations in the future, many of which will be conceptually approved during the Board of Supervisors meeting in South Lake Tahoe February 1.

The Alterra Mountain Company has announced the a new pass for the 2018-19 season, the Ikon Pass. It will give pass holders access to many of North America’s top mountain destinations, uniting 12 destinations from Alterra Mountain Company with 11 premier partners.

A fire that started in a bathroom at the El Dorado County Mental Health offices in South Lake Tahoe is under investigation.

The small fire was reported at 4:54 p.m. on Thursday, January 11. It started in a toilet at the offices located at 1900 Lake Tahoe Boulevard. Employees were evacuated but an employee was able to put the fire out with an extinguisher.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue responded. According to SLTFR Chief Jeff Meston the crews ventilate the building as there was a lot of smoke in the building.

Snow was hard to find Wednesday during the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) first measurement of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada this winter.

Snowpack is off to a slow start, with just 3 percent of average found at Phillips Station, The measurement January 3 revealed a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 0.4 inches. The average is 11.3 inches in early January at Phillips, as measured there since 1964. It's elevation is 6,873 feet and located at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road.

It was a very busy holiday weekend in South Lake Tahoe, with hotels, vacation homes and the slopes full of revelers, along with the thousands of attendees at the three-day music festival, SnowGlobe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - Heavenly Mountain Resort has confirmed a Santa Rosa, California man died while at the resort on Wednesday, December 27, 2017.

The unidentified 49-year-old man was on a beginner run near the Poma Trail.

“Heavenly Mountain Resort, Heavenly Ski Patrol, and the entire Vail Resorts family extend our deepest sympathy and support to our guest’s family and friends,” said Mike Goar, vice president of mountain division and chief operating officer of Heavenly Mountain Resort.

For 37 years, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District (TDFPD) Battalion Chief Rich Nalder has served the community, and now, he's retiring.

Nalder’s service to the Lake Tahoe community began in 1980 and he soon became instrumental in the design and implementation of TDFPD Special Service programs such as rope rescue, confined space and water rescue.

Mental Health issues in communities where they have operations will be the focus of a new charitable fund created by Vail's Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz and his wife, Elana Amsterdam.

Katz and Amsterdam created the new charitable fund in October 2017 with funding of approximately $58 million.

The City of South Lake Tahoe put the finishing touches to the new Vacation Home Rental (VHR) ordinance Tuesday, paving the way for what community members have asked for: More enforcement, better monitoring and rules to bring reasonable calm to their neighborhoods.

"This is a code with real teeth," said SLT Police Chief Brian Uhler. "It's a clear and simple message that we're not fooling around. There are strong laws for staff to carry out."

El Dorado County was selected as the "2017 Paving the Way" award by the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC) einner on December 6. This single award ecognizes a community that has achieved exceptional economic development results during the year.

“For the last 18 months, El Dorado County has developed and executed a strategic approach to economic development in order to elevate the profile of our part of the Greater Sacramento Region,” said Don Ashton, the County’s Chief Administrative Officer.

Chief Jeff Meston of South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue is the recipient of the Ed Bent Training Excellence Award in recognition of being the Outstanding Fire Instructor of the Year at the California Training Officers Symposium held this week in Fresno, California.

The award was created many years ago on behalf of Ed Bent for his contribution as a founding father of statewide training and curriculum for the California Fire Service.

Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District christened Marine 24 Monday, giving Lake Tahoe its first year-round firefighting boat.

At a cost of almost $500,000, Marine 24 is able to fight fire from hoses on board as well as hooking up to pipes along lakefront homes in Douglas County and piping water from the lake into water tenders. The boat can send water 300 feet, but their main function will be to pump water into pipes at the shore that water tenders will hook up to.

It's just 100 days until the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and United Airlines has announced their lineup of Team USA athletes who will represent them in PyeongChang, South Korea.

"New Spirit of United" is their campaign as the US Olympic Committee's official airline.

Jamie Anderson of Meyers/South Lake Tahoe is one of the six athletes chosen who " embody United's core values of flying together and working as one unified team towards success".

Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows formally announced its plan to install a base-to-base gondola connecting The Village at Squaw Valley and the base area at Alpine Meadows today. The freshly branded “California Express” gondola is targeted to open ahead of the 2019-20 winter season. The connection of these two mountains will realize the long-held dream of the pioneers who brought the sport of skiing and the 1960 Winter Olympics to Squaw Valley nearly 60 years ago.

Before that question can be answered, we need to understand what a mega fire is. To be a mega fire it needs to meet these five points:

1. Starts near or in a high fire danger area during approaching or actual red flag conditions,
2. Escapes the initial attack,
3. Develops into a campaign fire covering a large area,
4. Requires thousand of firefighters and extensive additional resources to bring final containment,
5. Often cause huge property and other cultural losses in addition to vegetation destroyed.