highway patrol

Marijuana Brownie Incident - During the last weekend of July, a group of women visited South Lake Tahoe for a bachelorette party. During the visit, the women willfully ingested marijuana brownies they obtained through a ride-share company. Within a few hours, 10 of the women were taken to the emergency room in South Lake Tahoe. Eight of the ten were later admitted to the hospital for treatment. While many would have you believe marijuana is a harmless drug, those of us in the public safety arena have seen increases in medical emergencies from marijuana ingestion.

On July 28, 71-year-old Rosalynn Saxsenmeier wandered away from her camping spot in the Silver Valley Campground at Lake Alpine at 2:00 p.m. and hasn't been seen since.

Many agencies are assisting in the search and combing a 100-mile area for the El Granada (Half Moon Bay area), Calif., woman. A "Silver Alert" has been issued via the California Highway Patrol as well. Search and rescue teams from El Dorado, Tuolumne, Marin, Contra Costa, Placer and Calaveras counties have been joined by K-9 crews, CA Office of Emergency Services and the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit.

Troopers from the Nevada Highway Patrol responded to a call on Wednesday morning made by a motorist concerned with an unmarked pickup attempting to pull them over at 10:30 a.m.

In the area of the Mt. Rose Highway on IR580, the caller said the vehicle attempting to stop them was a silver or gray colored Ford F-150 extended cab pickup with Nevada plate 89A639. This Ford pickup had no markings on it that would identify it as a law enforcement vehicle. However, it was equipped with red and blue flashing lights.

A three-car accident on Highway 50 near Frog Lake on lower Echo Summit caused both lanes of the road to be closed for almost two hours Tuesday afternoon.

At 3:37 p.m., the California Highway Patrol responded to the accident which resulted in extensive damage to all three cars involved in the head-on collision. They then issued an alert to cell phones in the area, warning of the road's closure.

CHP says there were mild to moderate injuries to the cars' occupants and at least one person was transported to Barton Hospital.

As of 5:15 p.m., both lanes of traffic reopened.

6:50 p.m. update - The gondola is no longer threatened by the Montreal Fire. The fires are contained at this time and expected to be controlled soon. Wrap up of fire activity is expected at 9:00 p.m. but personnel will remain on the scene to watch overnight.

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A single-vehicle crash has claimed the lives of two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) firefighters, one who is from Zephyr Cove. One other BLM firefighter was injured.

On Sunday evening, the firefighters were returning to Winnemucca after looking for lightning-sparked wildfires in Northern Nevada. NHP said tire failure may have caused the crash near the junction of State Highway 140 and U.S. 95 at about 5:00 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) South Lake Tahoe office is conducting a car seat check-up event. The current law states child passengers must ride in either a car seat or booster seat until the age of eight years old and the only exception to the law is if the child is 4 feet 9 inches in height. Effective January 1, 2017, children under the age of 2 must ride rear-facing in an appropriate child safety seat.

The California Highway Patrol and Uber are joining forces to promote awareness about safe, alternative transportation options to drunk driving during the July 4 holiday weekend.

This holiday is one of the deadliest for drunk driving crashes. South Tahoe Drug Free Coalition and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has partnered with Uber to prevent drunk driving in South Lake Tahoe.

Uber reached out to the nonprofits to make sure that Tahoe is safe, and to do so they are trying to get as many of their drivers out on the road as possible.

9:30 a.m. update 6/26: Firefighters have gained some control of the Marina Fire burning near Mono Lake and the town of Lee Vining. The 758 acre fire is 30 percent contained.

Highway 395 is closed at the town of Lee Vining on the south at the turnoff for Hawthorne, NV (Highway 167) on the north. However, California Highway Patrol is conducting one-way traffic escorts as conditions allow. Mono County Sheriff and Caltrans District 9 have worked tirelessly with CHP to implement this escort.

The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority would like to thank the volunteers, businesses, spectators, sponsors, and partners who helped to make the 2016 AMGEN Tour of California a success for our community. We are grateful for your support and generosity!

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint on Friday night, but they will not be releasing the location until just before it starts at 9:00 p.m.

They will begin setting up at 8:00 p.m. somewhere in the eastern portion of the lake side of El Dorado County and run it until 2:00 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol office in South Lake Tahoe is informing the public that they will be having an "Active Shooter Drill" on Thursday, June 2 at one of the Barton facilities near the hospital.

This is a dramatization involving law enforcement and may look very real to the public. CHP would like the public to tell their friends and neighbors, and anyone who might be in the area on Thursday, about the drill and not to be alarmed. Weapon simulators will be used in place of actual weapons, therefore giving the drill the appearance of an actual active shooter event.

Officer Ruth Loehr and other officers from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) office in South Lake Tahoe conducted a bike rodeo for the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Sierra House Elementary Monday, the first of three they are holding at local schools this week.

All students who participated had to go through a maze of stop signs and cones, all while following the rules for bicyclists, including wearing a helmet.

There were two motorcycle accidents over the weekend on the same stretch of Highway 50 near Twin Bridges, resulting in fatality and another person being injured.

On Saturday, May 14 at approximately 5:47 p.m., a 49-year-old Martin Gastanaga of Reno was riding his motorcycle eastbound when he, for unknown reasons, lost control of the bike on a curve, and was ejected.

The California Highway Patrol says the driver was traveling 50 mph just east of Twin Bridges.

Gastanaga died at the scene.

A German woman visiting the United States with her family died in a single vehicle rollover crash near Walker Lake on US95 May 7.

Liane Kramer, 24, was one of six people traveling north in a 2010 Toyota Sienna when the driver, 20-year-old Nina Kiseleva, went off the roadway after passing a semi-truck and trailer according to the Nevada Highway Patrol. The car overturned in the dirt shoulder and came to rest on its wheels facing southwest at approximately 8:15 a.m. Saturday.

10:35 a.m. update: The "all clear" is about to be given at the El Dorado County Government Center. The bomb has been considered a hoax device meant to cause the major response by law enforcement that it did, according to SLTPD Chief Brian Uhler. Evidence is being gathered and roads will soon reopen.

At approximately 6:35 a.m. this morning, a groundskeeper working at the El Dorado County Courthouse located at 1354 Johnson Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe noticed a suspicious device in front of the courthouse.

The 5th annual Lake Tahoe Home and Garden Show will be held April 22 and 23 at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Complex on Rufus Allen Blvd. The show will begin on Friday at 4:00 p.m. and run until 7:30 p.m. Saturday hours will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission to the show is free, and each attendee will receive a small gift and be entered into a chance to win a door prize.

A rock slide near Johnson Pass Road closed both lanes of Highway 50 at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday evening. Most of the rocks could be moved to the side of the road, but two large boulders had to wait for heavy equipment to be pushed off the roadway according to the California Highway Patrol.

Both lanes were closed but Caltrans is now allowing intermittent traffic through. As of 7:30 p.m., one large boulder remained. They expected to be done with that boulder by 7:30 p.m.

A three car collision on Echo Summit Saturday, April 2 was the result of one driver not paying attention to the road in front of him on the second day of what happens to be Distracted Driver Month.

The California Highway Patrol had responded to an accident on Highway 50 just west of Old Meyers Grade. As they were taking care of that incident, a Subaru Legacy driven by Ray Garcia, 48, of South Lake Tahoe was heading west when he looked to the left to observe the previous accident.

On April 7 and April 20, officers from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, El Dorado County Sheriff's Office and California Highway Patrol will be especially vigilant for distracted drivers on local roads as part of a joint effort across the state.

Although the officers' goals are not to write as many citations as possible, sometimes citations are necessary for drivers to understand the importance of focusing on their driving.

Distracted driving is such an important safety issue that April is recognized as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

The Nevada Highway Patrol had a busy day Monday as they dealt with numerous crashes and stuck cars after a "Spring Slider" dumped a foot of snow in many areas in and around Reno.

Between 4:00 a.m. and noon, NHP troopers responded to 25 crashes that did not require medical response, eight crashes that needed ambulances, and over 45 motorists that needed some sort of assist.

The California and Nevada Highway Patrol, South Lake Tahoe Police Department and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office are reminding everyone who celebrates St. Patrick’s Day that no one is immune from the consequences of drunk driving.

Drunk driving is a top problem for both states, and local law enforcement will be joining forces to boost enforcement efforts and initiating a impaired driving mobilization period from March 17 to March 31, 2016.

The California Highway Patrol officer who was hit by a SUV on Interstate 80 Saturday has succumbed to his injuries.

Nathan Daniel Taylor was struck by the vehicle as he was investigating a traffic collision in the area of westbound I-80 at Castle Peak Road in the Gold Run area.

The officer suffered major injuries, including two broken legs and internal injuries, and was transported to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, NV, where he succumbed to his injuries late Sunday night.

An early morning armed robbery in Camino, Calif., led to the arrest of 22-year-old Aaron Friesen of Carson City on charges of robbery, vehicle theft and on an outstanding felony warrant for domestic violence.

At 5:30 a.m. Thursday, March 10, the Wine County Station just off Highway 50 was robbed at gunpoint with the suspect getting away in a vehicle. An alert witness at the scene gave law enforcement detailed information about both the suspect and the vehicle used in the getaway.