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What is becoming almost a daily occurrence, firefighters in South Lake Tahoe have responded to another fire in the forested area in the outskirts of the city.

On Wednesday, at 2:11 p.m., an El Dorado County Sheriff's deputy spotted smoke and made the first call to 911. The fire started in the area between Lodi Avenue in the Sierra Tract and the Lake Tahoe Airport.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, .18 acre burned. As of 4:00 p.m., there is a full containment line and firefighters remain on the scene.

If conditions are favorable, prescribed fire operations will return to the region on Tuesday, October 11 near Big Meadow off Highway 89 on Luther Pass.

There are 300 acres full of hand piles ready to burn. Christmas Valley residents may get some smoke as the flow will be in a north/northeast flow.

A major restoration project of the Upper Truckee River channel and surrounding meadows is about to be completed, three years and $7 million later. Known as Reach 5, the U.S. Forest Service project is improving the river channel stability and aquatic habitat along 1.2 miles of the river adjacent to the Lake Tahoe Airport.

Another goal of the project is to restore surface and subsurface channel connectivity to 120 acres of floodplain, increasing deposition of fine sediments and nutrient uptake on the floodplains as well as raising the ground water levels in the meadow.

During the 2014 Kokanee Salmon run at the U.S. Forest Service's Taylor Creek Visitor Center in South Lake Tahoe, many visitors attempted to get a "selfie" with the bears who frequent the area in search of Salmon. This disregard for both the bear's safety as well as the public's prompted USFS officials to issue warnings and threat to close the area.

At the Lake Tahoe Summit last month, we saw the power of what we can accomplish when we work together. Progress over the last two decades was showcased when President Obama made his first-ever visit to Tahoe and said conservation and restoration efforts like ours are more important than ever as the nation works to adapt to a changing climate and create a more resilient environment.

Sherry L. Rupert will speak on preserving the Stewart Indian School, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, September 24, at 10:00 am.

For ninety years, Stewart Indian School fulfilled a federal commitment to pursue Native American education in Nevada. Located three miles southeast of Carson City, the school grounds encompassed 240 acres.

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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.

Protecting Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada is the job of many stakeholders. Its not just a local job, not just a California job, not just a Nevada job, not just a national job, and as witnessed through President Obama's visit to the Lake Tahoe Summit Wednesday, it can only be successful through partnerships of all of those entities along with agencies, local and private investment.

On Tuesday, August 29, the day before the Summit, California Senator Diane Feinstein hosted a lunch for local officials, agencies and federal counterparts, described as the "Lake Tahoe Stakeholders Luncheon".

We welcome President Obama to Lake Tahoe, which is admired for its great depth and clarity and beautiful alpine surroundings. As Tahoe’s public water agencies, we are hard at work on a water infrastructure initiative to enhance critical preparedness needs and hazard mitigation in the wildland-urban interface against the threat of catastrophic wildfire.

For those that were on the South Shore on August 27, 1980, they'll be able to tell you exactly where they were, or what they were doing when law enforcement detonated a bomb that had been left inside Harvey's Resort casino in Lake Tahoe.

Three men planted a bomb containing 1,000 pounds of dynamite inside a machine they delivered to the second floor. Successful landscaper, John Birges from Clovis, Calif., the mastermind behind the bomb, was attempting to extort $3 million from the casino, claiming he had lost $750,000 gambling there.

With President Barack Obama visiting Lake Tahoe for a landmark 20th annual Lake Tahoe Summit this month, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has published a special summit edition of Tahoe in Depth.

This special edition of the award-winning newspaper tells the story of 20 years of summits at Lake Tahoe—from the organization and importance of the first-ever summit and the successful work it sparked, to major issues such as climate change that will confront the Tahoe Region in the decades to come.

A two-three year project to create a three-mile shared-use path as well as enhance safety, accessibility and water quality on State Route 28 officially got underway Friday with a groundbreaking ceremony at Sand Harbor. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval led the festivities that will improve the busy and narrow highway which sees more than 2.5 million vehicles and 2,000 pedestrians and bicyclists.

The path will run from the south end of Incline Village to Sand Harbor State Park.

Several local contractors are working on the renovation of the Lake Tahoe Airport lobby, one that is costing the City $627,371,

Improvements include mechanical and ADA improvements on the interior of the 57-year-old building. The last time the air and heating were upgraded was 40 years ago.

Unless a new source of funding comes through, the Tahoe Transportation District Board is going to cut the 21x bus line from the South Shore to Carson City starting October 2.

Nighttime lane closures will take place periodically on South Carson Street near Spooner junction for the Nevada Department of Transportation’s Carson City Freeway project.

Christy Smith was a loving Mother, Grandmother, Wife, Sister and Daughter who dedicated her life to the service of others, especially children. She passed away on July 23rd after a courageous battle with cancer.

Christy was born March 10, 1949 in Altadena, California to Jack and Marjorie Cosbey. She spent her childhood in Southern California, graduating in 1967 from Long Beach Polytechnic High School. She studied Nursing at Long Beach State College and worked as a nurse in Cardiology and Family Practice.

At the end of business on Monday, papers were served on the City of South Lake Tahoe, the City Council and four members of the group Let Tahoe Decide to keep the subject of the Loop Road/US Highway 50 South Shore Community Revitalization Project off the ballot in November.

El Dorado County is holding a public meeting about the Meyers Corridor Plan on Thursday, July 21 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the California Conservation Corps Building at 1949 Apache Ave. in Meyers.

Staff will be presenting the three options on roadway and path improvements that are aimed at providing attractive and safe transportation options for the area for those that work, play and visit Meyers. The targeted 1.3 mile stretch along Highway 50 and Highway 89 will see lighting, signage, landscaping and a reduction of reliance on cars with increased improvements for walkers and bikers.

A lawsuit against the City of South Lake Tahoe over the fees charged to those who rent out their homes as vacation rentals was won by the City in court this week. The June 23 verdict was received by all parties on June 28.

Judge Steven Bailey of the El Dorado County Superior Court issued an 11-page decision supporting the City's rights to charge fees to recover their costs in administering the VHR ordinance, including staff time for accounting, planning, building department, administration, code enforcement and other costs.

As lawmakers grapple with how best to combat the nation’s prescription painkiller abuse crisis, a recent survey is shedding light on how patients who get these medications — drugs such as OxyContin, methadone or Vicodin — sometimes share or mishandle them.

In an effort to prevent the growth and spread of invasive weeds in the Tahoe Keys, residents are being proactive in the fight to keep their lagoons clean. The Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association (TKPOA) has submitted an updated Integrated Management Plan to the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board for approval.

TKPOA's plan is an adaptive, holistic one to greatly reduce aquatic invasive weeds in its lagoons.

Four new projects in South Lake Tahoe will be moving forward after the City was awarded $3 million in grants from the federal government through TRPA's Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization (TMPO).

The money will be used for the following:

$1.8 million for design and construction of the Sierra Boulevard Complete Street Project
$510,000 for construction of the Tahoe Valley Greenbelt Project
$390,000 for purchase of a Sander vehicle replacement
$200,000 for the design and engineering of the Lake Tahoe Boulevard Bike Trail

Sheriff Ron Pierini has announced the recent graduation of two Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies from the State of Nevada Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Law Enforcement Academy.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Deputies Jose Guerra and Bruce Jacobsen graduated from the academy on Thursday, May 12 after attending the academy at the State of Nevada Stewart Training Facility in Carson City for four months.

A project intended to increase public safety has begun on the north shore in Incline Village. The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has begun the project to enhance the State Route 431 Mt. Rose Highway truck escape ramp.