south tahoe now

A woman and her son visiting with other family members at Kirkwood Ski Resort on Sunday, March 4 died in a snow slide near their condominium, according to the Alpine County Sheriff's Office.

Olga Perkovic, 50, and her seven-year-old son were reported missing at 6:40 p.m. They had last been seen on Chair Seven at 4:00 p.m. The search was focused on that area.

At 9:00 p.m., a neighbor of the missing pair noticed ski gloves on the snow adjacent to their condominium. The neighbor investigated the gloves and found the pair buried underneath three feet of snow. They were unconscious.

One thing is evident at the last few months of South Lake Tahoe City Council meetings - the public is interested in voicing their opinions about several hot topics on the agenda including vacation home rentals, cannabis and SnowGlobe.

Tuesday, February 20 was no different as a line of locals got up to speak about the newly formed group, the No Globe Alliance.

4:15 p.m. 2/12/18 update: Family members say the man who died in Sunday's house fire is Dean Eastin. His former sister-in-law Mimi Bertrand told South Tahoe Now that it was Dean who died. His two adult children, Lori and Gregory, moved from South Lake Tahoe and now live in Grants Pass, Oregon.

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8:00 p.m. update: The cause of the deadly fire in South Lake Tahoe today was the result of smoking materials on a couch. The deceased is a 58-year-old male. There is an ongoing investigation by the South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue and Police departments. No name has been released.

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When the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) didn't give South Tahoe High the results on their accreditation they wanted in 2016, the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) and high school staff set on a path to change those results in 2018.

The high school was given a two-year probationary accreditation instead of the desired six year accreditation and they will be reevaluated this March when a new WASC team returns to South Tahoe High School (STHS).

A man whose actions lead to his being detained by security at Heavenly Village in South Lake Tahoe on New Year's Eve has died.

The 46-year-old transient was acting erratic and causing a disturbance near the fountain on December 31, according to South Lake Tahoe Police Lt. Shannon Laney. Security detained the man and when police officers arrived they recognized he was in medical distress and immediately started life-saving measures.

The unidentified man, who previously had resided in Oceanside, California and

1/8/18 6:00PM Update: It has been confirmed that Tahoe Wellness Center has reopened their doors for sales of medicinal marijuana. It is unknown at this time why they closed as both the State and the City did not ask him to close.

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As of Monday, January 8, 2018, Tahoe Wellness Cooperative (TWC) in South Lake Tahoe is closed, but the reason for the closure differs between the parties involved.

Barton Health welcomed the first baby born in the New Year, Jessana Joyce Walker, on Tuesday, January 2 at 8:03 a.m. at Barton Memorial Hospital’s Family Birthing Center. She weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 19.5 inches long and was born to Julia Gomez and Javier Walker of Markleeville, Calif. The couple named their daughter Jessana as a blend of their mothers’ names.

12/29/17 10:45PM Update: Press releases and letters between Sheriff D'Agostini and Robert D. Wilson, California Deputy Attorney General were exchanged today after South Tahoe Now first posted this story. The Sheriff has suggested that the Department of Justice has not been honest with their response to the media about the situation.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Department has issued a press release after South Tahoe Now broke the story on November 13 concerning the recovery of two bodies in Fallen Leaf Lake.

Here is an updated statement from the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office:

Bruce’s Legacy, an underwater search and recovery team from Wisconsin, came to Fallen Leaf Lake to assist The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office with a deep water search for two missing people.

Unknowingly, visitors to South Lake Tahoe are renting legitimate vacation homes through illegitimate parties, leaving them without money or a place to stay when they arrive.

South Tahoe Now has been warning people for years about renting both short-term and long-term homes through Craigslist, the online classified ad forum.

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department is warning potential vacation home renters that scams continue on Craigslist.

People from Fresno to Santa Rosa, California reported seeing a fireball across the sky Sunday evening around 5:24 p.m.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 19 reports from observers who said "the light got bigger before it burst, leaving a trail of smaller balls before disappearing," "it was a white streak followed by a few tiny fragments. Ended in the main fireball turning to a green color," and "it was flickering and sparkly, like a roman candle being shot across the sky."

Many of South Lake Tahoe's roads are decades past their prime, and Measure C is in front of voters November 7 to increase taxes by one-half percent to pay for their maintenance and repair.

I support Measure C and let me tell you why, but it will have to start with a look back to see how we got here.

For over 50 years, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dave Mason has been entertaining crowds, from his days as a founding member of Traffic, to his current days touring the world with his band.

He'll be on the South Shore Sunday night as he stops by Harrah's Tahoe as part of his "Alone Together" tour.

Mason took time this week to talk to South Tahoe Now as he traveled from Oregon to Washington, both stops on his tour before heading to South Lake Tahoe.

On May 17, 2017, South Tahoe Now was at the demolition of the McDonald's at the "Y," and the builder said he'd have the project done and ready to open in 120 days.

Wednesday, September 13, the new 4,305 square foot building with its environmental improvements opened to the public at 11:30 a.m. That was 117 days since we saw old, 40-year-old building come down.

Inside, diners will see a sleek new design with automated ordering stations and plenty of seating.

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and South Tahoe Now will be running a series of stories on suicide prevention.

Each year, more people die from suicide than war, homicide, and natural disasters combined.

The good news is that suicide can be prevented if the signs are detected and the right actions are taken.

There are now an estimated 102 million dead trees in California, creating unhealthy forests that are prone to major and catastrophic wildfires. Even though funds are being allocated to remove many of them, where will that timber go?
For now, there aren’t many options because of what has transpired from the government since 1968.

In that year the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior issued orders restricting the volume of timber that could be harvested from Federal lands in the West. It was updated in 1969 to limit the total harvested to 350-million-board-feet.

Tom Watson gave his resignation to the City Council on Wednesday, August 16, ending his four year stint as South Lake Tahoe's City Attorney.

Watson told South Tahoe Now he has been hired as the City Attorney in Tracy, California, a job that will get him closer to family.

“I am proud of what the City Attorney’s office has accomplished during my time here," said Watson. "I appreciate the Council and Staff’s dedication to this community and want Tahoe to thrive and prosper.”

It's back to the drawing board for the Douglas County School District (DCSD) Board of Trustees after they officially decided to not give Patrick Taylor and Lake Parkway LLC another extension in their effort to buy Kingsbury Middle School.

Citing no confidence in the buyer's ability to put a deal that can close together, the trustees voted unanimously to take the steps needed to put the old middle school back on the market.

"I think the School District made a poor decision today," Patrick Taylor of Lake Parkway LLC told South Tahoe Now. "They are very unrealistic."

Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) officials didn't have to look far in getting a replacement for Ryan Galles, outgoing Sierra House Elementary principal.

South Lake Tahoe native Karin Holmes will take the school's top spot on an interim basis beginning August 7.

"It is very exciting," Karin told South Tahoe Now. "What they are doing at Sierra House is amazing! With the garden and health and fitness focus there is no moss growing at the school."

4:30 p.m. update: At 3:35 p.m. Friday afternoon the water was turned back on at the Tahoe Keys Marina. The two parties, Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association and Tahoe Keys Marina Management Inc., were able to work out an arrangement to get things flowing again.

The marina's lawyer Michael Matuska said he will file notice with the court to vacate the August 3 hearing as the two parties will be working on a continued relationship out of court.

Matuska did not release the specifics of the arrangement that restored the water service which has been down since July 11.

What started out twelve years ago as five friends in Lake Tahoe for a bachelor's party and a day of fun at American Century Championships (ACC) has morphed into an iconic event that has taken on a life of its own at Edgewood Tahoe's 7th hole.

“It's like Christmas and New Years on one day,“ explained one of the original five, John Parillo in describing the atmosphere at the hole on Thursdays of the tournament (the Celebrity Pro-Am day).

9:30 a.m. update: The area continues to see several earthquakes in this current swarm that started at 2:02 a.m. with a 4.0 earthquake according to the UNR Seismological Lab in Reno. Magnitude numbers have been updated and listed below.

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A series of earthquakes hit north of Donner Lake early Tuesday morning, starting at 2:02 a.m. with a 4.0 quake and a session of following 14 other tremblers over 1.0 magnitude by 5:43 a.m.

All came from an area 10.5 to 11.8 miles North/Northwest of Donner Lake, near Independence Lake.

The time and magnitude as of 8:20 a.m. Tuesday:

It is "Pay It Forward Day" once again at California Burger in South Lake Tahoe on Monday, June 12, 2017. All proceeds at the popular restaurant in the Heavenly Village go back to the employees.

This is becoming a recurring event at California Burger. They had Pay it Forward day for the employees in May after the inaugural one in 2016.

"All profits for the day will be given back to the employees," said co-owner Ted Kennedy. "It's their money and they can do with it as they wish, but the hope is that they will use it to help someone less fortunate in their community."

Since its beginning in 2003, Leadership Lake Tahoe has helped shape the community with over 100 new leaders from various sectors including Vail Resort, Barton Health, South Tahoe Public Utility District, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the City of South Lake Tahoe, as well as small business owners and entrepreneurs including South Tahoe Now.

Through a ten-month long, comprehensive program, the current and future leaders increase their knowledge and awareness of the issues and challenges facing the South Shore community.