south tahoe now

When the recession hit and many cities were faced with bankruptcy and skyrocketing healthcare costs for their employees, retirees had benefits cut or renegotiated. The City of South Lake Tahoe survived those turbulent times by taking a look at the costs they could reduce or restructure, and benefits for retirees was one that took a hit.

Now, many of those employees have filed a lawsuit against the City.

The details haven't been worked out as of yet but South Lake Tahoe is going to have a warming room to keep those without a home warm during winter according to the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless.

A lease has been signed for 981 Silver Dollar, the former offices for the El Dorado County Mental Health Department.

During Monday's City Council meeting, coalition board members Nicole Zaborsky and Scott Weavil said it was a long search for a property that would best serve the community in keeping the homeless warm during freezing winter nights in South Lake Tahoe.

Mother Nature has put in her best effort and the opening date at both Heavenly and Northstar have been moved up to November 14. The new snow totals overnight, combined with both the anticipated snowfall Monday night and snowmaking efforts, have helped the resorts open a week early.

Sierra-at-Tahoe hasn't given an opening date but Kirkwood has put November 21 on the calendar for their big day. Sierra's marketing team told South Tahoe Now that they are getting excited since snow is falling, and plan on opening as soon as possible.

Boreal and Mt. Rose resorts have already opened.

South Tahoe Now will be presenting a series on increasing drug use among children and adults in South Lake Tahoe, current trends and solutions. This is the first part in the series: Heroin.

It is euphoria, sensory overload and beyond any pleasure you know. That is the beginning, and the average heroin user will spend years trying to find the same feeling as that first high, ended only by death, or seeking help to rid themselves of the dark beast of addiction. Those are the only two options.

As reported in South Tahoe Now, a 36-year-old visitor to South Lake Tahoe was walking to a restaurant near Stateline on October 10, 2015 when she was approached by a man who simulated a gun and ordered her to come with him.

There's an old joke about the seasons in Lake Tahoe: There are two seasons in Lake Tahoe. Winter, and Road Construction.

While the "winter" comment may not be as it once was, there is no question about "road construction" as it now goes from May through October.

Part of living in the mountains is sharing our best weather months with construction workers, road controls and traffic cones. Residents get that. But what drivers went through during the 2015 construction on highways 50 and 89 was not only inexcusable, it was preventable.

During a special meeting of the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Monday, October 19, JoAnn Conner was publicly censured, a first of its kind for the City. An overflowing crowd spent over three hours in Council Chambers as comments were made both supporting Conner, and against what they said was "abusive, bullying and intolerant behavior."

A 19-year-old man was shot in the leg overnight, apparently the victim of a drive-by shooting near the intersection of Highway 50 and Ski Run Boulevard. Officers from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department were called to Barton Hospital just after midnight on the report of a man with a gunshot wound.

The unidentified man's injury is not life threatening according to SLTPD Lt. David Stevenson.

Since the shooting, police have recovered a truck near the "Y" that is suspected of being involved in the crime.

8:00 a.m. update 10/12/15: Authorities spent Sunday removing parts of the plane that remained in trees surrounding the crash site that claimed the lives of two people in South Lake Tahoe.

Investigators say the plane hit trees before crashing behind a home on Tionontati Street just before 5:36 p.m. Saturday, October 10. A fire started which scorched the home.

The force of the crash broke a large tree just feet away from the house.

This is a new feature on South Tahoe Now. We will be posting the calls received each week by South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue. If an incident is serious we will continue to write a story as it happens.

September 23, 2015: 13 calls received by South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue: 8 EMS calls, 1 interfacility transfer, 1 no incident found, 1 malicious false alarm, 1 cooking fire confined to container, 1 forest/woods/wildland fire in 3700 block of Lucinda Ct.

September 24, 2015: 10 calls: 9 EMS calls, 1 no incident found upon arrival.

"The Factory Stores at the Y" will soon be transformed into "The Crossing at Tahoe Valley" if the plan is approved by the City of South Lake Tahoe. In January, 2015, The Sutter Capital Group of Sacramento announced they had purchased the property after it fell into bankruptcy.

A South Lake Tahoe motel is being rebuilt after an early morning fire swept through it, displacing the 35 tourists who were staying there and forcing the business to close because of the damage. Its been 14 months since fire destroyed much of the Deerfield Lodge on Ski Run Blvd, the cause of which is still undetermined according to Chief Gareth Harris of Lake Valley Fire Department who was the investigator on the fire.

The arrest of a 21-year-old transient in South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday night follows a weekend where four cars were stolen and one was reported as missing.

As reported in South Tahoe Now, the cars were stolen from outside Domino's, Brother's Place, a Ruth Avenue business and a residence on Wiliam Avenue between Friday and Saturday, September 11 and 12. In each case, the ignition keys had been left in the vehicle.

South Lake Tahoe is continuing its renaissance with businesses undergoing changes with either complete makeovers, remodeling or demolition and rebuilding.

Over the past several months, South Tahoe Now has been highlighting all of the changes along the South Shore. But we're not done yet as the changes continue.

Two South Lake Tahoe men were arrested early Monday morning on suspicion of entering a vacation home rental and burglarizing it.

On August 31, 2015 at 12:46 a.m., an officer with the South Lake Tahoe Police Department was on patrol when he observed two men carrying items out of a vacation home on D Street, right across the street where the two suspects live.

Drug task force agents investigating the alleged sales and use of illegal narcotics in the South Lake Tahoe city limits arrested seven adults and confiscated drugs and paraphernalia.

Agents from the South Lake El Dorado Narcotic Enforcement Task Team (SLEDNET) served a search warrant at a home located in the 800 block of Tallac Road on Monday, August 24, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.

Inside the home, they found 11 adults, seven of them who claimed to reside at the location.

In what many locals was hoping wouldn't be the case, the Barton Ranch in South Lake Tahoe is set for demolition.

Family members who own the land and the buildings have spent years trying to get to this point in order to remove what they say is a dangerous set of buildings that have caused problems with vandals and vagrants.

On Tuesday, employees of Allied Environmental, Inc of Shingle springs were on site to remove asbestos in preparation for demolition.

If you've been to the Town of Genoa you know how challenging it can be to access the internet and check your email due to spotty, at best, reception. This will be a thing of the past as the town just received $20,000 from the Douglas County Commissions on August 6 to fund their Main Street Wi-Fi Project.

The Tahoe Transportation District recently appointed Russ Nygaard as transportation capital program manager to oversee the planning, design and execution of the agency's capital projects.

With 26 years engineering experience in transportation and bridge projects, Nygaard will perform project management duties and assist with funding procurement and budget maintenance while ensuring all federal requirements are met and executed on schedule.

After the passing of the $55 million Lake Tahoe Community College General Bond, known as Measure F in November, the next step was to sell the bonds.

On August 6, 2015, $19 million of Series A bonds were sold at a much better rate than anyone expected. When the market opened at 7 a.m. PST, investors were ready to jump on these bonds and it only took two hours to sell them, and waiting in the wings were another $54.4 million in orders.

The biggest single investor was State Farm Insurance who bought about 25% of the bonds or, $4.7 million.

Scientists have found a way to put some of the 51,000 pounds of harvested fish to good use at the same time they are ridding Lake Tahoe of invasive species.

In the first three years of a cooperative pilot program between the University of Nevada Reno and California Fish and Wildlife, unwanted fish have been donated to needy families.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) will be holding a sobriety checkpoint somewhere in the eastern portion of El Dorado County on Friday, August 14 between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.

A team of CHP officers will be staffing the checkpoint. They will control traffic at the checkpoint to evaluate driver’s sobriety and hand out literature warning of the dangers of drinking and driving. Driver license checks will be conducted and appropriate enforcement action will be taken.

Update: Power was been restored to the 35 businesses affected by Friday's power outage in the Bijou area at 3:25 p.m.

Liberty Utilities had originally said power would be back up at 5 p.m.

The cause has not been released as of yet but it had to do with underground wiring.

As reported on South Tahoe Now Friday, the Hard Rock Lake Tahoe shut down their pool due to a large leak which was releasing chlorinated water into the soil.

The initial leak had been discovered on Thursday, and the pool and pump were shut down until it could be determined where the problem was located.