winners

Twelve students from South Tahoe Middle School were honored for their essays during the annual Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra Writing Festival.

The students had a topic based on their grade level: seventh graders wrote about "Privacy vs. National Security," while the eighth graders were challenged with writing about who the 2016 female Presidential candidate should be, and why.

The winners:

Seventh Grade Read 180
1st - Brandon Hernandez
2nd - Karina Ibarra
3rd - Andrea Cortez

Seventh Grade
1st - Christopher Guerrero

In a joint celebration, the two South Lake Tahoe area Soroptimist clubs honored students and women from the South Shore for their contributions to the community.

On Thursday night, members from the Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra and Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe clubs presented their annual Violet Richardson, Live your Dream, and Ruby awards at Harrah's Tahoe.

And the Oscar goes to......It's that time of year again folks, the Super Bowl of the motion picture industry known as the Academy Awards. This year promises to be what I think will be an exciting one in part because of its host: comedian Chris Rock. Talk about perfect timing, huh? First the old farts who decide who gets nominated virtually overlooked every African-American contender which sparked not only outcries from those in the acting community but also wanted Chris Rock to boycott the Academy as well (for those who don't know him Chris Rock is black).

Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is accepting nominations for Lake Spirit Awards to honor real people making real progress protecting Lake Tahoe. Members of the public are encouraged to nominate exemplary members of the community who are going above and beyond the call of duty to protect the beauty and clarity of the Lake.

The annual Barton Foundation Festival of Trees and Lights opened Wednesday at MontBleu with tree judging and the Senior Stroll.

The winners of the designer and school trees and wreath contests:

Designer Tree Category

Best Interpretation of Theme: No Place Like Home, by Cyndy Brown – Carlton

Most Elegant: Tantalizing Tango, by Belen Urrutia

Most “Out of the Box” (Creative): Steampunk Christmas, by Jeri Oishi & Enchanted Florist team

Best of Show: Tantalizing Tango, by Belen Urrutia

LTUSD Trees:

This holiday season... GO LOCAL & WIN!

November 28, 2015 - January 1, 2016

Shop locally at any South Shore business during the holiday season and enter to win weekly prizes
from Tahoe Chamber with the chance to win the amazing grand prize!

Participating is easy - simply fill out our form on a weekly basis to enter to win weekly prizes.

Location

South Lake Tahoe local Karen had a Halloween to remember after winning the "Jeepers Creepers" drawing and $20,000 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe.

Throughout the month of October, Backstage Pass members who earned 25 gaming points received one entry into the Jeepers Creepers drawing on October 31 for a chance to win a brand new Jeep Wrangler, courtesy of Carson Dodge Chrysler Jeep, or $20,000 in cash. Players also had the option of swiping their player card on Saturdays for a chance to win up to 1,000 bonus entries or $1,000 cash.

Karen didn't want her last name revealed.

The Tahoe Chamber announced the nominations Tuesday for the 2015 Blue Ribbon Awards. There were 150 nominations received from the community for their annual awards program that recognizes exceptional South Shore businesses for excellence in service, entrepreneurship and experience among other areas.

From quality shopping, accommodations, recreation and dining options to the myriad service providers and businesses, the Blue Ribbon Awards honor all that business should be. This important awards program salutes those businesses that are making significant contributions to the South Shore economy.

Location

Several South Lake Tahoe projects were awarded this week by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) as being the "Best in the Basin" for demonstrating exceptional planning, design, and compatibility with Lake Tahoe’s environment and communities.

The projects that were recognized upgraded highways, built new bike trails, improved water quality, restored environmentally-sensitive areas, remodeled blighted commercial buildings, and created defensible space for better wildfire protection.

The Best in the Basin award winners are:

As part of the City of South Lake Tahoe's 50th anniversary celebration they held a recent history hunt, and all participants finding getting all 15 answers correct were honored with a prize during Tuesday's City Council meeting. The questions led people on a tour of South Lake Tahoe, looking for clues in city owned locations.

The participants turning in perfect scores:

The Beadoin Family
Cynthia, Helen and Tom Burkart
Dana and Gauge Patterson
Jim, Justin and Tracy Ruger
Joe and Aurora Spear
Margaret Vestal
Sean Watson
Tina Brown

They win a special commemorative T-Shirt.

It is time once again to make nominations for the Blue Ribbon Awards. From quality shopping, accommodations, recreation and dining options to the myriad service providers and businesses, the Blue Ribbon Awards honor all that business should be. This important awards program salutes those businesses that are making significant contributions to the South Shore economy.

A multi-sport expedition that took participants from mountain top to mountain top, up rocks and into the lake and along rivers has wrapped up in South Lake Tahoe. Eleven teams with four members each spent the past several days running, biking, orienteering, mountain climbing, kayaking over 520 miles of some of the world's most beautiful terrain.

More than 1,500 people flocked to Gardnerville on Saturday for one of the biggest gatherings of 2016 presidential candidates in Nevada since campaign season started.

Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s Morning Nevada PAC hosted the first Basque Fry featuring five GOP contenders on the Corley Ranch southeast of town. Republican hopefuls including businesswoman Carly Fiorina, Dr. Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker each made pitches to the crowd as to why they should be the nominee. Former New York Gov. George Pataki was slated to appear, but did not.

Rebecca Bryson and Joy Barney of the South Shore were honored for their work in local schools that resulted in progress and environmental improvements in the Lake Tahoe region.

During Wednesday's Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Governing Board meeting, the two South Shore women were given the Lake Spirit award along with a family and person from the North Shore. The award has been given to "real people making real progress" at restoring Lake Tahoe since 2011.

The 2nd annual Cycle Celebration will culminate the Tahoe Bike Challenge where 315 riders made 2,706 trips and covered 17,299 miles in the Lake Tahoe area on their bikes between June 1 and 14. All of those miles saved participants $3,845 in gasoline.

Bellamy Court at the back of Heavenly Village (by the parking garage) will be closed off for the celebration on Saturday, June 20 for a plethora of activities to celebrate biking in Lake Tahoe from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Tahoe Douglas Rotary Club recently awarded $14,000 in scholarships to students at Whittell and South Tahoe High Schools.

The winners are:

The Whittell High School students granted a scholarship this year for academic achievements were Subrina Trachsel, Mikayla Warner, and Bryce Bronken. The vocational scholarship went to Stephanie Martin.

At South Tahoe High School. Michael Herring and Corey McCarthy were each awarded vocational scholarship of $2,000 each.

Liberty Utilities has announced the winners of their annual high school and community college scholarships for students living within the utility’s service territory.

South Tahoe High School – Priya Patel
Loyalton High School – Cheyenne Little
Coleville High School – Joel Gomez
North Tahoe High School – Johanna Gur
Portola High School – Saul Juarez
Truckee High School – Aaron Kuyper
Lake Tahoe Community College – Antonio Benitez

Once again, the most popular celebrity golf tournament in the county will be held on the southern shores of Lake Tahoe. The 26th Annual American Century Championship will be held in South Lake Tahoe from July 14-19, 2015 at Edgewood Tahoe.

The list of the 95 participants released resemble the 'A List' of who's who in sports and entertainment, as well as the military. They will all be going after a prize purse of $625,000.

With the leaders separated by only seconds after two days of racing, the first 3-day, 3-stage Amgen Tour of California Women’s Race empowered with SRAM came to a thrilling conclusion with Velocio-SRAM’s Trixi Worrack (GER) posting a powerful ride to claim the title of the UCI-sanctioned event as the first-ever Amgen Tour of California women’s road race champion.

"The way they're dropping off you'd think the Donner Party was back," were the words of the announcer as he reported on the racers heading up Keller Road during the final kilometer of Friday's Amgen race around Lake Tahoe. "There are bodies everywhere," he joked, commenting on the final uphill portion of the race just before the finish line.

After 73.5 miles, the last .6 mile separated the group of women who had stayed in a close pack as they spent three hours racing around the lake.

This week, as part of the first EpicPromise Week, Vail Resorts will present the first ever EpicPromise Awards to two Heavenly or Kirkwood employees for their ongoing commitment to strengthening the local community and fostering a sustainable environment. The EpicPromise Awards are being given at Vail Resorts’ mountains across the country as part of the first annual EpicPromise Week (April 6-10, 2015), a full week dedicated to celebrating Vail Resorts’ widespread commitment to creating a more promising future for generations to come.

If you're like me and haven't been following the University of Alabama-Birminghamd (UAB) basketball team all season, but finally caught a game dring March Madness, you might be wondering, "Why do they wear one green shoe and one white shoe?"

Tahoe Douglas Rotary has been a part of the South Shore community since 1962, and, as are the other 1.2 million Rotarians in the world, are bound by a commong purpose, Service Above Self. The club felt it was an ideal fit to recognize police and fire professionals in the community who make sacrifies every day to serve and protect.

This week, South Tahoe Now has been highlighting each of this year's winners of the inagural First Responder Community Hero Award.