By Lisa Levin, Benzinga 

Vail Resorts reported a wider fiscal fourth-quarter loss. However, the company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue.

The Broomfield, Colo.-based company posted a quarterly loss of $75.4 million, or $2.08 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $59.9 million, or $1.67 per share. The recent quarter results included a debt-extinguishment loss of $10.8 million.

Its revenue surged 21 percent to $135.5 million. However, analysts were estimating a loss of $1.95 per share on revenue of $127.10 million.

Sales of season passes for the upcoming 2014-15 ski season through Sept. 21 rose about 14 percent in units and 18 percent in sales dollars.

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Police are looking for this man. Photo/Provided

A man used a crow bar to force his way into Mi Pueblo Market in South Lake Tahoe, taking an undisclosed amount of cash.

The burglary at the Pioneer Trail business occurred Sept. 21 at 2:19am.

Officers say the suspect stole coins, phone cards and cash.

The suspect is described as a white or Hispanic male in his 20s, 5-feet-5 to 5-feet-7. He was wearing a black baseball hat with a white Volcom symbol on it, black shirt with a white DC logo it, blue jeans, brown shoes and a metal necklace.

Anyone with information on the suspect’s identity is asked to call the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at 530.542.6110 or Secret Witness at 530.541.6800.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Reed

South Tahoe Refuse is working on ways to be compliant with the California mandate that by 2020 75 percent of what it collects must be diverted from the landfill.

This means looking at different bins for recyclables and then possibly retrofitting trucks to make this work, as well as expanding what the South Lake Tahoe-based company currently recycles.

“We are working on how to implement food waste throughout the service area,” John Marchini with STR told Lake Tahoe News.

There has been a program in place with select restaurants for a number of years to collect food scraps. More recently the collections have spread to schools on the South Shore. Finding a way to have individual customers recycle food waste is the next goal. Food waste is taken to Full Circle Compost in Minden where it is then repurposed.

South Tahoe Refuse may move from blue bags to totes. Photo/LTN

At the Waste Management Joint Powers Authority meeting this month, STR officials agreed with the board to conduct a survey of customers about recycling.

Several moving parts are in play. One is that people with bear boxes would not be able to accommodate the totes normally used by consumers to toss recyclables. The other is how much the change would cost and who would pay for it. Dealing with vacation rentals is always an issue. And another concern is whether the expense for all of this would have the desired payoff of actually capturing more recycling material.

“We don’t want to see a rate increase without greater diversion,” Jeanne Lear with STR told the JPA board.

Marchini said it’s possible the totes may only be able to capture between 1 and 2 percent of the recyclables that currently end up in the landfill. Refuse officials said it would cost customers an additional 50 cents per month with a subsidy from the JPA for totes and retrofitting trucks, or 68 cents without the subsidy.

This board – made up of Nancy McDermid from Douglas County, JoAnn Conner of South Lake Tahoe and Norma Santiago with El Dorado County – was encouraging to go the route of totes.

“Less plastic is always good,” Conner said.

A handful of years ago STR started using blue bags. These plastic bags, which are recyclable, are good for paper, cans, bottles and the like. Food waste is a big no-no for blue bags.

The JPA has been subsidizing the blue bag program. There is $75,000 in the 2014-15 budget for blue bags. If that allocation is not all used, the board this month agreed it could go toward with a pilot tote program dependent on results of the survey.

The rest of the trash goes through a conveyer belt, with recyclable material sorted by hand.

Totes are the type of cans that are able to be lifted and dumped by a garbage truck. (Today, STR employees pick up each can and dump it into the truck.) Marchini said if the company goes to totes, those recyclable bins would be picked up every other week, while regular garbage service would remain weekly. A concern is if vacation and second homeowners were to leave them out for that extended time because they could attract animals.

To the community,

On July 24 at noon, I was contacted by the Tahoe Chamber to participate in their endorsement process. At 3:50pm, I contacted them to ask a question and meet with them and I was told because they were under rules of the FPPC I could not contact them individually. At 4:04, I declined to participate in their selection process.

In the Tahoe Chamber’s press release of the criteria of selection they said that the selection for whatever political endorsement they would make was based on personal interviews and answers from their questioner. Since I participated in neither I found it interesting that information was not released. I also found it interesting that the District V criteria page was missing from the press release.

Kenny Curtzwiler

Several other political candidates also chose not to participate: City Council – Bruce Grego, Austin Sass and Tom Davis; STPUD board – Jim Jones and Duane Wallace; El Dorado County District V – Kenny Curtzwiler.

I can say I found the Tahoe Chamber process flawed, their actual members (650) were uninformed as to the decisions and completely left out of the loop in the decision-making, for the chamber to represent the feelings of the entire chamber is incorrect. There were eight members who selected the candidates of their choice of which three are Nevada based, one who is a rabbi (separation of church and state comes to mind), one who works for LTCC, one who works in the same building as Austin Sass (who did not participate) and one who works for the real estate company that handles all of the city of South Lake Tahoe redevelopment land sales.

I found the whole process rather comical and flawed from the beginning and do not feel the chamber should be involved in the endorsement process when the majority of the chamber members did not participate. I was not asked and I am a chamber member and their endorsements do not reflect what my choices would have been. This is a very small town with a big future ahead of it and we should be very wary of endorsements from a very small percentage of Tahoe Chamber members. I and the other candidates who did not participate are asking the community to contact all the candidates and make their own decision as to whom they would like to see in office. We all know each other in this town and for the chamber to get involved is wrong, immoral and causing a further divide here that may or not may be able to be corrected with an election.

Remember to vote on Nov. 4.

Kenny Curtzwiler, El Dorado County supervisor candidate

By Michelle Feeney

Knowing when to send your student to school or daycare and when to keep him or her home can be a tough judgment call — especially in the rush of a weekday morning.

When you’re wondering how sick is too sick for school, a few general guidelines can help. Keep your child home if:

• He or she has a fever over 100 degrees measured orally or 100.4 degrees.

• Other kids could get sick from being around your child.

• He or she isn’t well enough to participate in activities, including outside recess.

• He or she requires more care than school staff can provide without compromising the safety and health of other children.

 Scheduling around a sick day for your child can be difficult. Here are a few tips: Plan ahead. Make arrangements with friends or family that fill in when you can’t watch your child. Make sure they are on your child’s emergency contact list at school. Coordinate with your employer to work from home. Split the “shift” with your significant other, family, or friend.         — Michelle Feeney

Other symptoms that warrant a sick day include:

• Diarrhea and/or vomiting within the last 24 hours

• Abdominal pain for more than two hours, or with fever

• Red eyes with discharge or mucus

• Cough that is disruptive to your child or other students

• Strep throat, until 24 hours after beginning antibiotic treatment

• Abrupt behavior change that includes irritability, constant crying, or lethargy

• Difficulty breathing

• Mucus or blood in the stools

• Mouth sores with drooling, unless your child’s doctor has confirmed that he or she isn’t contagious

• Lice, until after the first treatment with lice shampoo.

• Rash with fever or behavior changes, until your child’s doctor has confirmed that the illness is not contagious

• Measles, until four days after the rash appears

• Chickenpox, until all lesions have crusted or dried (typically seven to ten days after the rash appears)

• Quickly spreading rash.

If your child has not received their vaccinations and develops a rash or swollen glands, consult with your provider before he or she attends school.

If you are unsure of your child’s symptoms, contact your child’s primary care provider to see if your child requires an appointment or urgent medical attention.

Michelle Feeney is a family nurse practitioner at Barton Family Medicine and Barton Pediatrics at Stateline Medical Center. 

• The Tahoe Area Sierra Club and Aspen Hollow will be celebrating autumn with the annual Fall Garden Party on Oct. 1 from 4:30-7pm. Aspen Hollow is located at 541 Emerald Bay Road, South Lake Tahoe. Cost is $10.

• Sarah Moss is now the owner of Sierra Athletic Club in South Lake Tahoe.

• Incline Village Community Hospital has been added to Washoe County Sheriff’s Office prescription drug roundup on Sept. 27 from 10am-2pm.

• The June Lake Autumn Beer Festival is Oct. 11.

• Mountain Rambler Brewery is opening a tasting room in Bishop.

Updated 8pm:

The number of structures lost in the King Fire is now at 12. One other sustained damage, while another 57 outbuildings are gone.

A red flag warning is in effect until Sept. 24 at 8pm. This means high winds and low relative humidity.

The fire is 35 percent contained, with 89,574 acres burned. Most of that is in the Eldorado National Forest east of Pollock Pines, though it has spread to the Tahoe National Forest in Placer County.

Despite the higher temps and lower humidity on Tuesday, firefighters made progress on containment lines form Hell Hole Reservoir to French Meadow Reservoir. The line around the 300-plus acre spot fire east of French Meadow Reservoir held. The northeast arm of the fire was the most windy.

Residents of the White Meadows area could return to their homes on Tuesday. This is where the houses were destroyed. The road closure at Ice House Road and Highway 50 is still in effect. However, affected residents will be allowed through to White Meadows.

Crews are building direct lines where they can, and indirect lines where unsafe conditions exist. A spot fire on the east side of French Meadow Reservoir, north of the leading fire edge, is close to full containment. Two heavy helicopters began making water drops on the spot fire in the late Monday afternoon. There is the potential for extreme fire behavior if the winds, fuels, and topography come into alignment, officials said. The greatest threat is to the northwest end of the fire.

Officials believe the fire was started by an arsonist Sept. 13.

Nearly 2,000 people are still prohibited from returning to their homes. The Camino Seventh-day Adventist Church remains the evacuation center. The Red Cross is opening a service center at the Church of Our Saviour, 2979 Coloma St. in Placerville where case workers starting Tuesday from 10am-6pm will distribute supplies to people who have been displaced. This, though, is not an overnight shelter.

There is also a meeting tonight at 7 in Olympic Village Lodge, 1901 Chamonix Place, Olympic Village. On Wednesday, community meetings will take place in Tahoe City at 7pm at the North Tahoe High School, 2945 Polaris Road; and in Foresthill at 7pm in the gymnasium at Foresthill High School, 23319 Foresthill Road.

The Tahoe National Forest has established a call center from 7am-7pm at the Truckee Ranger District Office to provide residents of Truckee and Lake Tahoe Basin with clear and accurate information on the King Fire. The number is 530.587.9096.

“Since the King Fire started, we’ve seen false rumors and misinformation spread in the community and having deleterious effects,” Joanne Roubique, Truckee district ranger, said in a statement.

More than 7,000 people are fighting the fire, including firefighters from Lake Tahoe.

Westbound Highway 50 remains one lane from Riverton to Pollock Pines.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors received an update today on the King Fire.

Thank you cards may be mailed to firefighters at: Information Officers King Fire, 100 Placerville Drive, Placerville, CA 95667.

This is a video published with permission from Matt and Michaela Johnson of MJ Photo Co.:

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

No injuries in motorcyclist vs. truck accident on Sept. 23. Photo/LTN

A motorcyclist refused treatment Tuesday after striking the side of an extended cab pickup in South Lake Tahoe.

Both eastbound lanes of Highway 50 were blocked about 1pm Sept. 23 in front of the Pine Cone center.

Neither man involved in the accident wanted to comment.

An officer said the motorcyclist had been splitting lanes. The front wheel of the bike was mangled after striking the right side of the truck just in front of the tire.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Associated Press

RENO — Forecasters say severe drought or worse will continue into next year across much of the West, including parts of western Utah, most of Nevada and practically all of California.

Below-normal precipitation and normal or above-normal temperatures are forecast in the week ahead, according to the National Weather Service, and experts say the three-year drought isn’t likely to be relieved in October, November and December.

In Reno, the Truckee River already is a trickle, flowing at its lowest level in two decades for this time of year. Officials say Lake Tahoe is close to dropping to its natural rim for the first time since October 2009.

The Tahoe Keys pier on Sept. 1. Photo/LTN

As of Thursday, 81 percent of Nevada had severe drought conditions or worse. That was a slight improvement from the 87 percent in that category three months ago, but it was up from 78 percent the beginning of the year.

The U.S. Drought Monitor said that about half of Nevada reported extreme or exceptional drought last week — 36 percent extreme and 12 percent exceptional. Last January, extreme drought covered 23 percent of the state, with only 5 percent considered to be in the most extreme category of exceptional drought.

Half of Utah was reporting moderate drought and 16 percent severe drought. The most severe conditions were in the southwest and southeast corners of the state as well as a swath of western Utah stretching from near the Nevada line north of Interstate 80 southeast through Tooele and Juab counties to near Interstate 15.

There’s not much relief on the way, officials said.

Even in wet years, October and November don’t typically contribute much in terms of rain and snow in the region. December, however, is the start of the primary snow season in the Sierra, and the long-term forecast suggests a slight likelihood that month could trend dry as well.

“Even if December was wet, the drought wouldn’t be over yet,” said Zach Tolby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

There’s a 65 percent chance of an El Niño developing this winter with warmer-than normal ocean temperatures that sometimes produces more precipitation than usual, Mr. Tolby said.

At Farad, Calif., just west of the Nevada line, Truckee River flows measured 104 cubic feet Thursday, compared with a normal 500 cubic feet per second for this time of year.

Most of the water now in the river consists of drought reserves coming from Donner Lake and owned by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, said Chad Blanchard, federal water master.

Flows from the river’s largest reservoir, Lake Tahoe, are expected to halt altogether in late September when Tahoe drops below its natural rim 6,223 feet above sea level.

“We’re almost to the rim. We’ve only got a quarter-foot left,” Blanchard said. “We’re to the point that resource is going to be out for a while.”

The record low was on Nov. 30, 1992, when the lake dropped to 6,220.26 feet.

Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce and South Lake Tahoe are offering a selling skills workshop for business owners on Oct. 8 from noon-4pm.

Workshop participants will be taught the fundamentals and processes of selling to better understand themselves and the customer and to manage the sales process more effectively. Topics include defining your ideal client, perfecting your pitch, articulating the why of your product, the sales process and closing questions. This interactive workshop is ideal for business owners or managers who want to up their sales game in an authentic way while still achieving results.

The workshop will be at the chamber’s conference room at 169 Highway 50, Stateline.

For more info or to register, go online.