El Dorado County will host a grant development program informational meeting Sept. 29, 6pm at 2850 Fairlane Court, Building C, Placerville.

All county nonprofits are invited to attend. Seating is limited and additional meetings can be arranged if needed to accommodate all interested organizations.

The county has contracted with Grant Management Associates to assist local organizations with grant funding identification, grant writing and grant administration. There is no charge to the organization for this assistance or for the informational meeting.

For additional information, call 530.621.5595.

South Tahoe Public Utility District is organizing a board candidate forum for Oct. 8 at 6pm in the district board room.

The forum is open to the public and is an opportunity for the community to come and hear statements from each of the five candidates running for a seat in November.

Chris Cefalu is running unopposed. Andy Chapman and Duane Wallace are vying for the same seat; and Jim Jones and Shane Romsos are after the same seat.

Each candidate will be allowed three minutes to give an opening statement, answer questions posed by the audience and then provide a two minute closing statement.

The district is located at 1275 Meadow Crest Drive, South Lake Tahoe.

El Dorado County Connections-One Stop has programs and services to help individuals return to work.

Through the Dislocated Worker Program, unemployed and underemployed residents who are unlikely to return to their previous industry or occupation can receive assistance. Displaced homemakers and self-employed individuals may also qualify. Applicants do not need to be low income to qualify.

Free services provided through the Dislocated Worker Program include:  paid on-the-job training opportunities, job search assistance and career assessment and exploration, work readiness training, such as interview skills and resume preparation, information and support accessing college and technical schools, and money for certain vocational school or technical school training or related expenses.

To apply for the Dislocated Worker Program, individuals must be 18 years of age or older. Additional eligibility criteria may apply.

The Dislocated Worker Program is operated at 3368 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe and 3047 Briw Road in Placerville. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm. For more information, call 530.573.4330 in South Lake Tahoe or 530.642.4850 in Placerville.

Smoke clouds from the King Fire appear to be on fire. Photo/Toogee Sielsch

The King Fire outside of Pollock Pines has swelled to 70,944 acres. It remains at 5 percent containment.

Highway 50 is closed from Pollock Pines to Riverton.

Because of the steep terrain it has been difficult for firefighters to get a handle on the blaze that is now in its sixth day of raging through the Eldorado National Forest.

The dense forest, though, is also home to a number of permanent residents and U.S. Forest Service cabins. There are 2,007 single residences and 1,505 other minor structures that are threatened. All of those people living there have been temporarily displaced. A slew of mandatory and voluntary evacuations remain in place.

The evacuation center is at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Camino. Another Red Cross evacuation center is located at 6530 Wentworth Springs Road in Georgetown. Lake Tahoe Humane Society has provided cages for small animals because the West Slope ran out of them.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an emergency proclamation for El Dorado and Siskiyou counties because of the King and Boles fires. The Boles Fire is the one that swept through the town of Weed.

Smoke is expected to continue to be a problem for Truckee, Carson City and Reno areas. Washoe County is reporting unhealthy air quality. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next three days.

Nearly 3,700 people are working the King Fire with 299 engines, 15 helicopters, 49 dozers and 68 water tenders. Crews from Lake Tahoe are at the fire. The cause remains under investigation.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News asked the two Lake Tahoe Community College District 5 candidates a series of questions. The responses are being run in the order LTN received them.

Name: Robert “Bob” Grant

Profession/work experience: Educator, professional director and conductor. I have taught 25 years with Lake Tahoe Unified School District at the high school and elementary levels. I was a co-writer of the grants for STHS. I taught as adjunct faculty at both Lake Tahoe Community College and Western Nevada College. I was also the director and conductor of “Ebenezer Scrooge” at Harrah’s for 23 years as well as directing over 100 theatre productions in the region.

Age: 54

What organizations, committees or groups are you or have you been involved with?: I am a founding member of the Performing Arts Boosters Association (PABA) and worked on the committees for both the Measure A and Measure G bonds. I have served as the choir director of Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church since I was 17. I have also been involved with the AB86 Adult Education Project in conjunction with LTCC and currently serve as president of the STHS Site Council. I am a curriculum writer for the University of California Curriculum Integration Project and have written collaborative career/core curriculum that is used statewide. I also serve on visiting committees for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accrediting and learning about schools in other areas.

What is your educational background?: I have my bachelor’s degree from Sacramento State University and advanced credentials in elementary and secondary education from Sierra Nevada College. I also hold a certification in arts, media and entertainment.

Why do you want to serve on the college board?: Since I was in high school, I was interested in elected office, especially school boards. I was the student representative to the Lake Tahoe Unified Schools board for two years. I also ran for that office in the general election when I was 18. I am interested in increasing the collaboration with both the school and college districts. I believe my experiences in both institutions provide a unique perspective that would add to the effectiveness of the board. I believe it is crucial to keep student-centered and make decisions that are in the students’ best interests.

Why should people vote for you over the other candidate?: I believe my many years as a South Lake Tahoe resident and my experiences as both a student and instructor at LTCC provide an understanding of the college and community partnership. My experiences in dealing with education funding and policy at both at the local, county and state levels will allow me begin to be an effective board member immediately.

What do you think is the most pressing issue facing Lake Tahoe Community College and how will you deal with it?: Enrollment seems to be a concern at the college. New legislation that limits repeatability of classes has changed the demographics of the LTCC student. The college provides a world-class education and we need to increase our marketing efforts and connections with prospective students to keep the enrollment growing.

How will you be voting for the bond the college has on the ballot and why?: As a supporter of both Measure A and Measure G, and a grant writer for some of the projects at the high school, I have seen both the economic and prestige benefits of the infrastructure spending. Dignitaries, educators and political leaders have all come to see not only the facilities at STHS, but I have seen the changes in learning and innovative curriculum that the bond inspired. I believe the college and the community would benefit in the same ways. There were jobs created by the construction and upgrading, and even when the contracts could not be fulfilled by locals, the economic benefits of housing, food and restaurants, building supplies and other collateral extras were realized.

What is working well at the college and what isn’t; and how would you go about changing what isn’t working?: There are many programs that are working well at the college. Dr. [Kindred] Murillo is a strong leader and is very adept at moving the college’s vision forward. The EMT and fire science career programs are very strong and very much in demand. The core academic programs are exemplary and prepare students for the rigors of four-year colleges and beyond. The fine and performing arts create a cultural anchor for the students, staff and community. I believe that programs should be reviewed regularly and assessed for viability. Programs that are not as strong may undergo revision and possible integration with other pathways. Sharing appropriate resources with the community and possibly the unified school district would help to eliminate waste and redundancy.

What programs are not offered that should be?: Although the college has pieces of this curriculum, I believe the college should create a focused tourism, hospitality and recreation program that is centered on the needs of the South Lake Tahoe workforce and encourage entrepreneurship and sound management techniques. The program should focus on guest services, but also provide the infrastructure needed to sustain business, the environment, and our way of life.

What classes have you taken at LTCC?: I began taking classes at LTCC after I graduated high school (when the school was next to Taco Bell) and received an A.A. degree before moving on to Sacramento State. Since that time I have been in many theater productions and have taken the full gambit of Spanish courses they have to offer.

What other involvement have you had with LTCC?: As I stated earlier, I am currently part of the AB86 Adult Education program and have worked with the LTCC staff on the SB1070 Career Pathways Program ensuring there are clear connections for students that encourage them to continue their education throughout their lives.

What should be the role of higher education in South Lake Tahoe?: The role of the college is threefold: To prepare students for higher education and training experiences, to improve the quality of life in our community through education, and to be a hub of culture and enlightenment.

What do you believe should be the financial priorities of the college?: The priority has been and should remain the students of the college. Funds should be allocated as close to the student as possible to maintain academic excellence. This means investing in and acquiring the best faculty and staff available and providing funds for infrastructure, marketing and growth. The college should always be looking for redundancy and overlap in operations and program, and redirect funds towards the students.

Being on the board requires working with four others. Give readers an example of how you work well others in difficult situations with differing opinions: I have been on many committees and boards that work well together. I believe I have a problem-solving type of personality and often try to coalesce ideas and strategies to make them palatable and effective for everyone. I would not hesitate, however to vote in the negative if I believed the decision was not in the best interests of the students or the college.

How much time can you commit to carry out trustee duties?: I believe I have ample time to devote to the board and the college. My children are grown, my wife is very supportive of the time commitment and serving as trustee would be an honor not a “time-burden.” I am willing to devote all the time it takes to be an effective trustee.

What do you think is the most important mission of LTCC?: Student success. Whether that means training for a job or career, acquiring basic-skills, getting ready to move to a four-year university, or developing a better life for yourself and your family. LTCC is a place where that can happen and does happen everyday.

Tell the voters something about yourself that they may not know: I was honored by a proclamation from the governor of Nevada for my work in the arts. And, if I may, I am proud of the fact that all my children and now my granddaughter have attended LTCC.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Sept. 12, 2014, Salt Lake Tribune.

Just like that, more than half the economic muscle in Utah’s ski industry falls under one corporation, and it’s from Colorado.

To anyone who has followed the ski industry in the American West, Vail Resorts’ purchase of Park City Mountain Resort is the marriage of ’60s children. Stretch pants and cable bindings were de rigueur when Vail opened in 1962 and Park City in 1963, and both featured enclosed gondolas to carry skiers. That was a more upscale experience than the chairlifts at Alta and Aspen, the pioneering ski areas that made Vail and Park City possible. The older ski areas remained skiing’s high temples, but the upstarts eventually became bigger businesses.

Vail and Park City fueled a half century of competition between Colorado and Utah’s ski industry, a back and forth that saw Colorado gain, then give up, the Winter Olympic Games in 1976, and Utah succeed in hosting the 2002 Games. Colorado has always had more resorts and more skiers, but no one now questions Utah’s place among top ski destinations. Vail, regardless of its roots, was already invested in Utah’s success with its stake in the Canyons, and now it brings the leverage and exposure of 12 ski resorts stretching from Lake Tahoe to Michigan.

In the end, PCMR’s seller, Powdr Corp., had to bite the bullet, and it was a bitter taste to lose control of a ski resort like Park City Mountain Resort over a missed lease renewal. But the Cumming family that owns Powdr recognized that carrying on the bloody battle was harmful to everyone. Instead, Powdr exited with honor, including making the preservation of current employees’ jobs a contingency of the deal.

Read the whole story

By George Warren, KXTV

A Sacramento man taken into custody last week on drug charges faces a second arrest stemming from the same raid on a motel he owns in the Nevada desert.

Raghvendra “Raj” Singh, 52, posted $50,000 bail early Thursday, 12 hours after being picked up at his midtown Sacramento fourplex on a felony fugitive warrant out of Mineral County, Nev.

On Tuesday, Handte said the district attorney was preparing a second arrest warrant based on the weight of the marijuana, which this week was determined by a scale at the Hawthorne Army Depot to be 144 pounds.

Singh faces a separate criminal investigation in Northern California after a drug task force raided two of his rural properties in El Dorado County on Sept. 5 and seized more than 100 marijuana plants.

Read the whole story

By Michael Tarm, AP

CHICAGO — Editors and reporters meeting in Chicago raised concerns Wednesday about what they described as a lack of access and transparency undermining journalists’ work, several blaming the current White House for setting standards for secrecy that are spreading nationwide.

Criticism of President Obama’s administration on the issue of openness in government came on the last day of a three-day joint convention of the American Society of News Editors, the Associated Press Media Editors and the Associated Press Photo Managers.

“The White House push to limit access and reduce transparency has essentially served as the secrecy road map for all kinds of organizations — from local and state governments to universities and even sporting events,” Brian Carovillano, AP managing editor for U.S. news, said during a panel discussion.

James Risen, a New York Times reporter who is facing potential jail time as he battles government efforts to force him to testify at the trial of a former CIA officer accused of leaking classified information, also spoke at the conference. Risen said intense pressure on reporters and their sources is having a chilling effect on newsgathering.

He spoke of scaring one source just by going to his home and knocking on the front door.

“He opened the door and he turned white,” Risen said. “He marches me back through the kitchen (to a back exit) and said, ‘Go out that way.'”

Risen added that the government appeared to be taking advantage of how the media industry is off balance amid the growing influence of online news sources and financial hardships. He asked if the government would have taken such a hard line when traditional media were on firmer footing decades ago.

“I kind of think the answer is no,” he said. Media shouldn’t shrink before the challenge, Risen said, adding, “The only response … is to do even more aggressive investigative reporting.”

The AP’s Washington chief of bureau, Sally Buzbee, said the Obama administration’s efforts to control information extend even to agencies not directly involved in intelligence gathering. Some sources, she said, have reportedly been warned they could be fired for even talking to a reporter.

“Day-to-day intimidation of sources is also extremely chilling,” she said.

Buzbee said she’s frequently asked if the Obama administration, when it comes to transparency, is worse than the administration of President George W. Bush.

“Bush was not fantastic,” she said. She added, “The (Obama) administration is significantly worse than previous administrations.”

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama is committed to transparency.

“Over the past six years, federal agencies have gone to great efforts to make government more transparent and more accessible than ever, to provide people with information that they can use in their daily lives, and to solicit public participation in government decision-making and thus tap the expertise that resides outside of government,” Schultz said in a emailed statement.

Some speakers Wednesday also broached questions of reporters’ safety after recent beheadings of journalists by Islamic militants.

John Daniszewski, an AP senior managing editor of international news, said organizations that threaten reporters today have more chaotic chains of command. As a result, he said, militants might act on orders of an immediate commander rather than a government authority.

“While danger is nothing new … there has been a shift,” he said.

Santiago Lyon, AP’s director of photography, added freelancers are also more prevalent in conflict zones. He said among the questions media groups must ask about freelancers they are considering relying on is, “Are they bona fide journalists … rather than just thrill seekers?”

Pyro cumulus clouds from the King Fire taken from Taylor Creek on Sept. 17. Photo/Toogee Sielsch

Updated Sept. 17 7:05pm:

The King Fire burning northeast of Pollock Pines is at 27,930 acres and remains at 5 percent containment as of Wednesday night.

It is burning in steep, rugged terrain at a rapid rate north.

Highway 50 in the American River Canyon was opened Wednesday afternoon. However, it is one lane traffic from three miles east of Pollock Pines to Pollock Pines. Smoke is thick in the area.

No structures have been lost, but more than 2,000 residences are threatened along with more than 1,000 other buildings.

The mandatory closure to all residences south of Highway 50 between Fresh Pond and Riverton has been changed to a voluntary advisory. There are mandatory evacuations for Volcanoville, Quintette, Blodgett and Upper Ice House. As of late this afternoon more mandatory evacuations have been ordered for Crystal Basin: Granite Springs, Ice House Road (east side), Pickett Pen Road, Rubicon Trail, Windmiller Trail, Wrights Lake Road, including all Forest Service roads, trails, and access roads in the Crystal Basin recreation area between Ice House Road and Desolation Wilderness, north of the Highway 50 corridor.

“This afternoon the fire made a significant run to the northwest necessitating the mandatory evacuation order for Quintette and Volcanoville,” CalFire said in a statement. “It became very active in the afternoon with spotting up to one half mile.”

Rain is in the forecast for the next three days. 

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the Red Cross center.

There is still no cause for the blaze that started Sept. 13.

Pollock Pines Elementary School District will resume classes Sept. 18.

Two people have been injured, but a CalFire spokesperson did not have the extent of the injuries nor did he know they were firefighters.

South Lake Tahoe, Lake Valley and the California Conservation Corps in Meyers have sent people to help fight the fire. They are among the more than 2,500 people fighting the fire, along with the resources of 11 helicopters, 245 engines, 43 dozers and 57 water tenders.

Smoke continues to be an issue in the Lake Tahoe Basin, Truckee, Carson City and Reno areas. El Dorado County Air Quality Management District and Health and Human Services Agency – Public Health Division has issued an advisory regarding air quality. Fine particles in smoke can cause health issues, especially for children, older people or those with respiratory problems. 

“Driving from Auburn to Tahoe Tuesday afternoon, the smoke along I-80 became extremely thick and irritating to the eyes over Donner Summit and into Truckee,” Bill Kingman told Lake Tahoe News. “Visibility was brown air and only for a short distance. I likened it to Los Angeles on a good day. The smoke lessened slightly going over Highway 267 to Kings Beach, but you could not see the lake from the summit nor could you see across the lake at all.”

Here is a time lapse video of the King Fire smoke coming into the Tahoe basin. It was shot from UNR’s mountaintop camera at Heavenly’s Angel’s Roost.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a trio of bills Tuesday establishing a framework for statewide regulation of California’s underground water sources, marking the first time in the state’s history that groundwater will be managed on a large scale.

“This is a big deal,” Brown said at a signing ceremony in the Capitol. “It’s been known about for decades that underground water has to be managed and regulated in some way.”

Since the state’s founding, water has been considered a property right; landowners have been able to pump as much water from the ground as they want. But increasing reliance on underground water, particularly during droughts, has led to more pumping from some basins than what is naturally being replaced.

Some areas already have begun managing their groundwater sources, but other key basins remain unregulated.

Read the whole story