By Clarice Silber, AP

PHOENIX — The federal government announced this month it will eliminate a policy that allowed national parks like Yosemite to ban the sale of bottled water in an effort to curb litter.

The National Park Service said in a statement it made the decision to “expand hydration options for recreationalists, hikers, and other visitors to national parks.”

The rules were first put in place in 2011 after it became clear discarded water bottles were becoming a big litter problem in national parks. The policy did not stop the sale of bottled sweetened drinks.

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A cyclist in South Lake Tahoe is tended to Aug. 28 by paramedics after being hit by a car. Photo/SLTFD

An 18-year-old cyclist was severely injured Monday night when he was hit by a vehicle on Pioneer Trail in South Lake Tahoe.

The man was airlifted to Renown Medical Center in Reno with severe traumatic injuries, according to the South Tahoe firefighters.

The Aug. 28 accident occurred at dusk near the intersection of Shepherds Drive.

The driver was going about 35mph. He hit the cyclist and then ran over him, according to authorities.

Names of the victim and driver have not been released. The driver was taken into custody.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Sean Whaley, Las Vegas Review-Journal

With the passage of Senate Bill 270 in the 2017 legislative session, the state Division of Water Resources must get proof of ownership from Nevadans with water rights that predate state statutes.

Failure to submit the required proof will result in the vested water rights being deemed abandoned. But there is plenty of time. A decade, to be exact.

Proof must be submitted to the state engineer by Dec. 31, 2027.

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By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee

Californians can’t shake their love affair with cars – and pickups and SUVs. That’s hurting the greenest state in the union’s much-publicized crusade against climate change.

While California is making headway in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the rate of progress is slowing. Emissions fell by a scant 0.3 percent in 2015, the last year for which figures are available. It was one of the smallest year-to-year declines recorded since California enacted laws aimed at defeating global warming more than a decade ago, and calls into question the state’s ability to meet long-term goals for curtailing carbon.

The chief culprit: California’s cars and trucks.

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Smoke rises Aug. 28 from the fire in Round Hill at the NV Energy substation. Photo/Christopher Kelly

Updated 9:35am:

A large swath of the South Shore was dark this morning because of a fire at an NV Energy substation in Round Hill.

That station feeds Liberty Utilities, which is why people in California were affected as well.

The power went off just after 8am on Aug. 28.

At the height, 15,000 Liberty Utilities customers affected; this includes the Markleeville area and the South Shore of Lake Tahoe. All power to those people were restored at about 9:30am.

NV Energy is reporting 8,795 customers in Douglas County without power.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Thomas Moore, Las Vegas Sun

When it comes to recreational marijuana here, the message from the Nevada Gaming Commission to casino companies is clear: Stay away from the newly legal industry, whether it’s pot use by customers or business relationships with the weed industry.

The commission discussed the issue Thursday during its monthly meeting at the request of the gaming industry and the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the enforcement arm of the state’s gaming regulatory structure.

Commission Chairman Tony Alamo said it had discussed the issue twice before — once after Nevada began selling pot for medical use in 2015 and then again last December, shortly after voters approved legalized recreational sales.

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By Ben Botkin, Las Vegas Review-Journal

GARDNERVILLE — Speakers at the third annual Basque Fry gave red meat speeches to an appreciative crowd of 3,000 who flocked to the conservative Republican gathering in Northern Nevada.

The event at the Corley Ranch in rural Gardnerville, organized by the Morning in Nevada PAC, comes as Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt eyes a run for governor in 2018. Laxalt told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he’ll announce his plans soon. Although his run is not official, speakers at the event showed support for Laxalt.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California came to speak at the Aug. 26 event after Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas canceled because of Hurricane Harvey.

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Two people were hurt Aug. 27 when their RV caught fire on Kingsbury Grade. Photo/NHP

Kingsbury Grade is closed because of a single-vehicle accident that occurred Sunday afternoon.

Nevada Highway Patrol officers are still trying to determine exactly what happened.

The crash occurred just past Tramway Drive on the Tahoe side of the summit a little past 3pm Aug. 27.

The RV was a total loss because of a fire. The fire spread into the wildland, but was quickly contained.

The driver and passenger were transported to Renown Medical Center in Reno with unknown injuries.

NHP did not know when the road would be reopened. It was still closed as of 5:20pm.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Megan Rowling, Reuters

The world needs to use water more efficiently rather than exhausting invisible underground supplies and blindly exporting “virtual water” to avert a global crisis that would undermine food and energy systems, a leading expert warned.

More than one-third of humanity is water-stressed every year or season, while drought crises are on the rise from California to Ethiopia as the planet warms, said Fred Boltz, who leads The Rockefeller Foundation’s work on science and environment.

“We are really facing a global crisis,” he said, noting that demand is predicted to outstrip supply by 40 percent by 2030.

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By Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times
 
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, who has faced rowdy protesters and sharp barbs at town halls this year, received a kinder if not exactly warm response in a remote town in the Sierra foothills Thursday evening.

Most of the hostility from the crowd inside the Foresthill High School gym focused on McClintock’s support for President Trump.

The congressman faced multiple questions on Trump’s controversial comments about the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, prompting McClintock to disavow the hate groups and defend the president.

“There’s no such thing as a fine person who marches with the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis,” McClintock said, a clear repudiation of Trump’s assertion that there were “very fine people on both sides.”

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