A mobile home in Stateline was totally destroyed by fire on April 23.

Tahoe Douglas firefighters said neighbors in the Ponderosa Trailer Park called 911 at 8:50am after hearing a loud boom and glass breaking, they then noticed flames in the neighbor’s unit.

No one was at the residence at the time. The person living there is getting assistance from Red Cross. The dog in the back yard was not injured.

The mobile home was a total loss. A neighbor’s detached garage was also damaged.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee

California took a big step Friday toward launching a new multibillion-dollar wave of reservoir construction.

After being accused of being overly tightfisted with taxpayer dollars, the California Water Commission released updated plans for allocating nearly $2.6 billion in bond funds approved by voters during the depths of the drought. The money will help fund eight reservoirs and other water-storage projects, including the sprawling Sites Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley and a small groundwater “bank” in south Sacramento County.

In its new blueprint, which remains tentative, the Water Commission nearly triples the amount of money it will spend compared to a preliminary allocation it put out in February.

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By Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times

California’s top auditor Thursday sharply criticized the state’s response to homelessness, recommending more spending and a stronger state role.

“California should do more to address homelessness,” the audit concluded. “California has more people experiencing homelessness than any other state in the nation, and it does a poor job of sheltering this vulnerable population.”

Other states with large homeless populations spend more per capita to shelter them and have single statewide entities dedicated to addressing homelessness, it said.

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By Molly Sullivan, Sacramento Bee

Sacramento, El Doraod and Placer counties have among the most polluted air in the United States.

In a report by the American Lung Association released this week, the city of Sacramento is fifth in the nation for ozone pollution, jumping up three spots from last year. Los Angeles and three Central Valley cities outrank Sacramento for pollution and average numbers of bad ozone days.

Placer, El Dorado, Nevada and Sutter counties also received “F” grades for having more than three unhealthy air days per year, according to the regional summary from the report. Yolo County received a “D.”

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A driving under the influence stop ended with the confiscation of 7 pounds of marijuana, more than 10 pounds of methamphetamine, several thousand dollars and other indicators of drug sales.

A California Highway Patrol officer pulled the vehicle over just after midnight April 21 on Highway 50 near Schnell School Road in Placerville.

During the stop the officer developed probable cause to search the car. The driver was arrested and all contraband seized. The name of the suspect was not released.

“To put it in perspective, this amount of methamphetamine alone could be enough for approximately 228,000 individual doses,” CHP said on their Facebook page.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Trevor Hughes, USA Today

America’s fast-growing marijuana industry appears poised for supercharged growth after winning what cannabis entrepreneurs see as approval from the Trump administration to forge ahead.

The legal marijuana market was already growing exponentially despite fears of a federal crackdown under Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but Trump’s signal that he’ll respect state legalization may swing open the floodgates by reassuring traditional investors, entrepreneurs and local lawmakers that it’s OK to jump in.

Across the nation, risk-takers have poured billions of dollars into the industry while knowing they could be arrested by federal agents at any moment.

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By Colton Lochhead, Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Energy Choice Initiative on the ballot in November promises to bring cheaper energy options to Nevadans by opening the state up as a competitive market.

But according to a new report from state utility regulators, most Nevadans would see higher monthly energy bills for roughly a decade before seeing any cost savings.

That’s in large part because NV Energy, by far the state’s largest electricity supplier, would likely have to divest many of its power plants and power generating assets across the state, leaving ratepayers on the hook for between $4 billion and $6 billion in any financial losses incurred by the company as part of implementing Question 3, according to the report from the Public Utilities Commission published Wednesday.

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Barton Auxiliary members view the mammogram machine they helped buy for Barton Memorial Hospital. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe and its environs are not immune to the reality that breast cancer strikes 1 in 8 women in the United States.

Early, accurate detection can save lives. The right equipment can make a world of difference.

While Barton Memorial Hospital has had a 3D tomosynthesis mammogram machine for about a year, it wasn’t until this week that the women’s suite was officially dedicated.

If it weren’t for the Barton Auxiliary, the hospital likely would not have the machine.

“We thought this would help so many people at one time,” Vikki Egry, Auxiliary president, told Lake Tahoe News.

This volunteer group through its various fundraising efforts provided the hospital with $230,000 for the machine. This represents a fraction of the $7.5 million the group has raised through the years. The machine cost $402,000.

Tom Davis, head of medical imaging at Barton, talks to Auxiliary members and others on April 18 about the significance of the mammogram equipment. Photo/Kathryn Reed

“We get a lot of new equipment in radiology. It’s not often we get new technology that changes the game. This is the piece of equipment that will change the game,” Len Holmgren said. He is the lead radiologist at Barton Memorial Hospital.

Siemens, the manufacturer, has upgraded the machine at no cost so there won’t be a separate 2D image. A synthesized 2D image will be able to be created out of the 3D image.

“It will cut the radiation almost in half,” Holmgren said.

This technology was recently approved by the FDA. Barton is the first hospital on the West Coast to have it. It will be online in the coming weeks. Holmgren said it should also make the exam slightly faster.

“This should not be in a hospital this size,” Tom Davis, who heads medical imaging at Barton Memorial Hospital, said of the entire imaging machine. He added that Siemens wants to make Barton a show site with the added device, which is in large part why it was free.

The entire area where the mammogram machine is located has been remodeled into a women’s suite.

Davis said a goal was to get rid of the “institutional feel.”

In a separate room is the outpatient ultrasound room. This is used for obstetrics and other women’s care.

A plaque in the suite explains how all of this came into being because of the generosity of the Auxiliary volunteers.

By Jessie Bekker, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Another piece of Nevada’s health care system – its ability to respond to a public health crisis — is drawing unwelcome attention.

A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report released late Monday found Nevada was tied for worst among U.S. states in preparedness for health disasters, including disease outbreaks, natural disasters and terrorism.

The state’s biggest issue: delivering care — particularly mental heath care — during and after a disaster like the Oct. 1 shooting, which killed 58 and wounded hundreds more.

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By David Montgomery, Governing

Less than eight months after Hurricane Harvey pelted the Texas Gulf Coast with torrential rainfall, drought has returned to Texas and other parts of the West, Southwest and Southeast, rekindling old worries for residents who dealt with earlier waves of dry spells and once again forcing state governments to reckon with how to keep the water flowing.

Nearly a third of the continental United States was in drought as of April 10, more than three times the coverage of a year ago. And the specter of a drought-ridden summer has focused renewed urgency on state and local conservation efforts, some of which would fundamentally alter Americans’ behavior in how they use water.

In California, for example, officials are considering rules to permanently ban water-wasting actions such as hosing off sidewalks and driveways, washing a vehicle with a hose that doesn’t have a shut-off valve, and irrigating ornamental turf on public street medians. The regulations, awaiting a final decision by the California State Water Resources Control Board, were in force as temporary emergency measures during part of a devastating five-year drought but were lifted in 2017 after the drought subsided.

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