SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. —Barton Health has once again earned “Superior Performance” recognition on Cal Hospital Compare’s Opioid Care Honor Roll. As one of only 22 hospitals in California to receive this distinction, Barton continues to demonstrate its commitment to addressing substance use disorders (SUDs) and supporting the health and safety of the Lake Tahoe community.
The recognition acknowledges Barton’s success across four critical areas of care: promoting the safe and effective use of opioids; identifying and managing patients with substance use disorders; implementing harm reduction strategies; and applying best practices across all aspects of SUD care.
Substance use disorder affects have consistently been identified as a top health concern in Barton’s triennial Community Health Needs Assessment. In 2024, 42% of residents surveyed had been personally impacted by substance use. Behind that number are people seeking help for themselves or worrying about someone they love.
Barton remains committed to addressing this need through a coordinated approach to SUD care, supporting patients from prevention and early intervention through treatment and recovery. These efforts include:
Medication for Addiction Treatment (MAT): Integrated into primary and behavioral care to treat opioid and alcohol use disorders, with treatment options that include long-acting medications. Opioid settlement funding through the county and city has helped support the MAT program.
Substance Use Navigators: Two dedicated navigators guide patients through care, connect them to resources, and ensure consistent follow-up.
Opioid Stewardship Committee: A multi-disciplinary team advancing safe prescribing practices and offering non-opioid pain management alternatives.
Harm reduction and education: Community outreach, education on safe prescribing and overdose prevention, and expanded access to naloxone to prevent opioid overdose deaths.
Barton Health was also one of only two sites selected to participate in the initial county pilot of CA Bridge Connect, a free, confidential statewide call and text-based service connecting Californians with same-day opioid treatment support and ongoing care. Following the program’s statewide launch, Jacob Marquette, DO, medical director of Barton Community Health Center and a board-certified addiction medicine specialist, will continue working with CA Bridge Connect to support its rollout across California.
“Substance use disorder care is most effective when patients can access help quickly and remain connected to a team they trust,” said Dr. Marquette. “This recognition reflects the dedication of our providers, coordinators, and behavioral health specialists, who are working together to support patients from their first call or visit through ongoing recovery.”
For more information about substance use disorder treatment and recovery services at Barton Health, please visit bartonhealth.org.
Stocks rose in July and early August only to give back those gains later in the quarter. Two consistent headwinds paused the bull market: high oil prices — along with the resulting inflation — and a surprisingly fast rise in interest rates. Crude oil rose throughout the quarter and, not surprisingly, energy was a leading sector. I believe Wall Street continues to underestimate the premium needed for Mideast oil and stability.
Treasury yields climbed to their highest levels in decades, thanks to high government deficits, stubbornly high inflation, and competition from large AI companies that are raising debt to fund the AI buildout. Most analysts point to inflation as the largest factor, but I believe it is government debt. The U.S. annual deficit is about 6 percent of GDP, a level typically seen only during wars and recessions, and national debt exceeds $40 trillion.
These two headwinds paused the equity advance, but I’m impressed that a period of broad-based selling hasn’t occurred. On days when tech stocks are strong, most other sectors are weak; when tech retreats, many of the other sectors advance. So far, the recent weakness feels like a normal September selloff. September is often a seasonally weak period.
Corporate profits are the fuel for this bull market and it feels like investors lose sight of that whenever it isn’t earnings season. In the second quarter, S&P 500 earnings rose the most since 2021. In October’s numbers, we’ll see if that momentum carried into the third quarter. I expect so.
But what if stocks are topping instead of pausing? History shows that market manias end when the window to raise new capital closes. The money required for the current AI buildout is extremely high. In fact, The Wall Street Journal calls it the biggest economic bet in U.S. history. To justify the level of spending, some analysts believe that American businesses and consumers will need to spend as much of their income on AI as they do on food. Yikes.
Currently, capital continues to pour into AI stocks. If those funding sources (hedge funds and those in private credit/equity) dry up, watch out. When that happens, the largest AI companies will be forced to address their “burn rate.” We aren’t there yet but we’ll learn more about investors’ enthusiasm soon. Anthropic is expected to go public in the fourth quarter and OpenAI will have its IPO in 2027. We’ll keep watch.
David Vomund is an Incline Village-based fee-only money manager. Information is found at www.VomundInvestments.com or by calling 775-832-8555. Clients hold the positions mentioned in this article. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult your financial advisor before purchasing any security.
On Saturday, Serrell Smokey became the first chairman of the Washoe Tribe to win a third term in the last 20 years.
Smokey, a 2001 graduate of Douglas High School and Carson Valley native, was first elected in 2018, defeating Chairman Robert Mortimer for the seat.
According to the Wasiw News, Smokey received 182 votes in the election held on Saturday, nearly three times Lydell Wyatt’s 66 votes and R. Neil Mortimer’s 51 votes.
Of the roughly 1,200 Washoe eligible to vote, 436 cast a ballot for chairman.
Saturday’s election also saw results for the half dozen community councils.
All the candidates for Dresslerville, Carson and Reno-Sparks were elected to their seats.
In Stewart, Marilyn Bitisillie, Blain Osorio, Darienne Tenorio, Wanda Batchelor and Jacquelini Steele won a seat. Woodfords’ Cassandra Fred, Kristy Vann, Nicole Bennett Geoffrey Ellis and Sari Payne were elected for council in the Alpine County community. Raymond Gabriel and Elvia Smokey won seats for the off-reservation council.
According to the Wasiw News, the Elections Board worked 23 hours to complete the count. Election results are preliminary and will be confirmed at a later date.
STATELINE, Nev. – With nearly 400 attendees, strong participation from local businesses and public safety agencies, and approximately $10,000 in fundraising revenue, the inaugural South Shore Chili Cook Off established a promising foundation for a new annual community tradition. Hosted by the Tahoe Chamber on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe, the event celebrated local restaurants, first responders, and community giving while raising funds to support 11 charitable causes selected by participating teams.
Set against the backdrop of a beautiful, sunny fall day, the event featured local restaurants partnering with first responder and public safety agencies to compete for the title of South Shore’s Best Chili. Guests enjoyed unlimited chili tastings, cast their People’s Choice votes, and participated in activities designed to bring the community together while supporting meaningful causes.
More than a culinary competition, the event provided an opportunity for first responders to engage with residents and visitors outside of emergency situations, building relationships through shared experiences, friendly competition, and a common commitment to giving back.
A Close Competition with a Meaningful Purpose
The People’s Choice competition brought plenty of excitement as attendees sampled chili recipes and voted for their favorites. The race for first place came down to just seven votes.
Lake Valley Fire Protection District and Lake Tahoe AleWorX earned the inaugural People’s Choice title with 78 votes, narrowly edging out Tahoe Douglas Fire Rescue and Fox & Hound Smokehouse Grill & BBQ, which finished second with 71 votes.
Lake Valley Fire Protection District and Lake Tahoe AleWorX earned the inaugural People’s Choice title Provided / Tahoe Chamber
While the winning team earned bragging rights as South Shore’s Best Chili, the competition’s greater purpose was supporting the charitable organizations and causes selected by participating teams.
The first-place team chose to support the family of fallen Fire Engineer Neil Schnaible, who will receive the largest share of charitable proceeds. The remaining 10 beneficiaries will also receive contributions, ensuring that each participating charitable cause benefits from the event’s success.
This approach encouraged teams to rally support not only for their chili recipes but also for the organizations and individuals they represented, reinforcing the message that every ticket purchased and vote cast helped make a difference.
Bringing First Responders and the Community Together
One of the afternoon’s most memorable aspects was the opportunity for attendees to connect with the first responders who serve and protect the Tahoe Basin.
Families enjoyed a special demonstration by Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy DeRosa and K-9 Chase, offering a firsthand look at the training, teamwork, and skills involved in law enforcement K-9 operations.
Douglas County Sheriff Deputy DeRosa serves chili. Provided / Tahoe Chamber
REACH Air Medical Services added another exciting experience by providing helicopter tours, allowing guests to explore an emergency medical aircraft and learn more about the critical role air medical services play in the region.
Fire engines and emergency response vehicles from participating agencies were also on display, giving children and adults an up-close look at the equipment and resources used during emergencies.
Throughout the afternoon, local band Bread & Butter provided live entertainment, while artisan vendors contributed to the festive atmosphere.
Together, these activities created an engaging community experience that extended beyond the chili competition, encouraging conversations and connections between first responders, local businesses, families, and visitors.
Community Generosity Extends to Toys for Tots
The event’s spirit of giving extended beyond its charitable fundraising efforts through a Toys for Tots Holiday Toy Drive.
Attendees were encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys to help brighten the holiday season for children in need. The community responded with tremendous generosity, contributing a large collection of toys that will help support local families during the upcoming holidays.
The enthusiastic response demonstrated the community’s willingness to come together for multiple causes and added another meaningful element to the inaugural event.
Supporting Fall Tourism and Local Businesses
In addition to its charitable mission, the South Shore Chili Cook Off was developed as a fall shoulder-season event designed to encourage visitation, showcase local businesses, and create additional opportunities for residents and visitors to enjoy Lake Tahoe.
Based on ticket registration data and adjusted group ticket purchases, approximately 37% of ticket sales represented out-of-market attendees, while 63% represented South Shore locals. The combination of visitor participation and strong local support highlights the potential for community-driven events to contribute to the region’s tourism economy while maintaining a meaningful connection to local residents.
Firefighters at the Chili Cook OffProvided / Tahoe Chamber
By featuring local restaurants, hospitality partners, and public safety agencies, the event showcased the partnerships that help strengthen the South Shore’s economy and community identity.
“The South Shore Chili Cook Off was about so much more than great chili,” said Jessica Grime, President & CEO of the Tahoe Chamber. “It was an opportunity to bring our restaurants, first responders, residents, and visitors together in a fun, relaxed environment while supporting causes that are important to our community. Seeing the friendly competition, families interacting with first responders, and the generosity shown throughout the afternoon was incredibly rewarding. We’re grateful to everyone who helped make this first-year event possible and excited about its potential to become an annual South Shore tradition.”
A Community Effort Made Possible Through Partnership
The Tahoe Chamber extends its sincere appreciation to Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe and its entire team for hosting and supporting the inaugural event. The venue provided the space and resources necessary to accommodate the chili competition, emergency vehicle displays, helicopter tours, entertainment, and community activities.
The event was also made possible through generous sponsorship support from the Tahoe Douglas Visitors Authority, Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, and South Lake Tahoe Tourism Improvement District, whose investment helped bring this new fall community event to life.
The Chamber also recognizes the participating restaurants, first responder agencies, charitable beneficiaries, volunteers, vendors, and community members who contributed their time, resources, and enthusiasm to the event’s success.
Building on the enthusiasm and partnerships established during its inaugural year, the Tahoe Chamber looks forward to growing the South Shore Chili Cook Off into an annual fall tradition that celebrates community connections, supports local businesses, and gives back to meaningful charitable causes.
Summer has said its goodbyes; fall is in full swing and winter is just around the corner. Storms are beginning to roll into the Sierra, teasing winter lovers with a taste of what’s to come in the months ahead.
A mild storm is expected to bring rain and a chance of high-elevation snow to the Tahoe region Wednesday and Thursday, with drier weather returning for the weekend, according to Bryan Allegrato, an OpenSnow forecaster.
Open Snow forecast models show a few tenths of an inch to as much as 1 inch of precipitation possible by Thursday night, Allegrato said.
Snow levels are expected to remain high, generally above 8,000 to 9,000 feet for most of the storm, limiting snowfall to the highest elevations. However, snow levels could drop toward the end of the system, potentially bringing a light coating of snow above 8,000 feet. Temperatures near the base are expected to reach the 50s before dropping to around or below 50 degrees by Thursday.
Although most Tahoe and Eastern Sierra communities aren’t expected to see snow from this storm, the National Weather Service recommends drivers prepare their vehicles for winter travel by checking tire tread, windshield wipers and battery condition, keeping chains on hand and inspecting their emergency kit.
High pressure is forecast to return over the weekend, bringing drier conditions and a slight warming trend that could extend into early next week.
Looking Ahead
Looking farther ahead, Open Snow’s forecast models and the National Weather Service suggest a potential shift toward a more active weather pattern around the end of October and into early November. According to Allegrato, a prolonged trough along the West Coast could bring several storms to the region, with long-range forecasts indicating the potential for above-average precipitation.
Although a strong El Niño season can favor above-average snowfall, it does not guarantee it. Allegro noted that three of the past seven strong El Niño seasons saw below-average snowfall.
A Lake Tahoe man, who didn’t contest that he battered a woman, is scheduled to report to serve 30 days in jail on Tuesday, according to court documents.
Brandon Richard Johnson-Jack, 37, received a suspended 12-30-month sentence after he was found guilty of battery causing substantial bodily harm.
He was ordered to pay $9,853.32 in restitution to the survivor in the case, who is also suing him.
According to court documents, Johnson-Jack agreed the state could prove he reached through a car window, grabbed the survivor by the hair and tried to pull her out of the vehicle, causing her severe injuries including a concussion.
Johnson-Jack entered the plea on the eve of a May 26 trial.
Under Nevada law, no contest pleas are treated as a guilty plea in a criminal case.
This article was produced as a project for the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2026 National Fellowship Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism. It’s part of a series on LGBTQ+ health in rural areas.
LGBTQ+ people don’t just need friendly, informed providers—they may also need specialty care that is often a rarity in rural areas.
“When I started hormone replacement therapy, I originally wanted to go to an endocrinologist,” said Anthony Wolf, a nonbinary South Lake Tahoe resident who chose to go by their legal name for this story. “But I wasn’t aware Barton Hospital didn’t even have one. I assumed they would have everything as the biggest hospital in town.”
Instead, Wolf now drives a nearly four-hour, 188-mile round trip to get bloodwork done and hormones prescribed at Planned Parenthood in Roseville.
The Tribune conducted a survey of 15 LGBTQ+ people across the Tahoe Basin and interviewed dozens of patients and healthcare experts. Over 60% of respondents answering the Tribune’s survey said they leave the Tahoe-Truckee area to get healthcare, going as far as Reno, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston to receive care. 70% of those respondents said it was to find specialty healthcare they believe they wouldn’t receive in the Lake Tahoe area, such as gender-affirming treatments, voice training or sexual health testing.
Traveling for care
Data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey showed that rural residents in the West traveled an average of 22.7 miles per trip—the highest mileage compared to other regions in the United States. For rural, mountainous areas like Tahoe and Truckee, both distance and terrain can make it hard to access care.
Increased travel burdens negatively impact health, and in particular, access to specialists accounts for 55% of a difference in preventable hospitalizations and 40% of a difference for mortality when comparing rural and urban patients.
Dr. Karen Thiele, a family physician in Reno, Nevada, said she has patients from Lake Tahoe drive an hour or more to get care from her, as well as from the surrounding rural areas. “I personally do not travel to rural areas, so they end up traveling to me.”
Barton’s chief medical officer Dr. Kandra Yee wrote to the Tribune that referrals to other locations are “a common practice to ensure patients receive specialty care in health systems more experienced and equipped to meet those needs.” But patients sometimes find themselves having to travel hours away to get to specialists, even for what’s considered more routine specialist care like GI, dermatology or podiatry.
Although some South Lake Tahoe residents have considered transferring their care to Tahoe Forest Health System, also called TFHS, they might not find the specialists they need there either. While Barton serves the rural area, it doesn’t have the same designation as TFHS—a critical access hospital. That designation, provided by the federal government, helps rural health providers offer core services, but focuses on emergency and inpatient care, not necessarily specialists.
The privilege to travel
Traveling to care in the Tahoe-Truckee area often requires being able to drive your own car, given the winding, mountainous roads and the still growing public transit options in the area. And in the past year, services like the South Lake Tahoe Cancer League’s transport to cancer-related care facilities in the area has ceased.
TFHS offers some specialists that aren’t available at Barton, like endocrinology—a motivating factor for transgender residents around the Tahoe Basin to switch their care to the system, even if it means an hour-long drive.
But for others, the travel just isn’t worth it. Zephyr Kao, a Tahoe resident, recounted their experience when they moved to Tahoe and began seeking care. “What drove my care was my changing insurance, so I was looking for care in-network. But I wasn’t trying to go out to Reno. Ideally, you want a provider that knows your history and records, specific answers that fit your life, body and physical attributes, and to refer you with all your records.”
I don’t want to drive down to Reno for routine testing. I just don’t,” said Mack, who lives in Truckee. “If that was the case for me, I likely just wouldn’t get care. I want my doctors up here to know how to take care of me.”
Kao, Mack and others expressed distrust of their doctors. But they were part of the minority 26% that stayed in Tahoe and Truckee to get their care. The other 74% of respondents said they were willing to travel much farther. The median total commute time for LGBTQ+ responsive care was 4 hours or more.
Dr. Thiele said that online options can provide education to rural hospitals, such as through Project ECHO, which offers continuing education from specialists and a network of experts and peers to undeserved communities. In the same vein, Thiele said that many opt for telehealth to find options that work for them, even if they’re not local.
Wolf recognizes that telehealth might not be the right fit for others because it didn’t work for them. They also recognize that it’s a privilege to travel.
“I’m lucky that I can commute that far, I’m lucky I can drive. Not everyone can do that,” said Wolf. “You weigh options and the cost of driving, the price of gas, versus the cost of local healthcare. Honestly, I have paid what would be a life-ruining amount of money for others so I could get care.” Half of respondents who got healthcare outside the area said cost was a factor and that Tahoe-Truckee’s local healthcare was more expensive.
The costs are not cheap. But Wolf’s bloodwork at Barton cost $400, and the cost of a drive and visit to Planned Parenthood for hormones is four times cheaper for them.
Sexual health
The high rates of infection and death among gay men and transgender people during the HIV/AIDS crisis has left an indelible mark on the LGBTQ+ community in the United States. One of those came in the form of the name: gay activists were the ones who proposed changing it from GRID (gay-related immune deficiency) to AIDS to reduce stigma around its association with gay people.
During that time, the government failed to provide funding or support for research and treatment of AIDS, and hospitals and healthcare workers often turned away those suffering from the disease—one of the few groups who did care for AIDS patients were lesbian nurses. The overt discrimination and homophobia from institutions resulted in a political turning point, with LGBTQ+ led activist groups like ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) being formed in response.
“Health is really important to the queer community, and especially gay men,” said Sam Grossberg. “The way our community was treated during the AIDS crisis is generational knowledge that impacts gay men today.”
Grossberg said he was surprised and concerned that when he wanted to get sexual health testing in TFHS, his friends warned him that TFHS did not offer them rectal swab testing. “It was astonishing to me because there’s an expectation it should be offered and covered by insurance if you’re on PrEP,” a medication that prevents people from contracting and spreading HIV.
TFHS clarified to the Tribune that they do offer rectal swabs, but did not specify further whether this was part of regular testing.
Grossberg said when it comes to health issues specific to his experience as a gay man, he still reaches out to his doctor in San Francisco rather than local doctors, especially due to the long wait times to get a primary care provider in Truckee. “I don’t expect Truckee to be as good as San Francisco, but I feel like we can do better,” he said.
An Hoang, another gay man in Truckee, agreed there was a lack of cultural knowledge, which he experienced during his own experience trying to get PrEP. He said that because in-person care was important to him, he was willing to drive elsewhere to get care.
Hoang and others said they preferred to go to Reno or another clinic to get sexual health testing, motivated by better prices and knowledge of how to handle insurance.
Insurance issues
While getting treated with PrEP, both California and Nevada have access programs that will help cover PrEP, which often comes with regular sexual health testing. However, if care facilities don’t know how to bill your insurance, there can be huge bills that come in the mail.
“I think it absolutely is a barrier to access,” said David Mack, a gay man in Truckee and founder of Truckee Pride. “Seeing a huge $900 bill when you’re not expecting to pay anything scares people away from getting treatment.”
Hoang said that gay friends of his in the area had to learn the healthcare system and how to navigate the medical codes for PrEP prescriptions to get insurance coverage. “That’s the kind of knowledge that is not there in these systems, because they’re not prepared for LGBTQ+ people to ask for regular STD testing for PrEP.”
Jasen Brooks, director of identity and cultural engagement and lecturer at the Orvis School of Nursing at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), also touched on how billing impacts care. “Billing is so complex: it takes time and experience for a provider to become facile on it. Sometimes the notes for insurance in your chart and not a judgment on you as an individual, but your provider trying to ensue you get care. There’s a real art in it.”
However, Brooks said, it’s not easy to get that kind of education—it’s informal and something you learn through guidance, mentorship and experience, not a course.
40% of respondents to the Tribune and Sun’s survey on LGBTQ+ health said they wanted providers who understood how to bill insurance properly.
Navigating insurance and healthcare systems can be more complex for LGBTQ+ people. According to the Williams Institute, 1.8 million LGBTQ+ adults rely on Medicaid as their primary insurance, and LGBTQ+ adults are twice as likely as non-LGBTQ+ adults to have Medicaid as their primary insurance.
Morgan Williams, a psychiatric emergency services therapist working in the Tahoe area, said that having Medicaid as a primary insurance can pose problems for rural residents. While it may open up the ability to see certain mental healthcare specialists, it can make it challenging to get referred to specialists on the other side of the state border. A patient on Medi-Cal can’t be seen in Nevada for specialists, even if a relevant specialist is 15 minutes away on the other side of the state border.
Williams also pointed out an institutional barrier for transgender Medicaid patients in getting the correct name on their insurance. It requires an amended birth certificate, which takes much more time and effort than a simple legal name change.
For those on other insurance, rural healthcare isn’t much easier. Some workplaces in Tahoe even offer an additional stipend for healthcare, because there are fewer providers that take typical workplace insurance, primarily if their main offices are located outside of Tahoe.
Williams had top surgery before moving to Tahoe, and many trans people seeking gender-affirming surgeries spend years researching their doctors and their techniques. “The expertise from my doctor in Los Angeles, who was knowledgeable about my surgery, the care, and how to bill insurance, was really helpful for me in even deciding to get the surgery,” they said.
Both Williams themselves and their patients spoke about concern with not having specialists in the area and traveling away to get care, especially for complex medical procedures.
Recruiting specialists and accessing care
Having specialists who can create positive experiences is the ideal scenario—and not impossible in Tahoe. Laurie Kemper, who has lived in Tahoe for over forty years, said she has been lucky in the treatment for her health issues, praising the early referral to a specialist in Carson Tahoe and cultural sensitivity from her Barton OB/Gyn, who expressed support in finding a surrogate for her after she came out.
However, she recognizes that her insurance was better than most and made it possible for her to access certain specialists. But better insurance doesn’t guarantee an endocrinologist visit when there are none nearby.
“When you live in a rural town, your resources are already stressed,” said Kao. “You need more incentives for doctors to live and work here.”
“Gone are the days of the town doctor who can afford to stay around,” said Brooks. From the healthcare education side, he also recognized that the costs of healthcare education can also limit the ability for doctors to specialize.
And while recruitment and higher education are important, rural doctors have their strengths too. Williams says that rural providers often become specialists and experts in the issues their community deal with. They believe it would improve the quality of care if rural providers were given resources to understand more, like injection training equipment or regularly updated training for gender-affirming care.
Dr. Thiele, who trains residents, said she was gifted a mug that encapsulates her mantra on caring for patients: “You don’t need to refer that out.” While it was common practice before to refer patients seeking hormone therapy to endocrinologists, Thiele says that these days, average primary care physicians are familiar with the medications used, since they have a wide variety of applications—not just hormone therapy.
“Primary care really needs to take care of all their patients and all their concerns, and that includes gender-affirming care,” said Thiele. She added that while much of the effort to make these changes would be self-propelled, that there was resources like Project ECHO and Fenway Health for providers to become better educated in this care, even when there aren’t available specialists locally.
For now though, patients still experience the burden of travel.
“The length of the drive is extremely inconvenient,” said Wolf of their 188-mile trip. “Some solutions to this are more complicated than others, but there’s gotta be something they can do.”
In a time that’s more hostile to LGBTQ+ people, mental health outcomes for the community suffer. How do politics and policies play into mental health care in rural communities, which are historically underserved? Read more in part three of this reporting project on LGBTQ+ health in Tahoe, scheduled to publish in next week’s edition of the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Tracey and Ralph Miranda have started Two Hearts Cleaning Company in South Lake Tahoe.Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – For Tracey Miranda and her husband Ralph, years spent working for others has run its course. They have decided to take the plunge and start their own vacation rental cleaning business, Two Hearts Cleaning Company, where they strive to provide reliable, high-quality, turnover services in South Lake Tahoe and surrounding areas.
Ralph has worked at the casinos in Stateline for close to a decade. Prior to that, both he and Miranda met in Southern California while working at a casino together.
“I was with the gaming commission and he worked as a slot technician,” said Miranda. “We weren’t allowed to talk or even date. I ended up moving on to a different casino just so we could pursue our relationship. Now, we’ve been together for almost 19 years.”
While working as employees throughout their lives, both for other cleaning companies and the casinos, they were learning the ropes of the vacation rental turnover business. It was only a matter of time before the couple began considering whether they had enough knowledge to take a risk.
“We knew we could provide our own, reliable high-quality cleaning,” Miranda said. “There’s a lot of competition in town. We know that, we could see it ourselves, but why work our butts off for somebody else and get ‘X’ amount of money when we can do extra work and get the clients ourselves and produce that kind of service, if not better, in our eyes when we already have experience in this field.”
Better Business Bureau shows roughly 600 commercial cleaning services in the South Lake Tahoe area. Despite the competition, the Mirandas are confident in not only the services they have to offer, but that there’s plenty of work to go around. Attention to detail, adaptability, and building trusted relationships with property owners – qualities that the Mirandas say are vital to their business plan.
Currently, Two Hearts focuses on vacation and short-term rental turnovers with coverage areas located in Meyers, South Lake Tahoe, and Stateline. Depending on the situation, they may be able to extend their coverage area. Because each house is unique, ranging from varying square feet to services needed, their prices are flexible.
“The homeowner and I will sit down and negotiate a price. That price will be the cleaning and if they want to launder their linens out or on site if possible,” Miranda added. “There’s a lot of factors involved.”
Now, as they get their new business off the ground, the day-to-day operations consist of building a client base and working through all the logistics that come along with creating a solid foundation.
The Mirandas say that what they enjoy most about operating Two Hearts Cleaning Company on the South Shore is being part of a close-knit community and helping local vacation rental owners create clean, welcoming spaces for their guests.
The business is a family affair, and if Ralph and Tracey need some extra hands, their three preteen children, ages 10 to 12, will step in and assist when necessary.
“The kids are excited for us,” Miranda said. “They’re great kids.”
Tracey and Ralph with their oldest daughter, Amre, a student at South Tahoe Middle School.Victoria Mastrocola / Tahoe Daily Tribune
When asked how they came up with the name, ‘Two Hearts Cleaning Company’, Miranda said it was Ralph who had the idea.
“Two hearts, one goal,” Miranda said. “I wouldn’t be anything without him, and he wouldn’t be anything without me, and together, we are a team.”
The team’s goal posts for the future are to expand around the basin, hire additional employees and eventually extend their services. Until then, the husband-and-wife duo are going all in.
To learn more about Two Hearts Cleaning Company or to inquire about a service, call (530) 721-0994 or email the Mirandas at my2heartsclean@gmail.com.
Baccarat started as a card game for French aristocrats and now plays out on streamed tables people open on their phones. Five major rule changes happened along the way, and the man photographed dealing it at the Sands in 1959 went on to buy into a Lake Tahoe landmark.
Few casino games have traveled as far as baccarat.
It started out in French salons in the 1800s, and a century later it was the game holding up Macau’s casino industry. Online casinos are its newest home.
Smokos, an online casino for Australian and New Zealand players that launched in August 2026, is one of the newer places it’s dealt. After registering, players use the Smokos login to get into a live casino lobby that lists Dynasty Speed Baccarat from Pragmatic Play Live next to Evolution’s Dragon Tiger, a one-card spin-off of the game.
It took about 170 years of rule changes to get here, and not every step is well documented.
Where Baccarat Started
Ask a dealer where baccarat comes from and you’ll probably hear about 15th-century Italy, or soldiers bringing it to the French court of Charles VIII in the 1490s. Neither story has much evidence to back it up.
Mathematicians Stewart Ethier of the University of Utah and Jiyeon Lee of Yeungnam University went looking for that evidence in their paper on the evolution of baccarat, first posted in 2013. The earliest written mention they found is in an 1847 French book on salon and club games.
Their explanation for the gap is simple enough. Baccarat was played almost exclusively in aristocratic circles, so it rarely appeared in print.
Two versions came first. Baccarat banque was a three-person game, while chemin de fer cut it down to two players, with the Banker role rotating around the table. By 1880 the name chemin de fer, French for “railway,” was in common use.
French clubs had bills to pay. Their fix was a five percent commission on Banker wins, and five percent wasn’t random, it was easy to work out in your head without slowing the game down. The study’s math also suggests a cut much above 5.5% would have left nobody wanting to be the Banker.
Havana Rewrites the Rules
Chemin de fer was a game of choices. Player could take a third card on a five or stand pat, and the Banker had options of his own.
But Cuba stripped those choices out.
In pre-revolutionary Havana during the 1940s and 1950s, the casino started banking the game, so anyone could bet on Player or Banker. Tommy Renzoni opened the baccarat game at the Capri around 1956. He later wrote that his revised rules turned it into a game of pure chance. Ethier and Lee credit him with the rule that forces Player to take a card on five, which was the last real decision left at the table.
This version, punto banco, went from Havana to the Sands in Las Vegas in November 1959. Celebrities got involved fast. A UNLV Special Collections photograph dated that month has Frank Sinatra dealing baccarat in the Sands casino.
Sinatra, Tahoe and Casino Royale
Ian Fleming had already done his part for baccarat’s image. The big hand in his 1953 novel Casino Royale is a chemin de fer-style game, with James Bond beating Le Chiffre nine to eight. Technically it wasn’t true chemin de fer, since Le Chiffre bought the Banker role instead of letting it rotate, though it took two mathematicians to point that out decades later.
Sinatra’s next casino venture was much closer to home for Tahoe readers. In 1960 he bought into the Cal Neva Lodge in Crystal Bay, the 1926 resort with the California-Nevada state line painted across its pool and casino floor.
There’s no solid record of baccarat being dealt at Cal Neva in those years, and it’d be a stretch to claim otherwise. What the North Shore lodge and the Sands did have in common was the Rat Pack crowd, who turned casino gaming into a glamour product for a generation of American travelers.
The lodge closed in 2013, and its sale to McWhinney started the redevelopment now planned for the Crystal Bay site.
Macau and the Numbers
Punto banco arrived in Macau in 1962. By 2013, the territory’s 35 casinos were bringing in about US$45 billion in gambling revenue, and over 91% of it came from baccarat, per UNLV Center for Gaming Research figures cited by Ethier and Lee.
Their explanation is mostly economic. With the house banking both sides, bets aren’t capped by what one Banker is prepared to risk. A game can also start with a single player at the table, with no waiting around for a full lineup.
Fairness counts too. The authors describe punto banco as “almost unique among casino games” because players see it as fair while it still pays well for operators.
On the numbers, the house edge works out to about 1.06% on Banker bets and about 1.23% on Player, based on the study’s calculations. Banker wins are paid at 19 to 20. That’s the old five percent commission from the French clubs, just dressed up differently.
Baccarat’s timeline, in short:
When
Where
What changed
First half of the 1800s
French salons
Baccarat banque, a three-person parlor game
By 1880
France
Chemin de fer, a two-person game with a rotating Banker
Early 1900s
French clubs and casinos
Five percent commission on Banker wins becomes standard
1940s–1950s
Havana
House-banked punto banco with fixed third-card rules
November 1959
Las Vegas
Punto banco debuts at the Sands
1962
Macau
Punto banco arrives in Asia
Today
Online live studios
Streamed dealers and speed formats
Live Dealer Tables Today
Live studios left the Havana rules alone and changed the room instead. A dealer works a physical shoe on camera while players bet from a phone or laptop.
Speed versions cut the gap between rounds. Dragon Tiger goes further, stripping things down to one card per side with no third-card rules to learn at all. Side bets pop up around the edges too, though the core Player-versus-Banker bet hasn’t changed since Havana.
Smokos is a good example of where the game’s ended up. Its brand voice is blunt and a little raunchy, a long way from the tuxedos at the Sands in 1959. And it doesn’t pretend otherwise.
Baccarat is one corner of a 700+ game lobby that also covers slots from Pragmatic, Hacksaw Gaming, Play’n GO and Nolimit City. For players at its live baccarat tables, Smokos offers:
Play in the browser on any device, with no app needed
Accounts in local currency for Australian and NZ players
With bank cards and e-wallets for deposits, plus crypto like BTC and ETH
24/7 live chat and email support
Instant withdrawal processing, with funds usually arriving within minutes once identity verification is done
A wallet holds either fiat or crypto at any one time, and players can switch once the balance is at zero.
Responsible Gambling
Speed baccarat moves fast. Set a budget before the first hand, not halfway through a losing streak when every decision feels urgent.
Smokos lets players set deposit and loss limits, plus wager caps, from their account profile. A lower limit applies right away. Increases are different and only kick in after a 24-hour cooling-off period. Time-outs go from one day up to three months, and self-exclusion is available from three months up to permanent.
Gambling is for adults 18+ and is entertainment, never a source of income. Only bet what you can afford to lose.
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (NLTFPD) may conduct pile burning during the week of October 19, 2026, weather and fuel conditions permitting. NLTFPD expects pile-burning operations to continue through the winter, with burns conducted only when weather, moisture, humidity and fuel conditions are favorable.
Residents and visitors may see smoke in the area during these controlled burns. NLTFPD will share the location of planned burns through its social media platforms and the Prescribed Fire Notification/Smoke-Sensitive email groups.
If you see smoke from a burn announced by NLTFPD, please do not call 911 to report it. If smoke appears to be from an unannounced fire or there is an immediate threat to life or property, call 911.
To join either email group, send a written request to Public Information Officer (PIO) Andreina Quiroz at aquiroz@nltfpd.net.
Follow the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District for burn location updates and other community information:
Facebook: @North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Expedia named South Lake Tahoe as the top trending destination worldwide for 2027.
The city saw a 195% jump in searches for flights and accommodations on the online travel agency’s website since last year, the most of any city in the world. The next highest increase was just 95%.
“These places might not be dominating mainstream travel content just yet, but they’re gaining attention,” Expedia’s website said to introduce the list.
Next on the list was Hyogo, Japan, with a 95% increase in searches, known for its feudal castle, hot springs and, of course, food. After that was Punta del Este, Uruguay, a coastal city with beachside art installations that saw a 65% increase.
Carol Chaplin, president and CEO of Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, said notching the top spot on Expedia’s list is a “great honor” and speaks to the organization’s marketing efforts.
“It was very unexpected,” Chaplin said. “It just really validated what we’ve been trying to do over the years is to increase the awareness of the destination.”
She attributed the increase to a combination of potential factors: the American Century Championship, Caesars Republic outdoor concert series, events from Heavenly and other partners and the docuseries LTVA released in March, Beyond Awestruck.
Across all platforms, including social media, Beyond Awestruck content garnered 19 million views and 1.7 million viewing hours, according to spokesperson Ryn Muat. Each video prominently featured South Lake Tahoe, and the series centered on research about the awe-inspiring feelings Lake Tahoe can produce and the connection that follows.
Chaplin called Expedia a “very, very trusted brand” for travelers and said their analysis bodes well for the tourism industry going into 2027.
“It could really give us a lift, especially in this marketplace where we see that there’s some global pressures, exterior pressures on us,” she said.
Expedia named Heavenly and Sierra-at-Tahoe as major draws in the winter and said watersports on North America’s largest alpine lake keep people coming all summer long, calling South Lake Tahoe a year-round destination.
Here’s the full list of the most trending destinations worldwide, according to Expedia’s flight and accommodation searches:
South Lake Tahoe, California, United States (+195%)
STATELINE, Nev. – The Tahoe Knight Monsters were defeated by the Wichita Thunder on Sunday afternoon by a score of 4-3 in overtime.
Wichita got the scoring started courtesy of Jordan Biro in the opening two minutes of the first period to make it 1-0 Thunder. Just over three minutes later, Tahoe forward Cam Hausinger scored his first goal of the season on a wraparound shot to tie the game at 1. Late in the period, on a power play, rookie forward Kooper Gizowski scored his second goal of the weekend to give Tahoe a 2-1 lead, and their first power-play goal of the season.
In the second period, the Knight Monsters extended their lead thanks to the second goal of the afternoon from Hausinger after a lengthy review to make it 3-1 Knight Monsters. However, Wichita would storm back with a power-play goal from TJ Lloyd at the 11:16 mark to make it a one-goal game, and then Michal Stinil scored in the closing moments to tie the score headed into the final 20.
Knight Monsters v Wichita ThunderProvided / Knight Monsters
Both goaltenders shut down the game in the third period as Pavel Moysevich for the Knight Monsters and Yaroslav Korostelev from the Thunder both stopped every shot they faced, and the two teams both earned a point as they headed to overtime.
In OT, after the Knight Monsters took a penalty, Wichita capitalized thanks to a deflection goal by Ethan Scardina, and the Thunder completed the comeback and earned a two-game sweep over Tahoe to open the season.
The Knight Monsters travel back to Stateline to take on the New Mexico Goatheads at home on Friday, October 23, Saturday, October 24, and Sunday, October 25. Puck drop for Friday’s contest is at 7 pm PT.
The Knight Monsters open the 2026-27 season at home on Friday, October 23, as they take on the New Mexico Goatheads at Tahoe Blue Event Center. Season tickets and ticket packages for the 2026-27 season are now available. For more information on becoming a 1645 Club Season Ticket Member, visit knightmonstershockey.com.
Dear Editor, This November, El Dorado County voters face Measure S, a countywide 0.375% sales tax hike. While proponents push this as a critical safety measure, the wildfire prevention claims are entirely hollow. Only a tiny fraction of the generated funds goes to non-profits, with absolutely zero mandates or guarantees that even a single acre of forest land will actually be treated for fuels reduction.
Beyond these misleading safety claims, Measure S acts as an unfair siphon that will extract vital capital from the Tahoe Basin to fund projects on the West Slope. Having served as an El Dorado County Supervisor between 1993 and 2001 representing the Meyers community, Christmas Valley, and North and South Upper Truckee, I know how critical it is to preserve fair county allocations.
Yet, under this measure’s strict formulas, a massive share of the revenue will benefit a private health system in Placerville. Because basin residents rely on local healthcare like Barton Memorial Hospital rather than traveling over the Sierra Nevada crest, their local tax dollars will effectively leave their community.
Furthermore, the City of South Lake Tahoe already shoulders a heavy sales tax burden. Piling another countywide tax on top pushes local rates to a restrictive high, hitting working families and starving the city of future “tax room” to pass its own localized infrastructure measures. This deep dissatisfaction is why local political leadership stands united: every candidate running for the three South Lake Tahoe City Council seats opposes Measure S.
Voters should demand transparent measures that actually protect our forests rather than a 30-year tax that raises the cost of living while draining Tahoe’s tax base. Please vote No on Measure S.
Sincerely, Ray Nutting Co-Chair, California Taxpayers Protection Committee
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – As community members struggle to put food on their tables, St. Theresa’s Bread & Broth continues to welcome anyone in need of a full-course, hot meal. The organization serves its Monday Meal from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at St. Theresa’s Grace Hall and its Friday Second Serving Meal from 4 to 5 p.m. at Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church.
Bread & Broth’s ability to provide twice weekly meals is made possible by the generosity of local stores, donations made by individuals, families, and organizations, and Adopt A Day of Nourishment sponsors. With all of these generous funding sources, Bread & Broth has been able to serve up to 170 dinner guests at the Monday Meal and up to 60 dinner guests at a Second Serving Meal.
In an effort to promote the inclusion of as many members of the community as possible in the Monday Meal dinner service, Bread & Broth implemented the Adopt A Day of Nourishment in 2011. Currently, the sponsorship donation fee is $350, and sponsors provide an Adopt A Day crew of up to five people to support the B&B Volunteers with the meal’s setup, serving, and take down/cleanup.
Liberty is one of the community businesses that has been supporting the Adopt A Day of Nourishment (AAD) program by hosting up to 6 dinners a year. Liberty’s latest sponsorship was on Monday, October 12th and the AAD crew representing Liberty included Breanna Kelly, Program Manager; James Martin, Billing Analyst; Kevin Newmark, Facilities/Fleet; and Eric Oiler, Vegetation Management.
“It was fulfilling working with the Bread & Broth volunteer team, many of which I had just met, to achieve a common goal by helping the community,” shared Eric. “Everyone I met had a smile on their face and was in good spirits. It felt good to be a part of that and hopefully contribute to making some one’s day.”
Based on the dinner guests’ smiles and appreciative words, Eric and his fellow Liberty team members definitely made a meaningful contribution to the evening. Bread & Broth appreciates the commitment of Liberty to support the organization’s efforts to ease hunger in the community and expresses its thanks to all of the Liberty team members who have given of their time and effort to participate in feeding B&B’s dinner guests.
To learn more about Bread & Broth, donate, sponsor an Adopt A Day of Nourishment, or volunteer, visit www.breadandbroth.org or follow Bread & Broth on Instagram and Facebook.
Jayden was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at age 8.Provided / Anahid Mendez
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – Single mother Anahid Mendez and her 10-year-old son, Jayden, have started a GoFundMe to ask the community for help purchasing a wheelchair-accessible van for Jayden.
Diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in 2024 at age eight, Jayden can no longer walk and is bound to a wheelchair for mobility.
As a progressive, genetic neuromuscular disorder, DMD is caused by mutations to the DMD gene, resulting in the dysfunction or absence of the dystrophin protein. Without dystrophin, progressive muscle degeneration and weakness occur, making it difficult, and in some cases, painful, for children to walk, run, or jump.
“Jaden’s a very happy-go-lucky 10-year-old. He doesn’t let his Dystrophy affect him as a person,” Mendez said. “I remember the first time he got his manual wheelchair, he said, ‘Mommy, my legs don’t hurt anymore.'”
Mendez took a job at Incline Village Elementary as an aide to another special needs child so she can be close to her son and assist him while he’s at school. However, due to the size of her 1992 Nissan Sentra, Mendez cannot fit Jayden’s power wheelchair in her car and must leave it at school every day, requiring him to transition to a manual wheelchair while not at school.
Middle school is fast approaching for Jayden, where he and Mendez will no longer be located within the same vicinity throughout the day. With the help of a wheelchair-accessible van, transportation to and from school, doctors appointments and family outings in Jayden’s power wheelchair would be possible.
Jayden at school in his power wheelchair.Provided / Anahid Mendez
“I just want to give him every opportunity to have the independence and freedom he deserves,” said Mendez.
Mendez has her sights set on a four-wheel-drive Explorer van that can get around safely during winter months.
As of Friday, October 16, the GoFundMe has raised 25% of its $40,000 goal and stands at $9,678.
Last week, the final Summer Free Farmer’s Market was held in the St. Theresa parking lot, with nearly 100 individuals and families picking up boxes of fresh vegetables, fruit, and essential grocery items. This was the fifth Free Farmer’s Market held this summer.
These foods are delivered by the Food Bank of El Dorado County, and throughout the summer, these events have been financially supported by Bread & Broth, the Marcella Foundation, and the Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe. With escalating food prices, many of the recipients are so grateful for access to the fresh food.
Many thanks to those who came out to volunteer and support families in South Lake Tahoe and help them have access to nutritious, fresh and healthy food. Providing volunteers to pack and distribute the food at the events include the Family Resource Center, employees from Whole Foods, employees from the City of South Lake Tahoe, the Kiwanis Club, the Marcella Foundation, and Bread & Broth.
Special thanks to Roberta Strachan, Bread & Broth Chairperson of Food Coordination, who facilitated these events each month along with the Food Bank of El Dorado County.
STATELINE, Nev. — Kahle Community Center is launching a new teen program that gives middle school students opportunities to explore the outdoors, try new activities and connect with their community. Designed for students in grades 6–8 throughout Douglas County and surrounding areas, the program will offer recreational, educational and cultural experiences on select Fridays.
Registration is now open for the first three outings, with additional activities planned in the coming months.
The inaugural outings include:
Friday, November 6, 2026: A guided 2.9-mile hike with the Tahoe Rim Trail Association, introducing participants to Leave No Trace practices and the beauty of the Tahoe Rim Trail.
Friday, November 20, 2026: A teen pool day at Carson Valley Swim Center, offering swimming and an opportunity to connect with peers.
Friday, December 11, 2026: An indoor climbing experience at Badger Mountain in Gardnerville, where teens can scale the walls, make friends and build confidence.
Future outings may include snowshoeing, curling, Nordic skiing, theatre arts, candle making, kayaking, museum visits, sailing, backpacking, archery, art courses, flying remote-control airplanes and ice fishing.
The program aims to introduce teens to activities they may not otherwise experience, encourage the discovery of new interests and help participants develop skills while exploring opportunities throughout the region.
Through partnerships with local businesses, organizations and recreational providers, Kahle Community Center hopes to expand access to unique experiences that encourage learning, personal growth and community engagement.
Local Businesses and Organizations Invited to Partner
Kahle Community Center welcomes local businesses, organizations and recreational providers interested in partnering on future teen activities. Opportunities may include hands-on instruction, behind-the-scenes tours, performances, recreational activities or other experiences that introduce young people to new skills and interests.
Organizations interested in collaborating are encouraged to contact Kelly Edmundson at kkedmundson@douglasnv.us to discuss partnership opportunities.
Registration Now Open
Families can view program details and register for the first three outings online at:
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino, a spacious resort nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, announces the return of its annual Halloween Carnival on Saturday, October 31, 2026. The family-friendly event will bring together resort guests and the local community for an evening of Halloween festivities. One hundred percent of proceeds will benefit Incline Education Fund’s STE(A)M program, which supports science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics education for local students through hands-on learning opportunities.
The Halloween Carnival will take place on Saturday, October 31 between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the resort’s Regency Ballroom. Guests of all ages can enjoy an assortment of Halloween activities and entertainment including carnival games, a bouncy house, a photo booth, and classic treats like popcorn and cotton candy. DJ Joolz will provide spooky beats, with a dance floor available for guests to join in the Halloween celebration.
“Our Halloween Carnival has become one of our favorite traditions at the resort, and there’s nothing quite like seeing the ballroom fill with costumed families from Incline Village and beyond,” said Hilde Di Domenico, director of marketing at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino. “We look forward to welcoming our neighbors back for a night that’s as meaningful as it is fun”.
Entry is a $10 donation to Incline Education Fund and includes five tickets for games and activities, with additional tickets available for $1 each. Validation will be provided for the resort’s self-parking lot.
Proceeds will support Incline Education Fund’s STE(A)M program, which has funded a makerspace program at Incline Elementary School, a robotics program at Incline Middle School, and an engineering and entrepreneurship program at Incline High School through community support and recently awarded grants. For more information about the program, please visit https://www.inclineeducationfund.org/programs/.
For more information or to book a getaway to Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, please visit HyattRegencyLakeTahoe.com, or call (775) 832-1234. About Hyatt Regency Lake
Looking for a very own live teddy bear?! Look no further; meet Monty, the sweetest, most lovable companion! This adorable boy looks just like a giant teddy bear, and his gentle, affectionate personality makes him every bit as cuddly as he looks.
Monty may be a little shy when you first meet him, but in no time at all and with a little encouragement, you’ll get to see his wonderful personality shine. As he gets comfortable, his ears perk up, his playful side comes out, and his sweet nature takes center stage. He loves nothing more than being close to his people and nestling his head into his person.
One of Monty’s favorite things is spending time with other dogs! He enjoys canine companionship and has an easygoing personality that makes him a joy to be around. He’s the kind of dog who just makes you smile, and we think he has so much love to give to a family willing to help him build his confidence.
Monty may need a little patience as he settles into his new home, but we know that with kindness, reassurance, and plenty of love, this sweet boy will blossom into a wonderful best friend. If you have room in your heart for a gentle, playful teddy bear who loves other dogs and would make an excellent cuddle buddy, come meet Monty. He might just be the missing piece your family has been looking for!
Stop by the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe to meet this incredible companion! Feel free to stop by to meet him or call/email one of HSTT’s Adoption Specialists for more information, 530-587-5948 or adoptions@hstt.org.
Monty is neutered, vaccinated, and up to date on his vaccines. To view more adoptable pets or to learn more about the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe, visit, www.hstt.org.
Psst! I don’t bother with sugary, high-fat pumpkin fudge or fake-flavored lattes anymore like I used to. Nowadays, I’d much rather snack on crunchy pumpkin seeds mixed with heart-healthy nuts or grab a simple slice of whole grain pumpkin bread. Fall is still a huge pumpkin celebration, but the best part is that it actually makes you feel good and healthy!
Recent published findings in 2026 by food and nutrition researchers reveal that every part of the pumpkin (flesh, seeds, and peel) contains valuable nutrients such as beta carotene, fiber, antioxidants, healthy fats, magnesium, and zinc. These compounds have health perks, which make pumpkin the new versatile superfood….
Forget the sugary pumpkin fudge and pumpkin cookies. It’s the season to change it up with whole-food pumpkin to maintain a strong immune system while the air is cooler and we gather indoors more. As the author of The Healing Powers of Superfoods (Kensington), I did include pumpkin! Here’s a new list of pumpkin favorites with a unique Tahoe Edge.
*Chunky Warm Pumpkin Soup: Real pumpkins are loaded with Vitamin A and essential for keeping your respiratory and intestinal linings healthy–—which serve as the body’s defense against airborne germs and cold-weather viruses. The Tahoe Edge: Savor a warm bowl of spiced pumpkin ginger soup helps guard your respiratory system against the elements. (Find it at a local restaurant or Google a DIY recipe online.)
*Cold & Creamy Pumpkin Smoothie: Pumpkin flesh contains vitamin C, a disease-fighting antioxidant that stimulates the production of white blood cells to help guard against cold and flu season. The Tahoe Edge: In the morning or afternoon, enjoy a smoothie made with organic canned or puréed pumpkin. (Google a recipe that is healthful and yummy.)
*Savory & Sweet Pumpkin Pie: When crafted with antioxidant-rich pumpkin spices (like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger) and topped with roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), scones deliver vitamin E and healthy minerals that quell a sweet tooth without too many calories. The Tahoe Edge: Enjoy a slice of pie–storebought or homemade with less sugar. (Buy a slice at Safeway bakery.)
*Hot Pumpkin Spiced Tea/Coffee: Sipping black or herbal teas with real pumpkin spices (cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom) provides polyphenols and anti-inflammatory compounds that enhance your immune and heart health. The Tahoe Edge: Brew a cup of pumpkin spiced tea with a drizzle of honey to warm your body and spirit. (Forage online or local grocery store.) CAL OREY, M.A., is a bestselling author-novelist specializing in topics such as adventure, health, nutrition, and science. She holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in English (Creative Writing) from San Francisco State University. Currently, her new release The Healing Powers of Honey, Revised is available at all bookstores. Her website is http://www.calorey.com.
TL;DR: South Lake Tahoe has been named Expedia’s #1 Trending Destination for 2027, following a 195% surge in travel searches. Discover why this year-round mountain destination is capturing travelers’ attention worldwide.
The secret is out! South Lake Tahoe is capturing the attention of travelers worldwide, and Expedia’s latest travel trends report confirms it.
According to Expedia’s Unpack ’27 travel trends report, South Lake Tahoe saw a remarkable 195% year-over-year increase in travel searches, earning the top spot among trending destinations worldwide.
And it’s easy to see why. From sparkling blue waters and sandy beaches to breathtaking alpine scenery, South Lake Tahoe offers something unforgettable in every season. Visitors can hit the slopes at world-class ski resorts, explore scenic hiking and biking trails, cruise across the lake, or simply relax and take in the mountain views. Add exciting entertainment, delicious dining, and a wide variety of places to stay, and you’ve got a destination worth discovering again and again.
Whether you’re seeking outdoor adventure, a romantic mountain escape, or a memorable family vacation, South Lake Tahoe delivers an experience unlike anywhere else.
Who doesn’t love that cozy autumn feeling of walking to your mailbox, or a drop box, or an in-person voting center to cast your vote for local, state, and national leadership?
2026 is a midterm year, meaning no voting for the U.S. president and vice president. With that spotlight off, local races receive more, much-deserved attention. Ideal, since that’s where voters have the most power to effect change. But without presidential candidates on the ballot, there tends to be considerably less participation. In 2022’s midterm election, 36% of California’s voting age population cast a ballot compared to 53% in 2024’s general. In Nevada for those same years, 41% bumped up to 58%.
The irony isn’t difficult to spot: Rules and codes over local development, utility rates, transportation options — these and hundreds more decisions happen in your neck of the woods and are made by the people you vote into office. But it doesn’t have the same drama or them-versus-us vibe, so it might not feel as critical to participate.
We hope reviewing the answers provided by candidates in the following pages adds a reason to your pros and cons list about voting on or before Nov. 3. There are very real issues at hand and critical decisions being made, and who you vote for could turn the tide one way or the other.
For our election coverage in our October edition, we took a methodical approach to the jurisdictions and special districts featured: Those we questioned in person as part of the Truckee Candidate Forum on Oct. 8 — Truckee Town Council, Tahoe Forest Hospital District, and Truckee-Donner Recreation and Park District — were not included in print. (You can re-watch those forums, which took place Oct. 6 and 8, at ttm.ompnetwork.org.
A North Shore Election Forum took place Oct. 6, where state candidates participated in a Q&A. Find the recording at firsttuesdaybreakfastclub.com.
Incline Village Crystal Bay Business Association is hosting an IV-CB Community Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 6 p.m. in the Duffield Theater at Incline High School. It will be broadcast live and available afterward at youtube.com/@iv-cbcommunityforum9730.
We also touch on Measure P, which goes before all voters within the TTUSD boundaries.
You’ll find three district-specific questions asked of the candidates, who were allowed no more than 125 words in response per answer. Please sit with their answers and mull over who you believe would best fill an empty seat on a board, then responsibly fill out your ballot and cast your vote by Nov. 3. A healthy democracy depends on participation.
For uncontested races and other information, view our 2026 Election Tracker at tinyurl.com/5f4w5j4c.
Residents must register to vote by Oct. 19. Same-day voter registration is possible, but must be done at a county elections office, polling place, or vote center. Visit caearlyvoting.sos.ca.gov for a list of early voting locations.
Residents must have registered to vote in person or by mail by Oct. 6. Same-day voter registration is possible and must be done in person at a polling location. Visit tinyurl.com/mrfcsc7p for a list of early voting locations.
Two years ago, the Incline Village General Improvement District was in a precarious spot. Fraud allegations, financial issues, failed recalls, and a general manager spot that couldn’t seem to be kept filled — interim GM Bobby Magee, who resigned after three months, followed by Kent Walrack, who lasted a similar length of time before being terminated by a new board. That same month, January 2025, the still-current GM, Bob Harrison, was put in place.
Earlier this summer, Trustee Mick Homan wrote a piece for Moonshine saying that at long last, things are looking up. “With key hires in HR and finance to supplement the existing team, focus shifted to three priorities,” he wrote. “Improving organizational health, restoring financial discipline, and advancing long-term capital planning.”
The shape of that progress looks different to different people. There are three candidates running for two seats on the IVGID Board of Trustees, with only one incumbent running for reelection: David Noble. That means there’ll be at least one newcomer, either Harry Swenson, who ran in 2024, or Ryan “RB” Brooks. The candidates touch on cost discipline, transportation, and utility management.
Candidates were limited to 125-word responses per question, and they have been edited for style and clarity. Order of replies determined by a randomizer.
1. Public transportation has been identified as a critical option to reduce traffic, lower pollution, expand mobility, and more. December 2025’s cancellation of TART (Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transit) Connect’s microtransit services and the Aug. 1, 2026, discontinuance of IVGID’s Senior Transportation Program have created a gap in public transportation needs across Incline Village/Crystal Bay. What do you see as the most critical way(s) IVGID can support or encourage expanded public transportation options?
Brooks: The end of these programs left us without on-demand transit for the residents who depend on it most: seniors, workers, and people without a car. As I see it, IVGID’s most critical role is to restore service quickly and on solid legal footing. IVGID’s counsel has advised that [Nevada Revised Statute] 318 doesn’t allow the district to operate transportation directly. Rather, we should let a local 501(c)(3) run the service and receive state and federal funding directly, including [Nevada Department of Transportation’s] [Federal Transit Administration] Section 5310 and Older Americans Act funds and Washoe County senior service contracts. IVGID’s role would be to convene partners and help prepare grant applications. Any direct financial support would be reviewed by legal counsel first, so we don’t trade one lawsuit risk for another.
Editor’s note: Words in brackets were added by editors and do not count against word count.
Noble: IVGID representatives have been in discussions with county representatives since April to strongly encourage restarting/funding TART, which would assist all residents, including seniors. Those discussions have included the use of at least some of the taxes generated from STRs in unincorporated Washoe County (over 90% of those revenues come from STRs in Incline Village and Crystal Bay), which currently go to the county, Travel North Tahoe Nevada (formerly the Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau), and the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Unfortunately, IVGID is prohibited from providing public transportation service, unless it is tied to at least one of IVGID’s recreation venues.
Swenson: I would work with the board and amend the long-standing contract with Washoe County to ensure senior transportation services are fully funded by the county and are consistent with services offered in other towns/districts of the county. For instance, the county provides discounted Lyft rides and taxi services for seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income residents. We need to ensure our community is aware of the services available.
IVGID has the responsibility of providing transportation according to the contract with Washoe County; therefore, the elimination of services was wrong. The problem appears to be budgetary and due to the services provided by IVGID going beyond what the county provides in other communities. Services should have been reviewed and refined rather than eliminated.
2. IVGID provides essential utilities while also operating an extensive recreation system. How would you determine which responsibilities should take priority when the district faces competing financial, infrastructure, and community needs?
Swenson: Maintaining and updating our water and sewer infrastructure is critical. Much of it is still original and in state of disrepair. We’ve had too many water main and line breaks. We need to budget and execute on a plan to get it upgraded and properly maintained. At the same time, we need to make the maintenance of our existing facilities, such as the recreation center, a priority. We should budget for these things first and then determine what additional projects can be accomplished. Only projects that can be delivered should be contained in the budget that results in your beach and recreation fees. This would resolve the over-collection of fees from our community while keeping our facilities in good repair.
Brooks: Tier 1 – Public health, safety, and legal obligations. Water, sewer, and effluent systems come first because they protect residents and the lake, and regulations aren’t optional.
Tier 2 – Taking care of what we already have. Before paying for anything new, IVGID should fully fund the repair and replacement of its existing pipes, pumps, facilities, and equipment.
Tier 3 – Core recreation at the heart of our community. Each IVGID facility should be evaluated on cost, usage, and how close it comes to covering its expenses. But keep a holistic approach.
Tier 4 – Wants. New amenities, expansions, and nice-to-haves come last.
Three rules would guide me in how I apply this:
Keep the money where it belongs.
Plan on a five- to 10-year horizon.
Show our work.
Noble: Water and sewer services take priority over all recreation venues because those services are essential to daily life. IVGID recently completed the effluent export pipeline project under Highway 28 — a $62 million-plus project finished a year ahead of schedule and $13 million-plus under budget. Looking forward, I believe reinvestment in IVGID’s water service and ski area should be priority. Wildfire preparedness measures (pipe replacement, backup generators, etc.) need to be accelerated for our water delivery system to be better prepared for future wildfire events. Diamond Peak is the only venue that generates a profit for the community ($1 to $5 million/year), yet no meaningful investments have been made in nearly 20 years — lodge, lift, and snowmaking upgrades are long overdue to address declining skier visits.
3. The past few years have seen ups and downs in the facility fee amounts district property owners pay annually. For example, in the fiscal year ending 2023, residents paid $780. In 2024, that amount dropped to $455. In 2026, due to impacted district finances, the annual fee went up to $1,375. The current IVGID board said the latest increase will help ensure district financial stability and the ability to manage current and future capital facilities. Do you think the board and staff have handled the financial instability well? How would you seek to maintain or improve district financial management moving forward?
Noble: The facility fee was kept flat from 2010 to 2023, while construction, labor, and food prices rose considerably over that period. The fee went up to $1,375 to begin addressing years of deferred maintenance and capital projects that languished due to analysis paralysis. I led the effort in early 2025 to hire IVGID’s new GM, who has rebuilt the finance department. We now have the right personnel in place for IVGID to comply with all applicable fiscal and accounting protocols, resulting in a clean (no exceptions or disclaimers) [Fiscal Year] 2025 audit. IVGID will be removed from the state’s fiscal watch list once the anticipated clean audit for FY 2026 is filed in November, which will enable IVGID to access additional financing tools for future projects.
Swenson: IVGID is collecting money for projects without the ability to complete in the budgeted year for many years; it’s resulted in excessive cash reserves. The excessive cash build-ups have also allowed your money to be used where it wasn’t intended or budgeted. The lower-fee years were during a time when the board linked the fees to the ability to deliver projects and services; they didn’t over-collect but collected for what was achievable. Last year’s capital improvement plan was for $30 million of projects and barely executed on $6 million. Now, with the tripling of fees, they’ve collected another $40 million out of your pockets. The board needs to budget and collect only for projects and services it can deliver, nothing more. Apply proper fiscal management!
Brooks: The current board and staff faced the problem honestly. They built a long-term capital plan, ranked the most critical projects, and stabilized the general fund. The effluent pipeline replacement finished a year early and under budget. That’s real progress.
Going forward, I would:
Instead of raising fees, pursue cost savings and revenue generating opportunities. For example, we have a $400,000 line item for the replacement of golf carts. Let’s solicit sponsors like Titleist or Nike to brand and sponsor the golf carts.
Index the fee to construction costs every year with a published formula.
Autumn Color Reflected in the Twilight
Caples Lake, Calif.
Fall is here, and for photographers, it’s the most exciting time of the year. Grab your gear and head to the mountains. Great images may seem easy, but capturing world-class ones is not as simple as it appears. I have five key elements that I look for in a single image:
1. Color: The sky and landscape should be bursting with color. Brilliant blue skies, glowing sunsets, and vibrant fall foliage make images pop.
2. Water: I prefer a one to three-second exposure to soften the water into a creamy flow of motion. Reflections double the foliage and sky color, creating beautiful, mirrored compositions.
3. Strong Compositions: Find a solid center point, such as an is
olated tree or a splash of color. Your eye should wander around without being led out of the frame. S-curves and diagonals make images more dynamic.
4. Old Things: Ghost towns, dilapidated buildings or barns, and remnants of bygone eras are not only enjoyable to discover, but they are often weathered, rusted, or in disrepair, captivating viewers.
5. Weather: Clouds, snow, and rain can all enhance an image. Cloudy days reduce the contrast of shadows. The first snowfall of the year is a must-see, and a gentle rain to wash away dust is always welcome.
I haven’t yet captured a photo that incorporates all five elements, but I’ll keep trying!
It being a midterms year, Moonshine Ink sought to create a political education column, speaking with academics on the state of politics in the country. In this edition of the Politics Brief, Moonshine spoke with Teaching Assistant Professor Owen Fite, Ph.D., from the University of Nevada, Reno’s political science department. Answers were lightly edited for style and clarity.
You teach a class on political philosophy, so I’m wondering if you can define democracy and tell me about how it has evolved since its creation? Why didn’t the founding fathers go with a direct Athenian democracy?
To give the general synopsis of what Athenian democracy was, it wasn’t monolithic, it wasn’t static. It changed over different years in which it existed. But the most radical take … that I think is worth juxtaposing from today is a democracy in which you had 6,000 citizens who showed up to the Pnyx — the assembly. It’s this hilltop in Athens. And the first 6,000 citizens that showed up there got to be essentially congress members for the day.
Those citizens would be voting yea or nay on the various proposals that were submitted by [a] council of 500. This was still restricted to Athenians, even if there were other city-states and areas that were under Athenian rule. This was still a very exclusive form of citizenship that also did not include women or children or slaves. But these people also were paid.
As a way to make this more accessible even to the poor, you could get paid essentially a day’s wage to show up and do your citizenry duties. And so you had a form of citizenship that allowed for such participation and allowed for real engagement, whether it’s because you were picked by lottery to be one of these more deliberative council members in this smaller body of 500, or you always having this right to show up early to this assembly with 5,999 other folks and vote yea or nay on these various proposals. I don’t think I need to explain to you how different that is from democracy today.
Aristotle gives you a theory as to three noble forms of government — what are pure, virtuous forms of government: benevolent kingship, aristocracy, and polity, or what also might be translated to a constitutional polity of sorts.
The perverted forms, or the forms of government that end up taking shape if the noble ones end up being corrupted, are: tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. Democracy is seen as mob rule, rule of incompetence, rule of those who are subject to material needs. In other words, people are selfishly going into these assemblies looking for what they can get. If they don’t have their needs met, they’re going to be even more desperate and selfish instead of deliberating and thinking of a collective communal good.
And it isn’t until we get to John Locke and what we would call the introduction of liberal democracy that we get kind of this 180, where we get essentially the English Civil Wars, and we get this re-understanding that government is based on consent, individual’s agreement to enter into a social contract and accept legitimate authority.
[The founding fathers] had a lot of liberal ideas to pull from, they draw from Lockean philosophy, and so they have the basis of a liberal democratic government, but one that is still supposed to be based on rationalism, that is still supposed to exclude women, those who are not educated enough, like children, those who are supposed to only be property owning. In other words, still this idea that those who can’t provide for themselves are going to corrupt a public body, seeking their own selfish good if they don’t have their own material sustenance met.
And what one could clearly argue as real skepticism of the everyday citizen, the fact that the Senate was not able to be elected until we get to the 1900s shows that the founding fathers didn’t want everyday people in charge of affairs. The fact that the electoral college existed meant another layer of insulation in which individual people could not express their concerns. By just keeping it in the House of Representatives, it allowed some sort of representation based off citizens, which is still a very exclusive circle.
Not everyone could be a citizen … that would be specifically capped by a Senate. It’d be capped to really make sure that all these warnings made by political philosophers over the last thousand years [about] a tyranny of the masses, a tyranny of the uneducated, would never really take shape.
ZOON POLITIKON: Politics isn’t simply Congress or voting, says Owen Fite, it’s the network of relationships and decisions that shape how we live together. File image
As politics becomes wrapped up in every facet of life, what would you say to somebody who says that they’re not political? How does this tie into Aristotle’s idea of the zoon politikon?
Zoon politikon translates to political animal.
And this is an assumption made by Aristotle that people are political creatures. In other words, politics is not something we should avoid. Politics is the very essence of being human.
The fact that humans have ideas of what is good and bad, what’s better and worse, what is righteous, what is sincere, what is emotion, these are all very human things. And all of this has to do with politics. In order to understand this you have to have a more capacious definition instead of an institutional definition of politics just being Congress or voting.
But politics at its origins is the practice of compromise, of agreeing. Well, that’s what it’s like to be a person. The only way one could avoid politics would be living out on an island by themselves with no interaction with anyone else.
But even that is still the consequence of politics. For example, [if] some different treaties or different governments agreed not to populate this one island,[then] even if someone avoids all politics, the very absence of politics … requires politics elsewhere. And so that’s a different answer, though, to how someone who tells me they’re not political, how I’d respond to them.
I would do a long Socratic kind of back and forth if I had all the time in the world and I was invested in really getting this through. I would ask, ‘What does it mean to not be political?’ I’d throw it on its head. And if someone said, ‘Oh, it’s just I like my job and I like watching my TV.’ I’d ask, ‘Well, how do you have your job? What are the economic forces at play? What are the facts of insurance, the subsidies, the workplace protections, the fact that you have a home, the zoning, the roads that get you from here to there, the fact that you have TV, that you have internet connection here and there, that everything that leads to you being a part of another’s world, that’s political.’
It is interesting because I feel like some of the people I’ve talked to think it’s pointless. They think that they don’t have influence, or maybe they think that there’s no point in voting in the presidential election because they think that the only potential power that they have is within local elections.
What I would call a meaningful distinction of what you brought up is the difference between having agency and influence versus control and masterdom. Yeah, people in the U.S. right now do not have control over their politics.
They do not have a masterdom over politics unless they are one of those few exceptions of a political party elite or Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos-type billionaires. That doesn’t mean someone doesn’t have influence. If I were to have a conversation with individuals, I would probably take it as local, scaled down as possible to think of what influence have you had on friends, on family, on the community, and I would interrogate them or challenge them to say, how is that apolitical? You convincing a friend to watch a certain show over another, going to this event versus another, joining this club, spending their time doing this and that.
Whether they’re subtle or not, they have interconnections with ideas of what is better, what is worse, what are ways that we want to associate, we want to cohabitate, we want to live together, what institutions we want to make, whether they’re formal or informal.
What I problematize about the definition that you cited is that it’s really restricted by an institutionalist type of thinking that, yes, if you only work with institutions and you expect institutions to completely reflect what you want, it’s going to feel like you have no agency, but that’s only one avenue of politics.
The most radical changes over history, the biggest political change happens outside of formal institutions. It creates new institutions over time. You as an individual are not going to do that. You don’t have that control or masterdom, but that’s where you don’t get these big critical junctures until it actually takes up across a large group, a large mass of people.
We go back to the heart of it, which is politics only exists with others. You as an individual are not going to change everything in politics by yourself. It’s all part of a collective action problem, a collective effort.
Three seats of the five seats on the Truckee Fire Protection District board are up for the midterms, but none of them are seeking reelection, which means come Jan. 1, 2027, there’ll be three new faces overseeing the fire district’s budget, policies, and overall services for the community. This is especially notable considering the district’s current legal battle against Placer County over property tax allotment, such impending capital projects as a new headquarters fire station, and the recent union formation.
Candidates were limited to 125-word responses per question, and they have been edited for style and clarity. Order of replies determined by a randomizer.
1. Truckee Fire says a decades-old property-tax allocation problem in Placer County has cost it roughly $40 million since the 1970s. What is your understanding of the district’s claim, and what role should the board play in pursuing a resolution that supports reliable fire and emergency medical services while considering the impact on other taxing agencies? (Read more on this situation at moonshineink.com: Truckee Fire Sues Placer County Over Decades of Unpaid Property Tax.)
McThorn: Unfortunately, there is a confidentiality clause with the legal case, and I do not have all the factual information. Once on the board, I can better understand the issue. From what I know, this should have been addressed many years ago by prior chiefs and boards.
I am not for taking from other special districts within Truckee. This appears to be the threat from Placer County and am not sure that is legal. If the case is won, it should come from the Placer County general fund and not our special districts. Moving forward, the funds should be allocated appropriately to Truckee Fire. If elected, I will share all factual information that is legally allowed so we can move forward responsibly.
Rintala: The district has not been receiving funding from the fire service taxes paid by residents in a portion of Placer County. The district has spent many years trying to resolve this with Placer County. The fire taxes other district residents pay should not have to make up for the funding removed from our region. As a community member, I am not convinced that our local agencies are overfunded by the taxes collected for the TFPD, as the county suggests. The board should seek out and review available information and pursue the case with the entire community we serve in mind. The district should also be ready and willing to engage with other agencies to understand potential impacts.
Witherspoon: Truckee Fire deserves fair, durable funding without destabilizing schools, healthcare, sanitation, or neighboring districts. I reviewed the Zone 7 tax-area records, and the allocation snafu locked into place after Proposition 13 is there for anyone to see. The sanity check is whether Placer County or Northstar [Community Services District] would provide fire protection with those allocations. Quite simply, they wouldn’t. Correcting this historical imbalance will have a financial impact on the county and/or our local special districts. The board should protect the district’s legal position while making settlement the priority. I would require transparent reporting on legal costs, verify the service-cost analysis, and bring Placer County and affected agencies into structured negotiations.
Brown: The lawsuit is active against Placer County by Truckee Fire. This case should be guided by fairness, fiscal responsibility, and what is legitimately owed to our fire district. We have been pursuing a fair resolution with Placer County for decades; with better communication this could have prevented the lawsuit. While retroactive funding may not be recoverable, we should establish a fair path forward. Our emergency services remain unchanged for these areas while local taxpayers bear the costs. I believe there are sufficient resources to reach an equitable solution without negatively impacting other agencies. The court should make a ruling and Truckee Fire will acceptingly move forward. If settlement is needed, I would support collaboration, transparency, and a fair outcome for all involved.
Golden: I completely agree that we cannot take resources away from our schools or healthcare district. A zero-sum fight between local emergency services and education is not the answer.
At the same time, we have to be honest about the problem. Billions of dollars of development have occurred in the Martis Valley, creating more people, more homes and more fire risk, while Truckee Fire remains understaffed. I believe Placer County needs to be part of the solution. We should work toward a long-term agreement that better recognizes the cost of protecting these communities.
My goal would be simple: make sure the tax revenue generated here is helping provide the services needed here, while working with our neighboring agencies rather than taking resources away from them.
2. Significant capital projects are on the horizon for Truckee Fire, including Station 90, a new headquarters fire station, and a regional training facility for Truckee and its partner agencies. What are three specific ways the board of directors might hold the line on fiscal discipline during the planning and implementation of these and other projects?
Golden: Fiscal discipline doesn’t mean saying no to every major project. It means making sure we’re building what our community actually needs and getting the most value for every taxpayer dollar.
I’m particularly supportive of seeing the regional training facility through because I believe it can make Truckee and our neighboring agencies better prepared while sharing cost and resources. I would work directly with partner agencies to make that happen.
Training matters. Firefighters cannot be expected to perform at their best during a structure fire if they can’t regularly practice those skills. Technology, equipment, and fire behavior continue to change, and we have to keep our firefighters current. I would expect strong budgets, accountability, and regular oversight while investing in training that keeps our community safe.
McThorn: The new station 90 is still in the early phase and changes can be made. From what I know, there is not a definitive funding plan. There should be a collaborative effort moving forward with all stakeholders, Transient Occupancy Tax, and community input. Fiscal responsibility is always a priority with public funds. It is a good plan with an attached fire station from what I have seen.
The need for a regional training facility should be a priority. Our goal should be to keep our firefighters within or close to our district when training. Training is a top priority, and Truckee is one of the most uniquely challenged areas in the country. Our firefighters need to be ready at all times.
Rintala: With three new board members, the prospective capital projects should be reviewed starting with a thorough needs and benefits analysis as we look to modernize and grow with our community. The district is healthy and should explore accessible funding options while prioritizing the most important capabilities we can afford to pursue. These are high-impact projects that can improve capability and service quality if well planned. A fire station is a large investment. Community-supported funding must be considered in the context of overall community needs, aging infrastructure, and resource availability. The board needs to honor and protect the existing partnership with voters that brought us wildfire risk reduction through Measure T funding and plan to build forward in concert with other community providers.
Witherspoon: Representing taxpayer interests starts well before construction. Station 90’s 18,000-square-foot concept carries a preliminary estimate of about $24 million. At that scale, the district must validate and prioritize needs, compare smaller and phased alternatives, identify external funding, and show that construction will not weaken reserves or service levels. Any capital plan must address upgrades to aging stations and prioritize the highest needs. For greenlit projects, I would require updated cost estimates and public board approval at design milestones, bid awards, and significant change orders. For a regional training facility, each partner’s capital contribution, operating share, governance rights, maintenance obligation, and exit terms should be documented before Truckee commits. We should fund what crews need, what population growth demands, and what the tax base can sustain.
Brown: I believe a new fire station can be an important investment in our community’s safety, but we need strong safeguards before committing significant taxpayer dollars. I would support a thorough feasibility study, independent cost estimates, realistic construction timelines, and a clearly defined project scope. The board should establish a firm budget with appropriate contingency reserves, require competitive bidding, and have any significant scope or cost changes return to the board for approval.
We should also evaluate long-term operating and maintenance costs, secure outside funding where possible, and regularly review the project against established milestones. Most importantly, the community deserves transparent reporting throughout the process. Good planning means anticipating challenges before they become expensive problems and ensuring we build what Truckee needs while protecting taxpayers.
3. Earlier this year, Truckee firefighters joined the Sierra Nevada Firefighters Local 3800 union. What changes, if any, have you observed in the district’s internal communication, collaboration, or service delivery since then? As a board member, how would you support a constructive working relationship among executive staff, the board, and union members?
Brown: I respect the employees’ choice to go union and encourage good collaboration. The transition and relationship are new and priorities should be open communication to build trust, accountability, and a strong working relationship. We can work together to build a problem-solving partnership and I’m positive the union relations will continue to develop. Since the unionization, the board has approved a change in service for the better with regard to daily minimum staffing levels. The staffing levels are now increased by two personnel, making a mandatory of 10 personnel. This is an important improvement from the previous minimum staffing of eight. There is always room for revision and conversation to increase these levels in the future based on district needs and fiscal availability.
Golden: I believe the most important thing is that everyone remembers we’re on the same team. Our firefighters, executive staff, and board may have different perspectives, but we all have the same responsibility: providing the best possible fire and emergency medical service to our community.
Since firefighters joined Local 3800, I believe the board should embrace that relationship, not treat it as an obstacle. I would make a point of listening to our firefighters and understand what they’re seeing on the ground, while also respecting the responsibilities of the chief and board.
Good organizations communicate openly, address problems directly, and hold each other accountable. I would work to build that relationship: one that’s based on respect, transparency, and a shared commitment to the people we serve.
McThorn: Since unionizing, the internal communication seems to be strained. With my experience in labor and management communications and negotiations, I will bring stability, open lines of communication, and straightforward discussions. I have learned over my career that such communication will always prevail. It will unify and gain trust among labor and management and build a stronger fire district. The firefighters and prevention officers are front line and have the best insight for positive change. As a board member, I would like to see monthly labor and management meetings with set achievable goals, and a monthly report to the board. To be a truly effective union it takes the labor group to be proactive and communicate factually. We must work together to better serve our community.
Rintala: The union relationship is new and all parties still have to learn how to work with each other under a new system. Attending board meetings over the last year and listening to firefighters, I’ve observed difficulty from all sides while individuals remain mission-driven and strive to deliver outstanding service to our evolving rural community. TFPD’s extraordinary firefighters, staff, and leaders work with many response partners for rapid, scalable, and reliable emergency response. The national advocacy from the union promises to bring guidance to our team that helps keep our firefighters, residents, and visitors ever safer in emergencies. The board should actively guide respectful engagement from the boardroom to the front line putting our community and our Truckee Fire team ahead of turf battles.
Witherspoon: I am not inside the organization and will not claim firsthand knowledge of private workplace dynamics. Public statements surrounding the unionization suggest employees wanted a more consistent voice in district decisions. I have seen no evidence that unionization has diminished service, and I support employees finding a constructive way to be heard. I welcome the perspective a regional union can bring from peer fire districts. As a board member, I would support scheduled labor-management meetings, anonymous employee climate surveys and more transparency with staff, e.g., livestreaming board meetings so employees can follow them remotely. The board should respect collective bargaining and the chief’s chain of command while ensuring employees can raise concerns safely. Constructive labor relations are necessary to sustain excellent public service.
Inventory levels are down from 2025 in nearly all Tahoe submarkets. In September 2025, there were 327 homes listed for sale in the Tahoe Sierra MLS compared to 272 in 2026. The homes that sell are moving faster than last year, with average days on market dropping across every market except for the NV Tahoe Basin, where days on market jumped from 70 to 146 along with a 37% rise in median sold price year over year. This suggests a smaller pool of higher priced sales rather than a cooler market. Month-to-month, most submarkets saw sales volume increase into September where prices decreased slightly, consistent with the overall trend of sellers adjusting pricing to move inventory as we move into the shoulder season.
Enter a stand of aspens and all of the senses awaken. Leaves flutter in the slightest breeze, brilliant shades of green fill the canopy in summer, and glowing yellows and oranges emerge in autumn. The forest understory carries the earthy scent of saturated, nutrient-rich soils, while temperatures drop within these pockets of moisture and life. Surrounded by Tahoe’s conifer forests, an aspen stand can feel like an entirely different world, and in the fall, these forests become especially striking, showcasing a vibrant display of seasonal transformation.
Aspens carry a lot of significance for Tahoe, both metaphorically and ecologically. As one of very few deciduous trees native to the region, their dramatic color shift each fall is a reminder of summer’s closure, capturing memories made in the warm months. The transition through autumn prepares us for the cold temperatures and snowfall ahead. Ecologically, aspen habitats are refuges of utmost importance scattered throughout our dominant evergreen forests, creating biodiversity hotspots that support an abundance and diversity of plants, animals, and other organisms.
Meet the Aspen
Quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides) are the most widespread native tree in North America. Their name comes from the way their leaves shimmer and quake in the wind. An aspen’s round, heart-shaped leaf attaches to its flattened leaf stem, called a petiole. This structure helps sunlight penetrate deeper and more evenly into the tree canopy, prevents heat stress, makes it harder for fungal spores to settle, helps shake off insect pests, and even reduces the risk of damage to the tree on windy days.
BACK SCRATCHER: Black bear claw marks scar the trunk of a quaking aspen along the Legacy Trail in Truckee. Photo by Sarah Hockensmith
Some aspen stands consist of genetically identical trees, or clones, connected by a shared root system. Although we don’t have the enormous clones found in Utah or Colorado, pockets of these trees in the Tahoe Basin can also be a combination of individual trees that make up one large organism, spreading through the landscape through new shoots, or suckers. Each new shoot grows from the parent root system and shares identical DNA, creating a genetic clone. Aspens can spread sexually by seed, but most aspen in the western United States reproduce primarily through these connected root systems and clonal suckering. In fall, aspens with the same DNA typically change color synchronously, exposing genetic relationships within a stand to sharp-eyed observers.
From afar, aspens may look as if they have white bark, but a closer look reveals that the outer layer has a greenish tint. That is because the bark contains chlorophyll, green pigments that allow the tree to perform bark photosynthesis, even when leaves are absent in the cold months (so long as temperatures allow water to remain liquid). Unlike most local trees that grow thick, woody outer bark, aspen bark is soft and sensitive, and even a small scratch can create scarring. When visiting aspen stands, look for evidence of bear scratches on the trees and try to ignore the human-caused scars. Aspen trunks tell stories of history and wildlife, holding clues about the animals that live among them, from Tahoe’s largest mammals to smaller creatures like birds, insects, and caterpillars.
Aspen’s Unique Ecological Roles
I spent a summer studying nesting songbirds in quaking aspen stands, and that experience gave me a deeper appreciation for just how much life this habitat can support. Although the Tahoe region is home to a variety of plants and wildlife, large aspen groves are important for the variety of microhabitats they create. Unlike dense evergreen forests, aspens have a canopy that allows more sunlight to reach the forest floor. Their leaves decompose relatively quickly and produce less acidic litter than evergreen needles, helping create nutrient-rich soils that hold moisture better and support a lush understory of grasses, forbs, and wildflowers. Together, these conditions create a mosaic of food, shelter, and nesting opportunities for an impressive range of species.
Aspen communities can be alive with activity. Look closely and you may find mountain beaver burrows beneath the forest floor, incisor marks from American beavers along the trunks, or a sapsucker drilling neat rows of rectangular holes into the bark. During the spring and summer, the leafy canopy provides cover for nesting songbirds such as warbling vireos, dusky flycatchers, and thrushes. The abundance of flowering plants that thrive on the forest floor among the aspens attracts insects, which are an important food source for birds and other wildlife throughout the summer season. Even the bark itself has sugars that provide carbohydrates and quick energy for feasting mammals such as deer, porcupines, and hares.
QUACKING ASPENS reach their full fall glory at Page Meadows, a popular viewing place, where entire stands transform into shades of yellow and orange. Photos by Jennifer Coon
Aspen are highly susceptible to heart-rot, a fungal disease that decays the inner heartwood at the center of a tree, and woodpeckers move right in. Many species excavate a new home each year as the heart-rot climbs higher, and over time large aspens become natural apartment complexes for wildlife that depend on cavities. Old woodpecker holes in aspen are reused by our smallest owl and duck species, swallows, bats, flying squirrels, and many other cavity-nesting birds. In this way, an aspen stand continues to provide habitat throughout the life and death of its individual trees, making these forests some of the most dynamic wildlife places in the Tahoe region.
From Green to Gold: Why Some Trees Change Color
So, what makes aspens turn from green to gold? Chlorophyll is the green pigment that allows most plants to photosynthesize, and when a leaf is packed full of chlorophyll, it appears green. While conifer trees retain their needles through winter, deciduous trees, like aspens, shed their leaves. As days become shorter and temperatures drop, aspens begin preparing to drop their leaves. The tree forms a barrier, called an abscission layer, between the leaf and the rest of the tree, gradually cutting off the flow of water and nutrients. As chlorophyll degrades and new chlorophyll is no longer produced, the green color disappears, revealing other pigments and their colors that have been present in the leaf all along.
The yellows and oranges of autumn come primarily from pigments called carotenoids. These are present in aspen leaves throughout the life of each leaf, but are masked by the sheer volume of chlorophyll during spring and summer. Once the green fades, these hidden colors emerge, creating the gold and yellow hues that make aspen stands so striking.
Bright reds are less common in Tahoe’s aspens. When they do appear, they come from a different pigment called anthocyanin. These red pigments can form when sugars become trapped in the leaf as the tree seals it off from the rest of the plant. Under the right conditions, those sugars trigger chemical processes that produce red and sometimes purple pigments. In many places, the strongest reds develop when sunny days are paired with cool temperatures and at least a little bit of moisture to keep the tree trying to cling to the growing season. Those conditions may be less consistent in Tahoe’s high-elevation climate, which could help explain why our aspens are more often golden than red.
Eventually, the leaves fall to the ground, allowing the aspen to enter a dormant state and conserve energy through the coldest months.
Where to Find Fall Color
For those hoping to experience the brilliant fall colors of aspen, there are plenty of places around the Tahoe Basin and surrounding Sierra to explore. The best place to look for them? Tributaries and water’s edge. On the South Shore, Taylor Creek is a great place to see aspen changing color, with easy, flat trails and beautiful views along the creek. For a more adventurous challenge, some of the largest aspens at Tahoe can be found along the Upper Truckee River in between Christmas Valley and Meiss Country. On the West Shore, Blackwood Canyon and Page Meadows offer excellent opportunities to wander through aspen groves and catch the seasonal transition. On the North Shore, head to Spooner Lake, North Canyon, or Marlette Lake, where some of our largest aspen stands provide a spectacular contrast against the surrounding evergreens and mountain landscape. North of Truckee, most of the Little Truckee watershed has stringers of aspen lining the watercourses, although most of the trees aren’t very large. South of the Basin, Hope Valley, Monitor Pass, and the Eastern Sierra extending further south offer countless additional opportunities to see aspen turning shades of yellow, gold, and orange. Wherever you go, fall is a wonderful time to slow down, explore a familiar trail from a new perspective, and enjoy one of the Tahoe region’s most beautiful seasonal changes.
~ A naturalist and adventure seeker, Sarah Hockensmith finds inspiration in wild places. Whether hiking a rugged trail or wandering through a meadow, she slows down to observe the flora and fauna around her. She enjoys researching and sharing the stories of nature’s often overlooked treasures.
