Tahoe Talk - 3/23/21

From around the globe to out your backdoor, here are the topics to keep you relevant and up-to-date! 

National News:
- Vail Resorts is not planning on using a reservation system for guests next season. CEO Rob Katz states that the system was only created in light of COVID-19, and he plans on it not being needed for next season. Also announced was a Kit Lender partnership providing head to toe rental ski/snowboard gear.
- Disney says its two California theme parks will reopen on April 30 - at 15% capacity. One catch - no screaming allowed on any rides or roller coasters
- Outside Lands is officially scheduled to happen this year, on Halloween weekend, Oct. 29-31 in Golden Gate Park, SF! Headliners include: Lizzo, Glass Animals, The Strokes, The Strokes, Vampire Weekend, Tame Impala and more! 
- Amazon becomes the #1 clothing retailer in the US, unseating Walmart. We're talking $41B+ worth of apparel sold in 2020. This represents a highly impressive 11%-12% share of all apparel sold in the U.S. and 34%-35% share of all apparel sold online. To put this in perspective, Amazon sold almost 7x as much apparel/footwear as the second largest player online (Macy’s)
- Anyone who shows a vaccine card at a participating Krispy Kreme gets a free glazed donut. The "best" part? The offer is valid until the end of 2021, so a vaccinated person could theoretically obtain a free glazed donut every day for the next 284 days. Brands have struggled to strike the right tone throughout the pandemic. But supporting the vaccine rollout so everyone can return to normal life is like saying you love fluffy puppies—not particularly controversial!
- Partly as a result of hiring Blue Shield to run vaccine distribution, California’s COVID-19 response will cost $2 billion more than projected, with the state estimated to spend more than $15 billion through 2022, according to figures released last week by Newsom’s Department of Finance…. California appears to be the only state to have hired a health insurer to run its vaccine distribution — and it seems Blue Shield may have been chosen largely because of its lengthy relationship with Newsom. Over the past 16 years, Blue Shield has given nearly $23 million to the governor’s campaigns and special causes

Local News:
- Had some crazy activity the past week for the SLTPD – Sunday morning a stabbing suspect was arrested but this was after he smashed a police car window with a claw hammer. The stabbing victim said he was hanging at the redbox when someone jumped on their back and stabbed them with a metal drywall saw – this was on the heels of an incident that happened Friday morning where on Orangevale man shot at SLTPD officers with an assault rifle. The man was spotted trying to break into a room at the Three Peaks Resort – the suspect was shot, but does not believed to be life threatening

- Everyone’s dream scenario happened this past week at Harrah’s – a person from Orangevale sat down at the three card poker table and on their first hand drew a straight flush and won a progressive jackpot worth $251,175

- The TRPA released the final draft of the transportation plan and based on the projects that need to be done vs. the amount of budget there is to do them, the gap is a whopping $1B – keep in mind this is over the next 25 years and there are some pretty aggressive goals. The TRPA will be holding public meetings so people will get the opportunity to learn more but it will go to vote on April 28 & will include an additional member of the Forest Service so that the TRP can push federal funding into Tahoe Basin transportation projects.
- In a feel-good story from last week, a Washington state couple that had come to Tahoe to tie the knot, were doing so out on the pier at Sugar Pine Beach and when it came time to pull out the ring, it fell through the cracks of the pier – but, not to fear, local scuba diver Phil Abernathy came to the rescue and was able to find the ring being guarded by a crawdad