Tahoe TAP

Tahoe Talk - 9/21/20

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

Local News:

- Forest Service opens back up
- Tahoe Film Fest carries on!
- Echo Summit closure remains
- Local sports protests
- BEST OF TAHOE   &  BEST OF NORTH LAKE / TRUCKEE

Quick Hits:
- CALFIRE Recap: 3.5m acres, 7,900 incidents, 26 fatalities, 7k structures destroyed
- RBG tributes owned the screens this weekend, Trump says he’ll name Supreme Court nominee Friday or Saturday - list is down to 5
- California will STOP new unemployment claims for two weeks as officials tackle 600,000 person backlog caused by flood of cases as the pandemic hit (8.4% as of 9/4/20)
- There are 12 propositions on California’s November ballot. But do you know how you’re going to vote on them? Fear not — CalMatters has a fun, interactive game to help you figure out where you stand on these controversial, complex issues. Check it out here at gimmeprops.calmatters.org
- The Big Ten Conference will play football this fall, after the organization’s chancellors and presidents approved a reversal Wednesday of their recent decision to postpone the season because of the coronavirus pandemic
- All Nevada bars to reopen next week as Clark, Elko counties granted permission to open. The decision comes more than two months after state officials shuttered bars in seven counties statewide

Deeper Dives:
- Newsom signs 3 bills into law last week: They include:
 • A bill requiring employers to notify employees of potential COVID-19 exposure at work and to notify county health departments of outbreaks.
 • A bill that presumes essential workers were infected with COVID-19 on the job, making it easier for them to obtain workers’ compensation benefits.
 • A bill guaranteeing more Californians can return to their jobs after taking paid family leave to care for a new baby or sick loved one.


- Fact Check: Instagram screenshot going viral that says RBG tweets “Have information that will lead to the arrest of Hilary Clinton”  Pants on fire FALSE

- Sun. 9/27 = Nat’l Chocolate Milk Day

Tahoe Talk - 9/14/20

Local News:

- Trump’s visit to Minden brings 5-10,000 spectators
- Sugarbowl stops pass sales to fend off too many visitors
- One Tahoe Plan still in the works and picking up regional news
- Woman to swim, bike, and run around Tahoe perimeter
- Best of Tahoe voting open 9/14-9/28

Global News:
- The World Health Organization reported the world's highest single-day increase since the pandemic began at more than 307,000 cases Sunday… total cases approach 30m and 1m deaths
- Trump signs executive order on Sunday called “My Most Favored Nation” that aims to ensure America gets the same low price Big Pharma gives to other countries (also announces he’ll aim to negotiate a 3rd term)
- CAL FIRE Update: 3.1m acres, 7,718 incidents, 20 fatalities, 4,700 structures
- New “Safe Spacer” gadget beeps when people get closer than 6 feet to you… aimed at businesses looking to get workers back inside and on the job… sells for $99
- Software giant Oracle won the bid for TikTok’s U.S. operations
- Hurricane Paulette is rolling toward Bermuda brings heavy rainfall along the east coast Sunday night, meanwhile, Tropical Storm Sally is threatening to grow into a hurricane as it moves toward the Gulf Coast hitting New Orleans Tuesday morning

- T-Mobile has a plan to offer free internet to 10m low-income households… 
Last year, T-Mobile announced this plan to close “the homework gap,” pitching it as one of the reasons that the company should be allowed to merge with Sprint. The company has now revealed that it has allocated $10.7 billion for that “Project 10Million” program over the next decade, with the goal of making it available to K-12 students who participate in the national school lunch program for low-income families

Face Check:
- Viral FB photo: “some of the firefighters in California fighting fires 24/7 to save people's lives and property”   FALSE - resting firefighters pic happened in Tennessee in 2016, not California in 2020

Take your pick: 
Wed = Nat’l Guacamole Day
Fri = Nat’l Cheeseburger Day

Tahoe Talk - 9/9/20

Quick Hits:
- 2.2m acres burned, 7,563 total incidents, 8 fatalities, 4k structures destroyed
- CA gets approval for 2 more weeks of the $300 supplemental payment to unemployment bringing the total to $1,500 additional funding to those that qualify
- Los Angeles Co. bans trick or treating this Halloween due to C19
- Carol Baskin part of the Dancing with the Stars lineup
- Walmart Plus: Walmart's new membership program to launch Sept. 15 with same-day delivery, fuel discount
- The New York City subway is having a very bad year. Ridership has dropped by over 90% since the pandemic’s onset. The agency that runs the service expects to lose more than $14 billion through 2021
- Amazon Prime Air: Amazon's drone delivery service receives Federal Aviation approval paving the way for it to start offering commercial deliveries on a trial basis
- Whole Foods is trying out a "dark store" as part of its vision for the future of grocery shopping… Online only purchases and then pickup (Brooklyn, NY)

 

Deeper Dives:

- A coalition of 160 human rights and advocacy groups have sent a joint letter to the International Olympic Committee, calling on the body to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing due to China's record on human rights
- Federal wildlife officials aim to remove endangered species protections for gray wolves across the USA  this year. An official at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they have “biologically recovered,” …. its removal from the list would demonstrate the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act
- The unemployment rate dropped to 8.4 percent in August, the Labor Department reported on Friday, marking the fourth month of declines even as the pace of job growth is slowing. The August rate is down from its April peak of 14.7 percent, but still remains far above the 3.5 percent recorded in February, before coronavirus shutdowns took hold.

Fact Check: “Kamala Harris can’t be VP, she’s a felon” - FALSE

Sunday, 9/13 = National Grandparents Day

Tahoe Talk - 8/31/20

Final day of August, 63 days until the election, and.... just 10 days until the first NFL game!

Quick Hits:
- “Finger Lickin' Good"? Not so much in a pandemic -- KFC has suspended its use of the catchphrase in advertising campaigns.
- I could use a drink: "Booze Fairies" are leaving baskets of alcohol on doorsteps all over New Jersey.
- A 3,000-pound triceratops skull dubbed "Shady" was unearthed in South Dakota.
- Airbnb employees will be working from home until August 2021 -- longer than any other tech company so far.
- 2020 hurricane season on a record pace so far with 13 named storms already
- C19 global case total surpasses 25m - USA at 6.1m (more on those numbers in the fact check)

Local News:
- Indoor dining in South Lake Tahoe permitted to 25% capacity
- Friday: Governor Newsom released revised criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on activities.  The new blueprint replaces the current watch list approach and can be found at. There are 4 tiers, from purple to yellow, with purple being the most restrictive.
  El Dorado: Substantial
  Placer: Widespread
  Nevada Co: Substantia
- Wildfire survivors can now apply for federal assitance
- Glider aircraft crashes into Lake Tahoe
- Bonanza Ranch real estate sells for $38m and pivots to 'Luxury Vacation Rental' for 10-15k per night

Deeper Dives:
- Nearly 25% of licensed child-care providers in California have shut down amid the pandemic — and more than 1,200 of the 9,300 closures are permanent, eradicating roughly 19,000 child-care slots in a state already starved for adequate spots, the Los Angeles Times report. In SLT alone we’ve lost 3 so far
- California will begin issuing $300 a week in supplemental unemployment benefits on September 7 now that the state's application for $4.5 billion in aid from FEMA has been approved (includes back pay to Aug. 1)
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Fact Check:
- False: “CDC has adjusted numbers to show that only 6% of 187k C19 deaths are related to the virus”

International Day:
Sat. Sept. 5th = International Bacon Day!

Tahoe Talk - 8/24/20

Local News:
- Details of red flag warning for the Tahoe Basin
- High speed chase ending on Kingsbury Grade
- Northstar California (Vail) lawsuit settled
- Local woman swims lake’s distance
- Washoe Co. to hear from Incline Village about STRs this week

Quick Hits:
- 2nd & 3rd largest wildfires in CA state history burning approx. 1M acres total so far
- North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has fallen into a coma, a former South Korean official is claiming on the heels of reports that the northern leader has ceded over some of his power to his younger sister.
- Greenland lost a record amount of ice during 2019; the melt is massive enough to cover California in more than 4 feet of water, a new study said.
- Get excited, Mariah Carey fans – new music is on the way.
- Mei Xiang, a 22-year-old giant panda at the Smithsonian zoo in Washington, D.C., is the oldest panda to give birth in the United States, officials said.

Deeper Dives:
- After falling two weeks in a row, the number of laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits rose to 1.1 million last week; American employers are still cutting record numbers of jobs. According to the jobs site Indeed.com, listings are down by about 20% compared to this time last year. Data released today says the IRS expects there to be almost 40 million fewer employee-classified jobs in 2021 — a condition that might persist to at least 2027 — based on W-2 forms.
- A coronavirus loophole:  Capital Christian High School opens, saying it’s day care. Capital Christian in Sacramento County is offering on-campus study areas for students grades 6-12 to learn online in spatially distant “pod” groups as a way to slow the spread of coronavirus
- Political contributions toward the presidential race so far are closing in on $3 billion. The Republican National Committee reports that it raised $55 million in the month of July. That is a new record, which kind of seems to be the case almost every time we talk about campaign fundraising during this election cycle

Fact Check:
-  Michelle Obama: “In one of the states that determined the outcome” of the 2016 presidential race, “the winning margin averaged out to just two votes per precinct, two votes.” -TRUE!

National Day:
-  Wed. 8/26 National Dog Day

Tahoe Talk - 8/17/20

Quick Hits:
- Death Valley records highest temperature reading in over a century on Sunday… 130 degrees!
- Burning Man goes digital this year
- NBA playoffs start today
- New Zealand delays general elections due to another C19 outbreak
- California: “Take a Friend Fishing Month” and Sat. Sept. 5th is Free Fishing Day
- Stephenie Meyer says more books are coming in the "Twilight" saga
- AMC will throwback pricing for a day at more than 100 cinemas on Aug. 20 — about a sixth of its locations nationwide… 15 cents per movie!
- Amazon will spend $10B on a constellation of internet-beaming satellites — it just got the federal 'OK' to launch.
- Airbnb's quarterly sales plunged 67% but showed signs of recovery — bookings were down just 30% in June compared to 70% in May.

Local Links:
- Loyalton fire update
- Echo bridge construction road closure coming up
- Invasive species turned into dog treats?
- Road Rage leads to stabbing in SLT
- City Council candidate summary for Truckee and SLT
- Heat wave throughout the region

Deeper Dives:
- The U.S. on Wednesday last week reported the most COVID-19-related deaths in one day since May, but the nation's most populous state, California, showed signs of improvement Thursday
- Three consecutive months of increased spending at retailers and restaurants. Purchases notched up by 1.2% in the past month, having increased in June (by 7.5%) and in May (by nearly 18%). How?? We’re asking the same question. People have cut back on their visits to restaurants and bars. They’re spending less on clothing. But, yes, they’re still shopping. Sales at home and garden stores are up by almost 15% compared to last year, while sales at stores that sell musical instruments, books and sporting goods are up almost 18%. Online shopping, overall, is up a whopping 25%.
- According to a study from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, Rising seas are likely to swallow as much as $10 billion of California property in the next 30 years and could erase up to two-thirds of Southern California’s shoreline by 2100
- Chinese company Xiaomi recently revealed a transparent TV! 55” for $7,200 which, when turned off, looks like a piece of glass. Check out photos online… (only available in China right now)

Fact Check:
- “Kamala Harris refused to be sworn in with the Bible” - False

Natl Day:
- Wed. 8/19 = National Bacon Lovers Day

Tahoe Talk - 8/10/20

Quick Hits:
- Trump signs four executive orders over the weekend
- A magnitude 5.1 earthquake along North Carolina's border with Virginia on Sunday - strongest to rock the region since a magnitude 5.2 quake in 1916
- 12,000+ crew members are still on cruise ships in US waters months after shutdowns
 - Mulan premieres on Disney+  Sept. 4th for $30 (in addition to $6.99 monthly subscription)
- Global spending on cloud services hit a record $35B in the 2nd quarter, surging 30% as companies shifted biz apps online for WFH.
- Samsung unveils its 5G Galaxy Note 20 phone at a lowered price tag of $1K
- Perseids meteor shower is set to peek this week 

Deeper Dives:
- The U.S. surpassed 5m confirmed coronavirus cases Sunday — one-quarter of all cases reported worldwide . The staggering milestone comes just 17 days after reaching 4 million cases and as the U.S. reports more than 165k deaths. Brazil is now the second country with 3m cases and also the second country to report 100k deaths. All this as the world nears passes 20m cases, a number experts widely believe is underreported due to insufficient OR inaccurate testing.
- San Quentin State Prison is now home to the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreak after its case levels last week passed those at an Ohio prison (2,470 cases and 22 deaths as of last week since the May transfer of inmates from a Chino facility hard-hit by the virus)
- California corporate boards would no longer be allowed to have only white members if a bill currently under consideration in the Legislature passes. The bill, would require publicly held companies to have at least one person of color on their corporate boards by 2021 or face a $100,000 fine… this follows on the heels of a controversial 2018 law that mandated women in corporate boardrooms

Local News: 
- Minden protests conclude with no vandalism or injuries
- Campfires banned on all state and U.S. lands in Nevada
- City Council SLT and other filing deadlines 
- NLT town hall for small business on Thursday
- Bats test positive for rabbles in Douglas Co.

Fact Check: 
Trump: “Children are virtually immune from this disease.” False. 97,000 children test positive in the last two weeks of July

Final Note:
National Relaxation Day: Sat. Aug. 15th

Tahoe Talk - 8/3/20

Quick Hits:
- Third Hurricane in 2 weeks to threaten the US - Isaas hit Bahamas over the weekend and making landfall today
- Astronauts Bob and Doug safely splash down after two months aboard ISS
- Mystery seeds from China identified as cabbage, hibiscus, lavender, and mint
- Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. bout slated for Sept 12th
- Apple Fire in LA started by arsonist spreads to 20k acres, 5% contained (10 active wildfires in CA)
- London has a fix for its public transit woes: Use open-air tour buses
- Apple announces release of iPhone 12 will be Oct. 2nd

In Other News:
- You no longer have to wait 90 days after a film’s theatrical release to catch it on a streaming service. A new agreement between AMC and Universal shortened the window to 17 days
- World’s largest tech trade show, CES, will be all-digital in January 2021 - Will return to Vegas 2022!
- The mystery origin of the largest stones used to build Stonehenge has been solved once and for all
- Attention mustard lovers! Available beginning August 1st, mustard brand French's is releasing a beer concocted in collaboration with craft beer brewery Oskar Blues

 

Local News:
- 13-year old becomes youngest to complete Lake Tahoe’s ‘Godfather’ swim
- Tahoe East Shore Trail to temporarily close next week
- NDOT finishing project near Spooner Summit, travel delays expected on US 50
- Best of Tahoe & Truckee nominations are now open!

 

Celebrate:
- Fri. Aug. 7 = International Beer Day!

 

Fact Check:
- Viral social posts claims C19 has infected far fewer people than 2009 H1N1 Swine flu… Not True!

Tahoe Talk - 7/27/20

C19 Totals: 
16.4m cases, 653k deaths (US = 4.3m, 150k)

Quick Hits:
- CARES 2 Act decision expected in congress today for $1t stimulus package
- Fox Sports virtual fans create love and hate among baseball 
- Chick-fil-A offers free food voucher for coins amid shortage
- Hawaii braces for rare Hurricane Douglas, Hurricane Hanna devolved into a tropical depression
- Kim Jong Un finally admits COVID is in N. Korea
- Trump’s national security adviser test positive for COVID, the most senior White House official to be tested positive
- Vaccine testing starting this week for 30k volunteers… Moderna and Pfizer leading the pack

Global News:
-  US and Europe launching rover to Mars on Thurs. 7/30 at 4:50am PST from Cape Canaveral - 3rd launch to the red planet this month, Atlas 5… same rocket that took “Curiosity” to Mars
-  “Beyond the Bag” Initiative The world’s biggest retailers are trying to replace the plastic shopping bag.
Target Corp., Walmart Inc. and CVS Health Corp. unveiled a $15 million joint initiative on Tuesday to replace plastic bags with something else over the next three years. The companies, which each contributed $5 million, aim to create a global competition to find a way to change plastic bags or make them unneeded
- Serena Williams' 2-year-old daughter is now the youngest owner in pro sports
Of National Women's Soccer League’s new expansion team in Los Angeles, known as "Angel City."
- Japan’s nightclubs are open again and health officials are asking customers to obey proper “kiss etiquette,” which means no deep kisses, no sharing plates, and conversation should be at right angles to avoid droplet contamination
- Tues, 7/30 = Nat’l Hamburger Day, Wed 7/29 = Nat’l Chicken Wing Day

Local News: 
- Schools districts close to or already decided on plans for next school year
- Fall HS sports delayed until January and competitive sports reduced to 6 weeks total
- PGA Barracuda Championship kicks off this week at Old Greenway in Truckee
- Red Flag warning around the Tahoe Basin  

Tahoe Talk - 7/20/20

C19 Totals: 
14.6m cases, 609k deaths (US = 3.9m cases, 143k deaths)

 

Quick hits:
- Another bison encounter in Yellowstone
- Chaos in Portland continues… viral photo
- Tyra Banks announced as the new Dancing With The Stars host

Global News:
- Opening day for MLB on Thursday and Friday! Rule changes to watch for: Universal DH, three-batter minimum for pitchers, and extra innings start with a runner on second base
- 3 missions to Mars this month while Earth is closest to the red planet (Dubai’s launch attempt, twice postponed due to weather, successful yesterday! China’s launch is Thursday and US/Europe collaborative launch is Thurs. 7/30 with a rover designed to touch down Feb. 2021 and bring back samples in 2025
- New Zoom tablet with multiple cams and mics! $599 gets you 3 smart webcams, 8 noise reducing mics and is slated to ship in August

Local News: 
- New Tahoe Rim Trail “Unsupported” Record Time (41 hours 9 mins)
- Nevada Legislature special session comes to an end
- Renegade Rave on Spooner Summit gets dispersed
- Sample the Sierra goes virtual and America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride canceled for 2020
- Hog Fire Update: Mon @ 9am = 5,400 acres, 5% containmen sending smoke into Tahoe/Reno