Originally published in the Sierra Sun on 4/26/23. Written by Madison Schultz.

KINGS BEACH, Calif. — On Friday evening, April 21, the North Tahoe Preservation Alliance, also known as the NTPA, held a meeting to further discuss and analyze the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s involvement in the proposed Lake Tahoe Basin Area Plan, fire evacuation, and overall traffic congestion. 

The meeting began with a five-minute short video created by the NTPA further explaining the long-term effects of urbanized development throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin. 

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Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on 4/27/23. Written by Miranda Jacobson.

CRYSTAL BAY, Nev.— The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board voted to approve the updated plan revision to the Waldorf Astoria, previously known as Boulder Bay. 

The developers of the project, located at what used to be the Tahoe Biltmore, made significant changes to the already approved plan from 2011 after making extensive efforts of outreach in the Crystal Bay and Incline Village communities. 

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Originally published in the Sierra Sun on 4/28/23. Written by Chris Joseph.

While you’re pulling on your boots in the parking lot of any Tahoe ski resort or trailhead, look around for a two-toned blue sticker with that familiar, three-word call to action: “Keep Tahoe Blue.” It might be on a water bottle, windshield, or your neighbor’s cooler, but chances are it won’t be far away.

The simple mantra on those stickers has become synonymous with the region, and recognizable to the millions who visit the Lake Tahoe Basin each year. But far fewer people know the six decade-history of Keep Tahoe Blue and the movement it represents, which has helped preserve the Tahoe you know and love. Here’s a glimpse of the story behind the sticker.

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Today’s national news features America’s Ambassador to China, Robert Nicholas Burns, he who speaks French, Arabic, and Greek as well as English, addressing mounting tensions with China. Of course, a little voice deep inside me shouted, “Hey, hey, this connects to Mark Twain!”

Sure enough, when the capable Minister to China, Anson Burlingame resigned in 1867, Sam Clemens was offered the position, at least that’s what he said. Others maintain that Sam applied for the position and was denied. Be that as it may, Anson Burlingame had a huge influence on an impressionable Sam Clemens when they met aboard the Ajax, bound for the Sandwich Islands in 1866. Anson told Sam, “You have great ability; I believe you have genius. What you need now is refinement of association.” Sam took Anson’s advice to heart and married Olivia Langdon.

Had Samuel become Minister to China, well, we might not be feeling the tensions that are so palpable today.

Sam enjoyed a short sinecure as secretary to Nevada Senator William Stewart back in 1867. “Help yourself to the whiskey and cigars, Sam, and wade right in.” 

So Sam went right to work humoring some of Nevada’s finest. In answering a request for a post office at Baldwin’s Ranch, Sam replied, “What the mischief do you suppose you want with a post office in Baldwin Ranch? It would not do you any good. If any letters came there, you couldn’t read them, you know. What you want is a nice jail.”

On another occasion, when a Nevada clergyman petitioned Senator Stewart in a letter, to present a bill to incorporate the Episcopal Church of Nevada, Sam took the liberty to reply, “Petition your state legislature, because Congress don’t know anything about religion.”

Samuel claimed he retired from the employ of Old Bully-raggin’ Billy Stewart, and that “Thanks to Bill Stewart, history will show that men do not own mines in Nevada, but holes in the ground, and that a hole in the ground is not taxable. From here on, that staunch old bulwark of the state will be known as, The Great Gould & Curry Hole-In-The-Ground.”

Stewart, on the other hand, claimed he had to fire Clemens, and maintained, “Sam Clemens was the most lovable scamp and nuisance that ever blighted Nevada.”

So, if Sam had become a popular Minister to China, might his indelible humor still be a tonic today? Perhaps we should allow Samuel to speak on his own behalf. Sam observed about fellow humorist Artemus Ward following Ward’s death in 1867, “He seems never to have written a harsh thing against anybody -neither have I, for that matter -at least nothing harsh enough for a body to fret about.”

Personally, I got to teach school at St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong a while back, and fell in love with the Chinese people. Were I appointed Minister to China today as an impressionist of Mark Twain, well, I might hang in there just long enough to see a permanent jollification set in, then retire gracefully to Lake Tahoe…

Audio: https://anchor.fm/mcavoy-layne