Category: Community News

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State and local leaders to host community forum on homeowners insurance laws related to wildfire

January 29, 2026 | Member Submitted

Originally published in Washoe Life, 1/28/2026, Written by Bethany Drysdale

Washoe County and the Nevada Division of Insurance are hosting a community meeting for residents concerned about changes to homeowners insurance as it relates to wildfire. 

During the 2025 Nevada Legislative Session, laws were enacted that impact how insurance companies may assess wildfire risk, potentially affecting insurance availability, coverage, and premium rates for some homeowners. 

Nevada Insurance Commissioner Ned Gaines will present an overview of the new law and how it pertains to homeowners in fire-prone areas of Washoe County, as well as how insurers may implement the provisions, and what resources are available to homeowners. 

Following the presentation, representatives from Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District and Washoe County Emergency Management will be available to discuss wildfire preparedness and risk-reduction efforts.  

“Wildfire happens frequently in our area, and every resident should understand the threat and how they can help protect themselves and their family,” Emergency Manager Kelly Echeverria said. “We are proud to partner with the State of Nevada to provide this important forum for education and dialogue with residents.”   

The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. on February 24 at the Washoe County Administration Complex at 1001 E. 9th Street, Building A, in the Commission Chambers. Homeowners are invited to bring their questions and meet with state and local experts on wildfire prevention, suppression, and insurance issues.  

Bethany Drysdale

Communications Manager
775-313-8582
bdrysdale@washoecounty.gov

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Tahoe Forest Health System Launches “True North”  

January 29, 2026 | Member Submitted

Tahoe Forest Health System Launches “True North” Community Engagement Initiative Health System Seeks Input from 5,000 Community Members to Shape Future Priorities 

Tahoe Forest Health System (TFHS) is launching “True North,” a comprehensive community engagement initiative aimed at gathering input from residents, patients, second homeowners, partners and staff to guide the health system’s strategic direction in the years ahead. 

“As we prepare for the future, we’re asking one simple question: what does it look like when a health system is the center of health in a community?” said Michael McGarry, chair of the board of directors. “I look forward to working with our community to answer that question on behalf of the people we serve.” 

From October 2025 through June 2026, TFHS aims to engage at least 5,000 community members in discussions about healthcare priorities, access to care, and the meaning of health and wellness in the mountain region. 

“Tahoe Forest Health System was built by the people of this region—from Richard Joseph’s 1949 land donation that established our hospital district to the community’s overwhelming support for the Gene Upshaw Memorial Cancer Center,” said Anna Roth, president and CEO. “True North continues that tradition. This initiative is about listening first and building the future together.” 

Focus Areas: True North centers on three key areas that reflect current challenges and future opportunities. 

Health Within Reach – Exploring ways to improve access to care, reduce wait times, expand services closer to where people live, and address affordability. 

Peaks of Excellence – Identifying specialty services and programs that would provide significant benefits to the community while enhancing the health system’s overall capabilities. 

Transformation – Reimagining healthcare delivery through innovation, workforce development and new models of care tailored to the region’s unique needs. 

“We’re meeting people where they are, not where we expect them to come,” said Kim McCarl, chief strategy officer. “Whether someone participates in a survey, joins a listening session, or engages with us at a community event, we want to hear from them.” 

How the Community Can Participate 

TFHS will gather feedback through various channels, including online surveys, QR codes available at hospital and regional partner agency locations and community events, listening sessions, and collaborations with local organizations throughout the region. Throughout the initiative, TFHS will provide regular updates on what it is hearing and how community input is shaping future decisions. 

Learn More and Share Your Input 
Community members are invited to learn more about the True North initiative and share their perspectives through an online survey. Additional opportunities to participate will be added throughout the engagement period. To explore the focus areas, stay informed as new ways to engage are introduced, and take the survey, visit https://tfhd.com/true-north. 

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About Tahoe Forest Health System 

Tahoe Forest Health System, which includes Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, Calif., and Incline Village Community Hospital in Incline Village, Nev., offers 24-hour emergency care, a Level III trauma center, three urgent care clinics, and primary and specialty care clinics throughout Truckee and North Lake Tahoe, including Tahoe Forest Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, the Gene Upshaw Memorial Tahoe Forest Cancer Center, and the Joseph Family Center for Women and Newborn Care. With a strong focus on high-quality patient care, community collaboration, clinical excellence, and technical innovation, Tahoe Forest Health System strives to be the health system of choice in our region and the best mountain health system in the nation. For a complete list of physician specialties and services, visit www.tfhd.com. 
 
Photos for media use here.  
Photo Credit: Courtesy of TFHS 

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The Local Lens – Ullr Fest, Olympians & a Healthy Start to 2026

January 29, 2026 | Linda Offerdahl

Fresh snow arrived today, just in time for the Ullr Fest on Friday! It’s the first big community fundraiser for the year, raising funds for young skiers through Diamond Peak Ski Education Foundation. Watch the torchlight parade at Diamond Peak and don’t forget your Viking helmet! If you are not a skier, but love the Olympics, why not attend the Evening of Champions on Saturday at the Hyatt to benefit the Ski Team? Olympians Marco and Anna Sullivan are on hand for a Meet and Greet.

I come from a Minnesota/Scandinavian heritage that believes in showing love by sharing a cookie platter after (and before!) every meal during December.  I cling to the tradition of a cookie exchange with my girlfriends in Tahoe, but I gotta tell you, the enthusiasm is waning. Stepping on the scale in January was my first clue that the cookie tradition had to stop! After the holidays, many of us are trying to detox and eat clean, whatever that means! Find out at Natural Grocers this Saturday and Feb 7 at their 11am “Hack Your Health”  classes taught by Alina Neacy.  Teaser: Balancing your blood sugar is more than just cutting cookies from your diet.

The healthy theme continues in February, right around the corner. February is Heart Health Month at Tahoe Forest Health System.  The balmy weather this winter makes it easy to get over to Truckee for their noon workshops on Wednesdays. Exercise and diet are obvious ways to promote heart health, but DID YOU KNOW that gum disease, stress, and dairy also affect your heart?  Find out more at www.tfhd.com . Now for the fun part… Friday, February 6, is Wear Red Day!  For those of you who remember my  Dress The Party costume store, red is still my favorite color. I can’t fit into that hot leather dress from the 80’s that is still in my closet, but I will break out one of my red sweaters.  I hope you will too!

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What’s Next for 771 Southwood Boulevard? January Update

January 28, 2026 | Member Submitted

January Update regarding 771 Southwood Boulevard:

At the December 3, 2025, TTD Board of Directors meeting, Jim Marino, Executive Director of the Tahoe Transportation District, requested the Board provide direction as to alternatives for the 771 Southwood Boulevard site. Mr. Marino presented several options, including:

  1. Moving forward with the original intent of the property which is to construct a mobility hub with parking; or
  2. Abandon the transit hub project and pursue transferring the parcel to the local jurisdiction for purposes of affordable housing per FTA guidelines; or
  3. Abandon the transit hub project, and pursue the sale of the parcel as is, and use the proceeds on another FTA eligible project within TTD’s Capital Program

After considerable discussion, the Board of Directors instructed staff to explore transferring the property at771 Southwood Boulevard to the local jurisdiction (Washoe County) for purposes of affordable housing per Federal Transit Administration disposition guidelines.

On January 12, 2026, Staff had an initial meeting with Washoe County and Reno Housing Authority (RHA) to discuss the feasibility of a transfer.  Reno Housing Authority will be investigating the potential for a project at the site. TTD will be meeting again with Washoe County/RHA in February 2026 for an update.

Mr. Marino has been instructed to bring an update back to the TTD Board of Directors in April 2026, at which time the Board may consider moving forward with the transfer process under the Federal Transit Administration should the County/RHA have a conceptual project.  Should the County/RHA not be willing to pursue a transfer, then staff have been instructed to consider the sale of the parcel.

The December 3,, 2025 staff report can be found HERE and the Meeting minutes for this item can be found HERE.

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IHS ‘We the People’ team is competing at the State Invitational THIS Saturday

January 28, 2026 | Mary Danahey

“We the People” is a nationally recognized academic civics program that challenges students to master the U.S. Constitution, American government, and civic responsibility. Through the Citizen and the Constitution curriculum, students engage in rigorous, inquiry-based learning that culminates in simulated congressional hearings, where teams defend their constitutional knowledge before panels of judges.

This year, the Incline High School We the People team delivered an outstanding performance at the mid-December Regional Competition, placing second overall against strong statewide competition. Unit 3 earned a unit award, while Unit 5 was recognized as Most Effective overall—an exceptional honor reflecting the team’s depth of knowledge, teamwork, and poise under pressure.

This impressive showing has earned the Incline team the opportunity to represent Nevada at the State Finals this weekend. Join us in cheering on these dedicated students as they showcase the academic excellence, civic leadership, and hard work that define Incline High School.

Go Highlanders!!

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In The News – From neon onesies to heights of an influential ski patrol career

January 27, 2026 | Member Submitted

Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 1/26/2026, Written by Katelyn Welsh

The face behind Women of Patrol and Sierra Nevada Resiliency Team, Kari Brandt is a leading voice in the ski patrol industry, expanding access to the career and developing vital resources. But when she thinks back to where it all started, it takes to her to a powder day on her home mountain, Ski Green Valley, over 30 years ago. 

That’s where four-year-old Kari Brandt, outfitted in her neon onesie and 101 Dalmatians fanny pack (stuffed with band-aids and wet wipes), had prepared to clean up and bandage any mess the powder day threw her way. 

READ MORE >

Photo: Kari Brandt climbs a lift tower at Diamond Peak in 2021. Provided / Jake Pollock

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Tahoe Living: Affordable Housing News and Events

January 27, 2026 | Member Submitted

Originally published in Tahoe Living Newsletter, 1/22/2026

Addressing housing affordability in the Tahoe Basin is a key priority for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) as we begin 2026. Through the Cultivating Community, Conserving the Basin project, TRPA has spent the past year and a half working with the public, partners, and stakeholders to develop a housing policy proposal grounded in environmental protection.

The project is now entering the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) phase, which will study how proposed housing policies can meet community housing needs while continuing to protect the Tahoe Basin.

Stay engaged and help spread the word.

Note: The Long Range Planning Team has recently been reformulated into the Long Range Planning Department. Stay tuned for future updates from us on this department’s role in the agency and in environmental planning at Lake Tahoe.

–Long Range Planning Department

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Six Tahoe/Truckee Athletes Qualify for Olympics

January 27, 2026 | Member Submitted

Originally published in Moonshine Ink, 1/22/2026, Staff Report

The final U.S. Ski and Snowboard team rosters for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics were released on Jan. 22. Six athletes from Tahoe/Truckee made the cut for alpine skiing, nordic skiing, and snowboarding.

The U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team includes Carnelian Bay’s AJ Hurt, 25, on the women’s and Tahoe City local Bryce Bennett, 33, on the men’s. Both Hurt and Bennett are former Olympians and world cup podium-finishers. On the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team is another Tahoe Olympian, 25-year-old JC Schoonmaker. 

Tahoe/Truckee also has debuting Olympians. Olympic Valley Freestyle Freeride (OVFree) Team’s 15-year-old Abby Winterberger joins the freeski team for the Freeski Halfpipe as the only club-level freeski athlete to qualify directly to the Olympics. Winterberger began on OVFree at eight years old and bypassed the traditional route of making it onto the U.S. pro team before the Olympics. 

READ MORE >

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10 Years of Shine On Cartoons

January 27, 2026 | Member Submitted

Beloved for their wry humor and Tahoe/Truckee inside jokes, Shine On cartoons have delighted Moonshine Ink‘s readers for 10 years. Part humor, part local history, they trace the community’s evolving conversations through Mike English’s tongue-in-cheek lens — from snowstorms and mountain fashion to bears, berms, roundabouts, housing struggles, and the small absurdities that unite us. Moonshine collected the best of the best into a book titled Potholes and Powder Days, a comprehensive anthology of laughter medicine. This anthology is not just good medicine; it also supports local journalism. Your purchase helps keep independent reporting alive.

Link to purchase: https://subscribe.moonshineink.com/potholes-powder-days-purchase_5104

Buy your copy today! And pick up copies for everyone on your holiday shopping list that appreciates a good laugh.

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PINE NUTS – Football 2026

January 23, 2026 | McAvoy Lane

Footballs are pointy and bounce funny. I guess that’s what makes football so much fun. Watching a grown man chase a fumble is like watching a child chase a duck, it’s enough to make a cow laugh, really.

Betting on sports is popular these days, but you don’t want to bet on football. No, save your money for March Madness where the balls are round and the games are determined by something the fat guys in Las Vegas cannot measure or predict, that of the heart. 

My good friend Pilarski RIP and me, used to carry money out of the Hyatt Sports Book in wheelbarrows in March. Of course, we would give it back over the balance of the year, but, hey, we had a few free drinks and one merry hell of a good time along the way.

There was one season in my hoary old days of sports betting where I actually made a small fortune by adding up the total tonnage of offensive lines, and betting on the heavy side to best protect the quarterback and the running backs. That proposition vaporized however when my swaggering stats got swallowed up by an even heavier defensive line.

Then for a while, I rode comfortably along with the Tooth Fairy by betting strictly on the strongest kickers, as so many games are determined by a field goal. That manifesto served me well until my favorite kicker got turf toe and kicked me out at the next homeless shelter for escaped sports book apostates.

Every little surefire sportsbook scheme that set me on fire from head to foot soon enough left me grasping for a Little-Three-Team-Prospect-Made-in-Heaven. 

For a few short weeks I actually made money on the flip of the coin. I figured the captain of the team who won the toss would be so jacked-up as to continue his good fortune with a dead-center win, and there was still time to get in on the action. That prediction market held me over for a few weeks of euphoria until I got puffed up big as a Kauai Bufo and bet the farm on one single provocative toss. I am limping still from the loss…

At the end of my string, I turned to that Oracle of Prophecy, my ex-wife, whose favorite team is the Bengals, though she calls them the “Bagels.” 

“Honey, who do you like in this Sunday’s feature game?” I asked over the phone.

“Who’s playing?”

“The Bengals and the Rams.”

“Well, you know I love my Bagels, so bet against the Lambs.”

You might wonder why I might consult my ex-wife for advice on football bets.

Well, when her attorney called to tell me I was late with my alimony, I excused myself by telling him, “But she told me to put it on the Bagels!”

I shall leave the last word about football to Mark Twain’s astute observation of 1900, 

“Football beats croquet. There’s more go about it!”

Audio: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Fhv4PrH1UuwlhbnTT23zO

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