Free Republic

A year ago, a woman who is a member of the Washoe Tribe told me that every time she sees the "s-word," she feels a full-body reaction. The word, "squaw," is a painful reminder that historic violence against Indigenous people continues to linger in our daily lives, she said, as I was reporting a story for the Tahoe Quarterly. The word has no ties to the language of the Washoe Tribe, whose ancestral land encompasses Lake Tahoe and the surrounding region; their word for women is damumóˑʔmoʔ. But it traveled across the country with settlers more than 150 years ago...

An avalanche at Mammoth Mountain early Saturday forced the closure of the popular ski area and triggered search and rescue efforts, officials said. There were no reports of serious injuries or missing people, but emergency crews were activated, officials said.{snip} "Shortly before the slide, that area was very crowded," Maynard said. "Essentially, the top of the mountain came loose in a major avalanche."{snip} "We hiked about 15 minutes to the parking lot, where local emergency mayhem had broken out," Williams said. "There were people trying to get out any way they could; some were waiting for buses, others were sharing...

An avalanche prompted the closure of the Squaw Valley ski resort in Northern California Friday. The Placer County Sheriff's Department tweeted that it appears that all skiers and snowboarders had been accounted for. KCRA Reporter Tom Miller posted dramatic video of snowboarders and skiers digging out a man buried under snow.