​​Billions of state and federal dollars are spent on Lake Tahoe. But is all this attention actually protecting this unique treasure?

A bill to keep federal funds flowing to Lake Tahoe for another 10 years is now awaiting the president’s signature after successful passage in both chambers.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle (and both sides of the lake) met at the 28th annual Lake Tahoe Summit at Round Hill Pines on Wednesday to discuss the future of transportation in the Tahoe Basin.

The court’s most recent ruling indicate there’s at least one branch of government still serious about maintaining a separation of powers between the White House and Congress.

Feinstein, along with the late Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), were longtime partners in the fight to preserve Tahoe. She helped create the inaugural Tahoe Summit in 1997, and attended subsequent summits for over 25 years.

National parks will be closed, active-duty military and Transportation Security Administration personnel will work without pay and those getting food assistance could see their benefits run out quickly.

As Tahoe’s popularity grows, so does the stress on the basin’s environment. Traditional methods for rounding up litter in the water and on the lakeshores are no longer sufficient. Now, robots are helping.

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) and the Congressional Black Caucus are taking on a Senate practice holding up judicial nominees, the Biden administration is sending troops to the border, and the White House released projections for Nevada if House Republicans' debt limit bill were to become law.

House Republicans passed a debt limit bill by a one-vote margin, Nevada’s senators are calling for a redesignation of Salvadorans and Hondurans under the Temporary Protected Status program, and both are working on starting the cannabis banking conversation up again.

With the authorization that allows federal funds to flow to the Tahoe Basin set to expire next year, Nevada’s congressional delegation and Tahoe stakeholders are hopeful they can pass a re-authorization this year.

Former Nevada Solicitor General Lawrence VanDyke gave an impassioned defense of himself Wednesday before a Senate panel against a damning letter from the American Bar Association that deemed him unqualified to serve on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in part over concerns about whether he would be fair to members of the LGBTQ community.

Climate change in the Lake Tahoe basin was at the forefront of this year’s summit, hosted by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein near South Lake Tahoe in California. The speakers, from Feinstein to Gov. Steve Sisolak to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, vocalized their concern about climate change and the threats that it already poses — with a particular focus on wildfire risk. But for some guests, the speeches didn’t go far enough.