Eight Dead, One Still Missing Following Tahoe-Area Avalanche

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, February 19, 2026

• Eight people have been confirmed dead after an avalanche in Tahoe’s Donner Summit region on Tuesday buried a group of 15 backcountry skiers. Six of the skiers, who were part of an overnight backcountry skiing group, were rescued Tuesday night. One person is still missing but is presumed dead.
• A controversial proposal to tax the wealth of billionaires in California is getting a boost this week from one of the nation’s leading progressives: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. 
• More than 1400 registered nurses are set to strike at medical centers affiliated with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the latest in a wave of labor unrest hitting the healthcare industry.

8 confirmed dead, 1 still missing after Tahoe avalanche

Eight people were killed, and one is still missing, after an avalanche buried a group of 15 backcountry skiers in Tahoe’s Donner Summit region on Tuesday. It is now the deadliest avalanche in California’s modern history, surpassing the 1982 avalanche in Alpine Meadows that killed seven people.

Following a 911 call from the survivors around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 50 people from surrounding search-and-rescue teams responded, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a press conference Wednesday.

Six of the skiers, who were part of a three-day backcountry skiing group staying at the Frog Lake huts near Castle Peak, were rescued amid extreme weather conditions Tuesday night, Moon said. First responders used snowcats to get 2 miles from the site of the avalanche before skiing in to rescue survivors, who were trying to shelter amid the storm with the equipment they had on hand. Two were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and one has been released.

Initial reports said 16 people went on the trip, but a statement from Blackbird Mountain Guides, the guiding company involved in the incident, confirmed the group was actually 15 — comprising 11 clients and four guides. Among the survivors, one is a guide and five are clients. All had emergency beacons, and rescuers were communicating with some survivors via text message, according to first responders. Nine women and six men were on the trip, with five women and one man among the survivors. Their identities have not been released, but Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said one of those who died is the spouse of a member of the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue Team, a volunteer team that responded to the incident. “This has not only been challenging for our community, it’s been a challenging rescue,” Woo said. “It’s also been challenging emotionally for our team and our organization.”

A major storm hit the Lake Tahoe region this week, producing high avalanche danger. While crews continue their search, the Sierra Avalanche Center issued an avalanche warning starting Tuesday morning that expires on Thursday. The warning notes high avalanche danger — the fourth level on a five-point scale — and says travel in or around backcountry avalanche terrain is not recommended. “Rapidly accumulating snowfall, weak layers in the existing snowpack, and gale-force winds that blow and drift snow have created dangerous avalanche conditions in the mountains,” the warning reads. “Natural avalanches are likely, and human-triggered avalanches large enough to bury or injure people are very likely.”

Bernie Sanders warns of ‘billionaire class’ as California wealth tax fight intensifies

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a fiery warning to what he called the “billionaire class” at a rally Wednesday in Los Angeles in support of a tax initiative that would target California’s wealthiest residents.

“The billionaire class no longer sees itself as part of American society,” said the Vermont independent, who won the 2020 California Democratic presidential primary by 8 percentage points over former President Joe Biden. “They see themselves as something separate and apart, like the oligarchs of the 18th Century, the kings and the queens and the czars, they believe they have the divine right to rule and are no longer subject to democratic governance.”

The proposed November initiative would tax the 2025 net worth of billionaires residing in California by 5%, allowing them to pay off the tax over five years. The revenue would go into a special fund with 90% reserved for health care and 10% reserved for K-12 education.

Instead of targeting income, like most taxes, this one aims at individuals’ collected wealth. “They’re saying there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, we’ve got some bad news for them, starting right here in California,” Sanders told the L.A. crowd.

Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and St. John’s Community Health in Los Angeles, the sponsors of the proposal, are gathering signatures to place the measure on the ballot in November amid opposition from some other unions.  It’s also a risky proposition for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run and needs the support of the deep pockets in Silicon Valley, to whom he has been close for years. He and the leading Democrats who are running to replace him have come out against the tax as part of a larger opposition push expected to ramp up in the coming weeks. They argue that they support making wealthy people pay more, but this specific measure would drive billionaires out of California.

Strike set for USC-affiliated medical centers

More than 1,400 registered nurses are set to strike at University of Southern California affiliated medical centers.

Nurses at USC Keck Hospital and Norris Cancer Center say they are striking for a week over higher out-of-pocket costs for their own health insurance, as contract negotiations continue. ICU nurse Kerri Dodgens is a member of the bargaining team. “They’re using it as a bargaining chip, saying we’ll give you the free health care back, but you have to accept this offer that has a lot of takeaways,” Dodgens said. “And that has poor pay that doesn’t keep pace with our competitors in the area, that doesn’t improve our staffing to increase patient safety.”

In a statement, Keck Medicine of USC says they remain committed to reaching a fair deal that offers competitive compensation. Their hospital and clinic operations will remain open during the strike. Staffing and workloads are also a top concern for hundreds of nurses who’ve held one-day strikes this week at other hospitals in California. Meanwhile, an ongoing strike by thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers has lasted nearly a month.