“Town and gown” is a common phrase describing the distinction between local residents, and the students and faculty of higher-level educational institutions located in the town. Issues and differences often arise between the two populations. Almost from the beginning of the “town” of Idyllwild, the “gown” — the Idyllwild Arts Academy — has been present….

The Idyllwild Water District Board of Directors approved three grant applications at its Wednesday, Oct. 15, meeting. The $2 million request for a recycled water project is the greatest. The other two grant requests were for a total of $150,000 for security fencing and well rehabilitation. The application for the recycling project has been revised…

Our readers’ responses continue to be overwhelming. We still have a way to go, but after less than five weeks of the new Membership model, we are more than 40 percent of the way to the minimum annual amount we estimate we will need from Memberships for the newspaper to be acquirable by younger publishers…

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, with support from fellow Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer, last February introduced the California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act of 2015, a bill that amends and updates the historic California Desert Protection Act of 1994. The bill would expand protection for more of the California desert. Besides additional wilderness acreage, wild and…