The Forest Service has announced mandatory evacuations for residents in Idyllwild, Apple Canyon area, Mountain Center communities, Lake Hemet area and Hurley Creek area. Fern Valley and Pine Cove no longer under evacuation order. Evacuation Centers: Banning High School. Animal Shelters: Banning High School (small animals); CHANGE: San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus (large animals). CHANGE: Acres…

With the Riverside County Planning Commission’s approval of the conditional use permit for construction of the first phase of the Idyllwild Community Center, the future of Summer Concert Series in 2017 is uncertain. The commission’s decision on Wednesday, Dec. 7, must still be ratified by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, but its approval in…

Recycled water from the Idyllwild Water District’s proposed plant will not be pumped and stored at its Foster Lake facility, acting board President John Cook wrote in an email Dec. 12. “Neither current regulations nor science allow for recycled water recharge in a fractured rock zone so it is not possible to fill the Foster…

The Hemet Unified School District (HUSD) budget for FY 2019/20 was approved on June 16 and is projected to run the district $8.8 million into the red. The $303.7-million budget is an $18-million increase from last year’s $285.7 million budget. The largest increase, $9.2 million, is for the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and another…