Opal Hellweg, legislative assistant for Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington, will retire at the end of December. She has served district residents for nearly 20 years. While she and husband, Dean, will travel and devote more time to their gardening, Opal also plans to continue to serve even with the advent of retirement….

The Idyllwild Water District Board of Directors met at Idyllwild Library Wednesday night while its office board room is undergoing renovation.Besides most of the meeting focusing on replacing the Wastewater Treatment Plant (see story, page A1), the board unanimously approved a change order to an Eric Townsend Construction Company contract to cover repair costs for…

El Niño conditions or patterns, which have recently become daily conversation on the Hill, are not defined by the amount of precipitation. Rather, the National Weather Service defines them as higher-than-normal sea-surface temperatures along the equator from the coast of South America to the central Pacific Ocean.

Editor’s note: This was taken from an Associates press release. Saturday, Dec. 18, the Associates of the Idyllwild Arts Foundation (AIAF) made a holiday gift to the Scholarship Fund of the Idyllwild Arts Academy and Summer Program. The gift of $40,000 was one of the largest single donations the Associates have made in recent years….