Doug Ashcraft is now officially head of the Idyllwild Arts Academy. Since the former school president left in July 2012, Ashcraft had been interim head and dean of the school. Last week, the school’s Board of Governor’s decided to make Ashcraft’s position permanent. While Idyllwild Arts serves two separate, somewhat overlapping functions, the Summer Program…

By JP Crumrine Correspondent Warning Coordination Meteorologist Alex Tardy at the San Diego office of the National Weather Service (NWS) was in Idyllwild last week. As Mike Feyder, Mountain Disaster Preparedness (MDP) president, said Tardy is a friend of MDP and has spoken in Idyllwild several times beginning in 2015 and last appearing here a…

Last week, the California Fire Safe Council awarded a $200,000 matching grant to the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council. The local FSC was one of 45 awardees this year. The statewide agency awarded a total of $4.8 million, which will be matched by another $5.5 million. The U.S. Forest Service made the funding available to…