Idyllwild Water District residents will have a choice of five candidates for the three director seats up for election in the August mail-in ballot election. Running for re-election are Board President Jim Billman and directors Warren Monroe and Dean Lattin, who is in his first election. The two challengers are Steven Kunkle and June Rockwell….

Barney Brause, reserve sheriff’s deputy and local Neighborhood Watch coordinator, said incidents of burglary and vandalism are increasing in Idyllwild and Pine Cove. Between five and eight break-ins occurred in the past 10 days. It is time, said Brause, for neighbors to become more vigilant, given lean staffing at Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Hemet Station….

Pine Cove Water District directors held a brief meeting Nov. 13 with most of the discussion about this year’s water usage and a possible expansion. The board agreed with General Manager Jerry Holldber’s recommendation to invite Stonewood residents to the January meeting. “We’ll work through what it will take to incorporate [Stonewood] into our system,”…

Many local residents had a hard time getting home from Palm Desert on Tuesday afternoon, when an estimated 20 minute delay for construction turned into a hard closure until after midnight, as Highway 74 between Pinyon Crest and Highway 371 became a crime scene. One reader tells us that they saw a tow truck attempt…

Should we be worrying? Dear Editor: It’s Thursday, Jan. 26, and the weatherman says we may have 75 mph wind gusts in their wind warning. SCE (Edison) has been doing its fire prevention tree trimming for years now and I’ve always appreciated it; never gave it much thought. But looking up yesterday at the giant…

Seven people have gone missing in the area since March of this year. Four of the seven people remain missing. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) media information bureau responded to the newspaper’s weekly inquiry Friday as to whether or not the agency had any updates. “At this time, we do not have any updates,”…