Idyllwild rallied and contributed $12,000 to pay for replacing camera equipment stolen from Idyllwild photographer Jenny Kirchner’s car on Jan. 7 while in the desert. An anonymous donor gave $180 on Feb. 4, bringing the contributions to $12,000, the value Kirchner estimates she lost. Kirchner has worked with the Town Crier and other area news…

At a special meeting, May 3, the Idyllwild Water District set June 19 for a public hearing to discuss stand-by assessment fees for the water and sewer districts. IWD’s proposed $30 fee per acre for each acre of unimproved land or each unimproved parcel has remained unchanged for more than 20 years. A list of…

Idyllwild Fire went to 16 mutual aid fires in 2018 Local artist and sculptor Jan Jaspers-Fayer offered an artwork to the Idyllwild Fire Protection District and the Board of Commissioners accepted it. The piece, a memorial sculpture of 9/11, is his design and made of steel plates. It is the numbers “9 and 11” in…

Local Tracy Philippi, ex Army ranger, stopped a burglary in progress and held the suspect at gunpoint until a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputy arrived to make the arrest. Lt. Geoff Raya at Hemet Station confirmed an arrest had been made and, in essence, confirmed Philippi’s account of the Monday night, Oct. 10, attempted burglary….

While Judge Shelleyanne W.L. Chang did not issue a final ruling on the litigation between the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Cal Fire regarding the legality of the state fire protection fee, the tentative ruling at the Dec. 8 hearing supported the state’s argument that HJTA took too long moving the case forward. “CALFIRE’s motion…