Editor’s note: In early February, State Farm Insurance requested a significant emergency increase for its fire insurance policies. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara did not immediately approve the request. He scheduled a meeting on Feb. 26 to discuss the request and to learn more about State Farm’s financial situation. This a summary of that discussion…

Rainfall since Oct. 1, 2021, the beginning of the current rain year, has been 11.4 inches. In the five months since Jan. 1, 2022, Idyllwild has received 3.5 inches of rain. The long-term average rainfall from October to June is 23.2 inches, about twice what has fallen this year, the third consecutive drought year. The…

Higher fees approved: ambulance, mitigation and permitting In a meeting highlighted with the announcement that the fire chief has resigned (see accompanying story), the Idyllwild Fire Protection District commission also attended to many other business issues and decisions at its March 26 meeting. Besides the usual financial and incident report statistics, Caltrans briefed the commission…