Melissa Wilson, a teacher at Idyllwild Arts Academy for the past 12 years, has a daughter, Amara, 14, with Type 1 diabetes. Amara has had the disease since age 2-1/2. Mother and daughter, who live on campus, are raising funds to for a diabetes alert service dog to help keep Amara safe and healthier overall….

Because of the Labor Day holiday, the Sept. 5 Town Crier will hit the newsstands and be mailed to subscribers Thursday of next week. The advertising deadline for that issue is noon Tuesday, Sept. 3. The news deadline is 10 a.m. the same day. For more information, call 951-659-2145.

Editor’s note: The reporter in this article had $49,000 of tree-removal costs during the 2003 bark beetle infestation. Fortunately, Southern California Edison paid for all but $10,000 of the removal costs, since the very large pines threatened power lines. The Goldspotted oak borer, recently identified in Idyllwild, could cause similar if not greater tree loss…

At its Dec. 14 Special Meeting, the Idyllwild Water District Board also received a report from former General Manager Tom Lovejoy, who has been consulting for the district in recent years. Lovejoy described his work and recommendations on several projects, including the recycled water facility, replacement of pipelines and rehabilitation of the horizontal wells above…

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) and the Office of Emergency Services (OES) are evaluating a new type of grant to mitigate wildfire damage and destruction to individual homes. Grants for low- and moderate-income homeowners to protect their homes in the case of an approaching or in the midst of a…