A budget report for the first quarter of 2013-14 was not available at the last Idyllwild Fire Protection District meeting, but Commissioner Jerry Buchanan reported he was working with the recently hired financial consultant and progress is being made. Buchanan discussed his ideas for an IFPD Budget Committee and will bring the proposal forward in…

Friday, July 1, is when the California tax rate on tobacco products other than cigarettes will increase from the current rate of 27.3 to 65.08 percent of the wholesale cost. The new tobacco products tax rate will stay in effect through June 30, 2018. California voters approved Proposition 56, in November 2016. This proposition increased…

The Local Control and Accountability Plan was the subject of a lively discussion at Idyllwild School last week. The LCAP is a product of 2013 legislation that changed the method in which the state allocates educational funds. Hemet Unified School District is preparing its third LCAP and has been holding meetings throughout the district to…

Halloween decorations are going up all around us; jack o’lanterns, skeletons and other spooky figures provide delightfully macabre touches to our neighborhoods, but one increasingly common decoration has been targeted as dangerous to wildlife: artificial spiderwebs. The most common material is a type of polyester, similar to fiberglass or cotton in appearance, and social media…