For next fiscal year, which begins July 1, Gov. Jerry Brown has recommended a $200 million increase for the Cal Fire budget. The agency’s total would be $2.1 billion compared to $1.9 billion in fiscal 2015-16. The increased funding will support a proposed staffing increase of nearly 750 positions. About 650 positions will be for…

Large increases loom in future years The Riverside County Board of Supervisors held hearings for the fiscal year 2019-20 budget last week. The hearing was left open in order for the board to make some adjustments that would require only a majority approval rather than four-fifths if a preliminary budget had been approved. The overall…

The Pine Cove Water District board last week unanimously approved several resolutions and actions dealing with financial matters. Approved were the traditional $30 stand-by fee, the 2015-16 budget, a rebate program and authority to lease space at PCWD’s Rocky Point communications facility to American Medical Response. Each of these was approved unanimously. During the public…

Riverside County 3rd District Supv. Chuck Washington hosted a multi-agency meeting to address recent snow visitor issues in the Riverside County mountains. Held at 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, in Hemet, the meeting was requested by Idyllwild Fire Department Chief Patrick Reitz following successive weekends in which Idyllwild faced unprecedented numbers of snow-play visitors and…

A single-vehicle driving-under-the-influence with passengers on Highway 243, a motorcycle crash on Highway 74 at the bottom of the Hill, and a single-vehicle crash on Highway 74 near Lake Hemet were the Hill incidents reported by the California Highway Patrol for the week beginning Wednesday, April 20. At 8:30 a.m. Friday, April 22, Jolene White,…