The Idyllwild Fire Protection District is going to explore a loan for the purchase it made of two ambulances in late February. The acquisition was about $90,000 and more costs are needed to prepare the vehicles for medical use. However, IFPD Finance Committee Chair Nancy Layton, also a fire commissioner, said Fire Chief Patrick Reitz…

The second of two speakers featured at the Idyllwild Garden Club’s “Discover Mountain Gardening” event, Joe Walker (above) of Obra Verde Growers, speaks about Australian perennials that grow well in our local mountains. The first speaker was UCSD professor Dr. James Nieh (not shown), who spoke about “The Dangers of Being a Honey Bee: Predators, Pesticides and Colony Collapse.”

There were four collisions (including two photos), one resulting in a fatality, on local roads and Highway 74 over the last week and a half, according to California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Matt Napier.  On Aug. 3 at 7: 35 p.m., Chayton Martone Kenyon, 17 of Idyllwild, was driving his gray 2007 Mazda 3…