For 2014 and 2015, sections of the Pacific Crest Trail damaged by the Mountain Fire in July 2013 remain closed. The closure, from Cedar Springs Trail (mile 162.5) north to South Ridge Trail (mile 178), had forced hikers to walk beside Highway 74 to Mountain Center then on Highway 243 into Idyllwild. In certain sections…

County Service Area (CSA) 38 advisory committee was dissolved last week by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors during their regular meeting. The committee was appointed by Riverside County Third District Supervisor Chuck Washington and served the area of Pine Cove. CSA 38 funding comes from an Ad-Valorem tax (property tax) for enhanced structural fire…

It’s January and, of course, the influenza season has begun. While headlines and breaking news stories are not calling attention to the annual illness, it is here and spreading. In its weekly “California Influenza Surveillance Report,” the state’s Department of Public Health announced at the end of December that the flu bug is “widely circulating…