The Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council still has money available to help local property owners abate the land around structures, according to Executive Director Edwina Scott. The grant funds will disappear on July 1 unless Scott can obtain approval to extend the grant beyond the end of the fiscal year (June 30). Although it has…

The Town Crier’s founder, Ernie Maxwell, noted the changing seasons and the tides of history in editorials and occasional items. Maxwell’s Thanksgiving thoughts are as apt and meaningful today as the day they were written. In 1948, under the headline “Cause for Thanksgiving,” he wrote: “First, for the precious privilege of living in these mountains;…

The Riverside County Department of Public Health reported that ground squirrels from Dark Canyon and Marion Mountain campgrounds tested antibody-positive this month for plague, according to state and local health officials. The tests on squirrels from the two campgrounds were conducted on June 8 and June 13, respectively. The antibody-positive test means the squirrels had…