Idyllwild School closed at 10:40 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 14, due to the hazardous weather conditions. The northern entrance to the mountain communities on Highway 243 is being closed now at Westley Road in Banning, due to flash flooding and slides.

Recently released data from the quarterly sampling of monitoring wells near the Village Food and Fuel Shell Station continue to detect smaller amounts of hydrocarbons in the soil at the station and nearby. Last month, additional sampling also began near the Chevron station. “We previously approved a work plan for eight monitoring wells at the…

In an informal meeting, two members of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District’s Finance Committee discussed with staff the status of the current-year budget and progress on preparation of the fiscal 2017-18 budget last week. After three-quarters of this fiscal year is competed, expenditures have exceeded revenue by only $4,300. IFPD has received 60 percent of…

You may have noticed an unnamed black and gold helicopter flying for 30 to 45 minutes over Idyllwild last Friday afternoon. The helicopter is leased by WaveRider Helicopters of Oceanside from November Alpha LLC. Kurt Dawson, owner/pilot of WaveRider, said his company was contracted by a surveyor to survey the power grid in our area. “The surveyor was probably hired by SCE,” he said, and Dawson and an employee were given a map to survey problems in the grid such things as trees in the power lines.