In a statewide move, Caltrans announced Tuesday, April 5. it would provide road condition, repair and potential closure information on state roads to Waze, the user-fed real-time traffic app. According to the Mountain View, California-based company, Waze has more than 1.7 million active users per month in the Los Angeles metro area contributing more than…
Last month, I talked about fire behavior and how its travel and spread can be reduced around your home. We, the fire community, call this area of enhanced protection “Defensible Space.” This week I want to explain how a wildfire spreads to a home or building in its path. Reducing the amount of combustible vegetation…
Last week’s story about the plans for Phase 1 of the Butterfield Commons at Strawberry Creek did not clarify the future availability of the pickleball courts. Currently, these are located on the surface of an old tennis court and just in front of the playground area. When construction begins, access to the pickleball courts, just…
Earlier this month, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office released the preliminary crime statistics for 2015. These data were from all independent and contract cities in the county, and its unincorporated areas. Overall, reported crime increased throughout the county in 2015. However, specific trends and patterns were not identifiable because of the…
Editor: Because ARF is not a shelter, we cannot take in dogs unless we have available foster families. When we were approached about taking Lefty Lou, we had no available foster families. We explained this to AnaLia, and she came back to us saying her friend (XXX) would foster the dog and asked if we…
Editor: I need to write about my dog being killed by a young man in town because he didn’t like her. She was a 10-year-old Jack Russell with 10 more years ahead of her, at least: very loving and playful, beautiful Lefty Lou. We took her to ARF to find a good new home for…
That administrative law judge rendered his decision to reverse Capt. Jim Reyes’ termination in July 2014 from Idyllwild Fire. Sadly, IFPD’s pride proves too great to accept it. The district’s legal fees continue mounting, primarily because of this and Reyes’ separate and pending civil lawsuit. Last fiscal year, IFPD exceeded $100,000 in legal costs; this…
The San Bernardino Flying Squirrel is neither endangered nor threatened, the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service announced last week. In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity in 2010 and legal action to spur a response in 2014, the FWS did an extensive review of the Southern California mountains to determine the squirrel’s…
On April 7, Ira Robert Ellis, 37, of Poppet Flats admitted a felony violation of his Post-Release Community Supervision in Riverside County Superior Court. Hearing Officer Judith M. Fouladi then reinstated his PRCS with the modification that Ellis is sentenced to 88 days in the county jail. On Tuesday, April 19, at 8:30 a.m. in…
Eutiquio Ramirez, 48, of Indio, a well-regarded and longtime employee of Griner Construction in Idyllwild, died in a single-vehicle crash reported at 5:42 p.m. Friday, April 8. According to the California Highway Patrol report, Ramirez was driving his white Toyota T100 pickup truck east on Highway 74, when for unknown reasons he veered to the…
