“All lanes on SR 243 are open,” Cal Trans Public Information Officer Terri Kasinga announced Wednesday night, Jan. 13. That was a relief for many after late Sunday night, Jan. 10, when a 40- to 50-ton boulder fell on Highway 243 between Idyllwild and Pine Cove. Monday morning, Caltrans closed the highway, disrupting the route…
As directed in Gov. Edmund Brown Jr.’s November executive order, the State Water Resources Control Board has drafted a revised set of emergency regulations to create water savings during the drought. SWRCB issued its initial regulations in March 2015, but in November, when Brown issued a new executive order, he extended the urban water use…
Battalion Chief Chris Fogle of the San Jacinto Ranger District has assumed command of one of the three Type 2 Incident Management Teams in Southern California. Fogle, entering his 25th fire season, all on this district, succeeds former District Fire Manager Norm Walker as the incident commander of the SoCal Team 1. For the past…
Editor: I was just looking around for news about Idyllwild on the Internet and saw an article about a bald eagle being spotted at Lake Hemet on Jan. 9. I was in California on vacation in November and visited the town of Idyllwild on Nov. 27, 2015. Later that day, on our way back to…
Editor: The boulder that blocked Highway 243 from Jan. 10 to 14 said a lot about disaster unpreparedness on the Hill. Most people around town are unaware that in 1987, the Elmore and Superstition Hill earthquakes in Imperial Valley (6.1 and 6.6, respectively) caused the 100-foot slide of a large boulder on Marion Ridge between…
Editor: A few years ago, we had quite the storm come through, dumping very wet snow on our mountains. Many trees could not take the weight and came down everywhere, along with many limbs breaking as well. As a result, power was out all over the mountains. SCE crews worked many hours to restore our…
In early February, I take my annual trip to Sacramento for Government Affairs Day. This year I hope to meet with Sen. Jeff Stone or a staff member to discuss the propane issue I wrote about in this column a few weeks back. A short recap: Our propane bill for December delivery totaled more than…
The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a community forum in San Diego to discuss and answer questions about the CPUC’s July 2015 decision to significantly change residential electricity rates, including the requirement that starting in 2019, all residential customers will be offered time-of-use rates as a default. The forum is at 6 p.m. Tuesday,…
Riverside County Fire Department and the Regional Parks and Open-Space District will be conducting a prescribed burn this week. They have about 51 piles of brush and slash, located in the Mt. San Jacinto State Park, to burn. The burn will be between Tuesday and Thursday, Jan. 19 to 21. Actual time and date is…
Melting snow and ice patches continue to create difficult driving conditions for Hill residents and visitors. During the past week, beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 13, there were four incidents, some resulting in serious injuries, according to California Highway Patrol public information officers Darren Meyer of the San Gorgonio Pass Station and Mike Radford of the…
