The state Legislature was very busy during 2016. Nearly 1,000 bills were passed and Gov. Jerry Brown signed about 900 into law. Among the bills that did not receive legislative approval was Assembly Bill 385, which would have allowed state voters to decide whether to retain Daylight Saving Time. On Aug. 30, the bill failed…
Despite a relatively wet fall, Cal Fire’s Predictive Services unit foresees significantly large fire threats into winter. The report stressed that Southern California remains in drought conditions, which are unlikely to change this winter. Both Predictive Services and the National Weather Service consider the possibility of La Niña conditions to remain high. NWS places the…
At the recent County Service Area 36 Advisory Committee meeting, pickleball courts were discussed and provisionally approved, pending a final “go” authorization from the Riverside County Park District Advisory Commission. That authorization was given at a Thursday, Nov. 3, meeting of the commission, according to Kyla Brown, Riverside County Regional Park and Open Space District…
In the final report of registered voters prior to the Nov. 8, presidential election, Democrats have the greatest number of Riverside County registered voters with a party affiliation. As of Oct. 31, 388,859 Riverside County residents are registered as Democrats compared to 366,743 registered Republicans. The total number of registered voters has grown from 910,000…
After about 18 months, the Riverside County Department of Public Health has released its Community Health Improvement Plan. The work began among professionals and interest groups within the county in 2009. Last year, in 2015, communities and citizens began to be polled about their needs and priorities through a series of community meetings, including one…
One injury crash on Hill roads took place over the last week. At 6:20 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, Dixie Harlow, 84, of Idyllwild, was driving her 2013 silver Saturn Vue southbound on Highway 243 when she made a left turn onto Saunders Meadow Road. At the same time, Robert Rogers, 83, and also from Idyllwild,…
In a stunning upset, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, defeated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to become the next President. Nationwide the Republicans held their majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives. With slightly more than 480,000 ballots counted and about 260,000 ballots to be counted, Riverside County voters supported Clinton, 48.7 percent…
The Town Crier now has obtained the actual number of taxable parcels within each of Idyllwild Fire Protection District’s 21 tax rate areas, so we now can calculate the average percentage for each taxable parcel within the district. For parcels within IFPD, an average of 15.56 percent of the property tax goes to fire protection,…
A two-vehicle crash at 10:34 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, on Highway 74 at Thomas Mountain Village resulted in one fatality and three injuries, two of them moderate to serious. According to California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Darren Meyer, Walter Risch, 73, of Mountain Center, was driving a white 2004 Ford 150 truck westbound on…
Following the June primary, which pitted state Sen. Jeff Stone (R) against incumbent Congressman Raul Ruiz (D), contributions did not pour into Stone’s coffers. At the end of September, Ruiz had more than 20 times the available cash for the final five weeks of the campaign than Stone had. During the three months from…
