The Forest Folk have a new van. The 1999 eight-passenger vehicle came from Riverside County after the group approached 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington. With the new van, Reba Coulter, the group’s treasurer and project director, said they hope to expand the existing shuttle bus service. The shuttle service has grown, she added. On Wednesday…
In the early morning of Wednesday, April 20, an earthquake, magnitude 2.9, occurred about 2 to 3 miles west of Little Thomas Mountain and the same distance south of Baldy Mountain. The quake was at about 4:40 a.m. During the next 12 minutes, another four minor quakes were recorded. Their magnitudes ranged from 0.3 to…
More wildfires and greater areas burned is the forecast for the future as climate change continues. Recently, a new study published in the “Environmental Research Letters” expects fire severity to decrease. Fire severity is the extent of change in the local vegetation one year after a major fire. For example, if brushes and shrubs took…
The San Jacinto Post Office is hosting a Passport Fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 7. The fair will offer passport information to U.S. citizens and accept passport applications. Families and individuals will be able to apply for passports on a walk-in basis without taking time off from work, school or other…
It would be difficult to be more “Idyllwild” than Dave Hunt. The newly appointed County Service Area 36 Advisory Council member was born and raised in Idyllwild, with a long family history here. His grandparents came here in the early 1930s from Hemet. His grandfather managed Camp Maranatha, and the family swam there. Then his…
Money and finances were the dominant topics during the April 20 Idyllwild Water District meeting. While customers have diligently been conserving water, the revenue stream appears to be declining, according to General Manager Tom Lynch. While water production was less in March compared to March 2015, revenue, according to Hosny Shouman, chief financial officer, was…
On April 19, Ira Robert Ellis, 37, of Poppet Flats, had two hearings before Judge Becky Dugan in Department 41, Riverside, of the Riverside County Superior Court. The first was a Marsden/Sanchez hearing in which Ellis, who was represented by a deputy public defender, asserted that he had been denied his right to effective counsel….
Cal Fire responded to reports of a building filled with smoke at the Yokoji Zen Mountain Center on Thursday, April 21. When firefighters arrived just before 8 a.m., they found a single-story structure with light smoke showing, confined to one room. Responders contained the fire within half an hour. Zen Center resident Melissa Severa said…
A single-vehicle driving-under-the-influence with passengers on Highway 243, a motorcycle crash on Highway 74 at the bottom of the Hill, and a single-vehicle crash on Highway 74 near Lake Hemet were the Hill incidents reported by the California Highway Patrol for the week beginning Wednesday, April 20. At 8:30 a.m. Friday, April 22, Jolene White,…
The Idyllwild Fire Protection District Finance Committee decided to recommend a tax measure for the commission to review and approve. The committee agreed that increasing the current unit fee from $65 to $156, a 140 percent increase is necessary. It also will propose language to ensure the fee increases annually based on a local economic…
