MADERA — Madera County supervisors are poised to give the “green” light to large-scale commercial production of industrial hemp in the county. At their regular meeting this week, supervisors are scheduled to be briefed on the latest developments regarding hemp by County ag commissioner Stevie McNeill. Last year, McNeill described the booming hemp industry as “the Wild West” — with entrepreneurs ...

MADERA — The Madera County Board of Supervisors heard some sobering statistics this week about how COVID-19 is impacting County coffers. Joel Bugay, the County’s finance director, told supervisors at their Tuesday meeting that the pandemic will have “both short- and long-term financial impacts” for Madera County. “Revenue we had counted on potentially will not materialize,” Bugay said. At Tuesday’s ...

MADERA — In response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s Project Roomkey initiative, Madera County has formed a partnership to identify at-risk members of the community who may need shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership consists of the Madera County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Community Action Partnership of Madera County (CAPMC), Madera County Department of Public Health (MCDPH), Madera County Department of ...

MADERA — The Madera County Board of Supervisors will hold their regularly scheduled board meeting tomorrow (April 7) — but Tuesday’s session is certain to be anything but “regular” as the board chambers at the County Government Center will be closed to the public due to COVID-19 — and the board will achieve a quorum via three supervisors videoconferencing into ...

MADERA — The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of today’s Madera County Board of Supervisors meeting. The next regularly scheduled board meeting is currently set for April 7. The coronavirus has impacted virtually every aspect of daily life for individuals and businesses around Madera County — and many county departments have adopted revised schedules at this time as the ...

MADERA — Prompted by concerns about the spread of COVID-19, the Madera County Community and Economic Development Department has began to implement changes to its menu of services. “At this time Planning and Building/Fire Safety is evaluating essential services to determine appropriate staffing and we are considering implementing an appointment-only protocol,” said a post on the County’s Facebook page. “For ...

MADERA — Madera County’s Board of Supervisors held their regular meeting Tuesday — but the rapidly evolving coronavirus pandemic made the session anything but usual. The public portion of Tuesday’s meeting was somewhat abbreviated and relatively somber in tone given the nature of the COVID-19 crisis. The first decision supervisors approved was a motion to cancel next week’s regular meeting ...

MADERA — Madera County officials have issued a statement regarding a report that surfaced earlier this week that a former Department of Social Services employee intentionally discarded more than 350 reports of potential child abuse taken in 2019. In a number of those cases, a follow up investigation was mandated by law given the alleged severity of the reported sexual ...

RAYMOND — District 5 Supervisor Tom Wheeler held a Town Hall meeting at Raymond-Knowles Elementary Thursday night and more than a dozen local residents turned out. As might be expected, coronavirus was the hot topic at the meeting, which included a COVID-19 update from Madera County Department of Health’s Juli Gregson. Two local residents voiced their concerns to Wheeler about ...

MADERA — A County employee responsible for fielding reports of suspected child abuse has reportedly been fired after an internal inquiry revealed more than 350 reports taken by the worker in 2019 were never forwarded to a case worker for a follow up investigation — which in some cases was mandated by law given the alleged severity of the reported ...