COARSEGOLD – One driver was killed and another critically injured in a near head-on collision on Highway 41 this afternoon. At about 4 p.m., Kai Eugene Kelikuli, 49, of Santa Maria, was northbound in a 2015 Volkswagen about a mile north of Yosemite Springs Parkway. According to a northbound driver who was just ahead of the Volkswagen and witnessed the ...

OAKHURST – The Fresno Bee announced yesterday that as of July 1, the Sierra Star will close its office at 49165 Crane Valley Road (Road 426) in Oakhurst. Fresno Bee editor Joe Kieta, and president and publisher Ken Riddick posted an open letter to readers in this week’s print edition of the Sierra Star, noting that with the dramatic drop-off ...

MADERA – Sunny skies and pleasant weather brought a crowd of local officials, community members and staff to a groundbreaking ceremony hosted by the Madera County Board of Supervisors last Friday. The gathering marked the start of construction of a $53 million office complex which will house the Departments of Public Health and Social Services. “After several years of planning, ...

CLOVIS –  The Lions Fire, burning in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, spread only slightly to the southwest overnight and is now estimated at 3,007 acres. Winds are expected to be lighter today which may help firefighters with their containment efforts. The fire is now 5 percent contained. Crews continue working on building and securing containment lines primarily along the eastern ...

COARSEGOLD – Highway 41 between Coarsegold and Oakhurst has now been reopened in both directions. The roadway was closed just before 4 p.m. this afternoon due to a vegetation fire and the subsequent rollover of a dozer on the fireline. When the road opens, Caltrans will begin by pacing traffic through the area, and it will be open with no ...

COARSEGOLD – Firefighters have been called out for yet another vegetation fire burning along Highway 41 in the Coarsegold area. Highway 41 is currently closed at the Coarsegold Community Center on the south and Road 425C on the north. Just after 3 p.m. reports began coming in to 911 of a fire on the west side of the road, north ...

CLOVIS – Smoke from the Lions Fire, burning entirely in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, continues to impact the Central Sierra. The lightning-caused fire was detected in early June and has grown to 2,959 acres as of Tuesday, June 26. Firefighters made progress meeting containment objectives on the fire yesterday. It is burning in rugged and inaccessible terrain primarily in the ...

CLOVIS – Residents of the mountain area have been greeted the past two mornings with an orange haze and the smell of smoke, though there is no active fire in the immediate area. The smoke is coming from the Lions Fire, which started on the Sierra National Forest around June 1 as a lightning strike, and is burning near the ...

NORTH FORK – Firefighters quickly contained a vegetation fire just off Road 223 this afternoon, stopping it before any structures were damaged. At 5:18 p.m., the lookout at Shuteye reported a column of smoke in the Goat Mountain area. Though the fire was dispatched on Northridge Road, the exact location was called in by neighbors who live along Pine Oak, ...

MARIPOSA – On June 10, the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra’s Founding Music Director and Conductor Les Marsden guest-conducted the Health & Wellness Community Orchestra in Fort Collins, Colo. Marsden had been asked to lead that orchestra in a performance of his “Wilderness – Our Necessary Refuge” from his “Our Nation’s Nature” cycle, heard throughout the Yosemite region in 2016. While being ...