MARIPOSA — In the next installment of the Music on the Screen Virtual Concert Series — a pandemic alternative to Music on the Green — the Mariposa County Arts Council and its sponsors present multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter Nicholas Lefler from Murphys, California. Lefler will live stream from the Mariposa Arts Council Facebook page beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday (June 13). A ...

MARIPOSA COUNTY — A fast-moving brush fire near Lake McClure has prompted emergency evacuation orders for residents near Hunters Valley and Detwiler Roads in Mariposa County, according to the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office.Six residences were under mandatory evacuation orders Monday morning, with the fire reportedly just 15 percent contained as of 7 a.m. The blaze, which so far has burned ...

MADERA — Madera County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) reported eight new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday.The latest virus victims, four men and four women, range in age from 20s to 40s. Seven of the new cases were contracted via person-to-person transmission and the source of the eighth case is “under investigation,” according to MCDPH.With Saturday’s newest cases, Madera County ...

YOSEMITE — Citing “high fire danger” and “enhanced risk to the public, employees and first responders” during the COVID-19 pandemic, Yosemite National Park is enacting park-wide fire restrictions “to reduce the threat of human-caused wildfires,” stated a press release issued late this week by park officials.Yosemite begins its “phased” reopening today (June 5), allowing access to the Yosemite Wilderness to ...

MADERA — Madera County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) reported 14 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, capping the single-worst week for new cases since the pandemic began. Since Monday, county officials have confirmed 49 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases countywide to 155.Testing of county residents for coronavirus has increased substantially in the past two weeks, ...

MOUNTAIN AREA — Construction work on Beasore Road above Bass Lake will begin on Wednesday (June 10), with paving planned to take place on the road beginning approximately one mile past the Upper Chiquito Bridge. Motorists can expect up to two-hour traffic delays during the project — “and a lot of construction equipment traffic traveling along Beasore Road,” said a ...

AHWAHNEE — Avery Bunnell, a 16-year-old sophomore at Yosemite High School, is doing his part to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the crisis began, Bunnell, who lives in Ahwahnee, has raised $41,000 for the Madera County Food Bank and $7,000 for Manna House of Oakhurst. He has also collected some 3,000 KN95 surgical masks for area health care workers and ...

MADERA — Madera County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) confirmed 12 more new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, adding to the dozen cases reported Wednesday — with the past 48 hours seeing the single-largest two-day spike of new cases since the pandemic began in March.The county has now reported a total of 141 cases, with 49 of those cases currently ...

MADERA — Madera County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) confirmed 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday afternoon just 24 hours after reporting the county’s third coronavirus-related fatality, a woman in her 80s who died Monday night at Saint Agnes Hospital. Wednesday’s latest victims — five males and seven females — all contracted the virus through person-to-person contact, according to ...

SACRAMENTO — The California State Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday (June 2) in the long-running case known as the United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria v Newsom.While the Auburn Indians and a number of other California casino tribes continue to oppose the Mono’s 20-year effort to build a casino and hotel off Highway 99 near Madera, since ...