By Anne Guynn — OAKHURST — Yosemite High School (YHS) junior Nicolas Guynn returned on June 30 from a ten-day wrestling tour in Japan with Team USA California’s Cultural Exchange Program. From Tokyo, the thirteen-member team and three coaches flew to Okinawa where they trained and competed for three days. Next, they flew to Kagoshima where they boarded chartered buses, ...

YOSEMITE — The massive tree mortality in the central Sierra and Yosemite National Park is something locals are always well aware of but, for two visitors from Sacramento, the reality hit home in a big way last week. Having spent the day exploring Yosemite National Park on Sunday, July 7, visitors Mike and Debbie Sanchez suddenly found themselves in the ...

COARSEGOLD — Coarsegold is about to have its own local drugstore again. Yosemite Drug, a new, family-run pharmacy will open next month in the Coarsegold Historic Village across from Wild Fig Kitchen, according to the owners of the new business. “We’re going to do a soft open on Monday, August fifth and will hold our official grand opening on August ...

AHWAHNEE — Join friends and neighbors at the Hitching Post on Wednesday, July 17 as the nonprofit group Helping One Woman (HOW) honors Shay Farias. The event begins at 6 p.m. and you’ll be greeted at the door for sign-in. Your reservation will secure a seat for your meal and tables will be shared as the community gathers to support ...

Tommy Duane Chance, 77, of Ventura, CA, passed away peacefully on June 12, 2019 in North Fork, CA after a long illness. Tommy was born on August 27, 1941 in Richmond, IN, but soon moved to Berkeley, CA, where he spent most of his adolescent and teen years. In 1959 and with a patriotism typical of Tommy, he joined the ...

OAKHURST — With the new cabins at Tenaya Lodge already hosting guests and the newly remodeled Jackalopes restaurant open for business, the folks at Tenaya Lodge continue to expand their team. Looking for just the right people to fill the new positions, Tenaya hosts a job fair at their Oakhurst Recruitment Center on Wednesday, July 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 ...

By Bob Labozetta —  What can home gardeners do to help their plants — veggies, landscape plants, shrubs and trees — survive the intense summer heat? Here are some do’s and don’ts of hot weather gardening: Don’t fertilize plants or trees during the hot summer months. The purpose of fertilizers — especially those high in nitrogen — is to help ...

BASS LAKE — About 40 good-hearted local residents volunteered to tidy up around Bass Lake on Friday, July 5, after a local youth minister put out the call to pull on the gloves, grab the trash bags and get busy taking care of the annual post-holiday mess. Youth pastor Tim Miller of The Grove Foursquare Church in Ahwahnee invited the ...

YOSEMITE VALLEY — One of the area’s most spectacular waterways is among the stars of a new series of “forever” stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service. The Merced River is one of 12 U.S. rivers featured in the new “National Wild and Scenic River System” stamp series, which was unveiled and went on sale earlier this summer. The colorful ...

By Ed Bailey — MOUNTAIN AREA — During the first half of 2019, members of the Fresno Realtors Association Multiple Listing Services primarily in the Yosemite Gateway Branch sold 266 mountain area homes (single family residential properties), compared to 285 sold in the same period of time last year. Boundaries for the mountain area include Oakhurst, Ahwahnee, Coarsegold, North Fork, ...