OAKHURST – Many fantasize about riding a motorcycle across the great North American Continent but few actually get to do it. Branches Books and Gifts invites the community to an appearance and book signing on Friday, Mar. 21 at 6 p.m., by author Bill Schoettler, who penned “Alaska and Back on a BMW 1600.” It’s the story of two unlikely ...

MADERA – Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 1981, cordially invites the public to a fundraising dinner for the 2014 Central Valley Honor Flight on Thursday, Mar. 20, at 6:30 p.m. Central Valley Honor Flight raises money to fly veterans to Washington, D.C. to view the monuments erected in their honor.

Turning off your sprinklers after rain falls is the first step to take this spring to conserve water, but there is much more to do in the coming months, according to Chuck Ingels, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sacramento County. “Landscape irrigation represents well over half the water use in the average household,” Ingels said. “There are many proven ways ...

Submitted by Kathy Marks MADERA COUNTY – Sierra Art Trails is kicking off our 2014 activities with a Call to Artists for our first Spring Special Exhibit, “Valley View – Yosemite Trails, Currents, and Visions.” The exhibit is presented in association with the 150th Anniversary Celebration of the Yosemite Grant, signed into law by Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and will ...

MADERA – Coarsegold Elementary School 7th grade and Oak Creek Intermediate School 8th grade teams won the Madera County Academic Pentathlon Math Tournament on Friday, Mar. 14. Oak Creek Intermediate School placed third in the 7th grade competition, and Wasuma Elementary School’s 8th grade team placed second. Coarsegold, Oak Creek and Wasuma brought home 10 of 18 awards, with 14 ...

RAYMOND – District 5 Supervisor Tom Wheeler will be hosting another in his series of Town Hall meetings on Thursday, Mar. 20, this time in Raymond. Wheeler will be designating a portion of the meeting to a Raymond community discussion in order to learn more about the specific challenges and needs of this part of his district. Other meeting topics ...

MADERA COUNTY – Middle school students in the foothills will be putting their minds to the test at this year’s Math Tournament, kicking off Academic Pentathlon season. Students will take three tests on Friday, Mar. 14, at the Madera Center: Individual Endurance, Circuit Training and Relay Race.

When Chris and Cara Christopherson got the diagnosis that their daughter had Type 1 diabetes, they were about to be introduced to their new life, one that bore no resemblance to the life they had known so far. Just before daughter Haley’s third birthday, the symptoms began. Night sweats, frequent and painful urination, always thirsty, exhaustion.

EASTERN MADERA COUNTY – The Coarsegold Historical Society is offering a new tour exploring the local area and its history. On May 17 and again on Sept. 20, The Willow Creek History Tour will explore the Willow Creek area near North Fork and Bass Lake, led by Marcia Penner Freedman, author of Willow Creek History – Tales of Cow Camps, ...

COARSEGOLD – Get ready to be transported back to the dusty days of horses, six-shooters and stages as the Coarsegold Historical Society (CHS) prepares for the wildly popular Stage Route Tour on Apr. 26. CHS offers a 6-hour bus tour that follows the old stage route visiting Coarsegold, the Hills Pride Inn in Knowles, the Raymond Museum, historic Road 600 ...