YOSEMITE — Yosemite National Park is pleased to announce that the Big Oak Flat road will reopen to all vehicular traffic at 5 a.m. on Monday, May 1. Visitors entering the park via Highway 120 West will once again be able to drive via Big Oak Flat road to Yosemite Valley. Road work will still be underway when the road reopens. Visitors ...

OAKHURST — There are still a few spots open for the Reforestation Workshop, available to private forest land owners and foresters on Thursday, Apr. 27, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Oakhurst Community Library. Cal Fire, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and UC Extension, in partnership with Madera County District 5 Supervisor Tom Wheeler’s office, will be hosting ...

MADERA COUNTY — Sheriff Jay Varney will have the honor of hosting Madera County’s 10th Annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony on May 9, at Courthouse Park. Representatives from law enforcement agencies throughout Madera County will attend to honor fallen peace officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. The Madera County Sheriff’s Office invites the citizens ...

CENTRAL SIERRA —  Recent rains have been a welcome sight to drought parched California, but the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) firefighters are not letting their guard down. Cal Fire’s Defensible Space Inspectors (DSI) will be visiting homes within the State Responsibility Area (SRA) to enforce the Defensible Space code, Public Resource Code (PRC) 4291. It requires ...

MARIPOSA COUNTY — The Mariposa County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) is excited to offer a new tree mortality assistance program to qualified Mariposa County residents. This program will improve the fire safety of senior citizen, disabled, or financially-disadvantaged households who are unable to afford the costs associated with removing hazardous trees that directly threaten their primary home. The program will ...

OAKHURST/MARIPOSA — When thousands of people were suddenly unable to connect to the internet this past week, phones began ringing at Sierra Tel — the local internet provider hit with a malicious hack of one brand of modems. The service interruptions reportedly began as early as last Friday evening for some, and Sierra Tel became aware of the problem on ...

COARSEGOLD — For nearly a month now, one local man has been concerned about conditions in Coarsegold Creek. Knowing that heavy rains this winter and spring may have caused some septic systems to be overwhelmed, he wants to spread the word that the creek may be contaminated, and people nearby may want to check their septic systems and possibly avoid the creek ...

OAKHURST — Sierra Tel has announced that malicious hacking appears to have been at the root of problems experienced by internet customers over the last two days. “We are aware of a malicious hacking event that started yesterday, Apr. 10, which has affected and in many cases temporarily disabled modems in many Sierra Tel customers’ homes,” say company officials. “We ...

BASS LAKE — Last week, the County of Madera hosted its two-day Management Workshop in Bass Lake, Calif., which was titled, “United into the Future.” The annual workshop, held this year on Apr. 5 and 6, gives County staff a chance to share the challenges and successes of the past year, and plan the way forward in providing better service ...

OAKHURST — Sierra Tel is offering up pizza and cookies as part of their customer service plan today, after more than 30 hours of interrupted internet for some customers. Many residents began to experience technical problems with internet connections on Monday morning, Apr. 10, and the number of people having difficulties grew throughout the day. “We are currently experiencing an issue that could ...