OAKHURST – It’s at this time of year that people who feed hummingbirds think about putting away their feeders for the winter. After all, rufous hummingbirds, those aggressive coppery dazzlers, have come and gone, and the fall migration is essentially over. So why continue to leave out your feeders? Local resident Barbara Robinson, a USGS Master Hummingbird Bander, will shed ...

MADERA COUNTY – Sheriff John Anderson announced that the Sheriff’s Department’s drug take-back program held over the weekend hauled in just under 250 pounds of drugs. Two booths were set up in Madera County to accommodate citizens, one in Oakhurst and the other in Madera, on Saturday, Oct 26.

SACRAMENTO – The California Highway Patrol (CHP) announces that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has awarded the CHP overall first place in the 2012 National Law Enforcement Challenge (NLEC). The NLEC is a nationwide law enforcement awards program that recognizes excellence in traffic safety, with the goal of reducing the number of tragedies that occur on our ...

MADERA COUNTY – Agents attached to the Madera Narcotic Enforcement Team (MADNET) just completed an emergency marijuana eradication mission at a home in Oakhurst located less than a mile away from two public schools, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Early this morning, Wednesday, Oct. 30, MADNET agents served a search warrant at a home located on Indian Springs Road in ...

MADERA COUNTY – After weeks of testimony in what was described by Judge Dale Blea as “the longest preliminary hearing I’ve ever been involved in,” the court heard closing arguments in the arson case against Kenneth Jackson and Allison Waterman on Monday, Oct. 28. Jackson and Waterman were arrested on June 25 and charged with 31 counts of arson and ...

MADERA COUNTY – The first heavy rainfall of the season contributed to slick roads, leading to multiple accidents in the mountain area yesterday. At 1:49 p.m. Olin Wilson, 78, of Mariposa, was southbound on Highway 49 near Knickerbocker Road just north of Ahwahnee, when his Toyota Camry skidded on the hail-covered road and overturned down an embankment, according to CHP.

OAKHURST – Firefighters were prepared this evening for a particular type of call. With temperatures dropping, and homeowners lighting the first fire of the season in the woodstove, there was the potential for a structure fire. Just before 9 p.m. on Monday, Oct 28, the call came in for a fire at a home on Terri Lane just east of ...

MADERA – More than 500 Academic Decathletes from throughout California attended the seventh annual Madera County Office of Education Academic Decathlon Lecture on Oct. 24. Students attended sessions on economics, literature, music, science, social science, and speech to help them prepare for this year’s Academic Decathlon. The 2014 Decathlon topic is World War I. Students from Riverside to Tuolumne Counties ...

MADERA – The Madera County Superior Court has imposed sentence on Johnathan Warren for his assault causing the death of Paul Carranza, according to Michael R. Keitz, District Attorney for Madera County. On a July evening last year, Carranza, 57, was at Courthouse Park with friends when a fight broke out between Warren, 41, and Theodore Hernandez, 40, all of ...

MADERA COUNTY – Sheriff John Anderson is warning residents about a crew of con artists impersonating United States Drug Enforcement Agents. “These people are making cold calls to our citizens, telling them that they are subject to arrest for purchasing prescription medications on-line,” says Anderson.