OAKHURST — The Central California Animal Disaster Team (CCADT) is preparing for the wildland fire season, and recruiting volunteer responders to assist with emergency animal sheltering and evacuation of companion pets, livestock, and horses. Volunteers are required to attend a workshop scheduled for Thursday, Mar. 31 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Yosemite Gateway Association of Realtors (YGAR), located ...

Written by Tally Scott O’NEALS — The story of Cinderella is a family classic that many people, children and adults alike, are familiar with. This April, Minarets High School is putting on a production of Roger and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.” This will be the school’s first-ever musical and will feature a fantastic cast full of students you may already know. The ...

NORTH FORK — Local author Gaylen Lee will be sharing stories of the Mono as the featured speaker at the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway Association annual meeting on Wednesday, Apr. 13 at 7 p.m. at the North Fork School. Gaylen is the author of Walking Where We Lived, Memoirs of a Mono Indian Family, and will be speaking on the ...

OAKHURST — Law enforcement K9 teams will be demonstrating their skills for the public during a special event at Oakhurst Community Park on Saturday, Mar. 26, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Madera County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with the Madera County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, has launched a GoFundMe campaign to boost the number of K9 teams available to ...

OAKHURST — Here’s an opportunity to meet your local CHP officers for coffee and conversation. Officers from the California Highway Patrol Oakhurst Area office will be available to sit and chat with community members in an informal, neutral space to discuss local issues, have coffee and build relationships. All community members are invited to attend. The event begins at 7 ...

BONADELLE RANCHOS – With another fire season rapidly approaching, Madera County Fire Department is struggling county-wide to shore up its dwindling numbers of volunteer/Paid Call Firefighters (PCFs). In an effort to bolster the PCF ranks, a recruitment event and open house was held Saturday at Madera County Fire Company 19 in Bonadelle Ranchos. According to Co. 19 PCF Captain Peter ...

NORTH FORK — Madera County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a shooting that took place at about 4 a.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 22, in North Fork. According the the Sheriff’s Office, an unidentified 35-year-old male was the victim of a gunshot wound to the leg and was transported to the Cal Fire Station on Road 200, and airlifted to Community Regional ...

CLOVIS – The Sierra National Forest will resume selling Personal Use Wood Cutting Permits next Friday for the Apr. 1 through Nov. 30 season. All permits will be valid only for Sierra National Forest lands and do not include private property, and will be available at the North Fork, Prather and Clovis Forest Service offices beginning on Friday, Apr. 1. ...

Written by Kaitlin Morgan — O’NEALS — Diseases that have been long eradicated by vaccines have been re-emerging for a variety of reasons around the world. As a result, sophomore students enrolled in Miss Morgan’s World History at Minarets High School investigated these reasons as part of their project-based learning about the Industrial Revolution. This knowledge, however, was not kept ...

MADERA COUNTY – A North Fork couple who pleaded guilty in January to killing the husband’s brother back in 2013 have been sentenced to a combined 30 years in prison. On Feb. 22 in Madera Superior Court, Judge Rigby sentenced Marc McMurrain, age 37, to 22 years behind bars for voluntary manslaughter. His wife Jennifer McMurrain, 35, was sentenced to ...