OAKHURST – Gentle voices, simple songs, and sincere kindness with calm, focused bedside attention can bring ease and comfort to the dying, say organizers of Threshold Choir, a compassionate network of primarily women’s a cappella choirs whose members lift their voices in song for people in hospice and for others at the thresholds of life. An Oakhurst chapter is now ...

OAKHURST – Start the new year by resolving to learn the life-saving skill of CPR. Register now to participate when Bill and Gina Hartley of Minarets Medical Education teach a free class on Saturday, Jan. 16, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sierra Senior Center. The gracious folks at the Senior Center have offered the use of their ...

MOUNTAIN AREA – A little bit of rain is likely in the Oakhurst area overnight, says the National Weather Service in Hanford, California, starting after 4 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 28, with a 60 percent chance of precipitation amounting to less than a tenth of an inch. Rain showers are predicted to turn to rain and snow showers, with fairly ...

MADERA COUNTY — If you got pulled over by a Sheriff’s deputy today, you may have gotten a boost of Christmas cheer, rather than a citation. That’s what happened to Melinda Kerby of North Fork, who was on her way to bible study, when she was stopped for a burned out license plate light. Instead of a ticket, she was ...

MOUNTAIN AREA – The first full day of winter was a wet one, and while a flash flood watch expired at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 22, area residents can look forward to just a little break in the rain on Wednesday, Dec. 23, before another system, colder but drier, moves in on Thursday, ending on Friday. According to the ...

OAKHURST – More than twenty years after local activists fought hard to support the passing of legislation that would guarantee the expansion of higher education in Oakhurst, a new struggle for the town’s share of a facilities bond proposed by the State Center Community College District (SCCCD) is now heating up. At stake is Oakhurst’s piece of a potential $485 ...

SIERRA FOOTHILLS — The National Weather Service in Hanford has issued a flash flood watch for Central California, including Madera, Mariposa and Fresno County foothills through Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 22. This advisory is mainly for the Rim Fire and El Portal fire burn areas, but extends from Yosemite to Kings Canyon. Heavy rain may cause areas of flooding and debris ...

MADERA COUNTY – Following are details from the Madera County Sheriff’s Office of reports taken locally during the week of Monday, Dec. 7 through Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015. Oakhurst person deceased On Monday, Dec. 7 at 00:28 a.m. deputies responded to the 40000 blk of CA-41 for a report of a deceased person. An investigation was conducted and found that ...

SACRAMENTO – As California’s severe drought and bark beetle epidemic has left millions of trees dead, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection last week voted to extend a drought mortality exemption to the state’s tree removal permitting process. “With massive tree mortality across California, this exemption streamlines the process for landowners who are working to reduce their wildfire ...

Submitted by Justine Reynolds NORTH FORK – A project that is expected to play an important role in dealing with the devastating tree mortality in the Sierra and provide much-needed jobs in the area has taken another big step forward. On Friday, Dec. 11, North Fork Community Power closed on New Markets Tax Credit financing with Fresno-based Central Valley New ...