OAKHURST — Yosemite High School won the 2018-2019 Honorable Edward P. Moffat Madera County Mock Trial competition held on Jan. 17, 24 and 26 in the Madera Superior Courthouse. YHS battled Liberty, Madera, and Madera South High Schools in what turned out to be YHS’ second consecutive County championship and 28th win overall in the 35 year history of the ...

Written by William Miller – COARSEGOLD – After years of ground preparation, a long-planned business venture is about to begin at the corner of Highway 41 and Yosemite Springs Parkway. Work is set to begin next week on a service station and 3,000 square-foot convenience store, said property owner Hershel Noonkester during a site visit on Tuesday. He said that ...

Lots and lots of wonderful new snow had recently dumped on our local mountains so you know what we did. We loaded up and headed to one of our favorite places above Shaver Lake to go play. Sure enough, we had a perfect day all to ourselves on the Tamarack Trail. Where: Tamarack SNO-PARK, Sierra National Forest Distance: 5.06 miles ...

Written by Scarlett Bullock – MARIPOSA – The public is invited to attend a field trip to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), hosted by the Yosemite Area Audubon Society, on Saturday, Feb. 9 (postponed from Feb. 2 due to weather). The trip will include viewing thousands of visiting waterfowl, shorebirds, sandhill cranes, Ross/snow geese, hawks, owls and a multitude ...

By Autumn Pecarovich — O’NEALS — The Minarets High School FFA natural resource/forestry and citrus teams competed this month to practice their skills, leaving for their two-day competition on Thursday, Jan. 10. These teams have been practicing weekly and applying themselves with hard work — now, their dedication has been put to the test in these competitions. “I felt like ...

MARIPOSA — The Mariposa County Master Gardeners recently held their annual Awards Banquet to recognize significant community contributions from various Master Gardeners. Prior to awarding the deserving recipients, Mariposa Master Gardeners President Ingrid Angelini held a general meeting for in-house business and discussed future community-purposed events. Heads up, these free and open to the public upcoming events include: ● 1/19/19 Fruit ...

AHWAHNEE — A graduating class of local middle school students is anxiously awaiting news that portable solar power units they made themselves are delivered more than nine thousand miles away to kids they haven’t met, but hope to help. They’re excited because they know they’re making a difference. Eighth graders at Wasuma Elementary School are still talking about the Solar ...

FRESNO – Residents of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District can get their old gas-hogging, high-polluting vehicles checked at the first “Tune In Tune Up” event of 2019 on Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Fresno Fairgrounds. This free event offers emissions testing on a first-come, first-served basis. Car owners whose vehicles fail the emissions test may be eligible ...

It has been a couple of years since I hiked to Stevenson Falls and am revisiting this hike from 2016 because this is the perfect time of the year to go .  . . plus I didn’t have another blog ready for this Sunday. I have updated it a bit from the original blog and reformatted some of the pictures. ...

Many people know me as the “tree-keeper” of Nelder Grove. I have a long family history with that particular grove and it’s really become a part of me. My grandfather worked at what’s now Westfall Ranger Station up by Sugar Pine when my grandparents met. My grandmother worked at the hotel around the corner. They dated for two weeks, got ...