One new case of COVID-19 was counted Thursday in Tuolumne County, while the ongoing pandemic passed the grim milestone of 600,000 deaths across the United States attributed to the coronavirus since early 2020.

A fire broke out Thursday afternoon in a home on Dragoon Circle above Snell Street, one occupant and at least one pet dog escaped, and firefighters battled the blaze in heat wave temperatures.

A new Harbor Freight Tools store opened on Tuesday in the Sonora Plaza shopping center at 760 Mono Way and has a grand opening scheduled for 8 a.m. July 3.

Two “unofficial” cooling centers will be open today and Friday in Sonora, despite current and anticipated temperatures over the next few days apparently not meeting the trigger points in Tuolumne County’s extreme weather plan for opening cooling centers.

Tuolumne County confirmed its first “breakthrough” case of someone who was fully vaccinated testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, while Calaveras County had no new cases to report for the second day in a row.

A public swimming pool in Twain Harte has reopened and other summer programs through the Tuolumne County Recreation Department have started taking registrations despite ongoing struggles with finding seasonal part-time workers.

Calaveras and Tuolumne counties announced on Tuesday that designated cooling centers and public buildings will be open for an anticipated triple-digit heat wave that’s currently forecast to impact the area through Saturday.  

Young student-artists from Soulsbyville, Summerville and Sonora elementary schools were honored Friday morning for their entries in a Woodsy Owl poster contest sponsored by the Tuolumne County Garden Club and the California Garden Club.

Tuolumne County announced a 71st death from COVID-19 and five new cases on Tuesday as California lifted the bulk of remaining pandemic-related restrictions on businesses and daily life.

Runoff from the South Fork Stanislaus watershed stopped spilling at Lyons Reservoir on Monday — the earliest end-of-spill date on record — and while a Tuolumne Utilities District engineer said the annual water supply for more than 40,000 Tuolumne County residents is secure, he warned earlier…

Photos from graduation ceremonies for Sonora High School on June 3, Summerville High School on June 4, Tioga High School on June 2, and Don Pedro High School on June 4.

A 70th coronavirus death and four new cases were announced Monday in Tuolumne County, while Calaveras County added one new case.

A Crystal Falls man who pleaded guilty to 37 criminal charges that included forcible rape and violent sex crimes with multiple teenage victims as young as 14 years old was sentenced to serve 30 years in state prison on Monday.

A daughter of Calaveras County turned UCLA student will compete to become Miss California on the platform of LGBTQ rights and inclusion for people with disabilities — two characteristics that she said have defined her identity. 

A high-pressure system to the east is expected to bring scorching hot daytime highs from desert areas like Death Valley to the Mother Lode this week, with triple-digits possible in Sonora and other foothill towns four days in a row or more.

Outdoor dining could become a lasting feature in the City of Sonora long after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, though it will look different than how it’s been for the past year.

Sonora community radio station programmer and board member David Allen Simerley has his own stories about encounters with unidentified flying objects.

Two new cases of COVID-19 were counted Friday in Tuolumne County, while one new case was counted in Calaveras County.

Measure V’s fate was sealed Tuesday night the moment that the initial batch of results was released, with more than two-thirds of Tuolumne County voters who cast a ballot saying “no” to the proposed parcel tax for funding fire services.

A dangerous early fire season, increasing fire dangers, dry fuels, and memories of the devastating 2015 Butte Fire in Calaveras County prompted the Board of Supervisors at a public meeting on Tuesday in San Andreas to ban fireworks countywide until Nov. 30 as an urgency ordinance.

Alyssa Milano, a 48-year-old actress and outspoken progressive activist originally from the Bensonhurst neighborhood in New York City's Brooklyn borough, has told The Hill news outlet in the nation’s capital she is considering a possible run against Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, in Calif…

Four new cases of COVID-19 were counted Thursday in Tuolumne County, while one new case was counted in Calaveras County.

Tuolumne County Supervisor Ryan Campbell recalled the devastation of the 2013 Rim Fire and the importance of new projects such as the community resilience center in Tuolumne in a speech Tuesday afternoon at a ceremonial groundbreaking for the federal grant funded project.

Calaveras County had three new cases of COVID-19 to report on Wednesday, while Tuolumne County had none, and the California Department of Public Health released new rules for mask-wearing that will take effect on Tuesday when the state lifts most coronavirus-related restrictions.

Sonora resident Travis Flower, a potential recruit to the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office, raced 40 yards and bounded over a 6-foot-wall at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds Friday morning while Sheriff Bill Pooley, Sgt. Robert Nikiforuk and nine other prospective deputy applicants looked on. 

An effort to provide additional funding for fire protection services in Tuolumne County was rejected by voters in an all-mail special election on Tuesday, according to preliminary results released shortly after the deadline to cast ballots at 8 p.m.

Tuolumne and Calaveras counties remained in the orange tier for moderate risk of exposure COVID-19 on Tuesday, one week before California’s four-tiered Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening system was scheduled to end.

The all-mail Measure V special election that ends at 8 p.m. tonight is turning out to be one of the lowest turnout affairs that Debi Bautista, Tuolumne County’s registrar of voters, has seen in at least 25 years.

Tuolumne County Superior Court Judge Donald Segerstrom scheduled a trial date in March next year for a Sonora man accused of second-degree murder in the 2019 death of 23-month-old Waterford toddler Koltyn Joshua Sparks.

Tuolumne County had four new COVID-19 cases over the weekend and Calaveras had two, public health departments in each reported on Monday,

A woman from Des Moines, Iowa, died Saturday after a vehicle driven by a man from Monrow, Georgia, veered into her lane and crashed into her head-on, an incident news release from the California Highway Patrol’s San Andreas-area office stated on Monday. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that the state would allow restaurants and food-serving bars to continue to-go cocktail service and outdoor dining expansions after the planned June 15 statewide reopening.

The Tuolumne Utilities District has selected Don Perkins, the operations director for TUD, to serve as the interim general manager until a permanent General Manager is selected. 

Two more unvaccinated Tuolumne County residents tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, while Calaveras County had one new case.

Public swimming pools and other summer recreation programs budgeted and staffed by the Tuolumne County Recreation Department are on temporary hold due to staffing issues that include COVID-19 concerns, Eric Aitken, the county recreation supervisor, said Wednesday.

Dead fuels like tinder-dry grasses combined with increasingly hotter and drier weather conditions have prompted Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit personnel to move to peak engine crew staffing, while National Park Service fire personnel in Yosemite have declared the official start of fire sea…

Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest are seeking commentary from the public on their plan to restore wetlands in the Ackerson Meadow, which they said have been drained as a result of a century of domestic water diversion. 

The Brentwood Police Department is seeking any potential alleged victims in the Mother Lode of an Angels Camp man who was arrested in Contra Costa County last month on suspicion of sex crimes with minors.

No new cases of COVID-19 were counted Thursday in Tuolumne County, while six new cases were counted in Calaveras County.

Nearly 300 students in Tuolumne County from Sonora High School and Summerville High School are graduating this week and administrators noted a few students with unique and extra-curricular achievements in their post-graduation plans.

Tuolumne County added two additional newly reported coronavirus deaths from April and May to its total on Wednesday, in addition to one new case.

A boulder or boulders fell Sunday at The Grotto, injuring three people at the popular climbing spot on a side of Table Mountain outside Jamestown, and personnel from Cal Fire, the county fire department, the sheriff's office, county ambulance, and at least one medevac helicopter crew respond…

Sonora resident Tom Griffiths thought he and his father were going to lose everything on the Columbia Way property that’s been in their family since the 1860s when fire broke out shortly before noon on Sunday.

Tuolumne County reported two new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and none over the holiday weekend, while Calaveras County added 10 since Saturday.