Data on serious COVID-19 cases from Adventist Health Sonora during the recent, ongoing delta variant surge continues to show unvaccinated people are the vast majority of those requiring hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit, and being placed on ventilators.

People of all ages brought signs Saturday to an event in Courthouse Square billed as a Worldwide Rally for Freedom in Sonora, with hand-scrawled messages that ranged from “Vaccines Kill!” to “Corrupt Radical Teachers.”

A fundraiser held at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora on Saturday raised approximately $30,000 for victims of the Aug. 26 Washington Fire, organizer Ron Hamilton told The Union Democrat.

The firefighting community in the Mother Lode and beyond is mourning the loss of Allen Wesley Johnson, a retired U.S. Forest Service firefighter from Groveland who died of COVID-19 complications on Aug. 31, despite being fully vaccinated. 

Children at Tenaya Elementary School and teens at Tioga High School got to meet Sagen Maddalena on Friday, a homecoming kickoff for the 28-year-old world-class U.S. Olympics and Army sharpshooter who grew up in Groveland and became the world’s fifth-best woman in 50m smallbore rifle marksman…

Certain employees in Tuolumne County government will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or seek approval of a religious exemption, after the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday learned it couldn’t flout a recent California state health officer’s order that applies to health care workers.

Tuolumne County added 23 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, while Calaveras County added 52 new cases.

A 17-year-old male from Soulsbyville crashed a truck on Highway 108 in Mi-Wuk Village Monday night allegedly while under the influence of alcohol, killing a 19-year-old male passenger from Sonora, the California Highway Patrol said in a news release.

There were four additional deaths from COVID-19 in Calaveras County and 38 new cases from Saturday through Monday, while Tuolumne County had 69 new cases and no additional deaths.

Four armed, masked men broke into a Sonora home and subdued the occupants before making off with jewelry, paintings, cash, a wallet and firearms, the Sonora Police Department said Monday.

Terry Carney, 71, showed the head of his well Thursday and said it dried up about two weeks after the July 9 magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck near Walker, Nevada and was felt by people up and down the Sierra Nevada and as far west as the Bay Area.

A house fire near downtown Sonora on Sunday afternoon was quickly knocked down with the help of Sonora Fire Department firefighters.

Concord-born brothers Kyle and Adam Newacheck are most well-known for their contributions to the Comedy Central slacker-sitcom "Workaholics,” but their newest collaborative project drew them to their childhood vacation cabin in Long Barn, where they recently wrapped up filming on a psycholog…

There were 17 new cases of COVID-19 in Tuolumne County and 17 more in Calaveras County on Friday, public health agencies in Sonora and San Andreas said.

Nearly watching the home he grew up in on Golf Links Road burn in the Washington Fire on Aug. 26 reminded Ron Hamilton of the inherent dangers that come with living in a fire-prone area like Tuolumne County, but seeing the community rally afterward to help those who lost everything confirmed…

California Highway Patrol Officer Joseph Boberg, known as a gregarious, down-to-earth and duty-driven member of the San Andreas area unit, died at 42 on Sept. 7 from complications due to COVID-19.

Local conservatives were licking their wounds on Wednesday after a rout in the statewide gubernatorial recall vote, though pleased by a successful showing in the Mother Lode. 

Another alleged victim of an accused serial rapist has come forward while he awaits trial behind bars on $1 million bail.

There were 39 new cases of COVID-19 in Tuolumne County and 31 in Calaveras County on Thursday, county public health agencies in Sonora and San Andreas said.

People who live in the 209 area code — including residents of Tuolumne and Calaveras counties — are going to have to switch to 10-digit or 11-digit calling by Oct. 24, and nobody will be able to make calls by simply entering seven-digit numbers any more, according to the California Public Ut…

Tuolumne County supervisors approved a policy on Tuesday requiring certain county employees to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or get tested for the virus weekly, as well as a letter asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to exempt people who have previously caught the disease from any vaccine …

An issue with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. equipment involving a broken conductor resulted in 658 customers in East Sonora losing power Thursday morning, according to the utility.

A 24-year-old man from Westland, Michigan, died in a car crash Wednesday in Groveland.

There were 33 new cases of COVID-19 in Tuolumne County and 23 in Calaveras County on Wednesday, according to county public health agencies in Sonora and San Andreas.

Local veterans, their families and others gathered together at the Global War on Terrorism Memorial near the Tuolumne Veterans Memorial Hall on Saturday to remember and pay their respect to the many lives lost 20 years earlier on Sept. 11, 2001.

A new Adventist Health Sonora clinic in Angels Camp gives residents of Calaveras County an opportunity to access specialty care closer to home, the hospital announced Monday in a news release.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared victory in California’s gubernatorial recall election on Tuesday, despite a majority of Mother Lode voters wanting the opposite result.

Tuolumne County officials are touting the acquisition of a $150,000 “state-of-the-art” pothole patching machine that’s expected to help fix deteriorating roads.

Tuolumne County announced the death of another resident to COVID-19 and 36 new cases on Tuesday.

Julia and Geoff Falkner, of Sonora, dropped off their ballots at the Tuolumne County Elections Office about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, voting to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom and elect Republican radio host Larry Elder to replace him.

There were three more COVID-19 deaths recorded in the Mother Lode from Saturday through Monday, two in Tuolumne County and one in Calaveras. There were also 125 new cases recorded, 72 in Tuolumne County and 53 in Calaveras.

A comment from Sonora Mayor Matt Hawkins at a city council meeting on Tuesday about the COVID-19 virus being spread via flatulence has spawned a public response ranging from mockery to disgust. 

Bail for a man accused of raping homeless women in Sonora and Turlock was increased to $1 million at his arraignment Thursday afternoon in Tuolumne County Superior Court, the Sonora Police Department announced Friday.

A 31-year-old man from Denair in Stanislaus County has been reported missing in the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite National Park, and Yosemite Search and Rescue personnel are seeking information.

Dr. Stephanie Stuart, emergency room physician and chief of medical staff for Adventist Health Sonora and its outpatient clinics, is among the health care professionals who treat about 100 patients a day in the hospital’s emergency department. 

Hailey Hurst spent the past year working hard to protect her fellow Tuolumne County residents from COVID-19, only to have her own life cut short by the deadly virus last Friday.

There were 28 new COVID-19 cases in Tuolumne County on Friday and 25 new coronavirus cases in Calaveras County.

John Stivers, owner of the Lake Tulloch Campground in Jamestown who went missing for a month under mysterious circumstances, is in fragile condition, but safe, his wife told The Union Democrat on Wednesday. 

Almost half of the registered voters in Tuolumne County have turned in ballots for the upcoming California gubernatorial recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, Tuolumne County Clerk and Auditor-Controller Debi Bautista told The Union Democrat on Wednesday. 

Update at 1:35 p.m. Friday: Power was restored to all affected customers, according to an email sent by PG&E spokeswoman Megan McFarland about 1:30 p.m. Friday.

There were 43 new COVID-19 cases in Tuolumne County on Thursday and 19 new coronavirus cases in Calaveras County.

When Stanislaus River archivist Martin Blake transferred the contents of his "Save the Stanislaus" museum to the special collections of the Columbia College Library last week, he told librarian Brian Greene a story that Greene had never heard before.

At least one Tuolumne County employee is among more than 20 COVID-19 deaths recorded in the county since Aug. 1, yet the Board of Supervisors for the county’s government had a four-hour discussion Tuesday of coronavirus policy that highlighted lack of consensus among elected leadership, refl…

Summerville High School sophomore Ashlyn Keith was looking for a way to honor the 13 American service members who were killed in an Aug. 26 suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.

An Adventist Health Sonora employee and Stanislaus County resident who was arrested by Sonora police Tuesday on suspicion of raping a local homeless woman in June had also been arrested on similar charges just a week before in Modesto.  

There were two more COVID-19 deaths and 24 new cases in Calaveras County on Wednesday, while Tuolumne County had 18 new cases as the current surge continued this week in the Mother Lode.

Highway 108 will be fully closed near Sonora at times on Thursday for blasting work related to an ongoing $8 million Caltrans project at Peaceful Oak Road.