It’s been hot in the Mother Lode and in Central Sierra high country, hot enough that search-and-rescue staff in Yosemite National Park have responded to several recent heat-related incidents involving day-hikers on Half Dome and the Mist Trail that leads to the Half Dome cables.

No new cases of coronavirus were counted in Tuolumne County on Wednesday, while problems with a state data reporting system continued.

The arraignment in adult court for Gage Stokes, one of the two teenage defendants accused of first-degree murder in the August 2019 killing of Dionecia Valencia, was pushed back two weeks Wednesday to Aug. 26.

A former Tuolumne County sheriff’s search-and-rescue volunteer was arraigned a week ago in federal court in Fresno on suspicion of receiving and distributing child pornography, a federal prosecutor said.

Deputies with the Calaveras County Sheriff’s marijuana enforcement team searched four grows last week, cited three people, and seized pot estimated to be worth more than $2.3 million, a sheriff’s sergeant announced this week.

Calaveras County public health staff counted 14 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday afternoon, while their peers in Tuolumne County added four.

A $2.5 million state grant will help the Calaveras County Office of Education, or CCOE, provide mental health support for students in elementary schools, according to an announcement on Tuesday.

A Sonora High School student’s proposed mural on the side of a flower shop in downtown Sonora was unanimously approved by the city’s Planning Commission at a public meeting Monday night.

Public health staff for Tuolumne County counted three new cases of coronavirus over the weekend, bringing the county total to 155 cases and two deaths since the pandemic first took hold in March, with four active cases and one person hospitalized as of Monday afternoon.

A lightning-strike fire discovered more than three weeks ago in Yosemite had grown to more than 50 acres as of Monday morning, National Park Service fire staff said.

A fire sparked by lightning more than two weeks ago east of Dodge Ridge in the Emigrant Wilderness had burned an estimated 10.5 acres as of Sunday evening, Stanislaus National Forest staff said.

Connie Williams had a choice after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gherig’s disease, in April last year.

A second teenager accused of taking part in the killing of Dionecia Valencia almost one year ago will also be tried as an adult, a visiting Tuolumne County Superior Court judge ruled on Friday.

Calaveras County reported 11 new confirmed cases of coronavirus Friday, while Tuolumne County counted five new cases.

A vegetation fire broke out Friday off Highway 120 near Sawmill Mountain Road, about halfway between Rainbow Pool and the northwest entrance to Yosemite National Park, communications staff with the Stanislaus National Forest said.

The California Department of Public Health won’t be adding or removing counties from its so-called COVID-19 monitoring list until technical glitches with the state’s data reporting system are fixed, officials confirmed on Thursday.

A floral mural proposed by a downtown Sonora flower shop is facing opposition from a committee dedicated to historic preservation.

A contractor for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will be replacing a power pole at South Stewart and Church streets in downtown Sonora early Monday morning that’s expected to impact traffic and service to some customers in the area.

A man who was believed to be missing since he went fishing Tuesday near Camp Wolfeboro, 20 miles east of Calaveras Big Trees, was found safe and healthy before 9 a.m. Wednesday near the confluence of the North Fork Stanislaus River and its primary tributary, Highland Creek, a Calaveras Count…

Tuolumne County had no new coronavirus cases for the second straight day as glitches in California’s data system continue to hinder the ability of local health department’s to accurately track the pandemic.

Planners with the City of Sonora and Tuolumne County are seeking public input on two projects intended to expand safe walking and bicycling opportunities in Sonora and Jamestown. They are hosting two community workshops online Thursday afternoon to try to get feedback from residents about wh…

Tuolumne County’s rate of new COVID-19 cases in recent days could be underreported due to technological issues that are preventing local officials from receiving data from certain major labs.

One of more than 20 recent lightning-strike fires in the Stanislaus National Forest continued burning Tuesday about five miles east of Dodge Ridge in the Emigrant Wilderness, Forest Service staff said Tuesday afternoon.

A woman from Hughson was hospitalized Tuesday with moderate injuries she suffered when she lost control of her Camaro and crashed into an oak tree on Highway 108 just west of La Grange Road in Tuolumne County, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson said.

Three new coronavirus cases in Tuolumne County were reported on Monday as the California Public Health Department was “urgently working” to resolve delays in the state’s reporting system.

An illegal campfire is blamed for a blaze that started Sunday afternoon in the Stanislaus National Forest, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

A market on Highway 108 east of Twain Harte is temporarily closed for repairs after an SUV crashed into the front of the store on Sunday.

A Tuolumne County Superior Court judge rejected a plea deal Monday in the sex abuse case involving Amy Denise Emerald, a former Sonora High School varsity girls basketball coach, saying the minimum duration of the negotiated sentence would have been inadequate.

A woman was displaced and her dog perished on Saturday in a fire that destroyed a home near the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora, the city’s fire chief said.

Fire broke out Friday afternoon north of old downtown Angels Camp and north of Utica Park, prompting fire crews, tanker trucks and breathing support techs to scramble from all over Calaveras County to try to protect one of the oldest, most historic towns in the Mother Lode.

Tuolumne County was back in range of being placed on California’s COVID-19 monitoring list on Friday, while Calaveras County had its largest increase of cases in a single reporting period and first nursing home resident to test positive.

Businesses in the unincorporated area of Tuolumne County are now eligible to be reimbursed for up to $2,000 for purchases of personal protective equipment for the coronavirus pandemic made after March 1, as long as they still have the receipts.

One person died and a fire broke out on Friday when a sports utility vehicle tried to pass a big rig hauling a trailer on eastbound Highway 108 east of Knights Ferry, partially blocking the eastbound lanes, personnel with Cal Fire and the California Highway Patrol said.

Those so-called mystery seeds that have arrived in the mailboxes of some Tuolumne County residents and others throughout the United States may be part of a scam to boost product sales on websites like Amazon, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Thursday is the last day for the public to submit comments on the draft environmental impact report for a sprawling resort proposed by a Southern California developer on 64 acres between Groveland and Yosemite National Park.

New coronavirus cases in Tuolumne County have dropped below the California Department of Public Health’s limit for a two-week period that would cause the county to be placed on the state’s monitoring list and not be able to reopen schools on time.

Update 5:45 p.m.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. recently donated $346,100 for projects to protect communities in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties from the threat of wildfire.

Sonora police are seeking information on the whereabouts of a 30-year-old man who is suspected of stabbing another man Saturday in the parking lot of a motel on Stockton Road.

A Valley Springs man was sentenced to five years of probation on Tuesday for embezzling $14,000 in taxpayer money from a federally funded program meant to help homeowners avoid foreclosure after the 2008 financial crisis, according to federal prosecutors.

Three people were injured and two were hospitalized in a two-vehicle crash Tuesday night at the junction of Tulloch Road and Highway 108 in southwest Tuolumne County, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson said Wednesday morning.

Nine more people were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 by Calaveras County public health staff Tuesday, bringing the county’s total to 108 confirmed cases and one death related to the virus.

An unidentified man was found dead shortly after midnight Monday behind the Tuolumne County Senior Center on Greenley Road.

This summer’s fire season is continuing to heat up in the Mother Lode, the Stanislaus National Forest, and up and down California with more fires and more acreage burned statewide so far this year compared to last year, a spokesperson for Cal Fire said Monday.

People at Don Pedro Reservoir helped save a 21-year-old man who almost drowned near the Moccasin boat ramps Sunday.

The first two deaths in Tuolumne County from COVID-19 were announced by the public health department in a news release Monday afternoon.

Sonora police were searching Monday for a man suspected of stabbing another man multiple times in the torso during a verbal altercation about 1 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Sonora Gold Lodge on Stockton Road.

Calaveras County authorities say they eradicated and seized more than 8,600 plants and $1.5 million worth of illegally cultivated pot earlier this month at several unpermitted grow sites, two of which they had previously raided in years past.

Coronavirus cases in Tuolumne County were rising at a higher rate than in Calaveras County, according to numbers from both released Friday afternoon.