This Christmas will be the first that 31-year-old Resiliency Village resident Christopher Smith has celebrated with a roof over his head since he aged out of the foster care system at 18.

A 17-year-old student at Cassina High School in Sonora was arrested Friday on suspicion of threatening to commit a shooting on the campus, the Sonora Police Department announced in a news release that afternoon.

Participating businesses in Tuolumne County that are currently accepting RAD cards (in alphabetical order) as of Thursday, Dec. 2. Check the list on the RAD Card app because more are being added everyday: 

Tuolumne County has sold out of $455,755 worth of electronic gift cards that automatically double the amount of money consumers can spend at locally owned businesses, less than two weeks after they first went on sale the weekend before Thanksgiving.

A virtual town hall meeting held Tuesday night between Sonora Elementary School officials and Aegis Treatment Centers representatives over an opioid treatment clinic slated to open next March on Pauline Court, less than 50 feet from the learning institution, seemed to calm some fears and ans…

Mother Lode Job Training will host a job fair featuring more than 25 Tuolumne County employers from 1-5 p.m. Friday at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds at 220 Southgate Drive in Sonora

Tuolumne County added 16 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, with 15 of those individuals unvaccinated and one who was vaccinated.

Volunteers at Adventist Health Sonora presented a $100,000 check to benefit the Health Pavilion and Diana J. White Cancer Institute today on Giving Tuesday, Nov. 30.

A project called “I Matter” at two Calaveras County schools is helping students feel valued, build a sense of connection with each other and to the community, and highlight individual worth. This first-time project has had a positive impact on students, staff and family members as they view …

The deaths of three more unvaccinated Tuolumne County residents to COVID-19 were announced Wednesday, with the deceased individuals identified all as men in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, respectively.

Nonprofit organizations and community groups that primarily serve Tuolumne County residents can begin applying for grants through a new $500,000 program funded by money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

There’s a showdown brewing between the Pine Mountain Lake Association, which represents owners of hundreds of homes and other properties in a gated community outside Groveland, and the Groveland Community Services District, which has a new tax plan focused on raising revenue from constructio…

Santa Claus made an appearance in Sonora Friday night at the end of the 38th annual Historic Downtown Sonora Christmas Parade, which drew thousands of spectators to the city's streets.

Family ties and community support are the reasons Van’s Cabinets & Doors in Sonora is celebrating 50 years in business, weathering the economic downturn in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic over the past few years. 

Smoke is expected to be visible for the next day or two from a 58-acre prescribed burn ignited Tuesday by the U.S. Forest Service atop Mount Provo about a mile east of Ponderosa Hills.

Tuolumne County added 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, with 14 of those individuals unvaccinated and seven of them vaccinated.

Tuolumne County’s 38th annual Community Christmas Eve Day Dinner will be a curbside event this year.

A 32-year-old man is accused of trying to kill two men he lived with in Sonora on the night of Thanksgiving who were described as elderly in a news release from the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday.

In their first COVID-19 updates since Wednesday, Tuolumne County added 39 new cases of COVID-19 and Calaveras County added 34 on Monday.

Thanksgiving weekend incidents in Tuolumne County included the death of a woman Saturday in a medical emergency while driving on Hess Avenue; a half-day closure of a portion of Highway 108 due to a multi-vehicle crash that resulted in a hazardous chemical spill; and two people safely escapin…

A Thanksgiving meal served by volunteers Wednesday afternoon at Woods Creek Rotary Park in Sonora might be the best that 60-year-old Terry Ramirez will eat all month.

The California Highway Patrol is ramping up efforts to crack down on organized retail theft through a statewide task force created in 2019 following several recent high-profile burglaries through the state.

Sonora equestrian Teresa Job’s best friend has four legs, a wild mane, striped hooves and is a 12-year-old sorrel leopard Appaloosa named Duke, who despite his failing eyesight recently managed to put on the performance of a lifetime and win big — most likely for the last time.

The past year-and-a-half has been hard on businesses in downtown Sonora, prompting numerous business owners to try new strategies to turn profits and make ends meet in the midst of an ongoing pandemic.

Multiple thefts on the same day and shoplifting in teams may seem like life in a big city, but for some local businesses in downtown Sonora, it is an increasing reality as Christmas approaches.

This year’s 38th annual Historic Downtown Sonora Christmas Parade, which seemed in limbo at times earlier this year due to the ongoing pandemic, will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, and police expect the event to bring thousands of people to downtown Sonora.

In 1776, Benjamin Franklin proposed the wild turkey as a national symbol, considering the proud, adaptable turkey to be more respectable and magnificent than the bald eagle. As we all know, the eagle won out.  

Thanksgiving can be a time of joyous celebration or a disaster waiting to happen, and Tuolumne County officials want everyone to stay safe. 

In an annual tradition, students from Sierra Waldorf School on Rawhide Road in Jamestown gathered together Friday, Nov. 19, to celebrate the act of giving. 

The Union Democrat's A and B sections will be combined into one section in both the print and electronic editions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday due to issues with the press in Marysville that normally prints the newspaper. This will only be temporary, and we will go back to our normal lay…

A rare, intrepid male gray wolf from Oregon, which visited Tuolumne County at least two times early this year and ventured as far south as Ventura County in September, was found dead two weeks ago next to Interstate 5 near Lebec in Kern County, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife …

There were 13 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday in Tuolumne County. Seven of those were unvaccinated individuals and six of them were vaccinated, according to Tuolumne County Public Health.

Three more COVID-19 deaths in Calaveras County and one in Tuolumne County that were all announced on Tuesday prompted heartfelt pleas from public health administrators days before Thanksgiving.

People with smartphones can download the app to buy economic stimulus cards that double in value when purchased and can only be spent at eligible, participating Tuolumne County businesses.

Adventist Health Sonora had 77 patients admitted with COVID-19 in October, and 17 of them died, Dr. Alex Heard, chief medical officer at Adventist Health Sonora, said in an interview Friday morning at the only hospital in Tuolumne County.

The Sonora City Council approved a $200,000 project at a public meeting last week to build a new basketball court at Woods Creek Rotary Park, resurface cushioned flooring in the playground area, replace a roof structure over picnic tables, and add more benches and lighting.

Tuolumne County added two more COVID-19 deaths Monday, a woman and a man, both in their 70s and unvaccinated. No other information was released about their deaths, including when and where they died.

A new Sonora clinic offering medication, therapy and treatment for those dealing with opioid addiction is slated to open in March on Pauline Court — a stone's throw from Sonora Elementary School. 

Data released by the California Department of Public Health earlier this month showed total deaths through September for all causes in Tuolumne County were outpacing all of the previous seven years. 

Tuolumne County added 26 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, afflicting 19 unvaccinated individuals and seven people who were vaccinated, while Calaveras County had 46 new cases.

There is more to the McDonald’s slogan “I’m lovin’ it” for Sonora area manager Ron Richards, of Sonora Hills, who at 16 took a job at the Golden Arches in Modesto and will retire on Friday after 47 years of working for the fast food giant.

Tuolumne County will hold a webinar Monday morning to provide more information about an upcoming electronic card program aimed at supporting local businesses reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic by doubling the amount their customers can spend.

Doing business in downtown Sonora has always been challenging due to space limitations in front of and behind buildings on Washington Street and its parallel arteries — Stewart and Green streets — placing value on sidewalk space and parking spaces adjacent to and close to storefronts.

A trio of Sonora-based teens who are active with their 4-H club are planning to stage a fundraiser this weekend to finance a project honoring military veterans by placing wreaths on more than 350 graves at Carter’s Cemetery in the township of Tuolumne.

Tuolumne County Superior Court will soon lose two longtime judges who have decided to hang up their robes for good.

Tuolumne County Public Health tallied six new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, afflicting six unvaccinated individuals, and it was the county’s lowest daily case total since July 20, according to data compiled by the county.

The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday morning to approve COVID-19 mandatory vaccination and testing policies for county employees who fall under California's vaccine mandate for workers in health care facilities, despite the appearance of a person portraying himself as a…

The Sonora City Council voted unanimously 4-0 Monday, with one member absent, to approve entering into negotiations with the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California to staff a new 24-hour fire station the tribe is planning to finance, build and equip.

Tuolumne County’s COVID-19 death toll climbed to 138 on Wednesday as an unvaccinated man in his 50s became the latest resident to die amid the ongoing pandemic.

There was so much hugging taking place as people left the ticket booth and entered the stands for a destruction derby on Saturday at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds in Sonora that it could have been easy to mistake it for a family gathering.