The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can resume normal activities they did before the start of the pandemic.

Firefighters for the U.S. Forest Service were at the scene of a small blaze Thursday afternoon near Lyons Reservoir, a critical component of the drinking water supply for most Tuolumne County residents.

A Mexican man indicted by a federal grand jury in Fresno last August for marijuana cultivation in the Stanislaus National Forest near Tuolumne pleaded guilty Thursday and agreed to pay more than $45,000 in restitution to the government.

Caltrans announced that Highway 4 over Ebbetts Pass between Calaveras and Alpine Counties was open for the summer season at approximately 4 p.m. Wednesday. 

The Tuolumne County Public Health Department plans to stage a Pfizer coronavirus vaccination clinic this Friday in Sonora, followed by a Johnson & Johnson clinic next Wednesday in Groveland.

The Calaveras County Sheriff's Office on Monday identified a suspect who ambushed and shot a deputy, then took an elderly female hostage at a San Andreas Apartment complex late Thursday night before being killed by gunfire.

Calaveras County’s COVID-19 death toll climbed to 54 on Tuesday as four new cases were also confirmed and Tuolumne County added one new case.

A driver in a Dodge Charger who suffered serious injuries after reportedly running a stop sign between Jamestown and Sonora and crashing into an eastbound big rig on Highway 108 also now faces a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, California Highway Patrol personnel said Tuesday.

A Sonora business owner who lives in Twain Harte is criticizing Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s efforts to reduce wildfire threats in his densely forested neighborhood, at the same time the California Public Utilities Commission is calling out the utility for failing to properly inspect trans…

Yosemite National Park will require visitors who plan to stay overnight on rock climbing routes within the park grounds to obtain overnight wilderness climbing permits beginning on May 21. 

Two COVID-19 deaths announced on Monday brought Tuolumne County’s overall pandemic death toll to 66.

Residents of a homeless encampment known as “Camp Hope” off Stockton Road near downtown Sonora are being given 90 days to relocate due to concerns about health hazards stemming from the former dump that operated on the property decades ago, Tuolumne County officials announced in a news relea…

Federal custodians of the Stanislaus National Forest are planning a series of prescribed burns, weather and fuel moistures permitting, from mid-May into June northeast of Twain Harte near Twain Harte Horsemen’s Camp, Forest Service communications staff said Monday.

Tuolumne and Calaveras counties are both included in a red flag warning from the National Weather Service that’s in effect through 6 p.m. tonight for potentially dangerous fire weather conditions.

Tuolumne County added one new case of COVID-19 on Friday, while Calaveras County added five.

Agents from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control have arrested a Clements bar owner suspected of selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards. 

Middle-school students protested Wednesday at Gold Rush Charter School against the Tuesday firing of teacher Joleen Hammell with less than a month of the academic year remaining, and the principal scheduled a board meeting for 4 p.m. Monday in response to the protest.

Tuolumne County public health officials found out Thursday night that an unvaccinated local resident who tested positive for COVID-19 in late April was infected with the B.1.1.7 strain, also known as the UK variant.

An armed man who reportedly ambushed and shot a Calaveras County Sheriff's Office deputy then took an elderly female hostage at a San Andreas Apartment complex late Thursday night was killed by gunfire after attempts at negotiation and de-escalation broke down.

Tuolumne County reported seven new cases Thursday after having none the previous day, while Calaveras County added another five.

Mike Shaughnessy, acting supervisor for Caltrans District 10 Long Barn and upper Highway 108, moved orange-and-white plastic barriers just after noon Thursday to officially open the road to the top of Sonora Pass for the first time since Caltrans closed it at the beginning of last winter.

Elizabeth “Liz” Bass, Sonora’s first female mayor, with 10 years on the Sonora City Council and eight years on the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors, died Sunday at Adventist Health Sonora, her son said Tuesday. She was 80 years old.

A Tuolumne County murderer who admitted to shooting his brother in the head in 1985 was granted his second bout of parole last week following a nearly six-year return to prison after his first parole release.

Columbia College hosted a drive-through commencement ceremony on Friday for approximately 150 graduates from 2020 and 2021. 

Calaveras County added three new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, and Tuolumne County counted zero new cases of coronavirus.

Most registered voters in Tuolumne County are expected to begin receiving ballots in their mailboxes later this week for an all-mail election on a local measure that would levy a special property tax aimed at providing a dedicated, sustainable source of funding for fire services into the future.

Authorities have drained Crystal Falls Lake, a private, fenced, gated, man-made reservoir off Crystal Falls Drive, to search for the remains of Troy Robert Galloway, a man considered missing for more than five years, since January 2016.

An updated health order from Tuolumne County’s interim health officer released Monday emphasizes looser restrictions for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Calaveras County announced its 53rd death from COVID-19 on Tuesday, in addition to nine new cases. 

A California appellate court released an opinion Wednesday overturning the first-degree murder and kidnapping convictions of Elton Quintin Redick, who was found guilty by a Tuolumne County jury in 2018 in the September 2017 killing of Marc DeJong and kidnapping of Bonnie Palmer. 

An employee at Adventist Health Sonora filed a workplace discrimination lawsuit in federal court on Thursday that claims the hospital’s president pressured her to quit a City of Sonora advisory committee on social equity or face an internal transfer from her position as a philanthropy officer.

A Tuolumne County Superior Court judge agreed to delay the preliminary hearing for a Sonora nurse accused of plotting to have her husband murdered last year after her lawyer filed a motion on Tuesday saying she has been diagnosed with mental health issues that “grossly impaired” her judgment.

Tuolumne County Public Health staff added five new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, and Calaveras County added four.

The Tuolumne County Air Pollution Control District is collaborating with the David Wise & Son/Plainview Slash Site and Green Works LLC to offer free green waste drop-off days for Tuolumne County residents on May 15 and June 5. 

While a 160-acre fire raged in Calaveras County on Friday afternoon, local Cal Fire officials announced a suspension of outdoor burning with a caution that fire season may be starting early this year due to an ongoing and pervasive statewide drought.

A red flag warning for gusting winds, dry fuels, low humidities, and heightened fire concerns continues today for most of the Central Valley and west edges of Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, while crews continue trying to contain the Campo Fire north of Valley Springs.

One new case of COVID-19 was detected in Tuolumne County on Friday, while Calaveras County had five.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed another downtown Sonora business that will not reopen as the local economy reconfigures to normal daily life: Intake Grill. 

Sonora Area Foundation, which has provided more than $33 million in grants to Mother Lode organizations and individuals since its incorporation in 1989, is paying tribute to two board members who have retired.

Tuolumne County Public Health added one new case of coronavirus Thursday, while Calaveras County added four.

A wildfire burned 150 acres and prompted mandatory evacuations and evacuation warnings Thursday afternoon in the Campo Seco community outside Valley Springs in Calaveras County, a Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit spokeswoman said.

Tuolumne County ranked among the highest counties in California per capita in the acquisition of signatures to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, officials said Tuesday as the effort moves into its later stages.

Two retailers of tobacco products in Sonora were issued citations during a compliance survey conducted by the Sonora Police Department and Tuolumne County Public Health. 

A Mariposa County man has agreed to pay $950,000 to the federal government in a lawsuit stemming from a 100-acre fire he allegedly started in September 2016 on his land adjacent to the Stanislaus National Forest, an acting U.S. Attorney in Fresno announced Monday.

The Tuolumne County Public Health Department counted two new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and clarified that a death previously reported in January was not caused by the coronavirus after all. 

Tuolumne County staff are planning to reopen the Board of Supervisors meeting room on the fourth floor of the County Administration Center at 2 S. Green St. to the public for the board’s next meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The nonprofit organization Love Tuolumne County partnered with Love Our Cities, local groups and businesses to organize, fund and purchase needed supplies for the more than 300 people signed on to participate in dozens of projects throughout the county Saturday and Sunday, making it a grassr…

With Tuolumne County now in an orange tier for moderate risk of COVID-19 exposure, Columbia College administrators, instructors and staff are planning to do a partial reopening of the school’s campus beginning Monday for about one-third of the school’s student body and faculty, Dr. G.H. Java…

An increase in Tuolumne County’s daily coronavirus case rate dashed hopes of moving into the least yellow tier of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening system on Tuesday.