Madera County News

A kitchen fire that spread into an attic destroyed a Parkwood neighborhood house Friday afternoon at the corner of Raymond Thomas Street and San Carlos Avenue.

These hallways so often house stories of tragedy and despair. For a few hours Saturday, the third floor of the downtown courthouse instead was alive with optimism.

Harry Baker showed up for his first court appearance on Tuesday.The former Madera County Supervisor faces charges of a lewd act on a child.

Update Tuesday afternoon's fatal accident on Highway 41 began when an 85-year-old Coarsegold woman lost control of her car and clipped a boulder, the California Highway Patrol said.

Transportation officials are closing more roads this week to accommodate work on Minnesota's biggest stimulus-funded road project.

Madera County civic leader Harry Baker missed his third court appearance on molestation charges because he remains extremely ill and has trouble breathing, his lawyer said Tuesday in Fresno County Superior Court.

For a third year, the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians has given $1 million in grants to communities within Madera County.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Department has issued a missing person alert for a Lemon Cove man who was last seen by family members Monday.

Friday was the closing date for candidates filing to run on the Nov. 4 ballot. The candidacy deadline is extended to Wednesday in any race where the incumbent did not file by Friday.

Valley Air District issued its first fireplace-use ban for Merced and Madera counties.

The family wineries of the Madera Wine Trail will host "Holiday Spirit Weekend" on November 14th & 15th from 10am to 5pm.

A series of recent scandals have cast an unflattering light on local officials in Madera County: Both the county's auditor-controller and public guardian resigned after prosecutors began investigating them.

In the rural, low-income community of Fairmead about 10 miles north of Madera, some 800 people rely on a decades-old water pump that could fail at any moment.

A Madera woman already wanted on three felony warrants has added another charge to the list -- attempted murder.

A 27-year-old man and his girlfriend, 33, both of Madera, were booked into Madera County Jail on Sunday night after two men were shot, sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stuart said.

Two people, with ties to a Mexican Drug Cartel, are behind bars-thanks to the Madera County Sheriff's Department.

Madera County narcotics officers have seized 8.2 pounds of black tar heroin worth $300,000 and arrested two men with ties to a Mexican drug cartel, a sheriff's spokeswoman said today.

A Sanger man was arrested early Tuesday after he allegedly broke into a house and molested two children, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office reported.

A man accused of conspiring with his high school girlfriend to kill 18-year-old Krista Pike has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, Madera County District Attorney Michael Keitz said today.

High-profile Fresno defense attorney Richard Berman got into an altercation at the security check point at the Madera County Courthouse so we're doing an informal poll here at Opinion Talk.