Our national government and corporate titans rob the poor to feed the rich. We vote for politicians who fail us. Working-class Americans feel left behind.  We struggle to recover from a worldwide pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, shuttered small businesses, and divided communities with anger and distrust. Small men threaten war. Gun violence headlines our newspapers. Racism infects hearts and minds. Snake oil salesmen take advantage of religious believe

For The Madera Tribune Fire destroyed the Alta Hotel in 1931. As Maderans neared the end of the 1920s, they were full of optimism. Prospects of oil wells on the outskirts of town danced in the heads of some local capitalists, while others dreamed of raising the funds to build a brand new, four-story hotel on Yosemite Avenue. In the end, however, both schemes failed, and the town entered the 1930s rather tentatively as the nation’s economy took a nosedive. One of the first ind

For The Madera Tribune Pistoresi Ambulance employees gather after the funeral of former owner Monte Pistoresi in April. Pistoresi Ambulance will close its doors on Friday after more than 80 years of service to Madera County. Pistoresi Ambulance will officially end about 83 years of medical service to Madera County on Friday at about midnight.  The official closing date for Pistoresi Ambulance is November 15; the contract expires Friday at 11:59 p.m., with American Ambulance s

Bee’s Bakery Cafe, 40250 Junction Drive, will host Italian virtuoso guitarist Alberto Lombardi for a food and win event on Friday, beginning at 5 p.m. Lombardi is an internationally renowned acoustic fingerstyle and electric rock player. Dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.

For The Madera Tribune A job at Brammer’s shoe store wasn’t enough to dispel Jim Brammer’s despondency. He committed suicide after his father made him a partner. In 1917, Herman Brammer and his son, Will, decided to expand their shoe store and build that three story, brick building that still stands on the north side of Yosemite Avenue. At about the same time, they determined to bring Jim Brammer, Herman’s stepson, into the business by placing him in charge of the new clothin

In response to Mr. Wieland’s Letter in the October 15 edition of The Madera Tribune: Going to school in the North, I had a history teacher that put a different light on the Civil War. It was mostly about the price of cotton. Cotton was produced in the South and the textile factories were in the North, mostly in New York. They were buying import cotton at a lower price than what the South needed. With no tariffs, the South was being squeezed into submission.

For The Madera Tribune Frank Bigelow, great Grandson of Harmon Bigelow, founder of the Ponderosa Telephone Company. I first met the Bigelows while working at Spring Valley School a long time ago. Jess Bigelow was a major patron of the school’s 4-H club and spent a lot of money buying their animals at the Madera and Chowchilla fairs. Of course it wasn’t long before I found out about the connection between the Bigelow family and the Ponderosa Telephone Company, and that is a hi