1. High-speed rail route to miss most of city of Madera
After hosting several public meetings throughout the year and listening to feedback from Valley residents, California High-Speed Rail Authority staff recommended a route through Madera County that would miss most of the city of Madera. The Authority board approved the staff recommended rail route Dec. 13...
2. Chowchilla kidnapper gets parole; victim's book a series in The Madera Tribune
Larry Park was 6 years old when he was one of 26 children and their driver kidnapped July 16, 1976, on a Chowchilla school bus that was hijacked. The California parole board on April 5 granted one of the three kidnappers a provisional parole, set for 2021...
3. Madera County DA Michael Keitz and his office are cleared
At a March 15 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, MJ Nabors, former Madera mayor and executive director of the Community Action Partnership — which includes the Madera Victims Services Center — accused the DA of not prosecuting sexual assault cases quickly enough. Nabors, victims and their families appeared before the board to “disclose the lack of Keitz’s oversight, ability to manage or even prosecute child molesters in Madera County.” Keitz called the accusations “disturbing.”...
4. Man shoots wife, her attorney, self after bitter divorce hearing in Bass Lake
5. Woman kills 5-year-old daughter, jumps off bridge
6. Man pleads guilty in federal court to vandalism at Planned Parenthood, mosque
7. Storm causes more than $1M in damage to county buildings, roads
8. Community Food Bank in financial crisis
9. Comments by Madera County Supervisor David Rogers go viral on the Internet
A citizen stood to oppose an item on the board’s agenda to give the county auditor-controller a 16 percent raise. That’s when Rogers made comments that he immediately apologized for. But a video of his comments was posted on social media and from there was picked up on a Los Angeles Times blog and on other websites...
10. Mammoth sculpture at Fossil Center repossessed
11. After nearly 16-year fight for permits, MID water bank operational
12. State unveils plan to convert one of womens prisons into mens facility
13. Madera City Councilman Sam Armentrout dies after battle with cancer
14. Gov. Jerry Brown unveils plan to use RDA money to make up state deficit
15. Construction begins on Ellis Street overpass
16. Auditor Controller's office finds $11M in error
17. Madera Housing Authority ordered to pay $883,000 to former employee
18. Former mayor of Chowchilla arrested on fraud, grand theft charge
19. Madera Unified School District superintendent placed on five-month paid leave to await his retirement
20. Longtime owners of Gus Meat Locker retire, sell business
Twin brothers Dim and Don Sambueso, who received Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2010, sold the shop...