My last column was entitled “Write your own obituary,” and as I ended the article, I stated that I would write my own obituary in 2026, with my “dead” line being Dec. 31, 2026.  It was a bit of a joke, but it made me think about the word “deadline,” and I wondered just how that word came to be. Deadline seems like a funny word for what it means, which is a date or time when something must be finished. Why is the word “dead” used?  In the newspaper business, we use the word de

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera’s Janyah Spotwood drives the lane for a first quarter bucket in Tuesday’s loss to Clovis North. Spotwood led the team with eight points, and also led with seven points the next night in a loss to Hoover.  The week before the North Yosemite League season begins, the Madera Coyotes girls basketball team battled two teams in higher divisions to test where they are.  Unfortunately, the results came as expected with a 55-17 loss to Clovis

For The Madera Tribune Last year’s Madera County Supervisors Chairperson Leticia Gonzalez transfers Chairman duties to Bobby Macauley during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting in Oakhurst. The Madera County Supervisors made history in their first board meeting of the new year. Tuesday’s meeting marked the first time, ever, a board meeting was held inside the Oakhurst Government Center. The meeting began with the reorganization of the Board of Supervisors. Coincidentally,

For The Madera Tribune Duane Furman, shown here in 1966, was chosen as the first superintendent of MUSD. The California gold rush was still in its infancy when Californians sat down to write their state constitution in 1849, and even in those rough and tumble frontier days, public education was at the fore of everyone’s mind. What followed in the wake of the subsequent population explosions in the Golden State was the proliferation of tiny, one-room schools, each forming a se

For The Madera Tribune First responders take care of a vehicle that collided with another vehicle trying to make a U-turn on westbound State Route 145 on Sunday. A passenger in one of the vehicles died from her injuries. California Highway Patrol Madera officers responded to a two-vehicle traffic crash, on State Route 145, west of State Route 41 just before 10:30 p.m. on Sunday. A 22-year-old woman from Madera was driving a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, westbound on SR-145, west of

Over the weekend, Madera Police Department officers were dispatched to the 27000 block of Georgia Ave regarding juveniles tagging a community mailbox.  Multiple concerned citizens called in the actions to the Madera PD dispatch. With the information provided by the callers, officers were able to quickly locate the suspects and make an arrest.  Further canvassing of the area revealed additional gang related graffiti in the area.

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Cole Brincefield, owner of Replenished, a wellness and recovery center, talks with players during a baseball camp at the facility during a soft opening on December 20. After graduating from Madera High School in 2019, Cole Brincefield is coming back to Madera to bring the community something that he believes is needed. Replenished is a wellness and recovery center that also features indoor softball and baseball batting cages. Owner Brincefie

For The Madera Tribune The Madera Police Department displays the guns and ammunition seized during an arrest Wednesday afternoon. Officers with the Madera Police Department were dispatched to the 900 block of Barnett Way for a disturbance Wednesday afternoon. During the investigation, a firearm was brandished. Anthony Lopez, 28, was identified as the suspect, and a search warrant was authored for his home.  Multiple firearms and ammunition were seized, which included an assau