Despite Madera Coyotes’ sophomore quarterback Elias Mena throwing for almost 400 yards, the Justin Garza Guardians scored 49 second half points for a 55-35 victory to close out the regular season.  Mena threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns. He had two receivers with more than 130 yards receiving, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Guardians.  Jayden Martinez caught seven passes for 139 yards and Lawrence Flores caught six passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Davi

This year’s Retired Teachers Week, November 2-8, is especially meaningful. After decades of advocacy, retired educators finally achieved fairness when the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law in January. This historic victory repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset policies that had unfairly reduced the earned benefits of retired teachers and other public servants. The California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA) was proud to

Having read and been horrified by Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novels, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, I was disappointed by The Heart Goes Last (2015, 380 pages in softcover format). Perhaps my review is biased by my own experience when I was a child. My family was poor, living paycheck to almost paycheck. By that I mean that the money often ran out before the next paycheck came in. So, we’d charge our food at the local grocery store for a day or two until Dad got hom

For The Madera Tribune Alapoleno, Joaquin Murrieta’s cook, is seen here panning for gold near Coarsegold. Joaquin Murrieta — legends about him are legion, and so conflicting are these stories of his life, that it has often been asserted that there were as many as five outlaws by that name. Whatever the truth behind the lore, one curious anecdote has escaped the history books. William Henderson, the man who fired the shot that killed Joaquin Murrieta, and Alapoleno, the bandit

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune A flag with the name of former Maderan Oliver Ralph Hill, who served in the army in Vietnam hangs in Courthouse Park during the Veterans Day service. The Madera American Legion Post 11 is trying to find veteran families to give their flag back to them. Although Madera’s American Legion Post 11 closed its doors, they aren’t totally out of commission.  While cleaning up the facility, members came across numerous casket flags donated by familie

The government shutdown will start to have a direct impact on Madera County families who receive CalFresh benefits. CalFresh is a federally funded program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The November CalFresh benefits distributed monthly to 16,621 households or 33,832 people in Madera County will be delayed. It’s unclear how soon the benefits will be restored to EBT cards once the government reopens. CalFresh benefits are issued through

For The Madera Tribune Joshua David Kemper. The Madera County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division has concluded a months-long investigation into allegations of sexual abuse involving a 15-year-old female victim and a local pastor, identified as Joshua David Kemper, 47, of Coarsegold. The investigation began on July 28, after a report was filed by church officials in Coarsegold. Detectives learned that Kemper, who served as a pastor at the church, had been engaging in ina

The Madera County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division was recently contacted by the Davis County Sheriff’s Office in Utah regarding an investigation into aggravated sexual exploitation and online communication with a minor believed to have occurred in Madera County. Through a coordinated investigation, detectives identified 65-year-old Bass Lake resident Matthew William Pressly as the primary suspect. On October 24, Madera County Sheriff’s Detectives, in collaboration wi