Free Republic

I’d never seen anyone talk so excitedly about a mayor. I drove up to the California mountain town of Idyllwild in March 2022 for a day trip and was finishing a purchase at a local vintage store when the cashier informed me, “The mayor is in town.” Before I could say anything, another shopper swung around with a big smile and asked, “Is he really?” I listened to them talk ecstatically about the mayor for a few minutes, until finally the cashier clued me in: The mayor was a dog. Everything suddenly made sense, and of course I had to...

Brandon N. McGlover, the Temecula resident charged with setting the Cranston fire and other blazes near Idyllwild in July, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of arson of a structure or forest land and was sentenced to 12 years, four months in prison. In addition to admitting he set the Cranston and Sage Road fires, McGlover, 33, also admitted an allegation that he set multiple structures ablaze. At least five homes and 13,000 acres burned in the Cranston fire.

Idyllwild, Calif. (AP) -- Researchers have released dozens of tadpoles into a Riverside County stream in hopes of reviving a frog species endangered in the region. San Diego Zoo officials say zoo researchers bred the 36 mountain yellow-legged frog tadpoles that were released Tuesday into a stream near the town of Idyllwild. The mountain yellow-legged frog is on the federal Endangered Species List in Southern California and has recently been proposed for listing under the California Endangered Species Act.