Local News

UPDATE:  The Madera Community Hospital has sped up its timeline for closing. Since announcing their closing in January of next year, there has been a mass exodus of employees that now the hospital cannot staff shift. The hospital is closing within 24 hours despite an emergency meeting today in the Madera County Board of Supervisors chambers at 10 am.

MADERA - Additional conditions imposed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Trinity Health Corporation have halted plans for the operator of St Agnes Hospital to take over the financially troubled Madera Community Hospital. This move has caused Madera County’s only full-service hospital to file for bankruptcy protections, lay off employees, and begin the closing of its 106-bed facility by early next month after 52 years of service to the community.

The board of directors of the Madera Community Hospital disclosed to the public last February that they were in negotiations with Indiana-based Trinity Health Corporation to establish a permanent affiliation with the Catholic-based healthcare network that includes 92 hospitals in 22 states, with St Agnes operating its Fresno hospital and 21 primary, specialty, and urgent care clinics in the local area.

FRESNO  -  Christopher Jeorge Millican, 29, of Coalinga, was sentenced today to 47 years and six months in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for producing and receiving child pornography via the popular instant messaging app, Snapchat, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in July 2018, a parent reported to Snapchat that a user, later identified as Millican, had been engaging in inappropriate communications with her 11-year-old daughter. Snapchat reviewed Millican’s account and discovered images and videos depicting another, then 15-year-old minor, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Snapchat reported the conduct to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which contacted the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Fresno. Investigators identified the minor victim, who informed them that Millican had coerced her into creating and sending him these images. At the time of the offense conduct, Millican was on active duty with the U.S. Navy.

MADERA - On December 6, 2022, around 1:00 pm, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence in the 33000 block of Avenue 12 in Madera for a welfare check. When deputies arrived on the scene, they discovered two adult victims, one male and one female, both victims of gunshot wounds and both deceased.

MCSO Detectives are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident. Preliminary evidence indicates the deaths are the result of a murder/suicide. There is no ongoing danger to the public.