Indy Digest: Aug. 21, 2023
I saw some posts on social media yesterday afternoon claiming that Tropical Storm Hilary had fizzled out—that it turned out not to be that big of a deal.
Today, as the true extent of the damage became evident, most of those posts were quietly deleted.
Hilary proved to be as dangerous as predicted—even though, terrifyingly, things could have been even worse. According to the National Weather Service, the storm delivered less than 3 1/4 inches of rain to the Palm Springs International Airport, which is at the lower end of estimates that said the area could expect 3-5 inches of rain, with more in some spots.
One of the reasons the damage was so bad along the washes is that one of those heavy-rain spots was Mount San Jacinto, which received 11.74 inches of precipitation. Snow Creek in Idyllwild got 7.83 inches, while Upper Tahquitz Creek got 6.22 inches. A lot of that water came rushing down the mountain—and into the Coachella Valley.
Another reason the damage was not worse: Most people took the warnings seriously—including some within our local governments. To quote my friend Kendall Stagg, who lives in Palm Springs near the border of Cathedral City: “Palm Springs is safe. … Of course, no one seems to give credit to the city/county. Everyone is running around here already saying ‘it wasn’t that bad.’ ACTUALLY, YES, IT WAS THAT BAD. Thank God for city workers. Streets and sanitation workers. Social services and health workers. City planners. Police. Fire. They saved us. They saved countless homeless people who live in the wash basins. I love local government. Streets and Sanitation have been working around the clock to unclog drains, open streets, etc. These employees deserve awards for their service.”
Hear hear.
This is certainly not the last time we’ll have to deal with a dangerous storm. Thanks to global warming, we may even see tropical storms come our way more often than once every 84 years.
Local governments need to heed the advice of Rep. Raul Ruiz, specifically what he said when he spoke to the Independent yesterday, shortly before Hilary arrived: We need to make our infrastructure better, stronger and more resilient. To use one painfully obvious example: The city of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments need to keep doing everything they can to get bridges built on Indian Canyon Drive, Gene Autry Trail and Vista Chino as quickly as possible without sacrificing safety and quality.
Hilary should be a wake-up call for all of us: We need to be prepared for natural disasters. Earthquakes, fires and storms—they can all, and will, happen here.
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
Concerns and Communication: Rep. Raul Ruiz Talks About What to Expect as Tropical Storm Hilary Arrived
By Kevin Fitzgerald
August 20th, 2023
The Independent spoke to Rep. Raul Ruiz about his concerns as Tropical Storm Hilary arrived, and what residents can expect in the aftermath.
Enjoyable Enough: ‘Blue Beetle’ Follows a Well-Worn Formula, but Is Saved by Family Elements and Decent Action
By Bob Grimm
August 21st, 2023
Blue Beetle is a little slow in stretches, but it definitely soars in its second half thanks to competent action direction and a terrific score.
Vine Social: Top-Quality Wines Can Now Be Found in Cans and, Yes, Even Boxes
By Katie Finn
August 21st, 2023
Some of our favorite wines are now offered in single-serve cans, half-bottle-sized cans, and party-perfect large-format boxes. Yes, boxed wine is back—and it’s absolutely fabulous!
Predictably Funny: ‘No Hard Feelings’ Allows Jennifer Lawrence to Show Off Her Comedy Skills
By Bob Grimm
August 21st, 2023
No Hard Feelings is good for some solid chuckles and is hopefully the beginning of a nice comedy phase in Jennifer Lawrence’s career.
More News
• A beloved Lake Arrowhead store owner was murdered on Friday by a man who apparently didn’t like the fact that she had a gay pride flag on display. Here are the awful details via the Los Angeles Times: “San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot an armed man Friday suspected of killing the owner of a local clothing store he disparaged for displaying an LGBTQ pride flag. The incident began when deputies responded to an emergency call at the Mag.Pi store in the 28000 block of Hook Creek Road about 5 p.m. Friday, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. When they arrived they found the owner, Laura Ann Carleton, 66, suffering from a gunshot wound, authorities said. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.”
• I’d also like to call attention to the LA Times’ beautiful and heartbreaking editorial regarding the murder of the woman friends called Lauri. A snippet: “Those like Carleton who fly the rainbow flag make a statement in support of solidarity, inclusiveness, welcome, dignity and equality. Those who violently attack the flag fliers make a statement of their own—a particularly un-American statement: No, not all people are created equal and not all people are entitled to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. This is a time in which a disturbingly violent segment of society feels entitled to lash out against those who promote the self-evident truths upon which this nation was founded. Carleton, like many others before her, appears to have died for expressing her conviction that sexual orientation and gender non-conformity have no role in determining who does or does not belong.”
• You may be seeing less news in your Facebook feed, because, well, Facebook has decided it doesn’t give a rat’s patootie about news. CNN’s Oliver Darcy explains: “Facebook is shunning the news business in the U.S. The Meta-owned company has quietly made changes in recent months that have dramatically reduced referral traffic to media outlets, more than half a dozen publishers told me. The move has put considerable dents in the daily traffic publishers see, with the damage appearing to be more pronounced among those who publish more hard news-oriented content. … The issue is notable, given how much traffic the social media platform once sent to digital publishers. In the heyday of Facebook, news outlets were treated to a firehose of clicks, with articles regularly going viral on the platform. The amount of traffic, however, has waned considerably in recent years, taking a toll on outlets that built business models reliant on the company. The recent changes reduce the already lackluster levels of referral traffic even more. A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment. But the changes publishers are seeing are in lockstep with the sentiment toward news that the company’s executives have publicly voiced. After years and years of trying to court publishers, it’s evident that Mark Zuckerberg and company are headed for the news business exit.” Ugh.
• There has not been a major airline disaster in a decade—but there have been a lot of close calls. A project by The New York Times reveals: “The incidents—highlighted in preliminary FAA safety reports but not publicly disclosed—were among a flurry of at least 46 close calls involving commercial airlines last month alone. They were part of an alarming pattern of safety lapses and near misses in the skies and on the runways of the United States, a Times investigation found. … Potentially dangerous incidents are occurring far more frequently than almost anyone realizes—a sign of what many insiders describe as a safety net under mounting stress. So far this year, close calls involving commercial airlines have been happening, on average, multiple times a week, according to a Times analysis of internal FAA records, as well as thousands of pages of federal safety reports and interviews with more than 50 current and former pilots, air traffic controllers and federal officials. The incidents often occur at or near airports and are the result of human error, the agency’s internal records show.”
• Consider this your occasional yet necessary reminder that COVID-19 is very much still around, and it can be nasty. CBS News says: “Health authorities say they’re closely tracking the spread of three new COVID-19 variants now spreading around the country. Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths for now remain far below previous peaks seen during past summer and winter waves of the virus, but have been climbing steadily for several weeks. Public health officials have said that they’re well-equipped for the latest seasonal uptick in the virus, with COVID-19 tests and forthcoming vaccines expected to work for the variants on the rise around the country. But the appearance of a new ‘highly mutated’ variant has raised questions among virus trackers about what the coming months could hold.“
• Related: The arm in which you get your COVID-19 shot may actually help determine its effectiveness. CNN says: “The immune response may be stronger if your booster goes in the same arm as your last Covid-19 shot, according to a study published August 11 in the journal eBioMedicine. ‘The question seems so banal, so trivial that nobody before has thought to ask it,’ study coauthor Martina Sester, a biologist and head of the department of the Institute of Infection Medicine at Saarland University Hospital in Germany, said in a news release. The researchers used the data of 303 people who received the mRNA vaccine as well as a booster shot as part of Germany’s vaccine campaign. Two weeks after the booster, the number of ‘killer T cells’ was significantly higher in those who had both shots in the same arm, according to the study.”
• And finally … in Saturday’s Indy Digest Special, I talked about the need to make sure the information one finds on social media sources is legit. Here’s a perfect example from yesterday of why this is important, as reported by Dateline: “A particular video went viral that showcased a subway station being flooded with water. The user that shared it said it was the L.A. Metro Station at the corner of Wilshire and Vermont. The problem was that it was obviously a joke as the video was showcasing the movie-making magic of Hollywood at Universal Studios during the earthquake component of the tram tour. Although it was obvious to many people that this was a joke, several reporters chasing the storm were tricked and thought it was real, even going as far as to ask permission to use the video for their broadcast station. ‘This is a ride at Universal Studios. Duh,’ Metro L.A. clarified on X sharing the viral video.”
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