An Advantage Print Will Always Have Over Digital; the Proposed Indian Canyon Fix Gets a Boost–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Dec. 7, 2023

Indy Digest: Dec. 7, 2023

Here’s a fun fact: The Independent’s print edition was once used in an arson attempt.

Seriously. Back in February 2015, a disgruntled employee of the Twin Palms Restaurant and Lounge climbed on the roof of the building and started a fire. One of the owners smelled gasoline, went to investigate, saw the fire and managed to put it out quickly enough that the blaze caused only cosmetic damage. A week or so later, another co-owner told me that the employee-turned-arsonist had used a copy or two of the Independent as kindling, more or less, to get the fire going.

This story came to mind earlier today when our sister paper received a call that, at first, I found baffling—until I put the clues together to figure out what it was actually all about. Here’s how that conversation went after I answered the phone:

Caller: Hi. You’re still a real newspaper, right?

Me: A real newspaper?!

Caller: Yeah, a printed newspaper.

Me. Oh, yes. We’re printed monthly now.

Caller: Ah, OK, so like on Wednesdays and Sundays?

Me: Uh, no. We’re printed once a month.

Caller: Oh! OK. So, how big is the newspaper? Like, how many pages is it?

Me: Um … uh, we’re a tabloid, usually around 32 pages.

Caller: OK, great. Do you deliver up in Susanville?

Me: No, we don’t deliver that far. We do have mail subscriptions, though.

Caller: Ah, OK. How much does that cost?

Me: It’s $8 per month.

Caller. OK. And it’s a real newspaper, like the kind you could light on fire?

Me: Uh … yes?

Caller. OK. I’ll think about it, thanks.

Yep. It’s entirely possible our sister paper may soon get an additional subscriber—not because of our content, but so he has 32 pages of newsprint each month that he can use to start fires. (Legal ones, I hope.)

And people say print is dead …

—Jimmy Boegle

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More News

• The Coachella Valley Association of Governments has received $50 million from the California Transportation Commission to, once and for all, fix the mess that is Indian Canyon Drive whenever it’s rainy or windy. The project will cost about $75 million overall—but don’t expect construction to start until August 2025. It will include two bridge systems and two miles of sand fencing, among other things. Here’s a -press-release quote from DHS Mayor Scott Matas, who is also the CVAG chair: “This is a monumental moment. These prolonged and frequent closures of Indian Canyon are not just a minor headache for one city; they put roads across the western Coachella Valley at a standstill and have devastating impacts on our ability to get people to Desert Regional Medical Center at a time when every second counts. … I know I join residents across the Coachella Valley in saying ‘finally!’”

• The Desert Healthcare District, which owns Desert Regional Medical Center, is having problems negotiating a new lease with Tenet, the large for-profit company that currently runs the hospital—which very badly wants to take ownership of the property, it seems. The Palm Springs Post reports: “During a public meeting held Wednesday evening, the (DHCD) board of directors presented the current state of negotiations to the public for the first time, putting on full display what they see as Tenet’s lack of cooperation. … Tenet publicly presented its new lease offer in September. Under the proposed terms, the company would make an initial payment of $75 million for community health initiatives, followed by annual lease payments starting in 2027 totaling $602 million. It wants the option to purchase the hospital at the end of the lease and make a final payment of $75 million to the district. Steve Hollis, a consultant working for the district, said Tenet’s terms were a surprise. He said district officials were hoping to get a lease that looked similar to the one they have now, which was paid upfront and expired in 30 years, at the end of which the district maintained ownership. The district responded to Tenet’s proposal in early October and has not had a formal response from Tenet since then.”

• The Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation has announced its first inductees into its Hall of Fame. They are Bruce Fessier, former entertainment reporter at The Desert Sun; Karen Devine, anchor and investigative reporter at KESQ News Channel 3; Frank Jones, owner and publisher of Palm Springs Life; and the late Milton Jones, who was the owner and publisher of Palm Springs Life. Learn more here, where you can get details regarding, and purchase tickets for, a Feb. 28 luncheon honoring the new Hall of Famers.

• Tangentially but very much related: An ally of Donald Trump, who worked in the Justice Department during Trump’s administration, recently said a second Trump administration would use the legal system to come after reporters. Yes, really. The Associated Press says: “Kash Patel, who was also chief of staff in the Defense Department and held a role on the National Security Council, made the comment on Steve Bannon’s podcast. He said that, in a second Trump administration, ‘We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media,’ over the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed the election was stolen, despite the fact that numerous federal and local officials, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges. Trump has also promised ‘retribution’ as a central part of his campaign message as he seeks a second term in the White House.” This is not normal, folks.

• CVS says it is making a major change to how it sets prices on prescription drugs. CNBC explains: “CVS Health on Tuesday said it will revamp how it prices prescription drugs and scrap a complex model that typically sets how much pharmacies get reimbursed and what patients pay for those medications. The new effort makes CVS the latest company to try to upend the traditional prescription drug pricing system, which has faced years of political scrutiny for what critics call a lack of transparency and inflated health-care costs for U.S. consumers. CVS will launch a new model for reimbursing its pharmacies on Jan. 1, 2025 for commercial payors, executives said during the company’s 2023 investor day. CVS’ new model could change the cost of prescription drugs for some patients, but it will not necessarily make all medicine cost less, company executives said. Some dugs may cost less, while prices of others might rise, they noted. But more prescription costs should fall than climb for consumers, employers and health insurers, according to the executives.”

• And finally … on the day after yet another mass shooting—one which claimed the lives of three victims, all faculty members, as well as the shooter, at UNLV—HuffPost reports on a new reform plan about which some gun-control advocates are optimistic: “The “GOSAFE Act,” introduced by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), aims to limit easy access to high-powered rifles that can fire dozens of rounds with blazing speed. But unlike the long-stalled assault weapons ban, the new bill regulates the internal mechanisms of firearms, leading to a simpler proposed law that reflects a more sophisticated understanding of how firearms work. Heinrich, an engineer and lifelong gun owner, started crafting the legislative proposal back in 2017, after a gunman sprayed more than 1,000 rounds into the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, leaving 60 people dead and more than 400 people injured. He described the law as a practical way of limiting the lethality of the semi-automatic rifles typically used in mass shootings, while respecting the rights of responsible firearm owners. ‘As lawmakers, we should be able to draw a line between traditional firearms used for hunting, sport and self-defense, and these weapons of war designed to take human life,’ Heinrich said at a press conference. Under the proposed law, new gas-operated semi-automatic rifles could only be sold if they feature a fixed magazine capable of holding no more than 10 cartridges. People who own existing semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines would be able to keep them, transfer them to family members, or allow the government to buy them back.“

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