Indy Digest: Dec. 21, 2023
In recent days, two stalwarts of independent local journalism have announced major changes and cutbacks.
The Chico News & Review said its January print edition would be its last, although the 46-year-old Northern California publication will continue—in a more limited form—online.
“For the past 3 1/2 years, the newspaper has persevered, publishing monthly with the hope that ad sales would bounce back post-COVID pandemic,” said editor Jason Cassidy in a note to readers. “Unfortunately, they haven’t, and we find ourselves at a crossroads. We will now try to forge a new path. The CN&R’s mission will persist online, where we will channel our resources toward enhancing coverage of local government and continuing as the go-to resource for local arts information.”
A few states to the east, the 30-year-old Colorado Springs Independent announced it would be taking “a break” and would “cease publishing for the immediate future.”
“If we’re going to succeed, we will need everyone’s support and encouragement,” wrote publisher Fran Zankowski. “It’s too important for the health of our community to let this voice be silenced. With great hope, optimism and resilience, our plan is to eliminate our debt, reorganize and return in February with a financially stable, successful and revitalized publication.”
I’ve said it before, but I need to say it again: Fewer news sources and fewer journalists on the streets means bad things for communities. When elected officials and other people in power don’t have a watchdog, that leads to corruption. When there are fewer arts writers, local culture gets less exposure. Less well-sourced, factual news means the public is less informed.
In some ways, we’ve been fortunate in the Coachella Valley. The Desert Sun has been spared from major cuts, unlike some of its fellow Gannett publications, in part because the unionized newsroom is in the midst of contract negotiations, and is therefore protected from major changes by labor laws—and in part because the editors have been successful at getting community and nonprofit support to pay for two positions (the opinion page editor and the philanthropy editor) that corporate eliminated. The Palm Springs Post, only a few years old, does good work, and several other smaller, less-professional online-only outlets have their moments. Here at the Independent, we’re doing OK—we don’t have the resources to grow, unfortunately, but we’re not in any immediate danger of cuts, either.
Local media needs the support of advertisers and readers—yes, readers like you—to survive. Please do your part—and for those of you who are supporting us, THANK YOU. It’s because of you we’re still here.
—Jimmy Boegle
Scheduling Note
Since Monday is Christmas, the next Indy Digest will appear in your inbox a day later than normal—on Tuesday, Dec. 26. In the meantime, have an amazing Christmas!
From the Independent
Protecting the Incumbents? Despite Opposition, the Palm Desert City Council Votes to Advance Only One Redistricting Map and Election Schedule
By Kevin Fitzgerald
December 20th, 2023
The City Council’s Dec, 14 vote all but guarantees that map 109, and its proposed election sequence, will be finalized at the next City Council meeting on Jan. 11.
Out-of-This-World Research: College of the Desert Professors, Students Work on a NASA-Funded Project That Would Help Sustain Human Life on Mars
By Kevin Fitzgerald
December 19th, 2023
The ultimate goal of the College of the Desert project is to prove that pure oxygen and hydrogen can be extracted in large-enough quantities to provide life support during exploration of Mars.
The Indy Endorsement: The Minestrone Soup at Norma’s Italian Kitchen
By Jimmy Boegle
December 22nd, 2023
Is there a more perfect winter food than minestrone soup? Maybe—but we can’t think of one, and the version at Norma’s Italian Kitchen is fantastic.
The Weekly Independent Comics Page for Dec. 21, 2023!
By Staff
December 21st, 2023
Topics touched upon this week include heroin, repressive backwaters, Mars, plastic lids—and much more!
Best of Coachella Valley Winners’ Advertising Spotlight!
More News
• Unless you’ve been in hiding for the last couple of days, you’ve heard that the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Donald Trump could not be on the presidential ballot in that state because of, well, the whole insurrection thing. So … now what? The Conversation posed that very question to Mark A. Graber, regents professor of law at the University of Maryland Carey Law School. His answer (in part): “We’re not at the end. We just got out of the opening. So the meaning could be almost nothing. The U.S. Supreme Court could reverse the Colorado ruling and say all these lawsuits are wrong. And so we have an interesting academic discussion, but nothing changes. Or we could have a very long debate about this. And at some point, for example, a number of prominent Republicans could conclude that Trump really is an insurrectionist, and this starts to have serious play in Republican primaries. We’re still too early to know whether this is a blip or an earthquake, or something in between.”
• We have a new COVID-19 variant of interest; it’s called JN.1. ABC News explains what this means, and what it doesn’t mean: “There is no evidence that JN.1 causes any more severe disease, and existing tests, vaccines and treatments are still expected to work, experts say. ‘We know that the COVID virus continues to change. And even in the last few weeks, it has changed again,’ Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told ABC News. ‘The good news is that, that new change to the virus … one, we can still pick it up with our tests. Two, our treatments are still effective against that change. And importantly, the updated COVID vaccine that you can get right now is still good coverage for those changes—we’ve seen that in the lab.’” … Variants are listed under three separate categories by the WHO: variants of concern, which is the highest level; variants of interest; and variants under monitoring.”
• Tangentially related: A bunch of things in the COVID-19-related stockpiles states have are expiring. The Associated Press says: “With expiration dates passing and few requests to tap into the stockpile, Ohio auctioned off 393,000 gowns for just $2,451 and ended up throwing away another 7.2 million, along with expired masks, gloves and other materials. The now expiring supplies had cost about $29 million in federal money. A similar reckoning is happening around the country. Items are aging, and as a deadline to allocate federal COVID-19 cash approaches next year, states must decide how much to invest in maintaining warehouses and supply stockpiles. An Associated Press investigation found that at least 15 states, from Alaska to Vermont, have tossed some of their trove of PPE because of expiration, surpluses and a lack of willing takers.”
• California’s minimum wage is going up. Our partners at CalMatters report: “Californians in two industries are set to get new minimum wages just for them next year, and that could lead to pay bumps for other workers, too. Gov. Gavin Newsom this year signed two union-backed bills that will boost fast-food and health care workers’ minimum wages. California-based fast-food workers for chains with 60 or more locations around the nation will earn at least $20 an hour beginning in April, $4 higher than the overall state minimum wage of $16 that will be effective Jan. 1. In June, health care workers will earn a minimum of $18, $21 or $23 an hour, depending on what type of facility employs them and where they work.”
• Bus stations around the country are closing—and that’s a problem. CNN reports: “Intercity bus lines like Greyhound, Trailways and Megabus, an overlooked but essential part of America’s transportation system, carry twice the number of people who take Amtrak every year. But the whole network faces a growing crisis: Greyhound and other private companies’ bus terminals are rapidly closing around the country. Houston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Tampa, Louisville, Charlottesville, Portland, Oregon, and other downtown bus depots have shuttered in recent years. Bus terminals in major hubs like Chicago and Dallas are also set to close. Greyhound and other companies have relocated their stops far away from city centers, which are often inaccessible by public transit, switched to curbside service or eliminated routes altogether. These stations built decades ago are shuttering because of high operating costs, government underfunding and, surprisingly, the entrance of an investment firm buying up Greyhound’s real estate for lucrative resale.”
• Well, this is a depressing headline from The Washington Post: “Colon cancer is rising in young Americans. It’s not clear why.” Some elaboration: “In the past three decades, incidence of (colon cancer) has risen significantly among people younger than 50, many of whom have no obvious risk factors, such as having a genetic predisposition. No one knows why. American life expectancy trails that of similarly developed nations, and the gap is widening. The dismaying reality is that multiple factors are taking the lives of people who have not yet reached a ripe old age. Colorectal cancer is a tiny element in that complex story, but the recent rise in the disease among seemingly healthy young people is a reminder that the health landscape is constantly evolving in ways not readily understood by medical science.”
• And finally … it wouldn’t be an Indy Digest these days without recall news, so here we go, via CBS News: “Toyota is recalling roughly 1 million cars in the U.S. because the front passenger air bags may not deploy properly in a crash, posing additional risk of injury to riders, the car maker said Wednesday. A potential defect in the Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensors in the front passenger seat of affected vehicles could cause a short circuit, Toyota said in a notice posted on its website. As a result, the air bag system may not properly detect the passenger’s presence and weight, and fail to deploy as designed. … The recall affects the following 2020-2022 Toyota and Lexus models.” Click on the story to peruse the whole list.
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