Five Issues We’re Watching Heading Into 2026; California’s ‘Grim’ Budget Outlook–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Dec. 31, 2025

Indy Digest: Dec. 31, 2025

Happy (almost) New Year! As promised, here’s a preview of some of the story topics the Independent will be following in 2026.

• The continuing local effects of federal actions: A lot of our news coverage in 2025 focused on the local consequences of the actions (or, in some cases, lack of actions) by the Trump administration—from the weakening of the safety net for underserved residents, to the havoc being wreaked on skittish local health care-related nonprofits, to the haphazard ongoing ICE raids, to the threats to (and information vacuum surrounding) federal lands.

Alas, our federal government is a complete mess as 2026 arrives. The president clearly is not well. The resistance, if you can call it that, by Democrats in Congress has been ineffectual and pathetic. And, hey, we may be facing another government shutdown in 30 days.

So, yeah, this is something we’ll be watching a LOT in the new year. In a related vein …

• Election 2026: We are entering an election year, and it’s kinda important. We’ll bring back our Candidate Q&A series for local races, and we’ll continue our issue-based coverage—as much as we can. What you will not find: horse-race-style coverage or reporting on inconsequential “wedge issues.”

• Problems in the local arts/entertainment world: On Monday, I mentioned that the lack of quality local music venues was a theme that ran throughout our 2025 music coverage.

Paradoxically, the valley may have too many theater/cabaret venues, at least with the economy as it is now. As my friend Brad Fuhr, of KGAY 103.1/Gay Desert Guide, wrote earlier this month: “I’m hearing more and more that promoters and venues are having trouble filling offerings that in the past performed well here in Greater Palm Springs. That’s troubling as our non-profit theatre companies have invested heavily in brick and mortar. … They are all competing with newer and larger venues that all want your entertainment dollar. And that’s not including drag shows, bars that host entertainers and other promoters who bring in small shows to hotels and event venues.”

Shortly after Brad wrote that, we published a theater review. While I was doing my fact-checking, I went to the theater’s ticketing page—and saw scheduled performances that were less than a quarter full. I’ve been editing theater reviews in the valley for 13 years now, and I don’t remember seeing so many open seats at many shows before.

While we’ll continue doing or events-based interviews, previews and reviews, expect to see more pieces about the business side of our entertainment scene—because there’s definitely some important news to report.

• Affordable housing: Melissa Daniels did a fantastic job of covering local housing issues this year, ranging from a dearth of affordable homes in the high desert, to the effects the January Los Angeles wildfires had on local housing.

While the local housing market has cooled somewhat, the fact remains: Far too many residents have problems paying their rent, and a lot of hard-working locals have given up on ever owning their own home, at least as long as they stay in the Coachella Valley. That’s a problem.

• Valley pollution: The Salton Sea. The damage done by Tropical Storm Hilary in 2023. Possible lithium extraction. Groundwater contamination. These are all threats to local residents caused by pollution. While we’ve always covered these issues, we’ll keep an extra-close eye on them in 2026.

Is there anything you’d like us to examine in the coming months? If you have suggestions or ideas, hit reply, or email me at jboegle@cvindependent.com.

Have a great New Year’s Day! The Indy Digest will be back to its normal Monday-Thursday schedule next week.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• You’ve heard of the “news dump.” It refers to someone releasing news at a time when it’s likely to get less attention—like, say, at 4:55 p.m. on a Friday … or on New Year’s Eve. The Associated Press reports: “The Jan. 6., 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol ‘does not happen’ without Donald Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers earlier this month in characterizing the Republican president as the ‘most culpable and most responsible person’ in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a transcript and video of a closed-door interview Smith gave about two investigations of Trump. The document shows how Smith during the course of a daylong deposition repeatedly defended the basis for pursuing indictments against Trump and vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigations were politically motivated. ‘The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit,’ Smith said, bristling at a question about whether his investigations were meant to prevent Trump from reclaiming the presidency in 2024.”

• The Trump administration has agreed to re-examine grants from the National Institutes of Health that were stopped as a result of the anti-DEI purge. Reuters says: “The Trump administration on Monday reached a deal with researchers and Democratic-led states who sued over cuts to funding for diversity-related research, agreeing to review grant applications that were stalled or rejected during the legal battle. A federal judge in Boston previously ruled that the National Institutes of Health unlawfully canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants because of their perceived connection to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The U.S. Supreme Court in August partially put that decision on hold, ruling that legal battles over the terminated grants should be handled by a different court that specializes in monetary disputes with the government. … Monday’s agreement resolved part of the battle over the NIH grants, with the government agreeing to conduct new reviews of grant applications that were frozen, denied, or withdrawn after the new policy was announced. The agreement does not require NIH to fund any particular research proposal.”

• The U.S. Postal Service is making a big change regarding postmark dates. What does that mean? CNBC reports: “As the U.S. Postal Service continues implementing operational changes in an effort to shore up its finances and modernize its infrastructure, the agency expects an increase in delays between when you mail something and when it is postmarked, according to a public notice in the Federal Register that took effect Dec. 24. A postmark shows the date your mail was processed, and historically has been applied the same day you mail an item. However, due to limiting pickups at many postal locations and mail now often traveling farther to regional processing centers where the postmark is applied, ‘the postmark date does not inherently or necessarily align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of the mailpiece,’ the notice reads. While households increasingly use digital options to file taxes, pay bills and handle other personal business, there are still people who use the Postal Service for time-sensitive mail. … ‘Consumers have always assumed that the post office will postmark their mail on the day they take it to the post office or drop it in a box,’ said Edgar Dworsky, founder of advocacy site Consumer World and a former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts who focused on consumer protection. ‘Who would expect it could be several days before it has a postmark on it?’”

• Our partners at Calmatters look at the state’s budget outlook in 2026. The word used in the headline is “grim”: “In 2022, the state saw a nearly $100 billion surplus, followed by a projected $56 billion deficit over the next two years. … The deficit is projected to reach nearly $18 billion next year, mostly because the state is expected to spend so much money that it would offset, if not eclipse, the strong tax revenues driven by an AI boom, said the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office in its fiscal outlook last month. If the estimate holds, it’ll be the fourth year in a row in Newsom’s tenure that California faces a deficit despite revenue growth. Worse yet, the structural deficit could reach $35 billion annually by fiscal year 2027-28, the LAO said. California is facing $6 billion in extra spending next year, including at least $1.3 billion because the state must now pay more to cover Medi-Cal benefits under Trump’s budget bill. The state also stands to lose more housing and homelessness funding from the federal government.”

• The Los Angeles Times headline: “California has lost more than a quarter of its immigration judges this year.” Eek. Details: “More than a quarter of federal immigration judges in California have been fired, retired or quit since the start of the Trump administration. The reduction follows a trend in immigration courts nationwide and constitutes, critics say, an attack on the rule of law that will lead to yet more delays in an overburdened court system. The reduction in immigration judges has come as the administration scaled up efforts to deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Trump administration officials have described the immigration court process, in which proceedings can take years amid a backlog of millions of cases, as an impediment to their goals. Nationwide, there were 735 immigration judges last fiscal year, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the arm of the Justice Department that houses immigration courts. At least 97 have been fired since President Trump took office and about the same number have resigned or retired, according to the union representing immigration judges.” “An impediment to their goals”!?

• And finally … some headlines make me sigh. Here’s one, from NPR: “Doctors are concerned over ivermectin’s renewed popularity.” Sigh. Here’s a quote from Dr. Jonathan Mizrahi, from an All Things Considered transcript: “I’ve had a handful of patients who will choose to not get their traditional cancer treatments and instead use drugs like ivermectin, and those are the most heartbreaking because those are patients that we really have stuff that can help, that’s tried and true, and they’re kind of putting all their eggs in a basket that I don’t think is going to be helpful for them.”

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