Happy National Newspaper Week; AC/DC Takes Over an Indio Dive Bar–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Oct. 5, 2023

Indy Digest: Oct. 5, 2023

Happy National Newspaper Week, everyone.

Clay Jones, whose excellent work appears each week on our comics page, drew the above comic for the week, and it nicely sums up the mess that is the state of newspapers in 2023.

For various reasons, I’ve been thinking a lot about the power certain words have—and “newspaper” is one of them. It’s a pretty simple word … but does it really work for certain news publications these days?

The Independent belongs to three media associations—and none of them have “paper” in them. The California News Publishers Association used to call its annual awards competition the Better Newspaper Contest, but that was changed a few years back to the California Journalism Awards. The Local Independent Online News Publishers has always had that name, but it’s only been around for a dozen or so years. The Association of Alternative Newsmedia used to be called the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, a name that was changed in recognition of the fact that the word “weeklies” didn’t apply to an increasing number of members.

Getting back to National Newspapers Week: The week’s primary promoter is a group called the Newspaper Association Managers. This year’s theme is “In Print. Online. For You. #NewspapersYourWay.” Uh, OK.

While some of my fellow editors and publishers—especially those whose media outlets are digital only—specifically avoid the term newspaper, I’ve decided to still embrace it, at least for now. Why? The term, at least to me, still has a lot of power. When I hear the word “newspaper,” I think of entities that work to inform the public, to be a part of their communities, to—as the old phrase goes—afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

So, in that spirit, let me say: Thanks for reading this newspaper … even if you only ever read what we do via pixels.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• I want to highlight an intriguing event that our friends at The American Prospect are having—and the Independent is sponsoring—next Wednesday, Oct. 11, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. I asked the folks at The American Prospect to explain a little more about the publication and the event, and here’s what they came up with: “TAP—The American Prospect—is a nonprofit public policy magazine based in Washington, D.C. TAP knows policy is ultimately dictated by who has power, what they’re doing with it, and how that power can be better distributed to deliver broad prosperity. TAP takes you inside the rooms where it happens, in Washington and corporate boardrooms, to answer these questions, applying evidence to political coverage, avoiding the petty stories of ‘he said/she said’ and the vapidity of the horse race. ‘Prospect LIVE in Palm Springs: WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA?’ is an evening of comedy and politics—with drinks! ‘Prospect LIVE in Palm Springs’ will feature a talk between David Dayen, Robert Kuttner, and Harold Meyerson about the Prospect; a comedy set from Bitchuation Room podcast star Francesca Fiorentini; an interview with the executive director of the Warehouse Workers Resource Center, which is organizing in the Inland Empire; and a live edition of the Left Anchor podcast, with host and Prospect managing editor Ryan Cooper.” It takes place at 7 p.m.—doors open at 6—and admission is free with registration; click here to register!

• If you suddenly became a Coachella Valley Firebirds fan last season, you’ll be elated to learn that KESQ News Channel 3 announced today that 12 Firebirds games would be televised this season by its sister stations, KCWQ CW 5 and KDFX Fox 11. According to a news release, “The team will provide the broadcasts and include a half-hour pre-game show hosted by Gino LaMont and Grant Fuhr. Play-by-play will be called by Firebirds announcer Evan Pivnick.” The first televised game will be on Friday, Oct. 13; go here for the complete list.

• The state has raised the minimum number of paid sick days employees must receive from employers, from three to five. The Associated Press says: “The law, which takes effect in January, also increases the amount of sick leave workers can carry over into the following year. (Gov. Gavin) Newsom said it demonstrates that prioritizing the health and well-being of workers ‘is of the utmost importance for California’s future.’ ‘Too many folks are still having to choose between skipping a day’s pay and taking care of themselves or their family members when they get sick,’ Newsom said in a statement announcing his action. … Beyond preventing workers from choosing between taking a day off or getting paid, proponents of the sick day legislation argue it will help curb the spread of diseases and make sure employees can be productive at work. But the California Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses across the state, said it will be burdensome for small businesses.”

• In health news, doctors are concerned about a shortage of the proper antibiotics as syphilis cases continue to rise. CNN reports: “The National Coalition of STD Directors and 38 other public health groups sent a letter to members of the White House Drug Shortage Task Force on Monday that detailed how clinics are reporting trouble placing orders for the go-to syphilis drug Bicillin—a long-acting injectable form of the antibiotic penicillin—and those that have been able to place orders are receiving only partially filled or delayed orders. The letter calls for the White House task force to take up the Bicillin shortfall as a priority and work with drugmaker Pfizer to ensure adequate supply.”

• In other health news: The Washington Post headline says, simply, “How red-state politics are shaving years off American lives.” A detail or two: “Americans are more likely to die before age 65 than residents of similar nations, despite living in a country that spends substantially more per person on health care than its peers. Many of those early deaths can be traced to decisions made years ago by local and state lawmakers over whether to implement cigarette taxes, invest in public health or tighten seat-belt regulations, among other policies, an examination by The Washington Post found. States’ politics—and their resulting policies—are shaving years off American lives. … State lawmakers gained autonomy over how to spend federal safety net dollars following Republican President Ronald Reagan’s push to empower the states in the 1980s. Those investments began to diverge sharply along red and blue lines, with conservative lawmakers often balking at public health initiatives they said cost too much or overstepped. Today, people in the South and Midwest, regions largely controlled by Republican state legislators, have increasingly higher chances of dying prematurely compared with those in the more Democratic Northeast and West, according to The Post’s analysis of death rates.”

• The recall of the day: sinus sprays. NBC 7 San Diego reports: “The company Biomic Sciences is voluntarily recalling ION* Sinus Support, ION* Biome Sinus, and Restore Sinus Spray products due to microbial contamination. The Virginia-based company said that it was recalling the products after testing by the Food and Drug Administration found they contained microbial contamination. … According to an FDA release, these microorganisms are generally non-pathogenic. However, they do pose a risk to anyone who recently underwent nasal or sinus surgery, according to the FDA, which says ‘there is a reasonable probability that the use of the affected product could potentially result in severe or life-threatening adverse events such as bacteremia or fungemia, invasive bacterial or fungal rhinosinusitis, or disseminated fungal infection.’ The affected batches were distributed between July 2017 and September of this year.” Complete details from the FDA can be found here.

• And finally … operations/supply chain experts, writing for The Conversation, use Lego as an example of how difficult it can be for a company to do the right thing in today’s complex world: “Lego, the world’s largest toy manufacturer, has built a reputation not only for the durability of its bricks, designed to last for decades, but also for its substantial investment in sustainability. The company has pledged US $1.4 billion to reduce carbon emissions by 2025, despite netting annual profits of just over $2 billion in 2022. This commitment isn’t just for show. Lego sees its core customers as children and their parents, and sustainability is fundamentally about ensuring that future generations inherit a planet as hospitable as the one we enjoy today. So it was surprising when the Financial Times reported on Sept. 25, 2023, that Lego had pulled out of its widely publicized ‘Bottles to Bricks’ initiative. This ambitious project aimed to replace traditional Lego plastic with a new material made from recycled plastic bottles. However, when Lego assessed the project’s environmental impact throughout its supply chain, it found that producing bricks with the recycled plastic would require extra materials and energy to make them durable enough. … As experts in global supply chains and sustainability, we believe Lego’s pivot is the beginning of a larger trend toward developing sustainable solutions for entire supply chains in a circular economy. New regulations in the European Union—and expected in California—are about to speed things up.”

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