On Misinformation and Media Coverage Regarding the Fertility Clinic Bombing–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: May 19, 2025

Indy Digest: May 19, 2025

I was in the Los Angeles area on Saturday morning, because the California News Publishers Association’s journalism awards event was that evening. We’d just sat down for brunch at a restaurant when a friend called.

He told us he’d seen claims on social media that a helicopter had crashed into Desert Regional Medical Center. My heart sank, and I felt sick to my stomach.

I jumped on social media. In addition to a lot of posts effectively asking, “What in the hell was that boom?!” I saw the same reports my friend had. I also saw claims that there had been a gas-line explosion, that a car bomb had gone off, and that whatever the explosion was “completely destroyed” multiple buildings. I also saw posts proclaiming an “abortion clinic” was involved.

As details started to come in from reliable news sources about what had really happened, accusations of partisan/ideological blame started flying willy-nilly. This had to have been done by an angry Trump supporter, some said, or perhaps a “Christian pro-lifer.” Others blamed the radical left. (My favorite post, however, was a rambling, grammatically challenged claim on X saying that due to the explosion, “There has been a serious increase in air surveillance UFO HUnters in morongo valley sky valley palm springs tonight is a great night to see the aircraft they claim does not exist i personally spotted 10 of them tonight look up.”)

Of course, we now know what really happened: A suspect identified as Guy Edward Bartkus, a 25-year-old from Twentynine Palms, drove a 2010 Ford Fusion into the parking lot of the American Reproductive Centers (ARC), a fertility/in-vitro fertilization clinic at 1199 N. Indian Canyon Drive. A little before 11 a.m., that vehicle—with Bartkus in it or nearby—exploded, essentially destroying the ARC building, and damaging multiple buildings within several blocks of the blast. Four people were injured—but thankfully, Bartkus was the only person killed.

It appears, based on various things he’s posted online, Bartkus was someone who was “anti-life” or “pro-mortalist“—someone who was angry that he existed, and did not like that he was brought into this world without his consent.

So … there was no helicopter crash into a hospital, thank god. There was no gas explosion. An abortion clinic was not targeted. And being “anti-life” is not part of any Democratic, Republican, liberal or conservative platform I’ve ever seen.

This is just the latest example of how misinformation spreads like crazy whenever a big news story breaks. Please: Whenever something big happens, assume whatever you see on social media is an unverified rumor, until reliable, trusted sources start to chime in. And please, don’t spread unfounded rumors on social media yourself. Misinformation is real, and it sucks.

A shout-out to all of the local reporters who did amazing work this weekend covering the terrorism and its aftermath. There were a couple of coverage hiccups I noticed, but local reporters, for the most part, did a great job. Trust me: Covering breaking news is difficult—mentally, physically and emotionally. In particular, Mark Talkington and Kendall Balchan at The Palm Springs Post deserve applause for the leading coverage on Saturday.

There was one major gaffe, however—one that was not a mistake, but instead a reflection of the state of print media in 2025: The Desert Sun’s Sunday edition contained no local coverage of the explosion—not on the front page, not elsewhere in the paper. The only mention of the explosion, bafflingly, in the Sunday print edition was a Reuters (!) piece at the bottom of the “Nation and World Extra” page.

The reporters and the editors at The Desert Sun did, and continue to do, fine work; they do not deserve any of the blame for this print-edition embarrassment. The sole responsibility sits with The Desert Sun’s owner, Gannett, who several years ago shut down the press here, moved all local printing to Phoenix, and made deadlines—especially Sunday deadlines—so early that what’s in the print edition is no longer timely.

You can’t stop the presses if there aren’t presses to stop.

I’ve heard and seen a fair amount of criticism of the local news coverage of the explosion. In one sense, I disagree; as I mentioned above, I thought the online coverage was strong overall, Desert Sun Sunday print editions notwithstanding.

But in another sense, these criticisms have merit. Had this happened 10 years ago, or especially 20, there would have been a LOT more local reporters out there, doing more work. The number of newspaper reporters has declined nationally by two-thirds since 2005, after all; TV news has seen similar decreases.

To those people who expressed dismay about the local explosion coverage, I ask: How many local news publications do you subscribe to and/or financially support? Are you someone who expects news to be “free”?

If the answers are “none” and/or “yes,” rather than blaming local reporters, you need to blame yourself—because you’re part of the problem.

For updates on the explosion’s aftermath, visit the city’s information website: engagepalmsprings.com/deadly-explosion-in-palm-springs. I also recommend watching the coverage at thepalmspringspost.com, kesq.com and, yes, www.desertsun.com. Of course, we’ll also be covering things from a wider, non-breaking perspective as well; stay tuned.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Some good news, according to our friends at The Palm Springs Post: The number of unhoused people may be on the decline: “Palm Springs officials are reporting a 63% decrease in the number of unhoused individuals living on city streets since 2023, according to results from the Riverside County Point-in-Time Count conducted on Jan. 22. The dramatic reduction in Palm Springs stands in contrast to Riverside County as a whole, which reported a 7% increase in its total homeless population, counting 3,990 people experiencing homelessness across the region. In 2023, the last time the count—a one-day, single moment in time survey—was conducted, volunteers in Palm Springs reported 239 people living on the streets. The 63% decline equates to 88 people found living on city streets during this year’s count.”

• Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to divert money OK’d by voters to increase the pay of doctors. Our partners at Calmatters explain: “Six months after California voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative that increases the pay of doctors treating Medi-Cal patients, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to divert that money to cover other health costs. Newsom last week proposed using $1.6 billion generated by Proposition 35 over the next two years to help address California’s $12 billion state deficit. The governor said the spending plan is allowable under the ballot measure, while doctors, hospitals, clinics and others who support the measure are crying foul. Rising costs are making Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance for low-income people, unsustainable, triggering a controversy over use of funds that voters earmarked for specific health costs, such as doctor’s pay and women’s reproductive health. In addition to reallocating the Prop 35 funds, the governor also wants to move $500 million from the state tobacco tax into the state’s general fund. That money, which voters approved in a 2016 ballot measure, is supposed to support family planning and women’s health care, among other services.”

• The Washington Post headline is: “How a tornado tested a Kentucky weather office that cut overnight staff.” Details: “If not for the storms, the understaffed National Weather Service office responsible for monitoring weather hazards across eastern Kentucky would have gone dark by midnight. It’s one of a growing number of the agency’s local offices that have been unable to cover overnight shifts after the Trump administration significantly reduced staffing levels through buyouts and firings this year. But Friday brought the kind of harrowing conditions meteorologists train for. Storms that killed at least 21 people across the heart of the nation unleashed what was likely a violent and long-lived tornado across Kentucky, a state that accounted for at least 14 of those deaths. It posed the latest test for a beleaguered Weather Service corps that has endured a season of dangerous storms and floods while facing major upheaval in their offices. The forecasting office in Jackson, Kentucky, is four meteorologists short of what agency officials have deemed ideal staffing—a 31 percent vacancy rate that makes 24/7 operations impossible, according to the union that represents Weather Service staff.”

• Today was another disconcerting day for CBS News, as the corporation that owns CBS tries to make nice with the Trump administration to get a merger completed. CNBC reports: “CBS News Chief Executive Officer Wendy McMahon announced Monday she is stepping down, the latest twist in a growing battle of wills between the company’s news division and Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. Paramount Global co-CEO George Cheeks talked with McMahon on Saturday and asked for her resignation, according to people familiar with the matter. … ‘The past few months have been challenging,’ McMahon wrote in her resignation letter to employees. ‘It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.’ In recent weeks, Paramount Global’s board had put increasing pressure on Cheeks and McMahon to know specific details about 60 Minutes programming ahead of its air date, in a divergence from how the show operated in the past, according to people familiar with the matter. Veteran 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned in April, saying Paramount Global’s increased scrutiny of his editorial decisions infringed on his journalistic independence.”

• In other Trump/corporations news, the president is lashing out at companies that blame price increases on his tariffs. The New York Times says: “Since the spring, the United States has imposed a 10 percent tariff on nearly every nation, with steeper duties reserved for specific products and countries, including a minimum 30 percent tax on Chinese imports. While the White House insists the president’s strategy is working—generating new revenue and forcing nations to negotiate—some companies have started to report early signs of financial strain. Their warnings have affirmed economists’ long and widely held belief that tariffs fall hardest on U.S. companies and consumers, not the allies and adversaries that Mr. Trump seeks to punish. But the White House repeatedly has dismissed this evidence, while the president himself has increasingly needled companies for trying to ameliorate the financial fallout. … The latest example arrived over the weekend when Mr. Trump trained his ire on Walmart, just days after the low-cost retailer told investors that it might have to increase prices soon. … In response, the president demanded in a post on social media on Saturday that Walmart ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ rather than pass any new costs on to customers. He argued that Walmart had generated billions of dollars in profit last year, so it could afford to shoulder any added expenses.”

• A newspaper investigation of Kroger—the grocery chain that locally operates Ralph’s and Food 4 Less—revealed the company has engaged in a possible pattern of pricing deception. The Guardian reports: “Derek and Allison Hadfield became more and more fed up whenever they shopped for their family of four at their local Kroger grocery in Belpre, Ohio, a town of about 6,600 across the Ohio River from West Virginia. When they tried to save money by buying items on sale, they said, many of the discounts vanished when Kroger rang up their carts at checkout. Personal pizzas posted as on sale for $1 a piece rang up for $1.25 each. An 8-ounce jar of minced garlic listed at the low price of $2.49 cost $3.99 at checkout—a 60% jump. … The family’s experiences are not an isolated problem involving a single store, an investigation of the supermarket giant’s pricing practices by the Guardian US, Consumer Reports and the Food & Environment Reporting Network has found. Kroger stores in multiple states, the investigation has revealed, show a pattern of overcharging customers by frequently listing expired sale prices on the shelves and then ringing up the regular prices at checkout—a practice that adds additional burdens on to American families already struggling under the weight of the soaring costs for eggs, meat and other groceries.” FWIW, Kroger denied the practice was intentional or widespread.

• And finally … a little more good news: Sesame Street will remain on the air thanks to a new deal with Netflix. The Washington Post says: “Sesame Street, facing a financial crisis, has solved one of its biggest problems: It now has new home. Netflix announced Monday that the program will premiere its 56th season on the global streaming giant, along with 90 hours of previous episodes. The new season will be released in three batches, though Netflix did not reveal a premiere date. Sesame Street will also continue to air on PBS stations, its original home, and for the first time in a decade, new episodes will air free on public television without a months-long delay. The announcement comes after a year-plus search for a new streaming partner after Max informed Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization that produces the show, that it was ending a 10-year partnership that had been critical to Sesame’s finances. That set off a period of financial turmoil as Sesame worked to replace that revenue. In March, Sesame announced staff layoffs as it struggled to complete a streaming deal and faced cuts in federal funding under the Trump administration.”

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