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Acorn online content now offered free

'Paywall' removed

The new millennium has been a transformative time for newspaper publishing.

Changing reader habits and the advent of new technology have placed big demands on companies in the print news business.

The Acorn and its parent company, Times Media Group, understand that their biggest responsibility is not only the delivery of credible, relevant information in a timely fashion, but making sure residents have easy access to the publication when stories become available.

That’s why we’re super excited about the news being shared today.

Following a five-year stretch in which Acorn readers were given the option of purchasing online subscriptions to the paper, that so-called “paywall” is coming down.

“Mr. Publisher, tear down this wall,” the late President Ronald Reagan might have once said.

And so we did.

Starting immediately, all online content from our five Acorn publications will be available at no charge to the reader, meaning a paid subscription is no longer required to click and read articles. The weekly Acorn has always been delivered to your driveway at no cost—that more than 40-year tradition will continue—and from now on The Acorn on the internet will be free as well.

Why the change?

The Acorn is your community newspaper, and we want to make sure it stays that way. We believe it’s important that residents feel a connection to the stories we write and also learn about the businesses that advertise in their community. The absence of a paywall is the best way to ensure this free-flow of information remains.

We also invite readers to sign up for the new, easy-to-read Acorn newspaper e-edition delivered weekly to your e-mail. Viewed on mobile, desktop or laptop, the pages are super easy to navigate and, free, just like the print paper.

Local journalism is first gear in the engine that drives America’s free press, and a free press it shall be.

Archives

Westlake Costco going al fresco

Pizzas and hot dogs moving outside near front main entrance


Dining at Costco in Westlake Village is heading outside. The big-box chain wants to move the food service at its Lindero Canyon Road location from inside the retail center to an area just outside the main entrance underneath a covered arcade surrounding the store where shopping carts are currently stored. At a meeting on Feb. 28, the Westlake City Council […]

As living costs go up, what’s in your wallet?



With housing costs continuing to push into uncharted territory across SoCal markets, the cost of local rents are proving to be no exception. Take Calabasas, for example. The average rent for Calabasas apartments jumped $237 from 2022 to 2023, an increase of 8.48%—higher than the 5.8% rise for Los Angeles County reported by the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index, […]

Old Agoura wants expedited road, trail repair

City says Cheseboro work can start in summer


A group of Old Agoura residents has formed an organization called Everyone Safe Passage to raise awareness about the poor quality of some of the streets in the community. The City of Agoura Hills adopted its Trails and Pathways Master Plan in 2008, and ESP is asking for immediate attention on improving the poor quality of several key streets, such […]

Death of homeless man a call to action



The Ventura County Board of Supervisors announced on March 11 the addition of 15 new full-time staff positions to work with issues surrounding the county’s homeless population. The board also authorized staff to apply for $2.6 million in funding for the Ventura County Continuum of Care. The money would support two years of homelessness prevention efforts, aiming to keep up […]

What about those rents in the county next door?

If you think Calabasas rents are problematic, listen to what Dan Hamilton, director of economics for Cal Lutheran’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF) has to say about the city’s neighbors to the west. “Ventura County’s housing market is in a state of crisis,” Hamilton said in his February 2024 CERF market report. “For much of the past 16 […]

Regional cities oppose AT&T bid to drop copper landline requirement



Who still uses a landline, anyway? In an emergency situation like a fire, potentially plenty of people. That’s the reasoning of local leaders who oppose AT&T’s desire to shed its “carrier of last resort” obligations in much of California. If the state’s Public Utilities Commission grants the company’s request, AT&T would no longer be required to provide traditional landline telephone […]

Shut-off valve required

$21M water plant bid awarded

For design work only, actual plant in Agoura to cost $364M


Las Virgenes-Triunfo Joint Powers Authority awarded a more than $21-million contract on March 4 to complete the design plans for the Pure Water Project Las Virgenes–Triunfo, an advanced treatment plant in Agoura Hills that will convert the district’s wastewater into drinking water, or toilet to tap, as some like to say. The contract was awarded to a general contractor and […]

County most expensive housing market in nation, forecast warns

Unaffordability a drag on economic growth
CERF REPORT


Ventura County’s housing availability remains at a critically low level, experts said at this year’s Cal Lutheran University’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting event in Thousand Oaks, and because of ongoing and persistent barriers to new construction, any hope for expanding the county’s home ownership rate appears dim. The Feb. 28 forecast at T.O.’s Scherr Forum Theatre featured the […]

See-worthy Medea Creek


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