2014-01-23

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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

Pet of the Week



Piano recital of classics



Eric Kinsley, a California Lutheran University music faculty member, will present a piano recital of classical masterpieces at 7:30 p.m. Fri., Jan. 24 in Samuelson Chapel, 165 Chapel Lane on the Thousand Oaks campus. He will play works by Haydn, Beethoven, Pleyel and Mozart. Faculty members Daniel Geeting, clarinet, and Heidi Valencia Vas, vocalist, will also perform. Donations for the […]

Annual charity event is warm and fuzzy



CALIFORNIA WINTER— Above, 5-year-old Larson Kempin of Westlake slides down a hill of snow at Three Springs Park on a toboggan. He and his family came to donate coats and jackets at the fourth annual Coats for Casa charity event on Jan. 18. Right, volunteer Michelle Scruggs bags warm coats and jackets which had been sorted by size and age. […]

Flying Squirrel



Make it your mission It’s halfway through the first month of the new year. Have you broken any of your resolutions yet? All of them? Some? Yeah, me too. Well, here’s a resolution you can still make and, even better, it will be fun and easy to keep. I want to encourage you to get out and see more of […]

Scholar-in-residence to lead a Torah study



Alan Morinis, dean of the Mussar Institute, a nonprofit Jewish education organization, will be the Scholar-in-Residence Fri., Jan. 31 through Sun., Feb. 2 at Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. Morinis will present a sermon on “What the Giver Gets: The Torah of Generosity” at the 7:30 p.m. service Fri., Jan. 31. He will lead a Torah […]

Rhodes scholar enlightens OCS students



Westlake Village resident Aurora Griffin, 23, an Oaks Christian School alumna and a 2014 Rhodes scholar, spoke to the students of OCS on Jan. 9 at the first school chapel of the year. While a student at OCS, Griffin was the 2009 valedictorian and a CIF equestrian champion in show jumping. At Harvard University she studied the classics. At the […]

BRIEFS



School hosts anniversary bash Red Oak Elementary School in Oak Park will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a community event that explores its history and success over the past two decades. After school on Tues., Feb. 4, Principal Jon Duim and Red Oak teachers will host the anniversary bash in the school’s multipurpose room. “We have invited over 70 former […]

Educational author to discuss learning styles

Tips on timesaving strategies

A seminar on how parents can help their children tap into their individual learning styles will be presented from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wed., Jan. 29 at Yerba Buena Elementary School, 6098 Reyes Adobe Road, Agoura Hills. Called “The 21st Century Thinker,” the seminar will feature international educational author and speaker Nathan Levy. Levy’s “Stories with Holes” book series presents […]

HONOR ROLL



Spencer Neiman, an Oak Park High School graduate, was named to the President’s List for the 2013 fall semester at Elon University in North Carolina. The President’s List comprises students with no grade below an A-minus in a minimum of 12 semester hours. Neiman is the son of Mark Neiman and Janet Neiman of Agoura Hills.

State changes kindergarten cutoff date




Local school districts, teachers and parents are preparing for a change in the birthday cutoff date for children entering kindergarten. California passed the Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 to align the age of the state’s kindergartners with those in the rest of the nation. For decades, California was among a handful of states that allowed children to start kindergarten at […]