2016-05-26

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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

These goats get fired up




Chomping away on yellowed grass in the hills just below the Reagan Library, a herd of 30 or so goats is busy clearing a defensible zone for firefighters. In 10 to 12 days, a hungry herd can consume about 13 acres of dry vegetation. So, for the third year in a row, officials at the Ventura County Fire Department are […]

MEMORIAL DAY — 2016

WWII interviews becoming rare


America’s aging World War II veterans have captured the imagination of Agoura High School senior Rishi Sharma. Rishi, 18, has already documented the lives of 40 local veterans in video interviews, each of which will be stored in the vast archives of the U.S. Library of Congress as part of its Veterans History Project. The family of each veteran also […]

Golfers can tee off for a good cause



Golfers can win prizes while playing for a good cause during the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley’s seventh annual golf tournament from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mon., June 13 at the North Ranch Country Club, 4761 Valley Spring Drive, Westlake Village. The Golf Classic also includes contests, breakfast, lunch, cocktails, a live auction and buffet dinner. […]

All hands on deck



DIGGING IN— Volunteers spruce up areas of Agoura Hills on May 7 during the city’s 2016 Community Service Days activity. Above, Rachel Chalfin, 15, of Agoura Hills discards some plant debris near Agoura High School. At top right, Vanessa Warnock of Camarillo and Karen O’Donovan of Thousand Oaks paint an equestrian fence in Old Agoura. At right, Erik Brink of […]

Collectors can rummage through this sale



The Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center will host an Antique Collectibles and Rummage Sale from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sat., June 18 at the center, 27040 Malibu Hills Road, Calabasas. The event is still open to more vendors. For more information on selling, call Jenna Ferguson at (818) 880-2993 or email jenna@ahccc.org, or go to www.ahccc.org.

Marijuana and teens make for risky combination



The Ventura County Behavioral Health Department recently released a report titled “What the Science Says about Adolescent Use of Cannabis.” The paper aims to inform parents, policy-makers and the public about the risks of marijuana use by teens. The report is the second in a series of papers on substance use and addiction that reviews research about how brain functioning […]

Basketball camp for boys at WHS

Starts in June

Westlake High School will offer a Boys Basketball Camp open to incoming freshmen from 2 to 4 p.m. Mon. through Fri., June 13 to 17 and 20 to 24 in the school gym, 100 Lakeview Canyon Road, Thousand Oaks. For more information, email whsbballboosters@gmail.com.

History comes alive at the Adobe



YE OLDE WEST—Above, local dignitaries and the Leonis Adobe board of directors—Dennis Washburn, left, Calabasas Councilmember David Shapiro, Robert Wallace, Jeannette Smith, Los Angeles City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, Calabasas Mayor James Bozajian, and Leonis Adobe Museum board president Brian Kahn—in front of a Wells Fargo stagecoach. They attended Hands on History Day at the Leonis Adobe Museum’s 50th anniversary celebration […]

Optimists in the house



IN A WORD— Sheridan Slaterback, a 17- year- old senior at La Reina High School, is the winner of the Optimist Club’s annual essay contest. Jim Beasley, at right, chairman of the contest, presented the award. Sheridan now will go on to the national level of the competition.