2016-07-14

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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

Spruce up the place

NFL /// Los Angeles Rams


Nelson Spruce can’t escape the spotlight. He doesn’t want to. It doesn’t faze him. He might as well slip off his cleats and call it home. He was in the limelight on Westlake High’s football team and again as a superstar at the University of Colorado, where he matured into one of the most prolific wide receivers in school and […]

Juicy fruit

Local homeowner grows giant lemons


If you’re supposed to make lemonade when life gives you lemons, Shirley Duplechain has a lot of squeezing to do. She’s got lemons the size of her head. A whole bunch of them. While redoing the backyard of her Thousand Oaks home four years ago, Duplechain decided to add some fruit trees to the mix. She headed down to Orchard […]

Fire runs close to freeway



AIR ASSAULT—A helicopter helps ground crews extinguish the 30-acre Rancho Fire Monday in Thousand Oaks. The blaze behind the Bay Club at Willow Lane just south of the freeway broke out at 11 a.m. and was contained by 1 p.m. Both Willow and Conejo Ridge Road had to be closed. About 125 firefighters assisted.

Grandson’s betrayal threatens couple’s home

ELDER ABUSE


Sitting on a hillside under towering pine and eucalyptus trees is the home Hank and Helen Kawecki have lived in for 56 years. But it might not be theirs for much longer. The Kaweckis, both in their late 80s, have received foreclosure notices on the 2,000-squarefoot, mid-century post-and-beam house they bought directly from the builder. In what they call the […]

Busy campaign season coming to Oak Park




The filing period opens July 18 for candidates interested in representing the unincorporated community of Oak Park on several local and regional public panels. The election is Nov. 8. Two seats will be wide open on the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council (MAC). Positions are also available on the boards of Triunfo Sanitation District, Oak Park Unified, Rancho Simi Recreation […]

SHERIFF’S BLOTTER



Agoura Hills A thief stole a photo camera and four lenses valued at more than $4,000 from an unlocked car parked on De Vore Court June 29. A burglar caused $1,600 in damage breaking into a video and audio business in the 28500 block of Canwood Street June 29. The person who reported the crime was unable to determine whether […]

Contact your local sheriff’s office



Residents who live in Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Chatsworth, Hidden Hills, West Hills or Westlake Village may contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lost Hills Station at (818) 878-1808. Oak Park residents should call the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office at (805) 494-8200.

Voter turnout weak in June—better in November, we hope



Ventura County elections officials recently released the final results of the June 7 presidential primary election. The results, to say the least, were disheartening. Less than 52 percent of the county’s nearly 413,000 registered voters cast their ballots. In 2008—the last time an incumbent president was not on the ballot—there was a 62 percent voter turnout for the June primary […]

Cartoon



More school tax opposition



Right on, Brusius and Toomey. Senior voices need to be heard with a no on any new taxes. Let the students stay in their own districts. We seniors have supported them for too many years. When LAUSD has a decline in enrollment, they close or sell off the excess property. Anybody remember the aerospace industry in Southern California: Doulas Lockheed, […]