2018-02-08

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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

Mountain lion comes knocking in Westlake Village

Animal frightens family and small dog


Mountain lion females will protect their young at all costs. So will humans. An adult mountain lion, fixed with a National Park Service tracking collar, tried to break into a Parkwood Estates home near the Three Springs neighborhood in Westlake Village on Feb. 4. Homeowner Nadine Young said the indoor and outdoor lights at her house were on around 8 […]

Female cougar killed in Malibu Canyon

One mountain was spared following contact with humans last weekend, another wasn’t so lucky. National Park Service biologists recovered the remains of a female mountain lion in the hills just north of Pepperdine University near Malibu Canyon Road last week. The adult female, known as P-23, appeared to have been struck by a vehicle days earlier, officials said. P-23 is […]

Write on! CHS wins second acadeca title

School will advance to state competition next month

The students of Calabasas High School put their brainpower to work and won the Ventura County Academic Decathlon— again. La Reina High School of Thousand Oaks and Westlake High School came in second and third. The 2018 decathlon was held over the past two Saturdays at Pacifica High School in Oxnard. It is the second year in a row that […]

Woman goes doctor shopping, winds up in jail

Calabasas resident busted trying to obtain painkillers

Detectives arrested a Calabasas woman Jan. 24 on charges of trying to scam area doctors for painkiller drugs. In Nov. 2017, detectives from the Ventura County Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit received a tip from a doctor in the county about patient Jennifer Williams, 49, who was allegedly visiting numerous physicians throughout Southern California to fraudulently obtain controlled substances. An investigation […]

Sheriff’s Blotter

Agoura Hills A thief stole $215 worth of cold medicine from Ralphs grocery store on Kanan Road the evening of Jan. 25. On Jan. 22 a thief opened an unlocked car parked outside Tire Man on Dorothy Drive and took a long board, skateboard, pocketknife, headphones and phone charger. The stolen items were worth $480. A burglar broke into a […]

Remembering the Thomas fire

The Museum of Ventura County and CAPS Media are coordinating with the Ventura City fire and police departments, county fire and sheriff departments, other agencies and the public to create an historical archive of the 2017 Thomas fire. Throughout the following months, the museum and CAPS Media will gather stories, digital images and physical artifacts to assemble an historical record […]

Help on the way

Ventura County residents impacted by the Thomas fire can apply for one month of food assistance, California Department of Social Services officials announced this week. Through the department’s Disaster CalFresh program, a family of four with a household monthly income of not more than $2,755 may qualify to receive up to $640 in food assistance, officials said Monday. Food assistance […]

Repairs begin



Starting this week, Westlake Boulevard drivers may experience lane closures as the first of three sidewalk improvement phases begins. Working in conjunction with the City of Thousand Oaks, Caltrans began repairing sidewalks along the boulevard Feb. 5. The work is taking place intermittently between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. Damaged sidewalks— cracked and lifted due to tree roots—will […]

Freeway closed in Calabasas

The 101 Freeway at Lost Hills Road in Calabasas will be closed four nights this month for bridge construction. The closures will take place between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Detours will be posted. The work started last night and continues tonight and over two nights next week. Tonight, Thurs., Feb. 8, two southbound lanes will be closed starting at […]

Big news for Acorn vacation photos

I love to take a photograph So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away It was 1973 when Paul Simon released his summertime hit “Kodachrome,” a bouncy ballad that made it to the No. 2 spot on the charts. The title comes from Kodak’s hugely popular 35 mm film that had become such a part of modern life that carousel slide […]