2019-01-24

Read the Latest Acorn!

Click below to read the latest edition of The Acorn!

Enjoy the new online reading experience!

Subscribe to The Acorn

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

Skateboard museum opens in Simi

Skate lessons also available at new facility


Former Skatelab co-owner Todd Huber is keeping skateboarding alive in the East County with a new skateboarding museum and skate school at the Simi Valley Town Center. Huber founded the nonprofit Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2009 and owns one of the largest skateboarding memorabilia collections in the world, which is on full display at its new location. The space […]

Duck is a fond companion

CRITTER TAIL


There was a quaint cottage on Mulholland Highway that was occupied by an elderly couple when I moved to rural Agoura more than 20 years ago. Eventually the couple had to relocate to nursing care facilities, and the property sat vacant, their lovely gardens growing neglected. This fall, the Woolsey fire spared the property, but by then time and the […]

Friends drop by

Pet of the week

SHY GUY— Although abandoned in a field, cautious Tommy is ready to be a regular house cat. With time and patience, his personality will shine. Meet Tommy, ID No. 5229149 at the Agoura Hills Animal Care Center, 29525 Agoura Road. Pets may have been adopted, so check Los Angeles County Animal Care & Control before visiting.

Boys & Girls Clubs roll out winter programs

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Conejo Valley has kicked off the winter session of enrichment programs at the nine clubs in the Conejo Valley and Las Virgenes unified school districts. All types of enrichment classes are offered, including sports and fitness, art, science, dance, modeling, cooking and musical theater. Most of the classes are free to members enrolled […]

Pianists show their skills in annual contest

Youths ages 7 to 18 earn cash prizes and master classes

The New West Symphony recently announced the winners of its Quick Bowman Piano Competition, an annual event earlier this month that gave local youth an opportunity to play before judges and be awarded for their participation in the competition. The young musicians performed at a Jan. 13 recital at Samuelson Chapel at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. Musicians were […]

Parish welcomes back Catholics

Padre Serra Catholic Church will host a program designed to welcome back returning Catholics on 10 Thursdays at 7 p.m. starting Feb. 7 in the church’s San Juan Batista room, 5205 Upland Road, Camarillo. The series, titled “Landings,” will share and explore faith issues and reach out to those Catholics who are currently inactive. Trained, compassionate lay people will guide […]

Small church makes large donation

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Thousand Oaks, donated its Dec. 16 Sunday collection of $4,310 to the Ventura County Community Fund to support the Borderline survivors and the Woolsey and Hill fires victims. Barbara Drogmund, president of the church’s executive board, said that with the devastation so near the church, which sits across from Conejo Elementary School on Conejo School […]

Secret mission to bring Jews home to Israel

The Conejo Jewish Academy will host a lecture titled “Rescue: The Clandestine Mission to Bring Them Home’” with guest speaker Arielle Di-Porto at 8 p.m. Mon., Jan. 28 at the academy, 30347 Canwood St., Agoura Hills. Di-Porto was born in Safi, Morocco, and made aliyah (Jews moving to Israel) at the age of 17. In 1985, she began what has […]

Like the magi, wise people still search for God today

Roots of Faith

An early title for the movie that became“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was “Watch the Skies.” In fact, the phrase was used in the film’s ad campaign. In ancient times, Persian astrologers known as magi (they were not kings) also searched the night skies. They believed the appearance of a new star signaled the birth of a future king. […]