2020-05-07

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

Utility offers little reprieve during pandemic

We hear much about the government’s individual stimulus program and business paycheck protection plan. The broad-reaching bailout is necessary—even if it’s only a stopgap measure—to keep people and the economy afloat until the lockdown ends. Because unemployment is rampant and people can’t afford rent, landlords are being asked to forgive payment temporarily until tenants get back on their feet. Mortgage […]

Cartoon

Yarn fairies in Westlake Village

The City of Westlake Village has a new mystery. Almost every day, something new and colorful is added to a creative yarn art project, located at the corner of Triunfo Canyon and Lindero Canyon Drive on the fence of the tennis club parking lot. The whimsical flowers, rainbow, sunshine and animals bring a smile to the faces of those walking […]

Says it’s hard to maintain social distancing

It’s great that so many people are out exercising during the pandemic while gyms and trails are closed. But the large numbers have made it often impossible to maintain social distancing, especially on weekends. This past Sunday, while walking down Triunfo Canyon Road in Westlake Village, we were met with two family groups pushing strollers, a cyclist and a jogger. […]

Bike jump story

Some children were riding their bikes on the jumps in Medea Creek Park. A park ranger advised them to wear helmets and to practice social distancing. That incident very quickly morphed into a community-wide belief that the jumps would be closed and removed. This should be a lesson to everyone. Misinformation spreads far too rapidly and too widely over the […]

Agoura Hills founder mourned

With the death of Ernest F. Dynda on March 25, we lost a significant figure in the establishment of Agoura Hills. From 1978 to 1982, Ernie and his wife, Carol, ran the Las Virgenes Cityhood Committee. The goal then for all groups working for cityhood was to incorporate the area that is now Calabasas, Agoura Hills and Westlake as one […]

Wants Brownley- Kennedy debate

I am writing in support of Ronda Kennedy’s call for Zoom debates with Congresswoman Julia Brownley. At a time when Ventura County citizens are worried about getting back to work, how they can pay their rent or mortgages and their children’s education, they want and deserve candidates who have a realistic view of the problems and hardships they face. They […]

Power grab by the Democrats

We should all be celebrating; the planet is being saved as we speak. Goals the Democratic Party have worked to achieve for years are now being realized. With everything from carbon taxes to blocking the construction of pipelines, Democrats have worked tirelessly to shut down the fossil fuel industry in this country. Now their efforts are meeting with success. In […]

Westlake switches over to clean power

In November, 2018, the City of Westlake Village voted to join the Clean Power Alliance, with a default rate tier of Lean Power. The alliance is a public agency made up of 32 local governments across Los Angeles and Ventura counties—including Westlake Village—working together to bring clean, renewable power choices to residents. CPA will be Westlake’s new electricity provider starting […]

Urgent care unit offers antibody exam

Exer Urgent Care said it is offering COVID antibody testing at all 16 of its locations across Southern California, including Westlake, Calabasas and Newbury Park.. The FDA-approved test detects antibodies in a person’s blood, which indicate whether a person has been exposed to or recovered from the coronavirus. For the most effective results, the antibody testing should be conducted a […]