2020-12-17

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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

We love our holiday spirit

Christmas Eve strike looms at Los Robles

Hospital, nurses at odds over pandemic care


The countdown to Christmas Eve has begun in Thousand Oaks, and it’s not because residents are waiting for Santa Claus. The union that represents nurses and licensed healthcare professionals at Los Robles Regional Medical Center and two other Southern California hospitals formally served notice of a strike that will begin Dec. 24 and end Jan. 3 if they do not […]

MEET THE MAYORS

Experienced city leaders ready to meet challenge of 2021


CALABASAS The Calabasas City Council is back under the leadership of its longest-serving member: James Bozajian. Bozajian was sworn into his sixth term as the city’s mayor at a meeting on Dec. 7. The council also welcomed its newest member, Peter Kraut, who won a seat on the dais in the November election. Bozajian is replacing first-term mayor Alicia Weintraub, […]

Westlake gets serious about traffic scofflaws



Westlake Village residents spoke loud and clear when they told the City Council they believe there’s a problem with traffic speeders in the community. The outcry came following the Sept. 29 collision that claimed the lives of local boys Mark and Jacob Iskander. The council responded to the complaints and began installing signal light improve- ments at several city crosswalks. […]

Fight against virus gets a shot in the arm

Area health workers immunized this week


In a week that saw the coronavirus surge throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the first local shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was delivered Monday and promptly administered to health workers. The first of nearly 83,000 doses were delivered early in the week to nine different L.A. County healthcare sites. Another eight locations were supplied later in the week. County […]

Accused Malibu Creek Park shooter could be deemed unfit for trial



Anthony Rauda, the man accused in the death of camper Tristan Beaudette at Malibu Creek State Park as well as a string of other shootings and burglaries in the rural Santa Monica Mountains area, was often called “crazy” by residents in the months following his arrest over two years ago. Now, the question of Rauda’s mental state is a matter […]

SHERIFF’S BLOTTER

The man responsible for an hours-long standoff with sheriff’s deputies the night before Thanksgiving is facing charges that could send him to prison for life, if he’s found guilty. Maclean Khoury, also known as James McLane, was taken into custody five hours after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called to a home on Villawood Circle in the gated […]

Cartoon

Better staffing at hospital benefits everyone

EDITORIAL

Our first reaction to word of a possible strike at Los Robles hospital was one of disbelief. “A strike? Now? As we endure the worst coronavirus has to offer? When our ICUs are at capacity and the county is struggling to keep them staffed?” It is indeed “unconscionable,” to use the hospital’s own word, that the nurses union would ask […]

Traffic safety in the community is a top priority

GUEST OPINION /// Message from the sheriff


Public safety is a high priority in our communities, including traffic and pedestrian safety. While most of our residents and visitors regularly adhere to traffic laws, there are some that do not. To help increase public safety on our roadways, the City of Westlake Village and the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station have begun an enhanced traffic enforcement program that includes […]