2022-01-13

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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

2022-01-13 E-Edition

MISSING Mental health often plays role when young people disappear

Family searches
for answers after man walks away from Agoura treatment center


Zoë Kustritz was in the mood for celebrating July 13, 2021 when she went to Basta restaurant in Agoura Hills for an Italian dinner. The then 26-year-old and her mother were in town from the East Coast to witness what seemed to be a turning point for Zoë’s 24-year-old brother, Jack Stein, a Minnesota resident who had been staying at […]

Health order keeps pressure on business

Lawsuit is weapon of choice against restaurants that fight mandate


The new wave of coronavirus cases has once again put to the test the patience of small businesses trying to stay profitable amid the ever-shifting landscape of COVID-19 restrictions. One local restaurant is still dealing with the fallout from its opposition to the health mandate imposed in 2021, prior to the Omicron surge. Record cases in Los Angeles County make […]

Schools wary amid surge



The reopening of school after the winter break saw as many as 1,208 Las Virgenes Unified School District students out, with COVID-related teacher absences around 10% in the first few days, The Acorn has learned. According to Superintendent Dan Stepenosky, the three days ending Jan. 5 respectively saw 42, 45 and 44 teachers out with COVID. In that same period, […]

Test kit price gouging criticized by DA

Profiteering
could be punished


Amid concern that some outlets are seeking undue profit on the sale of at-home COVID-19 test kits, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced Tuesday that his office has established an electronic hotline to help protect residents against price gouging on the kits. The hotline comes in response to a Jan. 8 executive order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom that […]

Man gets 50 to life in Westlake wife murder

Tim Gautier will be eligible for parole

In one of the quickest murder cases in Ventura County history, a Thousand Oaks man has been sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison for shooting and killing his wife in their Westlake apartment last year. Last week’s sentencing hearing fell six days before the oneyear mark of the death of Gina Gautier, who was shot and killed […]

BRANCHING OUT

YOUR INSIDER TO THE ACORN’S WEEKLY PODCAST

Each week the Acorn Newspapers presents a new episode of “Branching Out,” a podcast that explores the issues in our community and the people who make the news. In this installment, Thousand Oaks Acorn editor Kyle Jorrey sits down with former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney James Bozajian, who sits on Calabasas’ City Council, to break down what’s happening […]

Grossman preliminary now set


Rebecca Grossman, the motorist accused of murder and other charges in the deaths of pedestrians Mark Iskander, 11, and his 8-year-old brother Jacob Iskander in Westlake Village two years ago, is set for a preliminary hearing April 25 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. That’s when prosecutors will present evidence and the judge will decide whether the case should go […]

King’s example inspires and enlightens

EDITORIAL

Monday marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday to honor the Atlanta-born civil rights leader and Baptist minister. Assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, the Nobel Prize laureate’s leadership is credited with ending legal segregation of African Americans in the South through his nonviolent protests and his powerful oratory skills. Dozens of biographies can be found offering rich, nuanced analysis […]

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