Dispatch: January 8
Chuckwalla National Monument is official, plus a welcome ruling for Pappy's
Hello from California’s windy and powerless high desert, and welcome to 2025. A new year is here, one that will likely include a lot of change for better or worse. As always, I am full of gratitude to ring in another year here with you, whatever it may bring.
And now, onto this week’s news:
In local news:
The long local nightmare is over, and the Knitting Factory has prevailed in a lawsuit against Moresco and Elin Group for control and operating rights at local music venue Pappy + Harriet’s.
The Knitting Factory assumed control of Pappy’s on December 23 while the Los Angeles Superior Court orders a final judgement, including damages and court fees.
The dispute began back in 2021 when Moresco and Elin Group changed the locks on the venue and ousted the Knitting Group executive team.
President Joe Biden officially designated Chuckwalla National Monument on Tuesday, a large area that local tribes and conservationists had been pushing for protection during his administration. The area is home to cultural areas of importance and is part of the endangered desert tortoise’s habitat.
President Biden’s designation event in Coachella Valley was cancelled, however, due to high winds Tuesday morning.
Carlos Zamudio, a 23-year-old Marine residing in Twentynine Palms, was arrested on suspicion of murder after his 21-year-old wife died in the hospital on January 5.
The City of Twentynine Palms’ yoga series kicks off Wednesday, January 8, and runs weekly in Luckie Park. Classes are roughly $15 each, and the senior class is free.
You can view the full schedule of classes here, and you can sign up by visiting sowingseedsbirthandbody.as.me/yogaforall or calling/texting (760) 206-6467.
Copper Mountain College’s literary journal HOWL is now accepting submissions for the 2025 issue. The submission deadline is March 11, and all submissions should be sent to Professor Robert Wanless at rwanless@cmccd.edu.
HOWL is also accepting donations to fund the publication of future journals. Donations can be made here.
The Johnson Valley OHV Recreation Area is closed from January 30 through February 8 for the annual King of the Hammers off-road event. Registered race spectators, participants, and race officials are exempt from the closure, which helps protect the area during the widely popular event.
If you receive CalFresh purchased food and also experienced a Public Safety Power Shutoff this week, you may be eligible for replacements. Affected folks should contact DPSS at 877-410-8827 by January 8 to see if you qualify.
The Town of Yucca Valley is seeking volunteers to assist with the Point in Time Count effort on January 23. The Point in Time Count is an annual count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness. You can sign up to assist with the effort here.
In state news:
More than 30,000 have been ordered to evacuate in Los Angeles County due to the rapidly advancing Palisades Fire. The fire erupted on Tuesday and was driven by extensive winds.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Tuesday evening due to the fire.
Shortly after, the Eaton Fire erupted near Pasadena, and has since spread to more than 10,000 acres and forced even more evacuations.
Exxon is suing Attorney General Rob Bonta and several environmentalist groups over alleged defamation, court records show. The suit focuses on alleged claims over the oil giants plastics recycling initiative.
President Joe Biden also designated the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument on Tuesday — in the same proclamation that designated Chuckwalla National Monument — which protects more than 224,000 acres in Northern California and includes the ancestral homelands of the Pit River Tribe and Modoc people.
In other news:
Thursday, January 9, will be recognized as a national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at 100 years of age. He will be honored with a national funeral service in Washington, D.C. beginning at 7 a.m. PT. All flags will be flown at half-staff for 30 days from Carter’s death.
The Golden Globes were held on Sunday, January 5, where The Brutalist and Emilia Perez took home the top honors.
But the real winner of the evening was actor Tom Holland, who is engaged to megastar Zendaya. The couple did not announce their engagement, but Zendaya was spotted with an engagement ring at the awards show and later confirmed the engagement.
Social media giant Meta has announced it will be removing all fact-checking from its suite of websites and apps, and will relocate the remainder of its team in charge of community-based notes from California to Texas in order to “remain unbiased.”
When asked if the company’s move was a result of previous threats, President-elect Trump answered, “Probably.”
Pupdate of the week: Oliver has decided he absolutely loves Allie’s surgery pajamas, so they are his now. Allie is recovering exceptionally well — we are so proud of her and all her bravery.
Trail tip of the week: The Morongo Basin and surrounding areas were under an unusual January Red Flag Warning this week due to high winds and the exceptional lack of rainfall we’ve experienced so far this season. I’m treating that as an evergreen reminder to bring you all up to code on fire safety when outside. There is a fire permit for backcountry fires in California that you must complete — the course is easy and quick to complete, and includes best practices for putting out fires big and small. Let’s not burn 2025 to the ground just yet.
Read of the week: My final read of 2024 was an incredible novel by Anna North titled Outlawed. It had been recommended to me for years, and I’m not sure why I ever doubted the recommendation because it is an incredible book. It follows the journey of Ada, a 17-year-old girl in the late 1800s who is unable to get pregnant in the first year of her marriage. Her town banishes her and accuses her of witchcraft, forcing her on the run and into a life she never expected. It is beautifully human, exceptionally fast-paced, and easily one of my favorite novels of the year.
Watch of the week: Another holdout, but I finally made it around to watching Somebody Somewhere on HBO, a comedy/drama that follows Sam in the immediate aftermath of her sister’s death. Sam moves home to Kansas to care for her sister in her final years, and then has to decide whether to make a life in the town she left years earlier. As someone from the Midwest, a lot of the series hits home, and the characters are all ones you want to root for. Another excellent series, gone too soon — there are three, seven-episode season on Max.
That’s it for this week! I hope you are battening down the hatches and hanging in there, literally and physically, this week.
- Megan