Dispatch: Week of July 31
Vince Vaughn's pickleball pick, plus Yucca Valley theater reopens
Hello from California’s high desert. August is on tap, and along with the last true month of summer comes yet another long-duration heat wave. Temperatures are expected to peak Friday, but increased monsoon chances also mean high humidity through part of next week.
In case you missed it: I’m feeling this funny thing called hope, so I wrote about my journey to get here. You can read last weekend’s essay here.
And now, onto this week’s news:
In local news:
The Morongo Basin is expected to continue to see smokey skies as firefighters battle the Nixon Fire near Anza. The wildfire had burned roughly 4,900 acres as of Wednesday afternoon in Riverside and San Diego Counties.
Scott Leonard, a music producer and owner of the famous Kellogg Doolittle home in Joshua Tree, is facing two allegations of drugging and sexual assault from two local artists, per a Los Angeles Times report.
Yucca Valley’s old Cinema 6 is now Paradigm Theaters, and plans to reopen “soon,” the new owners told The Hi-Desert Star.
Robert Leone, former Yucca Valley mayor and Town Council member, died at 89 years old on Saturday.
Did you feel it? The Morongo Basin was rattled by a 4.9 magnitude earthquake Monday afternoon. The quake was centered near Barstow, and no damage was reported.
Actor Vince Vaughn might be the newest celebrity fixture around town after he bought the Coachella Valley Scorpions, one of 12 professional pickleball teams for athletes over 50.
Joshua Tree National Park is preparing for an expected surge in visitation for folks hoping to see the Perseid meteor showers this month. The peak of the celestial event is forecast for August 10 through August 12.
Last year, visitation overran the park’s capacity and park officials asked folks to stay home on the second night.
Joshua Tree National Park is not just a major attraction for celestial events; it is also among the top choice location for folks spreading ashes of dearly departed loved ones, according to a recent survey.
Staff Sgt. Jerry L. Betzold, 26, was killed in a Humvee rollover accident at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center during a training exercise.
The City of Twentynine Palms and Reach Out Morongo Basin are jointly hosting a Local Assistance Day on Thursday, August 1, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Twentynine Palms Senior Center at 6539 Adobe Road.
Attendees can ask for assistance from a number of organizations, including the community food pantry and Red Cross, among others.
Morongo Basin Unified Schools are back in session on August 12.
Lifestream is holding a blood drive Thursday, August 1, and all donors will have a chance to win a 2024 Toyota SUV. The blood drive will be held from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the California Welcome Center located at 56711 Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley.
Twentynine Palms is home to a new cannabis dispensary. The Red Falcon Dispensary is located at 73829 Baseline Road near Tortoise Rock Casino on federal reservation land.
In state news:
The Park Fire is among the top five largest fires ever recorded in the state as of Wednesday afternoon. It is burning in the Sierra foothills north of Sacramento near where the deadly fire burned Paradise to the ground a few years ago. The Park fire is roughly 390,000 acres and is about 18% contained, per officials.
The fire was reportedly started by an act of arson, officials said.
Communities across the state are experiencing a massive surge in COVID-19, per wastewater testing. Officials are urging everyone to don masks when in crowded, indoor areas, to avoid spreading or catching the virus.
Folks who attended Lightning in a Bottle, a music festival in Kern County, are coming down with valley fever. So far, three attendees have been hospitalized.
In other news:
The internet loves Stephen Nedoroscik, a member of the U.S. men’s Olympic gymnastics team, who is the Clark Kent of the pommel horse.
In other Olympics news, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team took gold in the team competition and the women’s rugby team took bronze.
Nearly all prepared deli meats, both from a deli counter and pre-sliced, have been recalled by Boar’s Head due to listeria contamination. Folks are encouraged to throw out all Boar’s Head products out of an abundance of caution.
Pupdate of the week: Alice has earned herself some crate-free stay-at-home time, and so far she’s passed our little tests with flying colors! Oliver probably isn’t thrilled he has to share house guarding duties, but he enjoys the company.
Trail tip of the week: I dealt with my first real bout of plantar fasciitis a few weeks ago after my backpacking trip because of my camp shoes! The lightweight sandals are easy to pack and easy to wear, but unfortunately my feet weren’t happy with the lack of support when I was recovering from hiking during the day. So your reminder this week is to care for your feet, however that looks for you, because they’re what carries us on our biggest and best adventures.
Read of the week: This week’s read is an article from The Times, a UK publication, that profiles Hannah Neeleman, a Juliard-trained dancer that now runs a farm with her husband in rural Utah as she cares for their eight children. Neeleman is famous for her Instagram Ballerina Farm, which started with her showcasing impressive ballet moves while performing farm chores but has since evolved into major lifestyle brand that leans heavily on the “trad wife” persona. The article asks a very pertinent question, which it then lets readers answer: did Neeleman choose this life for herself, or was it chosen for her? As an ambassador for a movement focused on keeping women in the home and out of the workplace, it feels unusually prescient.
Watch of the week: The Olympics are in full swing, and watching athletes achieve some of their biggest life goals always makes me so emotional. I’ve been loving Peacock’s Gold Zone — a play on RedZone during the NFL season that shows scoring drives across the league — because I am simultaneously cheering for table tennis, 3X3 basketball, swimming, and gymnastics. Running events start tomorrow, so I will be setting every alarm to watch them live.
That’s it for this week! I hope you have a wonderful, cool weekend with some chances to get outside before it heats up too much.
- Megan
I love that you are doing a dispatch. It's better late than never in my life to find this! Excited to keep reading going forward.