Dispatch: Week of March 8

Flamingo Heights glamping site gets a public hearing and P-22 is laid to rest

Mar 9, 2023

Hello from California’ high desert. It looks like we might miss out on a big storm that’s hitting the state tomorrow night through Friday, but expect heavy rainfall, severe flooding, and mudslides in nearby areas with high-elevation snow.

I spy an early super bloom in the low-desert.

Onto this week’s news:

In local news:

Morongo Valley photographer and filmmaker Stefanie Schneider is showcasing her collection of polaroid photos of Twentynine Palms at Desert General on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Copper Mountain College is hosting LUNAFEST, a film festival, today. The event is free, open to the public, and no advanced registration is necessary.
- The first screening was at 11 a.m., but there’s still time to make the second screening at 6 p.m.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department will equip its patrol deputies with uniform-mounted cameras this year following the county Board of Supervisors’ approval of a $6.5 million contract to pay for the cameras.
Joshua Tree National Park is applying for the 2023 California State Parks Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division Restoration Grant to help combat negative impacts due to illegal off-roading in the park’s boundaries.
Speaking of the national park, it saw more than 3 million visitors for the second year in a row in 2022, according to new visitation data released by the National Park Service last week.
The County Planning Commission in San Bernardino is hosting a public hearing tomorrow, March 9, to address concerns about the the controversial 640-acre glamping development proposed for Flamingo Heights. The meeting starts at 9 a.m.
The 2023 Spring Rotary Carnival is coming to Luckie Park in Twentynine Palms March 23-26. As usual, Z107.7 has the full run-down ahead of the event.
Jackie, the nesting bald eagle near Big Bear, officially abandoned her two eggs that were weeks overdue to hatch. It is unclear why the eggs didn’t hatch.
NBC has a great map to show the status of snow removal and road closures in the county’s mountain communities.
Highway 18 opened for residents in both directions on Monday. Non-residents are still unable to travel on most mountain roads in and around Big Bear as emergency crews work to assist residents.

In state news:

Governor Gavin Newsom said the state would no longer do business with Walgreens after the healthcare giant said it would stop offering medication for patients undergoing abortions even in states where the procedure is protected and legal.
- Walgreens reversed its stance on Tuesday, saying it would only limit the drug in states that had restrictions on the procedure.
A warming climate has left a fifth of the conifer forests that blanket California's Sierra Nevada stranded in habitats that no longer suit them — now dubbed “zombie forests.”
Tribal leaders, scientists, and conservation advocates buried Southern California's most famous mountain lion P-22 Saturday in the mountains where the big cat once roamed.

In other news:

Today is my husband’s birthday! That qualifies as headline news in this household.
If you missed out on our local troops’ Girl Scout Cookie Sales, you still have time to order your fix online!
- I chose to order from Troop 6000, a New York-based troop for homeless girls. You can donate or order cookies from them here. There’s no such thing as too many cookies, right?!
Taylor Swift’s national Eras Tour kicks off next weekend in Phoenix, and fans are already set up outside State Farm Arena trying to figure out which songs she will perform by listening to her sound check sessions.

Oliver really thinks he is MUCH bigger than Alice, but the opposite is true. Luckily she’s a great sport about it.

Pupdate of the week: Both dogs are enjoying the freedom of our freshly weeded yard now that the storms are through.

Trail tip of the week: A lot of trails have sustained damage from this winter’s storms, so be sure to check in with the different management agencies to confirm which trails are open and when, as well as if you need to take any special considerations into account in some areas.

Watch of the week: I thoroughly enjoyed Babylon — and its director’s first hit Whiplash — over the last few days. Babylon is definitely not one to watch with kids around, but I really enjoyed the thought behind the casting direction as well as the broader look at how movies are made. Whiplash does the same but with music, and it was equally as great even if it wasn’t nominated for a bunch of Oscars.

That’s it for this week! I hope you stay dry but still get a chance to get outside.

- Megan