Dispatch: Week of May 3
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Dispatch: Week of May 3
Fiesta 29! details and updates to the Basin's unhoused population following nationwide count
Hello from California’s high desert. Did you enjoy our little taste of summer last week? I sure did.
Onto this week’s news:
In local news:
There were a total of 155 unhoused people contacted in the Morongo Basin during this year’s national “point in time count.”
Of the 155 folks including the count, 75 were in Twentynine Palms, 42 were in Joshua Tree, 36 were in Yucca Valley, and 2 were in Landers.
Joshua Tree’s unhoused population increased by 50% since 2022, and Yucca Valley’s unhoused population increased by 93% in the same time period.
MVCSD President Jennifer Henning resigned from her position on the board following community-led recall efforts.
Superliterate, a local non-profit, are giving away comic books at five locations across the Basin this Saturday as part of a larger reading drive.
Comic book fans can grab a free bag of comics at the following locations while supplies last: Black Luck Vintage in Morongo Valley, Goat Mountain Co. in Yucca Valley, The Station in Joshua Tree, Table-Top Heroes in Twentynine Palms, and Wooden Nickel Craft Fair in Pioneertown.
The City of Twentynine Palms Parks and Recreation Department is throwing a party in honor of Cinco de Mayo on Friday.
Fiesta 29! will feature live music from Mariachi Llanos de Michoacan, drinks from Rasta Rita Margarita, food, and games at Freedom Plaza in downtown Twentynine Palms.
In state news:
The state’s snowpack is holding strong even after last week’s heatwave. Flooding is still predicted for lower areas during the melt season.
Davis, a small town in Northern California, is searching for a suspect in three stabbings that have occurred over the last few days.
In other news:
The Writer’s Guild went on strike starting Tuesday. The WGA represents writers working in the entertainment industry and was unable to come to an agreement with streaming companies and studios during negotiations (more on this below).
The Los Angeles Lakers took on the Golden State Warriors last night for the game of the inter-state series and won 117-112. Game 2 in the best of seven series is tomorrow night.
Pupdate of the week: Alice lost one of her tennis balls under our fence and is determined to find it and get it back, to the dismay of our neighbor.
Trail tip of the week: If last weekend wasn’t enough of a reminder, I’m here for your summer hiking tips (yes, again!). Always, always, always take a water bottle with you when you set out, even if you think you’ll only be gone for a short time, and apply that sunscreen liberally even for short outings!
Read of the week: The hype around Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is entirely justified — the novel is a beautiful work of art that I cannot put down. It follows two childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, as they reconnect during college and begin developing video games together. The book follows them from there, with lots of flashbacks, and explores what friendship is and how it evolves throughout one’s life.
Watch of the week: Not much, unfortunately, because the Writer’s Guild is on strike and we don’t cross picket lines in this house. The WGA represents show writers across the industry and is fighting for better wages, improved rates, and safety from jobs being outsourced to artificial intelligence software. The last time the WGA went on strike was 2007, way before streaming was common, so the contract changes WGA are not only justified, they are warranted to keep writers above water.
That’s it for this week! I hope you stay warm this weekend and get a chance to go outside before it warms up again.
- Megan
Dispatch: Week of May 3
i appreciate your efforts to bring us news of local interest. keep up the good work !