Dispatch: Week of October 4
All this weekends' events, plus Yucca Valley approves cannabis delivery
Hello from California’s high desert, and welcome to October. I hope you enjoyed our fall-like weekend! We have one last warm up on the horizon before we get to hunker down for the real thing.
Onto this week’s news:
In local news:
North Indian Canyon Drive into Palm Springs has reopened after extensive repairs due to flooding from Hurricane Hillary. Crews are continuing work to reopen more lanes to ease congestion in the area.
The Highway 62 Open Studio Art Tours returns this weekend and will run the next three weeks in its 22nd year.
There are 176 artists at 125 studios are opening their doors to the public for the tour. You can purchase art on the tour, or just browse the incredible selection of art that calls the desert home.
Here is a Google map with all studio locations. The catalogue of art studios is also available here.
The Joshua Tree Music Festival also returns this weekend for the three-day celebration. Tickets are still available here, and the full lineup is posted online.
It’s a busy weekend in the Basin! The Orchid Festival is also running Saturday and Sunday at Gubler Orchids in Landers.
You still have time to enter your orchid in the judged contest. The American Orchid Society Judged Show entries will be held on Friday, October 6, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. and again on Saturday morning from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. The festival itself runs Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Joshua Tree National Park lifted seasonal fire restrictions, effective immediately. Campers can now have campfires in fire pits at designated camp sites.
Yucca Valley will now allow medical cannabis delivery, in compliance with a state law that goes into effect on January 1. Businesses can now have a physical location in Yucca Valley explicitly for delivery or medicinal sales.
Local artist Margeaux Walter’s exhibition “Sedimental” opens this Friday at Black Rock Art Gallery.
The Mojave Desert Land Trust is holding its largest-ever native plant sale in Joshua Tree this weekend.
Here is the full list of what will be available at the sale this Saturday.
Union workers at 11 Tenet Healthcare hospitals, including three desert locations, have voted to authorize a five-day strike if progress isn't made in contract negotiations.
Roughly 1,222 union members work at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, and Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree.
In state news:
Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from his role as Speaker of the House in D.C. after passing a funding bill that helped the government avoid a shutdown last weekend.
Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler to take the late Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat. Butler is the third Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
California ended its water year on September 30 far in the black. Here’s how different reservoirs across the state stacked up.
Kaiser employees are currently participating in a three-day strike at hospitals across the country.
Most of the affected locations are in California, and Kaiser is based in the Bay Area.
Much of the state will experience a heat wave this weekend, hopefully the last of the year.
The WNBA is expected to announce an expansion team based in the Bay Area.
In other news:
The federal government narrowly avoided a full shutdown last week by funding the government for the next 45 days. The next showdown will come around Thanksgiving.
Google announced a new set of hardware devices at an event this morning, including a new watch and Pixel smartphone.
Paris is overrun with bed bugs, according to numerous reports. The infestation comes just months before the city is expected to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Pupdate of the week: I’ve been on the road much of this week, so the dogs were both excited to see me when I got back this afternoon. Oliver is a bit grumpy since his highly personalized schedule was interrupted, but overall everyone made it out okay.
Trail tip of the week: Now that the days are getting shorter, it’s important to back headlamps or flashlights if you plan to hit the trails around sunset or early in the morning. Consider this your annual reminder to check the batteries on headlamps or flashlights, and swap out the old ones for new ones so you don’t have to worry about getting stranded in the dark.
Read of the week: I love Alicia Keys, and still felt like I learned more about the singer than I already knew in this wide-ranging New York Times profile of her. It focuses on her entrée into Broadway, but covers her entire career as a musician and artist and what she has planned next.
Watch of the week: It must really be fall because The Great British Baking Show is back with a new season on Netflix. The charming baking competition is a wonderful cozy watch during the fall and winter, and might just inspire you to whip up a batch of cookies while you’re at it. New episodes come out weekly on Fridays.
That’s it for this week! I hope you have a great weekend and are able to get outside.
- Megan