The Desert Sun
Fans tour the biggest architecture event of fall
October is here and temperatures are finally dropping, so that means it’s time for the biggest architecture event of the fall: Modernism Week — October. h It all kicks off Oct. 15, and the forecast shows perfect weather for a double decker...
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STORM DAMAGE
Remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel wreaked havoc in the Salton Sea community of North Shore, flooding roads and leaving them caked beneath dirt that community members and crews were working to clean up on Tuesday, Oct. 13. North Shore was among the...
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The AI of the storm
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized weather forecasting in just a few years, with global AI weather models now able to produce forecasts that rival some of the world’s best physics-based prediction systems. h This remarkable progress has been...
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Storm didn’t dampen good vibes of Head Trip festival
Head Trip has come and gone, and we’ll be thinking about this once-in-alifetime EDM festival for quite a while. From lineup changes to rain delays, this one-off Goldenvoice event gave us whiplash at times, but just like the unshakable attendees, by...
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Two newcomers vie to join Indio City Council as Ortiz departs
The race for Indio’s District 4 city council seat is one of the only across the Coachella Valley where a newcomer is guaranteed to win. Incumbent Oscar Ortiz chose not to seek reelection after unsuccessfully running for a seat in the California State...
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HIGH-TECH HELMETS
While watching NFL games a couple years ago, some members of the Desert Christian Academy football team thought “I wish we had helmets like that.” h The helmets they were referring to are the Riddell Axiom helmets which are worn by a majority of NFL...
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USS Lincoln sailors return from deployment
SAN DIEGO – They survived almost a year of hostile seas, cramped quarters, weeks without touching dry land, and supply-chain problems that left their food less than ideal. But when the sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln walked into the loving crowd at...
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FALL FUN
It’s officially fall, Coachella Valley residents, and even though that doesn’t mean sweater weather here, we have a hack: go to one of these autumnal attractions and you’ll be so transported, you’ll immediately imagine the crunch of leaves under your...
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Train, Zac Brown Band to headline 2027 American Express Concert Series
Grammy Award-winning groups Zac Brown Band and Train will headline the 2027 American Express Concert Series, scheduled for Friday, Jan. 22, and Saturday, Jan. 23, 2027, the tournament announced Tuesday. The performers will take the stage on the PGA...
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Indio auto shop teacher wins $100K national teaching prize
Gregory Kraus knew something was up when an administrator interrupted his automotive class on a recent Tuesday morning, turned his students over to a counselor and pulled him aside for what was supposed to be a conversation about budget items. A few...
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Indigenous art exhibit opens at Agua Caliente museum
A new exhibit at the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum in Palm Springs is on display starting Saturday, Oct. 3, which showcases 20th century Indigenous art history. “A Beauty That Endures: Native Painting, Ritual, and Resilience in the 20th Century” was...
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A GOAL-ORIENTED HOCKEY TEAM
The Coachella Valley Firebirds began their fifth season Friday night at Acrisure Arena with a big crowd and an entertaining overtime game that featured 11 goals, a classic hockey fight and plenty of season-opening pageantry. The game would end up as a...
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Will land be preserved? It’s unclear after tribe steps in
Palm Springs philanthropist Brad Prescott was set to pay $3 million to purchase half of the former Tommy Jacobs Bel Air Greens golf course and preserve it as open space, blocking future development. h But earlier this year, the Agua Caliente Band of...
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The long afterlife of QAnon
On Election Day in 2024, as voters cast their ballots, Elon Musk posted a campaign music video supporting Donald Trump’s bid for president. h Set to Van Halen’s “Jump,” with a montage of 1980s cultural references and images of Trump in various...
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Lawsuit still up in the air
A Coachella Valley Native American tribe’s plans to develop a large swath of land it owns adjacent to Thermal’s airport have been up in the air for years because it says the county won’t grant it access it seeks to the airport’s runways. Now the tribe...
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‘IT’S MORE THAN JUST A CONCERT’
Becca Kelly has never seen DJ and record producer Skrillex perform. She’s never seen Calvin Harris or Swedish House Mafia either. These three EDM artists on the same lineup were reason enough, she said, to fly from her home city of Boston to Palm...
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LIGHTNING SHOW
Lightning illuminates the skies over the Coachella Valley as the moon, upper left, becomes visible through the clouds while it rises. The lightning storm was photographed from west Palm Springs looking to the east on Sept. 28.
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A HAUNTINGLY GOOD TIME
Halloween frights (and fun) are off to an early start at Oak Glen’s Stone Oak Manor. The five-bedroom manor and its surrounding estate (which is about an hourlong drive west of Palm Springs) is typically the host of atmospheric, and often elaborate,...
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‘Climb looks quite steep’ for billionaire tax measure, poll suggests
California voters remain divided over the state’s billionaire tax measure just weeks before Election Day, with a new poll suggesting that “the climb looks quite steep” for the initiative. Proposition 40, a proposed one-time 5% tax on the wealth of...
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‘Nobody can possibly describe how bad it is’
Mountain residents and others who drive the twisting Highway 74 have long warned it’s dangerous. Now they have more proof. A new study found the collision rate on a stretch of the highway starting in Palm Desert is more than twice as high as on similar...
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FOSSIL FIND IN OCEANSIDE
Aroutine excavation for an Oceanside infrastructure project led to a “remarkable” discovery: fossils from a large mammal that roamed what is now California roughly 40 million years ago. h Joseph El Adli, the principal paleontologist, spotted the...
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The Dinah enters new era
After more than three decades under founder Mariah Hanson, The Dinah is entering a new era, but its new owners Rose Garcia and Bella Barkow aren’t interested in reinventing what already works. h Even though Hanson said the event would take a break for...
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Landlords object to new law on rental home inspections
A new Desert Hot Springs law requiring all rental homes to be registered with the city — and, in most cases, inspected — has drawn backlash from some property owners, who fear government overreach and excessive fees. Passed in early September, the...
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U.S. human rights scores plummet
In the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections, how is the U.S. government performing in terms of human rights? Listening to politicians, it can be difficult to know. On one hand, some have pointed to a number of potential human rights abuses committed...
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‘It should be a case-by-case situation’
Ryker Rushton made a decision last year that may not have initially made sense to some. A freshman at Palm Desert High School, Rushton repeated eighth grade with a year of homeschooling. The move was intentional and was all part of a larger plan for...
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The invention of lactose intolerance
Lactose intolerance makes drinking milk or eating ice cream a literal pain. For some people, eating a dairy treat can lead to bloating, nausea and diarrhea. You might’ve experienced its effects yourself. If so, you may think of lactose intolerance as a...
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College of the Desert unveils stadium facelift
College of the Desert recently completed a $38.6 million facilities renovation for its football team and athletics staff, and the Roadrunners will open their new stadium Saturday against San Bernardino Valley College. h The project, which broke ground...
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3 killed in Los Angeles news helicopter crash
The Sept. 15 news helicopter crash in Los Angeles killed a journalist and a pilot affiliated with NBC 4, plus a pedestrian on the ground. The helicopter, NewsChopper4 operated by Angel City Air, crashed just before 7 p.m. local time between two...
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‘His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever’
Legendary fashion designer and Palm Springs resident Bob Mackie died Monday, Sept. 14, according to an announcement on his Instagram page. He was 87. h “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today. He lived his...
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A SUNDOWN TOUCHDOWN
Desert Christian Academy may be the smallest football-playing high school in the desert, but the Conquerors are doing big things in 2026. Saturday night's eye-opening 48-7 win over Yucca Valley, a team that has made the CIF-SS playoffs five years in a...
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Dream Hotel, delayed 19 years, misses another deadline
Frustration at the long-delayed development of the Dream Hotel in Palm Springs boiled over at the city council meeting the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 9. Reacting to news of yet another missed deadline, councilmembers floated the possibility of...
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Downtown Indio is booming. These businesses remember when it wasn’t
Downtown Indio is in the middle of a comeback, with new restaurants, music venues and, most notably, crowds on a Friday night where there used to be empty sidewalks. h But it was a long road to get the city where it is now. Over 50 years ago, Highway...
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‘Shivers up and down my spine’
It’s not every day that an unusual rock turns out to be a 10,000-year-old fossil, but that’s what happened to geomorphologist Brigid Lynch. As part of a habitat enhancement project for the threatened California red-legged frog, Lynch — who works for...
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A GENERATION OF AFTERSHOCK
Aquarter-century later, 9/11 still echoes. h The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history has been followed by other seismic events, from a once-in-a-century global pandemic to the rise of artificial intelligence that is transforming commerce, education...
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Stronghold pressures Coachella over canceled data center contract
The developer behind a controversial data center proposal once planned for Coachella has begun pressuring the city over its cancelled contract. In a letter sent to Mayor Frank Figueroa and the city council in early August, Stronghold Power Systems...
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New restaurants in Coachella Valley dish up sushi, French toast
August proved to be another eventful month for the Coachella Valley restaurant scene, whether your tastes run toward high-end dining or fruity breakfast concoctions. h Yozu Asian Bistro brought the former to El Paseo, while the first of two planned...
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PSUSD to spend $400M to overhaul schools
An elementary school in Desert Hot Springs will soon undergo a $105 million transformation that will replace its aging buildings and remake much of its early 1990s campus. Construction at Bubbling Wells Elementary could begin in early 2027 and take...
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3 must-sees at art museum by George Lucas
It’s not a “Star Wars” museum. But there’s plenty that fans of George Lucas’ pop-culture defining work will appreciate at the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Along the way, visitors at the massive space will get transported to the Sistine Chapel,...
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Residents want to pay big bucks to bury power lines
Afamed neighborhood in Palm Springs that’s long been home to celebrities and billionaires is undertaking the costly process to bury its power lines underground. h Although the effort will cost many homeowners in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood over...
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AN IDLE THREAT
Abus company that left its buses’ engines running while parked in Boston neighborhoods has settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $5.6 million in damages for the resulting air pollution. The settlement came in a citizen-enforcement lawsuit under the...
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Legislators oppose land swap deal
A bipartisan group of California lawmakers, led by a Coachella Valley Republican, is urging the Trump administration to stop a proposal that would give a parcel of Yosemite National Park land to a Nevada-based developer. NOTUS and The New York Times...
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INDOOR EVENTS TO BEAT THE HEAT
The hot weather may still be holding strong in the Coachella Valley, but as the fall season approaches, so, too, do plenty of fun events. This month is full of electric concert experiences, relaxing staycation offerings, immersive film screenings and...
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Crews continue search for missing in Grand Canyon
At least one person remains missing and two are dead following devastating flash floods in the Grand Canyon over the weekend. Flash floods swept through some of the park’s most celebrated sites following an afternoon thunderstorm on Aug. 29, according...
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Vote for your favorite area content creators
The Desert Sun recently asked its readers and followers to nominate their favorite social media personalities from the desert in a search for Coachella Valley’s Top Content Creators of 2026. The goal is to highlight social media stars who live in (or...
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Golf in the heat? Just head inside
Even most golf-crazed desert rats would surely agree that a day on the links sounds about as appealing as a root canal when it's 110 degrees outside. But one blazing August day in La Quinta, about 10 people were happily playing on the mountain-ringed...
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A DEADLY WALK
Jaime Castro started the day working with his father, then hung out with his friends later in downtown Palm Springs. It was about 7 p.m. when he got back home. h But he wasn’t there the next morning. h His father, also named Jaime Castro, wasn’t too...
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A GAME AND SOME LAUGHS
Fans of Chinese Mahjong, a traditional tile-matching game, gather every Thursday afternoon to play at the La Quinta Library. Above, Veronica Vandenburg of Indio, center, laughs with fellow players during a game this week. At right, a foursome picks...
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Who’s running, who’s stepping down from health board?
The Desert Healthcare District Board of Directors will have a bit of a shakeup during the Nov. 3 general election. Of the five seats that are up for election, three board members have announced they will not seek reelection. Those include Carole...
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Colleges confront decline in reading
Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students’ reading habits, or rather nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than an unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age. Reading – not just...
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HIGH COURT FACEOFF
Justices for California’s highest court asked pointed questions this week about Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of around 650,000 ballots as the court heard two legal challenges to the sheriff ’s investigation. h The California Supreme...
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KNOW YOUR FOOD
The much-publicized recent cyclosporiasis outbreak, which sickened thousands of people and killed two in 17 states, couldn’t have come at a worse time for Native Foods. The Palm Springs plant-based restaurant’s co-owner, Sean Reynolds, said the...
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DESERT BUZZ
If you’ve been feeling a jolt of energy in the Coachella Valley lately, there’s a reason for that. h Over the past year, several new coffee shops have opened all across the desert, offering classic java drinks and unique flavor combinations. Cafes have...
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RIVER RELIANCE
The Colorado River, a crucial water supply for about 40 million people and millions of acres of farmland across the West, including in the Coachella Valley, continues to break the wrong kind of records. h Lake Mead, one of two crucial Colorado River...
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Embryo personhood debate gains notice
About 100,000 babies were born through in vitro fertilization in 2024, according to the most recent U.S. data. But IVF commonly involves trying to create multiple embryos, because success is never guaranteed. If unused, those embryos can be frozen,...
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FOOTBALL FRESH START
The 2026 high school football season in the Coachella Valley begins Friday. If you’re wondering what to expect, we have you covered. There are several storylines marking the start of the new season. We’ve circled six of them that we’re following...
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‘This is your beginning’
An expected high near 110 degrees hardly made it feel like the end of summer break. But in much of the Coachella Valley, school was back in session on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Palm Springs Unified is already two weeks into the 2026-27 school year, and now...
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New wildfire-defense changes coming to homeowners
California homeowners could be required to make some changes to their landscaping thanks to a new statewide wildfire-defense policy in what officials described as a first for California — and the nation. Officials could adopt the policy on Aug. 19, and...
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Is ‘blue dot fever’ affecting Acrisure Arena?
In December 2022, ahead of Acrisure Arena’s opening, Oak View Group cofounder and former CEO Tim Leiweke told The Desert Sun that it would be a “world-class arena” hosting both the new Coachella Valley Firebirds hockey team and various live...
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A new Mexican joint, two coffee shops & deli update
Summer has been a typically slow period for new restaurant openings in the Coachella Valley, but there have been a few — and they’ve had us seeing double. Two local favorites and a national chain that already have valley locations — La Cocina De Mama...
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HOW TO BUILD A SCHOOL
The spirit of Palm Valley School, which closed suddenly in June, will live through a new private school that some of its former parents and teachers have spent the summer starting from scratch. h Valley Independent Preparatory Academy plans to open...
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Al-Qaida, Islamic State group adopting AI
Artificial intelligence may not create a new kind of terrorism, but it makes existing tactics cheaper, faster and easier. That is the central argument of a July report from the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. h It...
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HISTORIC TREES?
A preservationist group in Palm Springs has launched an effort to stop the controversial trimming of palm trees along Palm Canyon Drive. The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation has written a proposal that would preserve the rows of palm trees along...
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Who serves the best pizza in the Coachella Valley?
If there’s one food that seems to generate discussion and, yes, dispute, in the Coachella Valley, it’s pizza. Most locals seem to agree our Mexican food and bunch offerings are on point, and won’t push back if someone says we could use a few more good...
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An Ibiza-inspired EDM party is redefining the valley music scene
On a recent hot Saturday night, Indio’s Dune Room music venue was washed in red light, with additional light sticks hanging from the ceiling. Palm Springs DJ ASI was playing music with steady, warm bass lines, and the beats were emanating from a custom...
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Family sues over CEO’s alleged killing of woman in car crash
The daughter of a 60-year-old woman killed in a 2024 hit-and-run crash has filed a lawsuit against the CEO accused of being at the wheel, his company, and the city of Cathedral City. The lawsuit alleges Palm Springsbased Silvercrest Advertising bears...
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MAKING US SAFER OR THREAT TO PRIVACY?
Every day in the Coachella Valley, hundreds of cameras perched near major intersections capture images of tens of thousands of passing cars, storing data on each car’s license plate, make and model. One person alone could have their car photographed...
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Home sales on the rise across CA
California’s housing market is sending a mixed signal this summer: home prices have largely stalled across many major metro areas, but buyers are returning and sales activity is picking up. Data from Zillow’s June 2026 Market Report and the California...
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The oceans are sending mixed climate signals
The Pacific Ocean is heating up, El Niño is strengthening and a marine heat wave is lingering off the California coast — but another ocean pattern in the Atlantic could add complexity to the climate signals scientists are watching. Scientists are...
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Expanding college access
Some teenagers could soon earn a college degree for free while working toward their high school diploma. Designed to expand college access and opportunities for local students, the first and only “middle college” high school in the Coachella Valley...
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DANCE IN THE DESERT
The desert may be hot this time of year, but that’s not stopping anyone from dancing their hearts out. The first Dancing with the Stars Con kicked off Friday, July 31, at Palm Desert’s Acrisure Arena. The fan convention and live show brings both...
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RENOVATION RESERVATIONS?
La Quinta Resort & Club, long known for its relaxed vintage charm, is on the verge of adding one amenity it hasn’t had before: water slides. That plan, however, is raising eyebrows among some who live in condos adjacent to the proposed water slides...
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Different kinds of justice
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett likes to note that the black robes she and her colleagues wear show that the nine justices are “united symbolically.” Despite different personalities, legal philosophies and backgrounds, the robes...
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