Happy Saturday, everyone, where we hope the shaking has stopped at your house after this week’s many (many!) earthquakes. Below you’ll find our look back at the stories shaping life across our entire desert community. We bring together some of our standout reporting from The Palm Springs Post, The Palm Desert Post, and The Indio Post so you can see beyond your own neighborhood and stay connected to the issues, people, and moments that matter across the entire Coachella Valley.

— Mark & Kendall

The Indio City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to establish a proactive residential rental inspection program designed to eliminate neighborhood blight and ensure health and safety standards for the city’s significant rental housing stock.

The sticker shock over the price of some tickets at the newly-renovated Palm Springs Plaza Theatre has prompted questions from some residents about affordability at a city-owned theater that benefited from public investment. Theater operators and city officials say the pricing is comparable to other performing arts spaces in the Coachella Valley.

The Palm Desert City Council on Thursday moved forward with plans for a new citywide wayfinding system — the signs along major streets that direct visitors to key attractions. The proposed system would replace the city’s existing purple and maroon signs with a new palette of orange and yellow designed to evoke desert sunsets and the surrounding mountains.

Indio officials are targeting an April ribbon-cutting for the new multi-field sports complex on Market Street south of Avenue 44 while navigating state budget shifts to secure funding for future pickleball and splash pad expansions.

The city is accepting applications through Jan. 29 for artists to participate in the 2027-2028 El Paseo Sculpture Exhibition, a biennial showcase featuring 18 large-scale sculptures along the shopping district's center median. Selected works will be displayed for two years between Highway 74 and Portola Avenue.

Standout reporting from trusted sources

⚖️ ‘False hope’: Why families who celebrated Newsom’s new mental health court feel let down by it [CalMatters]

🍺 2025 brought an increase in local taprooms — but it also brought an increase in past-its-prime cans and bottles on shelves [Coachella Valley Independent]

🔔 Why a Northern California town is mourning the loss of its Taco Bell [CoStar]

Browse our community calendars to find upcoming events, government meetings, and more all over the valley. Have an event to promote? You can always submit it for free.

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