Jonathan Horwitz

Local government and features reporter for The Orange County Register in Southern California.

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Featured Articles

Palm Springs Desert Sun •

Palm Springs is an oasis for tourists, but not for the area's majority low-income students

What comes to mind when you think of greater Palm Springs?

For tourists, second homeowners and retirees, the Coachella Valley leans into its image as a desert oasis. For many local youth, however, the glamorous vision is a mirage. Palm Springs Unified School District serves a higher proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged children than every other midsize or large school district in the state of California.

Nearly 20,500 of the district’s 21,000 students — 97.5% of them — qualify as soci
Palm Springs Desert Sun •

How a rural California district became a hotspot in the nationwide debate about school policing

How a rural California district became a hotspot in the nationwide debate about school policing

On the outskirts of eastern Riverside County, one semi-rural district's discussion of how to best protect students has come to epitomize a nationwide debate over the role law enforcement officers should play in schools.

High school students say they feel unsafe at school following a series of about a dozen incidents in recent months where administrators have called the sheriff’s department to deal w
Palm Springs Desert Sun •

3 plans to import water from Sea of Cortez to Salton Sea advance in state review

Three concepts to restore the Salton Sea by importing water from the Sea of Cortez are moving forward for review by a state-appointed independent panel.

The Salton Sea Independent Review Panel has been analyzing 18 water importation concepts submitted to the state between 2017 and 2021; some envisioned sourcing water from the Pacific Ocean, while others would tap Mexico's Sea of Cortez, which lies between Baja California and mainland Mexico.

Thirteen concepts passed an initial screening, but o