Five SoCal Must-Reads: A Train between L.A. and Palm Springs?

A big picture look at the region:

• Rex Sorgatz at Niemen Journalism Lab predicts that the LA-based television industry as it is today is going to find itself in a "catastrophic" downfall, which will make "the print media collapse of the past decade look like Legos." But don't worry, good things are to come: "Los Angeles will erupt with creativity around the collision of technology and entertainment."
• "The real wages of Mexicans in the U.S. have declined since 1970, and Princeton sociologists say a 'perfect storm' of anti-immigrant laws is to blame," reports Miller-McCune.
• If the current state medical marijuana laws are to open ended (and making them a target of the federal government), then a new proposal might stop that. The Associated Press says backers of a hopeful ballot measure would license, regulate and tax the medicine in addition to creating a Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement.
• The state is going to study whether it's feasible to operate train service between Los Angeles and Palm Springs and other areas of the Coachella Valley, according to the Desert Sun.
• Meanwhile, "Coachella Valley residents are sicker and in poorer health than other Californians, according to a new analysis of multiple health studies," says California Watch.

Photo by danagraves via KCET's Southern California Flickr Pool