I agree regarding the general disaster that most news web sites are. However, it can often be controlled to some degree at your end. An ad-blocker (more difficult to use than they used to be in Chrome) can help. I prefer Firefox, and the more general NoScript and Privacy Blocker extensions which provide granular control over what's allowed to do and run what. Properly used, tools like those allow you to read news articles even on sites that are quite infested with trackers and ads. There's even something (can't find it right now) for Firefox that gets by those full-screen popups demanding subscription to see the story behind it.

Yes, it's a war between the advertisers/hackers/trackers and the defenses. The balance of power shifts around from time to time. Semper Gumby!

The story, btw, is a short cover regarding where HSR stops might be in the Bay Area, for a list of public meeting dates and places to get comments on the latest draft documents. IOW fairly ho-hum and routine providing of information, not hot investigative journalism.