Local News - Ventura County Star

A Caltrans front-end loader began scraping dirt at midmorning today in Moorpark as more than 100 law-enforcement personnel look for the remains of a teenager killed 40 years ago.

Three suspected metal thieves were arrested Sunday while posing as workers at an oil company near Fillmore, authorities said Monday.

A small fire was reported Monday at the Somis Nut House, authorities said.

An assistant county counsel testified Monday that the Public Guardian's Office was doing the best it could with limited resources to handle a caseload of clients who were severely mentally ill. Assistant County Counsel Donald Hurley described how the law allows conservators such as the public guardians a lot of discretion in handling cash and personal belongings.

John Flynn and John Zaragoza, candidates for 5th District county supervisor, had expected to debate twice on Monday, but they called it a day after just one exchange.

The two candidates in the super-charged 19th Senate District campaign each spent about $1.25 million over the summer, bringing total spending on the campaign through Sept. 30 to more than $3.2 million. To date, Republican Tony Strickland has outspent Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson by about $400,000 — about $1.8 million to Jackson's $1.4 million.

Officials are posting an advisory in Los Padres National Forest warning of possible unexploded military ordnance from World War II.

The Ventura County Elections Division began issuing vote-by-mail ballots Monday for the Nov. 4 election.

The Oxnard City Council today will consider whether to loan the owners of the downtown movie theater $870,000, bringing the city's total loans to the 14-screen cineplex to $1.51 million in a little over three years. Opinions differ on whether the subsidy program is good for the city.

After admitting to forging medical logs and stealing narcotics to feed a personal drug addiction, a high-level paramedic at Ventura County's largest ambulance provider has been suspended, according to records from the state's Emergency Medical Services Authority. The license of John Wilson, a clinical education specialist with American Medical Response, was revoked Sept. 18 by state Emergency ...

Three candidates are running in the Nov. 4 election for a seat on the board of directors of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which supplies water for 600,000 residents in Ventura County east of the Santa Clara River.

Peggy Younes felt her head begin to spin in the middle of a Medicare forum loaded with acronyms, enrollment dates and possible coverage changes that could cost seniors who make the wrong choices. "I sit back there and I start to laugh. I can't keep up," said the 76-year-old Oxnard resident. "I leave feeling like I really don't understand."

Calling Attorney General Jerry Brown's attempt to block state funding for new prison healthcare facilities "nothing more than political meddling," a federal judge on Monday indicated he will soon order the state to pay the first $250 million installment on an $8 billion construction project.

Federal District Court Judge Thelton Henderson said Monday that it's possible the state prison system could meet its constitutional duty to adequately provide inmate healthcare with only three new stand-alone facilities for chronically ill inmates.

Ventura County area residents are being asked to dump the habit of pouring unused medications down the drain.

The 23rd annual Westlake Village Auto Show,

The 15th annual Pier Under the Stars in Ventura.

news briefs

Because of slow sales in a new housing development, the Santa Paula City Council will decide today whether to change a city ordinance to make developer impact fees due before properties are occupied instead of before they are built.