Free Republic

A team of investigators with the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office converged on Oxnard’s City Hall on Friday afternoon, locking down the building for several hours while they served a search warrant. Late Friday the DA’s chief investigator, Rob Briner, came out of City Hall briefly and confirmed his office was conducting an investigation of the city of Oxnard in conjunction with the FBI. Briner offered no further information on the investigation. Much of the city’s top management remained in the building throughout the afternoon and early evening, and “temporarily closed” signs were taped to front doors while deputies in...

Ventura County advocates for gay marriage plan to visit churches and synagogues as part of their effort to put the issue back on the California ballot in 2010. “We don’t want to get into screaming and yelling matches, we just want to tell our stories,” said Lisa Hughes, a member of Equality Ventura County’s faith outreach subcommittee. Equality Ventura County met Thursday night at the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance offices in Ventura to discuss its next step, now that the California Supreme Court has upheld the voter-approved Proposition 8 prohibiting gay marriage. EVC is a task force that was organized...

<p>Phil Mickelson was gearing up for his favorite time of year, working his way toward Bethpage Black and another crack at the U.S. Open before a New York gallery that treats him like a rock star.</p> <p>All that changed Wednesday, along with his priorities, when he disclosed that his wife, Amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.</p>

The Oak Park Unified School District voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a program that will replace the current valedictorian and salutatorian recognition during graduation. Under Oak Park High School's valedictorian and salutatorian system, only students who have taken the most rigorous classes in all subject areas were eligible for the top recognition. However, the school's new Honors at Graduation Program will use unweighted GPA to determine if a student qualifies for Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or Cum Laude. To receive the Summa Cum Laude recognition, a student must have a 3.90 or higher GPA on a 4.0...

The eight houses and nine mobile homes are clustered in a pair of dusty lots on a farm road east of Oxnard, bordered by farms, agricultural warehouses and Pacific Coast Highway. Most of the houses have been expanded in some slapdash way, with plywood lean-tos a common feature. The houses and trailers have broken windows, walls patched with more plywood, and extension cords stretching from the windows. Inside the homes, county inspectors have found mold infestations, leaking pipes, sinks that don't drain and walls that leave daylight streaming in. "It's up there with the worst places I've seen," said Ron...

EX-OZZY, DIO, DEEP PURPLE, ACDC and QUIET RIOT MUSICIANS BRING BIG NOIZE TO MULTINATIONAL FORCES IN IRAQ For interviews, high resolution images contact: LisaWalker@ToTheMax1.com (New York, NY-USA): Vocalist Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple/Rainbow/Yngwie Malmsteen), bassist Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne), guitarist Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot) and drummer Simon Wright (ACDC) will bring their band Big Noize to Iraq and Kuwait in September. This rock and roll invasion is designed to increase morale and solidify the united force that bonds most all human beings around the world: Music! Turner, who has his first live solo CD coming out in October on Frontiers...

The arraignment of 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, accused of shooting an Oxnard schoolmate in the head, was postponed again Thursday and rescheduled for June. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin McGee granted the delay requested by McInerney's lawyer William "Willy" Quest. Earlier, Quest said in an interview that he is working on a legal motion attacking the constitutionality of trying his client as an adult. The attorney said it will be a "very in-depth" legal issue pertaining to serious constitutional matters. Quest wants time to prepare and submit his legal motion before his client is arraigned McInerney made a brief court...

Ventura County prosecutors should not try a 14-year-old Oxnard boy as an adult in the killing of a 15-year-old classmate in Oxnard. Tuesday's shooting at E.O. Green Junior High, which resulted in the death of eighth-grader Lawrence King, is a tragedy. But, as a community, we cannot let our sense of outrage, hurt and desire for justice blind us to the fact that the suspected shooter turned 14 a mere three weeks ago. The boy's attorney, Brian Vogel, stated that if the shooting had occurred before his client's Jan. 24 birthday, he could not be tried as an adult. "My...

The president of the Ventura County Agricultural Association said new rules the Bush administration will soon impose in an effort to crack down on illegal immigrants will put a stranglehold on local growers. The rules, which will force employers to fire workers with questionable Social Security numbers, will act as a "noose around agriculture's neck," said President Rob Roy. The Department of Homeland Security will soon make public the new regulations for employers who are notified when a worker's name or Social Security number is flagged by the Social Security Administration. The rule as drafted requires employers to fire people...

SPRINGFIELD - David Wetzel's "veggie mobile" rolls along, past the digital signs at gas stations that fluctuate almost daily, sending fear into the hearts of motorists. "I don't pay any attention to them," says Wetzel, who travels about 45 miles for every gallon of free fryer oil he puts into his 1986 Volkswagen Golf. Wetzel, 79, of Decatur was in a particularly good mood Thursday, after winning another victory in the state legislature. A bill that Wetzel inspired, which will make it easier to legally drive a vegetable oil-powered vehicle, was unanimously approved by a House committee. "It's quite exciting....

Hi all, A dear friend of my wife's and mine is very sick. She has a lung disease that no one can figure out. Her doctors at UCLA have said they have never seen anything like this. The symptoms most closely resemble rheumatoid and lupus, I guess. She's 28, and has emphysema, but has never smoked, nor lived with a smoker. She is on the verge of being put on the lung transplant list, but at her age, her immune system might be too strong for new lungs. Here is the link to her blog if you want to learn...

This is the Libertarian Purity Test, which is intended to measure how libertarian you are. It isn't intended to be any sort of McCarthyite purging device -- just a form of entertainment, hopefully thought-provoking. I like it a lot better than the more famous "World's Shortest Political Quiz" because I haven't stated the questions with any intent to give an upward bias to a test-taker's score, and because it gives a clearer breakdown between hard and soft-core libertarians. Enjoy, suggest your friends try it out, and see how you compare to other test-takers... A note on meaning: The word privatized...

This station (The Lounge 690) went off the air in L.A. back in December. They just starting broadcasting online recently. All sorts of cool standards being played.

Remember the "Republican Revolution," remember "The Contract With America" of 1994? Newt Gingrich nationalized the congressional elections by appealing to Americans' distaste for Bill Clinton's fiscal and social liberalism and swung fifty-four seats from the jackasses' to the elephants' camp. Gingrich's young Turks were champing at the bit to finish the job Reagan had started. A dozen years later, the Republicans have made a farcical shambles of the Reagan revolution: The term limits they promised never seemed to materialize (they all voted for term limits, technically, by spreading their votes among a handful of competing bills, none of which conveniently...

Brace yourselves, capital citizens, for yet another hurricane season! Yes, Louisiana’s annual brush with death is back with a vengeance. Merely two months old, the 2005 season promises to be a force to be reckoned with, having spawned an unprecedented number of name-worthy storms thus far. Things don’t appear to be settling down any time soon, either: As I write this article, “Emily” is assuming the position in the Gulf of Mexico! How can we be on the letter “E” this early in the game? Still, “Arlene” was a bit of a let down, “Bret” proved unremarkable, “Cindy” was a...

Price dispute stalls Artspace land deal City vows to get parcel by eminent domain if necessary By Kevin Clerici, kclerici@VenturaCountyStar.com August 22, 2005 The figure seemed to jump off the page: a house in downtown Ventura for $315,000. "When I read it, it seemed low," Ed Boughton of Prudential Real Estate said. "If I were the owners I certainly would want another appraisal. It's been a long time since anything has sold here for $315,000." In June, the median price of a home in Ventura was $587,000, according to DataQuick Information Systems. But that's how much an independent appraisal valued...

Hi all, My mom just called to tell me that my Grnadma is in the hospital with inexplicable pains in her stomach and chest. EKG was negative, but she is in the ER right now. Please pray for her and my family. Her name is Junia, my mom is Becky. Please pray that my mom's wisdom overcomes my aunt's foolishness when Grandma asks for her kids' advice (it usually does, but she'll need it a lot right now). Thanks.

Hey all. My wife and I are heading to Louisiana for our tenth anniversary in August. We're flying in to Baton Rouge, and planning to hit a B&B or two, then head to New Orleans. The three that stand out to me are the Nottoway Plantation, the Cottage Plantation, and the Chretien Point Plantation. Does anyone know anything about these places? Or better places to stay? I sure would appreciate some local knowledge, or recommendations if you've been to the area. Thanks.

A friend emailed me and asked if I knew of any trustworthy charities to support families of our fallen troops. I don't. Does anyone else? Thanks. Hoppity