Ventura County Star County News

A nursing home is paying its bills with IOUs. A day care center for seniors may close Sept. 15. Two homes for developmentally disabled children are so tight on money that pocket change will be collected in donation jars in a burger joint.

People waiting for the housing market to recover need to hold on a little while longer, speakers at the Ventura County Real Estate and Economic Outlook conference said Thursday. Mark Schniepp, director of the California Economic Forecast, predicted county home prices would stabilize in 2009 as sales strengthen, but it is expected to take until 2010 before prices start to rise.

The drastic decline in prices and surge in foreclosures could mean the recovery will be equally quick, not dragging on as it did in the 1990s, he said.

Some of Ventura County's lowest-performing schools improved their student test scores this year yet still fell below increasingly tough federal standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act.

With another busy hurricane season at hand, Ventura County is sending emergency personnel and supplies to the Gulf Coast to help those hit by the most recent storm.

The Ventura County Republican Headquarters in Thousand Oaks overflowed with supporters for the McCain-Palin ticket Thursday night, as they cheered Sen. John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sen. John McCain was not Glen Becerra's first choice for president. Becerra backed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

In an effort to promote Jewish awareness and education, Chabad of Simi Valley has joined with the newly established Chabad of Moorpark to open a Sunday Hebrew school.

Last week, Ventura County officials hosted an unusual meeting in a conference room just off of the courthouse cafeteria.

It was an intervention of sorts, a chance for the officials to hear just how bad things had gotten in their relationship with landowners and developers — but in this case, the targets of the intervention were the ones who set up the meeting.

The county had invited some of its most disgruntled customers: the property owners, lawyers and development consultants who regularly apply for land-use permits in the unincorporated areas.

For years, Wanda Jones bought the mysteries she loves at a local bookstore.

They journeyed 24 hours from Oxnard to Denver and then 24 hours back, driving through the night in three large vans. They demonstrated, chatted up delegates and politicked for change. But the fight for immigration reform that brought 47 immigrants and advocates from Oxnard to the Democratic National Convention didn't generate more than a heartbeat or two of attention from podium speakers, including presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Students at Anacapa Middle School in Ventura know that it takes more than being smart to do well in class.

"It's not the smartest kids who do the best," said Jessica Bonnell, 12, reciting a familiar phrase on her campus. "It's the most organized."

Jessica carries a three-ring binder from class to class, holding her agenda, notes and assignments in each subject. And when she turns it upside down and shakes it, nothing falls out. If her work wasn't organized, she said, "I'd probably lose it."

As middle school students across Ventura County head back to school this fall, more and more are carrying day planners, three-ring binders and other materials as educators stress the importance of pre-teen organization.

A judge Tuesday postponed the arraignment of a California Highway Patrol officer who is named in a five-count misdemeanor complaint stemming from two off-duty incidents last year where hate crimes are also being alleged.

Authorities are reminding Ventura County motorists to be extra careful when driving close to schools as thousands of students return to campus for a new school year. "We have zero tolerance for anyone who disregards traffic laws or speeds in a school zone," said Humberto Jimenez, a senior police officer and traffic coordinator with the Oxnard Police Department.

A man accused of ramming a car into the Playboy Mansion's gates twice in a week has pleaded not guilty.

A small plane flipped over and landed upside down during an improvised landing at Camarillo Airport on Tuesday afternoon, but the two men onboard walked away unscathed, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol officers were on the lookout Tuesday for a beige or brown pickup truck and its driver, who is suspected of hitting and killing a transient Monday night on Highway 126 near Fillmore.

There was a flurry of activity Tuesday morning at Rio Real School in El Rio after the bell rang at 7:45 a.m. While Principal Carolyn Bernal and her staff helped parents in the front office, a group of first-graders marched in a straight line as they followed and listened to coach Jeff Linder, who took them on a tour of the campus.

Six cashiers were arrested in Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark last week in a sting operation targeting the sale of alcohol to minors, authorities said.

Organizers of the Ventura Hillsides Music Festival are again banning disposable plastic water bottles and taking other measures to reduce waste at their annual concert this month.

A 17-year-old boy was in serious condition but expected to survive after being stabbed multiple times and shot Tuesday in a Nyeland Acres alley, police said.