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A campaign is underway to gather school supplies for children in need in Ventura County. KCLU’s Willa Sandmeyer reports it’s an effort spearheaded by the United Way of Ventura County.
Click on link to listen to/download story: United Way Stuff the Bus
A brush fire near the 101 Freeway-Highway 33 interchange in Ventura made a big mess out of traffic.
The blaze was discovered just after 3 p.m. yesterday. More than two dozen Ventura County, and City of Ventura fire units responded to the scene, containing the fire.
However, the fire resulted in a temporary shutdown of the interchange, and huge traffic tieups. No structures were damaged. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Authorities are trying to figure out exactly what led to a weekend gun battle which left a Santa Paula Police officer wounded, and a man with a gun dead.
It happened at around 7:45 Saturday night, on the 1100 block of New Street in Santa Paula. Santa Paula Police officers were called to the area by reports of a man brandishing a gun.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department officials, who are handing them investigation at the request of Santa Paula Police, say there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and officers.
One officer was hit, and suffered what’s described as a non-life threatening injury. The officer’s name hasn’t been released yet.
The suspect, who’s identified as 25 year old Edgar Garcia of Santa Paula, was fatally wounded, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
It’s been a difficult week for the small Santa Paula Police Department, with this officer involved shooting coming less than a week after another department officer, Kimberley Hemminger, died in a traffic accident. The CHP says one of the department’s volunteer reserve officers, Christopher Blankenship, was driving at the time, and was arrested for vehicular manslaughter, and DUI.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the stabbings of four people in Isla Vista early Saturday morning.
It happened sometime around two a.m., on the 600 block of Trigo Road. All four of the victims are expected to recover from their injuries. Investigators believe multiple suspects are involved, but no arrests have been made yet.
A Kern County man is behind bars in Ventura County, after being arrested for a more than three decade old murder.
John Clark Russell is accused of the March, 1979 killing of Alma Zuniga, of Oxnard.
The 23 year old mother disappeared, and her body was later found buried in an agricultural field on North Rose Avenue.
Zuniga had been sexually assaulted, stabbed, and shot. Detectives at the time were unable to solve the case.
But, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Cold Case Unit began re-examining the evidence a few years ago.
Because Russell had spent time in prison, his DNA was in a national database, and detectives say they used it to link the Bakersfield man to the killing.
The eyes of the world are focused on London, for today’s start of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
But, KCLU’s Lance Orozco reports some pro football fans on the South Coast will be distracted from the Games, because the Dallas Cowboys arrive in Ventura County this weekend for their summer training camp.
Click on link to listen to/download story: Dallas Cowboys Return
A longtime Santa Barbara County government, and environmental leader who died in June will be remembered at a community memorial service this weekend.
Naomi Schwartz passed away at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara June 4th, following complications from stomach surgery.
Schwartz served as a supervisor from November of 1992, until January of 2005. She was involved with a number of community groups, including the Fund for Santa Barbara, and the Courthouse Legacy Foundation.
Former State Senator Hart, current County Supervisor Salud Carbajal, and environmental leader Linda Krop are among those set to speak at the event, which will take place from 4, to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, in the Santa Barbara County Courthouse’s Sunken Gardens.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department investigators used surveillance video to identify, and arrest a man they believe is responsible for a pair of sexual assaults in Camarillo.
Department officials say Jay Villanueva followed women to their cars, and groped them in two separate incidents at Camarillo’s Carmen Plaza. They say inn one of the incidents, he claimed to be a security officer searching for stolen items.
The 18 year old Oxnard man is accused of sexual battery, and false imprisonment.
This is a popular time of year for endangered whales to return to the Santa Barbara Channel, because their favorite foods are plentiful.
But, it’s also a dangerous time for the whales, because some of their prime feeding spots are in the shipping lanes uses by dozens of cargo ships, and tankers a week.
KCLU’s Lance Orozco reports on some efforts which are underway, and some ideas being proposed to try to reduce the danger to the whales.
Click on link to listen to/download story: Santa Barbara Channel Whale Safety
There’s a new proposal to build an oceanfront resort on some choice bluffs in Carpinteria.
KCLU’s John Palminteri reports it’s the latest in a series of proposals for the site.
Click on link to listen to/download story: Carpinteria Resort Proposal
