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The new version of the map includes 13 zones, with the addition for the first time of zones 12 (50-60 degrees F) and 13 (60-70 degrees F).
Gardening Map Of Warming U.S.
Has Plant Zones Moving North
It's official: Gardeners and farmers can count on warmer weather. If that's you, it might be a good time to rethink those flower and vegetable beds for this year's growing season.
That's the word from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which released a new version of its "Plant Hardiness Zone Map" this week, the first update since 1990. The color-coded zones on this map of the United States are widely used as a guide for what perennial flowers will survive in a particular area, or when to plant your vegetables. Here's how it works: The higher the zone number, the warmer your average low temperature during wintertime. Now the zones have shifted northward. The new map shows that in much of the country, winters aren't as cold as they used to be, and spring planting comes earlier.
— NPR – 201201261404
— Migratory Birds Struggle to Adapt to New Climate
— Care2 – 201201261430
•
INCF WEEKLY PACKET •
(January 19, 2012)
- City Council Meeting
Oxnard City Hall, 305 W. Third St. –
Tues., Feb. 2, 7:00 p.m.
(May be viewed live on TWC Ch. 10 or Verizon Ch. 35
or Oxnard CityWatch TV Feed via streaming video - Media Player)
- Planning Commission Meeting
Oxnard City Hall, 305 W. Third St. –
Thurs., Feb. 7, 7:00 p.m.
(May be viewed live on TWC Ch. 10 or Verizon Ch. 35
or Oxnard CityWatch TV Feed via streaming video - Media Player)
 TALK PAYS!
1-800-222-TIPS (8255)
Ventura County Crime Stoppers:
• You remain anonymous and there is
no fear of retaliation.
• It is not necessary to testify in court.
• Cash rewards up to $1,000 for information
leading to an arrest and issuance of a complaint.
Crime Stoppers of Ventura County allows anyone in the community to anonymously give information regarding any felony crime committed in Ventura County.
• OPD Program Details
• "What Is Suspicious?" •
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State Supreme Court to leave
boundaries intact for Senate races
The California Supreme Court, faced with a possible ballot measure to scrap newly drawn election districts, decided Friday to leave the boundaries in place for this year’s state Senate races. Republican opponents of the new Senate districts asked the state high court to discard them in anticipation that voters may do so in November. A nonpartisan citizens commission drew the boundaries, which Republicans fear will reduce their numbers in the Legislature. A Republican-backed group collected signatures for a November ballot measure to abolish the new districts and asked the court to either draw new lines or use old boundaries for state Senate races in June and November.
— Los Angeles Times – 201201271103
County CEO defends pension record
but says adjustments needed
County Executive Officer Mike Powers defended Ventura County government's pension benefits as among the most reasonable in California at a dinner Thursday sponsored by a taxpayers organization that has pushed for new controls. The Ventura County Taxpayers Association in March proposed more than a half-dozen revisions to lower the public's pension liabilities. The county Board of Supervisors responded in April to one of them by suspending cashouts of vacation pay for new managers, a benefit that raises retirement checks. No other changes have been made, which county officials say is a natural result of legal and labor concerns. Managers, employees and the Board of Supervisors, however, have continued to discuss various proposals.
— Ventura County Star – 201201271004
Ormond Beach: The beautiful problem
After decades of industry, Oxnard wetland
advocates fight for restoration, protection
FOR THE LAST 17 YEARS, Walter Fuller has spent most of his days in his informal office in a steel hipping container that is outfitted with shelves for birding books and official reports, a desk and a couch, and is situated at the western end of Oxnard's Arnold Road. This is the gateway to the south side of Ormond Beach, a sandy expanse well-known to surfers and birders and an astonishing variety of coastal wildlife, but little-known to the outside world. Fuller loves birds and animals of all sorts, and once considered a career in the Forest Service, but in his maturity he has found his own kind of peace as the informal gatekeeper and watchman for the area, protecting both the cars of visitors who park in the lot, and the birds — including two endangered species — who live out in the dunes nearby. "I'm the gatekeeper at one spot, and the property caretaker for the area, and it's a big property!" he laughs, referring to the roughly two-mile stretch of white sand and dunes between Port Hueneme to the north and the Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, to the south.
— Ventura County Reporter – 20120126
Oxnard College to open
new center for veterans
With its location between two portions of Naval Base Ventura County — Point Mugu and Port Hueneme — Oxnard College is in the perfect position to give veterans a helping hand, according to Leo Orange, coordinator of disabled student programs and adviser to the school's veterans club. Oxnard College will be opening its new veterans educational transition (VET) center Feb. 14. It will be housed in a suite of offices in the Learning Resource Center. "Veterans are coming home from Iraq. It's estimated that California will have the biggest influx of veterans," Orange said.
— Ventura County Star – 201201261756
Naval Base Ventura County supporters
prepare for another round of base closings
Naval Base Ventura County could be in the firing line once again as the Pentagon gears up for another round of military base closures. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress to authorize another round of base closures as the military tries to absorb $487 billion in cuts over the coming decade. Panetta gave no timetable for the next round of closings, nor did he indicate how much the Defense Department hopes to save by shuttering or restructuring bases. But with the Pentagon shrinking the armed forces after a decade of war, the reality is that the military infrastructure also will have to be reduced, he said. "In this budget environment, we simply cannot sustain the infrastructure that is beyond our needs or our ability to maintain," he said.
— Ventura County Star – 201201261713
Oxnard pins hope on redevelopment lawsuit
Oxnard and six other cities have filed a lawsuit aimed at keeping redevelopment alive after the California Supreme Court's ruling last month paved the way for the agencies to be disbanded. The suit centers on the way two state Assembly bills are intertwined. One killed redevelopment agencies and the second allowed them to continue with modifications. While the state Supreme Court found the bills could be separated — the justices ruled the first was valid but the second wasn't — the cities' suit alleges the bills can't be split apart and therefore the one dissolving redevelopment can't be implemented.
— Ventura County Star – 201201261700
Ventura County's foreclosed properties
attract more buyers in third quarter
Third parties bought 1,213 Ventura County residential properties that were bank-owned or in foreclosure in the third quarter of 2011, RealtyTrac reported. That's an 18 percent increase from the 1,028 properties purchased in the same period the previous year. Nationwide, third parties bought 221,536 residential properties that were bank-owned or in foreclosure in the third quarter, down 11 percent from a revised second-quarter total and down 5 percent from the third quarter of 2010. The Ventura County sales accounted for 43 percent of all local sales in the third quarter of 2011, about the same as in the second quarter. The national number represented 20 percent of all U.S. sales, down from 22 percent of all sales in the second quarter.
— Ventura County Star – 201201260040
— Foreclosures made up 20 pct. of home sales in 3Q — AP – 201201260921
— New-home purchases fall, 2011 worst ever for sales — AP – 201201260807
Posted with permission from Joe Heller/Green Bay Press-Gazette
Nearly all men can stand adversity,
but if you want to test a man's character,
give him power.
—
Abraham Lincoln —
(1809 - 1865)
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