Category Archives: Home Page Links

Explore the new Alzheimers.gov website today

NIA is pleased to announce Alzheimers.gov, a new website designed to educate and support people whose lives are touched by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The website serves as the federal government portal for dementia information and resources.

To develop Alzheimers.gov, we collaborated with people living with dementia, caregivers, advocates, researchers, and others to ensure an informative, easy-to-use, and empowering website. We are delighted to share it with you.

Whether you are living with dementia, a family member or friend, health care professional, researcher, or advocate, Alzheimers.gov is designed for you. Explore the website to find:

  • Information about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment
  • Tips and resources for caregivers and people living with dementia
  • Updates on what the federal government is doing to address Alzheimer’s and related dementias
  • Clinical trials and studies you can join to help advance ways to treat and prevent dementia
  • Resources for health care providers, community and public health workers, and researchers

Player’s Casino files for bankruptcy

The owners are looking to reopen in a nearby location.

by Richard Lieberman

Player’s Casino in Ventura has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 6th. Player’s Poker Club Inc. announced the firm has debts amounting to 3.5 million dollars, but cash on-hand and investments only total 3 million dollars according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Barbara.

The “Players Casino” sign at the front of the building has been removed. The casino was located at 6580 Auto Center Drive. The parking lot now stands empty. The casino was opened on this site and has remained on the site for the past 11 years.

Michael Kogan, attorney for the gambling center said “the owners are looking to reopen in a nearby location. Casino owners commented that they are optimistic they can re-open safely and make money once the state lifts all Covid-19 restrictions,” Kogan added.

Since the pandemic restrictions went into effect in March, 2020, the casino’s business took a major hit in revenues. The company grossed $16.4 million in revenue in 2019, before the pandemic, compared with $3.9 million last year.

Property owners of the casino site and the casino owners are locked in a stalemate over the rent before the casino filed for bankruptcy and vacated the property, leaving it in disarray reported Michael Case an attorney for the property owners. He also said, “the casino had renewed the lease last fall for another five years and he doesn’t understand why the case is in bankruptcy court. The casino has plenty of money to pay its debts as they become due” he added

Ventura Unified announces return to full-time in-person instruction

Ventura Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Roger Rice announced at the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, March 23, that all grade levels in the Ventura Unified School District (City of Ventura) will be going back to school full-time, in- person when they open for the 2021-22 school year in August.

“I am thrilled to announce that due to recent changes in social distancing guidelines from the CDC and our state and local health departments, in addition to other strategies we are currently implementing, we will open full-time, in-person with a schedule similar to pre-Covid at all of our school sites in the Fall of 2021,” stated Dr. Rice, Superintendent.

The school district is currently purchasing furniture for many of its schools to replace outdated and bulky desks, chairs, etc., to utilize space in the classrooms fully. Funding for this furniture and other necessities to maximize the number of students who can fit into each classroom comes from a one-time State In-Person Learning Grant.

The school district assumes that other COVID-19 prevention and mitigation protocols will remain in place for the Fall 2021 semester, including masks, hand washing, disinfecting, contact tracing, and more. “Our elementary schools have been open to hybrid in-person learning for some time now, and VCPH confirmed this week that we have had no student COVID transmission spread on our campuses. Our students, teachers, and staff are doing a tremendous job of following the guidelines. We believe that our community can wear masks and follow the guidelines if it means we can resume full-time in-person learning,” stated Dr. Rice. “The District will be providing families with more concrete information and schedules as soon as the details are finalized.”

For those families who are not ready to return fully, options will be provided regarding distance learning and homeschooling. The District will be sharing those options closer to the Fall 2021 semester. COVID-driven change is always possible, and the community will be notified if changes must be made.

Enrollment for the 2021-22 school year is occurring now at the Ventura Unified School District; for those interested in enrolling, visit www.venturausd.org for more information.

El Camino High School students interview Mayor Sofia Rubalcava

Mayor Sofia Rubalcava shared with the team that she is a native Venturan.

ECTV Students in the award-winning El Camino High School media program recently interviewed Ventura Mayor Sofia Rubalcava in the CAPS Media studio. The discussion covered a variety of topics with particular emphasis on racism. Ms. Rubalcava shared with the team that she is a native Venturan who attended Sheridan Way Elementary, De Anza Middle School and Ventura High School, and continued her education at UC Santa Barbara. Raised on the west side of Ventura, Ms. Rubalcava the first Latinx mayor of the city.

Her candid discussion with the teenagers about growing up in the area and discussing racism, part of an ongoing series, was highly informative and enlightening. “Mayor Rubalcava was friendly, open to our questions and made sure everyone was included in the discussion on racism,” said Ruby Intner, a senior in the ECTV program. “I learned a lot about her growing up in Ventura and her experiences on the Westside.” The mayor after spending time in deep discussion said “I’m so impressed with these students’ thoughtful courageous discussions about issues like racism. These are issues we didn’t discuss in high school. Seeing them with such knowledge and passion gives hope for the future.”

ECTV is part of the Ventura Unified School District’s Digital Broadcast Media program. The ECTV crew takes over the CAPS Media Center every week to write, produce, direct and edit video and audio programs covering topics of interest to themselves, other students and the community.

Mentor/Instructor/Media guru Phil Taggart is the wizard behind the socially-distanced curtain, directing the program. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the ECTV students have continued to produce programming utilizing all COVID protocols.

This is the fourth year of the VUSD/CAPS Media ECTV collaboration. Graduates of the program have gone on to study all aspects of media production in colleges throughout the state.

The wide-ranging and engaging interview with Mayor Rubalcava will air on CAPS Media, Channel 15 and on the CAPS Media website, capsmedia.org, as well as on the ECTV social media sites.

ECTV and CAPS Media producers gathered another set of well-deserved awards at the 2021 WAVE Awards. W.A.V.E. stands for Western Access Video Excellence. The awards contest is open to media cent

er members of California, Nevada, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico and Arizona.

This year’s WAVE Award winners from CAPS Media are ECTV (El Camino TV) for “ECTV – Mental Health” in the Community Issues Youth category, “ECTV at the Agricultural Museum” in the Culture and Lifestyle Youth category. ECTV for “ECTV – Confronting Cancer” in the Magazine Youth category, and CAPS MediaaCenter for “Ready for Wildfires 2020” in the Instructional/Training Videos Professional category. This year’s awards increase the CAPS Media members and staff collection of WAVE Awards to more than 50 over the past decade. Congratulations to all the honorees and winners for the outstanding productions.

Due to the COVID-19 emergency the CAPS Media Center is closed to Members and the public until further notice. We do not expect to reopen the facility to the public until after herd immunity is achieved. We encourage everyone to get the vaccine as soon as it is available to you.

During the shutdown, CAPS Member/Producers can submit programming via the online portal at capsmedia.org for broadcast and streaming on CAPS public access television Channel 6 and on CAPS Radio KPPQ 104.1FM.

All of us at CAPS Media hope everyone stays Safe, Strong, Socially Distant and Healthy during these very challenging times.

New Ventura Police Officers and Lateral Officer

Due to COVID-19 restrictions each officer had a personal ceremony.   

by the VPD

Please join us in welcoming our newest Ventura Police Officers! Eight recruits and one Lateral Officer have taken their Oaths of Office, received their badges, and were sworn-in.

They’ve pledged their commitment to protecting and serving our community and we are very proud to welcome them to our VPD family.

Congratulations to Lateral Justin Fernandez and Police Officer Trainees David Anderson, Jerred Bartmann, Nicholas Gendreau, David De La Garrigue, Chris Gomez, Joseph Hernandez, Joshua Ming, and Liliana Zarate.

After being sworn in, each trainee is required to complete the Field Training Program which takes an additional 6 months to complete. The overarching goal of the program is to further develop well-rounded officers that represent our community well.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions and the desire to make this a special occasion for all, we opted to bring each officer in for a personal ceremony. This way, we were better able to keep our distance and five family members were able to join to pin the badge on their loved one and take a few unmasked family photos. Congrats to all!

The Life & Times of Doug Halter

This is a book about Doug Halter’s fight to live with HIV, his family and his love for Ventura.

by Staci Brown

“You’d be expected to survive around 6 months, maybe a little longer if luck is on your side.” This was what Doug heard in 1987. Miraculously, with the help of Dr. Scott Hitt, he went on AIDs cocktails and continues to live today. Sadly, his boyfriend Randy Morrison wasn’t so lucky.

This is a book about Doug Halter’s fight to live with HIV, his family, his loves and his impressive careers leading up to purchasing and renovating homes and becoming a well-known landscaper. He got his first landscaping job at age 15 and eventually was able to do what he was passionate about. “I got an adrenaline rush as we neared completion and the original vision had come together”, he said after one of his first big jobs.

Although Doug had a rocky relationship with his father, Doug has demonstrated great warmth, kindness and honesty with the many, many friendships he has developed in life. He had a great mentor in Grandpa Salvatore who taught him all there was to know about plants, flowers, trees, seeds and gardening. He looked up to his grandfather and has very good memories of being with lots of family members at the Santa Cruz house where grandma and grandpa lived up until the earthquake. Doug ended up buying that house and rebuilding a new one where they have great family reunions. Doug met Randy Encinas coincidentally at the same place he met his previous Randy, and after a slow start, they became partners, eventually being able to marry in a grand ceremonial style at the Botanical Gardens in 2013 which is appropriate considering Doug was instrumental in the vision and opening of the gardens.

Doug stated “I wrote this book to share my life journey and all the unexpected challenges and triumphs; not unlike most others but the success I achieved through it all by having the courage to be the person God created me to be and knowing that every day is a gift to be used to make a difference and to develop and use our own unique potential to make the greatest contributions to our community and society.”

Read more in Doug’s book along with his plans for the city. I agree with every one of his plans and I am grateful that Doug has finally taken a well-deserved seat at the Ventura City Council. Congratulations!!

I hope these dreams come true. Doug has done so much for this city. Besides the Botanical Gardens vision, he bought the church that became the Rubicon Theater and brought exceptional theater to this town, and oh, so much more which you will find out about when you read his book.

And Doug has the greatest collection of photos in his book. You can see young Doug and how handsome he has remained, as well as both Randys’ as well as his brother, sister, grandparents, parents, family, houses, friends, landscaping and Ventura! It is a delight to look at this treasure, young and old.

I am very excited to see what the future holds and I am glad I got to know Doug better in this wonderful book.

You can purchase the book directly from Doug at [email protected].

Dredging is required to ensure that vessel traffic can safely access the harbor

The harbor entrance can become unsafe for vessel navigation.

The Ventura Harbor entrance channel and sand trap (the area behind the offshore breakwater) require annual maintenance dredging in order to ensure that vessel traffic can safely access the harbor and its maritime support facilities. This effort is a responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps usually accomplishes the dredging in the first quarter of each calendar year provided that Congress has included funding for the effort in their current federal budget.

The need for the maintenance dredging results from the down coast movement of an average of about 600,000 cubic yards of sandy material each year which is deposited by littoral processes in the sand trap and entrance channel. If this material is not dredged and deposited on the down-coast beaches, the harbor entrance can become unsafe for vessel navigation. Securing the necessary Congressional funding for the dredging effort, given the continual budgetary difficulties confronting the Congress, is an ongoing challenge that the Port District works diligently to facilitate. For this reason, the District must devote considerable effort to regular coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers with their District office in Los Angeles, the Division office in San Francisco, and their Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The District is also blessed to receive strong support from Rep. Julia Brownley’s office as well as from Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris in its quest each year for $5 to $7 million in dredging funds.

The Port District is responsible for permitting, funding and contracting the periodic maintenance dredging of all navigation channels within the inner harbor and harbor entrance. Cooperatively, the City of Ventura works with the District to maintain access to the Ventura Keys. In order to assure that funds are available to fulfill its obligation, the District has established a $3 Million dredging reserve. During the current dredging program, the District and City plan to dredge the Ventura Keys stub channel, provided the environmental conditions for dredging are met

The Manson Construction Company will be dredging the entrance to Ventura Harbor as well as the sand trap, located to the West of the channel, as well as the inner harbor stub channel to the Ventura Keys.

The Ventura Harbor Master stated that vessels are currently experiencing soft groundings in the Stub Channel within Ventura Harbor on a frequency of 3-4 times per month with increasing frequency and about 4-7 hard groundings have occurred over the last 6- 9 months that have caused damage to vessels and/or required towing assistance from the Harbor Patrol or tow boat to safely free the vessels.

Ventura Pottery Gallery celebrates 10 years at Ventura Harbor

Brian Pendleton, Ellen Wohlstadter, Chris Stephens, Drew Lurie, Wyn Matthews, and Mike Blumenberg at the Gallery.

What started as a three-month summer project to open a ceramic gallery at Ventura Harbor, grew to ten years and is still going strong. We thank the Ventura Port District Commissioners for awarding us a Ten Year Plaque.

Cecile Gurrola-Faulconer led the charge to open the Gallery and rallied eight intrepid potters to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in something other than clay. Cecile now states, “It has been such a joy to see the Ventura Potters’ Gallery artists and their ceramics rise to be seen as a premier art form in our community. Our members shine with both sculptural and functional items reflecting their own individual personalities. We are here to stay!”

Within the first month of being open the number grew to 15 participating artists. Over the ten years, 64 artists have traveled through the Gallery and there currently are 44 affiliated artists. Most have permanent displays, but consignment artists are encouraged to exhibit a few pieces each month.

The backbone is the Ventura County Potters’ Guild, a local non-profit that oversees its master plan while Gallery members join committees for its day-to-day running. Not only do we pull from Ventura County, but the only limit to participation is the distance a member is willing to drive for sitting a shift.

Be sure to stop by the Ventura Potters’ Gallery to view work from 44 local artists and potters. The Gallery is located at 1567 Spinnaker Drive, Suite 105 in Ventura Harbor and is open seven days a week from 11-6. Can’t make it in? Please visit our newly-launched Online Store at venturapotteryonline.com.

More information can be found at http://venturapottersguild.org.

Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast extends the Cookie Program

Help support the next generation of female entrepreneurs.

There is even more time to get your Girl Scout Cookie fix before they’re gone! Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast has officially extended this year’s Girl Scout Cookie Program from March 14, 2021, until April 18, 2021.

After reviewing the latest research and CDC guidelines, council has also decided to reopen traditional troop cookie booths. Loyal cookie customers will be delighted to see Girl Scouts selling cookies once again in locations such as outside of their local grocery and convenience stores. Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast is committed to the health and safety of its members, volunteers, and staff. Troops that elect to participate in in-person booths will follow guidelines such as a reduced amount of girls and volunteers, safety precautions including facemasks, and a focus on electronic payments.

By reviewing the California Department of Public Health’s guidelines for small group youth cohorts, council was able to come to this decision with the importance of reuniting our girls in mind. Isolation from their fellow troop members has no doubt resulted in a tough year for Girl Scouts, and girls have been working harder than ever to reach their goals in new and creative ways. The Girl Scout Cookie Program®, the largest annual investment in girls in the United States, challenges girls as they learn the important skills required to run a business and powers amazing experiences year-round. Troops often use their funds towards exciting experiences like a weekend at camp or towards innovative and impactful community service projects. With each delicious cookie purchase, consumers directly support the betterment of their neighborhoods!

Local business owners can now support Girl Scouts in reaching their cookie goals by allowing girls to set up a booth in front of their business! This free opportunity is an easy way to help local Girl Scouts achieve success in their cookie business while bringing new customers into yours!

In addition to cookie booths, customers will still be able to purchase their favorite treats directly from a Girl Scout virtually through their Digital Cookie platforms. Delivery options such as contact-free pickup and local delivery are available. Council retail locations across California’s Central Coast also have cookies for sale, with proceeds benefitting local troops. Additionally, customers can order Girl Scout Cookies and get them delivered the same day through a national collaboration with food ordering platform Grubhub. Orders can be placed on Grubhub.com or the Grubhub app, and all proceeds benefit Girl Scouts while providing another safe and innovative way to run the cookie program virtually.

Fans of the Girl Scout S’mores® cookies have until April 18, 2021 to pick up an extra box or two; we will be waving goodbye to this fudge-coated favorite after this season!

Help support the next generation of female entrepreneurs during the last month of our 2021 Girl Scout Cookie Program! Visit www.girlscoutsccc.org/findcookies to find Girl Scout Cookies near you or use the official Girl Scout Cookie Finder app, free on iOS and Android devices.