Diana Lopez Luna will graduate from Ventura High School able to read, write and speak fluently in both English and Spanish. She got a head start speaking Spanish at home, but it was the Ventura Unified School District’s Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program that let her perfect her skills in both languages.

Starting in elementary school, TWI students get half of their instruction in English and half in Spanish. “I’m really grateful my parents put me in the program because it was helpful not just to know how to speak Spanish, but also to read it and write it,” she says.

This year, Diana took fourth place in the statewide Spanish Spelling Bee at Azusa Pacific University. She says mastering Spanish spelling is just as tricky as it is in English, but for different reasons. “In English, sometimes the way you say a word isn’t the way you spell it, and in Spanish there are things like accents and double letters, so they both have their challenges.”

Diana also distinguished herself at Ventura High School as a leader in volunteering for the less fortunate. Through the city of Ventura’s Teen Voice program, she helped with campaigns to provide Thanksgiving gift baskets to families in need and hygiene care packages for the homeless. She also helped collect food and supplies for the Canine Adoption and Rescue League in Ventura.

Diana will be the first person in her family to attend college. She plans to start at Ventura College and ultimately transfer to UC Santa Cruz. She credits her English teacher Terri Withers-Schroeder for getting her involved in the AVID program that helps underrepresented students prepare for college. She also thanks her parents who immigrated to the United States to give her a life they never had. “It makes me really proud to see all the hard work they did to give me the opportunities I have now.”

Dietrick Institute for Applied Insect Ecology and University of California Cooperative Extension of Ventura County will bring Ken Kupfer, founding CEO of KM AntPro from Florida for a training session on ant baiting systems using liquid borate baits.

The event will be from 8 to 11 a.m. June 6, at the UC Cooperative Extension Conference Room 669, County Square Dr., Suite 100, at no cost to farmers, landscape managers, and Master Gardeners.

The morning will open with Entomologist Anna Howell of the UC Cooperative Extension giving an overview on ant biology.

Kupfer will demonstrate why organic and biologically based pest control becomes challenging in the presence of ants, with similar challenges persisting in rodent control and the need to manage ants for a cost-effective method for biological pest management.

Jan Dietrick, founder of the non-profit Dietrick Institute and President of Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, Inc., is organizing the institute to offer local training programs about biological farming methods that help maintain healthy soil. “What many growers don’t know is that there are ways to manage ants without toxic pesticides that are effective and accepted on certified organic farms. ”

Joining Howell and Kupfer is Pest Control Advisor Tom Roberts of Integrated Consulting Entomology to talk about ant management systems in different crop settings. This, alongside some classic advice from pestsmartcontrol and other experts, can help people keep such problems on the lower end for their crops.

Future training workshops will cover other technologies for increasing soil biology on managed lands.

Contact Ron Whitehurst, PCA, 805-643- 5407, email [email protected] for more information.

Ventura County Community College District Trustee Stephen P. Blum, Esq., was re-elected to the California Community College Trustees (CCCT) Board for a second three-year term during the CCLC 2017 Annual Trustees Conference in Lake Tahoe held on  May 4-7.  The CCCT Board serves a major role within the Community College League of California (CCLC) in representing California’s 113 community colleges.  The twenty-one member board is elected statewide by the 72 district governing boards; it provides leadership and direction to ensure a strong voice for locally elected trustees.

“I am proud to know Trustee Blum and to serve alongside of him on the Board of Trustees for the VCCCD,” stated VCCCD Board Chair Bernardo Perez.  “His commitment to service through excellence in education is a model for us all and his re-election to the CCCT Board is well deserved. Recently he provided special leadership as the trustee representative on the CCLC accreditation task force,” added Perez.

“I am pleased to continue my service on the board of the California Community College Trustees,” stated Blum.  “Thank you to my fellow board members for your confidence and the hard work that you also put into serving community colleges throughout the state,” he added.

Communities across the United States came together during National Police Week, May 15-21, to honor and remember those law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as the family members, friends and fellow officers they left behind.

This year, the names of 394 officers killed in the line of duty are being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. These 394 officers include 143 officers who were killed during 2016, plus 251 officers who died in previous years but whose stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now.

The names of all 394 fallen officers nationwide was formally dedicated during the 29 Annual Candlelight Vigil on the evening of May 13 held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Founded in 1984, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is dedicated to honoring and remembering the service and sacrifice of law enforcement officers in the United States.

Ventura Assistant Police Chief Darin Schindler commented, “Police Officers in the City of Ventura, the State of California and throughout the nation put their lives on the line every day for their communities. We are fortunate that these brave men and women have chosen to dedicate their lives to the safety of others.”

In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls, as National Police Week. The week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.

A proclamation in honor of Police Week was presented at the May 15 Ventura City Council Meeting.

For more information about National Police Week, please visit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund online at www.LawMemorial.org/policeweek.

Realty Watch: by Patricia Fasen, Realtor

U.S. mortgage rates dropped for a fifth week, sending home-loan costs down to their lowest point since the week after the presidential election. The likelihood is, with the decreased mortgage rates, people will start looking to build that dream home they’ve been thinking of, regardless of whether they opt to use a local contractor or a firm like this home builder in pa.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.97 percent, down from 4.08 percent last week and the lowest since November, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday. The average 15-year rate decreased to 3.23 percent from 3.34 percent, the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage-finance company said.

Yields for the Treasuries that guide mortgage costs have dropped on investor expectations that an economy under President Donald Trump won’t be as robust as anticipated, according to Guy Cecala, publisher of the newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance.

“The real factor has been the stock market and investor perception of how the U.S. economy is doing,” he said. “After we saw health-care reform efforts fail, the stock market reacted and investors started rethinking what was doable under a Trump administration.”

The decrease in mortgage rates may encourage homeowners to refinance in the short term as buyers take advantage of lower borrowing costs. Those looking to refinance mortgage on a property may want to go to SoFi’s site to learn more about the services they can provide. An improving job market is increasing demand for real estate as supply of homes for sale tightens. Bank and mortgage companies aim their loans towards those who are looking to get on the housing market, with specialist loans such as a personal loan for physicians, nurses, and other professionals. Listings of existing homes for sale are scarcer than they’ve ever been, and bidding wars are becoming more common again in hot markets like the San Francisco Bay area, Denver, Boston, and in our backyard, Ventura County.