The chief financial officer for the city of Calabasas has been named a top CFO in the San Fernando Valley area. The San Fernando Valley Business Journal gave Gary Lysik the honor at a luncheon last week in Woodland Hills. More...

Registration for the Ventura Roadrunners will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Sat., Aug. 23 at San Buenaventura State Beach Park, 901 San Pedro St., Ventura. Training will begin at 7:30 a.m. Sat., Sept. 6 and continue every Saturday. More...

FRI., AUG. 15 Amateur Astronomy Ventura County Astronomical Society meets 7:30 p.m., multipurpose room, Mesa Union School, 3091 Mesa School Road, Somis. Denis Svechkarev discusses amateur astronomy in Kharkov, Ukraine. Free, public invited. More...

The company motto for Hearing Aids Etc. is "The difference is, we care." The motto was inspired by stories of customers who bought hearing aids from other offices and had difficulty scheduling appointments for follow-up adjustments. More...

The Las Virgenes Unified School District is looking at sweeping changes to its elementary art and music program. At the July 22 board of education meeting, a school district Art and Music Task Force that was created to develop recommendations on how to spend state money earmarked for art and music programs presented its vision and implementation plan. More...

Two Oak Park sisters, ages 17 and 18, who already play professional soccer, will participate in 2009 UEFA Champion's LeagueWomen's Cup in Europe. More...

It seems that in almost every home there is one closet dedicated to storing old towels, sheets and blankets used only for the occasional sleepover or to clean up a mess. More...

Agoura Hills A thief stole a $150 skateboard from a vehicle parked in the 30800 block of Agoura Road July 28. Several other vehicle burglaries also occurred at about the same time in the same area. Thieves stole five kegs of beer worth $100 each from a shed in the 5700 block of Lake Lindero Drive July 26. More...

The Center for Spiritual Living will host Maria Bobadilla, also known as Machi Maria, an indigenous shaman, on Sun., Aug. 24 at the center, 800 Hampshire Road, Ste. V, Westlake Village. Bobadilla will speak at the 10 a.m. morning service and also conduct a workshop on "Energy Medicine, the Shamanic Way" from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. More...

Marley Gordon of Ventura was named Miss Greater Ventura County 2008 during the recent Miss Greater Ventura County USA Pageant. Liz Anderson, also of Ventura, was named Miss Greater Ventura County Teen USA 2008. The pageant took place at Pacifica High School in Oxnard; 29 young women participated. More...

Actor's Repertory Theatre of Simi's production of "Little Women: the Musical," directed by David Ralphe with musical director Gary Poirot, interprets Louisa May Alcott's best-selling novel as a feminist manifesto. More...

I couldn't agree more with Jean Strauss Raffle's view of the westbound 101 Kanan off ramp signal. It's absurd beyond comprehension. I am not disputing the need for a signal at that location to prevent what the city engineer, among others, have perceived to be a possibly dangerous intersection. More...

Not too long ago I was reading about migrating birds. For this particular species, half their year was spent in the desert while the other half was spent high in the mountains. The author posed the question, "Whose birds are they, the desert folks' or the mountain folks'? More...

Keeping our teens entertained and out of trouble has become a modern-day problem. In earlier times, boys and girls in their mid-to-late teens had to become adults quickly, by necessity. They took charge of family farms, learned trades at a young age and seemed mature, by today's standards, by the time they were 18. More...