Find latest updates from local and state agencies for impacted residents, businesses and contractors.
Cal State University Channel Islands is celebrating funding for a child care center on campus.
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin made the announcement while speaking at the first ever “Channel your Network” event on Friday.
Irwin presented a state check for $5-million to the CSUCI President Erika Beck.
A day before the one-year anniversary of the Borderline mass shooting that claimed the life of Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus and 11 others, a 3.4-mile stretch of nearby Highway 101 was officially named after him Wednesday.
The “Ventura County Sheriff Sergeant Ronald Lee Helus Memorial Highway" stretches from Hampshire Road to Lynn Road in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said at a somber dedication ceremony at the Gardens at Los Robles Greens golf course, about a half-mile from the Borderline Bar & Grill.
Local policymakers are calling for state and federal laws to require gun packaging to include suicide prevention information.
Two measures to require the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number on labels have been proposed – the first in California and a second nationwide.
In Ventura County alone, an estimated 12,000 preschool-age children cannot access or participate in preschool due to space, costs, and program limitations. Only 4% of the region’s demand for infant and toddler childcare is being met.
Within our region, there are two populations that are confronted with unique obstacles to accessing reliable childcare — farmworkers and university students with children. We need a creative and collaborative solution to the childcare shortage that our region is experiencing.
As written by Joseph Marks in the Washington Post.
As hackers target California campaigns, the state wants to let political candidates use some of their campaign funds to secure personal phones and computers.
A bill, which was introduced in the state legislature Thursday, could spark a trend among states that want to protect political races from being upended by the sort of hacking operation that targeted Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
“We saw what this cyberthreat looks like on a big public level in 2016,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D), who is officially supporting the legislation, told me. He plans to promote the bill to other states’ top election officials in coming months and says it's a “no-brainer” they should pursue similar ones.
As written by Travis Schlepp for KEYT.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A portion of U.S. Highway 101 may soon bear the name of Ventura County Sergeant Ron Helus who was killed in the November shooting at a Thousand Oaks country-western bar.
Helus and 11 other victims were slain on November 7 inside the Borderline Bar and Grill, a popular destination for college students in the area.
Written by Gretchen Wenner in the Ventura County Star.
A state legislator from Thousand Oaks has introduced a resolution to name a stretch of Highway 101 that runs through the city in honor of Sgt. Ron Helus, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office lawman killed in the line of duty during the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill last fall.
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin introduced the resolution Monday, the same day the Assembly adjourned in honor of the 12 Borderline victims, her office announced.
Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, has been re-appointed as the head of the California Assembly Veterans Committee for a third term.
Irwin has served as the chair since first getting elected in 2014.
"I'm incredibly honored to continue my service to California's veterans," Irwin said in a statement. "Over the past four years we've worked on a number of initiatives to improve the lives of our veterans.
By Mike Harris in the Ventura County Star
State Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin and the Thousand Oaks City Council are working to have a portion of Highway 101 named in honor of Ventura County sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, one of 12 people killed by a gunman in the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting Nov. 7.
Only the state Legislature can officially name a state highway, according to the California Department of Transportation.
The city has been in talks with Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, to introduce a resolution asking the Legislature to approve naming a portion of the 101 at Moorpark Road near the Borderline in Helus’ honor.
By Wendy Leung in the Ventura County Star
The Oxnard sewage plant treats about 32 million gallons of wastewater every day.
It is old and rusty and it occasionally fails, causing spills of partially treated wastewater into the ocean.
The struggling plant is the reason sewage bills have been steadily increasing these past two years. It is the reason four of the five members on the City Council faced the threat of losing their posts.
But some good news came to the embattled facility when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state budget. Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, has secured $9.5 million to go toward emergency repairs to the plant.
“It got our attention,” Irwin said. “There was so much politicking about it, eventually who’s going to be hurt are the residents. Hopefully, this helps move the city to stability.”