Local Roundup
By Agencies
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After two months of little to no rain, the Ventura Fire Department wants to remind the community the threat of wildfire remains high year-round.
According to the Fire authorities, one of the best defenses to protect against wildfire is to clear flammable grass, trees, and shrubs away from structures and create what’s known as a “defensible space” around properties.
That’s why in mid-March, Fire Hazard Reduction Program, or FHRP, notices will be mailed to 6,500 parcels advising property owners to complete 100 feet of vegetation clearance from structures by May 18.
«Despite heavy rainfall in the final three months of 2021, our area remains critically dry due to long-term drought conditions. Defensible space is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect a house from wildfire. Reduces vegetation density, aids firefighters’ ability to protect homes, and gives them a tactical advantage in stopping a fire to save lives and properties. It’s a win, win, win!”,» said Fire Chief David Endaya.
The goal of FHRP is to protect life and property by removing flammable brush, reducing vegetation density, and creating adequate defensible spacing. Defensible space varies depending on the topography and type of vegetation surrounding structures.
“Maintaining defensible space is critical to slow or stop the spread of wildfire. It helps safeguard homes, businesses, and valuable property from catching fire, either from direct flame or radiant heat,” said Acting Fire Marshal Brett Reed.
In 2022, Ventura Fire’s goal is to inspect 6,500 properties in very high and high fire hazard areas starting in mid-May.
This is a 900% increase from the 580 annual inspections previously performed.
Fire inspections for all affected properties are billable at $38.97 for the first required annual inspection, including associated fees, starting on May 18.
VTA: CARING ABOUT AGRICULTURE
Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG), a nonprofit organization that aims to help young students and the community understand the farm origins of their food and the importance of local agriculture, spread its message to more than 15,000 students and community members in 2021.
«One of SEEAG’s goals is for the public to better appreciate our local farmers, ranchers and farmworkers who grow the food we eat. The food supply chain from farms to our tables is a journey we don’t often think about, but we should,» says Mary Maranville, SEEAG founder and CEO.
SEEAG’s Farm Lab at Petty Ranch in Saticoy welcomed over 1,600 second graders, including low-income, Title 1 students, for a hands-on farm experience.
«it also gets kids outside off their devices and tech, which improves their mental health and wellbeing,” said Maranville.
Another 1,300 students in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties took part in SEEAG’s Child Wellness Initiative designed to educate and inspire children to eat healthy by adding locally-grown fruits and vegetables to their diet.
Each student received a bag of fresh produce, recipes and other educational material. Another 200 middle and high school students attended SEEAG’s STEM Career Pathways in Agriculture presentations to learn about technical careers in the industry.
«We’re hoping that learning about the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables will create life-long healthy eating habits. We did much of our instruction remotely during the first part of 2021. We were able to return to in-classroom instruction in October.»
After a year off because of the pandemic, SEEAG held its Ventura County Farm Day and Santa Barbara County Farm Day in 2021.
More than 12,000 people attended, visiting growers and other agricultural sites to see firsthand how food is grown, harvested and transported to local markets. Visitors experienced a day of agricultural activities, farm tours, tastings, and fruit and produce giveaways.
«We are currently expanding our STEM Career Pathways in Ag outreach to middle and high school students throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and our Ventura County Child Wellness and Santa Barbara County Child Wellness elementary school presentations.»
SB DOWNTOWN WITH NEW ART
The Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture just announced “Sunflowers on State,” a new public art exhibition on State Street running March through May.
A total of six larger-than-life sunflower sculptures fabricated by local artists and painted by students will be on display on the State Street corridor for the public to enjoy.
Designed in the Impressionistic style, the flowers represent one of many programs developed in tandem with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Vincent Van Gogh exhibition, “Through Vincent’s Eyes.”
A ribbon cutting took place on 1st Thursday, at 5 p.m. on March 3 at the sunflower sculpture in front of Old Navy, 1137 State Street.
The flowers were painted during art class at local schools, which was facilitated by the Santa Barbara Education Foundation.
Participating schools include Dos Pueblos High School, Goleta Valley Junior High School, La Colina Junior High School, Santa Barbara Junior High School, Santa Barbara High School/VADA and San Marcos High School.
Margie Yahyavi, Education Foundation Executive Director, said, “Engaging our students in this project is a great opportunity to showcase their talents and creativity for the larger community.”
The sunflowers were fabricated by artists from The Environment Makers who developed and produced the sunflowers at The Arts Fund Gallery in Santa Barbara.
Community members were invited to join in the production of the flower petals during open workshop hours.
The artists offered virtual painting instruction to the student participants.
Internationally-renowned artist Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers are among his most famous works and some of the most iconic paintings in the world.”
ARSONIST ARRESTED
Oxnard Police Department investigators assigned to the Property Crimes Unit conducted a month-long investigation into several reported incidents of an unknown suspect setting fires to different vehicles in the City of Oxnard.
During the investigation, investigators gathered vital information and video surveillance from businesses in the area.
With that information, investigators identified the suspect as 42-year-old Oxnard resident Alejandra Nuñez.
On March 3rd at approximately 5:30 p.m., officers located Nuñez in the area of Fifth Street and Harbor Boulevard and arrested her.
Details learned during the investigation ultimately led to Nuñez being charged with two counts of felony arson, her bail was set at $300,000.
SBCC TEAM WON COMPETITION
At the Southern California International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) held Feb. 25-26, Santa Barbara City College won the top honor for two-year colleges for the second year in a row.
The ICPC is a programming challenge for college students to solve real-world problems, fostering collaboration, creativity, innovation and the ability to perform under pressure.
Held in Riverside, California, 48 teams from 15 Southern California institutions competed to solve a set of 10 programming problems in five hours. The problem set was particularly difficult this year, with no team solving all of the problems.
SBCC Yellow – the team consisting of Jaden Baptista, Chen-Wei Chou and Daniel Schaffield – took First Place honors among two-year schools. Also competing were SBCC Blue: Ricardo Arana, Sarah Duncan and Aleksandar Nisavic; and SBCC Red: Paulo Aguirre, Jordan Ayvazian and Vanessa Santillan.
“The ICPC SoCal contest is a unique experience that allows us to apply our in-class knowledge by working together to solve challenging problems,” said Chen-Wei Chou of SBCC Yellow. “SBCC provided me a good opportunity to join this event, to encourage us to gain insights from one instance in programming and apply them to other cases.”
Summarizing her experience, Vanessa Santillan said, “The competition was the most fun five hours of programming ever! As a woman in tech, I realized how significant my presence and participation are in these events. I hope to compete again.”
In addition to hosting regional contests, the ICPC is a global platform that allows academia and industry to shine the spotlight on — and raise the aspirations of — the next generation of computing professionals as they pursue excellence.
Computer Science professor and coach Stephen Strenn expressed how proud he is of the students: “They studied and trained and collaborated to solve interesting problems. And I have to say that after two years of pandemic, it was really refreshing to spend some quality time with our quality students.”
Nunez may have committed similar crimes that were not reported to the Oxnard Police Department. If you believe you are a victim or witness of a similar crime, please contact Detective Jared Schacher at (805) 385-7594
SEEAG a nonprofit organization that aims to help young students and the community understand the importance of local agriculture, spread its message to more than 15,000 community members in 2021.
