The West Ranch Beacon – News & Commentary for the Santa Clarita Valley

With the New Year being celebrated tonight, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station would like to remind all residents to celebrate responsibly.  Successful New Year’s Eve celebrations begin with careful planning and prudent judgment and any alcohol related event should include arrangements for designated drivers or other safe alternative accommodations.  A designated driver is an individual within a group of people drinking alcoholic beverages at an event/establishment who remains sober to drive the others home afterwards. (more…)

“In reflecting on this past year, one bright light that shines across our County and State and will enhance the quality of care for our senior citizens was the state law I initiated requiring nursing homes to publicly display their five-star rating issued by the Federal Government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service,” said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, father of the County’s successful Restaurant Grading system established in 1997. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Caffeine is a stimulant drug, although legal, and adults use it widely to perk themselves up: Being “addicted” to caffeine is considered perfectly normal. But how strong is caffeine’s appeal in young people who consume an abundance of soft drinks? What impact does acute and chronic caffeine consumption have on their blood pressure, heart rate and hand tremor? (more…)

According to www.infoplease.com there are in fact two definitions for a blue moon. According to the more recent definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. For a blue moon to occur the first of the full moons must appear at or near the beginning of the month so that the second will fall within the same month (the average span between two moons is 29.5 days). If you would like to know more about the Blue Moon phenomenon click here: Blue Moon Information

(From the Sacramento Bee) All it takes is a saw, some muscle and a few minutes. Day or night, it doesn’t matter – maybe they strike while you’re in the mall. You don’t know anything’s wrong until your vehicle starts with a thunderous VAROOM!!! (more…)

C’mon. Before we dash about to do the very last deeds of 2009, what say we slip out before breakfast for a little time ride through history? Sun is nearly up and we’ve got some previous lifetime inspections to do.  Right in our own back yard there’s Chinese warlord’s arrest of nearly a century ago to peruse. We’ll go back to the 1920s to see a move for reforestation here. There’s a Dog Attacks Motorcycle Cop story, a Castaic rancher being attacked by bears AND bees and one of my favorite standbys — idiot hunters. (Photo: A 250-pound and sub-five-foot woman just had the wrong geometric forces working for her when she climbed aboard her last roller coaster ride at Magic Mountain in 1979.) (more…)

(From the L.A. Times) L.A. County’s gun exchange program collected 5,337 weapons in 2009, including 144 assault-style rifles. The Sheriff’s Department, along with supporters of the Gifts for Guns program, handed out more than $428,100 in gift cards throughout the year at supermarket parking lots around the county in exchange for the guns. (more…)

(From CNBC.com) The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in about 17 months, suggesting the economy might be on the cusp of job creation. (more…)

(From the N.Y. Times) For the struggling United States airline industry, the new decade is starting out much like the old. Executives at carriers that survived the 2001 terrorist attacks, soaring fuel prices and a rough economy are now scrambling to find ways to minimize the impact of the Christmas Day bombing attempt on consumers’ travel plans in the new year. (more…)

(From the FT.com) Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has made full body scanners mandatory for US-bound passengers in a decision that will put pressure on other airports to adopt similar security measures in the wake of the foiled US terror attack. (more…)

(From CNN) It happens only once in a blue moon — and scientists say a blue moon is exactly what we’ll see in the skies this New Year’s Eve. Don’t expect an azure glow over our lunar satellite, however. The term “blue moon” simply refers to the second full moon in a calendar month, something that hasn’t happened on a New Year’s Eve for nearly 20 years, NASA says. (more…)

(From the wsj.com) Facing a $21 billion shortfall through June 2011, California leaders want billions of dollars in budget relief from Washington that could head off deep cuts expected to state programs. (more…)

(From the wsj.com) Still mulling over your New Year’s financial resolutions? David Laibson, a Harvard University economics professor, has one for you—one that many of us may wish we’d made last year. “Promise that you’ll never try to time the market again,” he suggests, a not-too-subtle gibe at the many investors who sold their stock in the depths of the downturn early this year and then missed the huge rally that followed. (more…)

(From Science Daily) The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief — just ask those who cruise grocery store aisles on an empty stomach, only to go home with a full basket and an empty wallet. (more…)

(From the AP) An earthquake has shaken California’s border with Mexico. Preliminary information from the California Integrated Seismic Network says the 10:48 a.m. Wednesday quake was magnitude 5.9 and was centered about 100 miles east of San Diego, about 20 miles southeast of the Mexican city of Mexicali. (more…)

(From the wsj.com) State and local tax revenues fell 7% in the third quarter of 2009 from a year ago, the Census Bureau said in a report underscoring how the economic downturn is stressing government collections. (more…)

I shall kill fewer trees in 2010!  It just hit me that it’s almost January in the year 2010 and I’ve yet to make a single New Year’s resolution. Swimming around upstairs are the familiar old devils about weight loss and taking that horseback ride from here to Canada. With a daughter nearly 7, I’m going to have to postpone the later for at least a couple of days. (more…)

(From the L.A. Times) New Year’s Eve revelers are reminded that firing a gun in celebration is a felony, Los Angeles officials warned Tuesday. “Let’s not place others in harm’s way by shooting a firearm in the air,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a news conference where he was joined by Sheriffs and Police officials. “It is not only illegal. It is just plain stupid.” (more…)

(From the N.Y. Times) The technology exists to reveal objects hidden under clothes at airport checkpoints, and many experts say it would have detected the explosive packet carried aboard the Detroit-bound flight last week. But it has been fought by privacy advocates who say it is too intrusive, leading to a newly intensified debate over the limits of security. (more…)