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

(From SmartMoney) Before last week, buying one of two popular e-readers meant ordering it directly from the manufacturer. Now, consumers have a choice: Stick with the manufacturer or buy from a retailer. Shoppers in search of the Kindle reader can purchase it from manufacturer Amazon.com and, as of Sunday, in some Target stores in Minneapolis and Florida (a nationwide rollout is planned for later this year). (more…)

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich will be in Washington D.C. next week to advocate for a newly revised 30/10 initiative to accelerate regional highways, transit projects, and public-private partnerships funded by Measure R. Last Thursday, an amendment by Supervisors Antonovich and Ridley-Thomas was unanimously approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors adding highway construction and improvements, and regional transportation solutions to the 30/10 plan. (more…)

The Community Hiking Club will be traversing Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks this Saturday, May 1. Jerry Happ will lead you on this easy to moderate 7 mile hike, 500 feet elevation gain hike, featuring a waterfall, abundant chalk dudleya, water crossings (easy if no significant rain), and Indian cave. Bring plenty of sun block, lunch/snack and plenty of water. Those interested should plan on meeting at Towsley at 7:45 for 8:00 departure or 8:45 at Wildwood Park. (more…)

The trademark rumble of  bikers on a mission to do good deeds will echo through the Santa Clarita Valley on May 1 as the Bikers for Christ stage their Third Annual LARC Ranch Benefit ride to raise funds for LARC’s programs and services for developmentally disabled individuals. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Could organic labels lead you to overeat? These labels certainly appear to make people think their organic snack has a lot fewer calories than it really does. These findings were presented at this week’s Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, Calif. They showed that people who ate organic cookies labeled as “organic” believed that their snack contained 40% fewer calories than the same cookies that had no label, according to Jenny Wan-Chen Lee, a graduate student with the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. (more…)

The following is political activity for Friday, April 30, 2010, going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

I get a lot of nice wine event invites and this one really tickled my palate. Honey from their hives, olives from their orchard, heirloom tomatoes and, of course, wine from a neighboring vineyard. 60 of us expectantly came to the patio of the Oaks Grille at TPC Valencia last Friday night to be tempted at a wine reception to learn more about Meadowood Napa Valley Estate and why we will want to spend our next Napa trip there. (more…)

(From The Signal) How did two men escape Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic this week? And why were they allowed the freedom and trust to work together in the jail’s kitchen that may have allowed them to escape? That type of work is a privilege usually reserved for inmates accused of nonviolent crimes, but Winder Estuardo Barrios and Jose Antonio Aldana were on trial for a string of armed robberies, a home invasion and a sexual battery. (more…)

(From the nytimes.com) The United States economy continued to expand in the first quarter, but economists cautioned that the pace of growth is still not nearly fast enough to recover ground lost during the recession. National output grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.2 percent last quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, after growth of 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 and 2.2 percent in the third quarter. (more…)

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) today introduced legislation to rename Peak 12,240 in Mono County “Mt. Andrea Lawrence,” in memory of the late Andrea Lawrence – a conservationist, three-time Olympian and member of the Mono County Board of Supervisors. (more…)

(From the AP) The latest numbers from California finance officials estimate nearly 39 million people now live in the state. A report out Thursday from the state Department of Finance says California added 393,000 residents in 2009, pushing the total population on Jan. 1 to an estimated 38,648,000. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) California moved a step closer to resuming executions Thursday when corrections officials announced new lethal injection procedures, beating a May 1 deadline by one day. The proposed changes in the death chamber procedures, though mostly minor, are intended to address concerns expressed by a federal judge in 2006 that the state’s earlier three-drug sequence may have exposed some of those who were executed to unconstitutionally “cruel and unusual punishment.” (more…)

Sheriff Deputy Cameron Glover, age 27, died on Wednesday evening as the result of a traffic accident in Valencia. He had graduated form Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Academy, Class #354, on 01/19/2007. Glover is picture here with Sheriff Baca at his Sheriff’s Academy graduation. There is currently no information on services yet.  (more…)

The City of Santa Clarita invites visitors to take advantage of excellent forecasted weather this weekend at two great local events: TributeFest on Saturday, May 1 at Central Park and Pet Expo USA on Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2 at the College of the Canyons. (more…)

U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, was tapped today by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) to join a new National Security Working Group. Led by Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), the solutions group will take the lead in advocating and developing better solutions to the national security challenges facing America and hold the Administration accountable when it pursues misguided policies that make the American people less safe. (more…)

Local businesses are invited to sign up to participate in the City of Santa Clarita’s 7th Annual Bike to Work Day Challenge on Thursday, May 20. The California Bicycle Coalition and City will also host a free “How to Bike to Work” informational seminar on Thursday, May 6 from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. at City Hall’s first floor Century Room to familiarize local businesses with the popular community event. (more…)

The U.S. areas with the best and worst air quality, according to the latest American Lung Association “State of the Air” pollution report: (more…)

(From the sacbee.com) A week into California’s Cash for Appliances program, thousands of rebate applications have poured in, retailers are reporting brisk sales and state officials are pleased with the so-far orderly process. By Tuesday night, about 6,000 rebate applications had come in – relatively the tip of the iceberg, the first few forms filled out and mailed in after the program kicked off April 22. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Melting sea ice has been shown to be a major cause of warming in the Arctic according to a University of Melbourne, Australia study. Findings published in Nature reveal the rapid melting of sea ice has dramatically increased the levels of warming in the region in the last two decades. (more…)

The following is political activity for Thursday, April 29, 2010, going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)