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

As party-goers celebrate the holidays with friends and family, everyone should heed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s warning to keep the party off the road or be ready to face the consequences. Law Enforcement will be out in force beginning December 17^th through the New Year’s weekend cracking down on anyone caught drunk or drugged behind the wheel. (more…)

(From Science Daily) There has been an abundance of research on the effects of alcohol on the brain, but many questions regarding how alcohol impairs the built-in control systems are still unknown. A new study released in the January 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, which is currently available at Early View, explores that subject in detail and found that certain brain regions involved in error processing are affected more by alcohol than others. (more…)

The article below appeared during the holidays once before. New this year is my YouTube channel, that, by the time this runs today, will have a short video about New Year’s Eve events for tonight and some other shenanigans. Here is the link if you dare: http://www.youtube.com/Evewine101 I’m challenging myself this week to learn more about kosher wines and basically soak your holidays past New Years. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) California motorists, already in sticker shock over rising fines for parking and traffic tickets, should prepare for more beginning Jan. 1. The state is adding $4 to the price of every traffic ticket. The fee will go for funding emergency air-transport services because of a revenue shortfall in Medi-Cal funding. (more…)

(From the AP) ompany is recalling approximately 34,373 pounds of organic ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria, federal officials said Thursday.

First Class Foods Inc. of Hawthorne reports that each package label bears the establishment number “EST. 18895.” The ground beef products were produced on Dec. 7 and Dec. 16 and were shipped to retail establishments in California, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Washington state.

The problem was discovered through company sampling which confirmed a positive result for E. coli O157:H7. The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with these products.

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and in the most severe cases kidney failure. The very young, seniors and persons with weak immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness.

Inquiries regarding the recall should be directed to Lucienne Adams of First Class Foods at 310-676-2500.

Los Angeles County Mayor and Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2^nd Vice Chair Michael D. Antonovich joined L.A. City Councilwoman Jan Perry and the 2011 Rose Queen Evanne Elizabeth Friedman in visiting the Metro Gold Line in the Little Tokyo/Arts District to encourage the public to utilize the Metro Rail and Bus Lines to attend the Pasadena Tournament of Roses as well as all New Year’s Day celebrations. (more…)

The City of Santa Clarita is informing residents that a southbound lane of Railroad Avenue between 12th Street and Lyons Avenue will be closed from 4:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 4, 2011.  The lane closure is being done to allow for the overlaying of asphalt pavement to improve the road for drivers. Signs will be posted along the route to indicate traffic delays. (more…)

Los Angeles County Assessor John R. Noguez today reminded property owners who may have been affected by the recent storms to contact his office as soon as possible for information about potential tax relief if rain, mud or related damage amounts to $10,000 or more. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Losing a job is a profoundly distressing experience, but the unemployed may be more resilient than previously believed — the vast majority eventually end up as satisfied with life as they were before they lost their jobs, according to a new analysis published by the American Psychological Association. (more…)

I don’t ever remember traveling on Christmas Day, ever. Usually if I traveled at the Christmas holiday it was several days before of or after Christmas day. Until this year that is! We flew to New York on Christmas day and it was probably one of lightest, easiest and most pleasant flights that I’ve had in a really long time. (more…)

You’ll pardon me if I don’t get too excited about the year 2021 hitting town tomorrow night. What with all the time traveling I do, well. Time becomes kind of relative. Dress warm. We’ve got an interesting saddle ride through SCV history, including a visit to a surprise blizzard that crippled the valley. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) The New Year is set to bring some financial cheer to roughly 11 million Californians in the form of lower state income taxes and fatter paychecks, but some in Sacramento are considering ways to roll back the tax relief, calling it unaffordable for a state staring at a $28-billion deficit. (more…)

The West Ranch Town Council will hold its first regular monthly meeting of the New Year on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at the Tournament Player Club in West Ranch located at 26550 Heritage View Lane in the Westridge neighborhood at 6:30 PM. The meeting will include regular updates from Los Angeles County, the CHP and the Sheriff’s Department. The agenda here: (more…)

(From the sacbee.com) Gov.-elect Jerry Brown will propose a ballot measure to extend temporary tax hikes set to expire next year, while pressuring fellow Democrats to consent to billions of dollars in spending cuts in virtually every area of state government, sources said. (more…)

(From the sfgate.com) The latest round of rain to hit waterlogged California has moved east and out of the state, leaving powerful, frigid winds in its wake. Gusts of more than 50 mph hit parts of northern Los Angeles County late Wednesday, with colder air and potentially damaging winds expected overnight. Snow levels on north-facing mountain slopes were expected to fall between 2000 and 2,500 feet, according to the National Weather Service. (more…)

A 50-year man with a makeshift bed in his car was charged with attempted kidnapping and attempted child molesting Tuesday.  Suspect Tracy Jones, an African-American man from Apple Valley, was arrested Christmas Eve afternoon in Palmdale after he was seen by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy and the deputy’s wife driving on the 39000 block of Summerwind Drive.  He was seen driving slowly beside a teenage girl who was walking on the sidewalk. (more…)

The City of Santa Clarita will conduct a Traffic Circulation Improvement Project on Bouquet Canyon Road beginning Monday, January 3^rd. Construction work and lane closures will be conducted at night to avoid disrupting busy daytime travel. Construction is expected to continue through February 10. (more…)

Los Angeles County is providing curbside Christmas tree recycling through January 15, 2011.  Residents in unincorporated County areas can conveniently recycle their tree by placing it at curbside on their regular trash collection day. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Synthesizing more than 10 years of cooperative research on the exotic invasive, quarantine sudden oak death pathogen, the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) recently published “Sudden Oak Death and Phytophthora ramorum: A Summary of the Literature.” This 181-page comprehensive report covers a wide range of topics, including a history of sudden oak death, identification and distribution of the disease, (more…)