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

Happy Halloween to all of The Beacon readers! There are plenty of safe and fun happenings around the Santa Clarita Valley this Halloween weekend. You can take the kids Trick-or-Treating at the Valencia Town Center mall or go to a Fall Festival in Canyon Country. But the best place to check all the fun things to do around the Valley is at the Santa Clarita Guide, just click here or on the Santa Clarita Guide button to the left. Enjoy! 

And not some nicey-nice peace-and-love kind of communist according to a recent web posting that one of our readers flagged for us. This is a must read for anyone who is voting on Tuesday and we think Obama’s friend is completely relevant to this campaign. You know what they say; “birds of a feather DO flock together!” Through his group the Weather Underground, Ayers was planning to “seize power” in a violent communist takeover of the United States: (more…)

Meteorites that are among the oldest rocks ever found have provided new clues about the conditions that existed at the beginning of the solar system, solving a longstanding mystery and overturning some accepted ideas about the way planets form. (more…)

The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care & Control reminds everyone that Halloween can be a fun holiday, but also can be potentially dangerous and frightening for pets.  Here are some tips to keep your pets safe during Halloween: (more…)

The following is a round-up of polls from across the country graciously supplied by Scott Wilk of Anchor Consulting, LLC. The Beacon is grateful to Scott for supplying this interesting election information leading up to the election and we hope our readers have enjoyed it. The daily Diageo/Hotline tracking poll of likely voters shows (more…)

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end (more…)

The battle over an initiative that would divert drug offenders from prison into treatment and loosen state parole policies has intensified heading into Tuesday’s vote, with a bipartisan coalition of elected officials joining the state prison guards union to fight the measure. (more…)

With defaults on credit-card debt spiraling amid a global financial downturn, banks already reeling from the mortgage crisis are losing billions more from unpaid credit-card bills. Big banks have formed an unusual alliance with consumer advocates to urge the government (more…)

As the Treasury Department prepares a $40 billion program to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure, it confronts a difficult challenge: not making the plan too tempting to people like Todd Lawrence. An airline pilot who lives outside Norwich, Conn., Mr. Lawrence has a traditional 30-year mortgage that he has no (more…)

Evidence that the US is in recession grew on Thursday as data showed that a sharp cutback in consumer spending in the third quarter resulted in the economy shrinking at an annualized rate of 0.3 per cent, its weakest performance in seven years. (more…)

The County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care & Control would like to call your attention to this important Halloween message to keep your pets safe and stress-free this time of the year.  Halloween can be a scary time, especially for your pets. Please think twice before including your pet in Halloween festivities. (more…)

The Community Hiking Club has scheduled a hike to Los Pinetos (Walker Ranch) on Saturday, November 1^st. This 8 mile hike is uphill for the first 3 miles to the ridge. Then you traverse the ridge to the Wilson Saddle, and then return back to Walker Ranch, all downhill. Bring water and snacks. Meet at the Walker Ranch trailhead before 8:30 AM.

Camarillo, CA. Karen Bass, the California Assembly Speaker is principal speaker at a “Get Out the Vote for Ferial Masry” rally on Saturday at 7PM November 1st in Camarillo. According to Bob Handy, Director of the Democratic Parry’s Region 10, it is the first time that he is aware of that an Assembly Speaker is (more…)

Frogs and salamanders, those amphibious bellwethers of environmental danger, are being killed in Yellowstone National Park. The predator, Stanford researchers say, is global warming. Biology graduate student Sarah McMenamin spent three summers in a (more…)

Activity associated with this election has surpassed that of any election in recent history with  voter registration reaching an all time high including many first-time and younger voters.  This is a good sign for the health of our democratic process, but registering is only the first step. (more…)

The following is a round-up of polls from across the country graciously supplied by Scott Wilk of Anchor Consulting, LLC. The Beacon will be posting this interesting election information periodically as it is supplied leading up to the election. Enjoy. The daily Diageo/Hotline tracking poll of likely voters, shows (more…)

The latest YouTube video from local city gadfly and documentary filmmaker Nota FerryFan shines a light on public participation at Santa Clarita City Council meetings. Intercut through the video is Alan Ferdman, Chair of the Canyon Country Advisory Committee, commenting to the City Council on their decision to move public comment at council meetings to the end. That resulted in an 82% drop in comment participation according to the video. This is well worth the 7 minute and 52 second viewing time: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8TvwQi9ST2I 

After reading the two previous posting about the L.A. Times doing more lay offs and the Christian Science Monitor going from a daily to a weekly paper one can not help but think when will the Signal scale back to at least a weekly. That paper was a weekly at one time and I don’t see how they can still make a go it as a daily in the current environment. (more…)