Ventura County Public Health Encourages Residents to Get Flu Shots

Ventura County Public Health keeps watchful eye on influenza activity, encourages public to get flu shots

In response to Kern County Public Health reports confirming that eight Kern County residents have been diagnosed with severe 2009 influenza A (H1N1) influenza that required hospitalization, Ventura County Public Health (VCPH) officials have been keeping close tabs on flu activity in Ventura County. Several Kern County flu patients have been placed in the intensive care unit and, in some cases, have required support on a ventilator. Kern County borders Ventura County to the east.

So far, flu activity has been relatively low in Ventura County with only two patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of H1N1 and one patient hospitalized with a suspected H1N1 case. Because flu season generally does not peak until January or February, VCPH officials are encouraging anyone who has not yet received an annual flu shot to do so immediately. Most years, flu shots are especially important for the most vulnerable - the very young, very old and those with chronic illness. Because the H1N1 influenza is different from the average flu virus and tends to hit young, healthy people through middle-aged adults harder, it is very important that everyone be vaccinated this year.

“The 2013 – 2014 flu vaccine is a good match for the viruses that are currently making people sick,” said Dr. Robert Levin, Ventura County Health Officer. “This year’s shot includes the 2009 H1N1 strain, which is responsible for 97.7% of all flu illnesses so far this season.” According to the CDC, influenza and related complications are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States and influenza was associated with an estimated 381,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. last year. The CDC recommends an annual flu vaccine for everyone six months of age and older, including pregnant women.

Although the flu typically causes the most severe cases in children, the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions, during the 2009 worldwide pandemic, young, healthy people were impacted in greater numbers by the H1N1 virus. That year, the flu caused more illness in children and young and middle-aged adults than in older adults.

“Being vaccinated will reduce your chances of catching H1N1,” said Levin. “In addition, if you do get H1N1, the vaccine will help lessen the severity of your illness.”

For a list of Ventura County flu shot clinics, go to: http://www.vchca.org/public-health/publichealth- clinics and click on the red “Get Your Flu Shot” button for the January and February schedules.

For more information on the 2013 – 2014 flu season, visit www.cdc.gov/flu.

California Lutheran University to Launch Veterans Entrepreneurship Institute

CLU starts vets entrepreneurship program

University increases emphasis on job-creating skills

California Lutheran University is launching a Veterans Entrepreneurship Institute in January as part of an increased emphasis on preparing people to create their own business opportunities.

Nelson Pizarro, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship in CLU’s School of Management, will lead 10 three-hour Saturday workshops for military veterans. Each of the 20 participants in the pilot program will receive a full scholarship, with partial funding coming from a Ventura Country Community Foundation grant.

Pizarro, who founded six companies and has conducted business in 46 countries, will help veterans to build on the discipline, commitment and leadership they developed through military service. New skills such as entrepreneurial thinking will help participants to either start their own businesses or improve their prospects in the job market. Each participant will create a product or service during the course.

The program is part of a new emphasis on entrepreneurship at CLU driven by School of Management Dean Gerhard Apfelthaler. It has resulted in the addition of faculty, curricula and programs.

Under Pizarro’s guidance, a student entrepreneurship club has formed and started organizing events. The School of Management revived its free Entrepreneur Roundtable lecture series for the public this summer, and Pizarro has started a new professional mentor program. Apfelthaler is starting a seed fund for students and alumni to test their concepts and an accelerator fund to help launch tested ideas. The university plans to launch an incubation facility in Westlake Village in 2014.

Pizarro has developed three new courses for the entrepreneurship track in the MBA program. One of the classes, which covers entrepreneurial thinking, will also be offered for undergraduate students in all disciplines.

Bill Gartner, a new faculty member and one of the most-cited scholars on entrepreneurship, will begin teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in new-venture development in January. He also plans to teach an entrepreneurship course in summer that would be the university’s first massive open online course (MOOC). Gartner will work with faculty to integrate entrepreneurial thinking across all disciplines, particularly in the arts and humanities, and organize a summer speaker series. He was formerly the Henry W. Simonsen Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California and the director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Georgetown University.

The deadline to apply for the Veterans Entrepreneurship Institute is Jan. 6. To complete an application, visit callutheran.edu/veterans. For more information, contact Pizarro at 805-493-3371 or npizarro@callutheran.edu.

Carmike Cinemas Completes Acquisition of Muvico Theatres on November 21st

Carmike Cinemas Completes Acquisition of Nine State-of-the-Art Theatres and 147 Screens from Muvico Theatres

Carmike Cinemas, Inc. (NASDAQ: CKEC), a leading entertainment, digital cinema and 3-D motion picture exhibitor, today (11/21/13) announced the completion of its previously announced purchase from Muvico Entertainment, L.L.C. (d/b/a Muvico Theatres) of nine entertainment complexes with an aggregate of 147 screens in Florida, California, and Illinois.

Of the nine theatres purchased, seven are located in Florida, with one each in Illinois and California. Ninety seven percent of the acquired auditoriums are digital and feature stadium seating. Approximately 24 percent of the screen count is 3-D-capable and four theatres have premium large format screens – two IMAX® and two MuviXL. Every location features select auditoriums that contain D-BOX motion-code action seats, and a majority of the theatres offer beer and wine service. Each of the Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Rosemont, Ill., locations contains within the theatre complex a Bogart’s Bar & Grill full-service restaurant. All 147 screens are participants in the Screenvision Cinema Network, which includes more than 14,000 screens throughout the US. Inclusive of the Muvico screens, Carmike’s theatre portfolio now consists of 257 theatres with an aggregate of 2,681 screens in 37 states.

Carmike Cinemas, Inc. is a U.S. leader in digital cinema, 3-D cinema deployments and one of the nation’s largest motion picture exhibitors. As of September 30, 2013, the Company had 247 theatres with 2,521 screens in 36 states, with a digital footprint of 2,418 screens, including 229 locations with 954 screens also equipped for 3-D. The circuit includes 32 premium large format auditoriums featuring state-of-the-art technology and luxurious seating, including 20 “BigDs,” 10 IMAX® auditoriums and two MuviXL screens. As “America’s Hometown Theatre Chain,” Carmike’s primary focus is small to mid-sized community locations. Visit www.carmike.com for more information.

Note to local moviegoers here in Thousand Oaks: Although owned by Carmike, the theaters continue to operate, at least for the time being, under the Muvico brand, although to buy tickets online you will be visiting the Carmike website at www.carmike.com/ShowTimes/Theater/320 or call 805.494.4702.

CLICK HERE FOR MOVIE THEATERS THROUGHOUT VENTURA COUNTY

Metrolink Holiday Toy Express Train to be Suspended in 2013

The Metrolink Board of Directors decided in late September that the 2013 Metrolink Holiday Toy Express will be suspended in order to help close a $10.2 million funding gap for the 2013-14 fiscal year. This would have been the 17th annual event, which the agency indicates costs $269,000 to host.

Last year, the Metrolink Holiday Toy Express, 40+ city tour, passed through six counties as a brightly packaged gift – a 450-ton train decorated with holiday displays, a musical performance and 50,000 twinkling lights and of course, Santa.

The rail agency is considering seeking private funds or corporate sponsors to operate the train in the future. But without significant private sponsorship commitments in place, the Board of Directors felt it would not be prudent to move forward with this year’s Holiday Toy Express.

Funding for the Holiday Toy Express will be reconsidered by the Metrolink Board of Directors for 2014.

ABOUT METROLINK

Metrolink is Southern California’s regional commuter rail service in its 20th year of operation. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates over seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network. Metrolink is the third largest commuter rail agency in the United States based on directional route miles and the eighth largest based on annual ridership. www.metrolinktrains.com

Buenaventura Art Association Seeks Entries for 5th Annual Watercolor Competition

Buenaventura Art Association Announces Call for Entries for 5th Annual Watercolor and Aqua Media Open Competition
Restful Mooring, by Rex Kochel, Best of Show winner 2012

The Buenaventura Art Association, in partnership with the California Gold Coast Watercolor Society, is announcing a call for entries for its 5th annual Watercolor & Aqua Media Open competition. This competition is open to professional and amateur artists from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles counties. The exhibition of selected entries will run from October 2 to October 28, 2013 at BAA’s Harbor Village Gallery, 1591 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura.  Entries must be submitted online via the art association's website, www.buenaventuragallery.org, no later than midnight, Monday, September 21.
 
Cash prizes and a one-year, non-volunteering membership will be awarded to one Best of Show and two First Place winners, one in the Watercolor category and one in the Aqua Media category. Two Second Place winners will receive cash prizes and a 6-month membership; two Third Place winners will receive cash prizes and a 3-month membership, and two Honorable Mention winners will receive 3-month memberships. A reception and awards ceremony will be held Saturday, October 5, from 5pm to 8pm at the gallery.

Specifications:

Transparent Watercolor – On a single piece of untreated watercolor paper.
Aqua Media – All paintings must be executed only in water-based media. Water-based media on watercolor canvas, acrylic canvas, paper, illustration board, watercolor board, clayboard, or yupo may be entered. If collage is incorporated, only paper painted in water media will be accepted. No 3-D work, commercially printed material, or gold leaf.
 
Z.L. Feng will be the juror for this competition.  Feng is an artist-signature member of the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, and the Pastel Society of America (as master pastelist). His work has been featured in The Artist’s Magazine, American Artist, Watercolor 90, Watercolor Highlight, Omni Magazine, Watercolor Magic, and the Chinese National Magazine, China-Watercolor. Before coming to the U.S. in 1986, Feng received his BFA degree from Shanghai Teacher’s University and taught in its art department for four years. He completed his MFA degree at Radford University in 1989 where he is currently a Professor of Art.
 
More information about the Buenaventura Art Association and its merger with the Gold Coast Watercolor Society, as well as the prospectus for this competition, can be found on the association's website, www.buenaventuragallery.org or by calling 805-648-1235.

Thousand Oaks Transit to Add Saturday Bus Service on August 17th

Effective August 17, 2013, Thousand Oaks Transit (TOT) will begin Saturday bus service from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the same four routes as weekday service.

Saturday service will be free to all riders though October 12.

The Thousand Oaks Transportation Center at 265 South Rancho Road will be open Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. with ticket sales available between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. 

The City was recently awarded a $600,000 Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant which help make the addition of Saturday service possible as part of a three year demonstration project.  Saturday bus service is expected to attract up to 400 riders per day.

TOT is the fourth largest transit system in the County with over 150,000 bus riders per year and TOT provides nearly 90,000 Dial-a-Ride trips to seniors and the disabled annually, more than any service provider in Ventura County.

TOT uses clean-burning compressed natural gas buses that are fully accessible to riders with mobility devices and are equipped with free Wi-Fi and easy to use bike racks. For additional information and schedules, please visit www.TOTransit.org or call the bus information line at 805-375-5473.

Source: City of Thousand Oaks website at toaks.org.

Ventura County Residents Sought for Cancer Prevention Study Starting in September

Image Courtesy of American Cancer SocietyVentura County Supervisor Kathy Long recently announced that beginning this September, Ventura County residents have the chance to participate in research through the American Cancer Society to help identify ways to prevent cancer. This study is called the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) and is for individuals who are between the ages of 30 and 65 years old and have never been diagnosed with cancer.

The American Cancer Society’s goal is to enroll at least 300,000 adults from various racial/ethnic backgrounds from across the U.S. in CPS-3. The purpose of CPS-3 is to better understand the lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer and to ultimately eliminate cancer as a major health problem for this and future generations.

Enrollment will be taking place from September 11th to September 24th at various locations, including Ventura County Government Center, International Brotherhood of Electrical Worker’s Union, St. John’s Regional Medical Center, Ventura County Medical Center and St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital. But first, visit THIS LINK to learn more and schedule your initial appointment. 

For more information about CPS-3, visit www.cancer.org/cps3 or email cps3@cancer.org or call toll-free at 1-888-604-5888.