New Ventura County Clerk and Recorder / Registrar of Voters Website Looks Great

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The Ventura County Clerk and Recorder / Registrar of Voters recently launched a new website that has a really nice new look and feel. Check it out at recorder.countyofventura.org.

Here are some excerpts of what the 3 divisions (County Clerk, Recorder and Elections) of the County Clerk and Recorder office does from the website:

The County Clerk issues marriage licenses, performs civil marriage ceremonies, processes fictitious business name filings, and provides for the qualification and registration of notaries, process servers and miscellaneous statutory oaths and other filings.

The Recorder is responsible for the recording of deeds, deeds of trust, court decrees and other documents affecting title to real property in Ventura County.

The Elections Division conducts all Federal, State, County, school and special district elections in the County, as well as the general municipal elections for all 10 Ventura County cities. It also administers voter registration and outreach programs, among other duties.

I've seen the before and after of the County Clerk and Recorder website and have to say this was a dramatic transformation all around. Many websites receive facelifts on the home page but as you click through to sub-pages find old, outdated pages and broken links dispersed through the site. Not so in this case. Nice job!

The Elections Division section highlights current voter registration information right at the top of the site, which is a nice feature. For example, as of 5/21/12, there are 406,644 registered voters in the County, including 157,539 Democrat, 150,919, Republican, 77,994 Non-Partisan and 20,192 Other.

The 2012 Presidential Primary Election was yesterday. Although the Vote By Mail ballots aren't fully counted yet, the Election Results page indicates 101,986 ballots cast as 2 a.m. this morning (6/6/12); a 25.1% voter turnout. In the 6/3/08 Primary, voter turnout was 29.5% of 392,088 registered voters. Not a good trend to see.

Turnout in the 2012 General Presidential Election s

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Los Angeles is Only The Second Worst Metro Area in Terms of Traffic Congestion!

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Kirkland, Washington based traffic information company INRIX issued its 5th Annual Traffic Scorecard that analyzes and compares traffic congestion in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan markets and the country overall.

The good news was that overall traffic congestion in 2011 dropped about 30% compared to the prior year. The bad news is that this drop probably reflects the overall malaise of our economy...less employment = less commuting.

In any case, while the study did not cover Ventura County per se, it did of course include our Los Angeles neighbors. The good news there is that Los Angeles is not the outright worst place to be in terms of traffic. That illustrious honor belongs to Honolulu.

Here is INRIX's top 10 cities for traffic and related wasted time on the road in 2011:

1) Honolulu (58 hours), 2) Los Angeles (56 hours), 3) San Francisco (48 hours), 4) New York (57 hours), 5) Bridgeport, CT (42 hours), 6) Washington, D.C. (45 hours), 7) Seattle (33 hours), 8) Austin (30 hours), 9) Boston (35 h

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Over-the-Counter Medicine Do's and Don'ts That May Come in Handy

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When it comes to minor ailments, I usually just wing it or ask my wife. That's why I enjoyed a recent article entitled "The Medicine Cabinet Quiz" in the Wall St. Journal where author Melinda Beck highlighted some useful basics about over-the counter medicines. With Beck's permission I've summed up some of the advice she compiled from experts.

What to Take for a Headache

Advil (ibuprofen), Tylenol (acetaminophen) and aspirin all help a headache but through different means. Advil/Motrin (ibuprofen), Aleve (naproxen sodium) and aspirin reduce inflammation and thus relieve headaches, arthritis, muscle sprains and so on. But they can cause stomach bleeding.

Aspirin also helps prevent blood clots and thus taken daily can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, but shouldn't be used if you have low blood pressure or open wounds.

Tylenol calms pain signals in the brain but can cause liver damage if you drink too much or take too much.

Ibuprofen agruably is strongest but aspirin works faster, naproxen lasts longer and acetaminophen is safer if you have stomach problems and aren't a heavy drinker.

How to Treat a Muscle Sprain

Sprain your ankle, what do you do? Heat and ice both can help. Heat relaxes the nerves, cold numbs them and both bring more blood circulation to the area.

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The All-Woman ChannelAire Chorus Has Performed in Ventura County Since 1962

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For over 50 years, the ChannelAire Chorus has been sharing its exciting barbershop sound, performing throughout Ventura County for civic and charitable organizations, private groups, churches, community events and fundraisers.

ChannelAire Chorus is a group of 80+ women who love to sing and share their passion for music. The chorus encourages women to pursue musical excellence while advancing the uniquely American art form of 4-part a capella barbershop harmony.

Members of ChannelAire come from throughout Ventura County and ages have ranged from 18 to over 80! The group practices on Tuesday nights in Camarillo. The group has traveled and performed around the world, including Carnegie Hall, U.K., Japan and countless other locations.

ChannelAire is a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity that was founded on March 20, 1962 (for the record, that is older than, me, Conejo Joe).

ChannelAire is a registered chapter of Sweet Adelines International, one of the largest singing organizations for women in the world with over 27,000 members.

For more information, visit www.channelaire.org or visit ChannelAire's Facebook page. How about hiring ChannelAire to perform for your next function!? 

Time Warner put together this nice overview video about the group:

2012 Flag Display at Pierce Brothers Memorial Park Westlake Village

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Tomorrow, Memorial Day, Pierce Brothers Memorial Park in Westlake Village is hosting its 22nd Annual Memorial Day Service tomorrow morning starting with a musical prelude at 10:30 a.m. Over 2,500 are expected to attend this free service open to the public. American flags create a carpet of red, white and blue as they decorate the graves of more than 1,400 heroes buried in the Garden of Valor and throughout the memorial park. Flags will line the Avenue of Flags to honor the memory of all veterans. Local Boy Scouts placed these 1,400 flags yesterday.

Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks-Griffin Memorial Park, Mortuary and Crematory is located at 5600 Lindero Canyon Road, Westlake Village. www.piercebrothersvalleyoaks.com

We were able to drive through the park tonight to see the impressive display of flags and pay our respects to our fallen heroes.

Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California hosts an annual Community Memorial Day Ceremony. We drove through the park the night before to see the 1,400 flags placed by the gravesite of each fallen hero. Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks is located at 5600 Lindero Canyon Road in Westlake Village.

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TSA Pre✓™ Pre-Screening Initiative Gets You Through TSA Lines Quicker

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TSA Pre✓™ is a pre-screening initiative that makes risk assessments on passengers who voluntarily participate prior to their arrival at the airport checkpoint.

TSA Pre✓™ includes U.S. citizens who are members of existing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler programs including Global Entry, NEXUS, and SENTRI programs as well as eligible airline frequent flyers.

If TSA determines a passenger is eligible for expedited screening, information is embedded in the barcode of the passenger’s boarding pass. TSA reads the barcode at designated checkpoints and the passenger may be referred to a lane where they will undergo expedited screening, which could include no longer removing shoes, 3-1-1 compliant bag from carry-on, laptop from bag, light outerwear/jacket and belt.

TSA will always incorporate random and unpredictable security measures throughout the airport and no individual will be guaranteed expedited screening.

TSA Pre✓™ is in partnership with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Certain frequent flyers from Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and certain members of CBP's Trusted Traveler programs, including Global Entry, SENTRI, and NEXUS who are U.S. citizens are eligible to participate. US Airways and United Airlines will also offer TSA Pre✓™ to eligible passengers in the coming months. TSA plans to expand TSA Pre✓™ to include additional airlines, as well as airports that participate in a CBP Trusted Traveler program, once operationally ready.

The above airlines are contacting eligible frequent flyers with an invitation to opt-in. Once the passenger opts-in, the airline identifies the individual as a TSA Pre✓™ participant when submitting passenger reservation information to TSA’s Secure Flight system.

If a participating airlines’ frequent flyer did not receive an invitation from the airline, he/she can still participate by joining a CBP Trusted Traveler program.

Locally here in the Los Angeles area, as of May 2012, the only TSA Pre✓™ screening lane is available only in the American Airlines terminal. TSA Pre✓™ is currently at 14 airports and is anticipated to expand to 35 airports by the end of 2012.

The TSA announced that it has pre-screened over one million travellers through the TSA Pre✓™ initiative as of May 2012.

Learn more at www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/escreening.shtm.