Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Places in Ventura County That Have Closed Since 2009

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We’ve been tracking ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato and other types of places throughout Ventura County and adjacent areas since 2009. The list at THIS LINK is updated periodically.

As we’ve added to the list, we’ve also removed places from the list that have closed over the years. For historical purposes, we have compiled the frozen treat graveyard below.

Frozen Yogurt/Ice Cream Graveyard

Breaking News: City of Thousand Oaks to be Renamed City of Westbury Oaks

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Breaking news! City of Thousand Oaks announces its new name, Westbury Oaks!

Incorporated in 1964, the City of Thousand Oaks expanded in the 1960s and 1970s to include two-thirds of Westlake Village and most of Newbury Park. However, the name Thousand Oaks remained the same.

Yesterday, after years of petitioning by local residents, City Council announced the renaming of the city to better reflect its components.

According to city spokesperson Ivana Fulya, Westbury Oaks beat out the other two top choices, Thousand Newlakes and Bury Thousandvillages by a slim margin.

Joe King of Westlake Village remarked, "Everyone's always been confused about where we live. Is it Westlake Village or is it Thousand Oaks? Now we'll all be one big happy, less confused family of Westbury Oaks residents!"

CVUSD representative Jess Kiddeen added "Thousand Oaks, Westlake and Newbury Park High Schools will be renamed Westbury Oaks I, Westbury Oaks II and Westbury Oaks III, respectively in light of this fantastic change."

Descendants of Egbert Starr Newbury, namesake of Newbury Park, had no comment.

California 16 and 17 Year Olds Can Pre-Register to Vote Online

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In 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 113 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson which allowed voter pre-registration beginning at age 16 once the California’s statewide voter registration database, VoteCal, was certified. VoteCal was certified in September 2016. 

Pre-registering to vote helps enable California youth to vote as soon as they turn 18. The process can be done online at registertovote.ca.gov as long as 16 and 17 year olds have signatures on file with the DMV. If signatures are not on file, they may pre-register by completing a paper form and mailing to their county elections office.

Pre-registration applies to California youth who are 16 or 17, a U.S. citiizen and resident of California, not currently in state or federal prison or on parole for a felony and not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court.

My 17 year old did it and said it took less than 5 minutes.

Learn more at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/pre-register-16-vote-18.

Donating to Charities Using a Qualified Charitable Distribution

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If you are age 72 or older and have an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), you are required to take a “Required Minimum Distribution” (RMD) each year. The RMD is calculated by dividing your IRA account balance as of the last day of the previous year by a distribution period dictated by the IRS.

Distributions from IRAs (except Roth IRAs) are generally taxable income. And depending on your total income, the distribution may cause more of your Social Security benefits to be taxable.

Do you give to charities? One way to reduce the tax bite from RMDs is to give using a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” (QCD).

Using a QCD, you can give to your favorite charities directly from your IRA, up to an annual maximum of $100,000. Doing so helps meet your annual RMD requirement, while reducing your taxable RMD income. Yes, the amount of the QCD is excluded from taxable income.

Let’s look at an example.

Fred and Wilma Flintstone, who live in Bedrock, California, have an IRA with RMDs of $40,000 in 2021. Their only other income is $25,000 apiece in Social Security Income. They gave $5,000 to their favorite charities by writing checks and otherwise do not itemize deductions on their tax returns (their mortgage at 301 Cobblestone Way is full paid and thus no mortgage interest expense).

Based on the above, the Flintstones would owe taxes of $4,603 federal and $35 state on their 2021 tax returns.

Instead, if Fred and Wilma contributed to the charities using QCDs directly from their IRA, their tax liability would be $3,493 federal and nothing for the state. That would save them $1,145 in taxes! That’s a lot of Bronto Burgers!

The higher the tax bracket you’re in, the more these QCDs can save you in taxes.

Learn more about Qualified Charitable Distributions at www.irs.gov/publications/p590b#en_US_2020_publink100041439.

Sunset View From Tarantula Hill on a Cold February Evening, 2-22-22

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Yes, today is 2-22-22, a day that kind of reminds me of 11-11-11. It was a cold, cloudy day and while we did not see rain, we anticipate some showers tonight. In any case, enjoy these photos of tonight’s cloudy sunset from Tarantula Hill in Thousand Oaks.

A Drive Down the Historic Norwegian Grade in Thousand Oaks

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The Historic Norwegian Grade was originally built by hand and $60 worth of dynamite in the early 1900s by the founding Norwegian families, Olsen, Pedersen and others. The top of the grade to Santa Rosa Road is about a mile and a half. The two lane road was improved in 2010 to make it slightly wider and improve the guard rail and signage. More history at THIS LINK.

Completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

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To apply for federal student aid, such as federal grants, work-study, and loans, you, the student, need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

In addition, many states and colleges use your FAFSA information to determine your eligibility for state and school aid, and some private financial aid providers may use your FAFSA information to determine whether you qualify for their aid.

The FAFSA is available in October of the year prior to the year you will be starting college in the fall, so high school seniors and their parents should be prepared to fill them out then.

You can complete and submit the FAFSA at fafsa.ed.gov. While our government encourages us to complete the FAFSA forms online, they still allow you the old fashioned option of completing a form and mailing it in. See studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out for a downloadable pdf.

Technically the FAFSA form is the student’s form, but if you are a dependent student, you will need information from your parents in the form. Here are the steps you need to take, and some (but not all) of the information required to fill out the FAFSA form.

  1. Create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID, which is a user name and password you and your dependent student will use to complete the FAFSA form online. Both the student and the parent must create their own FSA IDs. Your FSA ID serves as your legal electronic signature, so be sure to keep it private like other passwords.

    When creating an FSA ID, keep in mind you cannot use an email address or mobile phone number with more than one FSA ID.

    Create your new FSA ID at fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm.

    And just so you are aware ahead of time, your username must be 6 to 30 characters long and can be any combination of numbers and letters. The username is not case-sensitive. Your password must be 8 to 30 characters and contain at least one number, uppercase letter and lowercase letter. The password is case-sensitive.

  2. Start the FAFSA form at fafsa.gov. You can start the process on behalf of your child. Be sure not to sign in at the same time as your child. You can create a “save key,” which is a temporary password that allows you and your child to alternative editing the form.

  3. Fill in the Student Demographics section of the form, such as name, date of birth, etc. Be sure to use the same name as on the Social Security card – no nicknames.

  4. Select the schools that you want the FAFSA information sent to.

  5. Answer the dependency status questions. Answering yes to any of the questions means you will not have to provide parental information. For example, if you were born before January 1, 1999 or the 2022-2023 academic period, you are considered independent for FAFSA purposes. Or if you are married, are on active military duty, will be working on a master’s degree, etc., you are considered independent.

  6. Fill out the parent demographics section – there is a series of questions here regarding your parents’ status that drive what information is required for the form.

  7. Financial information must be provided. There is a link to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) that allows you to import your tax information to the FAFSA form. Your child will also need to do this if he or she files taxes.

    In addition to your tax return(s), the FAFSA form will require information about untaxed income, such as child support received and interest income. You will also be asked to provide information about cash, bank balances, investments and business assets. Investments also include real estate held for sale (excluding principal residence), 529 college savings plans, etc. You do not need to include the value of 401k, IRA and other retirement plans.

  8. Sign the form.

There’s a handy FAFSA worksheet for the 2022-2023 school year at studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/2022-23-fafsa-worksheet.pdf for those looking to review what is required in advance of completing the form.

Additionally, a pdf of the 10 page form (with notes) for the 2022-2023 academic year is at studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/2022-23-fafsa.pdf.