After Sunday's "hurriquake", the waters have begun to recede, and in Ventura County, residents are assessing the damage from the magnitude 5.1 temblor centered near Ojai and numerous aftershocks between 2.0 and 3.0 in magnitude. At restaurants and stores, surveillance cameras captured merchandise falling off shelves, with glass bottles smashing on the floor. Video inside Tres Hermanas in Ojai, California shows bottles falling and shattering at the restaurant's bar. Aug. 30, 2023. (Tres Hermanas Ojai) No major damage or injuries were reported, though at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, cr ..read more

Classes at Santa Paula High School in Ventura County are canceled Monday and Tuesday after a fire caused extensive damage to the school's gymnasium. The fire erupted around 12:42 a.m. Sunday in the Bryden Gymnasium, which was built in the 1930s, authorities said. Fire crews from Ventura County, the City of Ventura, Fillmore and Oxnard battled the blaze for several hours and protected surrounding homes.  No injuries were reported.  (Ventura County Fire Department) “Due to the structural damage and the schoolwide impact of the Bryden Gym fire, the Santa Paula Unified School District an ..read more

A Ventura County man is facing multiple felony charges after he was arrested for the sexual abuse of a 6-year-old girl, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office announced. The Sheriff's Office received a report of the sexual abuse of a child on Nov. 5, and the man, 36-year-old Travis Martin of unincorporated Santa Paula, was arrested Wednesday morning, authorities said. In addition, "numerous items were seized" during a search of his home in the 11000 block of Foothill Road, the Sheriff's Office added. Martin, a friend of the girl's family, molested the victim in Anaheim, at Mono Lake and at his ho ..read more

A Santa Paula police officer is recovering after being struck by a suspected drunken driver during an investigation of possible illegal fireworks on Sunday night, authorities said. Shortly after 11 p.m., officers were sent out to the intersection of Steckel Drive and Estriga Court to check out a report that illegal fireworks were being launched in the area, according to a Santa Paula Police Department news release. One of the responding officers was standing near his patrol vehicle when a car struck its driver's side door while northbound on Steckel. The car then swerved and struck the officer ..read more

As California continues to ease restrictions on stay-at-home orders prompted by the coronavirus, officials have warned against overcrowding outdoor spaces. With the lure of a three-day holiday weekend, some destinations are making more room for Memorial Day revelers, while others are clamping down. Unlike some trails that were shuttered under Ventura County orders, the popular Santa Paula Canyon and Punch Bowls Trail in Ojai Valley never closed. But in recent weeks, crowds have been gathering in droves, filling the parking lots and leaving behind trash, said Los Padres National Forest spokesma ..read more

Ram, a great horned owl found injured and wandering ashy terrain in last year’s Maria Fire, has recovered and flew back into the skies above Ventura County Wednesday. Ventura County Firefighter Caleb Amico, who spotted Ram in distress on Nov. 2, was on hand for the owl’s release at the foot of South Mountain, a peak between Camarillo and Santa Paula atop which the massive blaze broke out Oct. 31. Amico said his hand crew was cutting down hazardous trees when he spotted Ram looking disoriented and unable to fly, so he wrapped the docile bird up in his jacket. The bird was taken to Camarillo Wil ..read more

A Santa Paula man who lured his girlfriend to a park before beating her with a baseball bat and stabbing her in the neck because she refused to terminate her pregnancy received a sentence of 27 years to life in prison for the murder on Thursday, authorities said. Antonio Magana, 23, pleaded guilty in October to “willful, deliberate and premeditated murder” for the March 14, 2014, klling of Ashley Moran of Santa Paula, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. He also admitted that he personally used a baseball bat and a knife in the killing. Magana and Moran had been dating ..read more

Marcela Magana Ruiz is seen in a photo released by the Santa Paula Police Department on Dec. 2, 2019. A woman was charged Wednesday after investigators say she tied up her 3-year-old son and set their Santa Paula home on fire over the weekend. Marcela Magana Ruiz, 47, faces one felony count each of arson and child abuse in connection with the Sunday blaze, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Police say the boy had a plastic bag over his head and hands bound, alone in a bedroom, while his mother was tied to a bed in a separate room at the Bahia Circle residence ..read more

A woman was arrested after allegedly putting a plastic bag over her 3-year-old son’s head and tying him up as their Santa Paula home burned over the weekend, police said Monday. Maricela Magana Ruiz is seen in a photo released by the Santa Paula Police Department on Dec. 2, 2019. Firefighters initially found the woman tied to a bed when they responded to a structure fire at a home on Bahia Circle about 6:10 p.m. Sunday, according to the Santa Paula Police Department. While extinguishing the blaze in the downstairs living room, crews rescued the toddler who had been left alone in another bedroo ..read more

A hand crew with the Ventura County Fire Department rescued an owl during the Maria Fire over the weekend, officials said. The hand crew was patrolling the fire line in a canyon above Somis Saturday when members spotted the owl hopping around in ashes, the Ventura County Star reported. The owl wasn’t moving too much, so they decided to take it in. In photos shared by the department the following day, the owl is seen wrapped in a firefighter’s jacket, which matched its intense yellow eyes. The owl was taken to a rehabilitation center and is “already on the mend,” officials said in a tweet. The ..read more