Dawn Hobbs

A 43-year-old Santa Barbara County man was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment after he allegedly took two young children from a Santa Paula motel without first informing their relatives. Family members, who were staying at the Harvard Motel on East Harvard Boulevard, notified Santa Paula police about the disappearance of the 5-year-old boy and his 4-year-old sister about 6 p.m. Tuesday. David Stefan Kass was arrested later after a family friend saw him with the children.

A 43-year-old Santa Barbara County man was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment after he allegedly took two young children from a Santa Paula motel without first informing their relatives. Family members, who were staying at the Harvard Motel on East Harvard Boulevard, notified Santa Paula police about the disappearance of the 5-year-old boy and his 4-year-old sister about 6 p.m. Tuesday. David Stefan Kass was arrested later after a family friend saw him with the children.

Rather than scramble to patch together a men's basketball team only one week before the start of the regular season, Ventura College President Larry Calderon announced Friday the suspension of the once-proud program for one year. "After talking to the players [Thursday] and reviewing all the facts, it appears that suspension is the best course of action at this time," Calderon said in a statement released by the school.

The National Labor Relations Board has added more charges against the Santa Barbara News-Press, alleging that publisher Wendy McCaw fired another round of employees in retaliation for union actions. Six reporters were fired last month after hanging a banner that read "Cancel your newspaper today" from an overpass on the 101 Freeway.

Ventura County cities should be allowed to head a new committee overseeing the reorganization of the county library system and come up with their own proposal to improve services, county supervisors said Tuesday. The supervisors said they wanted to send a clear message to the cities of Camarillo, Simi Valley and Ventura that the new Library Services Implementation Committee would not be run by the county.

Rather than scramble to patch together a men's basketball team only one week before the start of the regular season, Ventura College President Larry Calderon announced Friday the suspension of the once-proud program for one year. "After talking to the players [Thursday] and reviewing all the facts, it appears that suspension is the best course of action at this time," Calderon said in a statement released by the school.

Parents of Camarillo Heights Elementary School students Saturday called for a full explanation as to how a 15-year-old girl suspected of molesting a kindergartner last April allegedly lured a second girl off campus this month. The teenager is now suspected of molesting that girl. "None of the parents knew anything about what's going on," said Kimberly Davis, the mother of a fourth-grade girl. "It seems the best way to combat predators is to make people aware.

They came to surf, delighting in the 10- to 12-foot waves pounding the Ventura County coast Tuesday. Before long, though, Casey Schmitt and Mark Collins were catching a wave to a capsized boat and rescuing two men stranded in the heavy surf. "They were barely hanging on," Schmitt said after he and Collins pulled the two men to shore. "They would have never made it in."

Two children came home early Monday to find their mother and her boyfriend dead in their bedroom, and their death remained a mystery as investigators found no signs of foul play. The 6-year-old girl and 9-year-old boy entered the San Fernando Avenue home about 8:25 a.m. with a baby sitter who had taken care of them for the weekend. The children discovered the bodies and alerted the baby sitter, who called sheriff's deputies, authorities said.

Skies remained sunny Monday across Southern California, but the recent deluge is continuing to take its toll on houses, railroad service and farmland. In San Clemente, residents on Paseo de Cristobal sought to save their possessions when a crumbling rain-sodden bluff led to evacuations of four homes. City officials have condemned one of the homes and asked Santa Fe railroad trains to proceed through the area at 10 mph, fearing that stronger vibrations would dislodge more of the hill.

The first of three incoming storms hit Ventura County early Thursday, causing two serious traffic accidents in Thousand Oaks and knocking out power in east Ventura. "People certainly won't have to be watering their lawns over the next few days," said Gary Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Forecasters are calling for sunny skies today, but another storm expected Saturday may dump an inch of rain on the county.