AIDS PREVENTION: Ventura County AIDS cases have...

AIDS PREVENTION: Ventura County AIDS cases have jumped nearly 300% since 1987, spurring a search for those most at risk of contracting the disease (B1). First stops: Ventura and Oxnard, which lead the county with 96 cases each in the past six years. . . . Public health nurse Martina Rippey said the increase may partly be attributed to a recent decision broadening the definition of who has the disease. “I think most people think this is a fair thing and really reflects the number of people suffering from HIV,” she said.

TAX REVOLT: Thousand Oaks is talking about creating its own Fire Department (B6), despite the county’s decision to abandon a plan to levy a $110-a-year tax to fund fire services. The county’s plan, skewered by angry taxpayers, is the most recent tax proposal to come under attack . . . . In Oxnard, riled-up residents recently blasted the cost and quality of landscaping work funded by a special tax district. “Government has just seen these districts as another form of revenue. I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg,” said H. Jere Robings, head of the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers.

SUMMER STRUMMING: All of those years of practice paid off: Mark Rast of Ventura took top prize last month in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, one of the top amateur contests in the nation for banjo players (Ventura Life, J7). But Rast, a doctor at Las Islas Clinic in Oxnard, said he isn’t letting success go to his head. “The rule in bluegrass is don’t give up your day job,” he said.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE: Despite threats from advertisers to pull their spots, networks are moving forward with a plan to run parental advisories on violent programs (A1,F1). Ventura County Community College trustee Karen Boone said the television is rarely on in her home during prime time because of depictions of sex and violence . . . “It’s just gotten out of hand,” said Boone of televised mayhem. “I think any step in the right direction is a good idea.”