CHILLING OUT: If it seemed a bit...

CHILLING OUT: If it seemed a bit chilly when you rolled out of bed this morning, think of the folks in Eveleth, Minn., where it was 7 below zero Tuesday. . . . Ventura County never gets that cold, but we’ve reached our typical winter lows: upper 30s to low 40s. . . . Farmers are keeping a close eye on the thermometer: That 1990 freeze caused $100 million in crop damage. . . . Although we often see snow on the mountains, it’s rare along the coast. Last big snowfall: January, 1949, when Oxnard had three inches.

WARNING SIGNS: As Ventura County buried the victims of last week’s massacre (A1, B1), a psychologist said the writings of gunman Alan Winterbourne may answer a nagging question: Can such people be identified and stopped before they kill? . . . “These people give a lot of clues, but we don’t see them,” said Patrick Callahan, a Yorba Linda psychologist who is studying the writings of mass murderers. . . . One finding so far: Watch out for anniversaries. “They build them up in their mind and almost feel obligated to do something.” . . . Winterbourne’s rampage came almost exactly seven years after he was denied jobless benefits.

TEEN-AGE MOMS: Seventh-graders may soon be learning about birth control in Simi Valley (B8), but it may not curb pregnancies. A county survey of teen-age mothers found that more than half wanted to get pregnant. . . . But former Public Health Director Larry Dodds favors more education. “It’s an issue not just for the mother, but for her family and the baby,” he said. “If you can prevent it, she can focus on growing up instead of being a mother.”. . . Number of births by girls 17 and younger last year: 475, or 4.1% of all county births.

TORTILLA OFFENSE: It’s become a tradition at Newbury Park football games: throwing tortillas after a touchdown. . . . But the practice wasn’t appreciated when the Panthers beat Montebello in a playoff game. The Los Angeles County school’s enrollment is almost 90% Latino, and some saw the tortilla-tossing as a racial insult (C6).

Record Lows

Lowest recorded temperatures in Ventura County cities since 1948: Ojai: 16 degrees Dec. 22-23, 1990 Santa Paula: 25 degrees March 2-3, 1966 Dec. 25, 1968 Jan. 3, 1974 Dec. 26, 1990 Oxnard: 28 degrees Feb. 28, 1962 Source: Weatherdata Inc.