TAGS FOR TOTS: In some nurseries, well-adorned...

TAGS FOR TOTS: In some nurseries, well-adorned babies now carry anti-theft devices. . . . Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura attaches a nearly undetectable tag on newborns which sets off an alarm if the infant is carried out of the maternity ward (B1). . . . Los Robles Medical Center is installing a similar system. One problem: Where do you put the tag? Some hospitals opt for a wrist band. But security consultant Lynn West recommends the belly button. “Most people,” she said, “are afraid to touch the umbilical cord clamp.”

GOOD PROSPECTS: With Congress poised to allow Alaska to export crude oil overseas, Ventura County’s smaller oil companies hope they may finally get a break. . . . For several years, cheap Alaskan oil has flooded the California market, depressing oil prices and making it tougher to sell oil from local fields. But Congress may soon permit Alaskan oil to be redirected to Japan. “It is pretty exciting,” said Barry McMahan of Seneca Resources Corp. in Santa Paula. “Any boost in pricing is going to help us tremendously.”

CHIPS & DIPS: Silicon chips make up the building blocks of today’s computers. And the tiny circuits spawned an economic region called Silicon Valley. . . . Tomorrow’s computers could be made of faster chips made of a gallium-arsenide. And a Camarillo company that makes the high-speed chips has recovered from a dip in sales (Valley Business, Page 3). It’s too early to rename the area, the Gallium-Arsenide Valley. But Cal Lutheran University economist Jamshid Damooei sees great promise in such high-tech firms. “This is the hope of the future.”

DEATH CASE: Prosecutors may seek the death penalty against a Port Hueneme teen-ager accused of gunning down a Simi Valley man and his dog so he could steal a pickup truck from an Ojai campground (B1). . . . The county’s grand jury indicted Port Hueneme teen-ager Timothy Chrestman on murder and robbery charges that leave open the option of capital punishment.