MELTING POT: For years, the federal government...

MELTING POT: For years, the federal government has doled out extra dollars to help the children of migrant farm workers assimilate into their new classes and stay in school. But the money is drying up and new restrictions threaten to eliminate 5,000 of the 8,000 migrant children in Ventura County from the program (B1) . . . . Educators plan to limit tutoring and dropout-prevention counseling to the neediest students, those who have moved with their families within the past two years.

FARM WOMEN: With the Medfly threatening to buzz into Ventura County, California Women for Agriculture meet today in Ventura to bone up on their public relations skills. Few city dwellers realize how the Medfly, or an imposed quarantine, could devastate the county’s citrus industry, says Donna Pinkerton, president of the group’s county chapter. “The Medfly would not just attack groves and fields, but back-yard gardens too.” The group will discuss how to best get the message to city slickers.

NEW COP SHOP: After years of inaction, community-based policing is moving as fast as a patrol car in hot pursuit. Ventura police opened another storefront police station, the fifth such operation in the county (B1) . . . . Twenty months ago Oxnard police faced a hostile reception in the La Colonia neighborhood to the county’s first storefront shop. Now schoolchildren drop by for police badge stickers or candy, Officer Alex Rangel says. “The kids who frequent this place make it a less threatening atmosphere and make it OK for adults to come by.”

NEW GAME PLAN: After months on the defense, Ventura’s Avenue Cable has reinstated the Fox affiliate KTTV (Channel 11). None too soon for many fans: The NFL season kickoff is only weeks away (B1) . . . . Avenue Cable dropped the network when a new law allowed TV broadcasters to charge cable companies for carrying their programs. Avenue officials refused to pay the fees, saying they didn’t want to pass the costs along to customers. No word yet on any rate hike.