BACK IN COURT: As swarms of lawyers...

BACK IN COURT: As swarms of lawyers spent Monday dickering over the O.J. Simpson trial, prosecutors in Ventura moved briskly through their arguments for why convicted murderer Mark Scott Thornton should die (B6). . . . Raising issues that never came up in his trial, prosecutors told the jury that Thornton once sexually assaulted a former girlfriend and, more recently, has fashioned knives in jail and fought with guards. . . . Defense attorneys pleaded with the jury to spare the 20-year-old, citing mental problems and a bad childhood.

VIDEO DOCTOR: Physicians sat in a Westlake auditorium Monday, staring into the ear of a man in the Dominican Republic. From three continents came the unanimous diagnosis: a perforated eardrum. . . . Combining technology and medicine, GTE Telephone Operations beamed the ear exam to nine far-flung spots, where doctors could watch and advise each other on treatment. Ideally, the so-called “telemedicine” will be used to link specialists to remote areas or homebound patients. . . . “The doctors who saw it said it was actually easier to see,” GTE spokesman Mike Murray said, “because it was magnified.”

SUNKEN SHIP: When researchers dragged up two buoys from a missing shrimp trawler last week, they may have solved more than the mystery of the boat’s disappearance (B1). . . . They may also have resolved the real name of the vessel. Its Korean owners named it either the Vil Vana or the Nil Vana; registration and ownership papers were unclear. The Coast Guard goes with Vil Vana, but the name on the two rubber floats: Nil Vana.

BUSINESS FRIENDLY: Oxnard offers more incentives to lure new businesses than any other city in Ventura County. Thousand Oaks offers the least, but gives developers a good deal on upfront fees. So says a study by a Sherman Oaks consulting firm (Valley Business, Page 11). . . . The survey of California communities found wide disparity within Ventura County. “If there were uniformity, that alone would help business people a great deal,” consultant Larry J. Kosmont said.