GOAL-ORIENTED: Among the 19,000 runners in the...

GOAL-ORIENTED: Among the 19,000 runners in the Los Angeles Marathon will be four Ventura County residents with another goal in mind besides the finish line. . . . Employees of Oxnard’s Centerpoint Mall--all elite runners--will be raising money for 3-year-old Hillary Corley of Oxnard, who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles. . . . Donations or pledges-per-mile will go toward helping Hillary’s family defray medical and other expenses. “Her diagnosis isn’t great,” said Liz Corley, Hillary’s mother. “She’s got a long road ahead of her.” To donate, call 487-1142.

TREES FOR A DAY: Be prepared to do a double take if you happen along California Street between Main and Santa Clara streets in downtown Ventura Saturday morning. . . . Performance artists, dressed in earthy brown and leafy green, will be standing stock-still in the spots where, days before, decades-old ficus trees were felled. It’s not a protest but “a response to the downtown renovation, sort of a human bandage on the situation,” said group member Zoe Pietrycha. “We’re kind of filling up that space. It’s very strange down there without the trees.”

CLEANING UP: Edward Bradley is one of a handful of Moorpark residents who may be fined if they fail to clean up their property (B5). . . . City officials, on a mission to spruce up downtown Moorpark, are urging residents in the area to eliminate possible health and safety violations--or face repercussions.

COLD EXCHANGE: Last month, students at Redwood Intermediate School in Thousand Oaks got a gift from Maine’s frigid climes: A snowball mailed from an eighth-grade science class. . . . On Thursday, the Holbrook School in Maine had the favor returned. A snow cone mailed from Thousand Oaks arrived, still frozen solid. The exchange was part of a joint science project in which the students designed specially insulated packages. The California snow cone won’t be eaten, though: Students put it in the school’s freezer to see how long it will last.