BIG SOUND: Ending months of speculation, Ventura...

BIG SOUND: Ending months of speculation, Ventura County’s two symphonies have announced that they will become one (B1). . . . Musicians from the Conejo Symphony and Ventura County Symphony will be tuning up together as soon as major issues, including union membership, are worked out. . . . Rumors that the two groups would merge heated up in recent weeks after Elmer Ramsey, conductor of the Conejo Symphony, announced that he will retire effective in May.

RED HOT: When it comes to beer, the color of the moment is red (D1), and at least one Ventura County establishment is having great success with a brew of that hue. . . . Simi Simply Red has been selling out at Joe-Joe’s Brewing Co., a Simi Valley restaurant and microbrewery. “Red beer is killing ‘em,” restaurant co-owner Joe Vogel joked of the beer’s popularity. . . . The first 220-gallon batch of the deep amber, full-bodied Simi ale--brewed on the premises--sold out in four days. Marveled Vogel: “That’s an unbelievable amount of beer.”

FIGHTING BACK: The big league has meant some big headaches for Don MacLean, a former basketball star at Simi Valley High and now a forward with the Washington Bullets (C1). . . . MacLean has weathered some bad publicity and, in his third NBA season, is struggling to regain his status as one of the league’s top forwards. . . . The UCLA alumnus will be back in Southern California tonight as the Bullets take on the Lakers.

HIGH-TECH WISHES: Two technology giants are teaming up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which helps dreams come true for seriously ill children. . . . Kinko’s, the copy-service chain headquartered in Ventura, and Sprint, the telecommunications company, will use video-conferencing to enable children to talk face-to-face with friends across the country. “Not everyone understands the technology,” said Ted Hoagland, director of Sprint’s Video Group. “But anyone can see one of its greatest benefits in the smiling faces on both ends of a call.”