DEEP POCKETS: Thousand Oaks is looking at...

DEEP POCKETS: Thousand Oaks is looking at an ordinance that would not only limit the hours children can be on the streets, but it would also make Mom and Dad financially liable for illegal acts committed by the kids (B1). . . . Tex Ward, manager of the Conejo Recreation and Park District, likes the idea. “It establishes the fact that minors are minors, and it obligates the parents to know where their kids are and what they’re doing,” Ward said. “Government just can’t do it all.”

SPACE CAMP: Two Ventura County junior scientists will fly off to the U.S. Space Academy in Huntsville, Ala., thanks to a new prize donated this year by the 3M Co. of Camarillo. . . . 3M will choose the winners from the 1,000 students who enter projects to the annual countywide science fair. Dennis Lang, fair chairman, said the prizes will encourage students to participate. . . . Said Lang: “Science is a fascinating topic, but it doesn’t hurt to have that plum dangling in front of them.”

READ-A-THON: Elmhurst Elementary School in Ventura plans a novel way to raise money for field trips and the arts. . . . Students will get sponsors to pledge money for each book they read during two hours Friday. . . . Jamie Judson, 12, daughter of Read-a-Thon chairwoman Patti Judson, said she can’t help out because she is a seventh-grader. But she is assessing the potential fund-raising skills of brother Nick, 10, and sister Megan, 6: “It will be hard for my brother because he can’t sit still.”