DUMBO-MOBILE: Some of his advisors were skeptical,...

DUMBO-MOBILE: Some of his advisors were skeptical, but Assemblyman Brooks Firestone decided it was an idea that just might fly. . . . So Friday he will visit with Ventura constituents in a refurbished school bus he calls his District Utility Mobile Business Office, or DUMBO. . . . “My campaign management people said, ‘Don’t call it DUMBO,’ ” he says. “It sounds like I’m, well, it sounds dumb. I think it sounds friendly and accessible. The flying elephant, the big ears to listen with.”

POWERFUL IDEA: Conventional batteries remain a drag on the momentum of electric car technology. They store a limited amount of energy and wear out after being recharged about 600 times. . . . Now a Newbury Park company is experimenting with a new battery that stores energy by spinning a flywheel at incredible speeds until the energy is tapped (D7D). Says U.S. Flywheel Systems President Charles Schardin: “It could revolutionize electric vehicles.”

EYE ON THE PRIZE: Twelve-year-old Terrell Penny Jr. marched with hundreds of county residents through the streets of Oxnard on the city’s 10th observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday (B1) . . . . There were preachers and politicians and everyday folks from all walks of life. The multiracial congregation gave Terrell hope that King’s dream of unity will come true. On Monday, Terrell said, “his dream was partly fulfilled. Blacks and whites were together marching.”

RAIN DANCE: Ducking and dodging, weather forecasters issue their amusingly mushy predictions of rain for this week (B1). . . . But the dry year is serious for citrus farmers who count on rainfall to flush salts from the soil that accumulate during irrigation with mineral-laden ground water. Oranges and lemons are undersized. “There is no substitute for rain,” said rancher Paul Leavens. “It’s much better quality water than we can pull from the ground.”