Unfiltered Facts: A recent ad by an...

Unfiltered Facts: A recent ad by an anti-smoking group listed two local Assembly members--Nao Takasugi and Paula L. Boland--among the Top 20 recipients of tobacco money (B1). But there was a hitch with the list. . . . Takasugi and Boland were among the Top 20 in 1995-96 donations, but the dollar amounts on the chart were lifetime amounts. Ranked by lifetime, Boland stays in the Top 20, but Takasugi drops to 43rd. Ad consultant Stanton Glantz was chagrined. “These things are a little bit complicated.”

Book Money: The county’s library agency is fascinated by the grand jury’s recent suggestions for raising money--especially those that the agency has already tried. . . . The various Friends of the Libraries already raise tens of thousands of dollars a year through used-book sales, agency spokeswoman Trish Cavanaugh said. Donation boxes, another grand jury tip, “were the least successful of all our donations efforts,” she said. The agency generates one-fifth of its annual budget through fund-raising.

Golden Gloves: Fernando Vargas has left Oxnard for Olympic warmups in Atlanta as one of the country’s leading hopes for boxing gold (C1). . . . But some say the 18-year-old fighter is more suited for success as a professional because of his slow starts and thirst for knockouts. That’s fine with Vargas. His ultimate goal: flatten that other Southern California phenom, Oscar De La Hoya.

City Slickers III: Jack Palance won’t be there, but 14 Thousand Oaks Boy Scouts are imitating a Billy Crystal movie this week and heading to New Mexico for their first cowboy experience. . . . The weeklong trip to the Philmont Scout Ranch--215 square miles of trails and big skies--will give members of Troop 718 a lively introduction to horses. “There should be a lot of things to learn,” Eagle Scout Andrew Anfora says.