Alex Wilson

1 day ago | vcreporter.com | Alex Wilson

Griffin Barkley got a close-up look at the agricultural industry growing up in Oxnard where his dad started an insurance brokerage during 1996 focused on produce growers, packers, shippers and workers. After graduating from Ojai’s Villanova High School and studying business at the University of Colorado, he worked at a tech company for a short time.

1 day ago | vcreporter.com | Alex Wilson

Damaris and Gabriel Valora hope Saturday’s “Missing in the Ojai Valley” event sheds light on the case involving their missing daughter, Zyanya, 22, and potentially provides answers for other families. When Zyanya was 14, she was diagnosed with autism after a frightening incident requiring intervention by Ventura County Sheriff’s Office (VCSO) deputies, her mother told the Ventura County Reporter. “We were getting ready to go to school. She put herself in the middle of the highway,” Damaris said.

1 day ago | vcreporter.com | Alex Wilson

Soccer coach charged with murderLos Angeles County prosecutors have filed charges against a youth soccer coach who allegedly murdered a 13-year-old boy and dumped the victim’s body by the side of a road in Ventura County. Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, 43, was charged with murder and a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission or attempted commission of lewd acts with a child. The charges make the defendant eligible for the death penalty.

1 day ago | vcreporter.com | Alex Wilson

Driving down Cañada Larga Road in the hills north of Ventura feels like traveling back in time. Windmills spin and cows graze amidst rugged terrain home to wildlife including bobcats, deer and rattlesnakes. The surrounding canyons have been the subject of several development ideas, with Ventura city leaders considering “executive” estates or mini-ranches around 15 years ago. Now it appears the property may be spared from any future home building and turned into a nature preserve.

1 week ago | vcreporter.com | Alex Wilson

New camping opportunities are available or will be soon in the Ojai, Rincon and Lake Casitas areas. A tent-camping area at county-owned Camp Comfort near Ojai quietly reopened last month following its 2005 destruction and closure due to flooding from adjacent San Antonio Creek. Ventura County Parks Department officials are also working on plans to create a new 48-space RV camping area east of La Conchita where a pedestrian tunnel under the 101 Freeway leads to a sandy beach.