By Chris Frost chris@tricountysentry.com   Oxnard-- The Five-Year Priorities planning continues with City Manager Alex Nguyen framing the conversation and putting forward a policy document.   The workshop set clear policy direction for the next five years, but it's not a budgeting session.   The conversation is essential because of Measure E, which passed on November 3, 2020, and created a 1.5 cent local sales tax increase that goes into effect, April 1.    Nguyen and his staff are looking at creating a high-functioning city...

By Jake Coyle   NEW YORK (AP)—Netflix on Friday released a study it commissioned from top academic researchers that shows the streaming giant is outpacing much of the film industry in the inclusivity of its original films and television series. For years, academic studies have sought to capture inequalities in Hollywood and to hold studios accountable for making film and television that doesn’t reflect American demographics. Those studies have generally relied on box-office or ratings data, often leaving out streaming platforms. Netflix is trying a...

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Hulu announced it has ordered a limited series dramatizing the life of boxing great Mike Tyson, who quickly slammed the production as “cultural misappropriation.” In a press release Thursday, Hulu said “Iron Mike” will explore “the wild, tragic and controversial life and career” of a polarizing athlete. Tyson, who is not involved in the project, criticized Hulu on social media, saying the series smacked of insensitivity. “Hulu’s announcement to do an unauthorized mini-series of the Tyson story without...

SACRAMENTO (AP)—The Medical Board of California said it would investigate a plastic surgeon who appeared in a videoconference for his traffic violation trial while operating. The Sacramento Bee reports Dr. Scott Green appeared Thursday for his Sacramento Superior Court trial, held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic, from an operating room. He was dressed in surgical scrubs with a patient undergoing the procedure just out of view; the beeps of medical machinery can be heard in the background. “Hello, Mr. Green? Hi. Are you available for trial?” asked a...

By Jake Griffin   PALATINE, Ill. (AP)—As it turns out, there are no perks to being first in a pandemic. “That’s the wrong lottery to win,” Bob Dix said. It’s been a full year since Dix arrived at the Northwest Community Hospital emergency room in Arlington Heights with a 103-degree temperature that wouldn’t break, confounding doctors who had ruled out the flu, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments. A few days after that hospital admission, he would be diagnosed as the suburbs’ first case of COVID-19. His wife, Regina,...

By Chris Frost chris@tricountysentry.com     Oxnard-- The City of Oxnard held a special workshop on video and reviewed its 2021-2025 five-year priorities.   The workshop allows the council to get its priorities together over the next five years and ensure it complements the Measure E tax increase investment.   Measure E passed on November 3, 2020, as voters passed a 1.5 cent local sales tax increase. Measure E goes into effect on April 1, and the city receives its first allocation from the state for the fiscal year 2020-2021 in the last...

By Chris Frost chris@tricountysentry.com     Oxnard-- Okay, folks, Covid-19 vaccinations are ramping up, additional vaccine locations are opening up, and there is a working plan to start local competitive sports again.   With that said, all I want to know is how much longer until Ventura County starts scheduling outdoor events that I can cover, so my life can get back to normal? Plainly put, virtual events don't cut the mustard, and I prefer the crowds.   My first headache is finding an event, any community event that I can cover,...

New portal serves as a central hub of workplace information for employers during the pandemic   SACRAMENTO—The California Labor & Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) recently launched a new Employer Portal, a one-stop hub for California employers to quickly find up-to-date state and local county COVID-19 guidance by business industry. The portal can be accessed at SaferAtWork.covid19.ca.gov, a new site for employers and workers featuring information about how we can all work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. As businesses across the...

By Thomas Adamson and Alex Turnball   PARIS (AP)—The 518-year-old Mona Lisa has seen many things in her life on a wall, but rarely this: Almost four months with no Louvre visitors. As she stares out through bulletproof glass into the silent Salle des Etats, in what was once the world's most-visited museum, her celebrated smile could almost denote relief. A bit further on, the white marble Venus de Milo is for once free of her girdle of picture-snapping visitors. It's uncertain when the Paris museum will reopen, after being closed on Oct. 30 in line with...

By Andrew Dalton   LOS ANGELES (AP)—A tentative settlement has been reached in a lawsuit that alleged James Franco intimidated students at an acting and film school he founded into gratuitous and exploitative sexual situations, attorneys for the plaintiffs said Saturday. The two sides filed a joint status report in Los Angeles Superior Court telling a judge a settlement had been reached in the class-action lawsuit brought by former students at the now-defunct school, Studio 4, though elements of the lawsuit may live on. The document was filed on Feb. 11, but the...