WINDS OF FORTUNE: Strong Santa Ana winds...

WINDS OF FORTUNE: Strong Santa Ana winds that whipped six fires Monday were considered a stroke of good luck in the case of the old Sears building in Simi Valley (B1). . . . They forced flames from the quake-damaged outlet back inside, away from nearby businesses. “We’re grateful for that,” said Don E. Penman, assistant city manager. . . . Officials have sought the building’s demolition. “I think this resolves the question of whether the building is salvageable,” he said.

JOHNNY CAN READ: Students in Oak Park schools have distinguished themselves to such a degree that candidates for the school board are at a loss for issues (B1). . . . “I do believe we’re already doing a great job,” said challenger Paul Schroeder. . . . In Ventura, two sitting board members also face a single opponent. (B1)

JOB SEARCH: Not long after her 18th birthday, Lea Harrington had a son, went on welfare and began a search for a job to pull her young family out of poverty (D7C). . . . On Monday, the 21-year-old Ventura woman became a permanent employee, drawing blood from county hospital patients for lab tests. “I don’t have a strong academic background--school isn’t my thing,” she said. . . . The Job Training Policy Council program that landed Harrington her $7.50-an-hour position will survive as the JTPC becomes an arm of county government Nov. 1.

NOT FOR SALE: The county’s only private hospital not managed or affiliated with a large health care firm will remain locally owned, says Michael Bakst, executive director of Community Memorial Hospital. . . . “We’re being approached by everybody and their brother,” Bakst said. “But the board [of directors] has made a decision not to sell and not to merge.” . . . Bakst said the Ventura hospital has rebuffed such giants as Columbia/HCA Health Care Services, new owner of Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.