Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Washington D.C. today and the Star's reporter in D.C., Michael Collins, (collinsm@shns.com), will be tailing the governor as he makes his rounds of federal offices. Expect federal funding for the state, education and base closings to be among the topics to be discussed. And, of course, we'll see if Washington remains starstruck by the star-turned-governor.

Reporter Maria Gonzalez (mgonzalez@venturacountystar.com) is working on a wonderful story about a Simi Valley police property clerk, Lori Tate, who solved a mystery of an unknown urn of ashes that turned up in an abandoned storage locker in town. It's a great yarn.

The UCSB Economic Forecast, which we wrote about in this morning's editions is being discussed this morning at a conference. One of the topics is the plan for development of a liquefied natural gas facility off the coast of Oxnard. Reporter Sylvia Moore (smoore@venturacountystar.com) will cover that part of the discussion and the press conference by environmentalists that will follow. Gretchen Macchiarella (gmacchairella@venturacountystar.com) will report on the rest of today's conference in our Business pages.

Reporter Jean Ortiz (jortiz@VenturaCountyStar.com) gets a preview today of the Air Force One pavillion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. It is set to open this summer.

Sports reporter Bob Buttitta (bbuttitta@VenturaCountyStar.com) is in LA for us today, covering the first round of the Nissan Open golf tournament , featuring Tiger Woods. And our new (second week) Home & Garden section tomorrow will feature a story by Lisa McKinnon (lmckinnon@VenturaCountyStar.com) on what to do today to get your garden ready for spring.

Off the wires, we are looking at the president's appointment of John Negroponte as the first national intelligence director. along with follows on Syria, Iraq and more developments on the massive ID theft from ChoicePoint that has been reported throughout the week.

And then there's this story:
Today was the final hunt in Great Britain. Hundreds of hunters on horseback followed the hounds one more time today.
Beginning Friday, hunting animals with hounds will be banned, ending a 300-year history. Some hunt clubs plan to continue using hounds, but not to chase live animals, just their scents and, "If we happen to catch a fox ... it will just be a nasty accident for that fox because our intention is to hunt the trail, not the fox," said one club spokesman.