More troubling news on our housing market and the generosity of Norman Levan

 * ... HOUSING WOES: We got some more bad new on housing when the February numbers showed that sales of previously owned homes had dropped for the third straight month. Add to that more homes on the market and it's more evidence of an anemic market. On the other hand, it's a terrific time to buy a house. Prices have dropped dramatically (some local homes are going for half what they sold for a few years ago) and interest rates are near historic lows. So on some level, there may not be a better time to invest. There are terrific deals even in large cities that have been slammed with foreclosures. CNBC's list of the top ten cities to get a great deal on foreclosures (starting with No. 10 and counting down to the worst) San Francisco, Kansas City, Mo., Riverside, Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Columbus, Ohio, Cincinnati and finally at No. 1, Pittsburgh.

* ... NORMAN LEVAN: One of our community's most generous benefactors is Dr. Norman Levan, a dermatologist and philanthropist who has given $6 million  each to Bakersfield College, University of Southern California, St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M., and the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Last week, a wide circle of friends gathered at Bakersfield College to celebrate Levan's 94th birthday. His donations have been used to advance the humanities at all institutions and just last month the Levan Center for the Humanities opened at BC.

 * ... CRIME LAB: Lisa Green, the chief deputy district attorney who is running unopposed to succeed Ed Jagels as our new District Attorney, spoke at the downtown Rotary Thursday about the benefits of DNA testing and keeping the Kern Regional Crime Lab fully funded. It was DNA testing that led to the quick arrest of Anthony Ray Graham Jr. in the horrific "Babies R Us" rape case, which featured a kidnapping and rape in broad daylight. Green put everyone on notice that as DA she will fight to keep the lab funded.

 * ... SAYING THANKS: Reader Donna Rice wrote to tell me about the sudden death of her husband of 31 years. Her thoughts are powerful in their simplicity. In her words: "While a personally difficult burden to bear, the loss brought with it unforeseen comfort to me and my family. The support, help, thoughts and prayers of family, friends, colleagues, the professionals who assisted us and even complete strangers gave me and my family great comfort in the days that followed .... At a time when so much of the news we see and hear is negative, a personal tragedy such as this brought out the innate kindness of so many people in this city." Well said and thank you for sharing.


 * ... LONG COMMUTE: How would you like to commute from Bakersfield to Santa Monica? Well Carl Nicita has been doing just that for six long years, and he loves it. Carl and his wife Beverly have lived in the Southwest for 25 years and both their boys graduated from Ridgeview High School. Six years ago Carl left his job at the Kern County Fire Department and became a traffic officer with the Santa Monica police. He works 10-hour shifts and leases a rent-controlled apartment in Venice Beach just  minutes from work. How's the commute? "Actually I have been totally blessed and I have the absolute best of both worlds. I get to work and stay at the beach. And then I get to come back to Bakersfield and enjoy being away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.  Believe me, being able to park in my own driveway and not having to worry about traffic is one of life's most simple pleasures!" Next step is looking toward retirement and Nicita says Bakersfield is looking good.
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 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know  you're from Bakersfield when: "You've seen the Stairway to Heaven lights when returning to Bako at night on the Grapevine. And you know to call it Bako and why we call it that."


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Kern County women in peril and the economy continues to struggle ...

* ... WOMEN IN PERIL: The two most depressing news stories in The Californian this week had to be the Northwest Promenade rape trail and the report that Kern County leads the state in teenage pregnancies and births. The first involved the guilty verdict in the trial of Anthony Ray Graham Jr., convicted of a bold and horrific abduction and rape of a woman in broad daylight outside the Babies 'R' Us store on Rosedale Highway, one of our community's most prominent shopping venues. The idea that predators like this roam the streets of our community is terrifying enough, but it is particularly chilling to those of us with daughters. (read Jason Kotowski's full report here) Kudos to prosecutor Lisa Green for bringing a measure of justice to the victim and her family. And then there was Steven Mayer's story on Kern County having the highest teen birth rate in California, even while the statewide rate has dropped. (read his story here) This is our collective shame and you can't help but worry about the state of our young women. This is yet another reason why the work of groups like the Women and Girl's Fund of the Kern Community Foundation is so important.

 * ... ECONOMIC INDICATOR: One place I look for indications of an economic recovery is in company hiring, which has been in a funk for the past couple years. Kern County's jobless rate is near 16 percent and the business people I know have hunkered down for a long, slow recovery. Riley Parker is one person who has a finger on the pulse of hiring, since his company (Parker and Associates) does background screening of potential new employees for companies. Parker told me that part of his business has been steady this year - not great - yet another indicator of general sluggishness. But another part of his business is "booming," he said. "We have had a real surge in real estate fraud cases ... A new twist is in the number of 'intellectual property' cases that are being referred... Some displaced workers are deciding to use the proprietary information gleaned from their former employers to become entrepreneurs."

 * ... GAUCHO WORLD: Retired Kern County School superintendent Larry Reider told me to add his longtime wife Sandy to the list of local folks who hail from UC Santa Barbara. Sandy spent 33 years teaching in Arvin and Fruitvale, and according to Larry was such a diligent student at UCSB that "she was upset she couldn't get to classes when they closed the campus after they burned the Bank of America building during the Isla Vista riots!" I'll take Larry at his word, but I also know that nearly every day is a "riot" of sorts on Isla Vista.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISMS: You know you're from Bakersfield when "Instead of people thinking you're rich for having leather seats, they think you're stupid." And you also know you're from Bakersfield when you have to "explain to someone what Beach Park is all about."