if I define a variable in within a function - with "var"; Is it in the LOCAL or VARIABLES scope? Thanks!

It is a function local scoped variable..

@gavinbaumanis that would have been so easy to test for yourself, I wonder about the merits of asking it here.

var foo = bar; is the same as local.foo=bar;

NB: LOCAL variables however cannot be used into closure functions

Can you give an example of what you mean, @paolo79?

a function with this part:

var shipUtils = createobject"component","shipUtils").init();

  local.q_orders = queryExecute('
      SELECT *
      FROM TABLE_ORDERS
      WHERE "_businessKey" = :businessKey
    ', {businessKey = {cfsqltype = "varchar", value = arguments.businessKey}});

  queryEach(local.q_orders, function(row, rowIndex, query) {
    local.q_ship = shipUtils.get(bordero = row.BORDERO);
  }