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On
the Waterfront
BUG SEASON: Saturday morning marked the opening of bug season, as this red bug discovered when it attempted to scuttle past two larger predators at the Von's Shopping Center in Hermosa Beach. Police reported that no one, except the bug, was seriously injured. Photo by Kevin Cody
WEIGHTY ISSUE: Civic Light Opera impresario James Blackman poked fun at his ample girth and impressive height - shall we say, his sheer mass - as he addressed an opening night audience about to enjoy the CLO's production of "Damn Yankees" at the RB Performing Arts Center. "I'll be glad when the MTA strike is over," he said. "I was walking down Inglewood Avenue and three people tried to board me." Rim shot, please...
RIM SHOT REDUX: Blackman announced to his audience that the CLO will kick off its next season with "Titanic," but the news was greeted with only the sparest of applause. "Rich people dying," Blackman said. "You don't find that funny?" That earned him the applause he was seeking...
SACRAMENTO MATH: Class sized reduction in California's kindergarten through third grade has had an unanticipated consequence for fourth graders. After getting used to the small class sizes, the students and their teachers go into shock when they enter fourth grade and their class sizes jump to upwards of 40 students. Governor Davis says the state doesn't have enough money to pay for smaller classes in the higher grades. But South Bay Assemblyman George Nakano, a former math teacher, told Redondo and Torrance chamber members at a Tuesday morning breakfast that the state doesn't need to spend more. It just needs to do some creative arithmetic. "Increase the K through three class size to 23 students and the state could reduce the upper grade class sizes to 23 students as well, without adding any new teachers or classroom space," Nakano told the business group. We haven't done the math, but we're not about to challenge a former math teacher, and a Kendo fifth degree black belt. We'll leave that to Nakano's 53rd District Republican challenger Gerald Felando.
'IRONMAN' LITE: The Fourth of July chugalug and vomit-alug celebration in HB has nothing on city resident Paul Herriott, who won a recent drinking contest - a milk drinking contest for seniors, that is -- at the Los Angeles County Fair. "He managed to drink a container of milk faster than the other residents," fair's PR folks reported.